WARNINGS: This chapter is the first in the collection to feature sexual references. More will probably be sprinkled throughout future chapters.
~ With Me, Into The Dark ~
"What are you two doing?" Bellatrix asked, frowning at the sight of a silver tiger fighting a silver great white shark in the middle of the combat-training room.
"Patronus wrestling," Azalais replied.
"Why?" Bellatrix asked, her confusion obvious.
The shark's form wavered, turning misty around the edges, and Azalais snapped, "Concentrate, Lili!"
Even as she said it, the tiger Patronus bashed the shark across the face with a powerful swipe of its paw and the shark dissolved completely.
"Should I cast another one?" Lilith put forth uncertainly, unnerved by the fact that they now had an audience.
"No," Azalais replied. "I have patients to tend to." She put away her wand and the silver tiger faded out of existence. On her way out of the room she paused, tossing back over her shoulder - as if it were an afterthought - an answer to Bellatrix's earlier question: "We are working on Lilith's ability to focus."
Once the healer had departed, Bellatrix turned to Lilith and said, "That helps you focus?"
Lilith shrugged. "Azzie says it will help me learn to keep my focus, and I trust her judgment. Besides, it's fun."
"Fun," Bellatrix repeated flatly, her expression clearly conveying her skepticism as to the veracity of that statement.
"Would you like to try it?"
"Even if I did want to - which I don't - I've never been able to cast a Patronus Charm," Bellatrix answered.
"Oh, you haven't? But it's easy!" Lilith exclaimed.
"It's not easy. It's actually one of the most difficult defensive spells in existence, and most witches and wizards never manage to cast a corporeal Patronus," Bellatrix snarled, letting her temper get the better of her. There were few things at which Lilith could say she was superior to Bellatrix, and the casting of defensive spells was one of those rare few. (Not that Lilith would actually dare to say such a thing.)
"Yes, it is," Lilith argued. "It's really simple to cast."
"Were you even listening to me?" Bellatrix shouted, somehow resisting the urge to use the Cruciatus Curse to enforce her point. "Most people aren't able to master that spell! I've never been able to cast it; I apparently don't have a memory happy enough for that."
"It doesn't have to be a memory," Lilith replied. She was so used to her mentor's frustration being taken out on her by now that she remained unfazed in the face of Bellatrix's anger.
"What?"
"I said it doesn't have to be a memory," Lilith repeated. "The catalyst for casting the spell is a single sharp, clean burst of joy that must be untainted by negative feelings. It can be a memory, or a happy thought, or..." She trailed off.
"Or what?" Bellatrix demanded.
"Well..." Lilith hedged.
Bellatrix didn't understand why the other witch was reluctant to share the secret when she was the one who had brought up the subject.
"Well what?"
"It can... be... uh..." Color rose in Lilith's cheeks as she haltingly attempted to explain.
"It can be what? Spit it out already!"
"Physical," Lilith murmured, her voice dropping so low that the other woman almost missed what she said.
A burst of joy that could be physical...?
"You mean an orgasm? Don't tell me you learned to cast that spell while masturbating?"
"Well, no... It's a NEWT-level spell, so my tutor didn't allow me to practice it before I was sixteen. I already knew the feeling by then, of course, and the memory of it was enough."
Unfortunately for Bellatrix, her memory of that particular type of event was not strong enough to allow her to cast the Patronus Charm - at least, not without extra effort... so she took to practicing the spell in private, in the hope that she would eventually be proficient enough to cast it in public without embarrassing herself... and then she would have her grizzly bear Patronus beat up Lilith's great white shark and that would be that.
~end of scene~