(A/N Back stories! Yay! Back stories! Ah, the joy of being a writer. I think this has got to be the most descriptive I've ever gotten with one character. Remember, I love reviews!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, only my OC(s). This Disclaimer applies to the entirety of this fic.

Chapter 21-Ally's Patronus

The Dementor in the dueling ring was not a real Dementor. Ally just couldn't seem to convince herself that it wasn't. It affected her in the same way the others did. She went cold and then motionless. Sam had to shake her out of the trance every time.

"No, no, and no." Sam said. "You have to think of a powerful memory, something happy! Think of something happy!"

"Okay! I know!" Ally shouted. "It's not that easy for me! I keep on trying different memories but none of them work!"

"Would you two be quiet!" Lily shouted across the room

Her nose was stuffed into her book and papers were scattered around her. Latin phonetic papers were written and posted up around the small library. The books were all written about Animagus transformation and the Latin language.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Ally glared at Lily.

Lily sighed and went back to memorizing the words written in her book.

Ally was tired of failing against the fake Dementor that the room provided. She was tired of revisiting her worst memory over and over again. She didn't mind the words 'Expecto Patronum.' That wasn't what was getting on her nerves... She could say them perfectly, but when the Dementor appeared out of thin air, she just... forgot about everything around her and everyone around her. On the practice runs the silver light had flowed out of there wand easily and she happily gained confidence from that. Of course, thinking about defeating a Dementor wasn't really doing it.

Sam was quickest of them to progress. Her Patronus didn't die as soon as the Dementor appeared. In fact, once she even produced a Corporeal Patronus. It was a Raven. Typical, Ally had thought, she really is a true Ravenclaw, probably a descendant of Rowena herself.

Lily had gotten good enough to produce a figure too. It couldn't be considered Corporeal though, no one could quiet make out what it was yet. Ally thought it looked like a sheep, Sam had guessed a deer, and Lily thought that it was a stallion. She had told them how she always thought that stallions were beautiful. Ally always knew that she had a fetish for the country life.

Lily and Sam had started to speculate on what Ally's Patronus would be.

"It is a protector," said Lily in an informative voice. "Chances are, it's something that you have a personal connection too."

"Okay, let's think," Said Sam. "What's the most rude and sarcastic animal in the animal—"

She was cut off as Ally threw the book on the Gaunt Family at her.

Ally was still reading obsessively about Riddle, though it wasn't her top priority. The things that Ally found in the book were suspicious. Times and places were written down on pieces of paper stuck in the middle for he book. I was useless to dwell on these dates, from what Ally could tell about how the paper had aged, they had passed along time ago. Comments were written in the columns on the side, next to important people in the Gaunt family there were little side notes like "useless idiot" or "bribed the ministry". Whoever had written all over this book obviously didn't think to highly of the Gaunt family. At other times they seemed to be humored by their efforts.

From what Ally could tell, she thought that they adored Salazar Slytherin. They wrote endlessly about his accomplishments within the school and about his pet 'snake'. The word snake was always in quotation marks, like the writer was enjoying an inside joke with themselves. Odd things were scribbled on the sides at random moments. They didn't correspond with what was written on the page and they didn't even make sense at times. Letters were listed in assorted patterns and orders. On the chapter about how the Gaunt family had swindled away their fortune were the letters...

"V—E--L—D—M—"and than a scribble, "—L—R—O—

"

Ally had to stop herself from over analyzing the book at times. The thing that she was focusing upon the most was getting her Patronus to appear. There was no doubt in her mind what the animal would be. But Hogsmeade was fast approaching and she was too far behind Lily and Sam for comfort. Her incantation for her Animagi form was coming along nicely, not as great as Lily'S, but that was expected since Lily was the top in the class.

True to Sam's prediction, the Diggory's were angry at the ministry. Dumbledore was present at all Quidditch games following the match against Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff had forfeited the game to Gryffindor and Gryffindor was now in the lead for the Quidditch cup. Security at Quidditch practices also increased. James was complaining constantly about how Madam Jenkins didn't have enough time for all the practices they had to fit in. The game against Slytherin was in a few weeks, after Hogsmeade, and there was a race between Quidditch teams to see who could book the pitch more.

The times that Ally, Sam and Lily met to work were starting to be consistent. A week into April, Lily finally completed her Corporeal Patronus.

"Now," Lily said happily, pulling Ally over to the dueling ring, "You are going to stay in the ring and with our help; you're going to be able to produce a Corporeal Patronus."

Lily shoved Ally into the ring and Sam laughed as Ally looked around, confused. Lily laughed too and Ally shook her head. They like to do this to me, don't they...

"I've been reading—"

"That's a surprise."

"—About mental blocks with Dementors, Ally." Sam said. "Listen, you obviously don't want to deal with whatever it is that's bothering you. So, we've decided that you can either face whatever it is with us helping you. Or you can have you're soul sucked out by a Dementor..."

"You can see why we picked to try this method first." Lily said. "If we let you get sucked up then we would never find out what was wrong. It would bother us terribly."

"Sure, curiosity would kill you. Not the guilt that you left a friend to die."

"Exactly," Sam said, "Glad you're seeing it our way."

"So," Lily said, "Let me hear you say the incantation, "And remember to exaggerate the 'pec' and the 'tro."

"Expecto Patronum." Ally said dully but correctly.

"Perfect!" Lily said, "Now we just need to let out the Dementor!"

"Wha—?"

Lily shushed her.

"This is for your own good."

"I don't think—"

"You can think?" Sam asked

"Let it out, Sam!" Lily shouted.

Sam waved her wand and the room accommodated by allowing a dark and billowy figure into the room. Ally's insides went cold and her eyes were covered by a black cloud that was slowly covering her mind. The Dementor approached threateningly.

Ally shouted and stumbled back.

"Say the incantation!" Lily shouted.

"Think of your happy memory!"

"Do something! No wonder you can't get this!"

"The memory! The memory!" Sam cried.

Ally couldn't hear them though. Her eyes were totally covered in darkness, and soon after, she fell to the ground, once again she heard growling and a gunshot before it all went black.

Ally sat up and rubbed her head. The Dementor was gone, leaving Ally in the middle of the dueling ring. Lily and Sam were sitting next to her on the floor. Lily looked concerned and Sam looked skeptical, jumping between annoyed and confused. Ally's head felt like someone had taken a hammer and an anvil and banged it against her head for an hour. Ally wondered how long she had been out. She crossed her head and found her wand on the floor.

"You were out for a few minutes..." Lily said slowly, her voice rung in Ally's head, "We were going to go to Madam Pomfrey but..."

Lily waved her hand at the books and scrolls about Animagus and then gestured at the large books from the restricted section.

"We would have gone in a couple of more minutes if you hadn't woken up."

Sam held out a bar of chocolate to Ally and Ally took it, giving her a grateful look. Honeydukes finest melted quickly in her mouth and Ally sighed as the warmth ran from her head to her toes.

"What does chocolate do?" Lily asked while Ally devoured the rest of the bar of chocolate.

"Frumpthin gooth." Ally said through a mouthful.

"Remus showed it to me," Sam said blushing, "It's supposed to help with the after effects of an encounter with a Dementor."

"So you and Remus get together and eat chocolate, and the rest of the school was gossiping that you like to snog." Ally sighed dramatically but the affect was ruined because she was licking the chocolate off her fingers "I'm going to hate having to break this news to them. They'll be crushed, especially the Hufflepuffs."

Sam blushed and looked at Ally critically.

"At least I don't have a breakdown when something dark and dreary approaching me."

Ally sneered at her.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Because you haven't told us," Sam stated smartly, "That's your problem."

"Go read a book." Ally said coldly, "Since it seems that's all your good for."

"Ally!" Lily scolded.

"I'll figure it out by myself." Ally said.

"Well," Sam said sharply, "You don't seem to be doing a great job by yourself. This is the first time you've ever blacked out. It doesn't seem like whatever you're doing is working."

"Fighting with Ally doesn't help either, Sam." Lily said.

"Well, what do you suppose we should do about her?" Sam said.

"I'm right here, you know."

"We should ask about what's been bothering her."

"FINE!" Ally shouted, "DO YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT'S BEEN BOTHERING ME! DO YOU! HUH?"

"Yes." Lily said calmly.

"FINE!" Ally took a couple of deep breaths. "Fine."

"When I was little my dad had a really big fascination with the muggle way of hunting. We were still in France then and we lived in the country. My mother never encouraged going out hunting. It was dangerous. I really wished I had listened to her then. But I was a defiant child and never paid any attention to the rules."

"One day, a wild wolf was loose in the countryside. It might have been a werewolf, I can't remember. All I remember was that a bunch of the muggles from the small town near us came to our house. They had heard my father lived in the forest and had come to warn us. My father had told me and my mother to stay in the house. He went out with the other men, hunting. They were gone for a long time, it was hours. My mother had fallen asleep. And... Her wand was in her pocket. I saw it there. I stared at it a while and then made my decision."

"I stole it. I stole the wand. I never knew how stupid that was. I just pocketed it and ran out of the house. It was dark by then...Very dark. The forest was eerily silent. I started to get scared. I was only six years old and I was lost in the forest. I hear gunshots and started to run. Then there was growling behind me and I started to run faster and faster. The wand in my pocket fell to the forest floor. I didn't even notice until I found it later. Before I thought it would be the ultimate defense, but then... It was just a piece of wood to me."

"I knew that the wolf had found me. I was going to die. My arms and my legs were getting scratched up. I only wished I had been smart enough at the time to know not to run against the wind. My scent was easily tracked by the wolf."

"I had been out there a hundred times before, playing in the forest with my friends from the muggle town near us. I suppose that's how I learned so much about the muggle world. Anyway, I was running straight into a clearing. The wolf would catch me and I would be eaten. That's how a six year old mind works. So I started to panic and scream but that only drove the wolf closer."

"I ran to the clearing and clambered up the tree closest to me. But I wasn't a fast climber. The wolf caught onto the bottom of my dress and it was pulling my farther down. That was when I looked back."

"It was huge... that's the only thing I remember. There was blood on its giant crooked teeth and he was drooling. He had a mad look. His fur was matted and stained with blood and dirt and he had bite marks all over the place. He had these huge, terrifying, yellow bloodshot eyes. They looked almost human, intelligent in a way an animal could never be. Now that I think about it, it had to be a werewolf. And when I had turned around, I looked straight into them. I was paralyzed, the wolf realized I wasn't going to move and gave me one last tug. I fell to the ground..."

Ally trailed off, her eyes were cold and distant. She could almost feel the wolf's eyes on her.

"Go on." Lily said.

"I heard a roar before I crashed to the ground. There was a bear, it was brown. It looked beautiful to me. The wolf wasn't afraid though. It just looked at it. The bear reared on its hind legs and smacked the wolf on the nose. I realized my chance and climbed as fast as I could to the higher braches of the tree."

"The wolf and the bear were fighting viciously. I started to call for help. I called for my father. I called for everyone I ever knew, even my dead great grandmother. The fighting died down after a while. The wolf slunk away but not too far away from my tree. He prowled the edges and I was afraid he would get to me. Whenever he got anywhere near me the bear would give a great big growl and her would slink away again. This stopped for a while and the wolf was waiting, I think he was waiting for the bear to go away. I was afraid the bear would go away."

"But then the bear looked up at me and—and it looked like it was watching over me. I guess I fell asleep after that. I knew the bear was never going to leave me alone. I felt safe with it there. I felt happy, happier than ever when it looked up at me. I think I may have known it once before... in a dream at least."

"My father found me in the morning. He said that they had shot the wolf down by the creek. I never asked how the wolf could have gotten down to the creek when he was up there in the mountains watching me in the tree. I honestly don't even think that it was the same wolf. But I never dared tell my father that. My mother was broken up enough as it was when I got home. I kept the fact that the wolf was alive to myself."

"But w-whenever I l-look at the Dementors... I just f-freeze... All I can see... is...is..."

Ally had a few tears running down her eyes. They streaked her cheeks and fell to the floor.

"His eyes." Sam said wisely, "You can only see his eyes."

"And I can't move, I just can't..." Ally said pathetically.

"Alright then," Sam stood up. She held out her hand to Ally, who took it.

"I think I know what you've got to do." Sam said determinedly. "This time that the Dementor comes out, don't look at me that way, it's going to come out. I want you to focus on that bear looking up at you. Focus on your bear. And then say the incantation. Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum." Ally repeated sadly.

"Perk up!" Lily said cheerfully, "You'll do fine!"

"Are you sure about that?" Ally said, "I don't catch onto things very fast."

"You'll catch onto this like...like..."

"Sam to Remus?"

"Exactly!" Lily said.

"Hey!" Sam said, "Just for that I'm releasing it now."

The waved her wand and the Dementor appeared all too quickly for Ally. She felt her insides grow cold and immediately thought that this wasn't a good idea. She jumped backwards and raised her wand.

"Think of the bear!" Sam shouted.

Ally searched her head for the memory that had resided in the back of her mind for ten years. Suddenly, it became all too real. She felt the protective gaze of the bear below her and the words flowed out of her mouth like magic. Funny, it was magic.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The silver light burst out of her wand and a hum filled the room. Standing before her, was her very own bear, with a few minor differences, of course. This bear wasn't brown... it was silver, all silver. The light was blinding as it ran against the Dementor and the dark figure retreated.

Sam shouted for joy and Lily was jumping up and down.

"You did it!' Lily squealed in delight. "You finished off the Dementors!"

Sam waved her wand and grinned as the Dementor disappeared. The bear roared in triumph and looked back at Ally. Ally watched the bear in fascination as it licked its claws. When it was sitting, it was about her height. She looked eye to eye with it and smiled.

"Alright, " Lily said. "I think it's time to say goodbye to the Patronus bear."

"Good bye Patronus bear." Ally said happily, "I'll see you soon."

She waved her wand and the bear left the room. Ally could've sworn she saw it wink at her.

"Now get back to work on your incantations." Lily said sternly.

Ally groaned.

"I hate making an effort..."

(A/N : My sister found this particularly twisted typo in this chapter. In the sentence When I was little my dad had a really big fascination with the muggle way of hunting, I originally wrote When I was little my dad had a really big fascination with muggle hunting. My sister found that this original copy was dark and disturbing. The term 'muggle hunting' implied that Ally's family enjoyed bursting into the nearest pub and Avada Kadavra'ing the local muggles. This was not so. We had a good laugh and then changed it. However, muggle hunting may appear in later chapters as a joke. Just a forewarning. )