Chapter 97: "Sirius' First Class"
"Sirius' First Class"
As all the fourth-year students waited for their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Harry was quite excited, as it would be Sirius' first class.
Sirius, walking proudly, entered the classroom under the gaze of all the students.
"Alright, everyone, no need for introductions since I've been in the newspapers for quite some time, right?" Sirius said with a smile as he looked around, winking at Harry.
"Today, for my first class, I've been asked to teach something quite serious, so I expect you all to take everything in this class to heart," Sirius explained, putting on a serious face. "Fourth year is when we teach the Unforgivable Curses. Does anyone know how many there are?" he asked while sitting on his desk.
Hermione quickly raised her hand, and Sirius, with a smile, pointed at her to answer.
"Three, sir," Hermione replied quickly.
"And why are they called that?" Sirius asked again as he looked at her.
"Because they are unforgivable. If a wizard uses them..." Hermione couldn't finish her sentence because she felt it might make Sirius feel bad, but Sirius helped her finish.
"They'd earn a one-way ticket to Azkaban, right?" Sirius replied with a smile, as if he didn't care. "And seriously, you don't want to be in Azkaban. I'll tell you that," Sirius said while pointing at himself with a slightly sad smile.
"Some people wanted me to teach their effects, while many others opposed it. Therefore, it was arranged that I could only use one of them, since the other two could be... well, bad," Sirius said while standing up again. "But let's talk about all three first, so you get an idea," he said as he approached Neville's desk, though he didn't recognize him.
"Alright, chubby, stand up. Tell me the name of one of the curses," Sirius said, pointing to Neville, who stood up, a bit embarrassed by all the attention.
"T-T-There's the Cruciatus Curse," Neville said softly.
"You're Neville, right? Son of Frank and Alice?" Sirius said, realizing who Neville was.
"Yes, sir," Neville replied.
"I knew your parents. They were excellent wizards. If I had been free, I would have helped them. I'm sorry," Sirius said quickly while patting him on the shoulder, and Neville thanked him with a smile before sitting back down.
"The Cruciatus Curse, or Crucio, is the torturing curse. The pain is so great that you could say it's like ripping part of your soul out. Many dark wizards used it just for fun, torturing Muggle-born wizards and the heroes who fought against them," Sirius said seriously while explaining the function of the curse, though he didn't show or explain how it was used. After all, he didn't want young wizards learning it.
"Anyone else have one?" he quickly asked, noticing that Neville seemed a bit bothered by hearing about that curse. "Raise your hands, come on," Sirius said calmly while leaning on the desk.
Seeing that Harry raised his hand quickly, he pointed at him.
"The Killing Curse, s-sir," Harry said while still not getting used to calling Sirius by his title, making Sirius want to laugh.
"Alright, Harry. The Killing Curse is the worst of the three curses. Once hit by this spell, it's simple: you die," Sirius said calmly. "Although it also depends on the level of magic a wizard has. For example, if any of you cast that curse at my face, it would only make my nose bleed. Well, except for Harry," Sirius said proudly of Harry, as he had long realized the level of magic his godson possessed, which even surpassed his own by a lot.
"Besides that, it's said no one has survived that curse until now," Sirius said while pointing at Harry.
"Alright, the last one. Anyone?" Sirius said, not wanting to remember what had to happen for Harry to be the only one to survive.
Once again, many raised their hands, especially most of the Slytherins, but Sirius pretended not to see them and pointed at Ron to answer.
"Redhead, stand up and say it," Sirius said kindly.
"Well, I heard from my dad about one called the Imperius Curse," Ron said.
"Arthur? Haha, that's right, he works at the Ministry. That curse must have caused you a lot of trouble," Sirius said while laughing. "The Curse of Control. This curse can control people to the point that they could even die for you if you ask them. It was also the curse that the Death Eaters used to avoid going to Azkaban, saying they were supposedly controlled by it. Well, after all, scum who can't even defend their own beliefs," Sirius said, showing his disgust, while many Slytherins became quite upset upon hearing that, especially those from those families, but Sirius was unaffected.
In fact, it was better if those families got upset and tried to attack him; that way, he'd have a justification to defend himself.
"Alright, 100 points for Gryffindor for all the correct answers," Sirius said while writing in the magical notebook the points for the houses. This would be reflected in Gryffindor's hourglass. Obviously, many Slytherins felt offended as they could clearly see his favoritism towards Gryffindor.
The Gryffindors quickly rejoiced to have someone backing them up just like Snape backed up Slytherin, so they were quite happy with their new professor.
"Well, now let's move on to the practical part," said Sirius as he told everyone to stand up and moved the desks back.
The students, knowing they would be witnessing one of the curses, visibly became nervous.
Meanwhile, Sirius was calling someone from outside.
"For this demonstration, we have a witness who is here to ensure everything goes smoothly," Sirius said as a man entered briskly.
It was none other than Mad-Eye Moody, who looked around the classroom with his magical eye while wearing a face of annoyance.
"This is Mad-Eye Moody, a former Auror and Death Eater hunter. He is also the biggest advocate for showing how the Unforgivable Curses work. He was invited by Dumbledore to serve as the guardian during the tournament," Sirius said, introducing Moody.
"Let's get this over with, Black. I've got things to do," Moody said irritably.
"Of course," Sirius said calmly, as he was familiar with Moody's personality. "Everyone, take one of the buttons on the table. These were created by a young friend of mine to detect who is being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Sirius explained while placing a pile of buttons with a small gem in the center.
These were created by Stephen to prevent the Death Eaters who attacked the Quidditch World Cup from using the excuse that they were being controlled by others. It was also later used in the Ministry, sponsored by Amelia, who was thrilled with such an amazing object. This led many noble families to start reconsidering how to act and what excuses to use in the future.
Moody looked at the buttons with annoyance but said nothing.
"Once everyone has their button, line up. You will be cursed with the Imperius Curse. Your task is to try to resist control. Don't worry, I'm terrible with this spell, so you'll be able to free yourselves easily. And if you can't, get ready to dance in front of everyone," Sirius said with a grin.
Everyone then nervously formed a line, trying to be the last ones, but it didn't help much, as everyone had their turn.
It was clear that Sirius was quite good with Gryffindor because, although he made them dance a little, he didn't go as far as when he dealt with Slytherins, who had to perform bizarre dances throughout the class.
Next came Hermione, who managed to break free after a few minutes, though she couldn't escape without having to dance a tango.
The next was Ron, who ended up breakdancing and couldn't escape until Sirius let him go.
Finally, it was Harry's turn, who stood in front of Sirius while the latter looked at him with a teasing smile. Harry had a bad feeling, so he prepared himself to use all his concentration to break free.
When Sirius activated the curse, Harry immediately felt euphoria, as if happiness was coming from the center of his soul, but it only lasted a few seconds before Sirius' spell failed.
"Wow, you're really good, Harry! 50 points for Gryffindor," Sirius said, proud of how quickly Harry was able to break free from the curse.
"Now, for safety, everyone check the buttons you were given earlier," Sirius said while letting everyone check if any of them were still under control. Once everyone confirmed they were fine, Sirius let them leave and even gave each of them a button as a gift.
"That was a good class, what do you think, Moody?" Sirius said while giving Moody a pat on the back, which Moody brushed off irritably.
"If it had been me, I would have shown them all three curses," Moody said quickly.
"Come on, Mad-Eye, they're just kids. One is enough. Besides, we don't want them learning how to use them. At least now the Imperius Curse isn't that hard to detect," Sirius said while shaking his head.
"If you say so," Moody muttered before leaving quickly with his cane.
Sirius, watching him leave, looked at him with a bit of suspicion but said nothing, and then he too left the classroom.
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, everyone was talking about Sirius' new class, which seemed to have been a success that excited the students, as they now had a professor who was truly one of them. Last year, they had a good professor too, but once they found out he was a werewolf, everyone started fearing Lupin.
The Gryffindors were even more excited because their professor was a Gryffindor who defended them. Unlike Professor McGonagall, who was quite serious, Sirius was very friendly with the Gryffindors and showed his disdain for the Slytherins easily, much like Snape did with them. So now they felt they had true support.
Snape realized this, so he started deducting points from the Gryffindors who were sponsored by Sirius. This made Sirius do the same with the Slytherins, so Natasha had to intervene, as it could cause the students to start fighting just like the professors.
"I'll be direct with both of you. Stop acting like children, or you'll be treated as such," Natasha said while sitting in front of Sirius and Snape, who were glaring at each other in annoyance.
Seeing they weren't listening, Natasha had to "punish" them.
"Alright, since that's how you want it. Neither of you can deduct or add points unless you provide written justification. And your budget for classes will be reduced by 30%," Natasha said, slamming her quill down on the table.
"I understand you're only in charge of controlling the students, Miss Flamel," Snape said irritably while casting Natasha a dark look.
"Yes, but my family is the one that provides money to the school, so I can also act as treasurer," Natasha replied with a smile, fixing Snape with a steady gaze.
"And does Headmaster Dumbledore know about this?" Snape asked, even more upset.
"Do you think he'll mind having more money for other things? Maybe he'll even buy more sweets for his happiness. Overall, it's better than having a school where the professors act like children," Natasha said calmly.
Upon hearing this, Snape realized that Dumbledore wouldn't care at all, and it was likely that Natasha was right about him spending the money on sweets. So, he stood up angrily and left, clicking his tongue and giving Sirius a murderous look.
"Sigh. I know you're happy to be back at Hogwarts, but now you're a professor, and you need to behave like one. Show that you're better than Snape by acting like an adult in front of all the students, even the Slytherins," Natasha said as she looked at Sirius, who was still seated.
"That nest of Death Eaters?" Sirius asked with annoyance.
"Not all Slytherins are related to Death Eaters. Remember, my sister-in-law is one of them, as well as my younger brother," Natasha replied calmly. "We're no longer in the war where everyone had their sides from school. Now everyone can choose which side they want to be on," she said as she stood up.
"Tsk. Fine, I'll just watch over the pseudo-nobles. Is that okay with you?" Sirius asked, brushing the hair from his forehead in frustration.
"That works for me. Now go before I punch you," Natasha said with a smile.
Sirius simply shook his head and left.
Thank you for reading
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