Blaise was significantly less thrilled about Moody's teaching after experiencing his first lesson. 

The fourth year Slytherin students sat in their desks, their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection before them, waiting for the class to begin. All chatter ceased once the unmistakable sound of Moody's clunking footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor. Cassia couldn't help but notice Draco tense up ever so slightly from beside her and resisted the urge to laugh. Her amusement vanquished immediately when Moody entered the room, looking as strange and frightening as ever, and slamming the door shut behind him.

"Put those books away," Moody growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "you won't be needing them."

They returned the books to their bags, sharing uneasy glances with each other, as Moody placed a large glass jar containing three hairy spiders onto his desk. 

"Now, Professor Lupin tells me that you're a fine group, that you know your way around Dark creatures, but you're awfully behind on curses," said Moody, "Let's start off simple. Can anybody tell me what the Unforgivable Curses are?"

Silence. 

"None of you?" asked Moody, unconvinced, "I must say, I'm surprised, perhaps even a bit disappointed. Even my Gryffindor class had known about them, but you lot? Seems like you're far more behind than I had expected."

Of course they had heard of the Unforgivable Curses. Seeing as the entirety of their class came from long lines of pureblood families, they were all fairly familiar with all kinds of magic, including the Dark Arts. But after witnessing Moody's madness and intensity the other day, Cassia couldn't blame anyone for being too scared to say anything. 

"Very well," said Moody, taking one of the spiders out of the jar and placing it on his desk, "We'll begin with the Imperious curse. It enables the user to have complete control over their subject."

He took out his wand and pointed it at the creature, saying "Imperio!" 

The spider climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling. From there, it produced a fine thread of silk, slowly lowering itself until it was about six feet off the ground. It then proceeded to preform an impressive display of aerial acrobatics. Each maneuver was executed effortlessly with a flick of Moody's wand.

"Total control..." Moody said menacingly, as he continued to make the spider do various tricks, "I could just as easily make it jump off a building, drown itself... or even kill someone. Same goes for humans."

He lifted the curse and the spider promptly collapsed from exhaustion.

"Years ago, when Dark magic was on the rise, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius curse - or claiming to be," said Moody, his magical eye sweeping across the room accusingly, "Caused some real trouble for the Ministry, having to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will."

There was a deafening silence in the room. The vast majority of Slytherin students - Cassia included - had parents who were once involved with You-Know-Who and, being a famous Auror, Moody was well aware. 

"Next up," said Moody abruptly, "the Cruciatus curse, otherwise known as the torture curse. It inflicts unthinkable amounts of pain on the victim - far more than any weapon could do."

He took out, yet another, spider from the jar. Pointing his wand at it, Moody said "Crucio!", and it began twitching uncontrollably. Had it been able to, it would have doubtlessly let out a gut-wrenching scream. The longer the torment went on, the more violently the creature jerked. It was hard to watch, but somehow, no-one could tear their eyes away from the frightening scene before them.

After what felt like a lifetime, Moody lifted the curse. Although it been relieved of the pain, the spider continued to twitch. 

Cassia was finally forced to look away when she felt a cold hand on her own. It was Draco. He gently pried her fingers out from the fists she had unconsciously formed. Only then did she register the tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly relaxed her hands and blinked away the tears, sending Draco a small and unconvincing smile. 

Moody reached inside the jar and pulled out the third, and final, spider. If the students weren't already shaken, they certainly were now. There was only one curse left to cover, and it was easily the worst.

"Lastly, we have the Killing curse. Rather straightforward," Moody said casually.

Without any hesitation, he cried "Avada Kedavra!" and, in a blinding flash of green light, the spider was dead. It laid on the desk, motionless.

"Now, the use of any of these the curses - the Unforgivable Curses - on a fellow human being can earn you a life sentence in Azkaban. That is what you'll be up against, out there, in the real world. As your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, it's my job to teach you how to how to fight against these things. The only way to anticipate these kinds of attacks is to practice constant vigilance. You hear me? Constant... vigilance."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of that period, conveniently giving the students a much needed escape. They swiftly gathered their belongings and began making their way to their next class without so much as a glance back at Moody.

"Merlin, that was terrifying." said Blaise, the second they had left the classroom. "I think I might've actually wet myself."

Needless to say, the rest of their classes that day were rather uneventful in comparison.

-

a/n: 

me: *hates fillers*

also me: *writes a filler*