Change of Heart

by Lplus

During the late summer of 1996 and the first term of his sixth year, Harry Potter wrestles with the machinations of his enemies, the growth of his powers and the consequences of a Change of Heart HT then HG also RHr COMPLETE at last.

20. Patronus

Ch 20: - Patronus

Hermione had been in the library when Harry had finally found her. He knew she wasn't going to be watching Ron all afternoon; even he, Harry, couldn't sit and watch three hours of Quidditch practice. He'd almost resorted to the Marauders' Map, but logic had dictated that, if all else failed, the library was the place to try.

As he walked through the library doors, the thought had come to him that perhaps this should have been the first place to try.

Hermione was sitting in a corner, behind a tall pile of ancient looking books. The titles Harry could make out were mainly written in English, or the harsh language of the goblins. A couple were formed of the strange geometric alphabet of the now defunct dwarvish language.

The dwarves had once been the muggle equivalent of goblins. Without magic, they had managed to achieve almost as much by muscle power and bloodymindedness as the goblins had achieved by magical means. Bizarre names floated through Harry's mind, relics of a history of magic lesson from years past.

Bloodaxe the Brave, Ironhand the Insane, Thunderguts the Triumphant and Spearchucker the Suicidal.

Mad as a Fwooper lover, every one of them!

They'd finally died out five hundred years ago; apparently they'd become so aggressive that even looking at one another had been cause for a duel to the death. The last dwarf had apparently done away with himself after looking in a mirror.

Harry peered round the pile of books and grinned maniacally at Hermione. Eventually she looked up from her parchment and recoiled in horror as she noticed him. The fact that he had two sugarquills sticking out if his mouth like tusks might have had something to do with her reaction.

'Harry! You idiot!' she hissed. 'What happened at the meeting then? It must have been good to cheer you up like this.'

Harry took the sugarquills out of his mouth and dropped them on the table with a clatter. 'Sorry Hermione,' he said quietly. 'Actually, it wasn't good at all. I dunno what's got into me, to tell the truth. I reckon if I don't laugh, I'll cry.'

Hermione's face fell. 'That bad?'

'Yeah.' Harry looked round the library; none of the other students was near enough to hear him properly, if he kept his voice down.

'The only good thing is Dora's getting a bit better.' he murmured. 'The rest is just bad going to worse. Firstly, Charlie nearly scalped me for not saving Dora from getting hurt at all!'

'What?' asked Hermione in amazement.

'Yep! McGonagall backed me up and so did Ginny, so Charlie had a go at Ginny for wading into the fight to help me. Then Snape started suggesting things about Ginny and Dean, so Dumbledore shut both him and Charlie up in short order.'

Harry paused for breath, then plunged onward.

'Once they'd stopped picking on me and Ginny, Dumbledore prior incantatoed Bellatrix's wand which told them what the curse was that she used on Dora. Eventually they started asking what Bellatrix had been trying to do and someone suggested that Bellatrix was hoping for inside help. I tell them I saw Malfoy lurking about and suddenly Snape's telling them all I'm a liar just because I hate Malfoy!'

Harry was now well wound up, but Hermione was quite speechless by this time, so he took advantage of her silence to press on.

'So Snape does a legilimens on me,' he hissed, 'which shuts him up, cause I'm telling the truth, and suddenly the meeting's over.'

Hermione looked as if she'd recovered her voice and was about to say something, but Harry forged ahead with his resume of the afternoon.

'Moody and Lupin hauled me and Ginny to Moody's study, to tell us that Lupin and Dora have been staying over with Charlie and patrolling the school for the last six weeks or so, and that Charlie and Dora are getting on for being an item.'

Hermione was now just sitting with her mouth open.

'Then Dumbledore calls me and Ginny back to say we can go to St Mungo's, I tell him Charlie should be going instead of me, Gin goes off in a huff to find Charlie, and the Prof finally tells me I'm being investigated for using the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix – by bloody Umbridge!'

'Cruciatus? - Umbridge?'

'Yeah,' he muttered, 'I thought they'd got rid of her properly, but it sounds like she's still best mates with Fudge!'

'But Harry, Why did you use the Cruciatus? It's an unforgivable!'

'Yeah, I know! But before term started, Dumbledore told me I could use it if I was threatened and he'd informed the Ministry that he was going to tell me; and I can't think of a greater threat than someone starting to say Avarda Kedavra at you!'

Hermione was staring ahead now, eyes wide.

'He gave you permission? Bellatrix tried to kill you? Umbridge?' she whispered.

Harry had finally finished his rant. The rush of righteous anger had faded quickly to leave a feeling of depression and listlessness. It took him several seconds to realise Hermione had asked a question.

'Yeah. He told me specifically - I thought I told you; yes she did - trouble is I can't prove it! And yes, Umbridge!' He sighed and looked round. He'd managed to keep his voice low enough not to be understood, but the few other occupants of the library were watching his behaviour with a certain amount of trepidation. Luckily Madam Pince was working on one of the shelves in the restricted section. The occasional rustle of pages and muffled exclamation being the only clues to her struggles.

'Oh yeah, one other thing,' added Harry, 'Dumbledore asked me to tell you to go over to his study as soon as possible. He's got a couple of questions for you.'

Hermione jumped up, spilling several parchments onto the floor.

'Oh, - well why didn't you say to start with, Harry! Look, just stay here will you and keep these books from walking away.' Harry decided she meant it literally. She started to hurry away, but stopped and turned, 'Remember; do not move!' she growled, then she was gone.

Harry picked up the fallen parchments, sat down and stared at the parchment in front of him that Hermione had been working on. He hadn't realised the NEWT for magical history include dwarves, what with them being non magical. They'd only been included in the third year as a side issue relating to the goblins and goblin wars; they hadn't come up at all in the OWLS.

Hermione was writing some essay on whether the dwarves' irascible nature had really led to their demise; or whether it was the Goblins' biological warfare. Some historians reckoned the goblins had developed a virus that made the dwarves allergic to gold. Many reckoned the Dwarves had died of frustration as a result.

Despite himself, Harry had got well into the essay before Hermione returned. She looked severely puzzled.

'Odd.' was all she said. She sat down as Harry stood up and rearranged the parchments. 'Well, Harry, do you agree with my reasoning?'

Her smile suggested the whole argument had gone right over his head.

'Not sure, to be honest' he replied airily. 'I've only got as far as your secondary arguments. The main thrust seems logical, but then, so does the counterargument. Being allergic to gold might be a major disappointment, but killing another dwarf for breathing the same air is pretty extreme too.'

Hermione looked slightly surprised. 'That's the second odd thing then. First Dumbledore asked me about work, but all I could think about was when Umbridge caught us all last year; now you've actually read at least part of one of my essays without having someone standing over you with a loaded wand.'

Harry smiled. 'Boredom's a great incentive to read whatever's in front of me, Hermione,' he said, at which she looked suitably scornful. 'And remember what I told you about being under the legilimens spell?'

Hermione's eyes opened wide once more.

'Yep, you've got it,' he chuckled, as he stood up, 'that legilimens trick really is worth learning. I'll see you at dinner.'

- o -

Dinner was a subdued affair on the Gryffindor table.

Katie Bell was still muttering under her breath occasionally, usually snatches of team orders. The first match was now three weeks away, and she seemed to be teetering on the edge of insanity already.

Harry sat with Ron and Hermione, trying to avoid Katie's eye, as well as keep his head down when various other members of the house tried to engage him in conversation. Ginny wasn't present, but her descriptions that morning, of the fight and Dora's injuries, had half the house trying to get more details from Harry and the other half looking at him in fear of receiving one of his more virulent curses. That was without the fact that a lot of Gryffindors had been telling their friends in other houses all about what had happened.

As Harry looked round the hall, he noticed faces turn to look at him, then turn away suddenly. One face didn't look his way at all. Draco Malfoy was deep in conversation with Crabbe and Goyle throughout the meal. The only time they stopped talking to each other was to snarl something nasty at one of the other Slytherins; and not just at the younger students.

Harry saw Pansy Parkinson get a barrage of insults for something she said to Goyle. She almost burst into tears on the spot and sat, head bowed, for almost ten minutes before finally jumping up and walking out of the hall. Harry had no love for Pansy but, just for a second, he found himself feeling sorry for her.

Harry jumped as someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Dean, who had perched himself on the bench next to Harry and murmured something in his ear.

'What?' asked Harry, distractedly. He was trying to finish his roast beef before the plates all emptied for the puddings.

'I said, do you know where Ginny is? I haven't seen her all afternoon and Neville said she'd mentioned going to see Dumbledore with you.'

Harry sighed and turned to face Dean. 'Yeah, we had to go and see the Head, about the fight and so on. She was going to go down to St Mungo's, with her brother Charlie, late this afternoon.'

Dean looked puzzled. 'Why St Mungo's, Harry?'

'To see Nymphadora Tonks! - Remember? - The person you helped us save?'

'Oh, yeah, her.' muttered Dean. 'How come you didn't go, mate?'

Harry barked a short laugh. 'Charlie's got prior claim. He's Nymphadora Tonks' boyfriend. Ginny knows her too, though.'

Dean looked at Harry slightly oddly. 'Ginny reckoned you knew her too, better than she did.'

Harry stopped eating.

'Did she say how much better?' he asked offhandedly.

'Nah, just that you knew her better.'

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

'Yeah, well, blood's thicker than water, mate, so I get to stay here.' He turned back to his food, then swore as the plates cleared. 'Well, I hope they've got Cherry Pie tonight' he murmured.

Dean was still sitting beside him making no effort to return to where he'd been sitting. 'You don't know when she'll be back, do you?'

'Nope, no idea. They may even stay overnight to see Nymphadora first thing tomorrow morning as well.'

Dean wasn't about to give up. 'But where would they stay?'

'Ah yeesss, Cherry Pie,' said Harry, before answering. 'Probably at the hospital, there're visitor rooms and all that.'

'Think it's worth me staying up?'

Harry stopped pouring cream for a second or two. He'd briefly thought of staying up himself, but there really didn't seem much point. He hadn't been joking about the overnight stay.

'No point, mate, and anyway,' he looked up the table at Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. 'You don't want to get caught again, do you?' He watched Dean slope back to his place and serve himself some tropical fruit tart.

- o -

Later that evening, Harry was sitting in the common room, playing wizards chess with Ron. Hermione was putting the finishing touches to her essay, and moaning bitterly about the noise of the second and third years joking and arguing.

'Shut up, you lot!' she finally snarled.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned. Hermione turned to them and glared. 'What's so funny? If Ginny were here, she'd have torn them to bits by now.'

Ron glanced at Harry. 'Know when she'll be back, Harry?'

'No idea, mate. Depends on Charlie more than her.'

Ron was about to say something, but Hermione seemed to carelessly tread on his foot.

'Ow, Geddoff Hermione!' complained Ron.

Harry was spared Ron's attempt to question him further by the appearance of Alison Linney and Natalie McDonald at his elbow. Both seemed to have been giggling and just about had themselves under control.

'Um – Harry,' said Alison, sweetly, 'Natalie doesn't believe you're going to try teaching us the Patronus Charm later this term.' Natalie was still trying to keep a straight face.

Hermione gave them both a look of withering disdain but Ron looked from Alison to Harry and back then made a whip cracking motion, before chuckling quietly to himself

Harry had, by this time, managed to gather his thoughts. 'I don't remember saying I'd teach you that this term.' The two girls looked suitably disappointed. 'I was going to try showing you some more complex spells, for sure, but not the Patronus, I doubt any of you are old enough for that.'

This time it was Natalie's turn to try.

'Couldn't you think about it Harry?' she wheedled, 'We'd really like to learn that one, with all the Dementors on the loose.'

Harry was about to refuse point blank when Ron butted in. 'He probably couldn't teach you two anyway.' They both glared at him, though Harry wondered if Ron might be right. Perhaps he should try. 'Well, you're probably right mate, but we'll give it a go, this week.' he responded.

Alison and Natalie beamed with delight.

'Thank you, Harry.' they said, in unison. Harry smiled at them, making them giggle again, before Natalie grabbed Alison and dragged her back over to the other side of the room.

Harry sighed and looked back to the chess game; Ron and Hermione were both staring at him.

'What's wrong?' he asked, 'Don't you think I ought to try teaching them the Patronus?'

Hermione shook herself, 'Oh, It's nothing to do with that,' she murmured, 'It's just that - I saw Ginny before she went off to St Mungo's – '

Harry waited, 'And?'

'She told me about Charlie and Tonks – and – well, I know you mentioned it in the library, but it didn't really register…'

'Yeah.' he sighed. After a while he added; 'Had to happen some time.' He sighed again. Eventually, he spoke once more. 'Good thing, really.'

Ron and Hermione didn't say anything more, but they were the last to go to bed before Harry. They kissed and headed to their dorms, with a goodnight for each other, and a goodnight for Harry, leaving him slumped on the couch in front of the fire.

Harry sat on, staring at the common room fire whilst it slowly died down, as the last of the logs burned away. Eventually the permanent small flame, which was fuelled by the power source of the Castle itself, would be the only illumination.

A half moon glittered in the cold night sky beyond the tower windows. It was the middle of October and a frost was forecast for that night. Suddenly the flickering flames made him feel less cold, inside as well as outside.

He was at Hogwarts, he was among friends, he was warm, and he was still alive. Four out of five was pretty good, considering. He smiled wryly to himself and started up the stairs to his own dorm.

Once in bed, Harry lay back to think about the week ahead. He reckoned he might just regret biting on Ron's gibe about the Patronus spell. It had occurred to him that, maybe now, his memories of Dora wouldn't be enough to power his own patronus.

His mind ranged back to the day he'd set out for Hogwarts with Moody, to the memories of that afternoon. They were still there, clear and bright, and as powerful as ever.

- o -

Harry didn't see Ginny until lunchtime the next day. Even then, Dean was in close attendance and it was obvious that he couldn't ask her about Dora.

Charlie seemed to have gone back to his dragons, so Harry was left to stew until the evening.

In the end, Ginny found him, although he'd rather have chosen the meeting place himself. He'd decided to visit classroom fourteen, to try out his own patronus before the lesson with the third year Gryffindors and Slytherins the next day. He'd also run through the best explanation he could devise for describing the spell.

Prongs was galloping backwards and forwards up and down the classroom when the door opened and Ginny poked her head into the room. Her mane of red hair cascaded over her left shoulder, with the torch light flickering from the wall brackets making soft highlights in it.

It was to Harry's credit that he kept the spell going. Prongs dimmed once or twice, but as Harry tightened his concentration, the silver image steadied and became more solid. Now Harry had something to take his mind off the spell, he could practice keeping the patronus in place, whilst talking to someone. He paraded prongs in front of Ginny, almost as if he were keeping her at bay, then moved his patronus out of her way and held it still. As she walked past it, she seemed almost afraid, reaching timidly out to try to touch the silver apparition. Of its own volition the patronus moved back slightly, as if to maintain the gulf between the real and imaginary.

Ginny faced Harry - and he had the bizarre experience of looking at one girl he cared about through the image of the only other girl he felt anything for. Ginny seemed to be waiting for him to disperse his patronus before she said anything.

'I want to practicing maintaining Prongs despite distractions, Gin,' he said, 'talking to you is good practice, - er - how was Dora?'

Ginny looked slightly disconcerted. 'Not good, Harry,' she began. Prongs flickered, 'But as well as can be expected, considering. Er - could you put Prongs away, Harry, he's distracting me more than I'm distracting you.'

Harry sighed and released his mental picture of Dora. Prongs dispersed into mist and faded away.

'Better?'

'Yeah, he's really impressive, though.'

Harry grunted agreement. 'So, did you and - Charlie - manage to talk to her?'

Ginny sighed, 'A few words, Harry. She asked after you, thought you might have been hurt. She seemed a bit upset you weren't there, when we told her you were okay. Well, as far as I could tell she was upset, what with the drip and various other tubes stuck in her.'

Harry was amazed at the idea of Dora being attached to muggle medical machines. 'I thought the healers'd be able to sort it out with magic and potions,' he protested, 'not use muggle surgery on her as well.'

Ginny looked scornful. 'Dream on, Harry. That "Wheel of Death" thing chopped up bits of her digestive system badly, and it was a magical weapon. Apparently not all the medical spells work with dark arts attacks. Remember how much trouble they had with Dad, after the snake attack?'

Harry shuddered at the thought of Mr.Weasley's injuries. As he'd been looking through the snake's eyes at the time, he knew only too well the extent of Arthur's wounds. He remembered the taste of blood, the crunch of ribs beneath powerful jaws; then tried desperately to push the image out of his mind again.

'I thought muggle surgical stuff only made things worse for your dad!'

Ginny nodded once. 'Yeah, but that was to try and make him heal, they didn't try that with Dora. They operated and removed various magic damaged bits of this and that, then charmed the rest back together, and now they're relying on time and anti dark magic wards to allow what's left to heal.'

'What?' Harry was stunned by Ginny's calm acceptance of the idea of Dora having to survive without all the necessary bits inside her. Ginny seemed to almost read his mind.

'It's alright, Harry, ' she said soothingly, ' Dora's not lost anything vital! She'll not even be aware of it, once she'd healed.'

'How long will that be, then? Dumbledore talked about months.'

'At least two, before she's up and apparating, Harry.'

'Poor old Charlie.' he sighed.

Ginny nodded slowly, 'Yeah, poor old Charlie. Are you going down to see her?'

'I suppose I'd better.' Harry decided he didn't feel like explaining to Ginny about the Cruciatus curse and Umbridge. He wasn't proud, and anyway he'd wager quite a bit that Hermione would be letting Ginny know all about that as soon as possible.

Ginny hesitated and looked round the classroom, 'Well, don't sound so keen about it.'

Harry watched her.

'Right at this moment, I'm not keen,' he said sadly, 'D'you think we could change the subject?'

Ginny grinned briefly at him. 'Okay, tell me why you're in a classroom at eight o'clock in the evening, exercising your patronus.'

Harry sat down behind his desk and smiled grimly; he'd have preferred it if Ginny had simply left. 'It's all Ron's fault.' he muttered.

Ginny sat at the first student desk.' Now, now, Harry,' she giggled, 'you can't blame Ron for everything!'

He briefly wondered how it would feel to be Ginny's teacher, but decided that was somewhere he'd better not go; things were bad enough already. He waved a hand at the torches to brighten them slightly.

'I can blame him for this. He reckoned I couldn't teach the third years the patronus charm.'

'So you just had to prove him wrong!' she said, resignedly.

Harry coughed apologetically. 'Erm - yeah

'They're a bit young, aren't they?'

'A year younger than you were when I tried to teach you at the DA, last year, and Dennis Creavey was there as well, he was a second year!'

Ginny looked slightly sad. 'But I didn't manage to produce one.' she said, mournfully.

'And I don't expect they will either, but they asked, - and they shall receive. I checked it out with Moody, this morning; he's got no objections. Reckons the earlier the better, now the war's begun.' he stopped as a new thought struck him. 'Aren't you doing the patronus for OWLs?'

'No. - it's not on the syllabus, - you know that. - I wish it was.'

Harry could hear the disappointment in her voice. 'You want to try again, - now?'

Ginny looked up at him and regarded him steadily for several seconds.

'Yeah, 'she whispered, 'why not?'

Harry stood up and walked round the desk, then waved the torches to burn slightly less brightly. 'You want me to go through the explanation again?' he asked.

Ginny hesitated, 'No, - I know the incantation, and I know the image I want to use, - I just need to put it all together right.' She stared at Harry for a full ten seconds before saying 'EXPECTO PATRONUM.'

A tiny wisp of silver issued from her wand. They both sighed.

'Still no go,' she muttered.

Harry thought for a while, 'Are you keeping the memory on front of your eyes, all the time, even when you've said the spell?'

Ginny's brow furrowed in thought. 'I thought I was, Harry. Maybe I'm not. Isn't it hard to see everything else if you keep the memory plastered across your vision?'

Harry chuckled. 'Yep, that's probably the hardest part, - well, - besides the dementors freezing your brain so you can't think of anything at all.'

Ginny was not amused.

'I'll try it one more time,' she growled, but Harry stopped her.

'Just try looking round the room with the memory in front of you,' he said. 'I'll conjure up Prongs to give you something to watch.'

Ginny glowered for a second or so, but turned as Harry produced his own patronus once more and sent it charging round the classroom.

'Are you looking through your memory, Ginny?' he asked quietly.

'I'm trying!' she grumbled. Eventually she blinked and looked away. Harry allowed Prongs to dissipate once more and stood waiting. Ginny took a deep breath and began looking round the room in a glazed fashion. Harry heard her mumble the patronus spell. This time there was more than a wisp of white mist; it billowed out of the end of Ginny's wand and started to coalesce. Ginny was still staring at the wall unseeing, as the patronus took shape.

Four feet;

A hint of vertical stripes on the white misty body;

A banded tail with a tufted end;

A -

The head was beginning to form when the door to the classroom opened, and Dean Thomas burst in. Ginny started and lost concentration, but not before Harry had identified her Patronus.

Dean simply stood still, staring at Ginny and radiating annoyance.

Ginny turned and gaped at him.

'Dean!'

She seemed flustered, but quickly gathered herself up and faced him.

'So this is where you've been hiding!' he said. He didn't seem happy at all.

'I wasn't hiding, Dean!' retorted Ginny, 'I needed to find Harry to tell him about Dora Tonks!'

'And you just took time to practice spells while you were here!'

Ginny squared her shoulders. 'Yeah, and why not?' she said forcefully.

Dean hesitated, glancing at Harry. He didn't seem to have expected Ginny to bite back. Harry thought he had to be a bit thick not to expect it, but kept his face neutral.

Dean lowered his eyes and seemed to retreat slightly. He muttered something that Harry didn't hear, but Ginny obviously did.

'Yeah! Just practice.' she said more quietly, then looked round at Harry.

'Did I manage to produce a proper patronus, Harry?' she asked, 'I had my eyes closed.'

Harry nodded and smiled slowly. 'Just for a few seconds. It was still forming when Dean turned up, though.'

Ginny returned his smile, hesitantly. 'So - what was it, then?'

Harry glanced at Dean. Somehow he didn't want to tell her in front of Dean; and he didn't even know why. 'I - it - wasn't fully formed, I'm not quite sure what it was.'

No doubt she'd try again; Dean could tell her then, if he hadn't seen it as he walked it.

Ginny's face fell. 'Oh - Oh well, at least I can do the spell now.'

Harry thought she'd be more pleased, but she seemed to have retreated into herself. She turned back to Dean and offered him her arm, 'Okay, shall we go?' she said quietly. Dean stared flatly at Harry for a few seconds before starting for the door.

As they left, Harry thought he saw Ginny glance back at him, but he couldn't be sure. He'd have liked to tell her what her patronus was; he'd have liked even more to know why he hadn't - it was quite impressive.

Four feet;

A hint of black vertical stripes on the white misty body;

A black banded tail with a tufted end;

A big head;

pointed ears;

teeth;

claws;

Ginny's patronus was a white tigress.

- o -

'Okay class, settle down, please.'

The third years seemed a little more excitable than usual, this morning. Alison Linney was giggling with Natalie while Dennis Creevey sighed and shook his head at their antics. The Slytherins were eyeing the Gryffindors cautiously, as if they thought a trap had been set somewhere - and they were about to walk into something painful.

Harry raised his voice slightly (well, perhaps more than slightly), 'I said settle down, PLEASE! - Would you like to try the silencio spell at first hand - again - Miss Linney?

Alison finally managed to get her giggles under control. Harry sighed and shook his head. He saw Dennis smile and hide it with a hand.

'Now then,' Harry began, 'I expect you all heard about the fight on Saturday evening. That sort of thing generally gets round the school pretty quickly.'

The class nodded agreement.

'Were you really attacked by Death Eaters?' asked Pritchard.

Harry looked closely at him. 'Why do you ask? Don't you believe it?'

Pritchard looked round at the rest of the Slytherins. Baddock nodded to him.

'We heard it was – just some sort of joke, or accident, - or something – ' he finished lamely.

I wonder who told you that, thought Harry.

'Definitely Death Eaters, Pritchard,' he confirmed.

'I'm surprised the Headmaster hasn't covered it up,' muttered Baddock. As Harry stared at him, Baddock went a fetching shade of crimson. 'Er – well – er – that's what someone said – er - in our common room,' he stammered.

'Why cover up the presence of Death Eaters, argued Dennis Creevey, 'Shows they're active again,'

'But they nearly got into the school!' said Miss Bryant.

'But they didn't!' retorted Dennis, hotly.

'ENOUGH!' snarled Harry. He stared balefully at the class. Several of the students looked at each other, as if daring the other to speak.

Natalie McDonald tentatively raised her hand. 'Mister Potter?'

Harry hesitated but replied, 'Yes, Miss McDonald?'

'How is the woman who got hurt?'

A few muttered comments broke the silence, the gist of the comments seeming to be, "I didn't know a woman got hurt!"

The comments seemed to come more from the Slytherins in the room then from the Gryffindors.

Once the muttering had died down, Harry replied. 'She is slowly improving...It will be a long time before she is fully healed, - if she ever is.' He looked at each student in turn, trying to catch any hint of satisfaction, but all he could see in their eyes was a mixture of horror and concern.

'That's what happens when Death Eaters are involved,' he said quietly. 'People get hurt.'

None of the students seemed inclined to say anything else.

After a few seconds, Harry leaned back against the corner of his desk.

'There's a war on,' he said quietly. 'People will continue to get hurt. Lord Voldemort – ' there was the usual gasp at the sound of his name. Harry repeated it more loudly. 'Lord VOLDEMORT – will not worry about casualties, which is why the headmaster wants all students to be able to make a reasonable attempt at defending yourselves against Death Eaters, as a minimum.'

Harry chuckled drily, 'However, I don't think he is expecting you to be able to defend yourselves against The Dark Lord himself'

There were a few nervous laughs; even the Slytherins seemed to be affected. It seemed the fight had finally brought home the reality of the danger faced by the wizarding world.

Harry wondered if one of the class was going to ask about the battle at the Ministry which had convinced the Minister to finally admit that Voldemort had returned. No hands were raised, though, so after a long moment he spoke again.

'Today you will be trying to arm yourselves against another of Lord Voldemort's likely allies, - Dementors.'

Another shiver of consternation passed through the class, although Linney, Mcdonald and Creevey were conspicuously elated at the prospect.

'The only defence against a dementor is the Patronus charm, which you have no doubt heard of.' Various heads nodded in agreement. 'I should point out that I was asked to teach this charm by Miss Linney and Miss McDonald. So any frustration caused by the next hour's effort can be blamed on them.'

The two Gryffindors were now looking slightly rueful.

'Before we start,' added Harry, 'The Patronus charm can be used as a defence against at least one other dangerous magical creature – anyone know what it is?'

Shaken heads and looks of bafflement were the only reply.

'Okay, for next lesson, I want you to find out what it is, and why it is dangerous. Half a page each.'

Several groans were heard, and a Slytherin muttered 'I thought this was a practical lesson!' quietly - but not quietly enough.

Harry smiled, 'And from you Miss Bryant, a full page'

The rest of the class sniggered at the unfortunate girl, who looked especially glum.

Harry looked round the class again. 'This is a Patronus,' he murmured, then gathering up his memory of Dora, he enunciated the words of the charm to bring Prongs into being;

'Expecto Patronum'

Harry's Patronus burst from the end of his wand almost fully formed. Seconds later it was parading up and down the central isle of the classroom. The third years stared at Prongs in awe. One or two of the braver ones tried to touch the silver figure, but always Prongs seemed to be able to sidle sideways to avoid contact. After the second pass, Harry relaxed the charm to let Prongs fade from view.

A couple of the Gryffindors started applauding but quickly desisted as Harry stared at them. He addressed the class again. 'The words of the charm are – Expecto Patronum, - Got that? Expecto Patronum. - Write it down.'

He made the board chalk get up and scrawl the charm incantation on the board, then, unhappy with its writing, he made the duster rub out the words in a flurry of white dust.

Harry pointed at the chalk and growled. Almost quicker that the eye could follow, it leapt up and wrote the charm again, much neater and larger. He frowned as the chalk scurried back to its little ledge and hid behind the duster, but after a second or so he turned back to the class.

'Right, all of you practice saying the charm – QUIETLY.'

Several grins followed his last word, but the whole class were soon murmuring the charm, and sweeping their wands in a fair approximation of Harry's demonstration. Harry toured the room, enclosing each student in a privacy charm so he could check on the emphasis and pronunciation. After fifteen minutes, he was reasonably satisfied, and blew a short blast on his whistle.

'Good,' he said in the ensuing silence, - that's part one. - Part two is the memory.'

Several students looked more than perplexed.

Harry looked around the class once more. 'Now, I reckon every one of you has a favourite memory stored up somewhere. It doesn't matter what it is, or how old it is, but I want you to sort through your memories to find the best you can.'

Every pair of eyes took on a faraway look as the owner rummaged through his or her memories, all except Alison Linney, who was looking at Harry with a little smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Eventually everyone seemed to have found some sort of memory and turned their attention back to Harry.

'The memory is effectively the power behind the charm' he said slowly. You must call up that memory, and hold it in your mind, all the time you require your Patronus. You must see it in front of you; and most importantly, you have to see everything else through the view of your memory. Do you understand? Do not let the memory go.'

Various heads were nodding.

'Now call up the memory and practice looking through it. It must be burned into the back of your eyes. – You have ten minutes, and it is vital that you learn this.'

Harry turned and sat down behind his desk to observe the class's efforts. Some seemed to be taking their attempt extremely seriously; Linney, McDonald, Creevey and surprisingly Pritchard and Bryant. Others such as Baddock appeared to be dreaming.

Once the ten minutes were up, Harry insisted on another five minutes on the charm, followed by a further five minutes on the memory, by which time the class was beginning to get slightly rebellious. Deciding to quit whilst he was ahead, Harry tried to explain how to put the two parts of the charm together.

'Think of your favourite memory, hold it in front of your eyes, keep it in front of your eyes as you say the spell and, most important of all, if something happens, watch it through the view of your memory; Got it?'

Nods and murmured yeses.

'Right, one at a time, starting with Baddock; and the rest of you practice by watching each other's progress through your own memory.

Baddock failed miserably, something Harry would have put a considerable sum of money on.

'Bryant'

This time there was a wisp of silver mist at the end of her wand for a second.

'Try again, keep that memory in front of your eyes.'

The wisp of silver mist grew and started to take form but the girl seemed so surprised by her success, she let the growing Patronus go.

'Good, Very good. Creevey.'

Creavey managed as much as Bryant, but his second attempt was less successful. By the time Alison Linney's turn came round, no one had bettered Bryant and Creevey, and neither did she, although both times a Patronus was definitely beginning to form, albeit very slowly. Natalie McDonald fared no better.

'Pritchard'

The Slytherin's first attempt was no better than the others' but on his second try, a recognisable shape appeared and floated in front of him for at least ten seconds before the growing murmurs of appreciation from the rest of the class finally broke his concentration.

'Brilliant, Pritchard!'

'Er, Mr. Potter, - erm – what was it?' asked Pritchard in a stunned voice.

'A bear, Mr. Pritchard. I've no idea what type, though.'

None of the other class members managed any more than Bryant, and by the time each had made two tries, the end of the lesson had arrived. As they were gathering their books, Harry made a general announcement.

'Well done everyone, but before you all go boasting to your friends, it's worth remembering that what you achieved was under optimal conditions. A warm classroom is a darned sight easier to work in than a cold alleyway, never mind the freezing cold and the feeling of helplessness and despair the dementors produce - believe me, I know. Anyway, try to practice the charm, if you can. At least, if you succeed with this charm, there's no chance of damaging anything...and ten points to Slytherin for Pritchard's success.'

Harry immediately regretted his generosity. The Patronus was worth the points, but the nasty look that Baddock gave to Pritchard reminded Harry that there were some people in the school who would consider ten points from Harry Potter to be a killing insult. He was hardly surprised when Pritchard hung back and waited in front of his desk for the rest of the class to leave.

Harry raised an eyebrow in query.

'I'd – er – rather you didn't give me ten points Mr. Potter,' he muttered.

Harry sighed. 'Very well, Pritchard. I can – see your problem. Nonetheless, I'm impressed; that was a very good effort for only your second try.'

Pritchard said nothing. Harry sighed again.

'You'd better get going,' he instructed, 'You'll be late for your next lesson...You can tell Malfoy you threw the points back in my face, if you like.'

Pritchard just nodded quickly and left, eyes downcast.

Harry sat for a full five minutes reflecting on the lesson. He'd succeeded beyond his greatest expectations, in fact, but it still left a nasty taste in his mouth.

- o -

At the evening meal, Harry told Hermione and Ron all about the lesson and the result of his trying to reward a Slytherin.

'Ty-i-al' mumbled Ron, round a mouthful of liver and bacon.

Hermione shuddered very slightly and raised her eyes to the ceiling. She shook her head. 'That was probably "typical" in Ronspeak,' she muttered, giving Ron another disgusted look.

Harry could only agree. 'He's dead right... I should have thought a bit quicker.'

'Harry!' exploded Hermione, 'You can't go blaming yourself for the fact that Snape lets Malfoy run Slytherin like an offshoot of Durmstrang. Just 'cause dragon boy wanted to go there, doesn't mean he should be allowed to ruin life here for a quarter of Hogwarts!'

Ron glanced at Harry. 'I reckon most of the Slytherins should have gone to Durmstrang too.'

Hermione started to smile. 'Imagine Crabbe and Goyle at the Durmstrang fencing classes; trying to work out which end of the sword to hold – '

Harry snorted with laughter. 'Nah! They'd probably turn up a fencing classes with a pair of pliers, a hammer and bag of nails each!'

Further talk was forestalled by Ginny, who dropped onto the bench next to Harry and started pinching his chips.

'So,' she said through a mouthful of chip, 'I hear my spies didn't do as well as they'd hoped!'

Harry smiled and shrugged. 'They did better than I expected, by a long way. I'm beginning to think Pritchard did better than I did, when Remus taught me three years ago!'

'What? Is your crown beginning to slip?' joked Ginny.

Harry chuckled, 'Yeah, it's down over my eyes now.'

'It should be! You do realise that you'll be responsible for more frustration than old Lockhart? The third year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs want to learn too, on Thursday - and today's crowd are already trying to teach the second years!

Harry stared at Ginny open mouthed.

'There's going to be students trying to produce Patronuses all over the school soon,' she continued, 'and not one in a hundred are going to manage it.' She grinned cheerfully at Ron and Hermione, who were also beginning to smile at Harry's look of despair. After pinching one more chip, she stood and looked around, then nudged Harry.

'Wassup?' he muttered as he tried to make further inroads into his dinner.

Ginny looked down at him, 'I don't think Malfoy's too pleased. He's looking over here, and I reckon if looks could kill, they'd be burying the whole of Gryffindor tomorrow.'

'Malfoy's an idiot!' growled Ron.

'But he's a dangerous idiot, murmured Harry, 'Just ignore him, Gin.'

'Yeah, okay.' she said, sitting down again. 'By the way,' she murmured, 'It's a pity you didn't see my Patronus, Harry'

'Er – yeah, but – well - you know, it's just one of those things,' he said quietly. 'Did you manage to produce it later, with - Dean?'

'I tried!' she said sadly, 'but it just won't work! I just can't seem to do it again.' She sounded thoroughly depressed.

Harry was on the verge of telling her, when Luna waved at her to join the Ravenclaw table.

'I'll just have to keep trying,' she sighed, before heading to the other table.

Harry stared at his dinner as he mechanically chomped through it. So the other third years wanted to learn the Patronus, did they? Well, he'd intended to teach them anyway, but it wouldn't hurt for them to beg a while first.

'What're you smiling at, Harry?' asked Hermione.

'The thought of me causing more frustration than Lockhart.'

Ron sniggered. 'A different kind of frustration, I reckon, mate.'

Hermione smiled at him, but Harry had stopped smiling at Ron's comment.

'Yeah, very different! - Ah well, I bet Moody has me teaching the Patronus charm to the whole school by next week.' At that moment the remains of the main course disappeared, to be replaced by the pudding.

As he served himself a slice of apple pie, Harry couldn't help wonder why Ginny had used such an inappropriate comparison.