Old Blke Mansion, dining room.
"Alastor," Mrs. Weasley said, emerging from the kitchen downstairs with a vegetable salad and a plate of chicken legs, "I made it with the leftovers, the vegetable soup is not as fresh as it was last night."
"It's good enough." Moody said calmly, the blue magic eyes stared at the salad for a moment before he took a big bite. "Oh, by the way," he looked over at Neville, "Frank and Alice will be back about noon, and they passed me a piece of information that's valuable."
Neville nodded, his eyes brightened.
"What is the information?" Harry couldn't resist asking.
"I can't reveal any more than that, in case you guys get caught by the Death Eaters and forced to confess, it will be all over--" Moody said gruffly, staring at a chicken leg while bringing it to his nose and sniffing it, "Thanks, Molly. " Then he tore it fiercely.
Harry wasn't sure which looked more wretched - his mangled nose, or the chicken leg that had been bitten. Or Moody's imagination of them being caught and tortured by Death Eaters?
"Don't think I'm joking, a lot of people think they can hold up and be firm, but all it takes is one Cruciatus Curse--" Moody said with a grimace, gesturing toward them as the young wizards at the table leaned back in unison.
Mrs. Weasley looked at him with a reproachful gaze.
Moody had already picked up a second chicken leg. "Molly, they can take it, I've heard they train a lot, it can't be just to show off in dueling class, is it? I'm just introducing them to the more realistic world ... You all want to be Aurors, right?" His one normal eye looked at the crowd.
Harry, Ron, and Neville nodded, Hermione hesitantly nodded as well, and unexpectedly, Ginny did the same.
Mrs. Weasley looked shocked.
"Ginny, you're only in your third year! It's too early to think about that."
"It's not too early, I'll be in fourth grade when school starts."
"I said it's early! You're a girl, and I will never allow-" Mrs. Weasley said angrily.
The dining room became very lively in the next few minutes as Ginny made a loud noise arguing with Mrs. Weasley, her hair flopping around like an angry, cranky cat, and Crookshanks, who had been lying at her feet, returned to his master's side, his flat, hairy face staring at the two sources of noise.
"We're going to head upstairs." Hermione shot a wink at Harry and the group, wanting to escape the fray, but Ginny left before them, stomping up the stairs with a "thud" and Mrs. Weasley chased after her, looking like she wanted to convince her to change her mind by one way or another.
"So we're, uh - going to the training room?" Hermione stood still and looked at her companion with uncertainty, she didn't really want to train yet, she simply wanted to get away from Professor Moody's darting magical eyes.
The others shared a similar feeling, and they stood up nimbly.
"Are you all right, Potter?" Moody gruffly asked.
"I'm fine." Harry did not say the truth, he hesitated to reveal to Ron and the rest of the group that he had mastered the three unforgivable curses, and on the other hand, he began to worry about what Dumbledore would think when he saw his memories, his mind jumbled up and down.
He suddenly got a bright idea.
"Professor Moody, I have a question," Harry said, then noticed Moody's gaze moved over to him, " Aurors were once approved to use the Unforgivable Curses ... did the situation really get that bad? And won't the curse affect you guys?"
" Oh, you mean that." Moody muttered, taking out the flask from his waist and taking a sip, "That was something that happened at the later part of the war, when it was really tough, mainly because the Death Eaters were gaining more and more subordinate to fight, or rather, more and more people were forced to join ..."
"The real Death Eaters are elite and can meet the You-Know-Who directly, but there are quite a few - such as werewolves - who do not have a high status in the Dark Lord's ranks, but in any case, the war has been fought for almost ten years, people's hearts more or less destroyed, Barty ... he was definitely a tough guy, many people can keep holding on just because of him ... he suggested to the new Minister Bagnold back then to allow Aurors some privileges, such as the ability to use Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters, and some other miscellaneous things, all in order to let Aurors be liberated ... and Bagnold agreed, very bold witch, way better than the last one for me."
" But, is this really necessary?" Harry asked eagerly, "I mean, a disarming charm or a stunning spell are enough to subdue the enemy, no?"
Moody stared at him for a moment and laughed jarringly. His face became even grimmer.
" To put it bluntly, a disarming charm can also be used to kill someone, if you use it with an intent to Srew their head or other body parts off their body - you just need to believe, if they have their head they'll harm you," Moody said gently and gruesomely, "only back in 1717, all three of these curses were classified as unforgivable curses, with harsh penalties attached to their use, and after few years people rarely heard about it. Of course, they have not disappeared by any means, as they have been kept alive by dark wizards. ..."
"It was You-Know-Who that brought them back to the public eye. The Death Eater and his vassals used those curses blatantly, together with the overwhelming publicity in the newspapers, the curses become well-known, and Barty wanted to change the situation, he thought - The curses are necessary to restore the confidence of the public, and the Killing Curse is certainly more deterrent than the Disarming Charm."
"Then you--" Harry stuck, he did not know how to ask further.
"You want to know if I've ever killed anyone with a Killing Curse? Or what it feels like when you kill someone?" Moody asked quietly.
Harry stammered, and the others remained silent.
"Of course, I've done it, cursed a lot of people to death with the Killing Curse, I remember it well, that's how that Death Eater named Evan Rosier died ..." Moody showed a sick grin, "but I tried to catch people alive whenever I could manage, because of it Azkaban filled with quite a lot of acquaintances of mine, but unfortunately a group ran away a month ago." He muttered a small voice, which sounded like a curse.
Or maybe Harry heard it wrong, it could be possible that Moody had a sudden craving for Fudge Flies, which are a type of milky fudge.
"As for the feeling, there is really nothing to feel ... war was at its peak, you can't afford to waste your time thinking too much and risk both your and your friends' life." Moody said dismissively, "Your heart has to be hard enough and with enough experience, you can--"
Footsteps came from upstairs. Mrs. Weasley came down, and Moody picked up a chicken leg and gnawed on it again.
That seemed to be the end of the conversation.
"Oh, by the way, I have something here that might interest you." He said, pulling a well-worn magical photo out of his pocket. Harry saw a small group of people moving around, some waving, some raising their glasses.
"It's-" Mrs. Weasley walked over to look at it and frowned.
"The original Order of the Phoenix," Moody said quietly, "you've seen it, haven't you? I'm not sure if you have, but there used to be a handful of copies back then." He said to Mrs. Weasley, "Both of your brothers were good men, but unfortunately they died young ... I went to see Emmeline yesterday, and oh, she's fine, just wounded--"
He noticed that Harry and the gang wanted to ask a question, so he spoke in advance. Mrs. Weasley's lips pursed tightly.
" Did she wounded during that baiting mission?" Harry asked mildly, he knew that person, Emmeline; she is a demure and elegantly dressed witch, not much of a talker. She is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry had met her a few times before.
"It seems you know about that mission... Oh right, you guys are there for the prize, so there is no way to bypass you." Moody said.
Harry's heart smashed like a fallen vase. He had heard Ms. Bones talk about it, how the Weasleys were both replaced at the time, but he hadn't at all expected the replacement to be Emmeline Vance from the Order of the Phoenix, and she was wounded.
"She was lucky, back then we couldn't even find a full body or just a part of a body ..." Moody seemed to notice that Mrs. Weasley forced herself to keep quiet, so he handed the photo to Harry, "You keep it, James and Lily's photo might be impossible to find in Godric's Hollow... I've been there once, which is currently abandoned."
Harry forced a smile, not knowing what to say.
He caught a glimpse of his mom and dad, who are smiling at him, and Harry suddenly longed to make a trip to Godric's Hollow. As he lay in bed that night, that idea grew stronger and stronger, and it felt strange how he hadn't thought about going there previously.
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