Professor Moody certainly knew Neville, or rather—he knew Neville's parents, Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom.
Both were senior members of the Phoenix Society and made great contributions in the resistance against the Death Eaters and Voldemort's dark forces.
More than a decade ago, Frank and his wife Alice were captured by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters and were subjected to the cruel torture of the Drilling Curse. This torture drove Frank insane, and Alice suffered severe mental trauma, losing her memory and being unable to recognize her own son, Neville Longbottom.
Back then, Professor Moody was also a member of the Phoenix Society.
However, he didn't call Neville's name first. After searching among the students, he chose Ron.
"Mr. Weasley." Professor Moody pointed at Ron.
But his mad eye remained fixedly staring at Seamus, preventing him from sticking gum under the desk again.
Seamus stayed rigid and motionless, afraid that this somewhat crazy professor would do something ruthless to him.
Ron stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "It's like this, Professor, I know a spell called the 'Imperius Curse.'"
"Ah, yes," Moody said appreciatively, "your father must know that spell... Back in the day, the Imperius Curse caused a lot of trouble for the Ministry of Magic."
He waved his hand, signaling Ron to sit down.
After Ron sat down, Professor Moody picked up his magic wand and flicked it to open the box he had placed in the classroom.
Three bottles flew out of the box and slowly landed on the podium.
Inside, they contained large black spiders that didn't look like mildly poisonous species. The red spots indicated that they were highly venomous spiders not to be trifled with.
Ron swallowed a gulp of saliva. Although he was doing well in learning curses now, he was still quite afraid of spiders.
Moody reached into the bottle, grabbed a spider, disregarding its violent struggle and snapping pincers, and placed it on his open palm for everyone to see.
"What a lovely little beauty..." he sighed in a soft voice.
Then he pointed his wand at it, murmuring, "Engorgio!"
The spider bloated up, and Ron swallowed again, discreetly sliding his chair back.
"Imperio!"
The spider jumped off Moody's hand, suspended by a thin thread, swinging back and forth as if sitting on a high swing.
It stiffened its legs straight, then flipped over, breaking the thread.
It fell onto the table and began tumbling around in circles.
Moody flicked his wand again, and it stood up on two hind legs, starting to dance a tap dance, yes, a tap dance.
Everyone laughed—but not Moody.
"You think it's funny, right?" he asked gruffly, "Would you like it if I did this to you?"
The laughter almost immediately died away.
"Completely under my control," Moody said softly—at this, the spider curled into a ball and started rolling around, "I could make it jump out the window, or drown itself, or jump down one of your throats..."
Upon hearing this, Ron's expression froze as if a spider really crawled down his throat.
At this moment, he felt a bit dejected.
Why the heck does he have such a good imagination!?
"Years ago, many wizards were controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said, "I'm talking about—when Voldemort's power was at its peak, that time really kept the Ministry of Magic busy, trying to figure out who was coerced and who acted of their own free will."
As he said this, Professor Moody's mad eye was no longer fixed on Seamus but was staring intently in Draco's direction.
Noticing Professor Moody's gaze, Draco reluctantly snorted.
Of course, he knew that Professor Moody was hinting at him.
Before the school term began, Draco was specifically called by his father, Lucius, to be warned against letting that Mad-Eyed Man Moody catch anything on him at school.
In Lucius's words, Moody is someone who targets people, not the matter, and once he decides someone is a problem, he absolutely won't let them off.
Draco, of course, would remember his father's advice, so now he just kept his head down.
"The Imperius Curse can be resisted, and I will teach you the method, but it requires a strong sense of character, not everyone can master it—you'd better try to avoid being hit by it."
"Stay vigilant at all times!" Professor Moody suddenly shouted, startling everyone.
He seemed quite satisfied with how startled the students were.
"Does anyone else know any other spells? Unforgivable Curses?" he continued to ask.
This time, Moody looked at the students before him and chose Neville to answer the question.
"You." He pointed toward Neville, "You answer."
"There's the Cruciatus Curse," Neville said, his face unchanged. "The spell is 'Crucio,' it's a very evil dark magic. Anyone hit by the Cruciatus Curse will feel excruciating pain throughout their body, with drilling agony making the victim wish they were dead. If the curse isn't stopped, the victim will suffer to the point of insanity, even death."
When he mentioned the torture to madness, Neville's face briefly turned pale, but he still resolutely detailed his answer.