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In the early 12th century, a Christian wizard claimed that Fiendfyre wasn't an earthly flame at all, but a demonic one from the depths of hell. While the majority of wizards didn't believe in Christianity or a higher power, they did agree with his idea. No matter how you looked at it, the properties of Fiendfyre didn't seem to come from this world.
But this Christian wizard would never have been recorded in history if he had just stated that theory. He dedicated his entire life to the study of Fiendfyre, and just before he died, he finally created a counter-curse to suppress it.
The curse was called Infernal Flame's Annihilation.
This was a spell that could throw the Fiendfyre into another dimension, causing it to vanish. Whether that dimension was hell or not was a mystery, as no wizard had ever been bored enough to go and find out.
However, while there was a counter-curse for Fiendfyre, the spell itself was incredibly difficult to cast, even more so than the Patronus Charm or becoming an Animagus. The average wizard could never hope to learn it. Across the entire wizarding world, only a handful of wizards knew the counter-curse, and "Moody" happened to be one of them.
His wand tip erupted with a shower of red sparks that flew out and touched the deep red flames. The air around the flames began to twist and warp, and then the fire, which was said to burn everything, disappeared along with a chunk of the wall behind it. He kept flicking his wand, and each time a new spark flew out, it consumed a piece of the demonic flame.
Before long, the Fiendfyre in the room was completely gone.
"Moody" let out a sigh of relief. He looked at Harry with a complicated expression. It was just unbelievable. He was only a fourth-year, and his spell was so incredibly powerful. A curse he hadn't even been properly taught had nearly gone out of control. It was a good thing he hadn't actually let the students throw an "Avada" at him during the first class; if Harry had, it would have been a lot more than a simple nosebleed.
Harry looked back at "Moody," his eyes a bit shifty. He'd actually been about to say that he knew the spell, but "Moody" hadn't given him the chance. Now the whole ceiling of the dorm was scorched.
He wasn't going to have to pay for that, was he?
"Professor Moody, now that you've seen Harry's Fiendfyre, I think it's my turn," Dudley said, interrupting their thoughts.
"Wait a minute," Moody quickly called out. "Let's go outside." He knew for a fact that the boy named Dudley had even more raw talent than Harry. If Harry had almost set the room on fire, what would Dudley do? He didn't care about the room, since it was Hogwarts's property, but the chest he carried was a different matter. That was important for the future...
He wisely chose to be cautious.
As "Moody" had predicted, Dudley's Fiendfyre was several times larger than Harry's. If Harry's was the size of a fist to start, Dudley's was the size of a wok. If that level of Fiendfyre had been cast in a classroom or dorm, it probably could have set Hogwarts on fire.
"The most important thing when dealing with Fiendfyre is controlling its form..."
Seeing that Dudley and Harry were now able to successfully summon the demonic flames, "Moody" summoned some Fiendfyre himself and began the second stage of the lesson: control.
Teaching a powerful enemy is supposed to be the worst thing you can do, but when teaching Dudley and Harry about Fiendfyre, this "Professor Moody" was incredibly dedicated. He taught them almost hand-in-hand, and as a result, the two of them learned at a phenomenal pace.
Fiendfyre is a very special type of flame. Its most dangerous characteristic, besides burning everything, is that it can't tell friend from foe. In theory, if you have a higher level of control over Fiendfyre, you can even take control of an opponent's Fiendfyre when they cast it. On top of that, it's an incredibly versatile spell.
Powerful wizards can make Fiendfyre take any form they want, like a giant snake, a monstrous giant, or even a giant version of their own head. Paired with its natural properties, Fiendfyre is far more powerful than most other spells.
And not all Fiendfyre is a deep red. There's a special blue Fiendfyre, a sinister black one, and an eerie green one—all different variations that are more powerful than the normal red form and possess their own unique properties.
You could say that not all Dark wizards know Fiendfyre, but every truly powerful Dark wizard has a powerful command of it.
In just two weeks, Dudley had already mastered Fiendfyre. A month later, he had even learned its counter-curse, the Annihilation of Flame, while Harry had just started to get a basic handle on the spell. Seeing their ridiculous progress, especially Dudley's, "Moody" suddenly felt like he might have made a terrible mistake by teaching them.
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On the edge of the Forbidden Forest, not far from Hagrid's hut, the members of the Discipline Squad were gathered around a fire, sick of the food from the Great Hall.
To accommodate the foreign students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, Hogwarts's dining tables often featured strange and unfamiliar dishes.
For example, a weird-looking concoction called "Stargazy pie" (also known as: "Sardines' Life Was Not Worth It") was brazenly served on the table. A bunch of dead fish heads with lifeless eyes sticking out of a pastry crust was a truly unsettling sight, let alone something you'd want to eat. Even Hermione, who was open to food from different countries, avoided that dish. If she could happily eat the fish stew that Ron, Neville, and Malfoy found inedible, you can imagine how truly "dark" this pie was.
As for everyone else... just the smell was a torture. They say the first time it was served, Ron threw up right there in the Great Hall. Yet, the Beauxbatons students, who seemed so delicate, loved the dish. Every time Hermione and the others saw them happily devouring it, they felt sick to their stomach, both physically and psychologically.
Another example was the "Ice Cream Caramel Apple Pie," a dessert so cloyingly sweet that it was too much even for sugar-loving Englishmen. The caramel in the pie was even sweeter than the scoop of ice cream on top, like a concentrated syrup of countless different sugars. It was utterly inedible. Yet, the Durmstrang students ate it with gusto, asking for seconds after finishing their first slice.
These were just a few examples. The tables had been overrun by these culinary horrors. In Ron's words, there wasn't even a single roasted chicken leg to be found. What was there to eat?
"Hey, D," Ron asked, pointing to a can in Dudley's hand with yellow and red packaging. "What's that tin thing?"
"This?"
Dudley shook the can in his hand. "This is a wonderful thing, a delicious German food. It's called surströmming."
"Want to try some?"
( Note: Stargazy pie is not a "dark" English dish, and its exact origins are unknown. However, the English people do say they have never eaten it.)