Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 5: Alastair Frightens People out of Their Wits

Alastair Moody stomped into his classroom, glowering at the students, his mechanical eye spinning around in random directions. He was holding three jars, each with a single spider in them.

"Put those away," he growled, waving his hands vaguely.

All of the students stared at him, confused.

Moody rolled his eyes, the mechanical one spinning so fast it made Harry dizzy. "Your books." He continued to mutter under his breath. "How am I supposed to teach such thick-headed students?"

"Right! So I've gotten a letter from Professor Lupin, who's told me that you covered a good amount of magical creatures. But you are behind-very behind-on dealing with curses. The Ministry allows me to teach you countercurses, but that isn't enough for you to survive in the real world. Dumbledore agrees with me on this as well. So do any of you know which curses are most punishable by wizard law?"

Ron raised his hand tentatively. "Uh. My dad told me about the ... Imperius Curse?"

Moody nodded, smiling in a manner that almost looked evil. "Yes, your father would know about the Imperius Curse. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble a while back."

Moody unscrewed the lid from the jar, then aimed his wand at the spider inside. "Imperio!"

The spider started jumping around. Moody twitched his wand, sending the creature flying across the room like a badly tossed disk. The entire class was roaring with laughter, until he dangled it above Ron's face. Ron immediately stopped laughing, and looked utterly terrified.

Draco Malfoy let out a large cackle at Ron's misfortune.

"Think that's funny, do you?" Moody asked, his eye spinning to look at Malfoy. He waved his wand slightly and the spider dangled right above Malfoy's face before landing on it.

Malfoy smacked Goyle, who was sitting next to him. "Get it off, get it off!"

Goyle looked around helplessly.

Moody cackled, with Harry and Ron laughing as well.

Mad-Eye twisted his wand for the final time, dangling the spider over a bubbling cauldron. "I could make it drown itself." He twitched his wand slightly left. "Fly out the window?"

The class had stopped laughing by now.

Moody surveyed the room. "Any other curses?"

Only two hands went up, Hermione's and surprisingly, Neville's. Moody pointed at Neville. "Stand up, boy."

Neville rose, shaking. "The Cruciatus Curse."

Moody seemed to smile for a second but it was so brief Harry was almost sure it hadn't happened at all.

"Crucio!" The word jolted Harry out of staring at Moody. He blinked to see the spider withering in on itself, squealing in pain.

The spider continued to shriek until Hermione interrupted. "Stop! Stop it! Can't you see it's hurting him?"

Moody looked up to see Neville shaking. The poor boy looked absolutely terrified. "So would you care to tell us the final curse, Miss Granger?"

Hermione shook her head, but after a few seconds whispered, "avada kedavra."

Moody nodded, then proceeded to roar "AVADA KEDAVRA" at the spider. A flash of green light appeared from the end of his wand. Harry stared at it, seeing the bright light of when his parents were killed all over again.

"The Killing Curse," Moody whispered harshly, glaring around the room. "Instant death. Only one person has survived it, and he's sitting here right in front of me."