Chapter 172: Moody's Lesson

Moody's first fourth-year lesson began with the door slamming shut behind him.

He wrote three names on the board.

Imperius Curse.

Cruciatus Curse.

Killing Curse.

Several students stopped whispering.

"The Ministry thinks you are too young to see these," Moody said. "Dumbledore thinks knowing what hunts you may keep you alive. Permission slips are in your files. Anyone who did not consent leaves now and receives the written lesson from Professor McGonagall."

Edward had signed for a theoretical demonstration after Sirius reviewed the notice. The form mentioned controlled curse impressions, not living subjects.

No one left. Social pressure was not proof of willing agreement, and Edward noted how quickly Moody moved past the choice.

Moody opened a glass jar containing three large spiders.

Hermione raised her hand. "The notice did not say you would use animals."

"It said demonstration subjects."

"It said controlled impressions."

Moody's magical eye turned toward her. "You object, Granger?"

"Yes."

Neville sat rigid two rows away.

Moody looked over the class. "Anyone else?"

Edward raised his hand. So did Harry, after a moment. Three more students followed.

The professor's mouth twisted. "Fine. The spiders stay in the jar."

He removed a set of black crystals from his desk instead. Each held the preserved magical impression of a curse cast years earlier during Auror training. When placed inside a warded frame, the impression acted on a jointed model without recreating the original spell.

The distinction mattered. A model could show movement and physical collapse. It could not convey the subjective experience of control or pain.

Moody started with Imperius. The wooden figure danced, jumped, and bowed as the silver impression moved through it.

"Looks harmless," he said. "That is why it works. The target feels the command as an easy answer."

He asked students to list signs of control. Sudden changes in habit, unexplained memory gaps, obedience that contradicted known values, and actions performed without understanding all belonged on the board.

Edward thought of Bertha bound to the platform and of Crouch's reaction during the inquiry.

"Can a person consent while under it?" he asked.

"No reliable test proves consent in the moment," Moody said. "Treat it as compromised until the curse is removed and the person can decide again."

The answer matched the Heart Prism attunement rules.

The Cruciatus impression made the wooden figure convulse. Neville's breathing changed. Moody watched him for too long before Hermione stepped between their desks to ask a question.

"What ends the curse?"

"The caster, broken concentration, or stopping the caster."

"What helps afterward?"

Moody seemed less interested in that. He listed pain treatment and monitoring for shock, then returned to how the spell was powered.

Edward did not need the explanation. The curse required deliberate desire to cause pain. Technical pronunciation was not the dangerous part.

The Killing Curse impression produced a green flash. The model fell, its joints loose. Moody emphasized that ordinary magical shields did not stop the curse.

"Solid objects can intercept its path," Harry said.

"They can. A wall, a statue, anything with enough substance. The curse destroys or kills what it strikes and does not continue as though nothing happened."

Edward remembered the wooden shield exploding in Albania. He added another sentence to his notes.

A physical barrier may create debris and a second hazard.

Moody walked between desks, wooden leg striking the floor. "You will not practise any of these. You will practise recognizing them, moving to cover, and reporting suspected control. If one comes at you, heroics are less useful than not being where it lands."

The lesson shifted into scenarios. Moody described a friend suddenly demanding access to a restricted room. Students had to respond without attacking the friend. He described a green flash in a corridor. They identified physical cover and exits. He described a person in pain who begged not to be touched. They discussed calling a healer and preserving space.

Those exercises were good.

The way Moody enjoyed the class's fear was not.

At the end, he collected the curse impressions and left the spiders sealed in their jar. Hermione waited until everyone else departed.

"The permission form was misleading," she said.

Edward agreed. Harry did too.

They brought the issue to McGonagall. She read the exact wording and asked whether Moody stopped when challenged.

"He did," Hermione said. "But he made the class object in front of everyone."

McGonagall's lips thinned. "I will address both matters."

Edward reported the mismatch to Sirius through the scheduled mirror that evening. Sirius knew Moody had used harsh demonstrations during Auror instruction.

"That does not make it acceptable with children," Sirius said. "Did he say anything only the real Moody would know?"

"Nothing personal."

"Do not test him yourself."

Edward had not proposed doing so. The warning remained necessary.

The next lesson used no curse impressions. Moody taught physical-cover drills and accepted anonymous questions collected before class. McGonagall sat in the back.

Students who had stayed silent during the first demonstration could now submit objections without standing before their peers. Seven notes said the consent choice had not felt real once everyone watched the door. McGonagall preserved the count and changed future forms: students would choose privately before class, and the alternative lesson would occur at the same time rather than mark anyone as absent.

Moody called the arrangement soft. He still followed it.

Edward noted that correction did not require deciding whether Moody was malicious. A flawed procedure could be repaired while the larger identity question remained open. Waiting for certainty about the professor would have left the students under the same pressure.

His instruction was precise. He spotted blind corners, corrected unsafe wand angles, and made students repeat an exit until they stopped bunching at the door. He also called Neville "Longbottom" with a familiarity that made Neville flinch.

After class, Moody gave Neville a book on magical plants. The gesture could be kindness, manipulation, or an attempt to repair harm.

Edward entered no conclusion.

Moody noticed the observation log as Edward packed.

"You write down every breath I take, Black?"

"Only the ones relevant to class safety."

"Constant vigilance can turn into constant hesitation."

"So can confidence."

Moody leaned close enough for Edward to smell whatever he kept in the hip flask. The liquid was sharp and medicinal, not alcohol.

The blue eye rotated toward Edward's bag, where the emergency whistle lay.

Then Moody stepped away. "You survived Albania by moving. Remember that before your committee asks a curse to wait."

Edward did not remember mentioning to Moody exactly how he escaped. The Ministry report said witnesses survived an attack, not that Edward had retreated through moving wards.

Dumbledore might have told him. Sirius might have spoken during the verification. The information was not impossible for Moody to know.

It was specific enough to record.

Outside, students crowded the entrance to the Great Hall. The Goblet of Fire had been lit. Blue-white flame rose above its rim, and the gold age line circled it.

Eligible students were beginning to submit their names.

Edward watched from outside the line.

Moody watched him from the stairs.

Edward sent the specific remark about Albania to Bones as well as Dumbledore. One reporting path might fail; two independent records made quiet suppression harder.