When Hopkins finally realised the suitcase didn't just contain a Basilisk and a dragon, but also a little Dementor wandering around, a fiery Chimera, and a toilet that suddenly spoke when you tried to use it, he'd probably be absolutely terrified...
But that was really none of Koen's business. After taking him into the guest room in the wooden hut inside the suitcase, Koen left.
This is just helping Voldemort train his subordinates' willpower.
Weak-willed people couldn't achieve great things, after all. A few months from now, when Hopkins tried to run away because of suspicion from various professors and Ministry officials, he'd surely remember his first few nights in Koen's suitcase...
He'd lived with those monsters for so long, what else could possibly happen that was more terrifying?
Back in the dormitory, Harry and the others had finally grown tired of discussing how powerful Moody was. In their collective opinion, Moody's power level had settled at "on par with Dumbledore."
Still, even though they were bored of it, when Koen returned, Ron asked for his opinion.
"What level do you think Moody's at?" Ron asked Koen expectantly.
"Oh, are you into power levels now..."
Koen thought for a moment.
"Maybe slightly below the 'Mega Cup' level? Feels like there's still a bit of a gap between him and Dumbledore..."
"But Dumbledore's so old now..." Ron's excitement was rekindled. "I mean, he might –"
"It's getting more and more ridiculous..." Hermione yawned. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight..."
"I still think Dumbledore's got the edge," Harry disagreed with Ron's point.
"From a physical integrity standpoint, Dumbledore certainly seems a bit more composed than Moody," Koen clapped Ron on the shoulder. "Blindly comparing power levels isn't wise, little Ron..."
But Ron still seemed to feel that Moody had more of a 'tough fighter' vibe about him.
Over the next couple of days, classes were as mundane as usual.
Listening, practicing spells, doing homework – except for Potions.
Snape's 'class danger level' hit a new high. When Neville melted his sixth cauldron since starting Hogwarts, Snape was merciless with his sarcasm and gave Neville a particularly torturous detention: gutting a large桶 of Horned Toads.
Everyone knew exactly why Snape was in such a foul mood.
"Because of Moody," Harry stated confidently after class. "He just wants to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he always gives the new DADA teacher dirty looks – only this time he's hit a wall. He's scared of Moody..."
"Koen said Snape used to be a Death Eater back in first year, didn't he?" Ron said with disgust. "Of course a Death Eater would be scared of Moody – if I were Dumbledore, I'd just kick him out of the school and send him straight to Azkaban –"
"Go on, give it a shot, kick Dumbledore out," Koen encouraged. "I've always supported you becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts."
"Then everything would be completely chaotic, wouldn't it?" Hermione caught up with them from behind. She had just been teaching Neville the Scouring Charm – so Neville could clean the disgusting toad guts from under his fingernails.
"You don't believe in me!" Ron said angrily.
"I think you'd kick out a quarter of the school," Hermione said sensibly. "That would be far too 'House-centric'."
"'House-centric' sounds pretty good," Harry said dreamily. "Hogwarts without Slytherins..."
"Daydreaming again," Koen tsked. "Imagining yourselves as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, clearing out those who don't deserve to study magic – though if you need a Basilisk, I can lend you one."
"Why does that sound so familiar?" Ron frowned.
"Because that's what Salazar Slytherin did," Koen raised an eyebrow.
Ron and Harry both shivered.
The Gryffindor fourth years' first Defence Against the Dark Arts class this week was on Thursday afternoon. After lunch, they queued up outside Moody's classroom early.
It looked exactly like students trying to get a good seat for a famous professor's open lecture.
"Hurry, hurry!" Ron yelled, pulling Koen and the others into the classroom as soon as the bell rang. It was the first time he'd ever been so enthusiastic about getting to class.
Ron got the front row seat he wanted, but he would soon start to regret that decision.
Because Moody walked in carrying three large black spiders in glass jars.
Koen could clearly see Ron's previously excited and eager expression rapidly being replaced by confusion and fear, finally leaving his face pale and drawn back.
"Put yer books away, ye won't need 'em," Moody said gruffly, leaning on his walking stick as he went to the desk and started calling the roll.
From both the subject matter of the class and Moody's behaviour, the real Moody now seemed very similar to the fake Moody in Koen's memory from the original book.
This meant Barty Crouch Jr. truly had a talent for acting; no wonder even Dumbledore didn't spot the problem.
"Right," after finishing the roll call, Moody's whirring blue eye stopped staring at the students and just spun to look behind his head. "I got a letter from Professor Lupin. He gave me a run-down of what you've been learning. You've picked up a fair bit about dealing with Dark creatures."
Moody's normal eye flickered towards Koen.
"You've learned to tackle Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, eh?"
Facing Moody's questions, everyone murmured agreement – although they were looking forward to Moody's class, when Moody's terrifying face turned towards them, as underage wizards who hadn't seen much of the world, the students still lowered their voices a bit fearfully, scared that Moody might suddenly fly into a rage.
"Then my job this year is to teach ye how to deal with the illegal Dark curses – according to Ministry regulations, I should really only teach ye counter-curses, but Professor Dumbledore spoke highly of yer courage..."
Moody's gaze swept over Harry and his friends.
"He thinks ye can handle it, and I agree. The sooner ye know what yer up against, the better. If ye've never seen a curse before, how can ye protect yerselves from it?" Moody said. "If a wizard wants to cast an illegal curse on ye, he ain't gonna tell ye his plans. Ye gotta be ready at all times, stay vigilant. While I'm talkin', ye'd best put that away, Miss Brown."
Moody's magical eye fixed on Lavender, who was doing something sneaky under the desk at the back, trying to show her Divination homework to Parvati next to her.
Lavender's face turned bright red with fright.
"First off, I'm goin' to explain the three most wicked curses, the most unforgivable curses in the wizarding world," Moody said hoarsely. "So, does anyone know what these three curses are?"
"The Killing Curse?" Harry whispered to Koen.
"Feels pretty standard," Koen said. "Nothing much, like being hit by a flashlight."
"Norton," Moody called out Koen's name. "Tell me the curses ye know."
Damn it, he shouldn't have been whispering to Harry in class –
The Unforgivable Curses were child's play for Koen, seeing as Voldemort had personally taught him back in first year.
But saying them out now, sounding like he knew them inside and out, would he seem like some kind of natural-born villain?
"The Killing Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Cruciatus Curse," Koen said. "Using any one of them on a human being will earn you a life sentence in Azkaban."
After just a brief thought, Koen rattled off the three Unforgivable Curses like he was reading from a menu.
Trying to hide it would just make him look guilty – Koen didn't need to feel guilty at all.
So what if he knew? Would they lock him up in Azkaban?
"Correct," Moody nodded, gesturing for Koen to sit down. "The Killing Curse, the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse. Back in the day, these curses were abused by dark wizards, causin' a whole lot of trouble. Next, I'll show ye what these curses do..."
Moody placed the three jars containing spiders neatly on the desk.
Then, he took out the spiders one by one and enlarged them so the students could clearly see the consequences of being hit by the curses.
With each curse he used, Moody explained its effects and wicked consequences.
The classroom grew quieter and quieter; everyone was holding their breath, staring at the spiders being controlled, tormented, and killed by the curses.
"These three curses are known as the Unforgivable Curses. Any one of 'em used on a human is enough to land ye a life sentence in Azkaban," Moody said sternly. "The Killing Curse and the Cruciatus Curse are undefendable, so ye need to stay alert and make sure ye never get hit by 'em."
Hermione suddenly raised her hand.
"Miss Granger," Moody's magical eye turned to Hermione.
"You said the Killing Curse and the Cruciatus Curse are undefendable, so... what about the Imperius Curse?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Moody grinned.
"That's what I'll be teachin' ye next lesson," Moody said. "The Imperius Curse is the only one of the three Unforgivable Curses that can be resisted. The key to resistin' it is a strong will. Remember this, no matter what, a person's will is the source of a spell's power."
With that, Moody put away the spiders and closed the roll book.
"Alright, that's all for this lesson. Ye've taken yer notes, right? Then there's no homework. Class dismissed."
After class, as soon as Moody stepped out the door, the classroom immediately erupted.
"Did you see the way that spider twitched?"
"—He killed that spider in one go—just one spell—"
Students who had never seen the Unforgivable Curses before began discussing the curses Moody had demonstrated in awestruck tones.
Harry looked a bit dazed; that green light brought back some unpleasant memories for him.
Like the way Koen had 'died' after being hit in first year, or that hazy night when his parents were killed.
"Whether it's in the wizarding world or among Muggles, human life is fragile. Even outside the wizarding world, it's just as unsafe," Koen said, patting Harry's shoulder. "A Killing Curse or a rifle, both can kill a person in an instant – the weapon isn't the point, the point is the people who use the weapons."
"We'll defeat Voldemort, right?" Harry said, looking lost.
"Instead of worrying about whether we can beat Voldemort, you should worry about whether I'll team up with the Dementors and establish a Dementor Empire," Koen said.
Harry laughed – but then he quickly realised something was a bit off.
"Wait – a Dementor Empire? You're joking, right?" Harry asked, looking at Koen.
"Can't beat Voldemort? You're joking, right?" Koen countered.
The school life before the Triwizard Tournament began was both easy and fulfilling for Koen – but for someone else, it was a different story.
On Friday morning, Hopkins finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Let me go!" Hopkins begged, tears streaming down his face and snot running down his nose, clutching Koen's leg after Koen entered the suitcase. "Please – that Dementor keeps staring at me from the window!"
"Lies!"
Koen said in Voldemort's tone,
"Mik doesn't even have eyes, how can he stare at you?"
"And that Basilisk!" Hopkins said. "It keeps bringing dead rabbits and dead sheep to scare me!"
"Bringing you food, isn't that great?" Koen defended the little Basilisk. "Other people don't even get a chance to be looked after by a Basilisk."
"You also didn't say you had a dragon in here!" Hopkins wailed. "It wants to eat me!"
"Well, that is a bit tricky," Koen frowned. "Norbert hasn't eaten people before. I'm worried his stomach won't be able to digest it –"
"Just be a decent person... please..." Hopkins pleaded. "I'd rather live in the broom cupboard – just not with them – and that toilet that suddenly talks – I don't even dare go to the loo –"
"The part about not being able to be a person is hard for me to explain to you," Koen sighed. "Because I'm a Dementor. If you stayed somewhere else at night, Dumbledore would find out. If you get caught and kicked out of school, guess how Voldemort will punish you?"
As if picturing the consequences, Hopkins gasped, and the painful feeling of being bullied by those giant beasts and monsters instantly faded.
If he messed up the Dark Lord's plan, it wouldn't just be him who died, but his whole family.
Compared to that, suffering here... didn't seem so hard to accept anymore?
Besides, he had safely survived so far. Aside from being sprayed by a dragon and being scared half to death by a Dementor in the middle of the night, he had technically not encountered any real accidents yet...
"Then... then..."
"Cheer up. The Triwizard Tournament starts at the end of next month. You only have to tough it out for a few more dozen days," Koen comforted him. "How about you stay in the castle that's still being built? There's more space there, and Hissokou and the others never go there..."
"That place is full of Inferi!" Hopkins resisted. "I'd rather..."
"Alright, then consider it agreed that you'll stay here and play with the little Basilisk," Koen said, satisfied. "Also, the little Basilisk has learned quite a few rude words lately. Tone it down; if you teach it anything bad, Hissokou will start taking revenge on you."