The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 431 Clearing the clouds and revealing the sun
What had Moody done since he'd taken over as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?
For students in the fourth year and above, their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson is exactly the same, which is the three unforgivable curses. This is a content that is expressly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic.

After that class, Moody even used the Imperius Curse on the students and asked them to practice resisting this curse.

A professor dared to cast the Unforgivable Curse on a student. No matter how you think about it, it is not something a normal person can do. But everyone thinks Moody is crazy, and his nickname is Mad-Eyes, so everyone naturally thinks that Moody is crazy again.

In daily life, Mu always carries a small wine flask with him, as if he is afraid that someone will harm him, but he never prepares food by himself. Is he afraid that someone will harm him, or is he not afraid?
Now that I think about it, these strange behaviors were ignored by everyone precisely because of Moody’s madness!
Moody's madness became his best protection. No matter what extraordinary things Moody did, everyone would just attribute it to his madness and would not have any doubts about him.

But why did Dumbledore say he was too normal?

"Ada, do you know why Alastor has so many scars on his body?" Dumbledore asked, "He even lost an eye and a leg."

I don’t know. How could I know? No one has ever written a biography of Moody.

In Ada's opinion, the wounds on Moody's body only showed that he fought bravely and that he had captured many dark wizards. Apart from that, there was nothing else to say. You can't say that Moody was too weak!

"That's because, even when capturing Death Eaters, Alastor would not use the Unforgivable Curse. He wanted to bring them to justice rather than kill them." Dumbledore said, "So, those vicious Death Eaters left him with so many scars."

Dark wizards, or Death Eaters, are so frightening because they use dark magic in battle, using any means necessary, and the three unforgivable curses are compulsory for them.

Faced with the Death Curse, the Aurors paid a heavy price in the process of capturing the Death Eaters. At this time, Barty Crouch appeared and allowed the Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curse to fight tooth for tooth and blood for blood.

The Aurors were very happy. They didn't care whether the Unforgivable Curses were dark magic or not. Crouch's order could greatly reduce their use of the Internet.

Moody was an outlier among Aurors. He never used the Unforgivable Curse against his enemies, even if the Aurors had been allowed to do so. Moody always relied on his superb magical skills to capture the enemy alive as much as possible.

But at Hogwarts, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Moody, who never used the Unforgivable Curses, not only demonstrated them one by one, but also used the Imperius Curse on students.

Moreover, Moody is very proficient in the Unforgivable Curses and can be said to be very adept at using them.

Humans can control their emotions, body movements, and facial expressions independently, but some subtle expressions or habitual movements will always be revealed inadvertently.

When using the Imperius Curse to control students, Ada sometimes felt that Moody seemed to enjoy the process.

"Of course, we can't doubt Alastor just because he didn't use the Unforgivable Curse in the past, because people always change." Dumbledore said, "He showed the students the Unforgivable Curse, which can also be regarded as a misunderstanding of what I said. After all, he is crazy, so it is normal for him to be a little extreme."

Dumbledore's "self-justification" seemed to circle the problem back to Moody's crazy behavior. But Ada knew that the headmaster was not making excuses for Moody, but explaining the problem from Moody's perspective.

It makes sense that madness really seems to be the best disguise in this world, because everyone will tacitly find excuses for you and find reasonable explanations for all your abnormal behaviors.

"Professor, when did you start to feel that there was something wrong with Professor Moody?" Ada asked, "Or rather, what made you feel that something was wrong."

Dumbledore sighed deeply and said, "I have known Alastor for many years, and I am familiar with some of his habits, but none of them make me suspicious. The only thing that confuses me is that Alastor seems to have distanced himself from me all of a sudden. He always tries to avoid being alone with me."

Seventy is a rare age for a person to live, and by the age of Dumbledore and Moody, even in the wizarding world, there are not many friends left. It is really confusing and somewhat unreasonable that two old friends, living in the same castle, always try to avoid the other.

"At first I thought I had given Alastor too many tasks. He had to monitor Karkaroff, find out the hidden conspiracy, and protect Harry..."

Dumbledore continued to justify Moody, but he was interrupted by Ada. "He also has to monitor Professor Snape. This is the first time I have seen Professor Snape so weak in front of others." Ada added.

"Yes, and I have to monitor Severus, who I trust very much." Dumbledore continued, "I just wonder if I am asking too much. After all, he has been retired for many years."

Although suspicion is not a good word, suspicion does make people more vigilant. It was from then on that Dumbledore began to pay attention to Moody's every word and action.

"Since the beginning of the school year, Alastor still looks like the crazy Mad-Eye, but I know Alastor is not really crazy. On the contrary, he is very sober." Dumbledore said, "So, I wonder if someone has 'replaced' Alastor, and he is afraid of being discovered by me, so he has less contact with me?"

Ada suddenly thought of something, and she said excitedly: "The day before school started, Moody was attacked at home. Mr. Weasley mentioned this! I also had doubts about this, but the Ministry of Magic seemed to think that this was another self-directed and self-acted performance by Moody."

"Yes, Arthur mentioned it, and I asked Alastor about it. He was evasive and just said it was two little thieves." Dumbledore said, "I just invited him, and he was attacked by two little thieves right after. Is it such a coincidence?"

Almost everything that happened in the 94-95 school year can be summed up as coincidence.

The Death Eaters' carnival in the World Cup camp, the sudden appearance of the Dark Mark, Harry's wand in Winky's hand, Moody who was suspected of being attacked, and the disappearances of Bertha Jorkins and Barty Crouch.

So many coincidences come together, can it still be considered a coincidence?

Ada carefully deduced the situation in her mind, and she felt that the matter seemed to have been settled.

Polyjuice Potion. Someone must have used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Alastor Moody, and some boomslang skins had just happened to be missing from Snape's personal stash.

It was he who made Harry the fourth champion, it was he who attacked the real Moody before school started, and it was he who placed the Dark Mark!
But who is this person? Is it the missing Barty Crouch?

No, Old Barty and Moody had appeared together more than once. Even if there were accomplices, there was no need to prepare two sets of Polyjuice Potion, because the more people there were, the easier it would be to reveal the truth.

Ada thought again of the man who should have been dead long ago, Barty Crouch II. Now it made sense, the man behind the scenes was Barty Crouch Jr., and he did all this.

In the World Cup box, Batistuta was sitting in the empty seat next to Shanshan!

It was he who stole Harry's wand in the box and cast the Dark Mark. That's why old Barty tried so hard to delay time and even framed Harry Potter.

But how could old Barty dare to give Winky a piece of "clothes" afterwards? Wasn't he afraid that Winky would reveal the secret between them? Did he trust the loyalty of the house-elf so much?
At this point, it doesn't really matter what Barty Sr. thinks of house-elves. What we need to do now is to control Barty Crouch Jr. and find the missing Barty Crouch Sr.

As long as we catch this father and son, all problems will be solved and their conspiracy will come to light.

"Professor, what should we do next?" Ada said excitedly, "Should we continue to wait for evidence? I think this is enough."

Dumbledore raised a hand and told Ada to be patient and not to act impulsively.

He said: "We will do nothing and wait and see."

(End of this chapter)