Disclaimer: I do not make profit from the story, the lovely J. K. owns everything but the current plot.

Author's note: Thank you for the favorite and follows and thank you for the kind words Mr Guest. And so i plow ahead with my story. Enjoy Chapter 8!

Chapter 8 – Getting Started

Dudley was about to descend the stairwell when he heard a loud bang from Hestia's room. A yelp followed a moment later, then a thud and then silence. He froze in place and he would have stayed there, not daring to breathe, indefinitely if Hestia hadn't clambered up the stairs and brushed past him stopping in front of the closed door to her room. As she opened it, Dudley followed her, peering over her head to see inside. Sara was holding a wand that was pointing at her sister who was feebly stirring on the big bed. She had turned towards them hearing the door open and was gaping at Hestia who, he thought, must have a really scary expression because Sara stammered 'I… Em… Emily thought that since I am 17 I should be able to do magic without them finding us and therefore I should take her wand and practice. She was teaching me the stupefy spell and I cast it and then I cast the counter… you know… enervate...'

Hestia sighed visibly and then stepped inside the room. After a small pause, evidently eying Dudley skeptically, she moved to allow him in and closed the door behind him. She sat beside the now-sitting-upright Emily and looked at her critically before asking. 'How are you feeling?' Her voice sounded half amused and half exasperated. 'Oh, I feel fine' Emily replied dismissively, 'it really was my idea M… Hestia'.

'Under the circumstances I have to commend the thought but please note that spells of that caliber can go terribly wrong by such inexperienced casters. You probably should practice a few spells if you can, both of you, in case of an emergency but only while supervised by Dedalus or I.' Emily perked up at that. 'So I can practice too? Won't they locate us if I do since I am underage?'

'Yes that is how you were found out, I believe,' Hestia stated looking at Sara, 'but while inside a wizards residence you can do magic without fear. It is outside and particularly in places where the presence of wizards close by is improbable that you should avoid using magic if you can, so that the ministry won't be able to trace your location.' Emily's brows were furrowed; Hestia's answer was evidently not explanation enough. 'But why' she asked 'and how can they know my position when I use magic?'

'Because of how the trace works. You see, the trace is a spell that is cast automatically to all wizarding children at the first signs of accidental magic and is reversed when they reach adulthood at 17. Do not ask me how or why this is done; only the witches and wizards that work in the department of mysteries know these things. The thing is, the spell utilizes what is called the magical signature of an individual to identify the caster and a locating spell to trace the location of magic that was cast by an underage wizard. But when in an adult wizard's residence or in places where many wizards tend to gather, such as the Diagon Alley or the Hogdmeade village, the spell becomes confused by the presence of other signatures and so it is safe to use magic.'

Dudley was listening in awe. For many years he had been terrified by the mere mention of magic but the last few years he was afraid and fascinated by it in equal measures, especially since he had met the white haired headmaster of his cousin's school that had come to collect Harry last year and had performed some mighty strange but not really harmful pieces of magic. Now that he had seen Hestia and Dedalus use magic in daily bases and he felt sure enough that magic would not be turned against him, he had the chance to truly appreciate it and he was looking forward to seeing more. His excitement shared Emily as was evident by her bouncing on her feet while looking at Hestia. 'Will you teach us, really? Like… today?' She pleaded. Hestia smiled. 'Let's wait for the sun to fall first and then I would be happy to.'

That was how, at 8 o clock in the evening, Dudley found himself sitting, with Sara by his side, on the grass in front of the house while Emily was standing, wand clutched in her hand, facing Hestia as she was explaining incantations, dueling techniques and wand movements. After a few minutes practicing alone to familiarize herself with the spells, Emily nodded at Hestia and the dueling started in earnest. It was evident to Dudley, almost immediately, that Hestia was not really dueling; rather she was creating opportunities for Emily to use the spells she had learned, all the while making indications and corrections.

As the time passed and Hestia started attacking Emily in turn, Dudley was beginning to think that magic was a really unfair advantage. Hestia was almost two heads shorter than him and slim but simply by standing her ground and saying a few words along with certain movement patterns of her wrist she had made Emily lose consciousness, woken her up, deflected Emily's attacks, flung her wand right out of her hand and transformed a boulder to a boar to create a diversion. After a while, Emily was bruised, red faced and completely out of breath while Hestia had barely broken a sweat.

'You are very good for your age Emily.' Hestia encouraged the rather disheartened looking girl. 'Your shield charm is really impressive but you seem to have a problem with your aim. You should practice it when alone by casting simple charms such as the levitation charm or hover charm to objects a bit further away. Well then let's see what you have to offer, Sara, with your unorthodox training.'

Sara and Emily changed places, Emily came to sit close but not quite next to Dudley and Sara stood in front of Hestia holding Emily's wand and looking worried. Dudley was so absorbed looking at the not-really-dueling-just-yet pair that he didn't notice Emily staring at him for a while. When it did finally register with him however, it made him feel self-conscious and very awkward. Even more unsettling was the fact that he didn't usually feel that way just because someone was staring. On the contrary he was used to people looking either admiringly or resentfully at him, for some reason or another, and he was perfectly happy to ignore them. Not now though. The eyes of the little girl on him felt not only uncomfortable but also frightfully deep, like she was looking at his soul without any intention of looking elsewhere any time soon.

'What?' He grunted finally, not being unable to bare her gaze anymore. 'You should practice too.' Emily said matter-of-factly. 'Practice what? I am not a wizard.' That seemed to surprise her and she remained silent watching him for a while and frowning while Dudley squirmed under her gaze. 'Then there should be another way for you to fight. You should practice for that.' She piped in her thin girly voice. 'What are you talking about?' He asked her beginning to get angry at last. 'I don't know.' She said as if this should be expected. 'But you should know and that is enough.' She answered with the air of a case closed but without having really explained anything.

Dudley was feeling downright scared and really angry by now and he might have said so if Hestia's voice hadn't interrupted his thoughts at that precise moment. 'Not as bad as I would have thought but you really have a long way to go for you to be able to even have a chance of running away from a grown wizard. Now, I want you to take my wand, Sara, and try to disarm Emily. You, Emily, are only allowed to use spells that will not affect Sara at all such as shield charms or transfigurations and spells on yourself and on items in your surroundings in order to defend against Sara. You can also dodge if you can.'

Dudley watched as Emily crouched and leapt to dodge Sara's spells until she was breathing heavily at which point she stood at one position and blocked them instead yelling 'protego' each time Sara said 'expeliarmus'. Finally Hestia stopped them. 'I think that is enough for now. Sara, come with me and I will give you a spare wand Dedalus Is keeping. We will continue tomorrow. I will not stop you from practicing alone but I must ask not to perform spells on each other. Dueling practice should be supervised.'

As the three of them went inside, Dudley got up and moved to stand at his usual place outside the wall and took out a cigarette. The day had provided much to think about. First was the power of the spells he had seen today that had surprised and scared him. He could not think how he would be able to defend against them, if it came to that, and that frightened him. He was also perplexed and very uneasy remembering Emily's words. For some reason he could not stop thinking that her words had sealed his fate somehow. That was a stupid thing to think of coarse but he could not stop the goosebumps from showing on his arms when he remembered her gaze and her words that had been spoken out-loud as well as those that had not.

A voice next to him startled him out of his musings. 'What did my sister tell you…'

To be continued…