Efraim's guess shocked Hermione, and she could not help but ask, "Are you saying that Professor Moody imprisoned another person at the castle in order to prepare extra food for him?"
"That's a possibility. I'm more inclined to believe the man is hiding in his office." Ivan nodded.
"That's why he wouldn't allow the Pixie to clean his room…" Hermione murmured to herself, having worked out why Ivan had asked those questions earlier.
"But why would Professor Moody do such a thing? I've heard he used to be a fierce Auror who caught too many Dark Wizards and Death Eaters to work for You-Know-Who!" Hermione was baffled.
She could not have imagined that Professor Moody could be such a bad person if she had not pointed out all the suspicious points about him.
"I don't know… I'm just guessing!" Ivan shook his head. He couldn't be sure, and there were too many questionable points.
Moreover, Moody was a very suspicious individual, and it was not unusual for him to keep house-elves out of his room, which was why he had noticed something unusual about the house-elves but not suspected anything.
"Could someone have used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Professor Moody and hide the real one?"
Hermione immediately considered this possibility, as it was the only way "Professor Moody" would have to provide food for another human being before he died of hunger.
"I don't think so… The Polyjuice Potion only works for a limited period of time. Unless he can replenish it at any time, he's bound to give himself away!" Ivan shook his head. He had already checked that Moody was not in the habit of carrying a wine gourd around with him, and that he did not drink any sort of drink during lessons.
"I rather think it's the Imperius Curse," said Ivan hesitantly.
Hermione's eyes widened. She knew exactly what the Imperius Curse was, as Moody had explained in his Defence Against the Dark Arts class this year. It was one of the three Unforgivable Curses that allowed one to control a wizard without being seen!
"Moody was a very cautious Auror with a strong will. No one could have controlled him for so long. My guess is that You-Know-Who did it himself. And in order to prevent Moody from breaking free of his own accord, someone had to constantly supervise him and periodically reinforce the effects of the Imperius Curse…" Ivan went on.
Ivan had also practised the practical Dark Arts such as the Imperius Curse, and was well aware of the drawbacks of having the strong-willed break free from it.
There were other ways to deal with this problem, as he had done with Noether, by sending people to monitor and reinforce the Imperius Curse at all times.
Of course, this approach was not perfect.
This was because casting the Imperius Curse on the same person continuously for a short period of time could easily cause the other party to develop a corresponding resistance, greatly weakening the power of the spell, thus requiring one to cast the spell more frequently, until one fell into an endless loop.
Hermione knew far less about the Imperius Curse than Ivan, but she was able to understand the gravity of the situation, and when he finished speaking, she dragged him upstairs.
"Wait, Hermione!" Ivan called out, stopping her in her tracks.
"I doubt it, that's all, and there's not enough evidence to support it! What if Professor Moody really is a big eater and just happens to enjoy eating supper while working late at night? It's not impossible."
Dumbfounded, Hermione stared at Ivan for a long moment, then pursed her lips in distress and said, "Then…then what should we do?"
"To go back and think about it, of course, and see if we can find out more in the next few days…" Yvonne said hesitantly, but before he could finish, Hermione interrupted.
"Don't lie to me, you must be planning to go to Professor Moody alone later!"
The little witch bit her lip and glared angrily at Ivan. How could she not have guessed that Ivan was trying to fool her and risk his life alone?
However, knowing that she would not be of much help if she followed, Hermione swallowed the words she was about to say, feeling depressed.
"It's too dangerous. The least you can do is tell Professor Dumbledore about it! What if it's actually a trap and someone is trying to trick you?"
Ivan looked at her for a long moment, then sighed and relented. "Well, you were right this time!"
Due to the inconvenience of revealing too much information, Ivan had become accustomed to sorting things out on his own over the years, and had occasionally been conned by Hermione, who reminded him that there was no point in taking risks alone.
… .
Half an hour later,
In the Headmaster's office on the top floor of the tower, Ivan briefly explained his theory, while Dumbledore paced the room with a frown on his face.
"Hales, can you confirm that Alastor was controlled by the Imperius Curse?" Dumbledore asked.
Yvonne shook her head. He was making wild guesses and she couldn't be one hundred percent sure.
"Professor Dumbledore, isn't there some way of detecting this Dark Magic?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"I regret to inform you, Miss Granger, that there is no specific counter-curse for the Imperius Curse, otherwise it would not be listed as an Unforgivable Curse," Dumbledore replied.
Yvonne nodded. The Imperius Curse was a tricky spell, and had caused a lot of trouble for the Ministry of Magic. Death Eaters like Lucius used it to get away with murder, thanks to its difficulty in gathering evidence.
Only a highly skilled Legilimency Master would be able to pick up clues by scanning memories.
Moody, however, was so vigilant that anyone using Legilimency on him would have been detected.
Yvonne thought back to the last few times they had come into contact, and realised that Moody had used that magical eye to keep eye contact with her.
Dumbledore was silent for a long time. Alastor was one of his most trusted friends.
Throughout the course of the first half of the school year, the other party did not seem to notice anything amiss. Everything seemed so familiar to him that he never suspected his old friend, and even entrusted the task of investigating the Goblet of Fire to him…