“So, Hagrid, you’re the new professor for Care of Magical Creatures, eh?” Sol sat in Hagrid’s hut and drank the tea the latter poured for him.

“Well, the Headmaster was very kind to give me this opportunity,” Hagrid spoke with gratitude. “Since he believes in me, I think that it’s only right that I don’t let him down!”

Sol had gone through half the classes he had today and now was a sort of break period before the next class starts. He decided to use this time to visit Hagrid who he had not seen for a long time.

“Well, your very first class is with the third-years today. That means it’s with Harry, right? I’d reckon you’d want to do a good job in front of him!”

“I do!” Hagrid nodded without hiding his eagerness.

“Then, pray tell,-” he pointed out the window. A horse-like creature sat in the pumpkin patch tied to a wooden post with a chain. It had a bird’s head and beak with greyish blue feathers covering its body. It pecked at its feathers without a care in the world. “-why there’s a Hippogriff here? Surely, you’re not going to introduce it in front of the third-years?”

“Uh…well,” Hagrid’s words seemed to not want to come out. “I am going to do it.”

“Wha-? You’re going to take a prideful creature that mauls anyone that doesn’t show respect, in front of the third-years. What’s worse is that there are also going to be Slytherins there who don’t even show respect to other people much less a beast.”

“Aw, you’re putting it too grimly,” Hagrid waved his hands dismissively. He looked at the Hippogriff with a gentle gaze, “Buckbeak’s not all that bad. He’s actually very gentle and well-behaved. Granted, you have to know how to handle him but that can be fixed.”

“For Pete’s sake!” Sol face-palmed and gave up. “Do what you want.” He went to take a sip from his cup but found it was empty.

“Ah, cheer up, Sol,” Hagrid poured tea in his cup and tried to placate him, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him. I’m a professor now! I’ll be sure to teach a good class.”

“…sure.”

After a bit of pleasantry and idle gossip, he bid Hagrid goodbye and headed towards the castle. As he walked up the stairs, he sighed heavily. He turned around and looked at the hut.

He shook his head, “Hope he can be a bit more aware…”

“Welcome to your first Defense Against Dark Arts class! I am Remus Lupin and I’ll be your professor for this subject,” Lupin introduced himself.

Sol and Katie sat together on a bench and looked at Lupin with a bit of curiosity. The same could be said for the rest of the fourth-year students. Their last Defense Against Dark Arts professor was a disaster of a human being. So, this relatively normal professor was a blessing for them.

Behind Lupin was a large white screen. Facing this screen was a plate camera set up on a tripod.

Lupin continued, “Today we will be learning about the Unforgivable Curses. Now, forgive me for not being able to demonstrate these curses as performing them on a fellow wizard or witch is enough to land you in Azkaban for a lifetime. Even without performing them on others, just practicing them can and will have adverse effects mentally.”

He continued, “Now, I would never advocate the use of any of the Curses as two out of the three of them can never have a justified reason for their usage and even if there was such a reason, it doesn’t justify the harm you do to your victim.”

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Before explaining further, he waved his wand towards the window and all the shutters closed automatically. The room had become quite dark; only the dim light from the torches stopped people from becoming enshrouded in darkness. Lupin then went to the plate camera and fiddled with it. Light came out from the lens and landed on the screen. Images appeared on the screen. It was an image of the three Unforgivable Curses.

Sol nodded in satisfaction. Projectors are a thing here as well! I would like to know why this wasn’t used before.

Lupin stood near the screen and continued with his lesson, “As you can see here, these are the three Unforgivable Curses- the Cruciatus Curse, The Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse. Each of them is worse than the other and should never, under any circumstances, be used against a fellow wizard.” He looked at the students and asked sternly, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes!” the united voices of the students sounded coordinated. Although they didn’t fully grasp the gravity of the situation, Lupin’s solemn attitude at least managed to give them a brief idea of it.

After hearing their response, Lupin smiled and continued, “Well, let me go through the Curses one by one. Starting with the Cruciatus Curse, you wave your wand and chant ‘Crucio’ upon which, your victim will experience excruciating pain. I, myself, have fortunately never experienced such kind of pain and I hope that I never do. That same wish goes for all of you! Now, as for the kind of pain it inflicts, there are no clear accounts of it.

The pain has been described differently by different people. Some describe it as feeling like being flayed alive, some say it felt like being burned in flames, and others say it was like being hacked relentlessly and so on. Excessive use of the Cruciatus Curse might lead to the victim’s mind breaking and making them insane.” The slides changed with his words and showcased his points.

“Now, what makes the Cruciatus Curse and the other curses so frightening is how few countermeasures there are to them. Now, the only ways to counter the Cruciatus Curse is to dodge, take cover or, just simply resist.

The first two are easy to explain while I’ll touch on the last one briefly. Most people who use this curse do this to extract information. And if you simply bear with the pain, you can lie to them. Since the Cruciatus Curse is so powerful, this is incredibly difficult to do however, if you pull it off, the caster will most likely believe you. It’s because of the impression that no one can withstand the curse.”

Lupin stopped and smacked his lips. He took a glass of water to wet his throat and the projector moved onto the next slide.

“Next is the Imperius Curse. Now, this curse doesn’t make you experience pain like the former. And it’s much more forgiving as well. The chant for the Imperius Curse is ‘Imperio’ and it has the effect of placing the victim under the caster’s control. A person with exceptional mental fortitude can defend against it but otherwise, you have to do someone else’s bidding.

Those who can’t resist it, fall completely under the caster’s order and will do whatever he orders without exception. Now, interestingly, those who perform any of the Unforgivable Curses on others may be exempted from punishment, if and only if, they did it under the effects of the Imperius Curse.

Now, just like the Cruciatus Curse, all of its countermeasures apply for this one as well. But unlike the former where you can only power through the pain with your willpower, here, you can completely resist the Imperius Curse’s effect should your willpower be strong enough.”

The slide moved again and this time it showed the image of the Killing Curse. Lupin put away the smile on his face and said seriously, “This is the Killing Curse and can be cast by chanting ‘Avada Kedavra’. No shield charms can block this devastating curse. When cast, the spell will give the target a painless death. There will be no physical injury. As soon as the spell connects, the victim simply dies peacefully, as though the spell had disconnected the soul from the body.

It can be evaded or blocked by taking cover behind a hard object. Unlike the two before, your willpower will not help you in any way whatsoever. Once this spell hits you, there will be no resistance. You will die and that will be the end. Of course, the best way would be to disarm the attacker before he could attack.

The Killing Curse isn’t the only curse that can kill. It’s the only spell that can kill conveniently and efficiently. Its fast speed can make it hard to react to. So, my advice is to disarm the attacker since before casting a spell, he has an equal chance of casting any spell capable of harming you including this one. If you are caught unaware, you will die. So, situational awareness is also a very important countermeasure to this curse.”

Sol’s eyebrows jumped. Huh, sounds like foreshadowing…