A couple weeks later, Ginny was wandering the halls when she heard someone in an empty classroom chanting the patronus spell. As she looked in, it turned out to be Peter Pettigrew. Ginny knocked on the door and Pettigrew stopped and turned his wand on her, before lowering. "Oh, sorry Professor. I was just startled."
"That's quite alright Mr. Pettigrew. I just heard someone practicing and was wondering who it was. You do have quite good reflexes."
"Thanks Professor. I've been practicing for awhile, but I can't seem to get a full-fledged patronus. Maybe you can help?" He asked hopefully.
Ginny sighed, "I'm sorry, but there's really not much I can do to help. I can teach you the spell, but it's up to you to learn it."
"Can you at least give me some tips? I need to learn this spell!"
"Why do you need to learn it?" Ginny asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Because it's a hard one and will show the other three that I can do magic. They don't think I can." Peter said sadly.
"They told you this?" Ginny asked, appalled. Harry had told her Sirius and James were jerks, but she didn't think they'd say that to their friend.
"No. But I can tell. They encourage Remus, but never encourage me because they know I can't do it. I need to do a hard spell. I want to be taken seriously. And if I have to do a hard spell and work really hard, I will!" Peter seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Well," Ginny said hesitantly. She didn't like Peter, but, as Harry had reminded her earlier, this Peter hadn't done anything to warrant her hating him. "There are a few reasons why you wouldn't be able to do it. Your memory might not be strong enough, or you might not be confident enough. Even the tiniest bit of doubt can affect it."
"It's probably a combination." Peter admitted. "How can you tell if a memory is happy enough?"
Ginny shrugged, "It all depends on you. My first happy memory was being sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of my family with my 6 brothers. But, even that didn't create a full fledged patronus. It wasn't until I had the memory of kissing my fiancee in my mind before I could create a full patronus."
"How did Professor Patterson do it?" Peter asked. Ginny smiled. This boy certainly was determined. All the more reason he should have been in Slytherin.
"He didn't. He started learning in his third year because dementors seemed to be magnetically attracted to him. Whenever a dementor comes near, he heard his parents being murdered. Deep down, he didn't want to throw away the connection to his parents so he couldn't produce a patronus. He had to struggle to throw away the connection with them." Ginny explained sadly.
"Th-that's awful!" Peter shouted, tears in his eyes.
"It is. But he did it. Find why you're doubting yourself. Find what time made you the happiest. Channel your good feeling into your spell." Ginny smiled. "Now, if you don't mind, I do believe that I must be off. Good day Mr. Pettigrew."
"Thank you Professor Willowes." Peter smiled and practiced again. He focused on the day that he'd become friends with the others and threw away his doubts. "Expecto Patronum!" A rat burst out of the end before fading. "I- I did it!" He jumped for joy. Ginny smiled. So this is what Harry felt so much and why he loved teaching like he did.
She ran to Harry. "Harry!"
"What is it Gin?" Harry asked. He was grading the fifth year's essays on pixies.
"I just helped Pettigrew with his patronus! You're right! It does feel amazing when you see a student accomplish something they had been working on for a long time! But, that's not why I'm here. I think you should talk to Sirius and Remus about encouraging Peter some more. He thinks they don't value him." Ginny ranted.
"I'll talk to them about it. Anyways, can you grade the 1st year's essays on gytrashes? I'm gonna go walk around. I've been in this office for hours!"
"Sure Harry." Ginny giggled and sat down.
Harry walked out and was heading to the lake when he saw the Gryffindor team practicing. He sat down and watched for awhile, thinking about what to do. Harry knew that Ginny was right. He couldn't handle watching his parents argue like this too much longer. But, he'd have too. Harry wouldn't wish Umbridge on anyone. Not even Voldemort. As he was getting ready to go, James walked up.
"Oh, hello Professor Patterson. How long have you been there?" James asked.
"Oh, long enough. I must say, your team is very good." Harry complimented. "Even though I was homeschooled, we did still play Quidditch games. I was in charge of training everyone. I was never as good as you are. Well, I'll see you at dinner then." He left.
The next day was the first Saturday in November so it was the game between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Pettigrew was commentating. After about 180 minutes, the Gryffindor seeker caught the Snitch, winning the match for Gryffindor, 230-100. After the game was the first extra class. It went rather well. He and Ginny just laid down the basics of wandless magic before they all had to go.
"What you want to do," Ginny introduced, "Is use your finger as your wand essentially. You need to know how to channel your magic. That's what your wand does normally, but now, you need to do it yourself." She pointed at Harry. "Expelliarmus!" Harry, who didn't have a wand, was thrown backwards. "Expelliarmus shouldn't have done that. But it did because when your wand isn't channeling your magic, it ends up being a lot more powerful.