Draco held his breath, ignoring how dire the surroundings were, his eyes tightly pressed against the gap, watching the scene below.
The leader's black cloak was pinned with a snake-shaped brooch on the chest, and Draco had given him the nickname "Viper" in his heart.
The man waved his magic wand, and the box in the corner of the room popped open with a snap, filled with squeaking gray rats.
"I hope you haven't forgotten the purpose of our activity today."
Viper levitated a rat into the air, letting it fall in the middle of the crowd, and then glanced around.
"Watch closely, this is the Cruciatus Curse—Crucio!"
Viper murmured the spell ominously, and the rat suddenly stiffened, emitting a heart-wrenching, piercing wail. Its limbs twitched in spasms, and its beady eyes were round and filled with pains humans cannot fathom.
Draco abruptly clenched his fist, his knuckles turning extraordinarily pale as a result.
A few seconds later, the spell ceased, and the rat curled up on the floor, its body rising and falling with heavy panting.
The rats in the box had no idea what had happened to their fellow, but they understood it had suffered greatly, and they all began to scream in terror, trying to escape.
Subsequently, the entire box levitated and landed with a thud in the circle of people.
"Everyone, take one and practice the spell thoroughly."
Viper looked at the crowd, their expressions subtly tinged with fear, and patiently said: "Remember, you must have a vehement desire to make the other party feel pain!"
After a brief hesitation, everyone grabbed a rat, including Vid, who used the alias "Belby", and Antoine.
"Did you see that?" Antoine whispered: "That guy seems to be imitating how you teach classes."
"What's so interesting about this activity?"
Vid used his magic wand to pull a rat out of the box, speaking disdainfully in a low voice: "A bunch of fools treating Dark Magic like a game; do they think the Unforgivable Curses are forbidden merely because the Ministry of Magic cherishes life?"
The Cruciatus Curse, Imperio, and Killing Curse are all known as Unforgivable Curses. Using any one of these spells on a human would result in a life sentence in Azkaban.
However, when it comes to destructive power, Mr. Grindelwald's Fire Shield Protection far exceeds the one-on-one Killing Curse.
Yet the Fire Shield Spell is only considered Dark Magic because of its power, without being labeled "Unforgivable."
Similarly, the Confundus Charm can also deprive a person of their will, and it can even be used on some magic items, but it is merely an ordinary spell.
For wizards, to inflict pain or even kill, even a simple Levioso can do the trick.
The reason why only those three spells are classified as unforgivable when used on a person is not their cruelty, but because they can easily change a person—
Both the caster and the victim have a high likelihood of having their soul twisted and their will corrupted. Especially wizards who use such spells, they are sacrificing their humanity to gain formidable power.
The secret to casting Unforgivable Curses doesn't lie in the wand-waving gestures or pronunciation of the spells; their true power comes from the wizard's inner malice—the strong desire to harm others, to manipulate others, and the determination to take lives.
And if such thoughts are absent or if there is sympathy and hesitation toward the target, then even the Killing Curse would at most cause a nosebleed.
Hearing Vid's explanation, Antoine laughed.
"Indeed, they're a bunch of self-righteous fools, but Vid, do you know? These fools, whom you think are ridiculous, have secretly developed quite an influence."
Vid looked at him with curiosity: "Influence?"
"Ignorant Muggles are easily swayed by flimsy cults, and foolish wizards will follow off a cliff with just a few seemingly decent slogans."
Antoine casually waved his magic wand, making the rat faint, and laughed softly, saying:
"Wizards just know more magic; their minds aren't much smarter than Muggles. And their rhetoric is quite appealing to some people, isn't it?"
"Then what's your purpose for coming today?" Vid also waved his magic wand, and the rat in front of him squeaked twice in fear.
He calmed the rat down, then asked: "Investigation? Or guidance?"
"Neither," Antoine said, leaning closer to Vid: "Mr. Grindelwald sees them as excellent observation samples... and, if necessary, they'll make useful pawns."
Vid frowned and said: "I hate having an uncontrollable force like this around, especially since they're so stupid—you can never predict what a group of fools might do when they gather!"
These fools also have "guns" in their hands, and some have quite good "firearms skills," able to cause tremendous destruction easily.
"Bear with it for now," Antoine said: "They won't be jumping around for long. Even though they think they're hiding well, if my observations are correct, they've already been targeted for a while..."
Before he finished speaking, both of them suddenly heard an unusually piercing scream.
They simultaneously turned their heads and saw a rat's body twisted into an incredible angle, the scream was like sharp steel needles trying to pierce the eardrum.
The rat in front of Vid, initially lying on the ground, was terrified out of its mind, leaping and scurrying away, and Vid didn't bother to stop it.
He continued to watch the direction from which the scream came.
Unlike the two who were slacking off, most of the students were diligently practicing, and at this moment, someone finally succeeded.
The student casting the spell seemed startled himself, his hand holding the magic wand trembled slightly, and he instinctively took a step back.
Lying in the duct, Draco's breath caught; he felt like he recognized that person.
It was Pansy.
"Excellent! Excellent, my friend!" Viper strode over, grabbing the rat to show to everyone: "Look, she succeeded!"
He walked back and forth among the crowd, saying loudly: "Remember what I said before, the Cruciatus Curse relies not on brute force, the harder you swing your wand, the power won't increase a bit!"
"I'm talking about you, Goyle—stop swinging your wand around, don't use it like an axe!"
"The correct approach is to focus, to think about the person you hate the most, and let them feel a pain worse than death!"
"Noat, there's no need to agonize over the pronunciation of the spell, what matters is practice! Keep practicing, everyone must succeed at least once before we finish!"
"But, but..." Noat stammered.
"What? Do you have any objections?" Viper asked ferociously.
"No… I don't…," Noat said, shrinking back and lowering his head.
Another student looked at him with disdain for his cowardice, brushed his bangs aside, and turned to continue practicing the Cruciatus Curse—he felt like he was getting the hang of it.
As he turned around, raising his wand, about to cast a spell, he suddenly felt something was off.
A moment ago, out of the corner of his eye… it seemed to have caught something…
He turned his head, and saw between the gaps in the duct, there were reflective eyes!