In this Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Moody laid bare the darkness and horrors of the world before the students. Even though everyone in the classroom was already in sixth year, it was still difficult for them to accept all at once.
Moody first demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses, then recounted some of his experiences hunting Dark wizards in his younger days.
At that point, it was no longer just the darkness of the world he was revealing. He was also exposing the uglier side of human nature.
Of all the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors, the students had liked Lupin the most.
He was humorous, engaging, and genuinely skilled. Moody was equally skilled, but he failed to win the students' affection. Everyone acknowledged his abilities, yet it was difficult to actually like him.
In Professor Lupin's classes, everyone learned real skills amid laughter and enjoyment. In Professor Moody's classes, only Moody himself laughed hoarsely while the students sat there shivering uneasily.
After class, the students dispersed, quietly discussing Moody and the terrifying nature of Dark Magic. Fred and George, however, were not frightened. The twins enthusiastically discussed Moody's experiences and even thought he was cool.
That evening, the Great Hall was crowded with people waiting for dinner. A leopard cannot change its spots, and some people simply could not get rid of their bad habits. After behaving himself for half a school year, Draco Malfoy had relapsed into his old ways.
Holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, Malfoy stood in the Entrance Hall making a racket.
"Weasley, they didn't even spell your father's name correctly. He must be a completely insignificant nobody, right?"
Well, looks like our Malfoy had learned a little restraint. He was no longer mocking the Weasleys' poverty, instead fixating on the newspaper getting Mr. Weasley's name wrong.
Furthermore, Malfoy had done some reconnaissance beforehand. Eda and the twins were nowhere to be seen in the Entrance Hall. Even so, Harry and Ron were not about to tolerate Malfoy's behavior, and before long the two sides were arguing.
People tended to get heated when arguing, and once tempers flared, they often spoke without thinking. Both sides quickly descended into a shouting match, kindly extending greetings to each other's parents.
"How dare you insult my mother, Potter." Malfoy's pale face flushed slightly red.
"Then shut your fat mouth," Harry said, turning away.
Bang!
A burst of screams erupted through the Entrance Hall. Moody had suddenly appeared, and his roar echoed throughout the chamber.
"None of that, boy!"
Limping into the hall with his wand in hand, Moody pointed it at Malfoy and transformed him into a snow-white ferret.
A dreadful silence fell over the Entrance Hall. Aside from Moody, no one dared move.
Moody first checked on Harry, asking whether he had been hurt. Then he went after the ferret, who was frantically trying to flee.
"The thing I hate most is people who attack others from behind," Moody growled. "It's dirty, cowardly, and despicable..."
He pointed his wand at the ferret. The ferret suddenly shot ten feet into the air and slammed onto the floor with a crack, only to be hurled upward again a moment later.
High above the ground, the ferret's legs and tail flailed desperately while it squealed in pain.
"Professor Moody! Alastor Moody! What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed in shock. She immediately hurried down the marble staircase, carrying a stack of books in her arms.
"Teaching a lesson," Moody replied.
"Don't tell me that ferret is a student?" Professor McGonagall cried out. The books in her arms scattered across the floor.
Moody honestly nodded.
Professor McGonagall hurriedly drew her wand, and with a sharp crack, Draco Malfoy was restored to normal.
Malfoy curled into himself, trembling uncontrollably.
"Professor Moody, did Professor Dumbledore not tell you that we never use Transfiguration as a punishment?" Professor McGonagall said weakly. It was nothing like the tone she used when frightening Eda.
"He might've mentioned it," Moody said absentmindedly while scratching his chin. "Can't remember..."
While McGonagall and Moody debated whether a student should be turned into a ferret, a pocket watch, or a map as punishment, Malfoy shakily got to his feet.
Malfoy glared at Moody with hatred, muttering things like "My father..." and "won't let you get away with this." Clearly, reporting the matter to his father was the only weapon left in Malfoy's arsenal.
"Your father...? Want me to tell you some of the things your father used to do?" Moody roared. "I'm sure you'd be ashamed of him! You might even wet your pants from fright!"
"Alastor Moody!" Professor McGonagall said while physically restraining him from approaching Malfoy. "You can report this matter to his Head of House instead of handling it this way!"
"Wonderful. I've been looking forward to having a good chat with my old friend Snape," Moody said.
He immediately shook off McGonagall's grip, grabbed Malfoy by the arm, and dragged him toward the dungeon classroom.
The commotion in the Entrance Hall ended with Moody and Malfoy leaving. Professor McGonagall watched their departing figures uneasily, while the students excitedly discussed what they had just witnessed.
However, the matter did not end there. Draco Malfoy seemed to have forgotten someone's warning, and he would pay the proper price for his forgetfulness.
That night, before curfew, Eda stood beside a damp, empty stone wall. At her side was a first-year Slytherin student, Malcolm Baddock.
"Open it. What are you standing there for?" Eda said. "Don't tell me you've forgotten the password to your common room."
"Pure-blood," Baddock said under Eda's kindly gaze.
He did not want to do as Eda asked, but the older students did not dare refuse her, let alone a mere first-year like Baddock.
A stone door hidden within the wall slowly swung open. Eda strode inside, with Malcolm Baddock trailing behind her dejectedly.
The room was a long, low-ceilinged dungeon. The walls and ceiling were built from rough stone. Round greenish lamps hung from chains attached to the ceiling. Beneath an elaborately carved mantelpiece, a fire crackled merrily, illuminating several Slytherin students seated in ornate chairs nearby.
"What are you doing here? This is the Slytherin common room," a Slytherin upper-year said. The moment he saw Eda enter, he and several others rose to their feet.
"You're not welcome here. Leave immediately!"
"Go back to your own common room. This place belongs to Slytherin!"
The Slytherins were not friendly, but they remained restrained. No one swore, and no one drew a wand. Still, as voices spread through the room, more and more students emerged from their dormitories.
"Don't you think it's a little damp in here?" Eda said. "Relax. I have no intention of occupying your common room. I'm just here to handle a small matter. Once it's done, I'll leave immediately. I won't stay a second longer than necessary."
With that, Eda walked directly toward an armchair. Someone tried to stop her but was driven back by a single look from her.
She sat down and waited for someone with enough standing to speak.
Cody Avery sat down opposite her. Two other Slytherin students sat beside him.
"Twist, this is Slytherin. You shouldn't be here," Cody Avery said.
Avery was a sixth-year and a prefect, but he could not speak for all of Slytherin. In fact, no one currently could. However, because he was relatively familiar with Eda, he was the one chosen to speak with her.
"At the meeting on the train, I laid out several requirements. Did you pass them on to every Slytherin student?" Eda asked.
"I did," Avery replied. "Everyone here can testify to that."
The Slytherins present nodded. However, quite a few of them clearly disliked Eda's commanding attitude and resented what they saw as her arrogance.
"Since you passed the message along, and no one from Slytherin has expressed any dissatisfaction to me," Eda said slowly, "then who would like to explain what happened in the Entrance Hall this evening?"
The scene in the Entrance Hall had been impossible to hide. Too many people had witnessed it, and Eda had naturally heard about it soon afterward.
The only reason she had not come earlier was because Draco Malfoy had not appeared in the Great Hall that evening, and Eda herself had gone to serve detention after dinner.
"Malfoy has already been punished. Right there in the Entrance Hall," Cody Avery said.
Being turned into a ferret in front of so many students was no longer merely a punishment. It was humiliation.
"That was the professor's punishment, not mine," Eda replied. "I don't know whether I wasn't clear enough, or whether you didn't pass the message along clearly enough."
The common room immediately erupted in outrage.
Slytherin students shouted that Eda was "arrogant" and "outrageous." Quite a few eagerly pulled out their wands.
"Want to fight me?" Eda said indifferently.
She looked contemptuously at the students holding their wands.
"Who gave you the courage?"
Cody Avery and the two students beside him quickly stood up, trying to calm the furious Slytherins.
Meanwhile, Eda remained seated, completely unmoving. She did not even bother taking out her wand.
"Making an enemy of an entire House at once won't do you any good, Twist."
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