Everybody got up late on Boxing Day, and when they were finally up and running all they did was reliving the Yule Ball and chattering about how much fun it had been. Maya could not disagree more; to her it had been nothing short of an all round disaster and to escape the omnipresent blabbering she decided to go for a walk through the winter wonderland outside. She did not invite any of her friends, because she sought peace and quiet to mull things over. Thankfully she knew someone who did not ask any questions but would nevertheless provide company.

'Aurelia! Let's go!' Maya called when she had reached the Owlery, making a beckoning gesture towards her pet. The tawny owl let out a happy screech, as she always did when she caught sight of Maya, and immediately landed on the Slytherin's shoulder. A few minutes later they left the thick castle walls behind them and set off towards the frozen lake. Maya glanced at the Durmstrang ship and inadvertently hoped it would fall right through the cracks and into oblivion, but unfortunately that was not how it worked. She walked around the lake, using her wand to shoot twigs and snowballs into the air for Aurelia to catch. Playing with her owl was a real hoot. When she had reached the other side of the lake, she looked up at Hogwarts. The castle was almost entirely covered in snow and rather small from where Maya was standing, but it was perched nobly on its hill all the same. Thus far, it had been a very strange year indeed, but not necessarily a good one. Harry had been selected as champion; Maya still could not make heads or tails of that and probably never would, and then for a glorious month and a half it seemed like Krum really fancied her. She kept wondering where she had gone wrong and whether she would ever get a second chance. Probably not, in this life she always seemed to get the short end of the stick, but maybe, just maybe, if she kept working hard everything would be different one day.

Maya and Aurelia walked all the way across the lake until they were back on school grounds. Maya looked at the trees of the Forbidden Forest and suddenly realised something. 'Come, Aurelia! This is where I found you, look!' She inadvertently took a few steps inside the Forest. It was actually amazing how incredibly beautiful and peaceful the Forest was around its edges, especially with all the trees covered in snow, and yet so incredibly dark and dangerous at its heart. Aurelia seemed somewhat reluctant to enter and so Maya turned around to look at her as she pointed at the ground. 'It was right here! You probably don't remember it, but still. We really needed each other that day, and I like to think that fate brought us together' Maya said, feeling oddly sentimental. She stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the tranquil scene. Then she sighed and walked back towards the castle, with Aurelia sitting faithfully on her shoulder. Maya could really do with a steaming mug of hot chocolate after spending almost two hours in the cold. Besides, there was something she really wanted to get started on.

'And remember, Dursley. We're talking actual happy memories here, not fairytale-like fantasies' Moody growled in response, when Maya had asked him about the Patronus Charm a few days before. She now knew the theory, but also knew that actually mastering such an advanced piece of magic would be anything but a walk in the park, or around the lake for that matter. She really needed this distraction after that ruddy Yule Ball, which had not at all gone as planned or hoped, and was dying to see what kind of creature her Patronus would be.

After lunch she retreated to the solitude of her room. Just like with any spell, after learning the theory there was nothing else for it than simply giving it a go. Now, the first step would be to think of a happy memory. Maya thought long and hard; her current mood was not exactly one of happiness and she would probably have to dig really deep for a happy memory. She figured a more recent one would be more powerful because the memory would be more vivid, and eventually she settled on the time when Draco's spell had severely enlarged Hermione's teeth. Trying to recall as many details as possible, including Hermione's whimpering, Maya drew out her wand and took a breath. Was she about to find out what shape her Patronus would be? Dedicating all of her mind to the memory, she held out her wand and clearly said: 'Expecto Patronum!' Nothing happened whatsoever. 'Anticlimactical' Maya muttered to herself. She subsequently attempted to cast the spell several times with this memory, but there was not the faintest trace of silvery smoke and all of her efforts were basically in vain. Maya was not that used to struggling with spells, and as she contained her anger she tried to figure out why it was not working. The worst explanation would be that she simply was not yet powerful enough a witch to cast a Patronus. The easiest (and in Maya's mind most likely) explanation was that this memory for some reason did not do. It was a happy memory, though, especially after the Yule Ball disaster any memory featuring bad things happening to Hermione made Maya smile...

Over the next few days Maya did not make any progress. She tried to cast the Patronus Charm thinking about Ron puking slugs and Hermione sort of changing into a cat, but those did not work either. Nothing happened at all for a week. She had considered asking her friends for advice, but realistically only Draco had any brains and she would also rather keep her project a secret for now, so that she could impress him (and hopefully many others) at a more opportune time. The idea of walking up to Moody's office and ask him for more help also did not seem particularly appealing to her; after all, the professor did have a bit of a temper and so she was basically on her own. Often feeling that she could only truly rely on herself, she merely tried to embrace it. If she could pull through and ultimately manage to cast the Patronus on her own, there was hardly anything she would not be able to do.

The first time Maya saw a hint of silvery smoke was when she thought about the time she had obliterated all of her opponents at Lockhart's Duelling Club. She spent the rest of the afternoon focusing on that memory, but even though it had come closer than the others, this one too did not quite cut the mustard. Maya had thought about the things that mattered most to her and eventually settled on that memory, but apparently even this one did not fully suffice. Was it maybe because the Duelling Club meeting had been overshadowed by Harry speaking Parseltongue? Or was it perhaps because her opponents had not been particularly strong and thus she felt deep down that her victories were not all that impressive? She was on the right track, though, for she had never seen silvery smoke before...

It was near the end of the Christmas holidays that Maya found the smoke she so painstakingly conjured actually began to take some shape, even if it was not enough to make out what kind of animal it was. She had thought of the time she found out she was a witch and that a whole, new world opened up to her. It was surely a happy memory, but not one that painted the whole picture. There were so many implied circumstances and consequences to that memory and not all of them were positive, like Harry being famous and she being poor, that all in all even that memory did not do the trick. As much as Maya tried to deny it to herself, she was becoming increasingly desperate. Did she even have a memory that was happy enough for a Patronus? Had she thus far led a life filled with frustration, disappointment and simply unhappiness to the point that she would not be able to cast a Patronus until all that had substantially changed? 'Come on, Maya, think! When were you truly happy and proud?' Maya asked herself aloud. And then it hit her. Feeling extremely silly that she had not thought of that before, Maya pocketed her wand and almost ran out of her room.

When she arrived on the sixth floor, she carefully checked that nobody was watching. When the coast was all clear, she quickly made her way into the Trophy Room. After the detention she had served with Ron in her second year she was sure that she had seen enough of this room to last her a lifetime, but in life very few things were more fickle than sentiments. It took her a few minutes of shelf-scanning but then she found her very own Special Award for Services to the School. It was a large, gold shield and the one with Maya's name on it stood proudly alongside the trophies of Harry and Ron. This was a trophy she had been awarded and that would sit in this room forever. When she had just been told she would receive it she had actually felt that she did not fully deserve it, because she had basically just shifted some rocks, but now one and a half years later she felt nothing but pride. Very few people would have ventured into the Chamber of Secrets, knowing that a Basilisk was lurking down there. She had been exceptionally brave, especially for a Slytherin, and could she reasonably have foreseen that Lockhart would randomly turn on them? She had fully deserved the Special Award, it was rightfully hers and getting it had been the absolute highlight of her wizarding life thus far. Maya fixed her eyes on the trophy, took a deep breath, held out her wand and firmly said: 'Expecto Patronum!'

This time it was all different. Out of her wand shot no vague silvery smoke, but a large, corporeal Patronus. For a few seconds Maya was completely flabbergasted, but then she clapped her hands together in a sensation of pure joy. 'Yes! Yes! I knew I was special!' she screamed when she saw the translucent creature that had appeared right in front of her. The creature had long, sharp talons, both its wings and tail were spiky and on its back were unmistakeably scales. When the creature turned around to face Maya, she saw it had rather large fangs and two horns. Having a magical creature as a Patronus was extremely rare and considered to be a sign of great power, and Maya's Patronus was a dragon.

As she made her way back to the Slytherin common room, feeling truly elated for once, she suddenly realised something. The only way to successfully cast a Patronus was with genuine happiness that was only to be found within yourself rather than in the misfortune of others, and so perhaps the Patronus Charm was not all that Maya learned that day.