"Class, we shall be doing patronuses today." the professor said.
James and Sirius glanced at each other. They could already do this.
Lupin only looked down at his feet. None of his memories were happy enough.
"Get with a partner and practise. Remember, happy thoughts!"
Sirius and James came over after making their light figures.
"Right, c'mon Lupin, you're doing this!" encouraged Sirius.
Lupin screwed his face up. His friends, James, Sirius and Peter. Sitting on the Hogwarts express, them walking around the grounds at night, them cheering him on now. He pushed all of his magic through the wand and a ball of shimmering light grew.
He heard James and Sirius cheering but he concentrated on making the ball bigger.
The sphere uncurled itself and stretched.
Four legs. Tail. Snout. Oh, please be a dog, please be a-.
Wolf. His guardian was a fucking wolf.
He roared in anger, throwing his wand down. He felt James and Sirius putting their arms around him as he stalked over to a desk. Peter went and picked up his wand for him.
People were congratulating him but he didn't hear them over the noise in his ears. He got up from where he was perched on the desk, turned and slammed his foot against it, sending it back a few feet, with James and Sirius still on it.
His Patronus was a wolf.