Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Think of the happiest memory you can. The one thing that filled you with the most joy you have ever felt. Concentrate on that memory. Turn every lobe of your brain and every fiber of your should toward it."

The class listened intently to my lecture. Many scribbled notes, though most just sat taking it in.

"The Patronus Charm takes extreme concentration. You must be without distraction. The dementors thrive on happy thoughts and memories. Basically, it is what they eat. Now, does anyone know why the Patronus can protect us from the dementor? They are pure good after all. Why can't the dementor just have a nice hefty feast?"

A girl with bushy brown hair sitting next to Harry shot her hand up immediately. Ron Weasley gained a large grin on his face from the sight of it.

"Yes, Hermione," I said to her nodding my head toward her.

"A patronus is pure good as you said. Without the presence of anything sad or evil, the dementor is powerless. There must be something left to fill the place of the memory they took."

"Excellent," I replied, "Without something to take the place of the happy or good thing the dementor takes, the memory cannot be removed. So you want it to be a good one. Would anyone like to try?"

Many hands rose at this. One of them being Harry's.

"Harry, why don't you try it?" Harry and Ron both had semi-mischievous grins on their faces as Harry walked to the front of the classroom.

"All right Harry, a happy thought," I said to him. He was still grinning madly.

"Ok, got one, er, what was the spell again?"

"Expecto Patronum Harry," I replied. I stepped out of the way of Harry's wand. Though Harry didn't have the experience to produce an actual patronus, he might shoot something out of the end of his wand.

"Ok," said Harry, "Here goes. Expecto Patronum!"

A brilliant silver stag shot straight from the end of the wand. A perfect patronus as far as I could see. It galloped around the room and, in another shimmering light show, the stag disapeered in a cloud of silver smoke.

"Brilliant Harry! Absolutely brilliant!" I said so him, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I've, er, had some practice," Harry replied a bit sheepishly.

"It certainly seems so!" i said, still amazed that a fifth year could do such a difficult spell, "You may take your seat now." Harry walked back to his seat at the back of the classroom and sat down.

I continued my lesson explaining more about how the patronus worked.

"I want a one meter report on my desk by next friday."

the rest of my classes went about the same for the most part with varying lengths of parchment depending on the grade level. None of the volunteer demonstrators were quite as good as Harry though. Most were blue shadows if anything at all.

I was still thinking about what my animagus form would be. Maybe something a bit smaller than what I was thinking of before. I would like to be able to fly. Perhaps a falcon or something of the sort.

* * *

"How immensely idiotic must you be?"

The voice of Snape blasted loudly through the door of the Teachers' Lounge.

"They didn't seem to be working very well did they?" replied another voice I did not recognize.

"When a muggle wears mosquito repellent and one mosquito bites, the repellent has not failed. If one removes the repellent, the onslaught of mosquitoes will be so great that the scratching will go on for months!"

"There is a difference between mosquito repellent and the safety of this school Professor Snape. The fact that there was a breech at all means that the charms were broken-"

"NO! The fact that there was a breech means that a spot was missed. You-Know-Who's forces have been trying to take over this school ever since the rise of the Dark Lord. You, in a stupid moronic gesture, have removed the most protective charm which, by the way, has worked for the PAST THIRTY YEARS!"

"I planned to replace the charm as soon as I had found the problem." The voice was seething with anger. Snape, however did not seem to feel his usual sneer and smooth voice appropriate for this conversation.

"YOU HAD NO AUTHORITY TO MAKE THAT CHOICE! THIS IS YOUR FIRST YEAR TEACCHING, NOT YOUR FIRST YEAR AS HEADMASTER!"

"I know that I am not headmaster, Snape, but your headmaster has done close to nothing to prevent further attack. Dennis Creevey was only the first casualty."

"No, he wasn't," I said, stepping into the room.

"Rutleg, what in the name of everything that I hold dear are you doing in here?" Snape asked, his face going a shade redder than it already was.

"I was just walking by and overheard a bit of bickering in the Teachers' Lounge."

"Did you hear..."

"Yes"

"Rutleg, if this gets out of this room, you will be held personally respons-"

"If this leaves this room, Snape, it won't be because of me."

"What do you mean about Creevey not being the first?" asked the small man that Severus had been arguing with. His hair was dark with a streak of grey across the front. his skin was deeply tanned. I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Cedric Diggory was killed with the dark Lord's own wand at the end of last year. You remember, the third task."

"Yes yes, so another was killed. What importance does that have now?"

"You also remember how he fell into You-Know-Who's hands then?"

"A portkey in the middle of the maze meant for Harry Potter, yes I know-"

"And who placed it there?"

"Well, Alastor Moody as far as I know but-"

"Wrong," said Snape, speaking up once again, "It was Bartemius Crouch Junior, disguised as Alastor."

"Precisely. The Dark Lord could not get to Harry on campus at the time of the third task meaning that Bartemius Crouch must have done some sort of sabotage during the third task. So first, you must redo whatever charm you removed and then we will begin looking in those places that Crouch visited during the task."

"There is a problem with that," said Snape, regaining his sneer, "the charm that our bungling friend Professor Titus removed was the one that physically hides the school. Now anyone can see it for what it really is."

"And that isn't a charm that can be redone easily."

"Oh dear."