Expect Protection

Disclaimer: All of this is based upon the lovely J.K. Rowling's work.

Warning: Suggested Slash

Expecto Patronum.

Expect protection.

Now, that's a laugh.

Expect protection? There? In that place? With those animals, who pretend to be human? With those things, who desire normalcy?

I thinkth not.

The only place I expect protection is at school. Here, I am safe and happy. Here, I actually have friends.

There, in the place that should be my home, I only expect hate and ridicule. There, I only expect lies and sorrow. There, I only expect pain.

But at my home, my real home, Hogwarts. Here, I am loved, not by my blood kin but by my real family.

"Find a happy memory," he says. "Find one. Then, use it for your Patronus."

But I don't really have any happy memories. Not there, not anywhere. Not anywhere but here, Hogwarts. There are some, but those are few and far between. Only at home am I ever truly happy.

Only at home am I ever truly loved.

I hear him clear his throat beside me.

"Off in the clouds?" He playfully asks, "Ready to return from your dream world?"

I nod and sigh slightly.

He beams at me, trying to be encouraging. "Now, remember… a happy memory." He winks his hazel eyes.

I again nod and close my eyes. A happy memory…

I am four, and I am smacked, hard, across the face as I reach for a cookie that should be my cousin's…

I am seven, and my aunt is screaming at me for dirtying the house…

I am ten, and I am being shoved into a closet, a deep and dark closet, for misbehaving…

I am eleven, and I am riding a broom for the first time, the wind whipping through my hair…

I am thirteen, and I am laughing with my friends over some stupid joke…

I am sixteen, and one of my best mates has just told me that he loves me, and not as a friend or a brother. I see his silvery, sapphire eyes shining with emotion…

I smile then and almost laugh out loud.

I draw up every shred of contentment, of happiness, of joy that I had ever felt. I draw up all of the love that I feel for my friends and that I know they feel for me. I draw up the love of the one that is my mate in every possible sense of the word.

I say the incantation, and it finally works. I see my silvery and light Patronus fly out of my wand and onto the ground. It… he gallops and cavorts around, just like I would do in the same situation. He finally trots up to me and nuzzles me with his muzzle.

Belatedly and quite bemusedly, I pet him.

My best mate just looks at me in awe.

"Blimey! I have never seen one do that before." He turns to look at me, smiles, and claps me on the back. "Excellent, Moony. I knew you could do it."

Expecto Patronum.

Expect Protection.

So why has no one else ever noticed that love is the best protection of all?

Expecto Patronum: I desire my patron.

AN: I know that it doesn't directly translate to expect protection. I just mean that Remus expects protection from the Patronus.

Ever Hopeful,

Azar