On the way for Charms, Harry who was sensitive to any kind of malice told Lucifer about Travers, Everett and Hector's loathing. After listening, he wasn't surprised, but simply nodded, "Relax, they don't even count as trouble..."
He'd expected something like this. Beyond those 'fourth years', he'd sensed two other people whose hostility toward him had already crossed into outright hatred, Graham for sure was right there on top.
That was normal enough. Slytherin was practically one giant family tree. If you really traced it back, Travers and Hector were even Daphne's relatives three generations up in the original reality, the connections were a mess.
Some 'family' ties were close, others had long since grown distant, Lucifer guessed the other two who hated him were closely allied with Everett, Travers and Hector's. People like that had to be dealt with, and early, he had no intention of waiting around for retaliation before acting.
Still, he couldn't just kill someone outright at Hogwarts. That would shatter the existing order and cause endless problems down the line. If he played it right, might even use this as bait to 'flush' out a few more rats. Seeing how confident he was, Harry finally relaxed.
In Charms class, Professor Filius Flitwick cheerfully announced they would be learning a new spell, the 'Summoning Charm.'
"Remember," he said, "You must picture the object you're calling as clearly as possible. Its size, shape, location, and the path it will take as it flies to you. Like this. 'Accio! Blackboard eraser!"
From a supply crate at the back of the classroom, an eraser floated up, zipped around several students, and landed neatly in Flitwick's hand.
"See? There were many erasers in that box, but this is the one I wanted," he said, giving it a shake. "An old eraser I've personally used before. Don't hesitate. Any doubt greatly increases the chance of 'failure."
After explaining the key points, Flitwick had everyone move to one side of the room, leaving an item behind on the other. Soon, the classroom 'filled' with chanting.
"Accio! Quill!"
"Accio! Textbook!"
"Accio! Slippers!"
"Accio! Bralette!" Lucifer who had keen ears immediately looked over, wondering which brave soul was pulling that stunt. He'd assumed it was a girl. Instead, it was Zabini, of course, making her mother Black Widow proud.
"'Blaise, you..." Theodore Nott, his best friend stared at him in shock, "Why do you even have something like that?"
Zabini's face turned red. "I... I bought it for someone else."
But Theodore realised he hadn't been paying enough attention, missing some quality gossip, and started to wonder who Zabini was seeing.
.......
The 'Summoning Charm' looked simple on the surface. You were just pulling an object from one place to another. It didn't seem that different from the Levitation Charm. In reality, though, it had already crossed the threshold into advanced magic. It was one of core spells fourth-years were expected to master, and a required component of the O.W.L. exams.
Just like Professor Flitwick had said, the spell demanded intense concentration. You had to construct a 'three-dimensional image' in your mind: the object's size, its exact location, the route it would take as it flew toward you.
You had to visualize the space while staying completely focused. For most students, that was brutal.
By the end of the first class, not a single student beside Lucifer had successfully cast it. The best anyone managed was getting their target to wobble into the air. Hermione's attempt trembled midair for a few seconds before dropping weakly back to the floor.
Professor Flitwick wasn't angry. He patiently pointed out their mistakes and explained where they were going wrong.
Mastering the 'Summoning Charm' itself wasn't the true goal. What mattered was learning this higher level casting method, training focus and mental discipline, pushing will power up a notch to prepare for more advanced magic in the future.
Flitwick had no intention of rushing them. He planned to spend weeks developing their foundation. Not that he wouldn't teach other spells in the meantime, but 'Summoning Charm' would remain the core focus.
Still, something happened mid-class that genuinely irritated him.
Draco Malfoy had tried to fake it, using the 'Wingardium Leviosa' to imitate a Summoning Charm and pass it off as success. When Flitwick caught him, he did something rare.
He docked 'twenty points' from Slytherin in one go.
"Class!" The tiny professor climbed atop a stack of books to address them, his expression unusually stern, "I can accept many shortcomings, I understand slow progress. But deception is not one of them. Failing to learn is not a crime, relying on clever tricks will never help you improve. It will only leave you further and 'further' behind your classmates."
Draco looked like he wanted to bury his head in the floor. The only silver lining was Potter and Weasley hadn't done much better, were reprimanded for a bit of snickering. Otherwise, he would never hear the end of it.
"Very well," Flitwick said after a moment, softening slightly. "Continue practicing."
xxxxxxx
~Flashback~
Original timeline, Summer holidays
Now that the gargoyle was back from the museum, he immediately launched into a long, bitter rant of being rejected by a female.
"What's so great about women? Bros before hoes, you know!" The gargoyle said, utterly baffled, "Look at me. I've guarded this Headmaster's door for a thousand years without a girlfriend..."
"But I need to carry on the Morningstar 'family' line," Lucifer replied seriously, pouring himself vodka in butt-rounded faces glass, "You can live 'forever' alone," he sighed at just the right moment, "But without descendants, our mark on this world disappears quickly. That's why I have girlfriends Why I need to marry and have kids."
The gargoyle wasn't a true alchemical lifeform. It didn't really understand sentimentality. Even so, faced with Lucifer's 'Oscar-worthy' performance, it fell silent, "In ten or twenty years, when my son or daughter comes to Hogwarts, they'll be my continuation," he educated smoothly. "You can help look after them. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"...All right, Morningstar," The gargoyle thought it over and found the logic flawless, "I understand the use of women, but you can't change my views on one I met, she's ugly."
xxxxxxx
At present, Hermione was slowly losing her mind. Each day seemed longer and more torturous than the day before. It was Thursday, and she didn't know if she was excited to blow him early or not.
Being that close might be too painful.
Parvati kept giving her increasingly concerned looks every day, and when she was about to leave the room to visit Lucifer. She was awake and seemed to want to say something.
"What?!" she snapped.
Parvati shook her head. "You look like hell, Hermione. When are you sleeping with him again?"
"Not till Friday," she replied tersely.
She stared at the bushy-haired girl.
"What about now?"
"Morning blowjob, it's a habit by now..."
"Bollocks, does that also mean you can't come till Friday?"
"Yes," She answered with a corresponding blush.
"You're not going to make it."
Her glare pierced Parvati's head, "Of course I will!"
"Okay," She muttered placatingly. "But if you don't want other girls here to get suspicious, I suggest you tone it down with them."
Hermione's jaw clenched. She was right, but she was just so damn tense. After taking a deep breath, she nodded. "I know, I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I don't mean to be such a bitch."
Parvati wasn't used to the know-it-all apologizing to her. "I didn't take it personally. I'd be pretty edgy if I couldn't come for five days too."
Hermione stared at the floor with a distant expression, moments later she just left the room quietly.
xxxxxx
Two days of no progress on 'finding' anything out about House-Elves greatly frustrated the girl's mood even more. It was like the information just didn't exist, but without checking the Restricted Section, she would never know for sure. Lucifer had reassured her, deciding that Thursday night, he was taking a look inside.
She was in the Library that morning with her boyfriend, restraining herself from 'publicly humping' his leg. Blushing, Hermione looked down at her book and tried to read. It was impossible.
The chair rocked her plug deeper every time she moved her hips. The wet spot on her knickers was growing every minute. She now boldly stared at Lucifer's robes which covered far too much of him; she had to use her imagination to see beneath.
Staring blankly, Hermione followed his journey around the Library to see if he could just get Madam Pince to get any book on House-Elves in the Restricted Section out for him.
But she wasn't having it and they were arguing back and forth quietly, the topic seemed to change whether she could use magic in the first place.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh quietly at the thought of him arguing with a 'frail' old woman, who argued back just as viciously. He had come back a little later, letting out an exasperated sigh as he sat down.
"That miserable old bat isn't budging, I wonder if she even knows for sure if there are any books or not on the subject... tonight after Dinner I plan to go into the Restricted Section, I feel like you are just wasting time..."
"I know, we aren't making any headway with this, and it bothers me," Hermione answered him, letting out her own sigh, "The only reason this information would either not exist, or be incredibly difficult to find would be if--Someone wanted it left unfounded... I just can't imagine who nowadays would continue that trend of leaving it hidden. House-Elves, assuming they are treated with respect, don't complain about the work they do but that would take centuries or millennia to be absorbed into their mindset... something like that just doesn't happen overnight, or even over a year, generations of House Elf 'families' would have to be taught that..." She was trying to rack her brain around.
"Ahem, I know someone who might be helpful more than Hogwarts to go into details," he said, unsure if he wanted Hermione to know.
"Who?" She asked, practically jumping at the chance to speed this along.
"Well, the problem is, I don't know if he would answer me, he's all the way back at Silver City..."
"A-Are you... are you talking about..." Hermione was already talking in a whisper but she lowered her voice even more, barely making an audible noise, "Your o-older brother?"
"Yeah... he must be in Heaven, but I don't know how to ask him for his help especially after our fight...."
Their dilemma was problematic at best, and unsolvable at worst.
"He knew about the existence of the 'Wizarding World', if you can find a way to ask him for his help, that would be marvelous, Lucifer," Hermione was smiling at him.
"If I do, I'll let you know," he smiled back and they continued reading for 'Ancient Ruines' essay for the time being.
xxxxxx
After a short Lunch that day, they had gone to Library, but instead of looking through books, they just worked on Homework that wasn't due until the following week.
They both managed to get a fair bit done, which would free up their weekend to get Defense Homework done, and whatever was assigned tomorrow.
Just as the bell for Lunch Period ended, Hermione and Lucifer both hurried towards the 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' classroom. Not wanting to miss a second of Moody's class.
She was excited, but just to see how he taught, not really the class itself, and saw that Lucifer as well, even if he didn't show it much. With Alastor Moody being an Ex-Auror, and one of the best Ministry ever had, she knew that Lucifer was excited to see what a man like him could show them.
Over the past two days, discussions about Moody had been constant. Especially concerning his magical eye, the mystery baffled not just the students, even the professors greatly.
Mad-Eye Moody. What kind of class would he take? Even with his prosthetic leg, the students' respect and wariness hadn't diminished in the slightest. Those from wizarding 'families' knew his record. The rest had been thoroughly educated on it over the gap.
More importantly, there was Severus Snape's attitude.
The entire school knew that he dreamed of becoming a 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' professor. In the past, he'd treated anyone who took that position with thinly veiled hostility, always cold, often throwing his weight around as a senior and lacing his words with sarcasm.
But when it came to Alastor Moody, Snape showed unmistakable wariness. The two never met alone, and whenever they crossed paths in the corridors, he would 'deliberately' take a detour. Lucifer and Hermione ended up being the last two to arrive, "Sorry, been in the-"
"Library," Harry finished the girl's sentence for her, "Come on, quick, or we won't get decent seats."
They hurried to four seats near the front of the classroom, Hermione sitting on Lucifer's right side, and they took out their books for class.
'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.' And, waited patiently, unusually quiet, but Hermione saw Lucifer with his elbows on his desk, his eyes were closed. He leaned forward on the desk and looked peaceful. She also noticed he hadn't taken his book out.
Hermione was about to talk to him about that when they heard the 'familiar' clunking of a Wooden leg coming down the corridor. Ding!
The bell rang, signaling the start of fourth-year 'Defense Against the Dark Arts, Moody limped his way in, looking strange and frightening as ever.
Spotting a bushy haired menace flipping through 'Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection', Moody rapped his knuckles on her shared desk and said sternly, "Put that thing away. My class doesn't need books, and certainly not fairy tales."
She, and rest of the students obeyed at once. Soon, every desk was bare.
Hermione glanced at her boyfriend from her side with a pouty glare, wondering how he knew Professor wouldn't want their books out.
Noticing it was a similar thing to last year, and even Harry looked extra excited. Moody sat down on the teacher's chair, took out a register, shook his long mane of grizzled gray hair out of his twisted and scarred face, and began to call out names.
His normal eye went down the list as expected, but his large blue eye went to each student as they answered their name. He stopped ever so briefly on both Lucifer and Harry, she noticed, and when he was done with the register, he got right to it.
In truth, since the Malfoy incident, Lucifer wanted to study his eye purely for research. It seemed to allow the user to perceive magical phenomena, see concentrations of magic, but not its 'flow', enhanced perception obviously and granted x-ray vision to him, what others?
Could it see through an Invisibility Cloak, or would it just detect subtle traces and reveal that something was there? What about Harry Potter's true, which was definitely not the cheap knockoffs made from Demiguise hair or other materials.
Those usually came with an expiration date, a 'few' uses, or years, and they were done, but his was a family heirloom spanning who knew how many vast generations, and given by a Reaper, no less? Even so, the eye had given Lucifer, plenty of inspiration already, he was planning to create glasses with "similar effects."
"Right then, I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough understanding in tackling Dark Creatures, you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, and Werewolves, is that right?"
A general murmur of agreement was heard, Lucifer stayed quiet, though.
xxxxxx
"He did his job well enough," Moody said, giving Lupin brief credit before immediately changing tone, "But in my opinion, that's nowhere near enough. Because greatest danger doesn't come from Dark Creatures you might see once every eight hundred years. It comes from the classmates sitting around you."
The room exploded with murmurs. Students stared at him wide-eyed, that sounded downright alarmist. Even Hermione tilted her head, blinking as she looked at Lucifer. "Why are you looking at me?" he whispered, confused.
She giggled softly. "I think he's got a point, you're so dangerous~ Hehe~"
This old bastard was stirring the pot on purpose, Lucifer could already see it. Gryffindors and Slytherins were eyeing each other differently now.
Gryffindors scrutinized the snakes, looking for 'future' Dark wizards. Slytherins watching the lions warily, guessing which ones might one day haul them off in chains.
Moody was pleased with the tension he'd stirred up. In his opinion, Hogwarts had grown far too peaceful from his own days, the students were being raised like docile little lambs, stripped of any edge. No bite left in them. 'Conflict bred competition, which would drive progress.'
And Barty Crouch in disguise didn't think he was talking nonsense. The highest number of Dark wizards had come from Slytherin and Ravenclaw, that was simply a fact, he wasn't about to brand these students with labels. But would give 'Gryffindor' a warning. Still, when he saw the way the Gryffindor relaxing next second, something like 'frustration' crept into his chest.
Morningstar... that 'Mudblood' really was a walking imbalance, even worse, the Boy Who Lived, carrying on the banner. Harry Potter?
The thought flickered through Barty's mind, and he placed a bit of hope in the so-called 'Chosen One', to be powerful enough to force his Master to go into hiding for years, what was he like at Hogwarts? But when he actually looked over at Harry, he nearly choked on his own anger.
For Salazar's sake. Potter was grinning at him? And not just, he was practically anticipating what he would teach like a 'fool?'
"Enough," Moody coughed sharply, cutting through the thickening atmosphere, "What I'm saying is this: the Human heart is the hardest thing to read. More wizards have died at hands of their own kind than at the claws of Dark creatures. I agreed to fill in for Dumbledore for one ye---"
"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out.
Moody's magical eye spun around to glare at Ron, who was looking extremely apprehensive, from what Hermione could tell.
After a moment, he gave a wry smile.
It was the first she had seen him smile since he arrived, and it looked out of place on his scarred Visage.
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, yeah?" Moody asked him, and Ron nodded, "Your father helped me in a right spot of trouble a little while back... yeah, I'm staying just the one year. A special favor to Dumbledore. One year I will teach you how to fight your own, and then it's back to my quiet retirement." He gave a harsh, gravelly laugh and clapped his hands together, looking ready to get started.
"We've had some experience," A girl muttered under her breath, "Second-year Duelling Class."
"Oh?" Moody's expression twisted. "You mean that circus act of a dueling show? Little stick-waving game where both sides stand there like idiots taking turns? You hit me, I hit you?"
His face grew harsher, "That's not combat, it's not war. In real combat, your enemy won't attack you head-on. They won't wait for you to be ready before casting. They'll use whatever means necessary... 'to take your life."
The Classroom fell dead silent. True killing intent was rare in Wizarding world, it wasn't something you gained from taking one or two lives. It came from becoming accustomed to slaughter, 'from' growing numb to the value of human life.
And right now, the students could feel it radiating off Moody. A chill crept down their spines. They felt like fish laid out on a chopping board, a blade already resting against their throats.
"Scared already?" Moody's voice rang out clearly. "That's without me targeting you. If it were Death Eaters..." A thin, meaningful smile tugged at his lips, "You wouldn't even have the courage to lift your wands. If anyone disagrees, step up here right now. If you can cast two spells in my direction, I'll apologize on the spot."
Silence held.
Hermione looked tempted, ready to move, and pay back for being outed at reading fairy tales, but one glance at Moody's grim, twisted face was enough to make her reconsider.
Moody, for his part, quietly let out a breath, he'd never been a teacher before, but understood the importance of establishing authority. Last thing he needed was Morningstar jumping up to challenge him. And the little witch beside him feared nothing either, that would've been trouble.
The Master had 'warned,' he had a job to do, and was using Veritaserum on Alastair Moody to get the truth out of what that retired Auror would have taught if he was here.
"But you're behind, very behind on dealing with curses, you'd be clueless against proper Wizards!"
"The world's not that dangerous," Dean Thomas muttered rebelliously.
That caused Moody's magical eye snapped towards him instantly, "Thomas! Explain the Quidditch World Cup riots then, eh?"
The Gryffindor boy Dean fell silent. Many instinctively glanced at Lucifer, who remained impassive knowing what they were looking for.
"Never underestimate the dangers around you," Moody suddenly softened his tone, "First year a Death Eater teaching you. Second year, Basilisk attacks. Third year Black, the mass murderer out there, dangerous than others, that one. Clever."
His open words had many realised how perilous their past School years had truly been, "Yet Hogwarts 'remains' Britain's safest place. Because Dumbledore's here, because of exceptional teachers. You never know when two wizards might ambush you." Clenching his fist, he emphasized, "Constant vigilance! That's how you stay alive, time to open your eyes to the real world."
The Classroom atmosphere grew palpably tense.
"So, straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the 'Ministry of Magic,' I'm supposed to teach you Counter-Curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like if you're not in Sixth Year."
"You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it until then, but Professor Dumbledore has got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen?"
Moody's voice was getting louder and more gruff.
"A Witch or Wizard who's about to put an 'illegal curse' on you isn't going to explain what it's going to do to you. He or She's not going to be polite and in your face about it. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. And, YOU! need to put that away, Miss Brown, while I'm talking!"
Lavender had jumped and had reddened cheeks from being caught. From what Hermione could tell, she was showing Parvati a horoscope or something, but she couldn't tell from how far away the girl was.
"Mr. Morningstar, are you listening, or sleeping?" Moody asked Lucifer, as his eyes were still closed.
"Hanging on every word, Professor Moody," he said, narrowing his eyes to look at the man himself.
"Dumbledore said you were American, but I didn't believe it myself until just now," Moody gave a wry, crooked smile, "So, do any of you know Curses?"
Ron suddenly blurted out during the silence,"Professor... the 'Slug-Vomiting Charm?" Harry inwardly face palmed, and wanted to change his deskmate.
Hermione 'felt' numb, why was she chosen into Gryffindor again?
"What?" Moody seemed not to have heard clearly and asked again.
"Slug-Vomiting charm, the incantation is, Eat Slugs!" Ron said loudly.
It made Alastair Moody fell into deep silence until Ron's face turned as red as his hair before finally speaking, "Next time, you sit at the kids' table."
Ron sat down with his face burning red, burying his head deep in his arms. Moody stopped the other young wizards who were about to stand up and declared, "I hope you can distinguish between Charms, Curses, Jinxes, and Hexes. Before answering, use your brains so you don't appear utterly 'foolish!"
As he finished, Ron buried his head even lower while the others stared blankly at Moody, completely failing to grasp his meaning, "Bloody hell..." he muttered under his breath, "Do you really know nothing? Didn't your previous professors teach you this?"
Apart from Hermione and Lucifer, everyone else instinctively shook their heads. In their Understanding, spells were just spells, at most, divided into illegal Dark Magic and legal White Magic.
"Damn it." Moody stood up irritably. "I can't 'fathom' what you've been learning these years. It's only been decades, yet Hogwarts has declined this much. No wonder the new Aurors are getting worse with each batch. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, Before learning spells, you must properly understand classifications to determine whether you're heading straight for Azkaban."
Gryffindors and Slytherin's alike gazed at Moody with eager curiosity, this was an entirely new territory for them. Under their collective anticipation, he finally spoke.
"Aside from 'Transfiguration' and some obscure special categories, all spells are fundamentally classified into four types."
"First are Charms. These spells don't alter an object's inherent nature-like the Levitation Spell, Summoning Charm, Fire-Making Spell, or Freezing Spell. They're ordinary charms."
Zabini, who had just returned from recovery, shuddered violently upon hearing "Summoning Charm."
"Next are Jinxes. These are the lowest level of harmful spells, like the Levitation Spell, Trip Jinx, or Dancing Feet Spell. They don't cause serious harm."
"Then come Hexes." Here, Moody glanced at Ron, who had lifted his head to listen attentively, "What Weasley mentioned earlier, the 'Slug-vomiting Hex,' falls under this category. These spells have more severe effects than Jinxes but are still manageable.They usually have counter-curses, and most can be negated with the universal General Counter-Spell. Now, Mr Weasley, do you understand? If using a mere Hex warranted Azkaban, the place would've burst at the seams long ago."
Ron hung his head in shame.
Finally, Moody took a deep breath, his expression turning grave, "Last are Curses. Let me clarify, not all Curses are Dark Magic. The 'Body-Bind' and 'Stunning Spell' are Curses, but all Dark Magic is categorised as Curses. I hope you grasp this distinction."
A sea of young heads nodded vigorously, Moody took a swig from his 'flask' after speaking so much in one breath, "Now, what are those most heavily 'punishable' by Wizarding Law?"
Lucifer's hand shot up, as did Hermione's and Ron's albeit shaky, she glanced over and saw that his sleeve had fallen down, revealing the minor scars on his arm, he didn't put Glamour for. 'He must not care if people see them...' She thought to herself.
Moody ended up pointing at Ron again, to give the boy attention for Arthur's favour, "Er," he said, as though he didn't expect to be called on, "My dad told me about one... Is it called the 'Imperius Curse,' or something?"
"Ah, yes," Moody said appreciatively, "Your father 'would' know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."
Lucifer knew immediately he was talking about the last time Voldemort was terrorizing the British Isles. 'Determining whether someone is under the Imperius Curse is extremely challenging for Wizard. Back in the day, many of his followers claimed they'd been Imperiused to escape trial. Malfoys even donated a huge pile of gold to the Ministry, and that was the end of it....'
Harry nodded subtly who had heard a bit from Charlie before, suddenly stood up, "Professor, I also know the 'Corrosion Curse."
"A common Dark Magic spell. Using it alone won't land you in Azkaban, but causing injury carries a sentence ranging 'from' three months to five years, depending on severity."
Disappointed, Harry sat back down, he'd hoped this spell might send Malfoy away for good, clearly that wasn't happening.
But it made Lucifer think of 'Engorgio Skull Curse', Amelia Bones mustered up her courage to name that spell, after she gave birth to their daughter Elizabeth, it was an extremely vicious curse. Using it on a person, even without killing them, warranted at least 'five' years in prison. 'The Bones family truly gave their all. Apart from the living fossil, the only surviving member of Susan' parents' generation was Amelia Bones, the rest had been brutally murdered by Voldemort's followers....'
Susan's parents had died by that very curse. Compared to the clean efficiency of the 'Killing' Curse, this spell was far more torturous.
Lucifer sighed heavily, his gaze sweeping across the classroom, eyes dimmed momentarily, but he witnessed too much Life and Death, he quickly gained his composure.
"Gut-Extracting Curse."
"Three years."
"Poison Mist Curse."
"Six months."
"Plague Curse."
"Depends on Death toll, maximum sentence has no upper limit."
"Bone-Extracting Curse."
"One year," Moody saying that, got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it.
Lucifer caught movement out of his eyes and he saw Ron recoil at the sight of the spiders, he did hate them after all.
Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the Spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it clearly. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
The spider suddenly leapt from Moody's scarred hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk.
It then began to cartwheel in circles, then Moody jerked his wand and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance. Everyone was laughing at the spider, everyone except for Moody, and Lucifer. That did not go unnoticed by Hermione, who stopped laughing immediately.
"Think it's 'funny, do you?" He growled his question towards them, "you'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The rest of the laughter died away almost instantly.
"Total control," Moody said quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over around the table.
"I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..." Ron gave an involuntary shudder at that, Harry saw out of his peripheral.
"Years back, there were a lot of Witches and Wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Mood said gruffly, "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced, and who was acting of their own free will."
"The 'Imperius Curse' can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better to avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
He suddenly barked, causing everyone but Lucifer to jump, the. picked up somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.
"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Lucifer saw Hermione's hand shoot up again, he didn't bother raising his hand that time, he saw no reason to.
"Yes?" He heard Moody say, but it was not Hermione that he had called on.
"There's one, the 'Cruciatus Curse..." It was Neville who said from behind, his voice was small but distinct.
Alastair Moody seemed to be looking very intently at Neville with both of his eyes, "Your name's Longbottom?" He asked, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again.
Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desk, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
"The 'Cruciatus Curse..." Moody said, looking at the spider, "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said quietly, pointing his wand at the spider, "Engorgio!"
The Spider swelled to a size that was considerably larger than a Tarantula, but just barely smaller than a Chihuahua.
Lucifer suddenly heard the skidding of a chair, and he looked and saw Ron had scooted his chair back away from Moody's desk as much as he possibly could. The Professor pointed his wand at the now massive spider and muttered, "Crucio!"
He just watched as the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. Lucifer couldn't hear anything, obviously, but if he could, he'd imagine the most agonizing, head-splitting, heartbreaking scream possible would be heard right then.
Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently as the pain no doubt got to be more and more unbearable.
"Stop it!" Hermione suddenly said in a shrilly voice right beside him, Lucifer glanced at her, and he saw that she was looking at Neville, he too looked at the round-faced boy and saw that his hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.
Moody lifted his wand and the spider relaxed immediately, occasional spasm from the post-Curse use.
"Reducio," he said and the spider shrank back to the normal size, before being thrown back into the jar.
"Pain," Moody said softly, "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the 'Cruciatus Curse... That one was very popular at one time too." he then placed both eyes upon Hermione, "So, Miss Granger, perhaps you'd like to tell me the last 'Unforgivable Curse?"
Hermione shook her head, a few tears having rolled down her eyes. Just before Moody could goad her into saying it, Lucifer said it for them both.
"Avada Kedavra," his voice was clear for the whole classroom to hear.
Moody looked at him with both eyes.
"The Killing Curse," Lucifer said and looked at Moody with both eyes.
"The last... 'and worst..." The Professor returned to the spiders and took the last one out. It had tried to make itself as small as possible, seemingly knowing what was about to happen.
When it was on the desk, it began scuttling away frantically across the wooden surface. Moody aimed his wand and spoke the very words Lucifer had seconds ago.
"Avada Kedavra!" He roared, and Hermione's eyes twitched reactively. The last time she'd heard the Curse from Lucifer, who proved himself to be an immortal being, that changed her life upside down.
Lucifer obviously didn't have a problem saying it himself, he didn't know why Moody saying it bothered him.
Hermione looked away just as the green spell had hit the spider. She was doing everything she could to keep herself from breaking; she couldn't believe how 'barbaric' Moody was.
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