The Room of Requirement
March 1996
Seventh Year
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36 students milled around in the stone walled room. The mirrors that normally covered the walls were absent today, for good reason: the glare of the spells in the mirrors was likely to blind someone. Not that anyone knew that yet. Jo and Leili sat, quietly talking and giggling with periodic wand waves, they were practicing cheering charms on each other, something that would make the following lessons both easier and harder.
The 36 of them were to learn Patronus Charms today and a cheering charm would assist in locating happy memories but would hinder them in letting a specific memory fill them. Out went the lights, up came the wands and out of 36 Patronus' cast, only half a dozen of them produced anything at all.
Jo and Leili were not two of those six.
It took weeks of lessons and practicing in their free time before they were able to conjure even the misty shield. It was frustrating but ultimately rewarding, so they kept at it.
When a Dachshund trotted happily from Fred's wand, tail wagging and tongue hanging out, he looked at it quizzically.
Beside him, her bunny hopping in merry circles, Luna smiled.
"Did you know that Dachshunds were originally bred to chase Badgers from their burrows?" She asked.
George laughed at the stunned look on his twin's face as his eyes darted from his sausage dog Patronus to the back of a certain brown-haired Hufflepuff's head. He had known he loved her, but it hadn't hit him quite this hard before.
The girls supposed they should have learned how to produce a corporeal Patronus two years ago, what with the over abundance of Dementors at the school, but with the lack of a teacher to learn from, they hadn't bothered.
It took more weeks and weeks of practicing and trying to get their shield Patronus' into something more tangible.
Harry came over and tried to reassure them, "Most people can't even get this far with a Patronus, so you shouldn't worry too much about making them take shape."
But the girls were nothing if not stubborn. Then the day came when a Dolphin leaped out of Leili's wand and a Fire Salamander slinked from Jo's.
"I'm going to call it Bruni, and it shall be my Bruni," Jo said prissily.
Leilani raised an eyebrow, grinning, "Really? How interesting. I was expecting a snake."
"Why on earth would my Patronus be a snake?"
"Ohhh, I don't know… something to do with a certain tall, muscular, black-haired Slytherin boy we both know? Maybe? At a guess?"
"Why on earth would my Patronus have anything to do with him?" Jo asked with mild discomfort. Leili knew her too well.
Leilani snorted, "Really? You really want me to answer that question?"
While her Salamander gently smoldered, Jo read between the lines and tried her best not to grin or blush. Looking stubbornly at Leili's Patronus, she said, "Shut-up, Flipper."
Both Leilani and her dolphin laughed.