A/N: Thanks to last chapter's reviewers, brontefan and Amani Ishikawa! Just so everyone knows, please bear with me. I don't think this fic will be any more than 40 or 50 chapters, but the first 10 or so will be pretty expository before the action really starts to pick up. Enjoy! :)

CHAPTER THREE

Patronus Problems

Severus wasn't sure whether to feel positively or negatively about the fact that he was back teaching the dunderheads again. The school had come full circle since Voldemort's defeat and the students who had been new that first peaceful (or mostly peaceful) year were now seventh years, preparing for their N.E.W.T.s. Of course, that did not mean that this group was better than any other group of seventh years he'd ever had to teach. And the looks on their faces indicated that they were not happy that their break from his class was over. Well, he'd just have to make the most of that. Eighteen-inch essays seemed like a good idea…

"Welcome," he put on a very carefully-practiced half smirk, half sneer, "to the beginning of your seventh year in my class. I trust you've all enjoyed your … break," he put a quiet, sinister emphasis on that word for effect. "However, that means that you will only have to work harder from this point forward." The groans that emanated throughout the room were most satisfying. "Also, anyone who complains will receive detention and ten points from the house in concern. Now, we will begin by practicing the Patronus charm, which you will need to master to pass your N.E.W.T.s. You learned about the nature of Patronuses in your sixth year but I am afraid that an academic knowledge of the spell, and a poor one at that judging from most of your performances, is not anywhere near enough to prepare you for the real world once you graduate. Consequently, do not expect me to go easy on any of you."

"That's nothing new," Severus's keen senses did not miss John Wortham whispering that little comment to Porter Lee where they sat in the far back of the room, probably so that they could hide whatever they were doing that had nothing to do with classwork.

"Ah, I see Mr. Wortham has chosen to demonstrate the detention and point loss that I mentioned a moment ago. Ten points from Gryffindor and a detention, Wortham. Now, does anyone else have anything to say? Very good," their uneasy silence was, again, most satisfying. "Now," he removed his wand from his robes and lifted it. "The explanation for the spell is quite simple, but that does not make it easy to perform. One must conjure a memory that is extremely pleasant to them, hold that thought, and recite the incantation.

Severus paused a moment and selected a happy memory at random. Breakfast this morning with Dinah and the children would do. "Expecto Patronum," he flicked his wand and the silver snake emerged from it, slithering in the air in front of the students. "You see, then, how the Patronus appears. It takes the shape of an animal that- yes, what do you want, Mr. Devlin?" he took a break from his explanation to address the Gryffindor boy whose hand had shot into the air.

"Miss Skeeter's book says that you never taught anything about Patronuses the first year you taught this class. She also said your Patronus used to be a doe but it changed to a snake to match the fact that you were a Death Eater."

Severus glared at the boy, and his floating Patronus took that moment to hiss in the same direction. Shameless, good-for-nothing Gryffindors. He scowled, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for your irrelevance and inaccuracy. I would like to remind the class that you raise your hands to ask questions, not to make comments. I don't care what you do in other classes. In this class your opinions are unimportant to me. Besides, I am fairly certain that everyone here has read that book, haven't they?" he glared out at the group to be met with uneasy nods and students shrinking back a little in their seats.

He nodded, "In that case, I hardly think it is your responsibility, Mr. Devlin, to summarize it for your classmates. That book is a farce and an abomination and less than one percent of it is true. And do not ask me which parts are and which parts aren't!" he shouted when a few students raised their hands. As expected, they lowered them upon his exclamation, proving that he had been right in what they were about to say.

"Now, Patronuses do not take a specific shape just to label someone as a Death Eater, either former or current. I know Miss Skeeter has her little theory that Death Eater Patronuses might be made up of a different magical essence than non-Death Eater Patronuses, but that is simply impossible. A Patronus is an embodiment of the caster's happiness. No more, no less. No actual Death Eater has been able to conjure one while of that mindset that I am aware of. The examples Miss Skeeter cited to contest that notion are also flawed. The Malfoys can now produce them but they are no longer Death Eaters, and Dolores Umbridge could produce one due to the influence of dark power, but neither was she actually a Death Eater. The reason I did not discuss Patronuses that year was that if I could show that I was able to produce one my cover as a Death Eater would have been questioned. Due to the fact that Death Eaters do not, as a general rule, produce Patronuses. Do I make myself clear?" Why was it that ever since he'd married Dinah his classes were less about him teaching and more about the students asking him stupid questions that he had to address?

There was some general nodding throughout the room. He saw no reason to even try to explain to them why his Patronus had changed from a doe to a snake. In the book, Skeeter had tried so hard to avoid the obvious answer, grudgingly citing it as a possibility but then having the gall to suggest that it was an elaborate ruse to 'trick' Dinah into thinking that was the reason while she was still nothing but a second choice, he was still devoted to Lily, and the Patronus had formed to label him a Death Eater for life. Needless to say that was the part that had infuriated himself and Dinah the most upon the book's publication. Second choice, indeed! Did that woman have any idea how much he loved his wife? Obviously not. And she didn't care either. Infernal bitch.

He sighed. There was little that could be done about the book's publication now except continue to fight the false statements at every opportunity. Right now, he had a class to teach. "Now," he summoned the snake – Dinah's snake – back into his wand and tucked the instrument away before glaring back out at the class, "I am looking for a volunteer to come up and attempt to perform the charm in front of your classmates. Anyone?"

Most of the students just shrunk further back in their seats, which he had expected, but one did not. He wasn't especially surprised at that either as his gaze drifted to the Ravenclaw girl in concern, whose hand had shot almost immediately into the air. He frowned. Mae Yates was behaving more and more like Granger every year; although Dinah would insist that the two were quite different from each other. Either way, no one else was going to volunteer so he might as well call on the student who would surely be talented enough to at least produce something on her first try. "Miss Yates."

Mae smiled and extracted herself from her seat, coming down to stand in the front of the classroom, facing him and waiting for instruction.

"Well, out with it!" he ordered, impatiently, "Your wand. A happy memory. Expecto Patronum. And face your classmates while doing so."

"Yes, Professor Snape," still smiling, she turned and faced the class, pulling out her slender, medium-length wand that looked to be made out of Aspen and clearly speaking, "Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing happened.

Severus frowned. He would have expected at least a bit of light. Nearly everyone produced that much on their first try. "Again," he ordered. It must have been a fluke.

Mae was frowning as deeply as he was as she stared at her wand, but she nodded, took a deep breath, and said, "Expecto Patronum!"

Again, nothing happened.

"What is this?" she demanded, shaking her wand a little before Severus could finish processing this odd occurrence. She turned an almost pleading look to him and demanded, "Professor Snape, why isn't it working?"

"I cannot say," he felt his lips twitch into a smirk as he regarded her. The girl should have been intelligent enough to realize that he knew no more than she did about what was going on. "Obviously you are not trying hard enough. Again. And focus."

"But I have been focusing," she murmured, staring at her wand again, and then looking up at her peers, all of whom were staring at her. She blushed, embarrassed, and Severus managed to feel bad for her. But he could not send her back yet until he was certain she was incapable, and he was not certain yet. Surely, if she tried again she could at least get some light to show up.

But after two more tries, she was still getting nothing at all. "Obviously, you are not focusing," he said to her. "If you were, you would have seen something by now. You do realize that you need to take this spell seriously, do you not?"

"I was taking it seriously!" she shouted, whirling on him, matching the look of his best glares.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for your outburst, Miss Yates. We'll discuss this after class. Now get back to your seat."

"You can't take points from me!" she was obviously not thinking straight in her rage.

His jaw set as he stared at her. "I believe I just did. Now, calm down and return to your seat before I take more points from you. As I said, we will discuss this after class."

Dejectedly, she stormed back off to her seat. Really, he wasn't treating her any differently than he would any other student. In fact, any other student would have lost a great deal more points. But she could not see that right now. He supposed he understood her fury, though. It baffled him as much as it did her. The brilliant Mae Yates unable to produce a Patronus… that was not expected.

"Well, then, I suppose an example is out," he snarled at the rest of them, "Remove your wands and start attempting the spell. I will walk around the room to guarantee you are performing properly. I highly doubt any of you will be able to produce anything close to a full Patronus, however."

The students did as told and began their attempts, and soon the room was full of echoes of 'Expecto Patronum'. As expected as Severus wandered the room watching them, no one was able to produce a full Patronus just yet, although Porter Lee of all people got disturbingly close. Mae Yates continued to try, but unfortunately her improvement was nonexistent. In fact, she was the only student in the class who was unable to produce even a little bit of light. It actually made Severus a bit uneasy.

Eventually, he assigned those eighteen-inch essays on Patronus history and theory and dismissed the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Only Mae Yates hung around at the front of the room, hovering just a short distance from his desk until the remainder of the students disappeared. Then she sighed and offered him a sheepish, questioning expression.

"Well, Mae," he began, settling down into the desk of concern, "Would you like to discuss this rationally or do you intend to shout at me again and lose more points for yourself?"

She sighed again and shook her head, sitting across from him, "I'm sorry for shouting. And yes, I would like to discuss this rationally. Why can't I produce a Patronus, Professor Snape?"

"Why can't you produce a Patronus?" he frowned, steepling his fingers in front of him. He had been using the gesture more and more over the past few years, channeling the former headmaster, his good friend Albus Dumbledore. It was a comfortable gesture, and he could see why the older man had found it attractive. It made one feel exceptionally in control, "That is the question, isn't it?"

"You don't have an answer? Not even an idea?" the girl seemed desperate and he really couldn't blame her. This was likely the first time in her life that Mae had been the worst in class at something.

"I'm afraid the Patronus charm is highly subjective, Mae," he said, using her first name as he always did in private. After all, the girl and her boyfriend Andrew Speasy were actually quite close friends of himself and Dinah. She had even lent her name to their daughter. "Thus, you would be better able to come up with a reason than I would. But the most common problems are lack of an adequate happy memory, lack of focus, and lack of power. Since you have always proven to be a highly intelligent and powerful young witch I am guessing it is one of the former."

Mae sighed, "Thanks. You made it seem so easy, though. What was your happy memory?"

He frowned, "That is highly personal. Did I give you permission to ask me that?"

"Oh, come on!" she grinned a little, apparently no longer fearing point loss.

Severus sighed, "Breakfast with Dinah and the children."

"Something so simple?"

"It's all personal preference, Mae," he explained. "Sometimes the simplest memories are perfectly happy. Were you trying to make it more complicated than it needed to be?"

"I don't know," she sighed, shrugging. "I was thinking about some of my moments with Andrew and trying to pick the best one… but…"

"But?" he raised an eyebrow, intent on getting to the bottom of this Patronus problem if at all possible.

"Nothing," she shook her head, standing from the desk, apparently having decided against sharing the information. "It'll be fine; he's just been in a funny mood lately. I'm sure it'll pass. And that doesn't affect any of my old memories with him, right? Those are independent of how things are going with us right now?"

"I… could not tell you." He drew the line at offering relationship advice to the girl. Honestly, he was sure he would be bad at it. He had somehow managed to land a wonderful wife of his own but he had absolutely no confidence in his ability to assist others in their own relationships. His social skills, though greatly improved over the past few years, still left much to be desired anyway, he was sure.

"Sorry," she blushed, "Didn't mean to bombard you with my problems. I'll just keep practicing. I'm sure I'll sort it out."

"Mm," he agreed distractedly, "And don't forget about your eighteen-inch essay."

"How could I?" she laughed, and he managed a slight smile at her before she left the room.

Severus sighed and gathered up his things to head back to the dungeons. There was something just… inherently wrong about the fact that Mae Yates could not produce a Patronus and it was nagging at him. Perhaps Dinah would have some insight into the matter. He could only go home and find out.