Exceeding Expectations

Lily took a deep breath, and gathered her thoughts. Unlike some of the other students in her year, she had prepared for this moment for months, and looked forward to it for years –ever since she'd seen her eldest brother's patronus. James' had been a large scruffy dog that Lily had lovingly dubbed Snuffles after her second favorite toy. James hated the name, which was the main reason Lily insisted on using it as often as possible long after out growing the young phase. Three years later, Al had written a letter to her, revealing his to be an Occamy. She'd had to look that one up. Rose had a beautifully swimming seal, Teddy had a calm wolf, Freddy had a playful polecat, and Viccy had a cute panda.

The class had moved to the Quidditch Pitch for today; ever since three years ago, when a student had first summoned their Abraxan patronus: so huge it shattered the windows in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Now it was a sort of rite of passage, the first time many of them had been on the pitch. And the short excursion seemed to intensify the lesson's meaning ten-fold.

"I'm hoping for a Lion!" Joseph Towler proclaimed loudly.

"You won't get a lion," Leah Jordan joked, "you'd be lucky to get a tabby cat."

"Already taken, Leah," McLaggen said slyly, "he'll have to settle for a pygmy puff… or a Billywig… or an Augrey!"

"Watch it McLaggen, me' mom's got an Augrey," Sheila Sheridan warned.

"Yeah, that's enough," Leah agreed.

"Are you trying for a parrot, Leah?" Joseph teased. Lily turned her attention from the hoops on the far side of the field to see how the star Chaser would handle the light jab. Leah glared at Joseph for a few seconds until he waggled his eyebrows, and the both of them burst out laughing.

"What abou' you Lily, you've been awfully quiet?" Sheila asked as they lined up as they had been told.

"I'd rather it not be any sort of bug, really," Lily said biting her lip, "but I'm so nervous. Both of my brothers have really cool patronuses-"

"Does Al really have an Occamy?" Joseph said with awe. Lily barely nodded as he stepped forward and listened to the Professor's final instructions. Lily was sure she'd be able recite them by the time it was her turn… she wondered how she'd managed to end up last.

Turns out Joseph had something of a tabby cat in him after all, producing a partially formed bobcat on his second try. Leah had been next, but had fallen unnaturally shy and put very little effort into producing a fully-formed wisp of silver… although Lily was sure she'd caught a glace of a feline tail. McLaggen produced some sort of sea animal, and Sheila produced an indiscriminant bird which triggered Lily's chosen memory.

She couldn't find Phoebe anywhere. For two days she'd looked in her wardrobe, thrown books from her shelves, and stripped her bed, but the enchanted stuffed phoenix was not in her room. Her worse fear was that James or Al would get their hands on her and turn her into a stuffed red turkey leg or something so horrid. She searched the house herself even after Kreacher had said she wasn't there. Resigned, she hadn't eaten lunch, but sat at the dining table close to tears. She'd been hauled up in her room when she heard the knock at her door. When she opened it, there was Phoebe, in James's hand, completely unharmed; both of her brothers grinning proudly. "Phoebe! You found her!" "Of course we did." "She was in the backseat of the car." "You didn't turn her into a beanbag!" "Lily, why would we turn her into a beanbag?" "Carl," Al said quietly. "Oh that… that was an accident Lily, I'd never do that to Phoebe." "We both know you love her." "Thank you so much," she squeezed the toy, "I love you." "Phoebe loves you, too, Lily." "I was talking to you," she'd smiled and hugged them both. No matter how much they tormented each other, she knew her brothers would always be there for her and they'd always love each other.

The Professor coughed loudly, and Lily realized she must have missed the instructions, but she knew what to do. She raised her wand and with all her heart called, "Expecto Patronum!" The silvery mist swirled around her twice before condensing into the form that Lily knew and loved so well. As the flying silver Phoebe soared into the sky, Lily heard a faint cry echoing from the mountains.

Suddenly, her patronus exploded into an intense fireball that knocked a few of the students to the ground. Holding up her arm to block out the immense light, Lily caught glimpse of the large red and gold bird that appeared to burst from the flames. The creature glided back down towards the silent group of students, and landed quiet gracefully on Lily's outstretched arm. Lily tentatively brought her finger to the bird's beak, stroking it calmly, before worridly turning to her Professor. "I didn't botch up my Patronus… did I?"