HARRY POTTER Book 4: Chapter 14
Chapter 14
THE UNFORGIVABLE CURSES
The storm ends during the night. In the morning, the ceiling in the Great Hall is still dark and gray. Harry sits with Ron and Hermione at breakfast. They look at their new schedules.
The next two days pass with no big problems, except the problem with Neville. He melts his sixth cauldron in Potions class. Professor Snape looks angrier than ever. He gives Neville detention.
Neville comes back pale and shaking. Ron hears what Snape made him do. “He made Neville cut open a whole barrel of frogs,” Ron says. Hermione sits with Neville and helps him clean his hands. She shows him a simple Cleaning Charm to remove the dirty parts from under his fingernails.
“You know why Snape’s in such a terrible mood, don’t you?” Ron says to Harry. “Yeah,” Harry says. “MadEye Moody.” Harry watches Snape at meals. Snape never looks straight at Moody. He always looks away first. “I guess Snape’s a bit scared of him,” Harry says. Ron smiles slowly. “Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad,” Ron says. “And bounced him around his dungeon.” They both laugh.
On Thursday, Harry and his Gryffindor class arrive early for Defense Against the Dark Arts. They stand in a line outside the classroom. They want good seats. Hermione arrives at the last moment. “You’ve been in…” Ron begins. “... the library,” Harry finishes. They hurry inside and sit right in front. They put their books on the desk and wait. The room is quiet. Then they hear a clunk, clunk in the corridor. Professor Moody enters. He looks as frightening as ever. His wooden leg sticks out under his robes. His one blue eye moves around fast and never seems to rest.
“You can put those away,” Moody growls. “Those books. You won’t need them.” They put the books away at once. Moody takes out the name list and calls out their names for attendance. His normal eye reads the list. His blue eye watches the room and stops on each student who answers. When he finishes, he looks at them. “Professor Lupin sent me a letter,” Moody says. “It seems you’ve already covered Dark creatures. But you’re behind - very behind - on dealing with curses.”
Moody leans forward. “I’ve got one year to teach you,” Moody says. Ron blurts out, “What, aren’t you staying?” Moody’s blue eye spins to Ron. Ron goes quiet fast. Then Moody smiles. It is not a friendly smile. It makes his face look even more strange. “You must be Arthur Weasley’s son,” Moody says. “Your father got me out of a difficult situation. Yes, I’m staying one year. It’s a special favor to Dumbledore.”
Moody claps his hands once. “So,” Moody says. “Curses. The Ministry says I should teach you counter-curses and stop there. I’m not supposed to show you illegal Dark curses yet. But Dumbledore thinks you can deal with them. And I agree. You need to see what you may face. A Dark wizard won’t warn you. He won’t be polite. You need to be ready. You need to be alert. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I’m talking.”
Lavender jumps. She turns red and pushes something under the desk. She was showing her star chart to a friend. Moody looks around the room again. “Do any of you know which curses have the biggest punishments by wizard law?” Hands go up. Moody points at Ron. “My dad told me about one,” Ron says. “Is it called the Imperius Curse?” Moody nods. “Ah yes, the Imperius Curse.”
He opens a drawer and takes out a glass jar. Three large black spiders crawl inside it. Harry sees Ron lean back in his chair. Ron hates spiders. Moody takes one spider out and holds it in his palm.
“Imperio!” Moody says. The spider begins to move in a strange way. It jumps and flips and turns as if it is doing tricks. Some students laugh. Moody does not laugh. He stares at them.
“Do you think it’s funny?” Moody growls. “You’d like it if I did it to you?” The laughing stops at once. “Total control,” Moody says quietly. “I can make it do anything. I can make it hurt itself. I can make it do terrible things.” Ron shudders in fear. “Years ago, many witches and wizards were controlled like this,” Moody says. “When You-Know-Who was very powerful. The Ministry had difficulty identifying who was forced and who was choosing.”
Moody puts the spider back in the jar. “The Imperius Curse can be fought,” Moody says. “But it takes real strength of character. Not everyone has real character. It is better to avoid the curse completely, if you can. You must have eyes in the back of your heads! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” Everyone jumps in surprise.
