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Chapter 12

Jessica's First Lesson

Inside the Room of Requirement were many tools used to aide in the improvement of offensive and defensive magic, including practice dummies, bookshelves lining the walls filled with spellbooks, from the most basic spells to the most advanced. Jessica glanced at James, Lily, Sirius, Sophia, and Peter, surprised that they were all here. She thought it would have been just James and Sirius. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her wand, tightly gripping the smooth Larch handle, and smiled nervously at them.

"Try to relax," Remus said soothingly, rubbing her back gently.

"Er...right." Jessica relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Um...what spell will you try to teach me first?"

James, ever the ring leader, stepped forward. "The spell we're going to teach you is known as the most basic of Shield Charms, Protego. You always seem to do well on the written portions of exams, I assume you know what it does?"

Jessica nodded. "It creates a shield that deflects certain spells in order to protect the person or an area."

"Right," Lily said, very impressed. "Now, obviously, this spell can't protect against The Unforgivable Curses, but, if used correctly, if can still shield you from some nasty hexes."

"The shield is also invisible, and only reveals itself when a spell bounces off of it," Sirius added.

"So, then how would I know when I've cast it correctly?" Jessica asked. "Are you all going to throw jinxes at me and hope I deflect them? Because, I'm not sure about that."

Sophia laughed. "It really is the only way you'll learn. Did you think you were going to be blocking thin air?"

Jessica huffed. That's exactly what she hoped she would be doing. "We'll take it easy on you with a very minor knockback jinx that is guaranteed to only knock you on your ass," Remus said reassuringly.

That didn't seem so bad. How hard could it be to deflect a minor knockback jinx? Then again, she was rubbish at defensive spells, so this would be much harder than she thought, especially with them watching her and, most likely, criticizing her every move.

"Remus will demonstrate the correct wand movements," Sirius said as he pulled his wand from his pocket.

Jessica realized what was about to happen and stepped in between them. "No way are you going to jinx my boyfriend!" she cried protectively.

Everyone laughed, and Sirius smirked. "So, you do have some claws. Don't worry, your precious Remus will be fine. He's as good at this as the rest of us."

Jessica relaxed, but still glared at Sirius as she stepped back. Remus winked at her then turned to his grey-eyed friend. "Ready when you are, Padfoot." Jessica hesitated for a moment, then stepped back to give Sirius a clear shot. She stood beside Lily, biting down on her thumbnail, anxiously.

"Flipendo!" A blue jet of light was released from Sirius' wand, aimed at Remus, who moved his wand into a vertical position as he yelled, "Protego!" The shield became visible in the form of a bright blue light as the Knockback Jinx dissipated upon touching it. Sirius cast the jinx two more times, to which Remus deflected with the Shield Charm. The second time, it ricocheted and hit a wall, but as the room was enchanted to withstand damage, it merely dissipated. The third time the spell bounced off the shield and rebounded back toward Sirius, who cast the Shield charm in order to prevent himself from being hit.

The two wizards lowered their wands and moved out of their combative positions. Remus turned to Jessica, who had been watching the demonstration with bulging eyes. How was she supposed to measure up to them? Despite it being one of the most basic defensive spells, it looked complex. How did they expect her to master it?

"Do you think you might be able to cast it for yourself?" Remus asked.

No, I most certainly do not! Jessica's thoughts shrieked, but out loud, she said, "I think so." But without much enthusiasm.

"Right." Remus crossed the room and stood a few feet in front of her. "Wand at the ready. Just try and imitate what I did a minute ago, and relax."

Jessica nodded and lifted her wand, mentally preparing herself and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Remus aimed his wand at her and shouted, "Flipendo!" Jessica hesitated as the jet of blue light streamed towards her. "Pro-" However, because she didn't react in time, the jinx hit her, knocking her onto her rear end. She stood up, rubbing the offending area.

"You hesitated," Sophia said. "You have to learn to react quickly. Even a moment's hesitation could mean the difference between life and death."

Jessica scowled at her dark haired friend. "I know, but it's hard when it's Remus! I don't want the spell to bounce off and hit him!"

"Just pretend he's someone you hate," Peter suggested. "Like Snape or Rosier."

"Yes!" James agreed. "Okay, picture this in your head. You're walking down the corridor on your way to the library, or wherever. But, as you come around the corner, Snape is there! The only way you can get past is through him. What do you do?"

"Er...turn around and find another way to the library as there are secret passageways?"

James slapped his palm to his face. "Just pretend that there are no secret passages. You have to go through him. He decides that taunting you isn't enough, and wants to try and physically hurt you with a hex. What would you do?"

Just run the other way and pray that he trips over his own two feet as he tries to chase me? "Protect myself with the Shield Charm and hope it distracts him long enough for me to get past?"

James nodded. "Yes, now just use that image. Are you ready, now?"

"I think so, but Remus looks nothing like Snape. He's way too good looking!"

Sirius gave a bark-like laugh. "Did you hear that, Moony? Your girlfriend thinks you're hot stuff."

Jessica blushed furiously. She had managed to walk into that one quite easily, as she always did when she was around Sirius. Remus smirked and lowered his wand. "I think I have an idea. Sirius, change places with me."

Sirius looked at Remus incredulously. "Why me?"

"Because you resemble Snape more closely with your long black hair than I do!"

Sirius snorted, but did as he was told. As Remus walked past Jessica, he stopped to whisper into her ear. "I think it's about time you got even with all those times he's teased you." Then, out loud, he said, "Right, just pretend he's Snape."

Jessica turned to face Sirius as images of many memories ran through her mind: the pranks that Sirius would play on her during their earlier years at Hogwarts, the way Snape constantly tormented her, making her feel less worthy than she really was, Sirius' unending streams of teasing, which made her uncomfortable, Snape cornering her in the library during the first week of term. Determination blazed in her deep blue eyes as she lifted her wand once again.

Sirius cast the Knockback Jinx. This time, Jessica managed to react. "Protego!" The shield lit up briefly as the spell hit it, but then broke as it was too weak and knocked Jessica to the ground again. Sirius stepped forward and offered his hand, which she took and allowed him to help her stand. "Not bad at all. Let's try again, and this time try and exude a bit more confidence."

She nodded and turned to the others, who smiled encouragingly before facing Sirius once again. This time, the shield trembled slightly, but held as the jinx bounced off of it and hit the wall. Jessica grinned widely, proud of herself. "I did it! Did you see that, Remus? I actually cast the Shield Charm!"

Remus laughed and hugged her, enveloping her with his warmth and comforting scent. "See? You just needed to have a small bit of confidence in yourself."

Jessica could have danced with joy, but she held her composure. She practiced the shield charm for another half hour, before James decided it was time for them to stop for the evening.

"We'll meet once a week and on the weekends," he said as he took a large tome from Lily and presented it to Jessica. "If I were you, I'd practice the Shield Charm in my spare time. Maybe you could get one of your fellow Hufflepuffs to help you out. Also, this is a book filled with many defensive and offensive spells with detailed descriptions as to what each spell does and even illustrations of the wand movements used in each one.

"Thank you," Jessica said shyly as she took the heavy tome, looking down at the simple brown cover.

They each departed and went their separate ways. Remus, however, remained with Jessica as they now stood outside of the Room of Requirement. The two of them found a place to sit, in front of a large window that overlooked the lake. Jessica set the book in her lap and opened it. As she did, a folded piece of parchment fell out and landed on the ground. Remus knelt down to pick it up.

"I actually made a list off spells that I think would benefit you." he said, handing the list to Jessica, who perused it. "Most of them are pretty basic, but I threw in a few intermediate and advanced spells in there, too."

"So, I take it that I should start with the basic spells first, and try to master them, before I move on to the next level?"

Remus nodded. "I think that would be your best bet. You managed to cast Protego fairly successfully. You just need to put in a bit of practice so that the shield remains steady, but I don't think it would take you too long to master the basics."

Jessica stuck the piece of parchment back in between the pages and closed the book. "I just hope that I get into a position where I have to use these spells on anyone," she muttered.

"So do I, but there may come a time when you have to defend yourself and fight back. There are many wizards and witches out there who just won't let you run away."

Jessica looked down at her pink shoelaces as she drew her knees up to her chest. She prayed that if she ever did find herself cornered and couldn't run away, that she would have the courage to use what she had learned. Remus seemed to sense her uncertainty, for he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder as he reassured her. After remaining like that for a little while, they decided that it was best if they headed back to their respective common rooms, for they both had homework to finish.

Once Remus had seen Jessica to her common room, he turned and began making the long journey all the way to the Gryffindor Tower. As he came to the fifth floor, he heard some whimpering, and saw Rosier and Dolohov standing over a first year Ravenclaw with their wands drawn. The young girl cowered in the corner and whimpered.

"We really don't like Mudbloods like you in our school," Rosier said, advancing towards the girl as ropes shot from his wand, binding her and preventing her from escaping.

"The wizarding world must be purged of your kind," Dolohov added threateningly, bringing his wand down onto the girl. Flames shot out, catching the girl's robes on fire.

Remus reacted quickly. A jet of water shot from the tip of his wand, putting out the girl's robes. Dolohov and Rosier each threw stunning spells at him, but he reacted with a powerful Shield Charm, which bounced back and hit the two of them squarely in the chest, knocking them unconscious. With the two Slytherins out of commission temporarily, Remus approached the girl, who cowered against the wall. She had a few minor burns from where the flames had touched her skin, but they were only first degree, and Remus was sure Madame Pomfrey would be able to fix her up.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Remus said reassuringly as he knelt down and smiled warmly at the girl as he flicked his wand again, causing the ropes to disappear. "What's your name?"

"Lila Mendez," she said.

"I'm Remus. Why don't we get you to the Hospital Wing and have Madame Pomfrey look at you?" He offered his hand to her. She hesitated for a moment before taking it and standing up.

"I don't know why they did it," she said, sniffling, as a few tears streamed down her cheeks.

"There are some witches and wizards in this world who think that only the purest of wizarding blood is worthy. But they're just bigoted assholes...Er...pardon my language."

"It really hurts."

Remus patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Madame Pomfrey will fix you right up." To keep her mind off the pain, he asked her questions as they walked, mostly about how she liked her classes, and how she liked the school so far. Just from their short walk, he found out that her favorite class was Charms, and her favorite teacher was Professor Flitwick. He also found out that she had a two year old brother, whom she didn't like because he was annoying and always got into her things. They finally came to the Hospital Wing.

"What happened?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she took a good look at Lila.

"She was attacked by Evan Rosier and Antonin Dolohov," Remus said grimly. "I managed to stop them before they could really hurt her, but she has a few burns."

"She's lucky you were there at the right time," Madame Pomfrey said in an impressed tone of voice. "I think a burn-healing paste might do the trick. They don't look too serious. Why don't you stay here and walk her back when I'm finished?"

Remus rubbed the back of his neck. "Er...all right." He sat down in one of the chairs and smiled at Lila, who seemed to blush furiously, before smiling back. She kept stealing glances at him as Madame Pomfrey spread the orange paste on her burns. All the while, Remus thought bitterly about what happened. Taunting Muggle-borns and half-bloods were bad enough, but to actually attack them, especially first years, was a different story altogether. Remus knew that the others would want to hear about it. But, maybe, he should go to Dumbledore first, as well.