Chapter 25 - FACING YOUR FEARS

Harry POV

I quickly bolted away from the door, the door disappearing instantly once I was no longer standing in front of it and facing it. I didn't have enough time to take my cloak out and put it on so I quickly disillusioned and silenced myself and stood still against the wall. I watched as Ron and Ginny came storming down the corridor.

"Ron you need to help me with a love potion!" exclaimed Ginny angrily.

"Why?" exclaimed Ron.

"Because Harry is supposed to be with me, and not that stupid snake! Besides… I wrote a letter to Mum and she agreed!"

"Why do you want that stupid git who's dating a snake?!"

They continued to bicker back and forward. I was shocked when I heard this revelation.

Ginny would go this far for me…? No not for me… at least the real me… she would go this far for the Boy-who-lived…

Luckily, I had my family rings from Gringotts to help me detect potions and poisons in my food. I guess I need to eat and drink with my left hand…

Well Godric, I guess learning to attune with my magic will be even more important now, even if I have my family rings. Learning this magical attunement will let me identify the potion present as well right? This is something which my ring couldn't do?

Godric nodded at my question. I watched Ginny and Ron bicker a bit more before they left storming down the hallway. I then started to invisibly circle the corridor three times wishing again for the room of all hidden things. The ornate wooden then once again appeared, I entered a room and saw hundreds of objects all piled up together. They were stacked in different mountains of objects.

"Good, now Harry, like before, sit down and meditate, try and feel out the objects in the room".

I sat down and took a deep breath, shortly after I started to feel different sorts of magical waves from all areas around the room.

"Good Harry, Good… Now try... and only feel that large cabinet over there!"

I tried to zero in and feel the magical aura of the cabinet, but it was difficult, because of the overlapping auras from other objects in the room.

"Concentrate Harry, try to feel out the magical currents and not force your way through!"

I listened to what Godric said and relaxed slightly and tried to flow along with the magical currents being emitted. It was difficult, as there was so much magical energy flowing around. After around twenty minutes or so, I finally managed to zero in on the cabinet's magical signature. I smiled once I focused in on its magical aura.

Interesting… so Godric, what is this cabinet, it has quite the magical aura!

"That Harry, I believe, is a vanishing cabinet! Deadly useful, a person could slip inside and disappear for a while! Anyone who came looking would only see an empty cabinet! I remember Helga using it back in the day to avoid some of my pranks! She got away so many times until I realized she was just stepping into her closet!"

I laughed slightly at Godric's comments. I then decided to check on the time.

"Oh Harry, why don't you try to detect where a clock is in the room? You can try and identify the specific clock then cast the accio spell on it? You will need to try and feel out multiple items and objects to recognize them instantly as something harmful or safe, it is also a good way to keep up the training".

I agreed, I then took another deep breath before feeling the waves of magic around the room again.

Wait Godric? I don't know what the aura of a clock feels like, in fact, I don't even know what majority of the auras in the room even mean… Although I zoned in on the vanishing cabinet just now... you still had to tell me what it was for me to recognize it...

"Why by all means Harry, go explore and find out".

I mentally moaned at his snickering comment. I stood up and started walking around the room. I noticed I could barely feel the magical auras and had to try extremely hard when walking about.

Damn, I am going to need a lot more practice. Due to my concentration on detecting objects, my pace was incredibly slow, if I walked any faster my concentration would break, and I would have to manually use my eyes to look. When walking around the room, I managed to find look at some cool objects and identify their magical signature. I found some games such as Gobstones, Wizard Chess and Exploding Snap. I also identified some old quidditch brooms and potion ingredients.

Oh, Snape would love these... Fluxweed...Dittany...Bezoar...

I could only identify the magical signature of objects that I saw with my eyes. I mean how can I summon the object if I don't know what it is?

I have a lot of things to sift through and recognize... I might need to brew a love potion and try to figure out its magical signature...

After another twenty or so minutes of pacing slowly around the giant room, I finally came across a fairly unique magical signature.

This one shifted slightly like it was moving, ticking every second… It must be the handles of the clock! The magic used to keep the clock ticking!

I then zoned in on the magical signature. Once I was close by I stopped and stood still.

I said, "Accio clock".

Then out from the mountain of objects, a clock came flying towards me like a frisbee. I caught the circular clock. I turned it over and saw it was almost lunchtime, seven minutes till twelve. I was going to meet up with Daphne and Tracey and take them to eat at the kitchens before taking them back to the Room to train them in producing patronuses.

I quickly placed the clock back somewhere on the mountain of objects and walked out of the room towards the kitchens. I then shot my silvery stag out from my wand and whispered to it.

"Find Daphne, tell her to meet me at the staircase that leads down to the Hufflepuff common room".

The silvery stag then nodded before sprinting off and running through the wall.

Daphne and Tracey were incredibly shocked when we down the staircase leading towards the Hufflepuff common room. Their jaws then dropped once I tickled the pear on a painting of a bowl of fruit and it turned into a handle, revealing a door. I then opened the door like a gentleman and let them through first.

Daphne POV

The kitchens were amazing! It was such a sight to behold! Harry guided Tracey and me to a small table for four in the corner and helped us get seated. We ate for a bit before the three of us left for the Room of Requirement. Once we were inside, I noticed that Harry had created the large room with training dummies in the corner that he used when we found him experimenting with fiendfyre.

Except, there was something that wasn't here the last time, there was a large chest by the edge of the wall. Harry clasped his hands together and smiled at the two of us.

"Alright guys, we will wait a bit for Hermione before we get started on practicing to produce the patronus charm, I promised her as well once she learned I was going to teach you guys".

I nodded and looked over at Tracey, seeing a determined look in her eyes.

"In the meantime, the two of you should try think of a happy memory, however, I make sure it fills you up with happiness the memory. The memory should be strong and make your emotions feel happy just at the thought of it… If not, then the memory is not good enough".

Tracey and I both nodded. Tracey seemed to be pondering for a while, but mine was already set. I was a bit embarrassed, but the memory that I easily decided on was our first kiss at Hogsmeade. After Harry helped me up from laying in the grass with me, the kiss we shared was eccentric. Just thinking about it got me happy and going back onto cloud nine. Hermione then entered the room, Harry also explained to her what do and she immediately sat down next to Tracey and I and started thinking of her memory. A couple of minutes had passed, Harry then spoke up.

"Alright, have you guys thought of a wonderfully happy memory?"

All three of us stood up and nodded our heads.

"Good! Now close your eyes… think of the memory… let it fill you up… then say very clearly… expecto patronum…"

Harry walked around us in a circle as we closed our eyes. All three of us then repeated expecto patronum. Harry clapped his hands together bringing all three of us to open our eyes again.

"Great! Now let us start practicing. There is no set wand movement for the patronus spell, so get into whatever stance you would like and cast it. However, I will warn you, you may not get it on the first try... or the next few... I myself didn't get it until I worked hard for it for about an hour".

The three of us separated slightly to give each a bit of space before we started to try cast the patronus charm. At first, nothing happened, the three of us tried casting out the patronus charm, and not even some tiny wisps of mist formed. The three of us kept casting for a while. Soon, on my forty-seventh try, I managed to form some mist! The bright silvery light shot out of my wand for a brief moment. It then stopped and the misted faded after a few seconds. Harry then clapped his hands together.

"Well done Daph! Good job!"

I beamed at him as he walked over to me.

"Now try to form a shield, remember to keep your focus, you need to fully emerge yourself in your happy memory".

I nodded and kept trying, Harry then walked over to Tracey and Hermione. After around two more hours, Harry then told us to stop.

"Alright guys, that is enough for today, we can come back throughout the week and work on it!"

I was slightly disappointed, I managed to increase the amount of mist and duration at which I could produce the mist, but still couldn't hang on long enough to form a shield. Tracey and Hermione were even more unluckier than me. In the two hours, they didn't even manage to produce any mist at all. I could see the disappointment roll right off their faces. Wanting to change subjects quickly and snap them out of their slouchy faces, I asked Harry a question.

"Hey Harry, what is in that chest over there? I don't remember seeing it last time when you were messing around with fire…"

He perked up and looked at me and hesitated a bit before replying.

"Ah, it is a boggart that I found in the Room of Requirement, it was meant to be used as training for Tracey when she mastered the-"

Tracey then cut Harry off.

"I want to try it!"

Harry and I both wanted to disagree, Tracey hadn't even managed to get any mist out of her wand… and she wanted to try and produce one in the face of a dementor?

Even if it was fake… the last time she was in front of a fake one, she fainted and was in the hospital wing for two nights.

Harry surprisingly nodded his head, I was about to scream at him for his reckless thought when I saw the sheer determination on Tracey's face. I then recognized that face, the will, the ambition, oh how Slytherin! It was the face I had when I was going into the final tests each year. I knew there was no way to convince her otherwise, Harry must have realized as well. Hermione and I backed off as Harry levitated the chest from the edge of the room right in front of Tracey.

He then asked, "Are you ready?"

Tracey glared at him and slowly nodded her head. Harry waved his wand and the locks on the chest started to unravel. Then the chest opened and out shot a dementor.

"Expecto Patronum!" Tracey yelled as the dementor approached her.

"Expecto patronum." said Tracey again.

Except I noticed she was quieter this time.

"Expecto..."

"Expecto..."

The dementor was now inches away from her. Before it could reach her, a blinding white silvery stag knocked the dementor away from her. I looked over and saw Harry with his wand out. He then used his patronus and forced the dementor back into the chest before waving his… hand? The locks on the chest immediately started twirling and securely locked the chest down.

Wait… he just did wandless magic!

I didn't get a chance to voice my thoughts as Harry approached Tracey. He then conjured out some chocolate with his wand and handed it to her. This snapped Tracey out of her frozen dazed look of fear.

"It is okay Tracey… it is difficult when we face what we fear the most…but don't let this get to you! I promise you can eventually do a patronus! Maybe the memory you used wasn't the best one? But for now, eat the chocolate, it helps!"

I smiled at him as he comforted Tracey.

Oh, how was I so lucky to land such a caring and great boyfriend… Although I knew that Mum and Dad would never sign me off with a marriage contract or something, I was still raised in a pureblood family. I was scared at the slight possibility of being auctioned off to be some idiot's housewife because I knew of the political pressure that Dad faces in the Wizengamot. Being neutral and not being affiliated to the light or dark had its benefits, but it also meant that both sides would approach you and could be equally aggressive.

However, according to Dad, the light haven't been pressing for political connections or trying to recruit people to their agenda ever since the fall of the Dark Lord. However, people like Lucius Malfoy have been very aggressive and have pushed for an alliance with a lot of the pureblood families.

I pushed my thoughts aside as Tracey beamed at Harry while eating her chocolate. Harry also went over to reassure Hermione before the two of them left and I was alone with Harry. I then sprinted towards him, he turned around as he heard me approaching. I leaped out at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. He staggered back a bit before regaining his balance and wrapping his arms around my waist. We then broke off the kiss after a while, as I rested my forehead against his.

"So… did I do something again Daph?"

I smiled, reached up and grabbed his hair before lowering his head in for another kiss. Although his glasses pressed slightly against the bridge of my nose, I wasn't really complaining when I was snogging my boyfriend. We then parted again, I whispered to him as I hugged him tightly to me.

"For being the best thing that has ever happened to me".