It's so nice out today (it's February at 80 degrees F and I don't live in the southern hemisphere, go figure!) that I almost forgot to post this because I'm sitting outside writing a new chapter. Oh well, better late than never right!
Chapter 10
A Patronus Lesson
Apparently Remus and I still weren't talking, even after our little moment in the Hospital Wing, and I had no idea why this time. It was worse this time too. It was almost like he went out of his way to avoid me. He took to sitting at the far end of the table. If I was in the staff room working and he came in, he'd act as though he forgot something and leave…and not come back. I eventually stopped spending time in the staff room and tried to bear it out in my office. It was so bad, that when the full moon came around a few weeks later he couldn't bring himself to ask me to cover his classes. Dumbledore came in his stead.
It was Tuesday night. I was on the tower, preparing for my first class of the night when he showed up.
"It's a nice night for Astronomy," he said.
"Professor Dumbledore, I thought you were my second years." I looked up from my telescope. "It's a nice night to study the moon at least. It's a little too bright for much else. How can I help you, Sir?" I stepped back from the scope.
"I was wondering if Professor Lupin stopped by to see you today."
"Ah, he seems to have been too busy to say much to me these past few weeks. Why? Is he all right?"
"Yes, yes he is well. But if would seem that in the commotion of the last few weeks he forgot to ask someone to cover his classes tomorrow."
"Say no more, Professor. Of course I'll do it. Do you know what classes I'll have or the lessons planned?"
Dumbledore waved his hand and a copy of Remus' time table appeared in my hand. "I'm sure you can find his lesson plans in his office."
The tower door opened again and my Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students began filing in. They paused when the saw the Headmaster there.
"Come in, or out rather. We'll be on the upper viewing deck tonight. Miss Clearwater, will you see to it that no one tries to climb on the ledge, and Miss Weasley will you grab my scope for me. Thanks."
"Well, I will leave you to your teaching and thank you for your help Professor Porter. I will pass the word along."
As Dumbledore left to go back inside, I jogged up to the deck.
"Alright! Who's ready to have a little fun? Break into teams of two and plot for me the Man in the Moon. Fifteen points will be awarded to the team with the best accuracy, and five to the most creative. You time begins…Now!"
24 November 1993
By the time Harry's class came in at eleven the next morning, I was already tired.
"Is Professor Lupin sick again?"
"You know, Mr. Weasley, a less understanding Professor might interpret that tone as disappointment. If you'd rather I leave, I can always see if Professor Snape is available," I said.
"No!" the whole class said together. Snape had covered the class last month while I was in hospital. And, evidently, he'd assigned them all to write an essay on Werewolves.
"Now that makes me feel better. You still like me more than Snape."
"No offense, Professor, but that's not saying much; we like Professor Binns more than Snape," Dean said, to which the class laughed.
"I think he likes you more too."
"Professor Porter, yer know you'll always by me favorite Professor," Seamus said with a grin.
"Yes, Mr. Finnegan, I know. And thanks to your Valentine's card last year, I think all of Ilvermorny knows as well."
The class laughed at Seamus' expense, but he didn't seem phased by it at all.
"Alright, alright, that's enough of that." I moved around behind the desk to look at my notes. "Now, if I've deciphered these correctly, I see that you have just finished discussing grindylows. Is that correct Miss Granger?" I looked up at Hermione.
"Oh! Yes, Professor," she replied.
"Right, so now we move on to…"
Harry's hand shot in the air."
"…Hinkypunks? Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Actually, Professor, I was wondering if we could discuss something else."
"Oh? I suppose that depends. What did you have in mind?" I was both a little wary and curious. Harry didn't often speak up in class. That was a product more of how he was raised than his genetics.
"Can you tell us about the Patronus Charm?"
There was no concealing my surprise. "The Patronus? How…"
"That is what you used to fight off the Dementors at the Quidditch match, wasn't it? At least, that's what Hermione guessed it to be."
Hermione's cheeks turned slightly red as I looked her way.
"Miss Granger was correct in her analysis, but Harry, I'm afraid the Patronus Charm is very advanced magic, far beyond that of a third year. Now! Hinkypunks, who can tell me what they know about Hinkypunks?"
Hermione was the only one to raise her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger."
"The Patronus you produced though, must have been very strong, Professor, to have chased away all those Dementors. Couldn't you just teach us the theory behind a Patronus? How does it work? How was it so effective?"
"Flattery, Miss Granger, was a very wise move, but I'm supposed to teach you about Hinkypunks."
"The Hinkypunks will still be there when Professor Lupin returns," Ron said.
"Please Professor; I don't want what happened at the match to happen again. Do you?" Harry asked.
"Of course not!"
"Then won't you tell us what you can? Perhaps if we understood a little better we could all be safer," Hermione said.
I looked around at the class. No one else was being vocal about it, but I could see by their expressions that they were all interested. I was fighting a losing battle, and I sighed.
"Theory only!" I said pointedly, closing the book on Hinkypunks. I began to make my way through the desks. "I will not teach you how to produce a Patronus. I will not tell you the incantation or show you the wand movement. And I do not, under any circumstance, want to hear that one of you has made an attempt to produce one. The results can be catastrophic if done incorrectly, and I, for one, do you wish to see any of you consumed by maggots for a failed attempt."
"Maggots?"
"Yes, Mr. Weasley. Maggots. Now swear to me, all of you, that you will not attempt to produce a Patronus, especially you Mr. Finnegan. You are far too good for my ego to lose you to maggots."
"I'd swear anythin' ter yer, Professor," Seamus replied.
I stopped walking at his desk. I made little popping noises with my mouth as I opened and closed it several times. I wasn't quite sure how to respond. Fortunately, Dean leaned towards Seamus and, with a grimace, said what I couldn't.
"That was a little much, Seamus."
"Wus it?" he asked
I nodded.
"Sorry."
I continued my trek through the aisles, and after receiving the solemn word of the rest of the class I proceeded with the Patronus lesson.
"To understand how a Patronus works, one must first understand what a Dementor does. There are many in the wizarding community that would argue that the Dementor is the foulest magical being to grace this earth. In fact, I may be one of the few to disagree.
"Now, I'm not about to be best mates with a Dementor by any means, but personally, I have always been less of a fan of the Boggart. The Boggart just appears out of nowhere and without warning.—Don't tell Professor Lupin I said that please, because then he'll go into a long, and winded, explanation about how a Boggart doesn't just 'appear' but is manifested by…yada-yada-yada."
The class laughed as I came back to stand at the front.
"The arrival of the Dementor, however, is always proceeded by a sudden drop in temperature and a feeling of hopelessness. That is because a Dementor, quite literally, sucks the happiness or 'warmth' out of any living thing. They thrive on despair, and misery, and even death. They are drawn to those who have experienced true horrors, even if that person cannot, themselves, remember the horror they suffered."
Many eyes turned towards Harry, but I tried to keep my focus on the class as a whole.
"A Dementor," I continued, "wishes to relieve that person of any happy memory they have so that they too are consumed by despair, and misery. For those who cannot produce a Patronus, it is no wonder why the Dementor is ranked so high on their feared list.
"The Patronus is the only known defense against a Dementor. It is the very embodiment of what a Dementor despises. It is warmth. It is happiness. It is Hope. But fundamentally, it is love."
"Is it also made of sugar, and spice, and all things nice?" Dean chortled and the class laughed along with him.
"You jest, Mr. Thomas, but I'd take that over snips, and snails, and puppy dog tails any day."
"Now…" I pushed on. "There are two forms a Patronus can take. The basic non-corporal shield Patronus will act as a shield—go figure—for the caster. The Dementor will attempt to feed off the shield and leave the caster untouched. A shield will not drive the Dementor away, though, and it will only protect the caster for as long as they can maintain it.
"The fully formed corporal Patronus, however, will chase the Dementor away. It is also much harder to produce. And that is saying something, because a shield Patronus is advanced enough already. Yes, Miss Granger?"
"What form does the corporal Patronus usually take? Yours appeared to be some sort of animal."
"Excellent question, Miss Granger, unfortunately that question cannot be answered definitively as there is no 'usual' form. The Patronus is unique to the caster. It is an animalistic representation of the caster's innermost personality. The Patronus is so unique to the caster that their closest friends would know it even if they have never seen it before."
"So it's similar in that respect to the Animagus." Hermione said.
"Yes, I suppose they are similar in that manner. Both, in a sense, show the animal that is within and both are distinctly unique to the witch or wizard responsible for them. Now, that being said, two witches may both produce a cat Patronus, but they will have different markings and their personalities will be very different."
"Can someone be both an Animagus an' produce a Patronus? An' if so, 'ill it be de same animal?" Seamus asked.
"Yes and…yes? More than likely," I replied. "It's difficult to say as the pool of wizards who can do both is so small. For the few I've met, though, it is true. Take Professor McGonagall for example. Her Animagus form is that of a tabby cat with markings around the eyes; her Patronus is the same. But since both forms of magic are highly advanced, having a wizard who is an Animagus and who can also produce a Patronus would be akin to catching the Snitch in the dark, while it's raining, with an eye patch, and with one arm tied behind the back."
I looked to Harry who was smiling at my reference.
"Does that sound about right? Maybe? I don't know because I've never been able to play Quidditch; I can't even stay on a broom properly."
Harry laughed. "It would certainly be difficult, but…not impossible."
"Well then we could tie both arms behind the back so that the Snitch had to be caught by mouth."
The class laughed at Harry's expense. I was, of course, referring to his first Quidditch match two years ago when he caught the Snitch by mouth.
"That's really funny, Professor," Harry said. He tried to sound irritated, but I could tell he was amused.
"Thanks." I smiled and placed a hand on my chest. "I try."
Neville timidly raised his hand while the class went on laughing.
"Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"
"C-can…could w-we see your P-Patronus?"
"Why, Mr. Longbottom…" I grinned and pulled out my wand. "I thought you'd never ask."
In an instant my Patronus was out and jumping around the room. Her tail swished as she darted between the desks after a silver ball. The class erupted with laughter, including my own.
"She's playful today. Go on, you can pet her," I said as Parvati and Lavender reached out their hands as though they wanted to.
At the request of attention, my Patronus stopped chasing the ball and allowed the girls to dote upon her. She affectionately nudged their legs in return. She moved on to other tables as the other students showed interest in doting on her. She was really enjoying all the attention.
I allowed her to soak up their affection for a while before whistling and calling her back to me. She dutifully came and leapt onto the desk to sit at my side.
"Now," I said, having gained the classes attention once more. "It is important to note that it is not the size of the Patronus that matters. The most powerful Patronus ever recorded belonged to the orphan Illyius centuries ago.
"His village was being attacked by the Dark Wizard Raczidian and his army of Dementors. We're talking numbers far greater than the few we saw at the Quidditch match a few weeks ago. The village elders had all produced their Patronus' but they could not ward off the army. Then along came Illyius. Care to guess what his Patronus was?"
"A horse!" Dean called out.
"I said size doesn't matter, Mr. Thomas." Then I held up my thumb and forefinger about three inches apart. "It was a mouse. Not a rat, a mouse. But such was the power and the emotion behind it that it brought the Dementors to a standstill and released the village of their hold. Now this infuriated Raczidian, and so he attempted to cast a Patronus to ward of Illyus'. However, Raczidian was shown to be unworthy as he was not of a pure heart, and he was devoured by maggots."
"Maggots?"
"Yes, Mr. Weasley. Maggots. I kid you not. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. I'm really not that creative."
"Er—Professor Porter…"
"Yes, Miss Patil?"
"Your Patronus… what is it doing?" She, along with the rest of the class, had their eyes on my Patronus. And they all looked confused.
I turned around to look and saw the problem at once. And even I was confused as to what was going on. She was still sitting where I had left her at the desk as I often liked to roam while talking. But she was flickering or flashing like a television with a bad reception. Not all of her would change at once, only bits and pieces. Her long tail switched out for a shorter, fluffier tail before quickly flashing back. Her ears became larger and had a point to them before turning round once more. Her spots faded in and out. And her snout, at times, almost appeared more canine in nature.
I had never witnessed such behavior from her before, and it greatly concerned me. Leo and I had been through so much over the years. She had been my constant and faithful companion on those cold, lonely nights I used to suffer. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her. I quickly released the charm; her silver light faded away, and I made a note to visit Dumbledore the first chance I could.
Suddenly the bell rang, signaling the end of class. It was immediately followed by chatter and the sound of scraping chairs. I turned back around to the class quickly and called out to them.
"Wait! For…for homework, please… read the chapter on Hinkypunks and answer the questions that follow. To be turned in on Friday."
There were several moans and groans of complaint.
"Sorry. You may succeed in distracting me from the intended lesson, but not from the intended homework." I smiled. "I will see you all tonight, for our Astronomy lesson. You are dismissed."
This was a rather light, fluffy chapter. I hope you enjoyed. What could the flickering of Katherine's Patronus mean, do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
All of the information concerning the Patronus, Illyius, and Raczidian came from Harry Potter Wikia and Pottermore. I (truly) did not make it up.