The next morning, Harry woke up groggy and moved around in a sleepwalking state. When he sobered up, he found himself sitting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
The classroom is noisy, and people are arriving one after another. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown walked in arm-in-arm, and when Parvati saw Harry, she gave him a stern look and said in a loud voice, “The next weekend I’ve got a date with Aiden, to Hogsmeade.”
Lavender asked with interest, “Is that the Beauxbatons boy you danced with at the ball?”
“That’s right.” Parvati said very loudly, glancing proudly at Harry as she passed them by.
She had been cold to Harry ever since the ball, turning her head away very hard whenever she saw him, with only the back of her head visible to him, and Harry was tempted to ask Ron if the same thing had happened to him, but when he thought that the Padma wasn’t in the same house as them, he decided to leave it at that.
“You should have cared more about her at the ball, now look … here comes the retribution.” Hermione said sullenly, as she used a thick book to shield her face.
“But she had a good time too.” Harry said with a stiff smile.
He quietly glanced back, Parvati and Lavender were sitting in the seat two rows before the back, talking and laughing, he couldn’t tell any difference at all when Lavender pulled a thick book out of her book bag and held it mysteriously in front of Parvati.
“I ordered it by mail through Owl, it’s particularly lovely …”
In the last few minutes before class, a spirited voice came from outside the door:
“It’s called by that name-the Magic Gramophone, which was placed in our living room the day after it was released – you can see the Weird Sisters group hovering above your head as you listen to the music. Honestly, my mom doesn’t like them, it’s too noisy … but it can’t be helped, it’s all that’s available at the moment.”
Draco Malfoy said regretfully, walking into the classroom flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he looked around and gave a deliberate look of surprise when he saw Harry: ” Oh hello, Potter! Did you not sleep well last night? Or did you wear smoky makeup?”
His two followers giggled and gestured at the dark circles under Harry’s eyes.
Harry clenched his fist, and Ron pulled him back, “Don’t be impulsive, Harry, he’s dying for you to do it! All you have to do is touch him with your pinky, and he’ll have an excuse to have a flare-up …”
“You’re getting a little less bold,” Draco’s voice trailed off as he came over and looked down at Harry, whispering in a very small voice, “I have learned a few more spells during this holiday, Potter … It’s not just a joke, I found a book in my grandfather’s mansion. Maybe we can give it a try somewhere else…”
“What are you trying to say?” Harry asked while suppressing his anger.
“Oh, I forgot,” Draco said wistfully, “your old family estate was blown to ruins, so there’s no legacy left to inherit, maybe you could ask Weasley beside you? If his family wasn’t poor enough to sell all that stuff for a good … meal”
“Do you want to duel, Malfoy?” Harry asked him angrily, “Or are you going to call Filch under the guise of a duel, as you did in your first year? You are good at this kind of thing, aren’t you? Can’t you show some courage!”
Draco’s pale face flushed.
“I’ll meet you at the dueling club, Potter.” He dropped a sentence and left in a huff.
Harry looked at his back, trembling with anger. “Ignore him, Harry,” Hermione said calmly, looking up from her thick book, “counting this one, he’s provoked you three times in a row recently, and do you know why.”
“He must have learned some dark magic Harry, you need to be careful.” Ron also looked furious.
Harry’s anger instantly doused, of course, he knew the reason, those two classes last week were both substituted by Snape, if there was a conflict, even if you think with your knees you will know who Snape will favour, which caused Draco’s temper to become more and more arrogant.
Especially during the first class last week, Draco quietly showed him a badge with a regretful face and told Harry that if not for the other badges being confiscated, he would have given one to every Slytherin student to show his support for the real champion team of Hogwarts.
If Neville had not maintained his usual sensitivity to Snape’s aura and given an early warning about the danger, he might have gotten a detention and points deduction.
The bell rang, and the students sat down obediently, waiting for a floppy black robe to come in. At that moment, they heard the very distinctive “duk duk” of wood hitting the floor, and many of the young wizards (mostly Gryffindors) stared in delight.
“I never thought I’d look forward to seeing Professor Moody’s face as much as I do now.” Ron muttered, and Harry agreed implicitly.
Moody appeared in the doorway, looking as frighteningly intimidating as usual, but a number of students issued low cheers. As he stood in the doorway, he scanned the room, the blue magic eyes in his eye sockets rolled.
The classroom quickly quieted down.
Moody trudged to the podium on his crutch, then he placed his crutch on the podium along with a stack of parchments that were folded in between his arms. After that, he drew his wand (the students’ expressions flinched), and with a flick, a roll call flew out of the podium drawer.
“As you should have been aware, I was controlled during the last semester, and a scumbag disguised as me to teach your classes,” Moody said in a hoarse voice, and the classroom fell silent; they had more or less heard about it, but no one was sure.
“They confused my mind, made me think everything was normal, and I was just muddled through the semester until Christmas night, when the Death Eater who was hiding in the school scheming got exposed, with that he decided to finish me off before leaving … I was sleeping in my bed, with no difference from a corpse, not reacting to any sound in the room; however, thanks to two students who delayed him, I am now alive, otherwise I would have died in my sleep – died worthlessly… “Moody said softly, as he gazed at Harry and Ron, Harry felt that his face is not that frightening anymore.
“To cure me, your Professor Hap has tried a lot of things, but … some of my memories are still lost, so I’ve decided to get to know you all over again.”
He shook his head, shaking his long, white hair away from his twisted, scarred face, and began to roll call.
The classroom was surrounded by a solemn atmosphere, and as Moody called the roll, one by one, the students whose names were read raised their hands in response, and the Moody at the podium looked at them as if he was seeing them for the first time, those fake eyes fixed on each of them for a while.
After the roll call, Moody picked up his cane from the podium and limped around the classroom, speaking in a hoarse voice.
“In the next few classes, I will tell you all about my experiences over the past six months, which is considered a great lesson. You all might think that a dark wizard is too far away from you, but, as it turns out, you spent a little over half a year with an evil dark wizard who disguised himself as a withdrawn, out-of-touch retired old man – smart move! I’ll cover all this later, and I’ll tell you those details I remember without reservation.”
“There is only one thing for you to do, go back and think about it, what is the reason you are still alive now?”
” Profes-ssor, what did you say?” Lavender Brown asked with horror.
“I said,” Moody waved his large rough hand, those magical eyes fixed on her with a deadly stare, “take a moment to ask yourselves the question – how a powerful dark wizard, at any moment in the last six months, could have drawn his wand and pointed it at your noses and recited the Killing Curse. And the fact is, you are still safe and sound, aren’t you, Miss Lavender?”
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