Mad-Eye Moody

3rd Nov 1992

Hogwarts

"Excuse me."

I turned my head to look at the two girls standing over my shoulder.

"Hi," smiled the clearly flustered Ravenclaw.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"Um...would you mind signing this for me, please?" she said, thrusting forward a copy of Race to The Golden City.

"Of course not," I replied, taking the book. "Anything for a fan." I smiled.

"Thanks. You can make it out to Cho!" she quickly added.

"Sure," I said. Retrieving my pen from my pocket, I wrote down:

To my friend Cho

Best Wishes

Richard Castle

"Here you go." I handed her the book back.

"Thank you! Oh, and I really enjoyed your movie, by the way. It was fantastic!" She said excitedly.

"Thank you," I gave her a smile and she walked away.

"What number does that make?" Neville asked Harry. They were both sitting in front of me, having dinner.

"56, 57 maybe," Harry remarked offhandedly, taking a bite out of his lamb chop. "I don't know, I lost count after 50."

"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione.

"Number of girls that's asked Ben for an autograph." Harry smirked.

"Jealous, boys?" I asked with a light smile.

"Oh, please! We've seen how you've been spending even more time in your lab... hiding from all your wonderful fans," Neville chuckled.

"Actually, it's because I'm close to making a breakthrough in one of my projects. Hopefully, it'll be ready for testing by February," I said, doing some calculations in my head. "In other news, I hear our new Defence teacher will be arriving today."

"Where did you hear that?" asked Daphne. She took a look at the High table; where alongwith the other teachers, the headmaster was seated wearing a pensive expression. "Did Dumbledore tell you?"

"Maybe," I said noncommittally.

"I still can't believe Lockhart just ran off like that," said Tracey.

The morning after halloween, we were all having breakfast in the Great Hall when Filch came in carrying a letter for Dumbledore. Apparently, Lockhart had given it to him after the Halloween feast and instructed him to hand it over to the headmaster at breakfast. Reading the letter, Dumbledore announced to the dumbstruck hall that Lockhart had resigned from his post and left the castle already, as he had to take care of an urgent matter of great importance somewhere else.

"I can't believe just how happy the other teachers looked hearing that Lockhart was gone," commented Hermione. "Wonder where he is now."

"Ireland," I answered.

"Excuse me?" she said, confused.

"I put some tracking charms on his belongings," I explained. With a thought, the mini map function of my glasses activated. The map swiftly expanded to show all of Europe, where a red dot hovered over Ireland. "Right now, he is in Bandon, Ireland. He is probably trying to do damage control before it's too late. The poor sod has no idea that he is leading us exactly where we want him to."

"Well, I say good riddance! The man was such an annoying humbug," scoffed Daphne. "I just hope we get someone halfway decent this time."

As if in response to her words, the doors of the Great Hall banged open.

Every head in the room swiveled towards the sound. There stood in the doorway a burly, heavily scarred man with a whizzing electric-blue prosthetic eye and a heavy wooden leg. He was leaning upon a long staff, dressed in a black travelling cloak. The man stood there for a moment, his blue eye taking in all the details of the room; before he started making his way to the teacher's table.

"Hey, Mr Moody." I jovially greeted the man walking by us, shattering the silent atmosphere of the hall.

"Benjamin." He gave a curt nod in passing.

"Moody? As in Alastor Moody?" Neville whispered once the man was a fair distance away from us. "The Auror?"

"Yep, that's him," I confirmed, watching him shake Dumbledore's hand.

"What's an Auror doing here?" said Harry, confused.

"He retired a year ago. Must be here on Dumbledore's request," I answered.

"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered, her eyes fixed upon the lines of scars running along his countenance. "What happened to his face?

"Well, every wartime Auror has got their fair share of scars; and Moody was one of the very best," I said. "More than half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him."

"You sound like you know him," said Daphne, watching Moody sit down on the empty chair on the Headmaster's right-hand side.

"We met a couple of times when I went to see dad at work," I replied. "I gave him a few ideas about some gadgets the Aurors could use. He seemed impressed."

Dumbledore stood up. "May I introduce our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

Normally when a new teacher is introduced, there would be applause. For Moody however, Dumbledore was the only one who bothered to clap. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by his grim visage to do more than stare at him. I joined the headmaster in welcoming the new Professor, and my friends joined me. So it didn't end up as embarassing as it could have been.

Moody seemed completely indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Pulling a plate of sausages toward him, he stabbed one with a fork and started eating.

I watched him closely. I knew that there was almost no chance of Moody being an imposter in this timeline but still, best to be sure. Relief flowed through me when he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice from the nearby jug, instead of drinking from a flask which could contain anything, including Polyjuice potion. Now I just needed to make sure that he could go for an hour without a drink of any kind.

///////////////////////////////

5th Nov 1992

Hogwarts

We didn't have DADA again until Thursday afternoon. By now Moody's reputation as an ex-Auror had become common knowledge. So when the time came, the second year Ravenclaws and Slytherins eagerly queued up outside his classroom before the bell had even rung.

Daphne, Tracey, Hermione and I sat down in the front row and waited. Soon, the old grizzled Professor made his way into the classroom with a register.

He stumped over to his desk and sat down. Opening the register, he started calling out names. His normal eye moved steadily down the list, while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he/she answered.

"Right then," he started, snapping the register shut and standing up. "I am Alastor Moody. Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher," he said, looking around the room. "Any questions?"

No one uttered a word.

"Good!" he growled. "Now normally, when taking over a new batch of trainees, I would question their previous instructors to determine their level. Unfortunately, that's not an option with you lot; one of your previous teachers being dead, the other one being incommunicado at the moment. So we'll have to settle things with a small test."

The class groaned.

"Twenty questions. Nothing complicated, just a simple assessment of your current abilities. You don't even have to put your names down if you don't want to. But there will be no cheating," he glared. "Cheating hurts you, not me. Answer as quickly as you can. Skip those you're not sure of, return to them after finishing the rest. You have ten minutes." He waved his wand and parchments settled in front of us.

The students looked down at the sheets with caution, Lockhart's little test still fresh in their minds. A quick peek however, assured them that the paper was on point. The questions ranged from creatures and beings to jinxes and counter curses.

Still groaning, most of the class started at once.

After ten minutes, Moody announced, "Time's up," and waved his wand. The parchments flew to his desk, some with long ink lines on them as their owners had failed to lift their quills in time. "Take out your copies of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, Chapter 1 and start reading. If you don't have your copy with you, share with someone else. There will be no talking."

After giving out those orders, he spent the next few minutes flipping through the papers. He didn't say anything, but his deep sighs and growls did not paint a happy picture.

"Alright, that's enough," he called out, and the students focused back on him. "I believe I have a decent grasp of your current situation... and it is abysmal," he pronounced with a severe gaze. "Homework! Owl home and have your parents send over your copy of last year's The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection & The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. Before the end of this month, I expect each and every one of you to read and understand everything that's written in both of those books."

The entire class gasped, and then groaned. Hermione looked ecstatic, while Crabbe and Goyle looked like someone had just informed them that Christmas was cancelled this year and they would be spending the day shoveling snow at Hogwarts.

"Failure to do so will result in an automatic F in your DADA finals," he announced to the disgruntled students. "What you learnt last year, or atleast were supposed to learn, is the basis of everything that you will learn from this day forth."

"Now, when it comes to Defense against the Dark Arts, I believe in a practical approach. You'll always remember what you learn by doing, a thousand times better than any lecture you hear sitting on your arse!" He thundered.

"Today, you'll be learning the Shield Charm...," he started.

"But that's a fourth year spell!" Malfoy exclaimed out loud, looking incredulous.

"And? You don't think I know that, boy?" Moody barked. Malfoy looked away scowling, apparently cowed.

"Magic is all about intent and knowledge. But mostly, intent! A child can perform magic adults can only dream of, as long as he/she truly, desperately wants to. The most powerful healing spell will fizzle out if you don't want it to work! The deadliest dark curse will fail if you don't mean it!" He swept the room with a glance, meeting everyone's eyes.

"All of you, stand up." He ordered. As soon as we did, he waved his wand and all the desks slid to the back of the room, alongwith everyone's books and bags. "Now, divide yourselves into pairs. Quick!" It took a moment for everyone to pair up. Naturally, I teamed up with Hermione, while nearby Daphne and Tracey formed another team.

"The Shield Charm is an extremely useful spell. When cast properly, it creates an invisible shield in front of the caster's wand. It can block and reflect most jinxes, hexes and curses, as well as block physical forces. However, keep in mind that this shield is not completely impenetrable, as it cannot block Unforgivable curses," he said.

"Now, we practice the spell. To do so, you simply rotate your wand like this," he demonstrated, "and say protego. Say it with me, pro-TEY-go." We repeated this ten times. "Next, practice the wand movement - exaggerate it, like this," he again demonstrated, then made us copy him until everyone could do it. "Now, make the movement smaller, like this," he showed, barely moving the top of his wand. He made us practice it twenty times while he chanted, "smaller, smaller!"

"Good!" he nodded. "On three, cast! One, two, three!" The results varied from solid performances to almost nothing but a bit of sparkles. "Again!" He commanded. Ten times later, he asked, "Everyone got it?" Most of the class nodded, looking quite happy with the results.

"Moving on, the other spell you'll be needing today is the Freezing Charm, which immobilises and stops the actions of your target." We practiced this spell another twenty times as well.

"Wonderful! Well done, all of you! You have made me very happy....so happy in fact, that I've decided we're going to play a little game," he said with a scary grin. He then lifted a cage from behind his desk...a rattling cage that everyone began to edge away from.

"I hear you are familiar with these," he smirked, lifting off the cover to reveal the same blue skinned little demons that Lockhart had let loose upon us not so long ago. All the students looked properly horrified, remembering the havoc that the pixies had wreaked the last time they had been set free.

"The name of the game is Teamwork! One of you will use the Shield Charm to protect yourself and your partner; the other one will use the Freezing Charm to defend yourself and your partner." With that short warning, he opened the cage.

I turned towards Hermione as the pixies started flying out. "Attack or Defense?" I asked.

"Defense," she quickly decided. "I need practice with the shield charm."

The pixies spread out to cover maximum ground. Just like last time, they went for any loose items around the room. But it seemed like Moody had foreseen this and stuck all the books and bags to the desks. If the pixies tried to dash towards the windows or the Professor, they would be redirected to the center of the room by a violent gust of wind. Left with no other route, they decided to focus on the students.

Only this time, we were better prepared. Sure, some forgot everything they had just learnt and sought shelter under the desks at the back of the class. But most of the students popped up shields between themselves and the airborne menaces. Hermione deftly erected a sturdy barrier against the dive bombing blighters, while I readily immobilised any that tried to sneak around the shield. Nearby, Daphne and Tracey were doing similarly well as a team.

Pansy Parkinson had backed into a corner, which prevented the little monsters from flanking her but also prevented her partner, Malfoy from casting the Freezing Charm. Terry Boot had taken cover under a desk in the corner and was sniping at pixies as quickly as possible. Most of the others were shielding each other.

Moody stood at the front of the class, watching everything with critical eyes. At last, he waved his wand and froze the remaining pixies. A second wave levitated the pixies back into their cage. One final wave moved all the furniture in the room back to its original position.

"Sit down. Can anyone tell me what the point of this whole exercise was?" he asked.

After a moment of silence, Hermione slowly raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms Granger?"

"Teamwork, sir?"

"Yes! Teamwork, exactly!" He told Hermione, pleased. Then he turned to the rest of the class. "So tell me, where was this fabled teamwork?"

Most of the class looked shamefaced.

"Ten points each to Mr Carter, Ms Granger, Ms Greengrass and Ms Davis for working as teams and properly defending their partners. Five points each to Mr Boot, Ms Brocklehurst, Ms Patil, Ms MacDougal and Ms Parkinson for remembering to use their spells, even if they weren't used very effectively."

"As for the rest of you, there's a lesson to be learnt here. These were pixies... flying pests," he scoffed, gesturing towards the cage. "And they completely routed you! What will you do if you meet an Acromantula? Or even a Grindylow? Hiding under your desk will not save you from any manner of magical beings and creatures that you are likely to meet if you wish to stay in the Wizarding World! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He barked, and everyone jumped.

"And let's not even talk about the other side of that coin. I don't expect you to go toe-to-toe with experienced Dark wizards. But what I do except, is for you to be able to properly defend yourself and those you care about while you escape!" He glared fiercely at the class. "Only a fool fights a wizard with decades of magical experience. Only a fool fights head-on against a witch with more power than himself! That's why I am here; to teach you not to be foolish!"

Everyone stared at him wide-eyed.

"The next two classes, maybe more, will be remedial sessions covering last year's syllabus. You should already know this stuff backwards and forwards. I expect all of you to master all of last year's material before the end of this month." He said, his magical eye whirring about and looking at the students.

"Class dismissed!"