Dewey's last few surprise attacks had had two targets.
One was the wand, and revenge.
The other was the Marauder's Map.
To be precise, his primary target was the little rat, Scabbers.
But Scabbers wasn't with Ron, so they had to settle for taking the Marauder's Map from the twins.
Sirius was, of course, familiar with the map.
When he'd just gotten his hands on it, he'd even stroked it fondly.
"The Marauder's Map," he said to Dewey. "An old friend. We used it to go to Hogsmeade when we were keeping Lupin company, and to avoid the students.
"Hogsmeade was somewhere we went all the time."
He was telling Dewey this, but Dewey had no patience for his story. They were fleeing for their lives at the time.
Now Sirius could talk.
Next, they'd have to face the enraged Ministry of Magic and Aurors who had completely thrown off their restrictions and could use Dark Magic at will.
Dewey didn't think the two of them could take on so many Aurors.
Two fists couldn't stand up to four hands; even the bravest man couldn't overcome a crowd.
Getting out of London was what mattered. They left the city at an astonishing speed and managed to get two flying brooms.
That was why Dewey had sought out Sirius.
As a pure-blood heir and a thoroughly traditional wizard, Sirius always had some strange connections.
Even after being locked up for more than ten years, some of those connections still worked.
Dewey called it knowing people.
They were now flying away on their brooms.
As they flew, Dewey sorted through his Cards, half-listening to Sirius reminisce.
A few new Cards from their last two battles were to Dewey's liking.
[Expecto Patronum]
[Expecto Patronum: The famous Patronus Charm. Only those with a righteous heart can use it—or perhaps those who think their hearts are righteous.]
["Oh, dear, in that pink sweater, you look just like a great big toad."]
The Purple Cards dropped by the Hit Wizards were the Patronus Charm.
The drop rate was delightful. The luck of a true card king.
The Patronus Charm wasn't a spell that every wizard needed to learn.
Its main use was fighting Dementors. Unless they had a special need, adult witches and wizards wouldn't go out of their way to learn it.
The Hit Wizards had used this spell more than any other, by far.
There were also several curses, all Blue Cards.
The first was Reducto.
[Reducto]
[Reducto: You can use the Full Body-Bind Curse first, then cast Reducto. Want to see your enemy reduced to ashes? Perhaps you should also learn how to summon wind and rain. That way, you can grind them to dust with one set of spells.]
["You bitch, stay away from my daughter!"]
The second was the Full Body-Bind Curse.
[Full Body-Bind Curse]
[Full Body-Bind Curse: I want you to look like a statue.]
["I'm sorry, Neville. It wasn't like that."]
The third was Locomotor Mortis.
[Locomotor Mortis]
[Locomotor Mortis: Stand up straight, good boy. Trust me, your legs still won't be able to move.]
["You look much better standing up than slouching around."]
There were a few other curses, but Dewey looked them over and didn't care for them.
As for torture, he still put Crucio first.
There were plenty of White Cards, too, all common spells: the Mending Charm, Reparo, and the lighting charm, Lumos. The rest of the spells were much the same.
Dewey thought it over carefully and decided to stick to the old rule: specialize in a few, learn a few others, and disenchant the rest.
First, considering what lay ahead, he had to learn [Expecto Patronum].
However powerful the Card was, its significance alone was enough to make Dewey take it seriously.
Then he needed a few curses to put on a show.
[Locomotor Mortis]
[Full Body-Bind Curse]
[Reducto]
He had to learn at least one of these Cards.
Dewey thought it over and made his choice.
He didn't disenchant the Full Body-Bind Curse or Reducto. The two Cards worked well together—used in an instant, they could send an opponent on their way, with an effect no weaker than Avada Kedavra.
The difference was that Avada Kedavra couldn't be blocked.
The Full Body-Bind Curse and Reducto could be intercepted.
With these two spells, there was no need to cremate the target. They'd be reduced to ashes on the spot.
He disenchanted the rest for their essence.
Dewey gained 3,750 essence.
Dewey saw that his character panel had changed to:
[User: Dewey Jones (alias) Learned Cards: [(Apprentice) Protego (Level 5)] (Common White) [Stupefy (Level 4)] (Common White) [Apparition (Level 2)] (Epic Purple) [Avada Kedavra (Level 1)] (Epic Purple) [Obliviate (Level 3)] (Common White) [Finite Incantatem (Level 2)] (Rare Blue) [Animagus (Special Card)] [Full Body-Bind Curse (Level 1)] (Rare Blue) *10 [Reducto (Level 1)] (Rare Blue) *2 [Expecto Patronum (Level 1)] (Epic Purple) *12 Title: None Magic: 80 Magic Essence: 4100 Dueling Points: 4]
The number of Expecto Patronum Cards far exceeded Dewey's expectations.
The reason these people had such a high drop rate was that they used Expecto Patronum all the time in Azkaban.
The last time they'd cast Expecto Patronum was the last time they'd cast it.
Back in Azkaban.
It was practically a daily requirement. They had to send meals into the depths of the castle on time.
The Hit Wizards wouldn't enter the castle themselves anymore.
That task was left to the Patronuses.
They hadn't failed to consider raising some Fantastic Beasts to serve as guards in Azkaban.
It hadn't worked.
Even the smarter animals would become depressed in Azkaban.
They might not be killed by the Dementors, but the ancient castle that held the prisoners was a Dark Magic ruin. Even without Dementors, the place would drive animals away.
They avoided danger.
If they put dogs in there, the Death Eaters at the deepest end would kill them.
They'd tried it.
As for the rest of the magic, come on, who cared what a few cogs—Hit Wizards—thought?
The British Empire's disregard for human life and the Ministry of Magic's disregard for human life came from the same mold.
The Ministry of Magic had its own circumstances.
Even trying to use animals was already a rare step forward.
Many people considered Azkaban taboo, plain and simple.
Seeing so many [Expecto Patronum] Cards, Dewey chose to spend points on Expecto Patronum first.
With 12 Expecto Patronum Cards, he could upgrade [Expecto Patronum] to Level 3, with three Purple Cards left over. Disenchanting them would give him 1,200 essence.
Dewey didn't rush to do that. He upgraded the Full Body-Bind Curse to Level 3 and began considering his next upgrades.
If Cards gained a prefix at Level 5, becoming Apprentices and growing much more powerful, then the safest option was to upgrade all his remaining White and Blue Cards to the Apprentice prefix. That would maximize his strength.
There was no need to save too much essence. If he was caught, he was dead anyway.
Keeping the essence would be useless.
When facing a dangerous figure like Dumbledore, the best outcome was not getting caught—not getting caught and then relying on some hidden trump card.
Stupefy was at Level 4.
Dewey saw that and immediately upgraded Stupefy to Level 5.
Copying ten White Cards cost 1,000 essence.
Once he was done, Dewey indeed saw the prefix appear before Stupefy.
Apprentice!
Dewey breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't have enough essence left to copy enough Purple Cards to upgrade them.
Dewey looked at Obliviate, the Full Body-Bind Curse, and Reducto.
He might as well go with Obliviate.
Level 4 Obliviate required 800 essence, and Level 5 required 1,000. Together, that was only 1,800 essence.
Dewey upgraded Obliviate to Level 5. Unlike Stupefy and Protego, Obliviate's Card face changed when it reached Level 5.
Apprentice-level Obliviate could target a specific person and memory!
And Obliviate had become a [Blue Card].
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