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Patronus Class


Remus’s knee was broken again. Madam Pomfrey confirmed it when the boys dragged Remus up from the tunnel and into Hogwarts. They told her he’d fallen off the bed in the dormitory, told her that he’d busted it jumping from one bed to another during a game of bedroom quidditch, which Sirius made up rules for on the fly when Madam Pomfrey asked what that was. “We use balled up socks as bludgers and a pillow for a quaffle and the two walls are the rings and the goal is to get the pillow past the keepers who stand on the beds and two of us play beaters slash chasers and we jump from bed to bed and --”

“It’s a wonder it took this long for a injury!” Pomfrey said, though Sirius wasn’t positive she’d brought the bedroom quidditch thing at all.

Luckily, Remus’s injuries had occurred while he was in human form and in a non-magical circumstance so the bones and cartilage could be healed with magic. Pomfrey pulled out a bottle shaped like a skeleton and poured a good deal of steaming liquid into a cup and held it out to Remus. “Drink up, lad,” she said as he took the cup and peered into the liquid uncertainly.

He sipped it and made a face, “Merlin’s beard! That is disgusting.”

“Nasty business, regrowing bones,” she muttered and she walked away, calling, “Every drop, Mr. Lupin!” as she went to get a vial of sleeping draught.

The boys clustered around Remus’s bed.

“I’m so sorry, Moony,” Sirius said, taking Remus’s hand, “It’s my fault you’re hurt.”

“How do you reckon?” Remus asked, choking down the potion, gagging as he did. It really did taste terrible. Like rotten food and chalk.

“On account of it being my idea we go into the woods. Everything that happened is my fault.” He stared at his toes quite glumly.

James shook his head, “It’s not your fault, Sirius! If it wasn’t for the bleedin’ dementors, it wouldn’t have happened. It’s - it’s Minchum’s fault.” There was a certain level of sadness in James’s voice. After all, Harold Minchum had become a bit of a hero figure in James’s eyes and admitting that Minchum wasn’t all that James had thought him to be really took a bit out of him. He sighed.

“Yeah, Padfoot, you did excellent,” said Peter. “You were really brave, staying behind like you did so we could get away...”

Sirius shrugged.

Remus reached up and put a hand on his cheek, “I’m proud of you.”

Sirius melted at the words, clutching Remus’s palm to his face.

Madam Pomfrey returned then and she shooed the three boys out of the hospital wing. “You can visit with him later, right now Mr. Lupin needs to rest and work on the process of rebuilding that knee.” She gave him the vial of sleeping draught and chased James, Peter, and Sirius into the hallway.

Sirius stood before the door, staring back at it. He still felt guilty.

James nudged him, “C’mon. Let’s go. We’ll come back later.”




Quidditch practice that morning was very subdued; really everyone was too cold to do well. Being on a broomstick was torture in the cold, even with dragonhide gloves. Peter and Sirius sat in the stands and watched for part of it - at least until Carly Shaw and the other girls that hung about with her showed up and Carly tried sitting a bit closer to Sirius than he was comfortable with and he made up an excuse to go back up to the castle. It was rather cold in the stands anyway, and the practice was nearly over anyway.

James caught up to them in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table for lunch and they ate quickly, eager to get up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Gideon Prewett would be getting ready for the first Patronus Lesson.

“I’m so nervous,” Peter was complaining a they joined a jostling queue of people waiting to cram into the DADA classroom. “It’s advanced magic. Do you lot think we’ll be able to do it? I mean I’m sure Remus and Lily will all right, but me… I dunno… What do you lot think? Sirius?”

Sirius was looking rather ill.

“We’ll be fine at it,” James said. He looked at Sirius. “You’ll be fine. You bloody defeated a dementor without the spell already.”

“I guess.” Sirius murmured. “I just wish Moony were here… It isn’t fair. This was his idea and he’s missing the first lesson, it’s not fair.”

Peter said, “Well, he’s hurt, that’s not Gideon’s fault. They already rescheduled it once for us, didn’t they?”

The herd was moving into the classroom now and inside they found Gideon had moved all the desks to the walls to clear up a huge open space in the center of the room. James was reminded of the days when Ned Veigler had been the Defense professor and he wondered errantly where Professor Veigler was these days, if he was staying out of trouble or if he was in just as deep as Newt Scamander was for their adventure in the Great North Woods.

Peter scrambled to join a cluster of students that were sitting on the floor, where Frank Longbottom had sat down with Ali Prewitt. He waved for James and Sirius to join him, but Sirius had sat himself down on one of the desks near the door and was leaning against the wall. “Go on,” he told James, “I’m gonna sit here.”

James gave him a funny look.

“Really, go on. Pete’ll need your help.”

James sighed and went on to sit with Peter and Frank on the floor of the classroom near to where Gideon was standing. Sirius stayed there by the door, folding his arms across his chest and looking on sullenly. Peter looked at James as he sat down and glanced over his shoulder at Sirius by the door. “He’s not gonna participate?” Peter asked, concerned.

“I think he’s pitching a protest,” James replied, shrugging, “You know Sirius… He’ll come over when he’s ready to.”

Gideon Prewett paced the room before the students - all different years and houses were clustered about, the room dotted with blues and yellows and reds and greens (and one spot of pink and leather, which was Sirius, wearing his If Lost Please Return to Remus Lupin t-shirt). Lily Evans and Ali Prewitt were leaning together, and on the other side of Lily sat Jasper Odair, who was trying to get up the nerve to take hold on her hand. Sirius’s smirked at him and thought about hexing him, but got distracted when his eyes landed on another couple across the room -- Regulus and Maryrose.

Sirius’s eyes swept over his brother, who was sitting there, hugging his knees, his hair a bit shaggy in the front, cut closer in the back, hanging over his forehead as he laughed, looking at Maryrose with glinting so-grey-they-were-nearly-black eyes. Maryrose herself had changed her hair to a deep purple colour that reminded Sirius of Dumbledore’s spangled robes and she was wearing teal glasses and laughing, leaning against Regulus’s arm with a flushed, happy expression on her face. Regulus really did look like just a normal kid there in the classroom setting, his Slytherin tie tucked neatly into his green-trimmed sweater-vest. His black trousers were a bit too short ‘round the ankle and his shoes were untied and Sirius had a sudden memory of their Mother trying to teach Regulus how to cast the charm to tie his shoes, but he’d never quite understood it. It looked like Regulus was still having trouble with the art of shoe tying.

The sight of it made Sirius’s heart ache a bit and he bite his lower lip and looked away.

“The Patronus is a particularly useful spell in aiding a witch or wizard protection against evil - especially the Dementors of Azkaban. Seeing as the Minister for Magic is suddenly quite Dementor happy, the Headmaster and I, along with some, er, esteemed advisors --” he glanced at James and Peter on the floor and winked, “--believed it would be a wise move for us to teach all of you the art of casting a patronus in order to aid in keeping us all safe from the dangers that the world now offers. How many of you have seen a Patronus before?” he asked.

A few people raised their hands. Sirius could’ve, but he was being stubborn, so he kept his hands folded across his chest.

Gideon smiled, “Well. Let’s get all your hands in the air then, shall we?” He cleared his throat, “Expecto Patronum!” And the wand exploded with a brilliant white peacock, though it was a bit less tangible than it had been the first time he’d shown it to them - probably the result of Fabian’s incarceration, thought James - but it was still absolutely beautiful.

The girls were giddy with excitement. “OOooh,” whispered Ali Prewitt.

“What makes a Patronus the shape it is, sir?” asked Jasper Odair.

“Isn’t it like an Animanamophus?” asked James, “Isn’t it different for every person?”

“Animangus,” hissed Peter.

Gideon nodded, “Indeed, Mr. Potter. The patronus is different for every caster.” Gideon waved his wand so his peacock waddled it’s way before the students, whose eyes followed it, mesmerized by it’s beauty. “The shapes of our patroni are a bit different than an animagus form is, however, as the patroni reflects most often a protector. Often times, a patronus will take the form of a creature that represents what we feel is the ultimate form of protection or safety. Or else reflect the personality of someone we love and care for very much, someone we expect to keep us safe or that we receive unconditional love from. The patronus will often reflect a soul mate - whether platonic or romantic. There are many couples that have matching sets, for example my sister Molly and her husband Arthur have a matching set of patroni. But on another level, my brother Fabian and I do, too…” Gideon grinned, “Except my peacock’s much nicer. His is a bit peaky ‘round the beak.” His eyes danced playfully.

“Brilliant,” whispered Frank.

Jasper Odair finally got up the nerve to take Lily’s hand just as she moved it so his fingertips smashed against the stone floor and she wrapped her arms ‘round her knees in rapt attention to Gideon’s talk.

Gideon waved his hand at the floor before him, “So who wants to be first to give it a go?”

Everyone was silent.

Gideon’s eyes landed on Sirius. “Mr. Black,” he called. “How about you?”