Harry Potter: Don't touch

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When Moody appeared in the classroom instead of Professor Lupin a minute before the start of Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Potter realised that the next forty-five minutes would bear little resemblance to a normal lesson. And he was right.

- Everyone to your seats," Moody commanded at once as he piled into the office, limping on his right leg. - Professor Lupin is ill, so I'll be giving you lessons today.

Harry walked too slowly to his desk, so he didn't have time to take his seat, Megan Jones was sitting in his chair. Potter decided not to argue with his classmate, but to take another seat. There were only free seats at the front desks - all the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fourth years had quickly assessed the threat of Moody and had taken all the seats at the back tables, so Potter had to sit directly in front of Mad-Eye.

- Professor Lupin tells me that you have made great strides in your study of magical creatures and spells. Despite the obnoxious teachers in your first and second year, you've managed to get seriously ahead of the school curriculum, thanks largely to your current professor. That's commendable. Professor Lupin has drawn up a syllabus of topics for me to cover in this class, but I don't give a damn about it," Moody's magical eye looked around at everyone in the room. - Macmillan, to the blackboard!

Ernie blushed and tried to hide something he was holding in his hands in the pocket of his robes. After that he stood up and made his way to the blackboard.

- 'Mr Macmillan, I see you know the subject better than I do. Why don't you give me a lesson instead? What can you tell me about Unforgivable Spells?

Ernie said nothing, lost ten points, and returned to his seat.

- According to the school curriculum, I'm not supposed to tell you about the dark Unforgivable Spells until sixth year. But Dumbledore and I decided that since you're already studying non-verbal spells at the end of fifth year, you should know about the Unforgivable Spells. Especially since I'm sure many of you already know about them. Potter! - Moody said suddenly. - What can you tell me about unforgivable spells?

Harry stood up uncertainly, trying to move as slowly as possible, trying to remember who had told him about Unforgivable Spells, Riddle or Moody. Still unable to find an answer to his question, Potter gave the answer to the temporary DADA professor:

- There are only three. Avada Kedavra is a killing spell, Cruciatus is a pain spell-" Potter stopped. He had just realised that Riddle had given him all this information. But it was too late to retreat anyway. - And Imperius is an action control. Each carries a life sentence in Azkaban.

- Excellent knowledge, fifteen points Hufflepuff," Moody complimented him. He didn't seem too surprised by his knowledge. It was possible that he had mentioned them himself in dialogues with him. - Perhaps you could show me how to use them as well?

- I don't know how," Harry answered honestly. - And you can't use them, a life sentence would be the punishment.

He struggled to keep from adding, "If anyone sees.

- That's right, five more Hufflepuff points, you may sit down, Potter. Even learning to use such spells is forbidden. However, about fifteen years ago there was a war in the magical world and the laws changed, then such spells could be used. So I will show you how these spells work on living organisms.

Moody pointed his wand at the teacher's desk.

- Arachnis!

A small spider appeared on the table.

- Now I'm going to tell you a story about a spider," a carefully hidden threat appeared in Moody's voice. Potter couldn't figure out who this threat was directed at, the students or the spider. - Once upon a time there was a spider, his name was Tom. The spider had a beautiful wife, a spider named Severus.

Finch-Fletchley laughed loudly from somewhere in the last desk. And Harry, though he appreciated the joke and was only too happy for the hint of Snape's insults, was serious, Mad-Eye's tone implying some important life lesson.

- Severus and Tom had three beautiful little spiders. They had a happy spider family, living peacefully and not bothering anyone. Until one day... Crucio!

The spider started twitching horribly, swaying in different directions. Moody paid no attention to the spider's suffering, he continued to tell a cautionary tale.

- Because the spider was an unvigilant empty-headed idiot, defeated by the idea of blood purity, he was attacked by an evil ant. He tortured the spider for a long time, trying to learn all the secrets of spider life, and after the ant found out everything, he cast another spell on the spider. Imperio!

The spider stopped twitching. On its eight paws, it headed for the other edge of the teacher's desk.

- And, under the power of Imperius, the spider headed for his home and killed his wife and his children. - At the wand's command, the spider hit its head on the table four times. - The spider then returned to the ant, who finished what he had started. Avada Kedavra!

A green flash. On the table lay the spider's corpse.

- Are there those who don't get the moral of the story? - Moody asked the hushed class in an angry voice.

Potter remained silent. He thought about the fact that only a suicidal person would try to contradict Moody in this mood. And suicidal he was.

- I'm sorry about Severus," Finch-Fletchley whispered from the back of the classroom loud enough for Harry to hear, and even Moody to hear.

- Mr Finch-Fletchley, what is it? You think this can't happen to you?

Justin listened to the voice of reason and said nothing, but Mad-Eye was unstoppable.

- I'm going to try the Imperius spell on you now. I'll be interested to see how you resist it.

Justin smiled and headed for the board. He didn't believe Mad-Eye would carry out the threat. Potter, on the other hand, was sure of the opposite.

- Is it legal? - Harry asked Moody.

- I have Dumbledore's permission, so, yes, it's legal.

Finch-Fletchley heard Mad-Eye's retort and stopped. The full horror of the situation he was in had belatedly begun to dawn on him.

- I'd like to try! - Harry decided to save his friend.

- Playing the honourable game, Potter? - Moody turned to him.

- 'No, just a scientific interest,' he lied. - I'm interested in what a person feels when they're under the Imperius.

- Well, that's commendable," Moody seemed to believe Potter. - All right, then, come to the board.

Harry obeyed Mad-Eye. It wasn't a hundred per cent lie, Potter really was curious about what a person was experiencing under a spell of Will Suppression, but it was still a wish that could have been fulfilled in another way, like simply asking anyone who had ever been under Imperius. It was a last resort to be subjected to the Unforgivable Spell.

Mad-Eye pointed his wand at him. It's about to happen.

- Imperio!

The effects of the subjugation spell could not be compared to the effects of any other spell. It was somewhat similar to Confundus, which changed the perception of the world, while Imperius completely cut off the ability to analyse his actions. All thoughts were gone. There was only a voice in his head that said, "Jump on the table!"

Indeed, why wouldn't he jump on the table. That's an excellent idea. There was some other voice, but Harry pushed it deep into the bowels of his head. Why would he need another voice when he could jump on the table?

Potter walked over to the table and jumped on it with ease. Mission accomplished. What's next?

He looked around. Some dude with no leg and no eye was telling the other, smaller dudes about some sort of spell:

- Thus, the person under this spell is completely under my control. I can order him to do absolutely anything I want. At my command, he'll jump out a window, punch Dumbledore, kill his best friends. Finch-Fletchley, try and get Potter to do something!

- Well... I don't know... make him jump....

'Jump' came out of Potter's head, and Harry immediately began to do the task with puppy-like joy.

- Anything else, let your imagination run wild.

- One leg, maybe?

The command changed, Harry was now hopping on the teacher's desk on one leg. Why do you even need a second leg if you have to jump on one leg? It's just in the way, should I rip it off? No, you can't do it without a command, yes, of course you have to wait!

- More!

- Well, let him sing something. What's the point? I think one command was enough, everyone knows how the Imperius works.

- Be more specific. What do you want Harry Potter to do?

- Something fun, I don't know, you put a spell on him, you pick the teams.

- Does anyone have any ideas of what Harry Potter should sing? - the one-eyed man turned to the other people.

- The Ukrainian national anthem! - some bloke suggested.

- Yeah, let him sing it in Japanese then," said the girl who was the desk mate of the guy who had spoken earlier.

Potter expected a command to follow, but instead all sensations suddenly disappeared. Normal perception of reality began to return little by little. Harry stopped jumping and fell off the table.

- Total submission. - Moody lowered his wand. - Execution of any commands without the slightest hesitation or bickering. The Imperius spell was the nastiest of the three Unforgivable spells. It's the exact same game the Death Eaters played during the Magical War. Except the stakes were higher. Avada Kedavra kills, Cruciatus brings pain, and Imperius is the source of many rapes, betrayals, murders, and suicides. The only thing beautiful about this spell is that it can be resisted. After ten or twenty Imperiuses I was able to completely suppress this spell, Cruciatuses took about thirty. Well, I think Potter is the only one who knows how to deal with the death curse.

* * *

The bell rang, and the students left Moody's office in a panicked rush. Potter, bouncing lightly, was the last to leave.

- How are you? - Finch-Fletchley was waiting for him at the exit.

- Not well," Potter characterised his condition. - But I've been worse, I feel like if I stop jumping, I'll be struck by lightning at the very least.

- What was it like for you under the Imperius? You're not mad at me for making up your commands, by the way?

- No, of course you were doing the right thing. As for the Imperius, it's hard to describe... imagine a man twice as dumb as Crabbe.

- It's getting a little complicated," Justin shook his head. - But let's say I did, so what?

- Well, you're travelling to about the same level, and you have one intelligent thought in your head, and that thought changes into... because of... okay, this is bullshit, let me put it this way. To you, another person's command is like an incontrovertible truth. When you're hungry, you go to eat, it's obvious; following commands was as obvious to me as eating, and I enjoyed doing it. It's like that. Do you get it?

- In general, I think some things can only be fully understood by experiencing them first hand. It's good that Moody is only filling in temporarily for Professor Lupin. It's doubly good that he didn't make us go through the same procedures.

- Who knows, maybe he will. In any case, Moody's right, it's a wildly disgusting spell, and I was thinking of trying to improve Confundus, but now I realise I don't want to.

Talking about various things, Justin and Harry reached the Puffendoor lounge, there were already two other Hogwarts champions waiting for them.

- Hey guys, how are you doing? - Fred Weasley asked.

- Not good, we're coming from Defence Against the Dark Arts. Moody was teaching there," Finch-Fletchley replied

- Oh, so he was testing Imperius on each of you too?

- No, just me. Did he use that spell on everyone?

- Well, yes, it's a long lesson, but why only on one of you? - George answered in Fred's place.

- Well, he spent the first half of the lesson on the Unforgivables. There wasn't enough time for the Imperius.

- I see," George said.

- 'I see,' Fred said at the same time as George.

Immediately afterwards, they stared at each other unhappily. They seemed to be about to say the same word at the same time.

- We're in our sixth year. We've already been told about the Unforgivables," Fred began.

- That's why Mad-Eye started right away with the practice," George continued for him.

- Yeah, burst in a minute before the bell rang and threw an Imperius at a random student, and then that student explained to us the benefits of constant vigilance," it was Fred again.- Did anyone have any luck resisting the effects of the spell? - Harry asked.

- We haven't," George answered him. - But they say that a fourth year Slytherin student, a certain Nott, was able to overcome the Unforgivable with ease.

- But it doesn't matter," Fred pointed out. - We've actually come here with a request.

- And what is it?

- We want to open a shop in Diagon Ally. We've got quite a lot of money saved up, we've made a lot of money this year. After my success at the first trial, our canary fudge sold very well, and the early versions of the Strike Breakfasts didn't sell so well, but they made money. The monoculars made a small profit, and we made enough on betting, and we got three hundred galleons from Bagman, who had squeezed us for the winnings by betting that Ireland would win the World Cup final, but Victor Cram would catch the snatch. It was a good match, sorry you weren't there.

- But the owner of the necessary premises charged an unrealistic price, you see, he has a crisis, and we need a huge start-up capital. So we need money. And we'd like to ask you to lend us some money," Fred tried to speak casually, but his voice was filled with excitement.

- No problem," Harry agreed instantly. - I don't know how much money I have in the safe, but I think there's more than a thousand galleons in there, and you can take it from there.

- So can I," said Finch-Fletchley. - I'm ready to give you the sum you need. I have a mountain of gold, and I shall not see it till I am of age, but they give me a lot of money for pocket money, and I spend a great deal of it, but I have a hundred and five with me.

- Half a thousand galleons? On you? - Harry was surprised.

- Well, why? To tell you the truth, it's all I've saved for the last few years, but I think I'll make it through the summer," Justin shrugged.

- Thank you very much," George said. - I knew you wouldn't say no, but Fred was hesitant, we need two hundred galleons, that's a lot of money for us, we'll pay it back from the first profit made in our shop.

- By the way, we're not allowed to go to Hogsmeade," Harry suddenly remembered. - How am I going to get the money out of the safe?

- Then I'll give it to you, don't worry," Justin said and started tapping on the barrel. - Let's go into the living room right now, then.

- Yeah, thanks again," Fred smiled and followed Finch-Fletchley into the opening in the barrel.

Harry Potter's disgusted - because of the Imperius - mood quickly improved.