Chapter 234 The Buried Genius

Badger stood up for Neville, and ‘Moody’ was hung upside down in the air.

However, this was only what others saw.

In fact, Badger sneered and recited the spell that had just been cast in this room.

[Crucio]

"Hello, Barty Crouch Jr."

Barty didn't think about how this boy, whom he deliberately ignored and couldn't see clearly with ‘Moody's’ magic eyes, knew his name.

He didn't think about why a fourth-grade student could use the Cruciatus Curse so well.

He didn't think about his master's mission.

His bones were burning, and it seemed that something in his skull was about to break it apart. His eyeballs hit his brain and spun wildly. Every inch of his nerves was bitten by ants, and his skin was peeled open and poured with pepper water.

He couldn't faint, his brain was extremely clear, and he felt everything clearly.

He had only one thought now. He hoped that he would faint. Or die.

He really did it. His body hit the ground, his fingers kept rubbing on the ground, scratching and digging out his eyeballs and crushing them.

Little Barty had never been subjected to such a degree of Cruciatus Curse, not even his master's.

The string of reason was broken and repaired, and he couldn't even get rid of the pain by madness like the Longbottoms.

He could still rationally control himself to abuse his own body, trying in vain to get rid of some of the pain from the Cruciatus Curse.

Time seemed to have passed for thousands of years.

The voice of the young man sounded again, "Oh, I can't play you bad yet."

Then, the hand that was rubbed to the bone healed, the eyeball appeared in the eye socket again, and the mixture of minced meat, blood and bone residue on the ground disappeared.

Everything returned to its original state, including his memory.

Everything that had just happened was transformed into a dream that only Bagel, the leader, remembered, and did not become a reality.

"All curses are over." 'Moody' pointed the magic wand at himself, and a blue light flashed.

He fell to the ground. Oh no, I forgot about this ignorant kid.

He forced himself to forget his identity and put himself in the shoes of the real Mad-Eye ‘Moody’, and at the same time found an excuse for not punishing Bagel.

For some reason, he subconsciously didn’t want to offend this teenager.

“Bucky,” Hermione was very anxious, “He is a professor after all.”

Except for Draco and the other two, who had a look of satisfaction and gloating in their eyes, the others were as worried as Hermione.

But the boys were more in admiration, admiring his courage and superb silent spells.

Then, their expressions turned to confusion again.

Because ‘Moody’ was not angry, “Good boy, you are brave enough!”

He waved his wand and just cleaned up the liquid and bottle flowing on the ground.

He was not worried about the polyjuice potion being recognized.

The original liquid of the cooled polyjuice potion looked like black and sticky mud.

After adding the body tissue of the wizard, the liquid would become different colors and tastes depending on the wizard.

It was not fixed at all.

What's more, he added sherry without affecting the efficacy of the medicine.

In the eyes of most wizards in the British magic world who only follow the rules when brewing potions, this thing that exudes the smell of alcohol can't be a polyjuice potion at all.

He is now only thinking about how to get over it.

"Hufflepuff plus 10 points!"

"Because you dare to help your friend at the risk of offending the professor."

"Hufflepuff minus 5 points, because you attacked the professor."

"What?" Hermione doubted her ears.

Neville, who was ready to beg for mercy, and the others in the classroom, opened their mouths into an O shape.

'Moody' chuckled, "Do you think I will punish this kid?"

"I am also a Gryffindor."

"The most important thing is that I am still a friend of Frank and Alice."

Neville's face turned red instantly, and his expression was very complicated, with shame, fear, and surprise.

Others also looked at Neville curiously, as if he had never talked about his parents.

Taking advantage of this time, 'Moody' struck while the iron was hot and patted Neville's shoulder heavily.

"You think you are a coward, with mediocre magic talent and nothing to show for it except Herbology?"

Neville nodded subconsciously.

"Wrong!" 'Moody' shouted angrily, "You are Neville Longbottom!"

"Your parents are Aurors fighting against the Death Eaters on the front line, and powerful wizards who have survived three times when the Dark Lord personally attacked them!"

"You are their son!"

Neville lowered his head even lower. He had heard his grandmother say these words many times.

"His parents are so powerful, why have they never mentioned it?" Ron was a little unbelievable.

"Raise your head, kid!" 'Moody' scolded.

"Otherwise, my efforts just now would have been in vain."

"You don't think I let you observe the Cruciatus Curse up close just to scare you."

"I did this to help you overcome your weaknesses."

'Moody' moved his artificial leg and walked laboriously to Neville's side, making him face the audience, holding his hand and raising it high, "There are two victims of the Unforgivable Curse in this classroom."

"Of course I don't need to mention one of them - the famous Harry Potter, the only boy who survived the Deathly Curse."

"The other one is Neville Longbottom!"

"Have I been hit by that curse too?" Neville muttered.

"Of course not," 'Moody' put down Neville's hand and patted his back heavily, "You were hit by the Cruciatus Curse."

"You should remember the names of those four people!"

'Moody' leaned over, his voice trembling, hiding his unknown excitement.

Neville closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and..."

"Who else?" 'Moody' almost roared, his body trembling, "Speak!"

The students who were whispering shut their mouths instantly, and were extremely quiet.

Neville was also startled, clenched his fists and shouted loudly, "Little Barty Crouch!"

"Well said!" 'Moody's face flushed, "It was these four who tortured Frank and Alice crazy with the Cruciatus Curse in order to find out the whereabouts of the Dark Lord! However, they were not the only two victims that night."

"Me?" Neville's pupils contracted.

"Yes!" 'Moody' nodded, "They didn't let you go. In fact, you suffered much more torture than your parents."

"But you persisted!" 'Moody's still intact eye flashed.

"But unfortunately, your grandmother cast a forgetfulness spell on you to help (emphasis) you."

'Moody' sighed, "Your forgetfulness, cowardice, and insensitivity to magic all come from this."

"While the forgetfulness spell helped you get rid of the painful memories of the Cruciatus Curse, it also brought you these sequelae."

"Without it, you would be a talented wizard, not just excellent in Herbology."

"Do you regret it?"

Neville shook his head with a firm look, "I don't regret it, at least I had a relatively happy childhood, and I also like herbs the most."

'Moody' looked a little disappointed, but cheered up the next second, "You won't think so in the future."

"The forgetfulness spell can't empty your talent, it still exists, all you need is a little confidence and a new wand."

"If I didn't You are not mistaken, it is——"

Neville clenched his wand, as if afraid that someone would take it away, "It belongs to my father."

"Yes," 'Moody' laughed, "It is also the biggest source of clumsiness and incoordination in magic."

"Twelve inches, rowan wood, unicorn tail hair."

"It is not bad."

"But wands made of unicorn hair are very loyal, and are usually the closest to the first owner."

"And its owner still exists in the world and has not handed it over to you personally."

"So, it is still loyal to your father."

Ron nodded, "I have used Charlie's wand, which is also made of unicorn tail hair, and the result is that I performed mediocrely in the first and second grades. Neville, you really should change your wand."

Neville lowered his head and seemed to be muttering something like "my grandmother" in a low voice.

"Moody" quickly added, "I will write to Augusta. I can't hurt Frank's son because of useless persistence."

Neville returned to his seat and the class continued.

Next, ‘Moody’ did not demonstrate the killing curse as he had done before.

Instead, he talked about its history.

“‘Avada Kedavra’ is an ancient Aramaic spell. It is unknown when and by whom it was created.”

“In fact, it is more appropriate to call it the killing curse, but in order to cover up its casting conditions and its significant killing effect, there is no breaking spell, so everyone prefers to call it the killing curse.”

“It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Magic only listed the killing curse, the crucio curse, and the imperius curse as the ‘three unforgivable curses’ in 1717.”

“So earlier, it was actually legal.”

For the rest of the class, the students were busy taking notes and recording the three unforgivable curses.

The classroom was quiet, and no one spoke until the bell rang for the end of get out of class - but when Moody announced the end of get out of class, as soon as the students left the classroom, all kinds of discussions suddenly surged like a flood.

Most students talked about Basil’s feat in class in awe.

"He's so cool. That's Mad-Eye Moody, but he just hung him upside down in the air."

Ron's face was gloomy and he said with emotion: "Like Neville, I am a genius dragged down by the old wand. It's been a year since I got a new wand. When can my talent wake up from its slumber?"

Hermione and Harry ignored him.

Hermione was still in shock and stuck to Basil. "Fortunately, Professor Moody didn't make a big deal. It would be bad if you were sent back to Castrobush."

Harry has been frowning since class.

Even when Moody invited Neville to his office for tea in front of them, he didn't care.

Ron finally noticed that something was wrong with Harry.

"Harry, why are you going upstairs? It's lunch time now. It's time to eat. What's wrong with you?"

Harry quickly turned around, "I always feel that what Professor Moody drank is a little bit wrong, just like... just like... Polyjuice Potion!"

Bazil looked at Harry in surprise.

Polyjuice Potion is a nearly perfect potion. After adding it to the body tissue of a wizard, the taste and smell change, even the most skilled potion master cannot distinguish it unless he observes it closely.

Harry happened to observe it closely, and he also drank Polyjuice Potion once, but he actually-

But it is also true that under the negative influence of Snape and Ron, Harry was able to learn E (good) in O.W.Ls (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) Potions.

Different from Baljir thinking about Harry's Potions talent and Ron recalling what Polyjuice Potion was, Hermione shook her head decisively.

She pointed out poignantly that the liquid coming out of the bottle had the unmistakable smell of alcohol.

Wine cannot be added to Polyjuice Potion. The book states that its reaction is very delicate, so if the ingredients, time, or stirring technique are wrong, it will fail, let alone adding wine.

"Hermione, your thinking is too rigid." Bajir sighed.

Hermione's personal characteristics of having a rigid mind when she was studying were something you have to taste even in the movie version.

"If you want to add wine without affecting the efficacy of the medicine, you only need to add the wine before the African tree snake skin turns the medicine into blue, and at the same time add one-quarter of the wine's volume of divine horn powder."

"What is written in potion textbooks are popular operations. Each potion master has a more personal approach and his favorite special herbs."

"For example, Democris Belby, the inventor of Wolfsbane Potion, preferred to use a combination of swan feathers and cloves instead of beetle powder when softening the mineral poison."

"This kind of operation is very common in Castrobushe. When we learn potions, we don't just tell you the ingredients and the key points of the actions."

"We will also break down each step to tell students why they need to do it, what it is used for, and what else they can do."

“So don’t be surprised if you get a butterbeer-flavored potion in Castello Busche.”

"Can it still be like this?" Hermione was very surprised. "I have known for a long time that the students in Castrobsher are particularly good at brewing potions. It turns out that the gap is widened like this."

"It's no wonder that Libasio Pollachi can write such great books as "Advanced Potion Making", "Asian Anti-Poison Encyclopedia", and "Have Yourself a Carnival in a Bottle!"

Bargeer reminded, "Don't forget where Democris Belby comes from - Ravenclaw."

"It doesn't matter that their grades are not superior, it's because they spend more energy on research."

“Dive into your favorite field and pursue the principles.”

"Instead of taking the exam."

Hermione thought back to the nickname 'Jack of All Trades'.

Everyone in her class at that time had called her a know-it-all at least once, and even Snape had made such a mockery of her.

From then until now, she thought it was jealousy caused by her own excellence.

And just now, she realized for the first time that this might have nothing to do with jealousy.

It's a simple irony that she only knows how to be a good student who strives to be excellent in every subject.

After getting a perfect score in a course, just try it.

"Am I really going in the wrong direction?" Hermione murmured.

Bajir held her hand and said, "That's not necessarily the case. You get 100% in every subject, and it's also your talent."

"Your problem is that you learn too much and don't have time to digest it and make it your own. This leads to rigid thinking."

"If you just want to graduate with excellent grades, find a good job, and be a simple magic user, that's fine."

"But if you want to achieve something in magic and study it in depth, you need to pursue something other than roll noodles."