"Well, I guess that's that, then", Professor Horsewood took a resigned seat in one of the armchairs as the Aurors hid their wands standing at ease.
"What a colossal waste of my time. The Ministry will take care of this", The Minister buttoned up his robes, while taking his leave.
"He is not dense, why is he behaving like so?" Felix asked also sitting down on the sofa, feeling rather tired after his sojourn into the Crossroads.
"He is not the first or the last human to be blinded and corrupted by his fear of losing power. He fears for his "Shadeglass" as much as Azrail fears for his", Professor Horsewood explained resting her hands on her lap.
"That was…interesting to say the least, but why am I here? If I may inquire? Not that I don't enjoy seeing you all but…" Mr. McCormack enquired still standing next to Professor Jordan.
"For once, my dear Ian, I did not call for you", Felix thought it somehow funny, seeing Hogwarts' Headmistress shrug her shoulders like he and his friends did.
Felix also gave a quick shrug when his lawyer turned his eyes on him.
"I did", Professor Jordan said, "I had a…premonition of sorts Felix might come in need of your fine services."
"I see…I'm afraid I am a tad lost."
"As am I…" Felix added.
Professor Jordan took a seat of his own before explaining. "You just dangled Azrail's greatest desire right in front of his eyes and told him to come and get it from you. What do you think he will do next in his…state?" He asked the room crossing legs and hands.
"He'll try and mount another attack here?" Felix asked.
"Which will fail, what do you think his next course of action might be, my bright pupil?" There was no sarcasm in Professor Jordan's voice, only worry.
"Try and find me out of school during vacation breaks?"
"He can't, what's next?"
"Wait until I graduate?"
"Correct, only he won't wait, he'll make sure you have nowhere to go once you do graduate."
"We need to protect my friends' families!"
"That is another matter, but I was thinking he might try and destroy any and all property he knows to be part of the family estate."
"And that's where I come in…I've already been selling off property and assets as requested, I I'll have to move on it faster", McCormack nodded his head.
"Much and publicize the sales in the Daily Prophet. We don't want Azrail blowing something up and killing the wrong inhabitants…" Professor Horsewood added. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have some Headmistressing to do."
"I'll escort you out", Professor Jordan motioned to McCormack. Ian tipped his hat at them before departing.
When the room was clear but for him and the Headmistress, Felix looked at her inquisitively. "Something else I can help you with, Felix?"
"I've a question, ma'am."
"Ask away."
"I had thought your animagus animal was a frog, but recently in the library you were an owl."
"I too was surprised by this when it first happened. I did some extensive research into it and I found that while quite rare and very poorly documented a witch or a wizard who are powerful in transfiguration and possess strong ambivalent internal struggles can be prone to acquiring dual animagus animal transformations if they experience a life altering and/or intensely traumatic event. Same can happen to their Patronus."
"Me being tortured by Azrail and having drunk the Book of Leaves page and your loss of your daughter, I guess?"
"That is my guess as well, yes. My first animagus was the owl. Which was yours, I wonder? The snow leopard or the Eagle?
"Ma'am", Felix stood to leave.
"And Felix…"
"I won't go off Hogwarts, not even to Hogsmeade."
"Good, thank you."
Felix left her office and decided, despite him feeling out of sorts after his trip in Limbo, to spend some time studying in the Library before his first very own tutoring of the Students of Hogwarts into something different than dealing with Professor Hudson. So, with the day's studying finished he headed over to the boathouse where Willian, Alfred and the others from the Students of Hogwarts waited for him.
"Hello everyone, with Irina out and about we'll have to be more careful, but there is a maelstrom coming and I want all of you to be as prepared as possible", Felix greeted them drying his clothes from the rain over the viaduct.
"Why not use the room of requirement?" Emerick asked surprised.
"Someone's been using it day and night, your Protean Charmed buttons will do, just make sure they don't fall into any "wrong" hands."
"We're not dealing with Professor Hudson anymore I take it?" Crawford asked somewhat disappointed.
"We no, I yes. There's bigger fish to fry than a Professor with emotional baggage. Everyone here can cast a corporeal Patronus?"
People nodded, with ayes and yeses.
"Good, been practicing Legilimancy and Occlumency?"
Again the students present nodded with ayes and yeses.
"Good, in dueling tournaments your life will not be in danger. In real world battles you need to be prepared for one singular truth. Your opponent may only be casting one spell and one spell only. The killing curse and if your reflexes are not quick enough you will die."
"It is unstoppable, what could we possibly do against it?" George Shyface cried.
"You are correct, there is no known spell that can stop it. You are wrong, if you get out of the way, place a solid object in front of you or however manage to avoid it impacting you, you won't die."
"That's not what we've been taught about it", Stephany Nash interjected.
"There's a lot we're not taught about it and for good reason. I talk from personal experience. Now, we're going to pair up at random, just pick the person next to you and we're going to practice them reflexes. Obviously there won't be no killing curses, but the purpose is to learn how not to protect yourselves by casting protego or any other protective charm but how to avoid that spell whichever one it may be from impacting you in the first place. So pair up and let's get started", they nodded and begun to pair up.
Claudia paired up with Socrates, Emerick with Miremba, Uriel with Stephany, Ethel with Alfred and Felix paired up with Crawford.
"So, now that we're in pairs. One defends by trying to pull solid objects in front of him, the other attacks. Attackers, the point isn't of course to hurt or harm, but to make contact, even the tickling jinx is good enough for this exercise", Felix turned and faced Crawford attacking him without warning with Expeliarmus. Crawford was quick to react, thinking the training exercise as not yet started and the disarming spell got him making his wand drop to the floor.
"You are dead."
"Bah! I wasn't r…" Crawford got hit again, this time by Flipendo dropping him on his arse.
"Faster, you are now dead twice."
Crawford grabbed his wand and cast a spell at Felix who shrinking into his Eagle avoided it with ease. He retook human form just as Crawford tried to repay him with Flipendo which Felix used a bucket nearby to levitate and deflect then using Oppugno he sent the bucket flying at Crawford who had to duck to avoid it from hitting him.
Standing up Crawford cast Avis at Felix who rolled on the floor before using his wand and a long, round circular motion to redirect them back at Crawford who having not expected this to happen reacted slowly getting hit.
"God dammit!" Crawford yelled trying to impact Felix with Depulso, Expulso, Depulso and repeat, but Felix had turned into his leopard and was dodging every single spell with feline agility and reflexes.
"Stay put will ya!" Crawford yelled at Felix, in loss of his temper. Felix leaped to the left before rolling on his back and using his hind legs to slap Crawford's wand out of his hand before retaking human shape, his wand aimed squarely at his sparing partner's face. "Everte Statum!" Crawford flew off his feet and fell on his back, dazed.
"Don't lose your calm and temper, anger is a bad advisor when fighting for your life", Felix told him standing up and offered his hand at Crawford who took it.
"Sorry, I'm a hothead", Jason Crawford tried to laugh.
"No need to apologize, I'm not your Professor and I'm not going to grade you. I only hurt your pride but in a different situation I could have cost you your life", Jason nodded taking a deep breath.
Elsewhere in the room Claudia was tossing Socrates around like a sack of potatoes, Ethel was trying to hit Alfred, but he kept deflecting spells with an oar enchanted by him.
"You are a tricky one! But so am I!" Ethel cried, casting a bat bogey hex at Alfred who used the enchanted oar to defend himself but left his right side unguarded and Ethel used her free hand to launch a fanged frisbee at him which embedded itself on his rear.
Emerick was having his arse handed to him by Miremba who was very good at transforming items into vines and attacking him with them. "Damn vines! Ignis!" Emerick set one of them on fire for it to retransform back into a rope.
"Incarcerus!" Emerick cast at her but she avoided it by rolling behind one of the boats. Emerick made a slash motion with his wand capsizing the boat on her.
Uriel and Stephany were using each other's spells to deflect each other's spells away from them. Colourful jet impacting colourful jet until Stephany threw an orange coloured flash of energy at him he made to cast his when he found himself hit by Stephany holding a second wand in her left hand.
"You cheat!" Uriel exclaimed throwing up a slug.
Stephany shrugged with a giggle. "All is fair in love and war!"
Ten minutes later Felix clasped his hands. "Change pairs! William, Alfred you two are with me."
As the training session progressed Felix made valuable observations for future training sessions, like the boathouse really wasn't adequate for their needs, small and cramped, they'd have to find a place in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. He'd have to nudge Socrates to duel more according to his strengths, potions and not charms. Claudia fought with her heart not her mind, but she still handled herself well and Crawford felt secure only when brute forcing his way into a duel.
"What are you waiting for? Attack me", he told his cousins who stood there awkwardly looking at him. "Azrail isn't going to wait for you, I'm not your cousin right now", Felix whirled his wand causing William to levitate upside down from his legs and shake violently. "Not fast enough."
Alfred tried to cast bombarda at Felix but was cut off mid-spell when Felix dragged his wand across the air causing William to collide with Alfred and both boys to fall on the floor one on top of the other.
"A human body is a sold object. Stand", Felix motioned them with his wand going up and down a few times.
Another reason they'd have to find a better location for these meetings was the boathouse now reminded Felix of a battlefield. They would have to tidy up a storm after they were finished.
"Oh, it's on! Let's get him, bro!" Alfred dusted his robes standing up, with William nodding with a wide grin.
The two brothers tried their best again and again to "get" Felix, to have one of their spells, curses, jinxes and hexes of their somewhat limited fourth and second years' arsenals, and for the next half an hour tried they did, but not a single of their spells found Felix, who wounded their pride to teach them a lesson that'd keep them alive later on.
Two hours later Felix knocked on the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, he already was beyond the point of exhaustion and extremely happy he no longer had to practice legilimancy and occlumency while doing physical exercise.
"Sir", Felix entered the DaDa Classroom.
"Felix do come in" Professor Jordan seemed to have found some of his pre-capture vigour. "I can safely assume that in the past few months of my…forced vacation you have been practicing? So, I'm going to test how well you have mastered thought-casting and depending on the results we'll move to composite multicasting where you'll learn some new hexes, jinxes and curses. This is where my dueling nickname came from, Curseweaver. I was the first to start weaving curses, jinxes, hexes and charms together, hence why there is no classboook or textbook about it…yet. Now, let's get at it."
"Sir, yes, sir", Felix smiled contently.
"So, do show me your thought-casting", Professor Jordan leaned against the front of his desk while Felix stood at the center of the room between the rows of desks and chairs.
Felix aimed his wand at a nearby chair and without moving his lips the chair became an armadillo. A few seconds later he changed it back to a chair again.
"You have been practicing, most impressive", Professor Jordan seemed amused and proud of the fact. "Good, good. Now, multic…"
"Uhm…you know your private library?"
"Yes?"
"Well…well basically I read every book, and because there were none for multicasting I experimented…so let us assume I know a thing or two about multicasting already, sir."
"Show me, cast two different spells at the same time."
Felix pointed his wand at his professor and a moment later Professor Jordan's hands were holding a bouquet of flowers while his hair changed from silver to dark brown.
"Amusing" Professor Jordan changed his hair back to silver, placing the bouquet on his desk. "Now, multithre…"
Felix aimed his wand at the same chair and a second later it was destroyed while at the same time its splinters becoming liquid water from wood. "Other than reading your private library's books I've had a summer to practice beyond the knowledge contained within them. For a jinx to be threaded with a curse a non-aggressive charm has to be placed in between, for a curse having and jinx combo to receive a hex it requires Fianto Duri in between and never mix more than three curses with a jinx or four with a hex and you're being daft mixing five with jinx and hex, am I missing anything, sir?" He asked his tutor with a faint self-satisfied smile.
"Yes, much…but you are up to a good start. Most Ravenclaw of you. Now, if you will let me speak I can start teaching you what you've been begging me to since the end of year four", Professor Jordan was far more amused than he let on. "For today and since you seem to know about half of what I had in mind to teach you, you'll learn the rest of what you need to know about multicast multithreading, two new jinxes, three new curses and four hexes that are not in my books."
It was the first time since they had started their tutor-apprentice relationship that Felix had to sit down in one of the chairs and desks and take notes, and that's what he did for the two hours and a half as Professor Jordan gave him the full nine yards on multicasting and multicast multithreading under the dim, flicking torchlights in the cloudy moonless night.
"That was a lot more complicated than I thought it'd be, but sir? If you are the first to use all of this…how did you learn it? Or know how to teach it, I mean there are no books on the subject…I searched", Felix asked his tutor when the theoretical part was finished, standing up after placing his parchment, quill and ink in his backpack.
"You are not the only one to experiment with trial and error. I experimented and discovered a whole new field of magic with various different applications. There are no books on the matter yet, at first it was a great advantage to have while I was participating in dueling tournaments and since I joined as a member of Hogwarts' faculty I have not had the time to write the book on it, something which I don't see changing until Azrail is defeated and the war ended. I can teach you because I discovered it, any more questions?"
"No, sir."
"Very well, the first multithreading I am going to teach you involves the use of legilimancy and the memory charm, obliviate. You can combine the two not only to invade someone's mind during battle but to also alter their memories, delete them or manipulate them to confuse them and make them believe you are not their enemy, for example. The incantation is Legilimeviate and the wand motion is a horizontal cylindrical shape and you'll need to focus your intent on altering the memory as well as invading my mind. Now, try it on me, I have a specific memory in my mind, cast the multithreaded spell and alter it as best you can, I will of course not make this easy on you, my guards will be up."
Felix followed Professor Jordan's instructions casting the multithreaded spell at him. He broke past the professor's defenses and found the memory he had mentioned right at the top of his mind, at the surface above all other thoughts and memories. It was the one from when he lost to Azrail the first time. He saw the Professor about a decade younger kneeling in front of the child-Azrail having lost his title to the young masked opponent, he saw Ives ask the child who he was and Azrail replying with one single word "Death".
Felix altered the memory to the opposite, of Professor Jordan having won and exited his mind.
"A valiant effort…but you didn't think to alter the other significant fact that happened that night, which prompts me to question the alteration you made…"
"The death of your…love by Marigold. I..I…", Felix
"You did think it…why didn't you change it?"
"I did not want you to believe the lie I had to implant in your mind because of the exercise to learn the spell, sir. I thought the sorrow of having to have it re-happen would be too much of a torment for you to suffer through for me to learn one spell. I prefer to fail than for that to happen."
It is not often a student sees gratefulness, appreciation and affection in his tutor's eyes, but on that autumn night Felix did.
Professor Jordan undid the alteration to his memory. "You have not failed, Felix. But you have an amazing degree of empathy and compassion. One hundred points to Hufflepuff and if anyone gives you grief for out-of-hours points-giving….send them my way."
"Will do, sir", Felix couldn't help but crack a wide grin.
"You seem to have the grip of this one, so Let us move on to the next one", tutor and pupil continued their lesson for the day.
Two days later, Felix sat eating breakfast and discussing with William and Alfred in the Great Hall, at the Ravenclaw table laughing at William's description of something funny that had happened in his second year's Transfiguration classroom and two of his classmates, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, switching each other's ears to pig's and oxen's as part of a scuffle and Professor Hudson giving them detention in the kitchens for six months.
"Yours?" Emerick shoved a copy of the Daily Prophet under his eyes, bending over them. "Heyo William, Alfred." In the front page a large animated photograph showed two different Manor houses burning up in bright orange and red firestorm.
"Hey Emerick!" The boys cried in unison.
"Yeah…Azrail's work no doubt", Felix affirmed.
"Why now?" Claudia inquired approaching after Emerick, hand in hand with Socrates. Uriel saw the commotion and came over from the Slytherin table where he sat next to Ariana and Stephany, one on each side of him, as Ethel leaned back to listen from the Hufflepuff table next to the Ravenclaw one.
"There's stuff I've been meaning to tell you, and I will but not now, not here. I have Quidditch practice after classes and then second tutoring lesson with Professor Jordan after an hour's worth of break…I'll find you during my break in HQ."
"I'll let Miremba know", Emerick made to leave when he froze in his tracks, seeing Irina standing right behind them.
"HQ? I've heard of these special tutoring lessons with dear Ives, may I attend?"
"None of your business, and no", Felix stood and left, visibly vexed.
"Now, that tickles my curiosity", Irina's lips curved into a mischievous self-assured smirk as she walked away, scribbling away in her notepad.
"This is going to be a very interesting year", Ethel laughed coming over.
"Yeah, because all previous ones so far have been dull and boring!" Uriel quipped.
"It certainly has its share of adventure and excitement, being Felix's friend", Socrates added with a thoughtful nod of his head.
"Come on, let's go", Claudia took Socrates by his hand, intertwining their fingers together as they left the Great Hall.
"Uh…I know I've been rather preoccupied with stuff lately, but weren't you two, like, an item?" Ethel whispered to Uriel.
"Oh, that was amazing while it lasted but it ended months ago. I wasn't the guy she wanted", Uriel replied with a bittersweet remembrance tone.
"Wait, what? Who does she want, then? She didn't know Socrates back then!" Ethel squeaked.
"Socrates is a great guy, but he ain't it either. She just doesn't realize it just yet", Emerick was finding this conversation between Ethel and Uriel greatly amusing, William in his as of yet prepubescent age was finding it a little too yucky and yet strangely exciting, and Alfred thinking his own thoughts was blushing and wiggling in his seat.
Around them the Great Hall as well as most of the school's corridors and chambers except for classrooms were decorated in all-hallows-eve theme with pumpkins with artificial cobwebs, enchanted pumpkins glowing out of their eyes and floating scarecrow angels with white or black wings and celestial-like white or black armours and tunics. The only thing missing was the ghosts. No one seemed to know where the ghosts had vanished the past few years, except for Mr. Binns, their History of Magic Professor.
Professor Hudson had contributed to the decorations with transfigurative mechanical spiders that creeped up and scared students or hung from the artificial cobwebs.
"I fail as a girl…you with anyone?" Ethel poked her tongue at Uriel who gave a short "as-if-I-wouldn't-be" snort.
"Yeah", he left.
"Well, who! Oy!..." Uriel shrugged his shoulders without further reply as he headed back to the Slytherin table. "You ass!" Ethel laughed.
Two and some change years ago, the day after his friend Felix had departed for his home country, Bellerophon found his way to his father's office looking determined.
"Father, may I speak to you for a moment, please?" He asked after knocking on the door.
Aristides lifted his attention from his administrative papers and duties as Archon of Elysion. "Bureaucracy, nothing that can't wait for after I talk with my son. How can I help you?" He told Bellerophon smiling.
Bellerophon stood tall in front of his father's desk, legs open and hands behind his back.
"Train me, father, teach me everything you know. Teach me how to kill the sick bitch that killed my brother", he replied with a death mask of a face.
Aristides stood from his armchair, walking to the front of his desk. "I will, but why now? What changed your mind?"
"One day sooner or later Felix is going to fight his brother and he's going to need help. The killing of Sandra is my duty and my duty alone. Mine is the blood feud, mine is the responsibility. I want to be ready to answer his call. I want to avenge my brother and make you proud."
"You make me proud every day you exist and breathe ever since you were born", Aristides let it sink in for a moment before continuing. "I will train you. I will teach you everything within my arsenal of knowledge, Bellerophon son of Aristides, I will not because I want you to avenge your brother anymore, but because you will regardless of what I want, and I want you alive after this is finished."
"I am ready, father", Bellerophon tried to sound confident and brave, even if deep within he knew he wasn't.
"You are not, but I will forge you to be. Follow me."
Aristides lead them out of his office towards the school grounds. "Where to, father?"
"The forge in Delos. You will need your first pictotatoo and your Wareater's weapon, no two are alike and much like your wand it will choose you."
"I will not be a Wareater after."
"Be whatever you want after, for this battle you will need your tattoos and your weapon as much as your wand and my training."
"Okay."
In present day Hogwarts Felix entered the DaDa classroom for his second tutoring lesson with Professor Jordan. Quidditch practice always tired him but at the same time made him feel a sense of accomplishment in a way few other things did.
Entering the classroom he froze on his tracks, seeing Professor Jordan chatting with Irina.
"What's she doing here?" Felix asked all too loudly.
"I thought it'd be nice to remind my old…acquaintance of my extensive knowledge of curses. The alternative method is illegal in most countries", Professor Jordan had a sly smile about him like a praying mantis stalking its food.
Irina ignored him. "Well, you said no, he said yes and I'm curious as to how one trains a child to fight one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time without endangering his life in the process."
"Take a seat and if you interrupt us once for any reason, I'll throw you out", Professor Jordan told her, this time smileless.
She sat in one of the chairs near the classroom's wall. Felix suppressed a grin of his own.
"Felix, we left it off at the multithread of the laughing curse with the itching curse, today we'll start with a very old spell, as old as this school. Inflamardo. A combination of inflamaré and Duro. This is a spell I'd not use on a living being for it makes for quite the excruciating death. The target will turn to stone while its insides combust. The energy, gasses released, and fire need to go somewhere so they end up blowing up the stone "carapace" to bits.
"Inflamardo!" Felix cast at a desk near Irina. The wooden desk turned to dark grey stone and shortly after it begun to glow from the inside brighter and brighter before exploding with a loud noise.
Irina seemed unphased and protected by a yellow shield-like barrier. "Interesting", It didn't take a legilimens to understand she was far more affected by it that she displayed.
Professor Jordan repaired the desk nonverbally. "Well, obviously if you weren't attending our lesson, this would not have happened. I am glad you still remember the spell I taught you to protect yourself", her eyes threw him daggers, but she did not reply.
"That good enough, sir? Or anything I should know about my incantation or wand movement?"
"No, both were well above average, as I'm used to from you", Felix remained emotionless, but he was laughing inwardly, as this spell was one of the few he had learned during the summer from one of his Professor's private library's books. Professor Jordan had given him a spell he already knew because he knew Felix would know how to use it to take Irina down a notch.
When their eyes met, they needed no words to communicate.
"Now, for our next multicast curse, since you seem to have this spell down…let's do something interesting and well beyond NEWTs level…Patronus Omnis. The motion is two circles united together, forming something similar to the infinity symbol, although not quite it. Give it a try and concentrate well, it is a lot more difficult than Expecto Patronum and will require the best of your happiest memories you can possess. If successful it will not only produce a corporeal Patronus to protect you from Lethifold or a Dementor, it will also grant you several protections against Dark Magic and Necromancy and is one of few known higher forms of the Patronus charm", Professor Jordan explained with Felix listening intensely.
"I have a memory like this, even two years later it glows brighter than the sun within my mind, it always will, my beacon against the darkness. Patronum Omnis!" At first nothing happened, and just when Felix was ready to call it a failed attempt his wand's tip glowed a bright silver, illuminating from within before a winged leopard three times his size with its wings unfolded came bursting out preceded by an omnidirectional dome-shaped barrier, blinding bright white and expanding outwards until most of the classroom was enfolded by it, Irina and Professor Jordan feeling somehow at peace with happy memories flooding their minds.
"If only the pure of heart and mind can cast Expecto Patronum, this advanced version of it requires an unprecedented level of empathy and compassion from a human being…not for everyone but for the most strong-hearted of defending spirits. I had a feeling you would be capable of successfully casting it….I never could as much as I tried", Professor Jordan told Felix, emotionally charged.
"I've seen you casting a Patronus, Ives."
"One does not mean the other, Irina. We all have varying levels of consciousness and…empathy within. I have enough for a Patronus, I don't for this one."
Felix ended the spell having this extreme happy melancholy sensation.
Professor Jordan kept teaching Felix new spells until Irina left at eleven o'clock looking somewhat disappointed, obviously attending the private tutoring lesson between Felix and Professor Jordan had not given her what she thought she would get for her story.
"Now, that she left, take a moment to ready yourself for Imperio", Professor Jordan took out a chocolate frog from one of the drawers and threw it at Felix.
"Anything I should know, sir?" Felix unwrapped the chocolate frog, enchanted to move and jump about pocketing the card of a famous wizard or witch for William who gathered them.
"Always be vigilant and on guard. Unlike Occlumency this isn't a battle of memory suppression and emotion and thought control. Like Occlumency this is a battle of wit, power, intent and force of will. Yours against the caster of Imperio. I have no malice or ill-intent against you, if the person does it will make resisting it a lot more difficult. Master yourself and concentrate, running songs, poems and so won't avail you here", Professor Jordan answered him retrieving a wand from his desk.
"This ain't your wand, sir", Felix stated swallowing the chocolate frog, his lips dyed dark by the chocolate.
"Indeed. Imperio!" In an instant and without warning Felix felt bliss unlike any he had felt prior overtake every neuron and fibre of his being. Bliss so intense he never wanted it to cease. A voice inside him screamed for him to expel the bliss, to resist it like he had resisted nothing else before.
He heard a voice order him to bark like a dog, a will pressing down on his with intent. "Wo…n-no…no…I don-don't want to…woo….no…" Felix whimpered as the conflict within intensified, resist the bliss, don't resist it.
"Do it! Do as I Order you! You have no choice! Obey!" He heard the same commanding voice tell him and a cloud spread over his mind pushing down on his will to resist.
In a state of increasing panic, the walls of his own mind closing in on him Felix pulled all of his force of will, every ounce of control he had over his thoughts behind resisting the voice, to no avail as in the end he barked twice.
Professor Jordan ended the unforgivable curse. "Good, good for a first effort."
"Ugh, what was that euphoria?"
"The curse's way of succumbing your mind to it. If you had not already, welcome to the world of pleasure-denying", Professor Jordan tried to lighten the mood.
"So much yuck, such yay", Felix quipped with sarcasm.
"Imperio!" Professor Jordan cast the curse at him without warning, and with similar results.
"Not fair, you didn't w…" Felix tried to complain after he had been forced to cry like a goat. A few days ago, he had wounded his cousins' pride for a lesson and now he stood on the receiving end.
"Yeah, sure. Criminals who will be willing to use this on you will give afford you fair warning before", Professor Jordan replied with just as much sarcasm. "Imperio!"
"Protego!" Had Felix not cast the protection spell it would have had the same effect as the curse went right through it. Every time Professor Jordan cast the curse it produced the same yet slightly better results. Felix would eventually succumb to the spell, but he would resist ever so little more with every effort.
"The unforgivables can't be stopped by any spell, protective or otherwise. Your only defense against this one is your force of will, your ability to resist the nigh-indominable pleasure it gives you. When Azrail tortured you with crucio, how did you resist that one?"
"I didn't, I learned to lock myself in the deepest parts of my mind to numb the pain…"
"Here you need to numb the pleasure to resist the curse's hold over you. You can try the same method, see how it works."
Felix nodded and the lesson continued well into the wee hours of the morning.