Right in the middle of the noise..
Bang!
The heavy doors of the Great Hall burst open with a trendous crash, instantly silencing everyone.
A figure stood in the doorway, leaning on a long staff. His build was broad and sturdy, though his movents seed slightly stiff.
He walked forward, every step accompanied by the heavy thud of wood striking stone, a sound that felt particularly jarring in the suddenly silent hall.
All eyes turned toward him.
As his face beca clear beneath the flickering torchlight, many students gasped, and so even let out quiet cries of shock.
That face looked as though it had been stitched together from fragnts.
His skin was covered in scars of every size, but the most horrifying feature was his eyes. One was small, dark, and sharp like a normal eye. The other, however, was enormous, bulging unnaturally and constantly moving.
The magical eye seed to possess a will of its own, spinning wildly as it scanned the corners of the ceiling one mont, peered beneath the dining tables the next, and then fixed itself on the empty air above the students' heads.
His rugged face remained expressionless as he strode toward the staff table, the heavy sound of his footsteps echoing like the opening beat of so dreadful drum.
He paused briefly beside Dumbledore. His normal eye looked directly at the Headmaster, while the magical eye continued spinning independently within its socket, surveying the other professors seated at the table.
"Albus."
His voice was hoarse and rough, like sandpaper scraping across wood. "I'm not late, am I? Ran into a bit of trouble on the way. Had to deal with it."
"Not late at all, Alastor," Dumbledore replied cheerfully, as though the man's terrifying appearance and abrupt arrival were perfectly ordinary. "In fact, just in ti for dinner."
Dumbledore turned toward the students below, who were still frozen in shock and fear.
"Allow to introduce your new professor for this year, Alastor Moody! As many of you have likely guessed, he will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for this school year!"
Scattered and hesitant applause broke out from the students below.
Most of them, especially the new first-years, were still intimidated by Moody's terrifying appearance and oppressive presence, nearly forgetting how to breathe.
Moody appeared completely unconcerned. He rely swept the Great Hall one final ti with his wildly spinning magical eye, as though assessing where a Dark wizard might be hiding, before dropping heavily into the empty chair reserved for him at the staff table with a dull thud.
After Dumbledore announced the start of the feast, the long tables instantly filled with every sort of delicious dish: roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, buttered potatoes, baked peas, roasted carrots, countless pies... their rich aromas spreading throughout the hall.
Yet the buzzing conversation inside the Great Hall only beca louder than ever, as though amplified by a Sonorus Charm.
The temptation of food temporarily lost out to the countless shocking pieces of news and remarkable new faces.
After being separated for the sumr holidays, the students had accumulated far too many things they were eager to discuss.
"The Triwizard Tournant... how amazing would it be to represent Hogwarts in it!"
A third-year Gryffindor excitedly waved a chicken leg in the air as though it were a championship trophy.
His friend beside him rcilessly crushed his enthusiasm. "Wake up! Didn't you hear Headmaster Dumbledore? You have to be seventeen to enter! We've still got years left of living under the watchful eyes of parents and professors!"
"But that's a thousand Galleons!"
The student's eyes glead as though he could already see piles of Galleons dancing in front of him. "The champion gets a prize of a whole thousand Galleons! Why can't second-years participate? I think I could definitely do it!"
"Are you serious?"
"Of course!"
...
So students were discussing what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup, although most of it was based on rumours and hearsay.
"...My dad said the scene was complete chaos. Those masked people were setting fires and torturing Muggles, and then he appeared."
A younger student lowered his voice and subtly gestured toward the staff table. "No one saw exactly how he did it, but there was a flash of green light, and at least two Death Eaters dropped dead instantly. The Ministry of Magic suppressed the news afterwards, but loads of people saw it."
A nearby second-year gasped. "He used... that spell?"
"Avada Kedavra? Obviously! What else could it have been? If you ask , good for him. That's exactly how people like that should be dealt with."
"But that's illegal, isn't it...?"
Another student scoffed. "The Ministry trying to cause trouble for the Professor is ridiculous. He was stopping a riot!"
"But he really did use an Unforgivable Curse... and kill people..."
"Illegal? That was self-defence! He was protecting the public, and we're the public he protected, got it?"
The Hufflepuff students, anwhile, were far more interested in the new professor.
"This new Professor Moody... he looks terrifying."
A girl whispered to her friend while secretly glancing toward the staff table. "Why does his eye spin around like that?"
"That's a magical eye. I heard my dad talk about him before. 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Supposedly he's an incredibly powerful Auror who captured loads of Dark wizards, though he's also a bit... well, paranoid."
"A magical eye?"
"It's so kind of magical alchemical item, I think."
"Is his leg made of wood?"
"What else would it be? Isn't it obvious?"
...
The atmosphere at the staff table was noticeably more relaxed.
Dumbledore was quietly speaking with Professor McGonagall.
Professor Snape cut into his steak expressionlessly, his cold gaze occasionally drifting toward Moody, who was chatting with Professor Flitwick.
Hagrid, anwhile, seed unusually excited, loudly discussing the kinds of creatures that might be needed for the Triwizard Tournant, causing Professor Sprout beside him to nod repeatedly in agreent.
Sagres sat in his seat, eating expressionlessly, though his sharp eyes occasionally drifted toward the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
Alastor Moody.
Within the Departnt of Magical Law Enforcent, that na had once been a legend, a benchmark.
During Sagres's brief ti serving as an Auror at the Ministry of Magic, Moody had already retired, yet his legend still echoed through every corridor of the Ministry.
He had sent more Dark wizards to Azkaban than everyone else in the Auror Office combined.
___
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