"Well, this is bloody awkward, isn't it?" Ron whispered in his ear.
Awkward is an understatement, Harry thought as he looked at the group in front of him. All of the usual people were here, with the glaring addition of Draco Malfoy. Harry couldn't think of anyone he'd rather not be here, besides maybe Voldemort himself. But after what had happened yesterday, Malfoy would be coming to their secret practices from now on.
He could tell that the other students were uneasy. As their leader, he had to do his best to carry on like normal. He wouldn't allow this to ruin their training. With an attack from Voldemort imminent, these lessons could literally be the difference between life and death.
"Alright," he said, "it looks like we're all here, so let's get going."
As if on cue, everyone pulled out their wands and cast the diminuendo spell. Once he had put all of them into his pockets, he turned to Malfoy, who was still his original size.
"Well?" he said impatiently. "Are you coming or not?"
"You must be joking if you think I'm going to do that again," he replied. "Who decided that you always get to be the one who stays your size anyways? This time I'll use the invisibility cloak, so you can go ahead and cast diminuendo."
"You must be joking if you think I'm going to do that," Harry retorted. "Now hurry up and cast the spell, or we'll leave without you."
Malfoy didn't answer for a moment, evidently weighing his options. "Have it your way," he said finally. "But I'm riding in a pocket this time."
"Fine," Harry replied. "You can ride with Ron."
"Huh?!" He could hear Ron's voice from the back pocket of his pants. "You've got to be bloody joking if you think I'll—"
"Ron." He lifted his friend up so that they were face-to-face. "Listen to me," he whispered. "You're the only one who I can trust with guarding him. That's why I said that he'd ride with you."
"Oh…oh, I see," Ron nodded his head thoughtfully, looking visibly pleased. "Well in that case, I guess it can't be helped. Leave it to me, mate."
Harry smiled. He had been friends with Ron long enough to know how to convince him to do just about anything.
"Alright," Harry began once they had made it to the forest, "today we are going to resume working on the patronus spell. We made some good progress on it a few lessons ago, but I want all of you to keep working towards a full, corporeal patronus. As you know, this is an advanced defensive spell that is extremely useful against dementors. Be sure to keep in mind what I said when we first talked about this spell as you're practicing. That's all then, you can go ahead and start."
He had purposely chosen this spell to work on today. He may not have a choice about Malfoy being here, but he did have control over what he taught him. The patronus spell only worked on dementors, so Harry didn't have to worry about teaching him something that he could use against them later on. Also, since he had already talked about the importance of recalling a happy memory to strengthen your patronus last time, he had purposely kept his allusion to it vague. Without knowing this, Malfoy wouldn't be able to create a good patronus, even if he tried all day.
As Harry walked among his pupils, he saw that all of them were able to create at least some semblance of a corporeal patronus, although for most it was still undefined. Ginny, however, was once again proving herself to be a force to be reckoned with. Her patronus, which took the shape of a horse, was nearly perfect.
He came at last to Malfoy. As expected, he was having little luck. All of his attempts produced a silver mist without an actual form. Harry watched him for a moment and then began to walk away.
"Well?" Malfoy called after him. "What am I doing wrong?"
Harry turned around and stared. He knew that Malfoy had to have figured out that he had set him up to fail, but he was still honestly asking him for help. Since he had went that far, it wouldn't hurt to tell him, he supposed.
"In order for it to work, you have to recall a happy memory as you cast it," he explained.
"Stop messing with me, Potter."
"It's the truth," Harry put his hands up in a gesture of innocence. "But you don't have to believe me."
He half-expected Malfoy to quit, but to his surprise, the other boy started casting the spell again in earnest. Harry watched him curiously. "Why do you want to practice with us so badly, anyways?"
Malfoy lowered his gaze. "I have my reasons, and I'm not obliged to tell you."
So that was how it was going to be, Harry thought to himself. Without another word, he turned away and moved onto his next student.