Chapter 96: Fun With Patronus
"I must be losing it." Sirius complained. The four guys were hanging out in their dormitory mugging for an upcoming Charms test, which none of them were particularly good at that subject.
"Why can't it be Transfig??" Things would be so much easier." James added, flipping the next page of the textbook, throwing a glance over at his friends who were at various spots in the room.
"It would be better if it's D.A.D.A.." Remus commented.
"Can someone explain this Patronus Charm??" Peter asked suddenly.
"It's the shape of an animal, silvery in colour." Sirius thought for a while before he gave some explanation.
"It's the embodiment of the positive thoughts from the caster." James added.
"And it's used to drive away Dementors and Lethifolds."
"The incantation is Expecto Patronum."
"Expecto Patronum." Peter muttered. A silvery gas oozed out from the end of his wand. "Erm.."
"Don't worry, try again." James said encouragingly. "Expecto Patronum." A distinctive dazzling silvery stag emerged from the end of his wand into the dormitory.
"Woah!! Prongs, you don't have to create yourself as your patronus." Sirius told his over-confident buddy. "Expecto Patronum." An impressive white looking dog shot out from Sirius' wand and charged at James' patronus.
"Patronus are used to fight against Dementors and Lethifolds, and not against another Patronus." Remus laughed as he watched James' and Sirius' Patronus engaging in a friendly match in the middle of their dormitory.
"How would Flitwick react to the sight of this??" James said as he concentrated on his Patronus stag, which was attempting to pin Sirius' dog down.
"He would be devastated." Sirius exaggerated. "I bet he never thought of Patronus wrestling as a hobby."
"And he said he took ages to master the ideal Patronus."
"Decades you mean." The group laughed at their joke. Afterall Professor Flitwick was not considered exactly young.
"We can try something during his class test." James had that glint in his eye, which always appeared when he was up to some mischief.
"What??" The other three guys gathered at James' bed for their secret discussion.
"Getting that isn't much of a problem. But I need some major practicing." Lily was thinking over what the Marauders had suggested to them.
"What animal do you suggest??"
"Up to you, but it gotta be within the theme."
"And it's gonna be around for the whole day??"
"Not for you girls, only us. But we need your co-operation during Flitwick's class."
"Shouldn't be much of a problem. Give me an animal, which is close to my inner self??"
"Hmm.. that's not exactly easy."
"Precisely."
"Professor, how did we fare for our Charms test??" James asked Professor Flitwick. A very blur imaged of the vertically challenged Professor Flitwick was in front of the class marking their Patronus test.
"Mr. Potter, it would be nice if your hawk and Mr. Black's seal to stop dancing. It's distracting." Professor Flitwick said in his usual high squeaky voice. He had been a nice teacher to them and the group did not want to overdo their little joke.
"Ditto." James' Patronus, in the shape of a hawk was now hovering above Professor Flitwick and made him a little uneasy. After James' hawk was ridiculously large.
"Miss Evans, your fox is very well conjured. Definitely strong enough to fight."
"Actually Professor, my Patronus is actually a tiger. This fox is used to fit the Antarctica theme."
"I've noticed the strange combination of animals when polar and penguins emerging as Patronus." Professor Flitwick was going through the Patronus as he marked them by their strength and distinctiveness. "The Walrus and Snow Hare will need some improvements, but it's pretty good I must say." He nodded approvingly as he jotted down some notes in his parchment.
"How about the Hawk??" James asked.
"What about my Seal??" Sirius added.
"And the Polar bear??"
"And my Penguin too." Peter asked.
"They're all excellently conjured I must admit. The best Patronus I ever seen in my seventh-years." Professor Flitwick spoke to the students. The Patronus were vanishing into thin air slowly. "You all definitely deserve an early end to this lesson." The eight students stood up and thanked their Professor before leaving the classroom excitedly.
"This is so cool. Our lesson time is halved." Sirius was literally jumping for joy.
"Yeah, and you reckon that we should do it often." James knew exactly what his best friend was thinking.
"Wow. How did you know??" Sirius gave a pretended shocking look.
"I'm a genius, that's why." James said jokingly.
"AAHHH!!"
"What's that??"
"Looks like ghost!!"
"But there are no animal ghosts in Hogwarts!!"
"Then what are all these??"
James was manipulating his hawk as his Patronus hovered over the younger students along the corridors. Sirius' seal was gliding around the rough grounds, the students were jumping away to avoid it but to some of their amazement, the seal went through them. The polar bear that Remus was maneuvering was standing tall and strong but yet looked so benevolent that students attempted to touch it but could not. Peter's penguin wobbled behind the three animal Patronus along the long stretch of corridor from their Charms classroom towards the Great Hall,
"Marauders!! That's so cool."
"Look, our little pranksters are here." Remus chuckled.
"We aren't little any more."
"To us, you two are still very young."
"Can you teach us how you conjure up that ghostly animal??"
"We can use it to scare those girls."
"Those 'ghostly animals' are conjured by the Patronus charm. It's very advanced magic."
"We can do anything."
"It's not as easy as you think. It require lots of concentration and we even have slight difficulties doing it in our seventh year."
"Just teach us the incantation."
"Expecto Patronum."
"Sounds difficult already."
"At your age, you two should be practicing your 'Wingardium Leviosa'."
"That's too easy-peasey."
"Don't say too early."
"Wingardium Leviosa." Ted pointed at a quill, which was sticking up from Peter's bag, and it floated into mid-air in front of James' instantly.
"Very good."
"Now to the Patentous Charm."
"Patronus."
"Ok, Patronus Charm."
"Expect -" Alex paused, trying to remember the incantation.
"Expecto Patronum."
"Expecto Patronum." A whoosh of silvery gas shot out from Ted's wand. Alex repeated the incantation and it was the same result for him as well.
"Where's the Patronus??"
"You need to think of genuinely happy memories as you conjure the Patronus. And it requires lots of practice, otherwise it will just drain off all your energy." Remus told the two over-enthusiastic boys who were shooting out more shiny gases out from their wands.
"I seriously don't advice you guys to try something as advance as this." James told the two guys. "Expecto Patronum." A characteristic dazzling white stag emerged from the end of his wand and galloped forward in between the two boys.
"Wow!!" The two first years were in awed, as they watched the white stag galloping down the steps and after several flights, it vanished into thin air.
"I can't wait for Christmas!!" Lily said enthusiastically during their dinner.
"It's like more than two months to go." Stefanie reminded her friend.
"It would be nice if we have a ball or something." Lily wondered dreamily.
"Still remembering the previous ones??"
"Yeah, those were the times."
"But this time you two would be in charged and not the co-organizers."
"That's why it seemed a little difficult. I wondered how did the previous Heads did those stuffs."
"I supposed loads of time and effort put in."
"I think so too."
"What does James think about this idea??"
"I don't have much of a clue actually."
"He didn't know??"
"I just thought of it."
"You can ask him now actually." Stefanie looked up at the approaching figures behind Lily.
"Hey girls." Sirius greeted the two girls and sat automatically beside Stefanie. Remus sat on the right of Stefanie instead.
"We were just talking about James." Stefanie told them, looking at James who settled himself beside Lily.
"Looks like someone having a major crush on our Prongsie." Sirius said teasingly. Everyone knew very well whom he was referring to.
"I didn't talk about James, it was Stef." Lily defended herself.
"When did I say you have a crush on James??" Sirius feigned an innocent look and the whole group of them laughed besides Lily. Even James was laughing at Sirius' little joke.
"Never mind." Lily ignored the group and ate in silence while the rest continued to laugh even harder.
"Ok, we were talking about having a Christmas Ball or something." Stefanie changed the topic. "That certainly lightens the mood. Besides it's our last year to do something here."
"It's boring to have those sorts of balls day in day out." James did not seem to be particularly interested in that topic.
"Then what would you suggest??" Remus asked. "These celebrations are like Hogwarts tradition."
"I'm thinking of something different." James told them. "Not those typical fanciful party. Preferably not held in Hogwarts building."
"Great idea, Prongs. We can do something wilder." Sirius said encouragingly.
"I don't think we can make it too extreme if we want it as a school event. I was thinking along the lines of night flying."
"I think this is highly dangerous." Professor McGonagall pointed out.
"We're only allowing third-years and above to attend. And they must be able to do some descent flying." James debated. "We'll organize a try-out for those who want to sign up. Only those who pass would be able to attend. But only third year and above are allowed."
"Professor, this is something different from what the Prefects has been organizing in the past. We'll prepare all necessary safety precautions. And there would be Professors attending as well."
"Professor, what do you think??" James asked Dumbledore who had remained silence throughout the whole conversation with Professor McGonagall.
"It's a good idea definitely. I would be going personally to ensure all the safety requirements are met." Dumbledore said. "This would need a lot of organizing. And to begin with, not all the prefects are good flyers."
"We're thinking of having it somewhere next March. One of the Fridays." Lily told the two Professors what the group of them had come up with. "All the prefects would be the guides for the other students. And we'll go for the trial route for three times before the actual event."
"We can rent the brooms if the students need them. But most students already have theirs. Everyone from the four house teams would be going and that's about thirty students. Then the prefects, excluding those from the teams, would be about fifteen. And if one guide to one student, that would make about a hundred people, including the teachers."
"Minerva, I must say that this is a good idea." Dumbledore said approvingly. "But I need you two to come up with a proper plan for the whole thing. How about give me an outline by November?? Then you two can carry on with the discussion with the rest of the prefects before Christmas??"
"Thank you very much, Professor." Lily said politely.
"One more thing I would like to add." James spoke up. "Regarding the safety of this event, I was thinking of using something like the Fidelius Charm to protect the safety from Voldemort."
"This would be something I will take care of. I'm very glad you pointed that out." Professor McGonagall added. "Being an out-of-school event, there would be much more preparations needed than what you know."
"I can't believe they agreed to that idea!!" Sirius was jumping in joy when James told the rest of them Dumbledore's approval on their night flying idea.
"I was surprised too!!" James admitted. "It was interesting to talk about over dinner for the last few days. Even Maggie agreed finally. She was rather reluctant initially regarding the safety issue."
"I understand her concern. With Voldemort killings and rumors around, night flying sounds far from safe." Remus added.
"We will deal with everything else with safety first as priority. But Maggie would be overlooking in that area."
"Sounds fair enough." Remus said approvingly. "Then this mean that we gotta start getting a route plan as soon as possible."
"Oh my gosh!!" Samantha gushed.
"This sounds so cool!!" Joey cheered.
"I'm so surprised they agreed." Stefanie
was ecstatic about the idea of night flying and this was really great news.
"We'll need as much help as possible, and besides the prefects and quidditch teams, you three gotta be there."
"No way am I going to give this a miss." Samantha told her.
"Me neither." Joey seconded her opinion.
"You can count of me." Stefanie assured Lily.
"Great!! This is sounding more and more exciting as it goes."