Chapter 18
They left and strolled towards the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione was already sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for them.
"Did the old fraud predict your death again?" Hermione smirked at Harry while they all sat down next to her.
"No not this time... I shoved the bloody cards over to Ron before she could catch a glimpse of them. Otherwise...you know..."
Everybody knew how much the divination teacher loved to predict Harry's early and horrible death.
"Kayla you should take Arithmancy with me next term. The way you look like every time you come out of the North tower, so pale and dizzy... That can't be good for you" Hermione said to her fellow Gryffindor.
"If she would just open a window I'd be fine." the pretty brown-haired girl sighed deeply. They all finished their lunch, looking forward to the free period they had before DADA. Hermione suggested they could make a nice Welcome home banner for Kelsey. Thrilled by the idea and very touched Kayla led them all up the marble staircase and to the portrait of the fat lady.
After telling her the password the portrait swung aside and they climbed through the portrait hole. Everybody had interesting ideas for the banner and after an hour the banner was ready. Kayla took it upstairs to her room and put it inside her trunk until Kelsey would come back.
In time they left the common room for DADA. Professor Stone started with patronuses today and was very impressed that Kayla could already produce one... a silver lioness. The whole class watched Harry's and Kayla's patronus gliding through the class room and disappearing in silver mist.
Everybody started practicing, while Professor Stone asked Kayla about her brother's well-being.
"He should be back next week" Kayla told the young professor. "Luckily Professor Dumbledore forwarded all the homework to Kelsey so it won't be too hard for him to catch up" The young girl watched the attempts of her fellow Gryffindors to produce a real patronus. Hermione's, a silver otter, floated around her.
Neville was holding onto his wand so tightly he started sweating and the veins on his hands were showing. He shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM" but only little steams of silver mist came out of his wand. Kayla smiled and went over to help the struggling boy.
"You need to think of the happiest memory you have. Think really hard and make it appear in front of your inner eye." Kayla explained. Neville felt a little uneasy with the pretty brown-haired girl in front of him, but also relieved. The Warren twins were the best at DADA along with Harry of course. Neville searched his mind for his happiest memory.... then his face lit up.
"So you are thinking about your happiest memory?" Kayla asked expectantly.
"Yep" Neville said firmly. The young Gryffindor placed her hand on Neville's arm and gave him an assuring smile. The boy blushed deeply but he really appreciated her help. He set his jaw and shouted again "EXPECTO PATRONUM".
This time an almost transparent sort of bird appeared and floated in front of Neville. The shy Gryffindor boy gasped "Can you see that? Did I...Did I...do that?"
"Yeah Neville this is great" Kayla smiled. "That's so much better than your last one. Let's see if you can produce a real patronus now. Remember how happy you were.... relive that very moment and then...." Neville concentrated hard, closed his eyes and tried again. A big stream of silver mist came out of his wand, formed and built a beautiful....
....phoenix!
The whole class was looking eagerly at Neville and his patronus. The boy was totally amazed by the wonderful creature that had come out of his wand. He stretched out his hand and tried to touch it, then the bird spread his wings and dissolved.
Kayla was totally thrilled. She grabbed Neville and hugged him tightly screaming "YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!"
The girl jumped up and down still holding on to Neville's neck, who had no other way then to bounce with her. Then they suddenly realized that everybody around them was laughing. Kayla joined in right away but Neville was blushing furiously because of all the unwanted attention they had drawn.
"Excellent Mr Longbottom." Professor Stone clapped Neville on the back "I've never expected you would figure it out so fast. Has everybody seen Mr Longbottom's fabulous patronus?"
Neville grinned from ear to ear. He had never had such a success in another class than Herbology.
"Can I ask you something Neville? You don't need to answer when it's too personally. What is your happiest memory?" Kayla whispered.
Neville grinned even wider. And then he told her when he fought his first boggart. How he took the form of Professor Snape and he put him in his grandmother's clothes including the hat with the stuffed vulture on top. Kayla started laughing so hard that she had to sit down. It was really hard to imagine the strict potion master in this outfit, but it was still funny as hell.
There's more in Neville than everybody thinks, Harry thought while he watched all his fellow Gryffindor praising Neville for the excellent job. All the boy needed was more self confidence; then he'd be a great wizard.
After the class was finished, they went out of the castle and down to Hagrid's hut. Kayla was always looking forward to this lesson. The fresh air made her feel alive and healthy. She really enjoyed the time while the 4 of them sat around a griffin, drawing a picture of it. She just labelled the last body part when it was time to go back to the castle again.
There she said good bye to her friends, who walked up the marble staircase to Gryffindor tower while she went down to the dungeons for Advanced Potions. She was thinking about how she could get some information out of Snape without getting him suspicious. She entered the door of Snape's classroom and sat down in the back.
Kayla looked around and recognized only 12 students and she was the only Gryffindor. 7 Slytherins including Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, were sitting in the front of the room, 2 Hufflepuff's were sitting on the very left of the 3rd row and right in front of her was her friend Zara together with another girl from Ravenclaw with long, blond hair and protuberant eyes, who was obviously daydreaming.
"This is Luna" Zara pointed at the girl next to her, smiling at her friend and whispered "How's Kelsey doing? Will he be back soon?"
Kayla grinned when she saw the shy Ravenclaw blush slightly. "When I know my brother well enough he wants to get out before the weekend"
"Hopefully he's well enough by then. It looked so horrible" Zara said glancing daggers at Malfoy.
"He's a lot better already" Then Kayla thought about something and continued "Can I talk to you in private after class"
"Sure" Zara replied, looking slightly confused.