"Now, let me test your foundations. Which spells do you know of that receive the harshest punishment under wizarding law?" Mad-Eye Moody swept his gaze over the young witches and wizards, his eyes full of meaning.
Most of the students were afraid of Mad-Eye Moody, but for the sake of house points, some still raised their hands with trembling reluctance. Hermione, the resident top student, was naturally among them.
Moody, however, did not call on Hermione. Instead, he pointed at Ron off to the side and said, "Come on, Mr. Weasley. You answer."
Ron was clearly not very confident in his answer. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Er, well, my dad once told me about a spell called the Imperius Curse, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's right." Mad-Eye Moody nodded approvingly. "Your father would certainly know that curse. Back during the war against the Death Eaters, it caused the Ministry of Magic a great deal of trouble."
Moody walked back to the lectern, opened the drawer on top of it, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were crawling wildly inside. He pulled one of the spiders out, then actually raised his wand at it and said, "Imperio!"
The spider froze in Moody's palm. A second later, it flipped over and began to dance.
Yes, the spider was dancing.
Faced with such a ridiculous sight, many of the students burst into laughter, but Harry did not laugh. He looked strangely at Mad-Eye Moody standing at the front of the classroom. Was he seriously demonstrating an Unforgivable Curse in front of a room full of students? If someone reported him, was he sure he would not be dismissed? There was even a decent chance he would be thrown into Azkaban.
The students clearly had no idea what this meant. They did not understand just how evil the Imperius Curse was. They only thought the dancing spider was amusing.
At that moment, Moody swept his gaze across the room, and his face twisted slightly. He could hardly wait to see what sort of terrified expressions these students would make if they were controlled by the Imperius Curse.
Of course, for the sake of his master's great plan, he could not directly attack these students. But he could still use other methods to see the fearful faces that pleased him.
Mad-Eye Moody suddenly pointed his wand at the students. His voice turned rough, and his expression became savage as he said, "You think this is funny, do you? Would you like it if I used it on you?"
Sure enough, the moment he said that, every student showed fear on their face, which delighted Mad-Eye Moody.
But his gaze soon landed on Harry, who was sitting off to the side. There was not the slightest trace of fear on Harry's face. He was merely staring at him with an unreadable smile.
That reminded him of his companions who had been struck terribly by lightning. The image of their skin charred black and rotting all over made him shudder. He did not dare keep looking at Harry, so he shifted his gaze away.
Now he could no longer feel happy. His own weakness filled him with irritation.
Mad-Eye Moody roared inwardly, Damn you, Harry Potter. Once the master is revived, we'll make you pay!
Then he suddenly froze as a thought occurred to him.
Right now, his identity was Mad-Eye Moody, and he was also Hogwarts's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Perhaps he could use his position as a professor to investigate some of Harry Potter's powerful magic.
If he could learn detailed information about Harry Potter's mysterious and powerful spells, the Death Eaters could prepare targeted countermeasures against him, and the master would be able to defeat him more easily.
A short while later, Mad-Eye Moody continued demonstrating the three Unforgivable Curses.
In front of all the students, he used the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse. After witnessing those cruel spells, the students became even more afraid of him.
After the demonstration ended, Mad-Eye Moody did not stop. Instead, he faced the students with a solemn expression and said, "The reason the Unforgivable Curses are unforgivable is that they have no countercurse. Once cast, they inevitably cause extremely serious consequences. Of course, apart from the Unforgivable Curses, there are other powerful spells in the wizarding world. Do any of you know any?"
One student shouted, "I've heard of ancient spells! Potter knows ancient spells too, that's why he's so strong!"
Mad-Eye Moody's eyes lit up. Inwardly, he gave the student a thumbs-up. What an excellent assist!
Using that student's words, he smoothly shifted the topic toward Harry. "But apart from the three Unforgivable Curses, ancient magic also contains tremendous power. In fact, ancient spells can be even more powerful than the three Unforgivable Curses. Of course, because ancient magic possesses such formidable strength, most ancient magic has few countercurses. I've actually been quite curious about ancient magic myself. Mr. Potter, would you be willing to enlighten us?"
The moment Mad-Eye Moody began speaking, Harry had already guessed what he wanted to do.
He simply wanted to gather intelligence for Voldemort so they could come up with countermeasures against him.
But under the suppression of absolute power, how much use could a little information really have?
Harry decided to tell them about the spells he had used in the wizarding world before.
"That's right. I have indeed mastered some ancient spells, such as the Obliteration Curse, lightning spells, and so on."
Mad-Eye Moody had not expected Harry to be so utterly unguarded that he would directly tell everyone information about the magic he had mastered. Excited, he pressed, "Those are all spells even your teacher has never heard of. Could you tell me more detailed information about them?"
Harry stared at Mad-Eye Moody for several seconds. Just as Moody began feeling uncomfortable all over and was about to give up, Harry said, "Words alone are too inadequate to let everyone clearly perceive the power of ancient magic. How about this, Professor Moody? You and I duel. You use the Unforgivable Curses, and I use ancient magic. What do you think?"
Mad-Eye Moody wanted to refuse. He certainly did not think he was a match for Harry Potter.
But this was an excellent opportunity to gather information on Harry Potter, and he could not give it up. So he gritted his teeth and said, "Of course. Come then, Mr. Potter!"
By the time Defense Against the Dark Arts ended, all the students were staring at Harry and Mad-Eye Moody with strange expressions.
Harry's robe hem was slightly dirty, while Mad-Eye Moody was covered in scorched marks from lightning strikes.
On the way out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hermione hesitated for a while before saying, "Harry, weren't you a little too harsh just now? Mad-Eye Moody looked badly injured."
Harry shook his head. "Don't worry, Hermione. He's fine."
Ron, walking beside them, also asked in confusion, "Why do I keep feeling like Mad-Eye Moody is a bit weak? I mean, he still counts as very strong among adult wizards, but he doesn't quite match the legendary Mad-Eye Moody's strength, does he? You know, more than half the dark wizards in Azkaban were sent there by him. Without powerful magic, how could he have achieved something that incredible?"
Harry sighed inwardly. Ron might not be the brightest, but his intuition had always been sharp. Every now and then, he managed to point out truths that ordinary people failed to notice.
But Harry had no intention of letting Ron know Mad-Eye Moody's true identity. That would still be too dangerous for him.
Harry said calmly, "Maybe Professor Moody thought I was still a student, so he held back."
"All right, I guess that makes sense." Ron spread his hands. "But is it possible you're just too strong?"
In the blink of an eye, several months had passed since the start of term, and Halloween Eve had now arrived.
This date was special. The students not only had to prepare for Halloween, they were also looking forward to the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang at Hogwarts.
After all, once those two schools arrived, the Triwizard Tournament would begin.
That day, the air was filled with a joyful sense of anticipation.
In class, no one focused on the lessons. Everyone was thinking about the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, who would be arriving that evening.
After the day's classes ended, the students were led by the professors to the open grounds in front of the castle.
The students were all discussing what method the representatives from the two magic schools would use to arrive at Hogwarts.
Some thought they would take a train. Others thought they would arrive on flying broomsticks. Even more students believed they would come to Hogwarts by Portkey.
They did not have to wait long. At that moment, Dumbledore, standing in the back row with the other teachers, called out, "Ah! Unless I am mistaken, the Beauxbatons delegation has arrived!"
"Where?" many students asked eagerly, looking around in every direction.
"There!" shouted a sixth-year student, pointing above the Forbidden Forest.
A colossal object was sweeping rapidly across the deep blue sky, flying toward the castle and growing larger and larger.
"It's a dragon!" a first-year student screamed, so excited he did not know what to do.
"Don't be stupid. It's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey said.
Dennis's guess was closer. When the huge black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and was illuminated by the light from the castle windows, they saw a massive powder-blue carriage flying toward them.
It was as large as a house, and twelve winged horses pulled it through the air. They were all silver-maned Abraxans, each one roughly the size of an elephant.
Soon, the carriage landed on the ground, and the carriage door opened.
A boy in light-blue robes jumped down from the carriage and unfolded a golden staircase. Then he respectfully sprang aside, and everyone saw a woman descend from the carriage. That woman was so large she could rival Hagrid.
But unlike Hagrid, this woman had a very beautiful face and a pair of large, watery eyes.
Compared to her, Hagrid looked far too rough around the edges.
After the woman descended from the carriage, she came before Dumbledore and extended her hand for him to kiss.
Dumbledore smiled and said, "My dear Madame Maxime, welcome to Hogwarts."
Madame Maxime smiled in return. "Dumbledore, I hope you are well."
After Madame Maxime came down, more young witches and wizards continued descending from the carriage.
There were about a dozen boys and girls in total, with an average age of around eighteen or nineteen. They were dressed rather thinly and looked cold, their bodies trembling slightly.
Dumbledore suggested they go into the castle to warm up and avoid catching a cold, and they agreed before entering the castle.
Soon, Dumbledore reappeared, waiting for the delegation from the other school to arrive.
This time, the wait was even shorter. Before long, a ship slowly rose from beneath the surface of the Black Lake.
A man walked down from the ship, embraced Dumbledore tightly, and laughed. "Dumbledore, my dear old fellow, how are you?"
"Excellent, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.
After that, Durmstrang's students walked out of the ship. Unlike the Beauxbatons students in silk robes, they were all wearing fur cloaks and looked very warm.
Once everyone had arrived, Dumbledore led the Durmstrang delegation toward the Great Hall.
After all the students entered the Great Hall and sat down at their respective house tables, the teachers came in. They filed toward the staff table and took their seats.
The last to enter were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime.
After the three of them sat down, Dumbledore stood up and smiled at the foreign students. "Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts, and honored guests. It is with great joy that I welcome you to Hogwarts. I hope and believe that you will find your stay here comfortable and pleasant. The tournament will officially begin at the end of the feast."
As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, the plates in front of everyone filled with food as usual.
There were some foods even Harry had never seen before. They were probably dishes from other countries in the wizarding world.
Clearly, in order to accommodate the delegations from other countries, the house-elves in the kitchen had put in a great deal of effort.
Just as Harry was chatting with Hermione and Ron, a girl wrapped in a headscarf suddenly came to his side and stared at him without blinking.
When Hermione saw that this beautiful girl kept staring at Harry, she puffed out her cheeks, extremely displeased.
Harry was also a little puzzled. He recognized that this girl was a young witch from Beauxbatons, so he asked in confusion, "Er, hello. Is there something you need?"
Once she saw Harry turn his gaze toward her, the young witch finally lowered the headscarf, revealing a waterfall of beautiful silver-blond hair.
"You are Harry Potter, yes? I am Fleur Delacour. It is a pleasure to meet you."
This young witch named Fleur clearly knew how to make use of her advantages. She blinked at Harry, lifted her chest, and raised her head proudly like a white swan.
She was indeed very attractive like this. Ron, standing nearby, had long since gone completely dazed.
Of course, that could not really be blamed on Ron. In just a moment, Harry had already realized that this young witch had Veela blood and possessed supernatural charm.
Harry naturally would not be hostile toward someone greeting him with a smile. He reached out and shook Fleur's hand, saying gently, "I'm Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you."
Hermione, standing to the side, quietly clicked her tongue. Her voice was very soft, but everyone nearby could hear it clearly.
Clearly, Miss Otter was jealous.
Fleur glanced at Hermione beside him, then immediately withdrew her gaze.
A very cute little girl, but she was still young and had not fully grown into herself yet. She was no match for her.
She continued speaking to Harry.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.