Patronus

The next day, Sev woke up tired. 'Ugh... I would have stayed in bed if I haven't to meet Beamy.'

The boy was already waiting for him in the Common Room to go up to breakfast together. "Don't you mind being seen with me?" Sev asked him.

"Not at all, there is nobody dangerous," he replied indifferently.

As they entered the Great Hall and sat down halfway from where each of them usually sat, Sev noticed Dumbledore gave them a meaningful look.

Lily, on the other hand, jumped out of bed knowing that she would almost certainly have a letter from Sev.

They came to both of them almost at the same time, while they were having breakfast. Sev's for Lily, long awaited, Lily's for Sev, completely unexpected. The owls stayed where they were waiting for an answer.

Lily finished her breakfast in a hurry to lock herself in her room to answer it, and put the owl in Puck's cage.

Sev, for his part, calmly finished his breakfast and then apologized to Beamy, "You've seen, I have to answer the letter, but I won't be long. Will you wait for me?"

"Okay, I'll be on the stairs outside."

Sev walked down the corridor toward the dungeons, opening the letter and taking in its length as he walked. 'Wow... If I start answering all this now, I'm going to spend the morning.' So he didn't read it, but so that Lily wouldn't worry when her owl didn't return, he sent her a short message that said:

I'll answer to you tonight so you can get it tomorrow. You will have answered mine today. What a mess.

He was thinking for a while. 'Let's see how we maintain a consistent correspondence.'

Nothing happens. I will answer your two letters in one. You will get them in the morning, I at night. So we will have a letter every day, but ordered.

I love you Princess.

He released Puck with the message from his bedroom window and returned to where Beamy was waiting. "Thanks, Beamy, sorry for making you wait."

"It's okay, Snape, family comes first."

"Yeah… well… Are you going to show me your secret place?"

"Buf… It's very far, we would waste a lot of time."

'A thirteen-year-old boy wandering into the Forbidden Forest alone just to practice a few spells? Luckily it's me and not a true Death Eater wannabe, who would have no qualms about getting it all out of him. In fact, I can read him if I feel like it, but I won't. What I glimpsed last night was enough for me to trust him.'

"Mine is close and it is well hidden. It's a little small, but it doesn't matter, we'll manage."

'It is a beautiful day, a bright cold winter sun is still rising near the horizon. It would have been nice to see the sunrise from the Haven. The landscape is charming, the sloping meadow, snowy, and in the background the Forest, where deciduous trees with bare twisted branches intermingle with the greenery of perennials, all covered in snow.'

They walked down the slope to the entrance next to Hagrid's hut. 'Where I said goodbye to Lily that night.'

As they started down the path, Beamy stopped. "Aren't you going to blindfold me?"

Sev stopped too and turned to him, puzzled. 'What is he saying? What is that about?'

"I don't see why I should."

"Because it is your secret place and no one else can know where it is."

'It has its logic.'

"I don't know…" hesitant. "Anyone can come to the Forest and discover it anyway, the Forest belongs to everyone. Besides…" exasperated, "what nonsense are you saying? Are you going to tell on me? Are we doing something wrong? I trust you as you have done me," and sarcastic, "Which by the way, already has merit." And he started walking again rolling his eyes. 'What a weird Slytherin.'

They soon reached the point where they had to get out of the path. "Follow me," he told him. And he went through bushes, roots and rocks, until he came, about five minutes later, through a wall of tall bushes, to a small clearing about fifteen feet in diameter covered with a thick layer of snow, because there were no trees around. "How about?"

"Great... It's close and hidden, will you lend it to me when you don't come, please?"

'Merlin! I have to force myself to contain my laughter. The boy tries to maintain his alibi, already incredible, that he trains alone.'

"Of course, you can come whenever you want, but learn the way well, don't get lost."

"I've already noticed, it's very easy."

Sev began to walk around the clearing, conjuring the Disillusioner and the Muffliato.

"What are you doing?" asked Beamy.

"Warding spells so they don't see or hear us, I don't think anyone will come, but just in case."

"Oh! I didn't know that could be done. Will you teach me too, please?"

"Sure, listen." He continued to verbally conjure until he completed the perimeter. "Now we're safe. Have you learned them?"

"I have."

"Well, then the next time you will test to do them. Do you want to warm up a bit or let's go with the Patronus?"

"The Patronus, Snape, please."

'Sure, he has to check if what I told him last night is true. I'm going to put him in a bind, just for fun.'

"Okay, then show me what you can do."

"No, please, the Master first."

Sev had to make an enormous effort to contain his laughter. 'Merlin! It is to eat him, he does not stop saying please and he has called me Master.'

"As you like. Expecto Patronum," he pronounced while making two wide passes with his arm, enveloping, while evoking in his mind the happiest memory of his tormented life.

From the tip of his wand emerged the silvery substance, glistening and intangible, instantly taking the form of an animal that walked slowly and gracefully around the clearing. The boy was watching him with wide eyes, Sev was looking at him, smiling proudly.

"It's very big and powerful…" he turned to him. "A lioness?"

"It could be… Although I think it's more of a panther. It is more stylish, and black is my color." The silver cat crept out of a gap in the bushes.

"Of course, a Gryffindor lioness, it doesn't suit you, does it?"

Sev couldn't help but laugh anymore.

"The Patronuses have nothing to do with the symbols of the Houses, otherwise, we would have reptiles, don't you think?"

"Can you do it again, please? And explain to me how."

"Of course. You have to evoke the happiest memory, the best, not just any memory, of your life. If so far it hasn't come out corporeal for you, it's because it wasn't the best."

"What's yours?"

'Ugh… I didn't expect this question, too personal. But I'm liking him so much that I'm going to tell him about it. Does it matter?'

"The last afternoon I spent in my neighborhood," he remembered wistfully, "with my redheaded friend, the day before entering Hogwarts." He had to close his eyes not to cry.

"Before they separated you both into enemy Houses," Beamy finished gravely.

Sev nodded slightly.

"That's why it looks like a lioness," the boy continued.

"Can be…"

"Do it again, come on."

Sev recalled. 'That river, that cool shade, that August thirty-first when the children we were fantasized about our life together in the castle.

'Even then I had no hope of Lily going to Slytherin. Maybe Ravenclaw, because of her talent, even Hufflepuff, because of her kindness, but never, never Gryffindor, and now my Patronus just happens to look like a lioness.'

"Expecto Patronum," he made the pass again. This time, the huge translucent animal came up to him and passed close to his body, rubbing against him along its entire length as cats do, while staring at him.

"How did you do that?" Beamy asked in amazement.

'I have no idea, it's the first time it's happened to me.'

"I dont know…"

"The lioness loves you."

The animal was moving away from them out of the clearing.

Sev took a deep breath, thinking about what Beamy had just said. 'Will it be possible? The truth is, I haven't cast a Patronus since I'm dating Lily.'

"Well," trying to recover. "It's your turn. Have you thought about your happiest memory yet?"

"Yes. Do you want to know what it is?"

"It is not necessary, that you know it is enough. Do you know how to make the pass? Try it without saying the spell."

Beamy outlined the two great arcs with his wand. 'Perfect at first.'

"I see you've tried this before."

'I'm not going to put him in any more embarrassments, the kid puts me in worse ones.'

"Go, evoke and pronounce the spell."

"Expecto Patronum." From the tip of Beamy's wand came a perfect corporeal Patronus in the shape of a lynx. 'At first as I expected. It has been all an excuse to get closer to me, and in the process put me to the test.'

"Yours isn't bad either."

"It is a feline like yours, and I get it the first time. How well you have taught me, Snape!"

'And he still tries to pretend.' Sev smiled at him. "I guess you had already practiced the incorporeal many times, but alone. It's your credit, I only gave you the push you needed."

The boy repeated the spell.

"Now you have it. You will never be attacked by a Dementor."

"Thank you, Snape," he reached out to shake his hand. "Do you have time? Can you teach me something else?"

'I'm exhausted. I've barely slept four hours, the surprise of Lily's letter and the emotions evoked with the Patronus have left me for the drag, and I'm back on the verge of the depression I suffered two months ago. I don't feel fit enough to take on a Dueling class and I need to be alone.'

"I'm sorry, Beamy, but I had a very bad night and I need to rest. In fact, I got up for breakfast so as not to stand you up."

The kid seemed disappointed, but he looked at him with understanding.

"If you want, we'll meet again tomorrow, okay?" Sev told him.

"Okay, but only if you can, otherwise we'll cancel it," he told him a little sad.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be better tomorrow. You can stay here to practice if you want, it's very easy to return." Sev pointed, "In that direction, straight ahead you reach the main path."

"Nah, Snape, I'm going with you unless you prefer to go alone."

"It's okay, let's go then."

They made their way back in absolute silence. When they reached the entrance stairs to the castle, Beamy said to him, "Well, Snape, I'm going to stay outside for a while, it's a beautiful day. Thank you very much for the class, rest, see you."

"See you later, Beamy."

'It's hard for me to even speak, and it's making me a world to climb each step.' When he got to his bedroom, he just took off his cloak and lay down on the bed fully clothed, falling asleep almost instantly.