"Please, Scorpius?" Al pleaded as he heaped more food onto his plate. "It's just for an hour, just this one week!"
Scorpius sighed. Al had conveniently earned a Saturday night detention with Professor Longbottom after being over thirty minutes late to Herbology on Monday morning. Of course, Rose Weasley was expecting Al to come to their weekly tutoring session. But, as it was currently impossible to be in two places at once without the long-destroyed time turners, Al was begging his best friend to cover his lesson with Rose.
"I'm still surprised she hasn't produced anything corporeal yet," Scorpius commented, trying to postpone a direct answer. "Isn't she Miss Know-it-All?"
Al sighed. "She's able to get a strong mist, but as soon as it starts to form into something with shape, it will either disintegrate or she'll pass out." Scorpius raised an eyebrow, trying very hard to imagine with in the name of all things holy he would do with an unconscious Rose Weasley to deal with. "But, really, please, Scorpius, will you?"
Scorpius wracked his brain for something else he could be doing, anything at all- his homework was done (and Al knew it because he had copied his Transfiguration essay), his part of the dormitory was clean (although he couldn't speak for any of his other roommates), and the only person he would spend time with on a Saturday night was currently in detention. "I... suppose. But-" he said, trying to speak over Al's exited yelp, "just this once. Nothing long term, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Al said with an ear-to-ear grin.
p-p-p
7:08, read Scorpius's wristwatch, confirming Al's insistence that Rose would more than likely be late to their lesson. Scorpius tried to keep his annoyance at a tolerable level, knowing that the following hour would bring enough annoyance of its own.
It was 7:11 before Rose came flying into the empty classroom, her hair going in twelve different directions. A smattering of papers seemed to be emanating from her, and Scorpius wondered if there was any other person who could manage to look so chaotic. "I'm so sorry I'm late!" Rose said emphatically as she pulled her wand from behind her ear and tried to smooth her wrinkled robes and wild hair. "I was studying in the library for Transfiguration, but then I missed supper and just had to stop by the kitchen for food-"
"It's fine," Scorpius said curtly, wanting the lesson to go as quickly as possible. "Let's get started. I trust you know the incantation, and what to think, and all that?"
Rose nodded. "Expecto Patronum, happiest memory, all that," she said. "We haven't been able to get to the boggart yet," she said dejectedly while nodding towards the quivering box sitting in the corner.
Scorpius said, "Well, just have a go."
Rose raised an eyebrow before closing her eyes, clearly thinking deeply and intensely about her memory. "EXPECTO PATRONUM," she shouted, causing Scorpius to jump slightly. A thick fog came out of her wand, and at first Scorpius grew excited- it began to writhe and twist into some semblance of something, but just as quickly faded into thin air.
"As always," she muttered cynically, dejectedly twirling her wand in her hand.
"For starters, you could try not bellowing like an animal when you say the incantation," Scorpius said. "Patronuses are not to be forced, they are natural. Even the incantation is just used to-"
"-harness that which is already within you," Rose said coldly, her mouth drawing tight in irritation. "Don't insult me; I've read the text."
"Just try one more time," Scorpius said, feeling a light color rise to his cheeks at his misstep. "And relax a little." He leaned back against the chalkboard as he watched Rose raise her wand for the second time.
She drew in a deep breath, then exhaled, with her face as determinedly set as before. Rose closed her eyes, the said "Expecto Patronum," as easily as she would say hello to a friend in the hallway. Again, the mist came from her wand, thick and curling, but just as both Rose and Scorpius were beginning to grow excited, it dissipated just as before.
Rose sat herself down in one of the spare desks Scorpius had pushed to the side of the room earlier, clearly disappointed. Scorpius was worried that she was going to pass out before she practically exploded.
"I just don't understand," she blurted out, her face becoming blotchy with redness from her frustration. "I know the incantation, I know what I'm supposed to feel, I know everything about the damned thing!" She sat down in a chair that was pushed to the side. "I've been working on this for months on my own, and even Al hasn't been able to help!" She stood up and began to pace angrily. "James could do it by the time he was fifteen, and Al's been doing it as a party trick since third year! I just don't understand," she repeated as she sat down in the desk again. "It isn't fair."
Scorpius paced for a moment, thinking. "Patronuses aren't something that can be easily taught, once you understand the concept. It's usually a matter of power, which unless I've missed something isn't the case with you-"
"Damn straight it isn't," Rose said emphatically.
"But that leaves..." Scorpius trailed off and began pacing slowly in front of the blackboard. "What memory are you using?"
"I'm sorry?"
"What memory are you using?" He asked again. "It's possible that you are not using a proper-"
"Don't insult me," Rose said for the second time that night, clearly agitated. "Do you not think that Al and I have pored over every possible option? And what makes you think that I would share my Patronus memory with you?"
Scorpius bristled at Rose's words. "I'm sorry for trying to help you, or perhaps to shed new insight into your inability to conjure something corporeal."
They sat in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Scorpius spoke once more. "Think of the memory, right now."
Rose gave a slight start. "Excuse me?"
"Think of it," Scorpius said, excited by the possibility of a breakthrough. "Let it consume your mind, your thoughts. Right now," he said as he walked over to where Rose was sitting.
Rose seemed skeptical, but called the memory to her mind. "Why?" she asked.
"What emotion do you feel?" Scorpius asked, by this point sitting in the desk next to her, his grey eyes alight with excitement.
"Ah... happiness, I suppose," Rose said, slightly intimidated by the sudden closeness of her tutor.
"No- not what you see, what do you feel," Scorpius said, thudding his hand on his own heart. "What do you feel?" he repeated.
Rose sat still for a moment before answering, "Complacency," she said, somewhat shocked. "Not a bad emotion, but-"
"Nowhere near what you need for a Patronus," Scorpius finished before standing up to begin pacing again. "Now, imagine feeling truly joyous, truly happy first. Let that lead you to a memory that made you feel like that."
Rose sat in silence, a far away look in her face, for about five minutes. Scorpius was still pacing, unable to keep his mind from racing, unable to keep from wondering about what memories where popping up inside Rose's head...
At last, Rose stood up again, confident and with a slight grin on her face. "Alright," she said with a smile. "I think I'm ready."
"Let it come easy," Scorpius instructed as Rose readied her wand. "This is natural, remember?"
Rose nodded, and sad, "Expecto patronum."
Scorpius drew in a breath and watched a thin mist flow from the tip of her wand. It began to flow and twist, like a trail of smoke. Slowly but surely, the mist began to group and to form parts- there where legs, then a tail, and before long there was a fully formed animal. Scorpius didn't recognize what it was, and the Patronus was so faint that it was barely visible, but it was Rose's Patronus. "What in the world is it, Rose?" Scorpius asked in a whisper, afraid to break her concentration.
Looking up at Rose, he saw she was almost laughing with joy, and Scorpius couldn't help a smile. "I have no earthly idea!" Rose said gleefully before putting down her wand. They both
watched as the animal dispersed into the air.
Scorpius smirked as Rose sat down with a bar of chocolate he had given her to replenish her strength. "Albus is going to be furious, you realize that?" he said.
Rose laughed. "Oh, I doubt I'll never hear the end of it!" The two sat in a more amiable silence before Rose spoke. "I've still got to practice, that was barely a mist of anything, and I want someone to identify it for me, and they've got to be able to see it to identify it-"
"Surely Professor Weasley can help you," Scorpius said, referring to Rose's uncle who was currently teaching Care of Magical Creatures.
Rose smiled. "That's exactly what I was thinking," she replied. "Thanks for helping, Scorpius," she said.
"Don't mention it," Scorpius said in a voice he didn't quite recognize.
p-p-p
After a good twenty minutes of teasing the mickey out of Al, Scorpius finally went to bed that night. The strange animal made an appearance in his dreams.