Under the terrified gazes of the students, Moody slowly lowered his wand.
He turned his head, fixing his prominent magical false eye intently on Maurise.
"You are late," he said in a calm tone. "Find a seat. I will demonstrate the spell we just covered one more time."
Only then did Maurise realize the man had indeed just cast the Killing Curse.
Was the curriculum this bold this term? It was quite unexpected!
His interest was instantly piqued. Although it was highly unlikely, he asked anyway, "Professor, are we learning the Killing Curse today?"
Moody shook his head, explaining like a normal professor would. "You cannot learn this. I am demonstrating it so you know what it looks like, not so you can try it yourselves. It is illegal for any wizard to learn this magic on their own, unless you are a high-ranking Auror."
After speaking, he let his false eye roll entirely around, exposing a massive expanse of white that looked exceptionally terrifying.
Hearing this, Maurise said with a hint of regret, "What a pity... er, I mean, how fascinating."
Moody gave him a look before calling out loudly, "Get to your seat, boy."
Maurise obediently walked to the edge of the room and sat down next to Kyle. The seat was empty, seemingly saved just for him.
"Isn't it a bit much to demonstrate the three Unforgivable Curses in class?" Kyle whispered.
"I think it is fine," Maurise replied.
After all, their instructor this time was a retired veteran Auror, a ruthless character who had supposedly filled half the cells in Azkaban. Demonstrating a few dark spells was not exactly out of character for him.
"By the way," Maurise asked suddenly, "where is Sirius?"
"Professor Moody told us Sirius is handling the classes for the first through third years," Kyle sighed. "Honestly, I would much rather take Sirius's class."
Maurise nodded. It seemed the hierarchy between Sirius and Moody was crystal clear.
At that moment, Moody slammed his hand against the desk to command their attention. "I am going to demonstrate the three Unforgivable Curses one more time. Does anyone want a closer look?"
The classroom instantly grew even quieter. Maurise felt Kyle's breathing hitch and grow shallow beside him.
Moody slowly swept his gaze across the students, looking from left to right.
"It seems you all require a great deal more schooling," Moody grunted. "You will have plenty more opportunities to see this kind of magic in the future."
He then pulled another spider from a glass jar.
"Imperio!"
"Crucio!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
He demonstrated them all in succession once more.
Maurise felt that his classmates were not particularly enthusiastic. Even when he took the lead and clapped, no one joined in.
How strange. The Ravenclaw students should have been highly intrigued by spells they normally never got to see.
After the second demonstration concluded, Moody stepped out from behind the podium and unhurriedly walked over to Maurise. The false eye stopped spinning, fixing on the boy alongside his normal eye.
"What is your name?" he asked.
Though slightly perplexed, Maurise answered, "Maurise Black."
Moody nodded. "Black. Very good."
He reached out and patted Maurise twice on the shoulder. "Are you interested in the Dark Arts?"
Hearing this question made Maurise feel a bit helpless. What was he supposed to say? Could he possibly admit to being interested? If he did that, Dumbledore would certainly summon him for a thorough chat. Some things were better kept strictly to oneself.
Therefore, Maurise could only put on a sincere expression. "No, Professor. I just believe that knowing what the enemy is capable of is always better than being completely ignorant."
"Hmph," Moody grunted softly. He said nothing more and returned to the podium. "Now we move on to today's actual material. I am going to teach you a few practical defensive spells..."
---
The reception of Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was highly polarized.
Among the Ravenclaws, the vast majority of students were terrified of the class, or rather, terrified of Moody himself.
In the following lessons, Moody only escalated things further. He demonstrated even more dark magic. While these spells were not as powerful as the three Unforgivable Curses, they were incredibly bizarre and covered a wide variety of effects.
Maurise could only recognize about half of them. This was immensely useful to him. If he ever encountered them in the future, he would know how to counter them with the appropriate counter-curses or jinxes.
Unfortunately, Moody's dark magic demonstrations only lasted for three days before they were abruptly halted. It was quite a shame.
The rumor Maurise heard was that a student's parent had written a formal complaint to Dumbledore, severely criticizing a professor for teaching dangerous magic in the classroom. However, no one knew for sure what had actually happened.
Before they knew it, the first weekend at Hogwarts had arrived.
That morning, Maurise was enjoying breakfast in the Great Hall as usual. Toasted bread, sizzling bacon, and pumpkin juice sat steaming on his plate, looking incredibly appetizing.
Maurise's mind, however, was entirely elsewhere. He was pondering a crucial question: exactly what level was his current magical strength at?
He was certainly more than capable compared to ordinary students, and he had smoothly dealt with two rookie Aurors in the past, but those were ultimately just minor skirmishes. He wanted to know exactly how wide the gap was between him and a top-tier wizard when fighting without the assistance of his undead creatures. This would also serve to somewhat gauge Sclep's true power.
Reaching this conclusion, Maurise stood up immediately.
"What is wrong?" Kyle asked beside him. "Is there a problem?"
"I need to step out for a bit," Maurise said. "See you later."
He briskly left the Great Hall the moment he finished speaking.
Seeing this, Kyle blinked in confusion. Judging by Maurise's urgency, it had to be something incredibly important.
In reality, Maurise simply wanted to find a few professors for a practical combat test. He needed to see if he would feel as completely powerless against them as he had against Sclep.
The first candidate that popped into his mind was Moody. Moody was a retired veteran Auror, and judging from his past exploits, his combat experience had to be unparalleled. Although he was getting on in years, age was not an issue in magic.
Maurise soon arrived at the door to Moody's office, located right next to the classroom. After a few knocks, the door quickly swung open.
"Oh, it is you, Black."
Moody poked his head out and scrutinized both ends of the corridor for a moment before stepping aside to let Maurise in. He then shut the door tightly and locked it. The room was exceedingly dark, with the curtains drawn completely shut.
To his surprise, Maurise noticed that Sirius was also present. The man was sitting on a simple wooden chair beside the desk, lazily sipping a cup of coffee.
"Good morning," Sirius said. "You have caught us at a bad time. Professor Moody and I are currently discussing the curriculum."
Moody fiddled with a massive Sneakoscope on his desk. He gave a soft grunt and said, "The curriculum can wait until later. Maurise, what brings you here?"