Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 33 – The Patronus Charm

Harry's mood did not improve in the following days. He was curt with his friends and steadfastly ignored both his guardians – who had sent several owls, with Cornelius even coming up to the school once – and Professor Lupin. The latter Harry could only ignore out of class, but to his credit Lupin didn't try to make things harder for Harry during lessons. Instead of dwelling on this latest revelation, Harry tried to distract himself by throwing himself into quidditch practice; Gryffindor's final game of the term, against Hufflepuff, was fast approaching. Even with all the extra practice though, Harry was not in the right headspace to play when the game finally did arrive, especially in such horrible weather. A storm had brewed the night before and torrential rain poured down, making seeing the snitch near impossible. Harry did his best though and with his goggles repelling water – thanks to a quick spell from Hermione – he was better off than he thought he would be when he'd woken up and seen the rain.

Still, the game wasn't easy and two hours in Gryffindor had only scored three times, Hufflepuff none, and there'd been no sign of the golden flittering ball. Harry watched from above as his teammates did their best to fight against the wind, Angelina, Alicia and Katie slowly making their way towards the Hufflepuff goal posts. Angelina took the shot, but no matter how much she tried to compensate for wind speed and direction the quaffle just wouldn't go where she wanted it to. Fred and George were rendered relatively useless as well, the wind being stronger than even the magic controlling the bludgers, so the normally speedy and dangerous balls were practically harmless. Oliver too was having a hard time and had taken to holding onto one of the goalposts until the quaffle neared instead of fighting against the elements to remain hovering in his usual spot. Harry sighed and looked around once more, hoping to see a tiny spec of gold somewhere…anywhere. Hufflepuff's seeker and captain, sixth-year Cedric Diggory, was slowly making a circuit of the pitch, keeping his eyes peeled. Harry had given up doing that over an hour ago and more or less let the wind take him where it wanted, it moving him about the pitch almost as effectively as if he were trying to fly.

Eventually though the snitch did have to appear and when it did Harry took off as fast as his Nimbus 2000 would take him. Diggory wasn't far behind, the older boy being an excellent flyer, even on a Cleansweep nowhere near the league of a Nimbus. For the first time since the game started the roar of the crowd could be heard over the pounding rain and howling wind, everyone as excited for the game to end as they were for their house to win. Harry reached out and could almost feel the wings of the snitch fluttering against his fingers. The snitch flew higher and higher trying to get away from him and Harry thought that it might just succeed if it went might higher, the air growing colder the higher they went. It took a few moments for Harry to realize that the cold he was feeling wasn't just due to a high altitude. His goggles began to fog up, the water that had drenched him hours ago turning to ice. A scream sounded.

"No, not Harry! Please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl!" Harry could almost picture the scene. He saw clearly his mother, her features coming to him easily after the number of times he'd stared at her photo over the last few days. He could see himself as a baby as well, picturing his mother holding him close and turning away from the dark cloaked figure to protect him with her body.

"Please, not Harry! Take me instead…please…have mercy, not Harry!" The screaming continued as Harry saw the first black, hooded terror. In the stands Ron reached out to steady his sister as voices filled her own head.

"Tom…Tom please…"

"I'm proud of you, little Ginny."

"Please, Tom…"

"Soon Hogwarts will be purged of mudbloods. All thanks to you."

"No…no, Tom…please don't…" Ginny pulled out her wand, that bit of Tom Riddle's power deep inside her coming to life as it had on the train. This time, though, the voices were stronger and Ginny was aware of several screams, including her own, mixing with Tom's laughter before she knew no more.

-H/G-

Harry's eye snapped open and he looked around frantically, panicked as he felt for his broom, which was no longer beneath him.

"Easy, mate." A red and orange blur said as his glasses were shoved onto his face, his sight clearing to reveal Ron, Hermione, and three of his teammates.

"What…what happened?" He groaned, sitting up in a bed that was all too familiar.

"You fell off your broom." Said Hermione, sitting down on the edge of his bed and taking his hand in hers. "We…we thought you'd died!" She was near tears, from sorrow or relief Harry couldn't tell, though likely it was both.

"I meant the match. Who won?" Hermione's grip tightened painfully, her tears drying up instantly, and Harry knew he'd pay later for thinking of quidditch at a time like this. Still, Harry looked to his teammates, the three girls shifting uneasily, and he knew. "We…lost?"

"Diggory got the Snitch." Said Angelina. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square…even Oliver admits it."

"Where is Oliver?"

"In the showers." Said Fred, coming over alongside George, the twins taking Ron's place as their younger brother disappeared. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

"No one blames you though, Harry." Katie insisted.

"Yeah mate. Besides, you've never missed the snitch before." Said George. "There was bound to be one time you didn't get it."

"And it's not like you even lost it in regular circumstances." Alicia added. "The dementors aren't supposed to come inside the grounds."

"Dumbledore was furious." Finished Hermione. "As soon as he saved you he sent them straight off." Their words did little to comfort him though, and Harry flopped back against the pillows. The three chasers stayed for only a minute longer, insisting once more that they didn't blame Harry, and they'd be upset if he blamed himself, before they went off to change, everyone, including himself, still being in their quidditch uniforms, still damp and caked with mud. Fred and George though didn't leave and with three less bodies crowding around Harry could see why.

"Ginny!" He gasped, jumping up and stumbling to the bed beside his. Ron, who'd taken the twins' place at their sister's side when they'd gone to Harry's, grabbed his arm and forced him into a chair before he fell over. "What happened?"

"The dementors affect her as much as you, remember?" Now that Ron said that Harry did remember, and he felt awful for thinking about quidditch while Ginny was still unconscious. The feeling didn't last long though. Ginny's eyes opened a few minutes later and after she regained her bearings her first question was to ask who won the match.

"Not you too!" Hermione groaned. Harry laughed and patted Hermione on the shoulder before relaying the bad news.

"Stupid dementors." She growled. "We've got to find a way to stop them affecting us so much."

"You did that white mist thing on the train." Harry remembered suddenly. "Isn't that supposed to ward off dementors? You could teach us!" Ginny shook her head.

"I had a power burst in a moment of panic, and even then I passed out after a moment or two." Harry sighed, but Hermione had another thought.

"You know, Professor Lupin produced the Patronus Charm on the train as well." She shot a sidelong look at Harry. "And he's a great teacher." Harry sighed again, easily recognizing her effort to get him to speak with his pseudo uncle again. Luckily Harry knew he couldn't stay mad at Lupin for long, and after today he was prepared to forgive, though he would not forget. Harry took Ginny's hand and nodded, the two silently agreeing that they would ask Lupin for help.

"One last thing, Harry." George said as he and Fred shoved Ron forwards.

"Bloody cowards." He muttered, glaring at his older brothers before turning nervous eyes on Harry. "You see, the thing is Harry, your broom…"

"What about it?" Harry was confused, though a sense of dread began to well inside him.

"Well, when you fell, it sort of blew into the Whomping Willow." Ron bent and picked up a pile of sticks and twigs wrapped in a blanket. "And you know the Whomping Willow…it doesn't like being hit." Ron pushed aside the blanket enough for Harry to see that it wasn't just a pile of sticks his friend was holding. There, still gleaming brightly, though the wood around it was destroyed, were the words Nimbus 2000. Again Harry sighed.

-H/G-

Harry's anger of the last week turned to sorrow as Gryffindor mourned their loss to Hufflepuff, and Harry mourned his broom. Their loss meant that Hufflepuff would have to lose to Ravenclaw by a rather large margin while Gryffindor would have to beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin by at least a hundred points apiece for them to even have a chance at the cup. The one thing Harry hated about the inter-house quidditch cup was that ultimately it didn't matter how many games you won or loss, it was all about the points. He supposed, though, that that was the sensible way to do it given there were only four teams. Each house played each other twice for a total of twelve games in the year. The first six games took place between October and January and were sort of like the preliminaries with teams focused more on sussing out the other teams' strengths and weaknesses rather than the points. Practices were kept strictly secret so in most cases no one knew how good a team was, or how best to beat them, until the matches started. By the end though, they had played against, and seen their opponents play, each team, and the captains had worked out a strategy on how to best maximize their points going into the finals. Of course, in Oliver's case he spent the entire summer working out a strategy, which he did every year, but this year it wasn't mostly guess work. This year each team had most, if not all, of the same players as they had the previous year, very few having graduated, so Oliver's summer planning wasn't based so much on how he hoped the other teams would play after filling their empty spots, but based on last year's games. This meant that going into each game he knew exactly how many points they needed to win, which meant that the rest of the team knew exactly how many points they needed to win after Oliver drilled it into them. Their loss to Hufflepuff, regardless that it came about because of dementors and not due to superior playing, threw Oliver's game plan into chaos as it changed all the points.

Harry didn't stay bitter about the lost game itself for long, especially after Cedric Diggory approached him in the Great Hall the day after to apologize and assure him that he'd tried to have a rematch called, though Madam Hooch hadn't allowed it. Had such a declaration come from anyone else Harry would have called them a liar to their face, but coming from the Hufflepuff Harry knew he was completely sincere and found that he couldn't be mad at Cedric. His broom was an unexpected source of continual sorrow, his trusty Nimbus having meant so much to him that he refused to get another broom, though the Fudges had said they would replace it immediately after hearing of its destruction. The dementors, though, were the thing that had him the most angry. Enough so that not two days after the game he stayed behind after defense class and asked Lupin if he would teach him and Ginny the Patronus Charm. Harry had thought to ask Snape. Since the potions master was already giving them additional training it made sense to ask him, but a nudge from Ginny had him quickly rethink that. After the incident on the train Snape had actually thought to teach them all the Patronus Charm, especially after hearing that Ginny had succeeded in casting it, albeit a rudimentary version. Their first go at it, though, proved disastrous, with not even Ginny being able to recreate the white mist, and Snape had quickly deemed the spell too advanced, which wasn't untrue, many fully fledged witches and wizards couldn't cast a patronus, and Harry shuddered to think of asking Snape to resume such a hard lesson. Getting the result she wanted, Ginny didn't bother to mention that she had urged Harry to ask Lupin instead of Snape as a way to get Harry talking to his parents' friend again.

Lupin, of course, had been more than happy to help, and less than a week after their last dementor encounter, Ginny and Harry found themselves in Lupin's office, a rattling trunk before them.

"Obviously we can't use a real dementor." Said the professor. "Even if Dumbledore would let one into the school it wouldn't be a good idea, so a boggart should suffice for now."

"Right." Harry nodded, not looking forward at all to facing a dementor again, even if it was technically a boggart.

"Now, you are both aware that the charm I am going to attempt to teach you is called the Patronus Charm. Do either of you know how the charm works?" Lupin asked, ever the teacher. Both Harry and Ginny shook their heads. "A patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive – but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. Because of this, the patronus becomes a barrier, or a deterrent to them. Dementors are among the darkest creatures in our world. They feed on the good because they cannot stand it, its very existence harms them, and so they want to eliminate it, replacing it with the despair the revel in. But a patronus is a never-ending source of hope and light, and so it pains them greatly to be near it and will drive them off." That made sense to them both. No creature, even a dark one, would willingly stay near something causing them great pain if they could escape. "Before we start, I must warn you both that the charm might be too advanced for you. It is well above the Ordinary Wizarding Level, above even N.E.W.T. level, and many qualified wizards have difficulty with it. I don't want you to be discouraged if you cannot perform it."

"Ginny already has, and I will too." Said Harry, a look of determination on his face. "It's not an option." Ginny knew the reason it wasn't, for it was the same with her: Harry couldn't stand to hear his mother's last moments every time he came near a dementor for the rest of his life, and Ginny couldn't stand to hear Tom's laughter.

"Very well." Lupin said after a moment of studying them both closely. "The Patronus Charm is conjured, like most spells, with an incantation, but it will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory." Harry thought back for a happy memory, certainly nothing before he was seven and left the Dursleys was going to do, so it would have to have afterwards. Ginny didn't even need to think to know what memory she would use. "Have you got a memory?" Lupin asked after a few moments and they both nodded. "Then repeat the incantation after me: Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum." They repeated dutifully, practicing several times before Lupin deemed their pronunciation good enough.

"Have you still got your memories?" The professor went over behind the trunk, preparing to open it, and Ginny took a step back, for the boggart would only become a dementor if it was concentrating on Harry. They both nodded and Lupin told them to have their wands at the ready before counting down from three. The trunk opened and a black terror rose out of it, the room growing instantly cold.

"Expecto Patronum!" They said together. Nothing happened and the dementor drifted closer, the voices coming with it. "Expecto Patronum!" They cried more desperately, hoping – needing – to keep the voices at bay. A white mist shot out of Ginny's wand, same as it had on the train, and for a moment the voices disappeared and the cold receded as the dementor was stopped in its tracks. Their reprieve wasn't long though, the mist holding for only a few moments before disappearing. The voices returned, growing louder and stronger until they could feel the blackness creeping up and the last thing they heard was "Riddikulus".

"Here we go. Come on, sit up." Lupin helped them both off the ground. "I didn't expect you to do it the first time, and frankly am astounded that Miss Weasley managed it."

"But she's done it before." Harry muttered.

"Yes, but that was against a real dementor and in a situation that she saw as life threatening." He said. "Even babies are capable of great feats of magic in such circumstances, as evidenced by the very fact that you're alive, Harry." Harry still wasn't convinced that it had been him that had defeated Voldemort that night, he maintained that there was something else at play no one knew about, but since no one knew what happened that night he supposed he couldn't rule it out completely.

"That's one nasty dementor." He said instead, accepting a piece of chocolate from Lupin.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was a boggart, Harry. The real thing will be worse. Much, much worse." Ginny grabbed Harry's hand, trying to offer even a small amount of comfort. "As a matter of interest, what were you two thinking of? What memory did you choose?"

"The first time I rode a broom." Harry said, and it wasn't just Lupin that looked at him funny.

"Well that's not good enough, not nearly good enough." Said Lupin. "What about you, Miss Weasley? Your memory seems to have been much more effective." Ginny hesitated, stealing a glance at Harry.

"I…I was thinking of that moment when I first woke up and saw you, Harry, down in the Chamber." Lupin raised his eyebrows. He'd heard, of course, what had happened last year, both the story given to the press, and some further details he'd learned since returning to Hogwarts as a professor. But he'd not heard anything from anyone who had actually been down there.

"W-when you saw me?" He asked, sounding more astonished than he should.

"Yes." Ginny nodded. "It not only meant I was alive, but that Tom had lost. That he hadn't managed to set the basilisk on all the muggleborns, that he hadn't returned. That I wasn't responsible for the deaths of everyone I love plus hundreds more."

"You never would have been responsible for that, Gin." Harry was as adamant as he always was. "If anything had happened it would have been his fault, not yours."

"I know, I know." It wasn't a new argument, but was one Ginny still wasn't convinced of. And one Harry was determined to win. "Regardless," Ginny pressed on before Harry could launch into a speech. "That moment, fleeting though it was, is the happiest I've ever been." Harry sighed and nodded grimly, understanding both her reasoning, and that now wasn't the time to rehash the old argument.

"That would indeed be quite powerful." Lupin agreed. "You'll need something similar, Harry." It took a moment as he thought back. There was one thing his mind kept returning to, but it was complicated and he'd dismissed it before because of that, wanting to not further complicate an already overly complicated spell. But perhaps it would be alright.

"I've got something." He said finally and Lupin nodded, moving again behind the trunk as Harry and Ginny took their places, wands at the ready. The dementor appeared and the voices soon after.

"Expecto Patronum!" The white mist shot out of Ginny's wand instantly, providing a barrier between Harry and the dementor, and quieting his mother's screams, allowing him to focus on his memory. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry could feel power well up inside him and a white mist shot out of his own wand, joining Ginny's. It took all his concentration to maintain it for even a few seconds, and seconds was all it lasted before the mist disappeared and Harry stumbled back from the effort of even just that much. His stumble distracted Ginny, who's own white mist disappeared as well, but it was no longer needed. With Harry having stepped back the boggart turned its sights on the person now directly in front of it. Ginny's eyes widened as the dark, hooded figure became something much more visually appealing, though much darker.

"Ginevra." It spoke, the arrogant smirk exactly as she remembered. Ginny dropped to her knees, her wand falling from her hand, as she began to shake, tears streaming from horror filled and terrified eyes. While Ginny was rendered immobilized, Harry was not. His previous exhaustion disappeared as anger filled him. Tom wasn't paying him any attention, and though in the back of his mind Harry knew that was because it was a boggart focusing entirely on the one nearest it and not really Tom Riddle, all Harry saw was his enemy bearing down on someone precious to him, ready to hurt them. He surged forward as his magic did the same, the feeling not unlike a few moments ago when he'd cast his first patronus, but where that had been a gradual well up inside of him as he purposefully tapped into his magic, this was instantaneous and overwhelming, his magic acting on its own as a result of his emotions.

"Riddikulus!" Harry roared. Though he said the spell, his mind still ultimately knowing it was a boggart, the result was anything but what he expected. He could not think of a single thing that could make Tom Riddle funny, as the mechanics of the spell demanded, but even as he shouted the correct spell, his intentions weren't just to banish a boggart, but to destroy Tom Riddle. A bright light erupted from his wand, not unlike the patronus light, though this was not a mist that disappeared after a moment or two. The light was blinding and the cry that was heard as it touched the boggart Tom Riddle was inhuman. When the light died down the boggart was gone, though it had not returned to its trunk, rattling around inside as it waited for a victim to come along. The trunk stood open, showing no occupant inside, and Lupin was left astonished once again at the realization of what that meant: Harry Potter had killed a boggart. While not an impossible feat, killing a boggart was very difficult to do, certainly well beyond the skill of a third year. It was why the spell existed to banish it. Boggarts were easily confused and when put back into their hiding place were almost always content to stay there until the next person disturbed them, so there was no need to expend so much time and energy to kill one. In a matter of moments, though, Harry had used the banishment spell in a way Lupin had never seen it used.

"It's all right, Gin. It's ok, it's not real." Harry murmured as he held Ginny close, his heart wrenching as yet again she was sobbing on his shoulder because of that man. "It's gone. He's gone, and I won't let him hurt you again. Riddle, Voldemort, whatever form he takes, I won't let him harm you." It was said with so much conviction, so much strength and power, that Lupin didn't doubt it for a moment. This was not the mutterings of a teenage schoolboy, even though that was technically what Harry was. This was a promise, a vow, made by a powerful wizard, one who killed boggarts, slayed basilisks, and defeated dark lords before he could even talk. Harry had proven time and time again that he was no ordinary wizard, but one capable of feats others couldn't even dream of, and watching him now, the air still thick with his rampant magic, Lupin got the distinct impression that the world had only seen a glimpse of what lay beneath the surface of one Harry Potter.

A/N - I actually wrote two chapters this week! I'm very proud of myself. If I write another chapter this weekend like I'm hoping to I'll post the next chapter in celebration. First time in months that I've actually had time to write.

Review please!