Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor

Cheering Charms in D.A.

At 7:30 that evening Harry found himself on the seventh floor pacing back and forth in the corridor in front of the enormous tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and his ill-fated ballet dancing troll experiment thinking about his D.A. classroom. On his third pass a door appeared in the wall opposite the tapestry. Clutching the piece of parchment Professor Dumbledore had give him at dinner - the class roster - he opened the door and walked in.

The room looked much as it had the previous year. The walls of the spacious room were still lined with wooden bookshelves filled with books of hexes, jinxes, curses and counter curses; large, silk cushions still littered the floor; the shelves at the far end of the room still held the sneakoscopes, a large, cracked foe-glass and other dark detectors; and resting on a small stand next to the door was the silver whistle he had used to get everyone's attention. He picked up the whistle as he entered the room and let the door close softly behind him. As he paced back and forth in front of the fireplace at the near end of the room, trying to remember everything they had covered last year, he glanced around at the torches and wondered if there was any way he could brighten the room up a bit to make it easier to see what was going on. Almost as if on cue the atmosphere within the room began to softly glow and gradually became lighter and brighter until he was satisfied with the level of its luminous intensity. Then it stopped at a uniform level of luminosity with the torches adding their medieval accents.

He continued to pace, thinking, for several more minutes when he looked up and noticed a teacher's desk standing against the wall near the door. He walked over to the desk and found a parchment with all of the spells they had practiced the year before neatly listed in order, in emerald green ink.

At that moment the door opened and his students entered the Room of Requirement for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts Lab of the year. There were going to be five fewer students this year as Fred and George and Lee and two others had left at the end of term last year. Well, to be honest, he reminded himself, Fred and George had left a little earlier than that. But all the same, he now had an even number of students which meant he could spend most of his time teaching and only stepping in to help when necessary.

When Luna walked in Harry noticed that she wasn't quite so dreamy as she had been the night before. He wondered if her experiences in the Department of Mysteries at the end of the previous term and her acceptance into the Order of the Phoenix had taken some of the innocence and fantasy out of her life. She still had that dreamy air about her but there was a more determined look in her eye that told him she had done a lot of growing up over the summer holidays.

When Neville entered he walked over and asked, "Do you want to give them a little demonstration, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "No," he said. "Tonight we are going to review and see where everyone is."

Neville nodded and went to sit down with the rest of the class.

When Hermione, Ron and Ginny entered the room Hermione looked around and said, "I like what you've done to the place, Harry. It's so much easier to see what we're doing, now."

Harry smirked and blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, I want to be able to see what's going on."

When everyone was settled, Harry pulled out the roster and compared names with faces. When he was finished he looked up apologetically and said, "Sorry, guys, but Professor Dumbledore told me to take attendance. It's something I have to do to make sure everyone is here. He didn't tell me how I had to do it; he just told me I had to it.

"Since we already know each other I want you to pair up because tonight we are going to review what we did last year. I am going to be observing, correcting any mistakes I see and, hopefully, helping you take your abilities to new levels. I don't want anyone to get hurt so please be careful.

"Like I said, this week we are going to be reviewing everything we learned last year. Next week Fred and George and the others will be joining us as well as several members of the faculty and the rest of the Weasley family because next week I will be teaching you the rebounding charm Hermione, Professor Lupin and I developed over the summer. So," he said, lowering his whistles' cord over his head, "shall we begin?

By 9:35 they had reviewed and practiced everything they had done the year before with the exception of the Patronus Charm. Harry found it amusing that no one wanted to partner with Neville. He was pleased to note that it was not because he was either clumsy or unskilled but because he was so good and all of his hexes, jinxes, charms and other spells were so effective. When they had practiced the disarming charm Luna hadn't even had time to say the first syllable of the charm when her wand had been ripped from her hand and flown across the room where Neville calmly took possession of it. And when they had practiced the binding curse Justin Flinch-Flechery had fallen to the floor so tightly bound that Harry had had to run over and immediately release him for fear of Justin being crushed by Neville's ropes. In the end, Neville had wound up practicing the spells on his trembling partners once or twice and then standing quietly while they practiced on him.

Harry blew the whistle and everyone stopped practicing their hexes. "All right, everyone," Harry said loudly enough that everyone could hear. "We've done everything but the Patronus Charm. Remember, it's a happy thought and 'Expecto Patronum.' I should caution you that practicing it in a controlled environment is a lot easier than using it to drive off a dementor. When you are faced with a dementor all of your worst fears and memories will be replaying themselves in your head and you will begin to feel as though you might never be happy again. It will be hard to recall a happy memory but that is the only way you are going to be able to summon a true Patronus and drive the dementors back. They want to steal your happiness at least as much as you want to hold onto it. We are going to spend the rest of tonight practicing the Patronus Charm in here But I want you to be prepared for what you might be faced with out there, in the field. I want you to make a catalogue your happy thoughts and continually review them.

"And most importantly," he continued, "and this is going to be your homework for this class, I want each and every one of you to find something humorous to laugh at every day. It doesn't have to be much but I want you to laugh every day so that if and/or when you are faced with a dementor you will be able to summon a truly powerful patronus that will have no trouble beating back those disgusting creatures." With that he looked into Ginny's eyes, let the warmth and happiness the mere thought of her love brought flood throughout his entire being, raised his wand and cried out, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The silver-white stag that leapt from the tip of his wand glowed so brightly that all of his students had to shield their eyes against its glare as it pranced around the room and then trotted up to stand in front of Harry. Squinting through his eyelashes Harry reached out and patted the ethereal creature's neck and silently thanked it for making an appearance. Harry could have sworn that the silver stag had winked at him before bowing its head slightly and returning to the ethos.

Several appreciative murmurs circulated among the students until Harry blew his whistle. "Alright then," he said confidently. "A happy thought and, 'Expecto Patronum.'"

For the next several minutes Harry circulated among his students, all original members of the D.A., and helped them where he could. It diidn't take long for Hermione to be able to reproduce the otter she had created the year before and Cho's swan followed shortly thereafter. Most of the others, however, were having a rough go of it. Ginny's patronus looked like it wanted to take shape but was never quite able to consolidate its form into anything recognizable before dissolving.

Harry watched her for several minutes, wondering if what had worked for him would work for her, when Ron called him over. "Hey, Harry," he called out over the various shouts and cries, "what am I doing wrong?"

Harry walked over and watched as Ron concentrated and said the incantation several times. Each time the mist that escaped from the tip of his wand would look like it was starting to form wings but get no further before dissipating. "What are you thinking about?" Harry asked.

"I keep thinking about the happiest moments in my life, like when I got my Hogwarts letter and the quidditch match against Slytherin last year and stuff like that but nothing seems to be working."

Leaning in close so no one else could hear Harry murmured, "I'll tell you what, Ron, why don't you think about how much you and Hermione love each other? Try that and let's see what happens."

Ron looked at Harry with a confused expression on his face for a few seconds. Then, as a broad grin began to spread across his face, he raised his wand, crying, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The large, silver dragon that leapt from his wand and soared around the room several times before shrinking in size and landing at Ron's feet to stand guard over its benefactor. Ron hesitantly reached out and patted his patronus' head. As he did so the tiny dragon turned its face towards Ron and smiled reassuringly as it slowly closed and reopened its eyes.

Some of the students had screamed in fright when Ron's dragon had first appeared but once they had realized it was a patronus they had laughed at themselves and went back to trying to summon their own guardians-of-light. "That's all well and good," Hermione laughed, congratulating Ron on his success, "but you keep that thing away from my otter."

Ron laughed out loud and pulled Hermione into a hug. "Don't worry," he laughed. "He only eats dementors." Hermione hugged him back, laughing at his comeback. Harry just shook his head and walked away, laughing to himself.

As he walked towards Ginny he noticed that she still wasn't having much success with her patronus so he decided to take a chance. After all, he reasoned, it had worked for him and Ron maybe it would work for her as well. "Erm, Ginny?" he said stepping in beside her. "Can I ask you something?"

Ginny glanced up, a fierce look of determination in her eyes which immediately softened when she saw Harry standing beside her. "Sure, Harry," she said, "what do you want?"

"It's kind of hard to explain really," Harry said grinning sheepishly, "but when I summoned my patronus and when Ron summoned his just now we were thinking about how much we love you and Hermione and how much that love means to us. I don't know if you want to use that or not but its worth a try."

Ginny seemed to think about this for a few seconds. Then, as a smile began to appear on her face, she too raised her wand and cried out, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" An enormous, silver lion sprang from the tip of her wand and bounded to the front of the room then came galloping back. It set down on its haunches in front of Ginny and looked up at her expectantly, its tongue lolling out of one side of its mouth. Ginny reached out and tentatively patted its head. Her patronus blinked its enormous eyes once and bowed its head to her before returning to the ethos. Ginny squealed with delight and threw her arms around Harry's neck. "Oh, thank you, Harry!" she squealed. "You don't know how much that means to me!"

Harry looked up and noticed that several people were staring at them. He blushed slightly, as though apologizing for Ginny's exuberance, then gently pried her off. "I love you too, Ginny," he whispered, "but we've only got a few minutes left and I want to make sure everyone can summon a proper patronus before we close down for the night."

Ginny lowered herself to the floor and blushed a bright shade of red then smiled up at her boyfriend and nodded that she understood.

For his part, Harry gazed dreamily at her for a few more seconds, a silly grin on his face, before remembering where he was and shaking his head to clear his mind and moving on to the next person.

Neville seemed to be having a particularly difficult time with his patronus. He could get a few wispy strands of white mist to come from his wand but nothing specific. Harry walked over to him and watched him for a couple of minutes before interrupting his attempts. "What are you thinking about, Neville?" he asked cautiously, remembering that Neville's parents were in St. Mungos and that they would probably never recognize their son because they had been tortured with the Cuciatus Curse by the Lestranges when Neville was just a baby.

"I'm trying to think about the day I received my Hogwartz letter," he said and Harry remembered how important that had been to Neville who had not shown any magical ability until his uncle had accidentally dropped him out of an upstairs window as a child and he had bounced across the lawn.

Recalling the previous Christmas, when he Ron and Hermione had been 'visiting' Professor Lockheart and had seen Neville's mother give him the gum wrapper, Harry said, "Er, Neville, I know this is a touchy subject and I don't want to embarrass you in any way but I want you to think back to last Christmas and your visit with your parents."

Neville paled slightly but courageously nodded his head.

"Do you remember when your mum gave you that gum wrapper?"

Again Neville nodded.

"Do you know what that tells me, Neville? It tells be that even though your mum may not be able to fully recognize you as her son, somewhere deep down inside she still knows who you are and still loves you as her son."

Tears began to well up in Neville's eyes as memories of his parents' vacant expressions flooded his soul. "I hope you're right, Harry," Neville said softly as he wiped the tears away. "I hope you're right."

"I'm sure of it," Harry said, hoping with all his might that he was. "Now, Neville," he continued in strictest confidence amid the continued yells and screams, "I want you to relax, think about that love and combine it with all of your other happy memories and try again."

Neville looked searchingly at Harry for a second or two then visibly relaxed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he raised his wand and cried, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The thin vapory trails of mist that escaped from Neville's wand were not much of an improvement over his earlier attempts but at least there were more of them and they did look like they were trying to form a patronus.

Harry looked at Neville for several seconds, deep in thought, before looking his friend in the eye. "Neville," he said, "I'm going to try something. I'm going to cast a cheering charm over you and when I do I want you to try the Patronus Charm again. I know you've got the power and the ability. All we have to do is help you get through this happiness block."

Neville nodded so Harry took out his wand and, pointing it at Neville, muttered a simple cheering charm and stood back. With a smile on his face this time Neville raised his wand and yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The effect was hilarious. The shining silver patronus that sprang forth from Neville's wand was in the shape of a huge bulldog. It reminded Harry so much of his aunt Marge's dog Ripper that he stumbled backwards and tripped, falling over Luna who was practicing nearby.

After scrambling to his feet and helping Luna up Harry burst out laughing. "I knew you could do it, Neville! I knew you could do it. But why a bulldog?"

Neville laughed nervously at first and then more openly. "Thanks, Harry," he said between gasps for air. "But why did my patronus frighten you so much?"

Harry shook his head still laughing. "It's a long story, Neville. I'll tell you later."

Looking at his watch Harry noticed that they only had five minutes left so, blowing his whistle, he called the class to order. "How many have had success so far?" he asked loudly. About half the class raised their hands. "Alright," he said confidently. "I want those of you who have successfully produced a patronus to pair up with those who haven't. We've only got five minutes so I want those of you who have produced a patronus to cast cheering charms on those who haven't yet and stand back. I know you might think this is cheating a bit but where dementors are concerned I really don't care if we cheat a little. Ready? Go!" He blew his whistle again and his students went into action.

In no time the room was filled with lions, tigers, bears, dragons, otters, swans, stallions, beavers and bulldogs. Colin Creevey's patronus was the most unique of them all though because his patronus was a squirrel and as soon as it had erupted from his wand and checked around for any signs of danger it had scampered up Colin's robes and perched itself on his shoulder.

At ten o'clock Harry blew his whistle again and, after reminding them to watch out for Filch and Mrs. Norris, sent the remaining members of the D.A. back to their houses.