i. Positive Emotions
AU: Harry Potter Universe
Summary: In which Neji and Tenten have trouble casting a Patronus Charm
"Inuzuka, give me one good reason I shouldn't make you clean trophies because you've been harassing Miss Yamanaka."
Kiba rolled his eyes at the Hufflepuff prefect. "Tenten, she's pretty much asking—"
"There are no rules in whether or not she decides to unbutton a few buttons or cut her shirt and skirt, however, there are rules to sexual harassment." she raised an eyebrow at him. Ino smirked and crossed her arms triumphantly.
"Fine, but do I still have to go to detention?"
"I'll let it slide. Next time you want someone's attention, try giving her a box of chocolate frogs. It probably would work much better than jinxing her clothes."
Two faces reddened and she sighed, walking away from the two sixth-years.
On the way to her next class, she stumbled upon her good friend and teammate, Rock Lee.
"I think we should push for a little extra training this week," he said to her enthusiastically, gathering his books for their next class in his giant green messenger bag. "Our game against Gryffindor is coming up and we must show them Hufflepuff's burning youth!"
"I'm sure we've already shown them." she smiled, recalling how aggressive Lee could be and the way he would hit buldgers so fast that the other team would often spend most their time dodging rather than chasing. "Though I agree, it would be smart to push for a few more practices."
Temari, formerly of Gryffindor, had been the keeper for their team for many years and with Naruto as Chaser, they made an incredible team. Since she had graduated last year from Hogwarts, Naruto was now captain, though she doubted they'd be as good. Hufflepuff's defeat was humiliating and she was glad they had a chance to redeem themselves.
As she climbed into the north tower with a red bag strapped on her back, she took a seat beside the seventh-year Head Boy and Prefect, Neji Hyuga. His nose was buried in a Divination book, glasses perched on his sharp nose, posture immaculate.
"Still obsessing of fate, Hyuga?" she teased. "Use your genius for other things."
"I don't recall asking for your opinion, Tenten." he marked his book and turned around, a small hint of a smile on his lips.
"No, I'm just exercising my freedom of speech." she retorted, pulling out her wand and pointing it to her small bag, flicking it a couple of times. A textbook, quill, notebook, and a couple of fudge flies leaped out of her bag and landed onto the table. A few people stared, impressed that she was able to master non-verbal summoning so quickly.
Neji, however, was used to it. She had mastered the fourth-year summoning charm in her first year and non-verbal in the fifth year. Tenten held out the carton of fudge-flies, offering the Ravenclaw some sweets. He shook his head and turned back to his book.
The class died down a little as their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor strode in, wizard cap covering one eye, book in hand. As usual, Professor Kakashi Hatake was very late.
"Sorry, class, a couple of house-elves needed help carrying some groceries—"
"Save it, professor!" cried a kid from the corner of the room.
"House-elves don't even need to carry anything," she mumbled to Neji, "that was one of the lamest excuses yet."
He shrugged and put away his book, replacing it with the one on their subject.
"Today, we'll be learning about the Patronus." the professor started slowly. "I'm sure one of you has heard of it."
Tenten rolled her eyes. Everyone has heard of the Patronus. Especially with the recent cases of the Akatsuki breaking out of Azkaban, dementors have been trailing in and out of Hogwarts, much to Headmaster Tsunade's fury.
As the teacher gave a short lecture, many of it a review, Tenten glanced at Neji, who was paying strict attention and taking notes though he probably didn't need it. Suddenly, his hand stopped scribbling on his parchment and looked over to her, his white eyes locking with hers. She felt her cheeks go red and quickly darted her eyes away, focusing back onto Professor Hatake.
"I'm going to let you get into threes so you can try and practice the Patronus," he replied. "I do not expect any of you to be able to perform a spell that most witches and wizards cannot, though I would like to see if you can create the beginnings of one.
The Head Boy merely blinked, unlike Lee, who was quite worried. Her best friend and fellow beater wasn't as magically gifted as other wizards. He wasn't great at subjects that required a lot of spell casting such as Charms, Transfiguration, or DADA either. He made up for it by working exceptionally hard in Potions, Herbology, and his best subject, Care of Magical Creatures and being one of the best Quidditch players of the century. She could see why he wasn't happy about learning such a spell, as hard work might not come easy for one so complex.
Neji on the other hand, was able to master practically all of them, scoring an Outstanding in all of his NEWTs except for Divination. Though having an obsession with fate and lacking any talent for it whatsoever, Defence Against the Dark Arts was his best subject. He was quick-thinking, skilled, and had a duelling style his extremely pure-blood wizarding family excelled in. The spell he always conjured up was the shield charm, yet he used it for offence rather than defence, knocking many people off their feet during it.
The group of three took a spot in the large classroom and flipped through their books to get the instructions.
Tenten attempted first, thinking of a positive memory, (the first time she summoned something), and waved her wand in a circle, and chanted the incantation. Unfortunately, nothing happened. She tried for another memory, and another, yet nothing seemed to produce any result. Finally, she relieved a more nostalgic memory and tried one more time and a very very faint wisp seemed to drip from her wand.
Neji tried next, closing his eyes for a brief moment, looking quite arrogant, and waved his wand. "Expecto Patronum,"
To all three's surprise, he didn't produce anything. Even with his other tries, he didn't even manage to get as much of a wisp as Tenten did, which was barely any. This only made Lee more nervous because if Neji and Tenten could perform a spell, could he?
They watched him intensely as he closed his eyes, standing there meditatively in a position they'd usually see Neji performing. A familiarly wide smile drew upon his lips and Tenten sighed. She thought he was going to take it seriously.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the room with his boisterous attitude.
Where everyone was about to roll their eyes, what they didn't expect was a bright flash of light and the beginning of a small shield. Tenten's mouth hung agape and their professor strode over, seemingly unsurprised at Lee's sudden success.
"Good job, Lee, I haven't seen many people your age able to produce a spell that quickly. 20 points to Hufflepuff."
His two companions couldn't shake off their amazement, especially at the fact that for the rest of the day, his Patronus just seemed to get bigger while theirs didn't do anything at all.
༻*༺
"Tenten, do you have a moment?"
She looked up at the familiar baritone voice and Neji Hyuga was standing before her, a grey sweater over the usual white button-up with his sapphire blue tie loosened around his neck. The candle on her library table illuminated his face with dancing patterns and made him appear almost angel-like. Her breath caught in her throat and she shook out the feeling of butterflies with a friendly smile.
Checking her watch, she noticed that it was already pretty late and she'd have to get back to her dorm soon. Thankfully she just finished up her transfiguration essay.
"Only a moment," she said softly. "I'll have to hurry if I want to take a bath today."
"But you don't have any meeting or homework, I'm presuming?" he asked.
"Nope, I'm all yours," she said, blushing at the way it came out.
They walked through the halls of the school, moonlight illuminating the way out of the library. She followed him, wondering where they were going as he led her up winding staircases and towards a bronze door, a bronze eagle at the handle. Tenten recognized it as the Eagle Door Knocker, that spoke of riddles to let you pass.
Neji delicately picked up the handle and tapped it three times, then released his hold. The beak opened and a low voice range out.
"At night they come without being fetched, by day they are lost without being stolen, if absent they are summoned by a receiver, crushed if one won't be a believer."
She blinked a couple of times, looking over to her companion as he thought steadily.
"One's dreams as the mind's movement during sleep or the ambitions based on hope," he replied, the door swinging open. The Ravenclaw started towards the entrance but she didn't move.
"This is the Ravenclaw common room…" she trailed off. "I'm a Huffl—"
"I'm Head Boy and Prefect. I think I can get you an excuse if caught." he raised his eyebrow, waiting for her to respond. His eyes shone, asking her to trust him, and she couldn't refuse.
They had been friends since the beginning, sitting together on the train and eating sharing Every Flavour Beans. Over the years through study hall, Hogsmeade trips, and Prefect meetings, she slowly found herself falling for the lavender-eyed Ravenclaw, despite trying devastatingly hard not to. She knew what each millimeter of raised eyebrow meant, every angle of his sharp cheekbones, and the exact colour of his brown, (but only brown in direct sunlight as it was black right now) hair. She'd trust him with her life.
The Ravenclaw common room wasn't nearly as cozy as the Hufflepuff one. It looked more like the drawing-room of a fancy mansion, with regal blue couches and antique coffee tables. Yet she found herself drawn to the tall, rounded ceiling and the large shelves stacked with books of all sorts. More books were scattered across the carpets, some flipped upside-down, others marked with leather bookmarks. She noticed Shikamaru playing wizard's chess with Kankuro, who was losing badly, and Shino reading about magical bugs. Some of the more stuck-up Ravenclaws gave a few unimpressed glares at her until they realized she was with the Head Boy, the person everyone looked up to.
He led her past the dorm and to another door, where he took out his wand and waved it around, doing a complex unlocking spell that Alohomora just wouldn't cover. When he opened it, it led to a much narrower staircase, which they climbed around and around until there was a ladder and a trapdoor. He raised his wand towards the latch and pushed it open, moonlight spilling it into the darkness. He climbed out first, then held out his hand to help her climb out. When she stepped onto the tower's flat platform, her mouth hung open.
It was beautiful.
She could see the night sky, speckled with so many stars that they looked like salt spilled across a black canvas. The corners where the sky met the earth was illuminated by a purple haze, the half-moon sitting on top of them. She could see the whole castle from where she stood. The forbidden forest on one side, the black lake near another, the quidditch pitch and the six hoops...she could see it all. Her breath was taken away and she felt a surge of envy for the glittering view that the Ravenclaws had the privilege of seeing.
"If I had known that your house gets to see this, I would have forced you to show me this a lot earlier." she breathed, still caught up in admiring the sky.
"Not a lot of people have figured out how to get here," Neji said, sitting down on the wooden platform, gazing at the stars above. "I thought you would like it."
"It's breathtaking," she sighed, leaning over the railing, relishing the feeling of the wind rippling through her bangs. She untangled her hair from her twin buns and let it brush though that too. Tenten closed her eyes and smiled, relaxing, happiness surging through her until she felt drained of adrenaline from the feeling of him watching her.
When the stars seemed to blink slower, she sat down beside Neji, who was laying down. His eyes were darker in the moonlight yet still just as stunning. His eyes could compare to the stars, at least in her opinion.
"I thought about Lee," he said. "How he was the only one in our class to cast a Patronus that could possibly be useful. He surpassed us all with that spell, even though he isn't magically gifted."
"Lee always has defied the odds with his hard work. He's a true Hufflepuff," she said defensively.
An astonishingly wide smile crossed his lips, a chuckle escaped his mouth. "I know, he's something. But that couldn't have been hard work if he did it on the first try. Even you know that."
"Then what was it?" she asked.
Neji was silent, staring into her eyes in a way that made her strangely comfortable, before they darted to her lips for a split second, breaking contact.
"Happiness," he whispered. "He was the only one who could conjure enough joy and positivity for a Patronus."
"Are you saying that our whole grade besides Lee is depressed?" she teased.
The Ravenclaw Head Boy shook his head, the smile never leaving his lips. "No, no, but I believe he was the only one to truly feel it. He's been through a lot, and I'm guessing that joy must have been a stark contrast to the darkness, which was more powerful than anyone else's. After all, he and Professor Gai are always rambling about youth and joy."
She laughed, enjoying the sensation she felt while talking to him. Right now, she felt happy. She felt happy in a way she hadn't felt before. Was this—love?
Feeling experimental, she pulled out her wand, focused on her current feeling, and waved it in a circle.
"Expecto Patronum," she chanted, not softly, or as loudly as Lee had yelled.
Tenten could feel it working. She could feel her joy coursing from her mind to her wand and through the silver wisps of smoke spilling through it. Her best friend sat up to examine what her wand was conjuring. Silver streams didn't stop spilling. The light shaped into an animal with small ears, long muscled legs, and a pelt of beautiful spotted prints. She pranced around the tower, defying gravity, leaping on air.
She padded towards the two, right before their eyes. When it was close enough that Tenten reached out and touched it, her hand went through her like it was a ghost. Yet despite waving through the leopardess as if it was just air, she could feel the joy seeping through her veins once more and looking over at Neji, he was awestruck.
It wasn't often that he was amazed, even less so that he was amazed at something she, Tenten, conjured up. She loved the way his lips were slightly parted, his eyebrows raised, eye wide, and the corners of his mouth were turned upwards. He too had felt the pure pleasure coming from her full-fledged Patronus and he was soaking in it, in her Patronus.
As it leaped away, he turned to her and then looked at her with the same expression as he had with the leopardess.
Her breath hitched as he shook his head as if he didn't believe in something. "Wow,"
"Yeah,"
"How did you do that?"
Tenten blushed, tucking a piece of her overgrown bangs behind her ear. "I just felt so happy at that moment and I thought it would be enough to conjure a corporeal Patronus,"
She didn't know what to expect as a reaction, but a warm hand on her jaw and Neji's lips sealed firmly on hers certainly didn't cross her mind.
They were warm, just like the feeling of her Patronus, maybe even warmer. She melted into him, kissing him back under the moonlight, wrapping her arms delicately around his neck. He tasted of butterbeer and smelled of parchment, the cashmere sweater on her fingertips soft. Slowly, he pushed her to the wood panels of the roof and pinned her there, angling his head so he could drag out her bottom lip between her teeth.
He pulled away steadily, locking into her eyes, smiling warmly at her. Tenten's chest heaved as he firmly held her and she decided that she never felt safer or more at home. When he fully sat up again, his warmth still lingered and it wasn't as cold as she expected it to be.
The next moment, another beautiful Patronus was conjured and a large falcon flew swiftly towards her leopardess. He circled her and the two played in the air, leaping and flying, closely resembling the way her heart was beating fast and her chest was soaring.
Neji wrapped his arm around her and she smiled, leaning her head onto his shoulder. They wouldn't be having any trouble coming up with a powerful happy memory when the time came.