"I guess Umbridge was right. I guess I am nothing but a giant a failure," Elphaba sighed sadly as she and Galinda sat down in defeat, hiding away in the Room of Requirement.
"Oh, Elphie! Is that what all of this is about?" Galinda asked her best friend gently.
"Yes," Elphaba confessed with an unhappy sigh.
"Oh, Elphie! Don't! You simply can't let that fat, ugly, old toad get to you!" the little blond pleaded. She wrapped her arms around Elphaba comfortingly, trying to cheer the green girl back up. It didn't work.
"Galinda! She threatened to fail me if I can't make a Patronus for her by tomorrow and we've been at it for hours!" the Gryffindor cried.
"Well, with her as professor, the grade is worthless anyway!" Galinda tried to joke. It still didn't work.
For a few minutes more, the two witches sat together in silence, one trying to comfort the other. At one point, Galinda even rested her head upon Elphaba's shoulder, still holding her close. As Galinda rested her head on Elphaba's shoulder, however, she noticed something red upon the back of Elphaba's green hand. Galinda narrowed her eyes at once.
"Elphie. What is that?" she demanded. Elphaba, quickly realizing what Galinda had seen, tried to cover up her hand, but to no avail. Instead, Galinda only grabbed Elphaba's arm and forced her hand into the light.
"Merlin's beard!" the little blond exclaimed in disgust and horror. There, carved in the back of Elphaba's hand, were four bloody words: "I must not argue". She dropped Elphaba's hand again, fuming with anger.
"It doesn't hurt much," Elphaba said self-consciously, hiding her hand back in the fold of her robes again.
"Much!" Galinda mocked, voice high-pitched with anger. Then she began to rant and swear, cursing Umbridge's name with every swear word that she could think of. It was a very long and thorough list.
By the end of it, even though Galinda was red in the face from screaming and shoving all those cuss words into one breath, Elphaba was finally smiling again. Perhaps it was a bit selfish to say, but she liked it when Galinda got angry on her behalf. It made her feel loved. And sitting there, watching Galinda get redder and redder as she screamed swear words in about eight different languages, made Elphaba's heart warm and shine like the sun. By the end of it all, even though Galinda was panting, Elphaba felt her confidence return to her.
"You know what?" she asked her friend. "I think I'm ready to try again!" then she raised her wand high...
"You did it!" Galinda cried in awe as a silver swan burst out of the tip of Elphaba's wand. Although she was still panting from the swearing, the shock from seeing a real, fully-formed patronus bursting from Elphaba's wand made her forget how out of breath she was.
"I know, right?" Elphaba laughed in amazement and triumph as the swan continued to soar over their heads.
"But how?" Galinda asked. "What was the memory?" and Elphaba's confident smile turned sheepish as she confessed.
"You," she admitted softly, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Me?" Galinda was stunned. Elphaba nodded shyly in response.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I just thought about you and all of the nice things you've ever done for me. They really are my best memories, and you really are the only friend that I've ever had..."
"Oh! Elphie!" Galinda looked so touched that Elphaba was worried she would start crying. Right before the waterworks could start, however, Galinda hopped up, suddenly eager to try her own patronus now that Elphaba had found her own.
A few seconds later, a giant silver hawk joined the beautiful swan patronus in its flight around the room.
"Congrats!" Elphaba clapped as Galinda admired her handiwork with a satisfied smile.
"I thought about you too," she said, before Elphaba could ask. "I may have had so many friends, but I've only ever had one that truly mattered..."
The next day, as the DADA class finished up, Elphaba remained behind.
"I believe I owe you a patronus," she told Umbridge. It was clear that just speaking to the fat pink toad was a huge strain on her. Not that anyone could disagree. Even quite a few of the Slytherins found Umbridge to be quite unbearable. It was one of the only times when Galinda was not the odd-snake-out. Umbridge seemed to be nearly universally hated across all of Hogwarts and it was the closest thing the four houses had ever come to reaching complete and utter unity. There were still a few Slytherins out there that did like Umbridge but, for once, they were in the minority. Pretty much everyone hated the new DADA professor, and it didn't matter what house anyone was in. This hatred transcended house barriers.
"I do believe you do," Umbridge agreed cheerfully. The moment Galinda heard that too-happy-note in Umbridge's nasally voice, she sat back down. Although she technically wasn't part of this deal between Elphaba and Umbridge, there was no way she was going to leave her hot-headed best friend alone with a monster like Umbridge. Instead, she only observed from the back of the room as Elphaba summoned her patronus.
"And now, how did you learn this spell exactly?" Umbridge asked sweetly as Elphaba's silver swan flew around the room. She pulled out a little glass vial of Veritaserum. In that one question, both Elphaba and Galinda realized that they had been tricked. It was no secret that Umbridge wanted to know where some of her more avid enemies keep hanging out and meeting up. Doubtless, she had realized that Elphaba was among this number and had, likely, practiced her patronus charm in this secret location. With all that Veritaserum at her disposal, it wouldn't be hard for Umbridge to drag a confession about the Room of Requirement out of Elphaba. This was not good...
"I taught her!" Galinda quickly interjected, revealing her presence to both Elphaba and Umbridge. For a moment, anger at being spied upon shot across Umbridge's face, but it was gone faster than it had come and that "pleasant, innocent" smile returned to her flabby face instead.
"Oh, you did? Did you?" she asked conversationally, innocently tapping on her little glass vial and feigning interest in Galinda's remark.
"Yes, I did," Galinda tried to hold her ground. "In the Slytherin commons! The other Slytherins usually ignore us, so we were able to practice there, alone and in peace," she continued to lie, but this was not entirely untrue. Because of that deep-seeded rivalry between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses, whenever a Gryffindor would enter the Slytherin dormitory, that Gryffindor would be aggressively shunned, as was the case with Elphaba.
Of course, the first time Elphaba had ever entered the Slytherin dorm, nearly every student had tried to attack her and it was only Galinda's intervention that saved her from needing a trip to the hospital wing. From that first visit on, however, the Slytherins typically just ignored her. But this was not out of any grudging respect. They just did not want to anger their little Arduenna-Upland. Galinda had a lot of powerful connections and she had made it all too clear that she would gladly use every single one of them if anyone tried to cross her. Since no one wanted to test those limits, Elphaba was mostly left alone, provided that she stay practically glued to Galinda's side. Not that she wanted to be anywhere else.
So Galinda was not telling a 100% lie when she said that she and Elphaba were able to find a surprising amount of peace and solitude when they went to the Slytherin dorm. But despite Galinda's best efforts, Umbridge managed to see through Galinda's lies. Galinda was not one to go down without a fight, though, and she continued to press Umbridge, begging her to listen. It finally reached a point, though, when Umbridge lost her temper with Galinda and whirled around, slapping the girl hard across the face. Big mistake on her part.
The moment Umbridge's open palm collided with Galinda's cheek and the moment the sound of the slap filled the air, Elphaba entirely blacked out. She didn't remember anything other than a burst of pure anger surging out of her body and she was dimly aware of screaming, but that was all a very vague vision in the back of her mind. All she remembered was that anger, and then Umbridge suddenly being slammed against the wall opposite to where she had been standing. She slumped over at once, the blow from the impact knocking her out like a light.
"Elphie!" Galinda exclaimed, but Elphaba could still only hear her own heartbeat, and Galinda had to physically drag her out of the room.
It wasn't until Elphaba and Galinda were halfway across Hogwarts that Elphaba finally realized what she had done. According to Galinda, she had only opened her mouth to verbally chastise Umbridge for physically hurting a student, but somewhere along the way, her subconscious had also formed a stunning spell and, whether she was aware of it or not, she had stretched out her arm and the moment it was pointed directly at Umbridge, Umbridge had gone flying across the room and slamming right into the back wall of her own class.
"I honestly don't remember," Elphaba vowed as she and Galinda continued to run through the corridors. "But that doesn't matter!" she insisted, eyes hardening again in anger. "She had no right to do that to you!"
"Oh, Elphie! I'll be fine! It's only a little bruise!" Galinda tried to calm Elphaba back down before she blacked out again. "But what about you? You could get into some serious trouble for attacking a teacher!"
"She deserved it!" Elphaba shot back.
"I agree!" Galinda replied. "But others probably won't!" she added, and Elphaba finally calmed back down long enough to see Galinda's point.
Sadly, the girls could do nothing else but wait. In the end, Umbridge managed to regain consciousness (unfortunately) and she wasted no time in gleefully reporting both Elphaba and Galinda to the authorities. She somehow even managed to get the two in on the charge of physical assault of an innocent, and a superior. She wrote them off as delusional, and she said that their motives were pure spite alone. Not a whisper of self-defense could be heard anywhere in her story. And of course, since she had the Ministry all on her side, it didn't take very long for both Elphaba and Galinda to receive a sentence. Because Galinda had technically never harmed Umbridge (and her parents swiftly came to her defense), she was left off only on probation and an in-school suspension. Elphaba, however, was not nearly so lucky. Instead, Umbridge somehow managed to pull the strings such that Elphaba ended up getting herself a ticket straight to Azkaban.
"I hope you're happy!" Umbridge giggled as they dragged Elphaba away. It was only a warning look from Elphaba that kept Galinda from doing anything that would land her in a cell right beside Elphaba's.
Elphaba's sentence wasn't going to be too terribly long. Although Umbridge did manage to get Elphaba in for physical assault, because she was still a minor, the courts were merciful enough to only make the stay a couple weeks long. A couple weeks in Azkaban, though, was no light punishment. Galinda knew this and spent about a week of Elphaba's imprisonment constantly fretting and worrying for her safety. By the end of that first week, Galinda finally snapped, and she did the impossible: she staged a plan to break right into Azkaban and get Elphaba out!
The very next day, through the use of a stolen broomstick and one of her mother's old dresses, Galinda found herself standing at a loading dock at the Ministry of Magic. This dock existed for the sole purpose of taking the occasional few visitors over to Azkaban. It was a "privilege" afforded to a very precious few. Galinda's mother, being an auror, was one of those precious few people. Although it had taken a bit of lying, Galinda managed to convince the person leading the trip over that she, "Larena Arduenna-Upland", was supposed to go and make sure all the Dementors were behaving like they should. It was through the leader's impatience and Galinda's own remarkable resemblance to her mother that allowed Galinda's lie to work. Trying not to look too antsy, she took her place in the lineup headed over to Azkaban, but even though she went over with a larger group, the moment they touched down in the prison's foreboding complex, Galinda took the first chance she could to run.
Having done her research earlier that day, Galinda knew exactly where to find Elphaba.
"Merlin's beard!" the young woman exclaimed in a strange mix of relief and dismay when she finally stumbled upon Elphaba. Although the green girl was alive, she was very far from well. The dark circles under her eyes, the greasiness of her hair, the sallowness of her skin and the extra-bony quality her entire body had taken on was more than enough to prove that. Galinda didn't waste a single second running over to the bars and using her wand to blast open the cell door, and then the chains that shackled Elphaba to the wall. Through it all, though, Elphaba barely even responded. It was like she was already dead, the life and light totally gone out of her being.
"Come on, Elphie! Come on!" Galinda pleaded softly, shaking the green girl gently and trying to pull her up. "We have to go! Now!"
"Why? There's no point. I'll only be sent back in, and my second sentence will be even worse than the first..." the laugh Elphaba gave was so bone-chilling and hollow that Galinda made a vow to herself that she would never have to hear such a broken, despairing and terrifying sound ever again.
"Don't be ridiculous, Elphie!" Galinda redoubled her efforts, giving Elphaba a fierce look. "I'm getting you out of here and, this time, you'll get a fair trial! Umbridge won't be there to speak on your behalf and rig the whole deal against you this time! I'll see to it personally!"
"But I attacked her, Galinda. No matter what you do, I still attacked her. And even if I don't deserve to be in Azkaban for that, Merlin knows I've got a lot of other things worth feeling guilty for..." Elphaba trailed off, eyes gaining a creepy and empty look, seeing and unseeing at the same time.
"No! Elphie! Snap out of it!" Galinda was speaking to herself just as much as she was to Elphaba. "That's just the Dementors talking! It's-!" but the moment Galinda said that, she felt her own blood suddenly run cold. Oh, right. The Dementors.
As if on cue, a ghostly hoard of the monstrous specters began to float down that corridor and towards Elphaba and Galinda. Suddenly growing pale and breaking out in a cold sweat, Galinda redoubled her efforts yet again, but they still yielded no results. Try as she did, Elphaba refused to budge. The chains and cell bars had been nothing compared to her own iron resolve to stay put. They hadn't been lying when they said that the strongest deterrent in Azkaban was not the imprisonment or isolation, but the mind of its own prisoners. Freedom was at hand and Elphaba didn't even see the point in trying to escape!
"Oh! Come on, Elphie! Please!" Galinda begged frantically, finally using her wand to just levitate Elphaba up and force her out of her cell. Elphaba still gave next to no response, grunting in displeasure with Galinda's actions, but making no attempt to stop them. With that, Galinda went tearing down the hallway in the opposite direction of the Dementors. It was her plan to summon up her broom to the other side of the building so that she could secretly fly herself and Elphaba back to the mainland, preferably some place far, far away from the Ministry.
But even though the plan was simple enough and would've actually worked, Galinda still failed. The Dementors did not need speed to catch her. Their mere presence alone was more than enough to do the trick and it didn't take long for Galinda to suffer the same fate as Elphaba, brought to her knees by nothing but sheer despair alone. Collapsing in a fit of panic and unable to see any way out of the situation, Galinda began to weep miserably, accepting a bitter defeat. Standing alone at the edge of Azkaban with only Elphaba's motionless body for company, Galinda half considered throwing herself out of the prison and into the violent, frozen sea below. Behind her and Elphaba, an entire swarm of Dementors were slowly closing in, breath like ice, hissing and merciless. Galinda blacked out then, but not before she thought she saw a silvery bird flying above...
A couple days later, Galinda woke with a start to find herself lying in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Elphaba was lying in the next bed over. Following a decent amount of confusion, followed by a minor bit of panic, Galinda finally had the situation explained to her.
"They won't take you away again will they?" Galinda asked Elphaba in fear as Elphaba concluded the tale.
"No. Dumbledore, thank Merlin for him, managed to plea on our behalf and gain us a new verdict: innocent," Elphaba replied with a grin. Galinda heaved a huge sigh of relief, collapsing gratefully back into her hospital bed. Her sense of peace did not last long, however, and she sat up again about two seconds later, another question upon her tongue.
"What even happened that day?" she asked. "How did we get out?" and Elphaba's own smile faded into an expression of pain and regret.
"I don't really remember," she confessed. "All I could see or hear or smell or taste or feel was the Dementors. But then, at one point, I remember seeing a silver hawk screeching at them, chasing them away from us. It was your patronus, Galinda, but once I was finally able to come to my own senses, you had lost your own. You were lying facedown on the ground and I was worried that you might've died. Your patronus vanished only seconds later, after all, and I had know way of knowing..." Elphaba trailed off, a haunted and mournful look in her dark brown eyes. It was even more deep and foreboding than the look Galinda had seen when she first made it in to Azkaban to break Elphaba back out.
"Wait, wait, my patronus?" Galinda asked in genuine surprise. "But I don't even remember casting it! Are you really sure it was mine?"
"It was, Ms. Arduenna-Upland, it was," a new voice joined in the conversation. "And I will testify for Ms. Thropp that it was."
"Professor Dumbledore!" both Elphaba and Galinda's faces lit up as the serene old man walked happily into the hospital wing.
"Good morning, ladies," he greeted politely. He took a seat between their beds, addressing them both. "And yes, as I was saying, that was in fact your patronus, Ms. Galinda."
"But how?" Galinda asked, mystified.
"I am sure you have head of wandless and nonverbal magic?" Dumbledore replied. Galinda nodded. "Well then, there is your answer!"
"But how?" Galinda was still unable to believe that an amateur like her would've been able to cast a patronus without a wand or a word, and especially while in such a mentally and emotionally unprepared state. But Dumbledore only continued to swear by it that the patronus had, indeed, belonged to Galinda. No matter how insane it sounded, that tiny little blond had somehow casted a full-blown patronus all on her own.
"I have heard it said that, sometimes, we find our happiest, strongest, bravest moments right before our very darkest," Dumbledore said pensively, but that was all he could think to offer on the matter.
For a moment more, Elphaba and Galinda only sat in silence, trying to absorb all that Dumbledore had said. Once it sank in, however, (or at least, as well as it would ever) Galinda managed to find another question to ask.
"Is it true, sir?" she asked Dumbledore. "Did you really manage to convince the Ministry to let Elphaba go?"
"Yes, indeed I did," Dumbledore answered with a playful little smile. Elphaba and Galinda both thanked him heartily for this, but he waved off their gratitude with a good-natured shrug.
"I simply explained that my students had broken my rules," he said. "But it was all only in the name of self-defense."
"And you got Umbridge to agree to that?" Elphaba sounded incredulous.
"Well, I argued that if my word was not good enough, we could bring one or both of you in for proper questioning. Although I loathe using Veritaserum, I told the Minister that a few drops of it would be able to get the story straight and we would all realize that your actions were not an aggressive outburst as Umbridge had so mistakenly said, but rather, an act of self-defense in reaction to her own little misstep," Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled as he said this. Although it had made him quite disgusted to suggest placing Elphaba and Galinda under the truth-telling serum, it was his best bet to convincing the Minister to set Elphaba free. By suggesting that even under Veritaserum, Elphaba would not tell the tale Umbridge had told, both she and the Minister backed down and decided that trying to keep Elphaba locked away would not be worth the press frenzy it would create. Especially not if Dumbledore's bluff proved true and shed an unsavory light over Umbridge. So instead, they let Elphaba go quietly.
"That's brilliant!" Elphaba and Galinda both laughed as Dumbledore finished his story. Good old Dumbledore! He never missed a trick, that old man! But then it occurred to both of the young witches.
"What will happen now?" they asked. Perhaps the Ministry had agreed to let Elphaba go, but surely she wasn't about to get off totally free.
"I suppose that you will remain here until Madam Pomfrey decides you are well enough to return to your daily lives," Dumbledore replied.
"Wait, you mean, you're not going to punish us?" it was Elphaba who asked the awe-struck question this time.
"Of course not! Why ever would I?" Dumbledore pretended to look confused. "All the charges were dropped. How can I legally punish either of you?" then he gave them both another playful wink before standing back up and taking leave of the hospital wing, giving both Elphaba and Galinda each one more respectful farewell before going.
"Thank Merlin for him!" Elphaba murmured as she and Galinda watched Dumbledore disappear back down the hallway away from the hospital wing. Galinda nodded in agreement before heaving another sigh of relief. This time, when she lowered herself back down onto her bed, she did not sit back up any time soon.
The next day, however, both Elphaba and Galinda were deemed to have made a full recovery and they were both sent on their way. All of the students and staff who had heard the story of the brave young witches who were able to circumvent Umbridge's punishment immediately lauded them as heroes as soon as they were released from the hospital. Even better than this newfound fame and approval from about 75% of the school, however, was the fact that Umbridge, herself, had grown extremely quiet around the two girls. Although it was still very clear she loathed them with every fiber of her being, she was far less vocal about it than before. This was a massive bonus in Elphaba and Galinda's eyes. But perhaps the best thing of all was the fact that Elphaba and Galinda both officially knew how to make patronuses. Now, if one looked carefully enough, on particularly dark and starry nights, they might see a silver hawk and a silver swan, dancing through the heavens together. Down below on the ground, the two casters would be doing the exact same thing.
AN: Just wanted to imagine what Elphaba and Galinda's patronuses would be. Because Elphaba's happiest memory is Galinda, her patronus would definitely be a swan (and Galinda is like a swan not just because she is beautiful and graceful but because she can be pretty terrifying when she feels angry or threatened. Seriously. Have you ever seen angry swan? It's terrifying). And vice versa. Since Elphaba is Galinda's happiest memory, Galinda's patronus would be a hawk (several times in the book, Elphaba is described as being hawk-like).
Personally, I feel like my patronus would be a panda because they are the CUTEST animals EVER, and nothing makes me happier than they do. (I disagree with my Pottermore Patronus test results, so I still think mine would be a panda). IDK what my happiest memory would be though. That's a tough question.