What had Moody done since becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?
For the fourth-years and above, their very first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson had exactly the same content: the three Unforgivable Curses. This was something explicitly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic.
After that lesson, Moody even used the Imperius Curse on the students, allowing them to practice resisting the curse.
A professor daring to cast an Unforgivable Curse on students was something no normal person could possibly do. But everyone thought Moody was completely mad. His nickname was Mad-Eye, after all, so everyone naturally assumed that Moody was simply having another episode of madness.
In his daily life, Moody always carried a small flask with him, as though he were terrified that someone might poison him, yet he never prepared his own food. Was he afraid that someone would harm him, or wasn't he?
Looking back now, weren't these strange behaviors precisely because Moody's madness caused everyone to overlook them?
Moody's madness had instead become his best disguise. No matter what outrageous thing Moody did, everyone would simply attribute it to his madness rather than become suspicious of him.
But then, why did Dumbledore say that he was too normal?
"Eda, do you know why Alastor has so many scars on his body?" Dumbledore asked. "He even lost an eye and a leg."
How could she possibly know? No one had ever written a biography of Moody.
In Eda's eyes, Moody's injuries could only mean that he had fought bravely and personally captured many Dark wizards. Other than that, there was not much else to say. It certainly could not mean that Moody was simply too weak!
"That is because even while capturing Death Eaters, Alastor would never use the Unforgivable Curses. He would rather bring his opponents to justice than kill them," Dumbledore said. "That is why those vicious Death Eaters left him with so many scars."
Dark wizards, or rather, Death Eaters, were frightening precisely because they used Dark magic during battles and would resort to any means necessary. The three Unforgivable Curses were practically mandatory for them.
Faced with the Killing Curse, where death came with the slightest touch, Aurors paid a terrible price while capturing Death Eaters. It was at this point that Bartemius Crouch appeared. He permitted the Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curses, answering tooth for tooth and blood for blood.
The Aurors were delighted. They did not care whether the Unforgivable Curses were Dark magic. Crouch's order could greatly reduce their casualties.
But Moody was an outlier among the Aurors. He never used Unforgivable Curses against his enemies, even after the Aurors had been given permission to do so. Moody always relied on his superb magical abilities to capture his opponents alive whenever possible.
Yet at Hogwarts, during Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, Moody not only demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses one by one, despite never having used them before, but even used the Imperius Curse on students.
Moreover, Moody was extremely proficient with the Unforgivable Curses. He handled them with ease.
Humans could consciously control their emotions, body movements, and facial expressions, but certain subtle expressions and habitual movements would still reveal themselves unconsciously.
When using the Imperius Curse to control students, Eda sometimes felt that Moody seemed to actually enjoy the process.
"Of course, we cannot suspect Alastor simply because he did not use Unforgivable Curses in the past. People can change," Dumbledore said. "His demonstration of the Unforgivable Curses to the students could also be regarded as a misunderstanding of what I once told him. After all, he is rather eccentric, so being somewhat extreme is normal for him."
Dumbledore's "explanation" seemed to circle the issue back around to Moody's madness. But Eda knew that the Headmaster was not trying to make excuses for Moody. Instead, he was trying to explain the matter from Moody's perspective.
It was reasonable and well supported. Madness really did seem like the best disguise in the world, because everyone would tacitly find excuses for you and come up with reasonable explanations for all your abnormal behavior.
"Professor, when did you start feeling that there was something wrong with Professor Moody?" Eda asked. "Or rather, what made you feel that something was off?"
Dumbledore let out a long sigh. "Alastor and I have known each other for many years, and I am familiar with some of his habits, but none of those things made me suspicious. The only thing that puzzled me was that Alastor seemed to suddenly distance himself from me. He always tried to avoid being alone with me."
It was said that few people lived past seventy in ancient times. At Dumbledore and Moody's age, even in the wizarding world, they did not have many friends left. Two old friends living in the same castle, with one of them constantly trying to avoid the other, was indeed puzzling and difficult to explain.
"At first, I thought I had given Alastor too many tasks. He had to monitor Karkaroff, uncover the hidden conspiracy, and protect Harry..."
Dumbledore continued trying to make excuses for Moody, but Eda interrupted him.
"He also has to monitor Professor Snape. This is the first time I've ever seen Professor Snape at such a disadvantage when dealing with someone else," Eda added.
"Yes, he also has to monitor Severus, Severus whom I trust very much," Dumbledore continued. "I wondered whether I had asked too much of him, considering that he had already been retired for many years."
Although suspicion leading to imagined threats was not exactly a positive thing, suspicion really could make people more vigilant. It was also from that point onward that Dumbledore began paying attention to Moody's every word, action, and movement.
"Since the start of the school year, Alastor has looked like the same mad Mad-Eye, but I know that Alastor isn't truly mad. On the contrary, he is very clear-headed," Dumbledore said. "So I began to wonder whether someone had 'replaced' Alastor, and whether he was avoiding me because he was afraid I would discover it."
Eda suddenly thought of something and said excitedly, "The day before the start of the school year, Moody was attacked at home. Mr. Weasley mentioned it! I was suspicious of it too, but the Ministry of Magic seemed to think it was another stunt staged by Moody himself."
"Yes, Arthur mentioned it, and I asked Alastor about it as well. He was evasive and only said it was two petty thieves," Dumbledore said. "I had only just invited him to Hogwarts, and then he was attacked by two petty thieves. What are the odds of that?"
Almost everything that happened during the 1994-95 school year could be summarized as a series of coincidences.
The Death Eaters' celebration at the World Cup campsite, the sudden appearance of the Dark Mark, Harry's wand in Winky's possession, Moody's apparent attack, and the successive disappearances of Bertha Jorkins and Bartemius Crouch.
So many coincidences had gathered together. Could they still be called coincidences?
Eda carefully went through everything in her mind and felt that she had finally reached a conclusion.
Polyjuice Potion. Someone must have used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Alastor Moody. Conveniently, some African tree snake skin had gone missing from Snape's private stores.
It was him who had made Harry become the fourth champion. It was him who had attacked the real Moody before the start of the school year. It was him who had released the Dark Mark!
But who was this person? Could it be Bartemius Crouch, who had gone missing?
No. Old Crouch and Moody had appeared together more than once. Even if there was an accomplice, there would be no need to make two batches of Polyjuice Potion, because the more people involved, the easier it would be to expose themselves.
Eda thought of someone who should have already been dead, Barty Crouch Jr.
Now everything made sense. The person hiding behind the scenes was Barty Crouch Jr. He had done all of this.
In the World Cup box, Barty Crouch Jr. had been sitting in the empty seat beside Winky!
He was the one who stole Harry's wand from the box. He was the one who cast the Dark Mark. That was why Old Crouch had gone to such lengths to stall for time, even going so far as to frame Harry Potter.
But how had Old Crouch dared to give Winky a "clothing" afterward? Wasn't he afraid that Winky would reveal the secret between father and son? Did he really trust a house-elf's loyalty that much?
At this point, how Old Crouch viewed house-elves was no longer important. What they needed to do now was capture Barty Crouch Jr. and then find the missing Bartemius Crouch.
As long as they captured this father and son, every problem would be solved, and their conspiracy would be brought to light.
"Professor, what do we do next?" Eda said excitedly. "Do we still need to wait for more evidence? I think we already have enough."
Dumbledore raised one hand, telling Eda to calm down and not act impulsively.
He said, "Next, we do nothing. We wait and see."
...
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon: Dragonel