Chapter 8

Remus and Dean had adjourned to the Professor's classroom after Sam had left their company. Remus had set up a number of books and weird looking objects from the cabinets along a long table.

"Now, Dean," Remus began, "Since this is going to be an accelerated course, I must have your full attention and participation."

"I will learn whatever it is you have to teach me, Obi-Wan." Dean said

"Pardon?"

"Ah, it's a Star . . . never mind. Yes! You have my undivided."

"Good. Now we'll start with the Unforgivable Curses. These curses are forbidden by the Ministry of Magic for a number of reasons, but mostly because to inflict them on another person, Muggle or Wizard alike, is considered inhumane."

"Wait, wait. I know this!" Dean said trying to remember. "There's the one that you can, like, make a zombie outta someone and they do what you want them to do."

Remus nodded, "The Imperius Curse, yes."

"The one that's a torture thing."

"The Cruciatus Curse."

"And the one that kills." Dean said darkly.

"Aptly named the Killing Curse. I am glad that you are aware of these curses, and you should know them because you must know that Dark Witches or Wizards have no issues using these Unforgivable Curses, and will given the chance."

"So what if someone uses them on me? What can I do?"

"Well," said Remus. "The Imperius Curse can be fought off if you are strong willed and resist it. It takes some practice, but it can be overcome. The Cruciatus Curse can and will drive one to madness from the pain. It has happened to the parents of one of the students here. Poor boy. It is much, much harder to resist, but of course that all depends on one's tolerance for pain."

"I can take a beating. Lemme tell ya." Dean said.

"As for the Killing Curse, well, there is only one person who has ever survived it, and he is the boy you were sent here to protect."

Dean thought on this and nodded. "So basically, I'm screwed on that one?"

"Let's hope it never comes down to that."

"Yup!" Dean said immediately. "Okay, so what's next?"

"We will go over the Knockback Jinx, the Wand-Lighting Charm, Disarming Spell, Smokescreen Spell, hmm . . . and let's say Periculum."

"Alright."

"You will learn about Dark Creatures during the regular classes. But for now, I will take you through the full seven year curriculum a little at a time. First things first!" Remus pulled from a stack of papers an old newspaper. The paper was yellowed and torn but the headline read:

AURORS SEND DEATHEATERS TO AZKABAN!

Underneath was a moving picture of several masked individuals in black robes, struggling against some pretty tough-looking wizards who had put them in heavy shackles.

"These are Deatheaters, Dean. Servants of You-Know-Who." he said showing him the paper. "And there, on their left arms." he pointed. "That tattoo signifies that they are a Deatheater and devoted to him. It is called the Dark Mark. These are the people that would most likely try to use those Unforgivable Curses on you."

"I have a pretty decent quick draw." Dean boasted.

"I hope for your sake you are right, Dean. Most of those Deatheaters were caught but most wriggled out of prosecution by denouncing their allegiance to him or hiding like the cowards they are."

"But they are still out there, right?"

"Right you are. So if you were to spot one of these on someone's arm, you'd best stay clear of them."

"Gotcha. What's next?"

"Let's try an easy spell. Raise your wand, Dean."

Dean reached into his inner jacket pocket and retrieved it. "Okay."

"Now trace a loop in the air with it, like this." he demonstrated by tracing his own wand like a cursive "e".

Dean mimicked the movement.

"Good! And once more." Remus nodded and smiled as Dean repeated the motion. "Perfect. Now, you're going to do the same thing again, but this time you are going to say, 'Lumos'!"

"Alright." Dean cleared his throat. He began to make his loop and said, "Lumos!'' at the crest.

The tip of his wand glowed with a bright white light. Dean smiled and laughed. "I did it!" he hooted joyfully before he knew what he was doing.

"Well done, Dean!" Remus said and clapped him on the back. Now, to turn it off, you must take your wand and with this motion," he demonstrated, "like you would draw a wave. Over like this, and then curve back."

Again, Dean mimicked the motion.

"Very good, you will make this motion and say 'Nox'."

Dean drew a wave in the air and said, "Nox!" and the wand extinguished itself.

"You are a quick learner, Dean. Nicely done!" Remus said.

"Thank you. I thought you just point and shoot, turns out its more involved."

"When you are more advanced with your skills the motions will not matter as much as your wand will remember them for you. The more you use the spell, the more the wand will anticipate your needs. Eventually, you will be able to do spells without speaking at all."

"So practice, practice, practice. Gotcha."

"That's right. Eventually it will all come as second nature to you. You'll find they almost casts themselves. Now! That spell will light the immediate area that you're in. If you find yourself in a cave, or out in the middle of the woods and you need to light a bigger area, you will need to use the spell in its extreme version, Lumos Maxima!"

"Lumos Maxima?"

"Correct! Now, the movement is different for this one, so you'll have to remember which is which. You're going to flick your wand like this."

Remus showed, Dean imitated.

"Then draw your wand back, like so, and then flick it again."

"Flick, draw it back, flick." Dean said.

"Very good. Now, Let's see." Remus nodded and stood back.

"Okay." Dean gripped his wand and mimed the movement a couple more times. "Lumos Maxima!" he said, and immediately the entire room lit up. "WHOA!" Dean cried and shielded his eyes from the dwarf star's amount of light that erupted from the tip of his wand.

Even Remus strained against the light. "Fantastic! You can extinguish it now!"

Dean drew a wave in the air and shouted, "NOX!"

The light shut off and it almost seemed to take a few seconds for the room to darken once more.

"That . . . was mighty impressive, Dean." Remus said and began to clap.

Dean stood there in shock. "How the hell did I do that?"

"You have some strong Magical abilities, Dean, both you and your brother. The potential here is almost unprecedented. You must come from a Wizarding Family."

"Well, we're all hunters in our family. There's my brother and I, our father, our mother, our Grandparents on her side and some of the cousins too. Our Grandfather on my dad's side was a Man of Letters and that makes Sam and I Legacies. . . we . . ." Dean realized that he had just described ever so much more than one generation of magic users on both sides of the family.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You have protested, but I think you know now that you two were meant to be wizards. I have no doubt in my mind that you and Sam will excel at magic and quickly."

Dean stood there a moment and thought. "Then let's keep going."