What does this mean “good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile”?

Question

I came across this while reading Harry Potter. Here I attached the paragraph I've taken this from.

Moody’s magical eye spun around to stare at Ron; Ron looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled — the first time Harry had seen him do so. The effect was to make his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. Ron looked deeply relieved.

It seems to me that harry feels good to know that Moody in his life apart from all the unfriendly things had done something friendly i.e, the smile.

Answer 1

The key to understanding this is "that he ever did anything..." - this implies that the expectation was that he never did anything friendly. But contrary to that expectation, they see him smiling and this provides them with a sense of relief. He had a scary appearance and aura, but thanks to seeing him smile, they realized he was not as scary as they had thought.

Answer 2

Q: Does Moody ever smile?

A: Yes, he just did.

Interpretation: Smiling is a friendly gesture. Therefore, Moody is or can pretend to be friendly.

Reaction: Friendly gestures are always good to see, especially from someone as consistently grumpy as Moody. It is good to know that, however infrequently, Moody indulges others with such gestures, whether they are sincere or not.

Hope this helps!