Chapter 7:

Well done (again) to raion, and sabaku no sable, who is a first time reviewer *cheers*

After making such a scene in the Charms corridor, Shaun was slightly abashed as he slid into a seat next to Snape. He looked over at Remus and tried to say 'sorry' with his eyes. Remus caught his eyes but didn't seem to receive the message. Maybe that was just because he was a Gryffindor.

Professor Flitwick clambered cheerfully onto his pile of books. By now, Shaun was beginning to hit the wall. Any adrenaline left from the night before was wearing off, and he was beginning to feel a little sleep deprived.

And sleep deprivation made him grumpy.

"Good morning!" Flitwick trilled.

At the sound of Flitwick's squeaky voice, Shaun dropped his head to the desk with a resounding crash. "What's so good about it?" he mumbled, causing Snape to stifle a grin.

Flitwick was definitely curious about this new arrival. As he heard the head crash to the wooden surface, he glanced up to see Frost's body bent over the horizontal surface. Poor boy, he only got here last night, and now he was working. He watched with interest the reactions of the others in the class. Other than Snape doing the Slytherin thing and fighting valiantly the grin that nearly exploded over his face (Flitwick was very good at reading his pupils faces: it was an interesting and useful skill), the only other notable reactions were in the Gryffindor section. Remus Lupin glanced over worriedly. Sirius Black was slightly more vocal in his concern:

"You alright, Frost?"

James Potter glared at his best friend, but Sirius was unrepentant:

"You okay, Frost? You can hear me, right?"

Frost lifted his head blearily and scowled at Sirius playfully. "Persistent, aren't you Black?" he smiled at Remus before apparently going to sleep.

Shaun had sort of, accidently-on-purpose, fallen asleep sprawled over his and Snape's desks. Snape nudged him irritably several times, and his cheeks began to colour as Pettigrew and Potter began to snigger, with Lupin gripping Blacks arm warningly while frowning in contemplation. As soon as he tasted humiliation colour Snape's aura, Shaun stood up so violently that his stool slammed into the back wall. Before Flitwick could react, Shaun was up and had his wand trained between Potter's eyes.

"You got something to say?" he snarled. Potter was petrified: sliver fire burned in his eyes (Dumbledore would liken it to that which burned in his office, but with lesser intensity) and his face and body were taut with anger. When he said nothing, Shaun hissed, "Well, do you?"

Then Flitwick shot a stunner at him from behind. Reacting on instinct, Shaun ducked fluidly and turned coming up like tiger, about to attack Flitwick until he reigned in his attack.

"I apologise, Professor," Shaun said evenly, "But I would appreciate it if you refrained from attacking me. My... instincts have a habit of taking over," he gave a crooked and disarming smile.

"Let's just get on with my lesson shall we?" said Flitwick brusquely, "Now, what we are going to today is key NEWT material. Even if you can't produce one, you are expected to be able to produce one."

Shaun froze. There was only one thing you produced and didn't cast. It couldn't be, not now....

"Patroni are exceedingly difficult to master and..."

Oh crap! If his Patronus was cast and one of the Marauders found out...

Well, maybe if he told Flitwick he could already cast one, he could be excused. He raised a hand, and spoke quickly once acknowledged.

"Excuse me, sir, but I can already cast a Patronus. If I could be excused..." Shaun trailed off as he realised it had been a fruitless attempt.

"Oh, Excellent!" cried Flitwick jubilantly, all past offence of Shaun's forgotten in light of his obviously masterful Charm's skill, "You can give us demonstration!"

Oh yes, well done Shaun. Because that plan worked just perfectly, didn't it? Shaun berated himself.

He breathed deeply at the front of the class, mentally preparing himself to produce the Patronus. He carefully recalled the image he normally used: Sirius asking him if he would like to go home with him. But it was so much harder, the memory was tainted with an unbearable sadness. It took him a few moments to realise why. Sirius had been so withered and soft spoken, and that was so, so wrong! The 7th year had called across a classroom in concern over a boy who had threatened to kill him mere minutes earlier! He knew the younger, vibrant Sirius, and the Sirius he had known as Harry, wasn't even close.

For a moment, he knew with unfaltering certainty that the charm was going to fail, and it was too late to stop his lips from forming the incantation. Then, unbidden, a completely separate memory exploded into his mind. He and Snape were walking down a corridor, sun shining on their hair. A cord of emotions connected them, and Shaun felt happier than he had ever done in his life.

"Expecto Patronum," he whispered, as if in a dream. Light bloomed soundlessly at the end of his wand, pooled on the stone flagged floor, and coalesced into the shape of an animal.

But it wasn't a stag. There was no way even a half-blind man could mistake the majestic, aloof cat as a type of deer. It seemed offended that Shaun had ever thought his Patronus could be such a thing.

The muscles in his Patronus rippled under its velvety coat as the panther stretched arrogantly. It proceeded to glance around the room suspiciously, before padding silently to stand in front of Shaun, its tail swishing slowly. It reared up (making Alice Longbottom in the third row scream in fright), and planted its huge forepaws on Shaun's shoulders. He looked deep into his Patronus' silver eyes, so like his own. They stayed like that for a moment before Shaun's alpha-wolf Animagus instincts kicked in and he planted a hand between the powerful beast's shoulder blades and forced it firmly, but gently, to the floor. It sat obediently at his feet, twitching its ears for the sounds of danger, before dissipating when it found none.

The class stared in awe at him, their eyes following him as he prowled back to his seat and folded himself on his stool with the grace of a wolf at full sprint.

Flitwick began to applaud, and the rest of the class slowly broke from their stupor to join him, albeit a bit reluctantly. "That was an excellent demonstration Mr. Frost!" crowed the Charm's Professor. "Now, you can assist your classmates in their attempt to follow your footsteps."

Shaun glanced at Snape fleetingly, to catch the 'NO!' in his eyes, telling Shaun this was something personal he wanted to achieve alone. Shaun could understand: it was vital that he didn't show more than an acquaintance with any Slytherin. Friends were weaknesses if known of by your enemy.

But without his company, this was going to be a looooooong lesson. Shaun suppressed a groan when he saw pairs upon pairs of distrustful, prejudiced eyes glaring at him from the seated students, daring him to presume to touch them with his filthy, Slytherin hands.

People thought that House rivalry was healthy, and if anyone suffered, it was Hufflepuff, who was in conflict with nobody, and ridiculed for it.

In reality, Slytherins are just very good at hiding pain.

Oh, well, a bit of depressing stuff in that chapter which shall by coupled by a question:

What significance does Shaun's Patronus have?

(you need to be a bit canon savvy for this one ;))

Oh, Moon Cresent Neko: do you have an account? If you don't just get one, it's free and it will be way easier for you to be my beta. (emails don't show up on this site when you type them, desafortunadamente)