So now that he had his happy memory, Adi was going to try this spell. For the first time EVAAAH! He sat up a little straighter, accidentally bumping shoulders with Beverly. But then again.. she was used to his shoulder bumps.

"Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum.'' He liked saying that incantation for some reason. Maybe it was the way it rolled off of his tongue but whatever the reason, the Hufflepuff kept on saying the incantation for another minute or so. "Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum.'' You know what kept intruding his thoughts? Chocolate. Not that the source of his happy memory had mentioned it, his brain wanted his mouth to nom on the tasty treats. Hmph.

"This is no time for chocolate,'' he sternly chided himself. "Don't you want to see what form your Patronus will take?'' If it took any but yes, Adi WANTED to have this charm in the bag even though he knew it could take him years to do so. Or maybe he would never get it. Heh. But he wouldn't go there. Only positive thoughts for this Puff!

He moved on to practicing the wand movement without the incantation. A simple circle as Dakest had put it. Around and around and around went his wand. GOTCHA! Now it was time to actually combine the two!

Hugh knew that he should have been more focused on the task at hand but DAKEST'S FACE. What was that? Was anyone else losing their faculties over it or just him?

No. He was easily the smartest person in the room. He could not have been the only one. His brain was just.....patronuses. Right.

Finally closing his open mouth, Hugh managed to try and focus on a happy memory to produce a patronus. And immediately he had a problem. What classified as happy? What was happiness? How did people define happiness and was it an actual state or was it just chemicals pumping through the body and did that devalue happiness? OR did they all just not exist so it hardly mattered at all.

If he could not define it than he could not process it, which meant he could not find a happy memory.

Faulty logic, magic. Faulty logic.

Now Hugh was trying to define happiness as something more than just a subjective term.

The moment was HEREEE!

''Expecto Patronum!'' Cue the circular movement of the wand annnnd his focus on the memory of him and AJ sitting on that Bridge just over two years ago. Fixing his specs more comfortably on the bridge of his nose, he eyed the Hippogriff feathered core wand tip. Not so much of a wisp of... anything had made itself known. No worries! Adi did know that the spell was a VERY complicated one. He would simply try again.

Too excited to sit the way he was currently position, Adi rearranged himself so that he was sitting on his feet. "Expecto Patronum!'' Concentration on happy memory? Check! Wand movement? Check! Something emitting from his wand? Nope!

"Going to make something happen soon.'' He shook his wand as though it were defective and the shake would fix it. Hehe. ''Expecto Patronum!" HEYO! Was that a puff of something?!

Or had he imagined it? Noooo, don't let it be his imagination!

In his mind it was just him in black tuxedo, the stage, the glossy black grand piano and the audience giving the applause as he finished playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It was five years ago and every time he remembered that, he just smiled happily. Now he should try casting the patronus. Deep breath, concentration, think about his first recital and....

"Expecto patronum!" The Korean guy said loudly as he waved his wand in a circular motion. Nothing happened. Maybe he needed more focus and concentration. Let's try again. "Expecto patronum!" But still nothing. It seemed like his memory wasn't that strong enough. Let's figure out another memory.

Okay. Her happy memory was definitely going to involve Adi, but she needed to figure out which one it would be. Speaking of her boyfriend, she heard his voice. Leave it to a prefect to ruin all the fun. "I know the rules, but I'm pretty sure chocolate would help in this case." AJ was just looking out for her and her classmates. Ahem.

Now she needed to practice the incantation and the wand movement. She knew that the chances of her or anybody else getting it done right was slim to none, but that was not going to stop her from trying REALLY hard.

"Expecto Patronum." Not too bad, and it wasn't a tongue twister or something that was hard to get out. "Expecto Patronum...Expecto Patronum... Expecto Patronum." Next, she picked up her wand and traced circles with it. Wheeee. This was easy.

The moment he'd heard patronus, he had nearly squealed. He now really wanted to know what his patronus was! He knew being a first year he'd never be able to get his patronus to work. Or he didn't believe he would. Maybe that was his problem, he wasn't sure about his own magic. But he wanted to at least try and do it. He wanted to see if he could see his own patronus, even if it was just a shadow. He chewed on his lip and started trying to come up with a happy thought. The first one that came to mind was seeing his birth mum's smile. It had been years and years since he'd seen it but it always warmed him all the way through every time he thought of it. He focused on the memory, focusing on his mum's face and took his wand out.

Muttering 'expecto patronum' over and over he kept focusing on the memory of his mum's face and finally did the wand movement and spoke clearly "expecto patronum" and nothing, not even a flicker of silver or anything. He bit his lip staring at his wand again. He could do this! He knew he could! Mum's was a rabbit, his mum now was a cougar and dad's was a pug. He was determined to do this!

NO!!! NO. OH NO, he DIDN'T.

Agatha's pale face turned red in a split of second. The professor had said her name out loud, basically turning everyone's attention to her trying to leave the classroom - or so she thought.

As soon as she heard that, the Slytherin pursed her lips and took a step away form the door. "I'm not going anywhere, if that's what you're implying." She tossed her hair to the side angrily and she tried to look like she was FAR away from the door. What was he even TALKING ABOUT?

...

Morgana, professor. MORGANA.

But UGH, that meant she would have to stay and try. At least... that was a terrible spell in general and Agatha hoped knew that probably no one would be able to cast a proper Patronus that day anyway. Good. GOOD.

The sixth year went to a less crowded area and still didn't sit down. She did get her wand out, though, but didn't think of anything just yet. Ugh. UGH.

Alright time to think of a happy memory. I mean that is how a patronus worked right? You needed to think of something really happy. A strong happy memory at that. He began to think and went deep into his mind. Jeez what made him happy. Well obviously quidditch made him happy but it wasn't that strong for a memory was it? Nahh. Onto the next memory. I mean his girlfriend Emmy made him happy of course. He thought about memories of her and their first kiss. I mean that could work. He can always use that. He thought of himself back with his family on the farm and just laughing and having a good time. His heart swelled up thinking of his family and Emmy being there too. I think that memory could be good enough right?

He nodded and now it was time to put the spell to good use. What was the incantation again? It was Expecto Patronum? Yup it was. He copied it down and now was going to practice it.

Angel now had to try and think of a happy thought, but which one was she going to think of, there was so many happy thought that she had and some were amazing, like the day she first met Benny, the time her and her sisters first went into Diagon Alley, the day she got her Hogwarts Letter, everything was good and now she had to figure out which one was going to be powerful enough.

"How powerful does the spell have to be?" Angel was totally lost about how powerful everything had to be and now she had to figure out a few things and decide on which thought she was going to use.

Time to put this charm to the test. I mean this puff already had his happy memory to work with right? He was curious to know what his patronus form was going to be. He was not going to worry about that now and was going to concentrate on his spell work. He knew the incantation which was Expecto Patronum. The wand movement was circles right? He squinted at the board and knew it was.

Time to practice saying the spell first, he took a deep breath and said under his breath,

"Expecto Patronum......Expecto Patronum.....Expecto Patronum.....Expecto Patronum......Expecto Patronum......Expecto Patronum....Expecto Patronum..." Once he got the hang of it, he did the wand movement in circles and he felt foolish but it worked. Now time to practice the charm all together! He was getting quite excited but like Professor Dakest said it won't work till like a year from now. So don't get discouraged Lecium.

Eden thought what Gabe had to say was pretty interesting, and she was writing a lot of things down. But potions, Professor Dakest said, wouldn't help with producing one? Well that was kind of a bummer...

But now they had to..try and practice? Or...think of a happy memory? Eden sunk her chair a little and tried not to get all..emotional.

What even HAPPY memories did she have? Last year when she had practiced with Lux, there was one from when she and parents went off on a picnic...but right now, the memory didn't make her happy. It made her sad, because things just weren't the same. She pulled out her notebook...and just made a list of all the happy memories she could think of. Most of them consisted of Cole, Phoenix, and Iwin and Emmalee. She...did not write down any Cutty memories. THOSE were no longer happy ones, either.

Eden realized how sad a lot things made her...and...she bit her lip to keep from feeling emotional in the middle of class. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.

As Tora had been working on her patronus for awhile, she already knew her happy memory. It was the one where she actually got her Hogwarts letter which proved she wasn't a squib like her parents. But... after all this time she still couldn't conjure a proper one. What if this wasn't the happiest memory she had? Though she had been certain before, confident even, a sliver of doubt flitted across Tora's mind.

Her brow furrowed as she sat, head on her hands, thinking about that day when she got her letter. If she was having doubts did that mean that this wasn't the best memory to use? She struggled to think of something better. Anything. It was pretty depressing, thinking about how hard it was to come up with a happy memory. Not that she hadn't had great times! She laughed hard and often, especially around friends, but those piecemeal memories couldn't add up to the memory that she needed.

By this point, Tora had completely discarded her first memory. It obviously wasn't going to work anymore, but now she was stuck. Could she use a feeling instead of a memory? She couldn't remember if the Professor had mentioned anything about that and was too embarrassed to say so. Ugh, she was a mess.

Benny was listening to each and everything that was being said about patronuses, writing down most of the important stuff in his notes for later reference. It was cool and already the Gryffindor was wondering about his own ability in the manner. And his form if his patronus, should he make one, ever be one with a corporeal form. He would certainly be working on his patronus after the lesson as he wasn't sure how his progress would be during the lesson.

Professor Dakest confirmed the incantation...Expecto Patronum...and told them and demonstrated the wand movement. Not to mention the fact that the castor would need happy thoughts to focus on during the casting for it to work. And now they were being told to try and get some kind of start in the process so Benny opted for trying to figure out a good memory to work with.

His first day at Hogwarts?

A scene from a quidditch match?

Flying in general when everything was so free?

Now THIS was what he had been waiting for. The actually practising of the Patronus Charm and he was determined to find out his magical guardian. But first he needed to find a happy memory. Did he have one? A truly happy memory? Yoongi closed his eyes and concentrated on his memories. Getting adopted by the Hyland family. His sisters dressing him in dresses when he was younger. Playing on a toy broomstick. Finding out he was a adopted. He got it.

He tried to visualise the moment his adopted parents had given him a locket with a picture of his birth parents. The locket was currently under his uniform and he felt the metal against his chest as he thought about it. He grabbed it with one hand and opened up the locket. He was supposed to be angry at them right? For abandoning him? But he didn’t , his new family had explained the situation they had been in and he had come to the conclusion that they had put him for adoption was for him to get a good life. And when he had heard that he had felt proud. Proud to be both their sons. So yes, this locket was special to him and it was filled with positivity.

He opened his eyes again and grabbed his wand, ready to try the spell.

He was completely determined to do this! Jay had beat him on every spell so far and he wanted something, anything to prove to him his wand was working. He was ready to write to mum and say it just wasn't working! 'Expecto Patronum' he muttered again and again and used the circular wand movement over and over practicing. Different memory...the one of his mum wasn't enough. How about down in the Alps with mum and dad...no that didn't seem enough.

What memory could he use? The day he was accepted to Hogwarts? No....getting into Hufflepuff??? He concentrated on that, his mind circling around the day, right before the feast began. He had been so scared he'd be in Slytherin! He centered his mind and said "Expecto Patronum" firmly. A poof of something appeared but didn't stay or form anything. THAT WAS SOMETHING! RIGHT???

There were memories of his friends, having great times and laughing so hard their bellies hurt, but no particular one came to mind. He could remember playing with his cousins, of which he had many, but again, not just one solid memory, but a mish-mash of faces and laughter and random jokes.

Finally he stumbled across one that just might work. La Patum. La Patum was a serious thing where he was from, and basically nobody else had ever heard of it. But Xavi loved the celebration with all of his heart and every year as it got closer he found himself humming the music, dancing the steps and counting down the days.

He took a deep breath and tried to summon all of the emotions of Patum to him. He imagined the sound of the drums, the people pressing in on all sides, the fire, the giants, the emotions.

The ravenclaw stood up from his seat on the ground and waved his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing. Not even the slightest something. Literally he had pulled out all of those emotions and geared up for absolutely nothing to happen. He felt like an idiot. It wasn't like he had said the incantation softly either. He'd practically shouted it.

Sophie nodded solemnly at DaBest's reply to her own answer, and she nodded even MORE when he reiterated that NO ONE at the school was truly evil right down to the core. Though... she still kind of wondered about Cutty sometimes, but since HE could do a proper patronus and had even been the one to help her along with her own... well... maybe Cutty wasn't REALLY so bad after all. The Slytherin boy got a brief look as she considered this, but then her attention was back up front because... LOTS of people were giving her looks, at her mentioning mental health stuff. Whoops. Had she... struck a chord with them?

Sorry, friends.

The professor did a really fine job of explaining all aspects of patronuses in great detail, though, and it was fascinating to listen to him talk. He had a very interesting way with words, didn't he? AND he was still getting right "Fuller-Thompson," so the guy was earning all sorts of brownie points in her book.

You are using something that protects you. And you have something worth protecting. The patronus is a representation, a force, of what protects you and what you wish to protect the most. Do not fear it. Ever. That whole part made her shiver, and she immediately thought of her happy thought - well, thoughts - and... those were definitely worth protecting, and the thought she had used to conjure her patronus last time did involve what she wished to protect most. Though... thinking about it now, a new memory came to mind - one from the summer, where she was quite possibly the happiest she ever remembered being. Uninhibited joy had filled her up fully and completely, and...

Ohhhhh yes. Yes. She had a new memory to try out today, didn't she?

Unable to keep her thoughts and her gaze separate from each other, Sophie's attention flickered first to Tobes, then to Zander - not focusing on them in the present, but recalling the memory she so held dear to her heart. And with a small smile on her face, she let that pure elation from the summer's memory fill her up, focusing on it with every fiber of her being.

Great! Natalia had wanted to attempt a patronus, and it turned out the professor had just read her mind!

She could finally get up from her uncomfortable sitting position, which she happily did so while wiping the dust off of her grey skirt. Yet, it was only when Natalia had grabbed out her wand when she realized that she was almost CLUELESS as to how to conjure a patronus.

Considering that she was now in her fourth year, Natalia should have had some knowledge about how to conjure patronuses, right? NOPE. Perhaps the girl used most of her free time reading 'science' magazines and astronomical events, because she was just about the nerdiest space nerd in the building - student-wise, of course, not counting the eccentric astronomy professor.

If there was one thing that Natalia had a talent in, it was the art of observation. So of course, battle tactics number one: observe.

At first, most of the students were completely silent. What were they doing, meditating? Shrugging to herself, the befuddled Lioness closed her eyes and remained quiet as well. How long did she have to meditate, a couple minutes?

While she was waiting for the minutes to pass by, Natalia began to hum out of mere boredom. Didn't someone mention that happy memories were essential to conjuring patronuses? But how would that play out in the actual charm? Did they have to think happy memories while performing the patronus?

Miss I'm-too-awesome-to-ask-for-help had to figure out of these by herself.

Not real not real not real. Dark wizards were not real, and Toby was really having to hold his tongue to keep from blurting it out at everyone. But the more they were mentioned, the harder it got. In the end, he focused on twirling his wand between his fingers, in an effort to find something to concentrate on something else and to stop thinking in particular about the worry that someone might accuse him of being a Dark wizard himself if he couldn't conjure a patronus. But he managed to keep quiet. Just.

As for the patronus, Toby was still hugely reluctant to even try. Perhaps not for obvious reasons; he had happy memories, and he was decent at magic. Maybe not hugely powerful, but decent enough maybe. His worry was maybe related to those, and yet something completely separate. It was entirely irrational, and it was totally overpowering, as irrational thoughts often are.

Toby felt an uncomfortable feeling in his chest as Professor Dakest spoke, and his heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest it was going so fast. Was he going to make them try to cast it? It wasn't until Dakest told them to move at their own pace that Toby found him releasing a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Thank Merlin.

Okay, happy thoughts then. Easy. Toby could easily list a billion. He stood too, one hand in his pocket, one hand twirling his wand again, and stared at it spinning round and round and faster and faster through his fingers while he sorted through his brain for all the happy things.

But he couldn't help but think about what Dakest had said. About not ever fearing the patronus, which... he sort of felt like he did, in a way. And... of finding a memory that couldn't be shaken by negativity or fear. Fear fear fear. Always that word. What if his memories were unusable, because of things beyond his control that DID make everything negative, even when he didn't want them to?

Thinking about that made Toby suddenly think of Dementors, which made a shudder run through him. If someone honestly told him he'd never see one of those again, that would be enough of a happy memory to cast a million corporeal patronuses.

With her eyes closed, Sophie focused deeply on her memory of Zander and Tobes - the way their eyes sparkled when they laughed with her, the way they teased her in good humor, and the way they knew exactly how to make her a puddly mess of gleeful bliss - and before long, she was giggling giddily at the mere memory of their time spent together, a wide, toothy grin spread across her face.

No thoughts of the recent friction between them even came to mind. No, the only thing in the world to her right now was her two best friends, the two people who meant the world to her, the three of them as a trio, with their synchronized laughter ringing in her ears.

That simple memory, one that neither of them probably even gave a second thought to, was enough. More than enough, even. The delight was practically bursting from her being.

Powered by the powerful emotion filling her soul, Sophie rose to her feet, lifted her wand and waved it in a circular motion just as she'd done many times before, then cast confidently with a massive smile on her face, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A silver ferret shot from the tip of her wand, just as it had in the dueling arena last term, and the smile that spread all the way up to her eyes never left Sophie's features as the ferret bounced with great speed and agility around the room, twisting between Zander's ankles and popping up to brush against his face in an affectionate manner before bouncing over and perching itself over on Tobes' shoulder and giving him eager patronus!nuzzles against his cheek.

Oops?

Okay, so patronus… She could do this.

She knew that they were advanced magic - everyone kept saying so… However the Professor had clearly said that it wasn’t the actual magic skill that was so hard, it was the being able to find the right mental space and that thought that made you super warm and tingly.

From where she was sitting, she made a funny face as she started to think about which memories she could use.

Anything with her aunts and uncles and her LARGE extended family was good. Family barbeques in summer with Quidditch matches that could last for hours… Or being the flowergirl at her Mam and Tad’s wedding? Or heck, her mam officially becoming her mam after so long of her being called “mammy”... Or maybe Alis’ birth? Being a big sister was way cooler than being a big cousin - though she took that job just as seriously.

Her stomach had butterflies from thinking of her family and she couldn’t decide!

Maybe finally getting to come to Hogwart? Meeting Zak or Lance in the summer or getting to share a dorm with Rusty and Evie? Getting to play at being the moon and learning to fly?

Gosh. So many things!

A poof of silver had appeared and faded already. That was a start! He beamed, though still eyed his wand. He needed to have more confidence he was sure of that. He was always afraid he'd fail with the spell he was doing and that was likely the problem. 'Expecto Patronum Expecto Patronum Expecto Patronum Expecto Patronum Expecto Patronum' he muttered over and over. A new memory? No, that had worked! So his mind concentrated hard again on that memory of being told he was in Hufflepuff. His mum had been so proud that he was in her house! "Expecto Patronum!" he said as he did the wand movement.

Again a poof of silver appeared but no more.

After she had practiced the wand movement a few times, she decided it would be good to get a feel for the incantation. Expecto Patronum. "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num," she said carefully, and slowly. She repeated it a few times. She closed her eyes, did the wand movement, with no wand, then said the incantation. All separately. Not ready to combine. She would have to soon, of course. "Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum," she repeated, and repeated, and repeatedddddd. After a long time, the words together lost all meaning, until eventually she just had to stop practicing and DO IT. Why was this such a big deal? It was a spell, she was in a classroom, and she might NOT be able to cast it. What was so wrong with that? Big deal, a lot of people couldn't cast it.

She stood, her feet hip width apart, and held her wand out. She kept her eyes open, focusing on one spot on the wall. Well, an imaginary spot. "Expecto Patronum," she said, whilst doing the circular wand movement at the same time. She wasn't sure if anything had happened. In the corner of her eyes she could see small wisps of silver now and then from other people. Did hers produce the same thing? She didn't think so, but she didn't lose heart. Somehow, one day, she would succeed. And that day may actually be today. Or it wouldn't, but that was okay.

Zander Adair was worried. Worried that he could do it and that everyone around him would. He didn't want to be the only one incapable. Not that he thought he'd be the only, because surely the first years wouldn't get it. But that meant he'd be grouped with the first years.

The thought of his OWL score kept resurfacing. Defense Against the Dark Arts had always been difficult for him. There would be no way he was getting his protronus anytime soon. He was most certain about it. But still, he'd try. Maybe just pretend to take up the entire class by thinking of his memory, that way no one could see him fail? He just didn't want anyone to laugh at him. This was hard.

But anyways, he actually didn't know which memory to use so maybe it WOULD take him the whole time to do that after all. HA. Instead of getting up he sat still on the ground, searching for a memory good enough. Thinking back to what Professor Dakest had said. It has to be lasting happiness. Something that cannot corrode or diminish over time. Something that cannot be shaken by fear, by negativity. Think of it, you're happy thought, as what you go to normally when you are afraid. What gives you comfort when you are terrified and there is no one that can help you. Something that made lasting happiness.

... But what?

Oh. He had a visitor? The Gyrffindor was quite surprised to see the ferret running it's way over, but he really didn't even have to guess who it belonged to. Though he hadn't ever seen Sophie's patronus, he was sure she was one of the few capable of casting one (as she was absolutely brilliant when it came to all things magic). AND it was playful enough to be hers. And there was also the fact that she was standing a little ways away smiling.

He smiled at the ferret as it moved past him, but then again he was left to his thoughts. Where were the happy ones?

Oh gosh. There was Adi being a total Prefect and reminding AJ that they weren't supposed to eat food in class. Shaking her head in amusement, it was hard not to laugh.

ANYWAY, back to this Patronus business, and hopefully Professor Dakest would allow the chocolate because the spell really could be draining. Happy memories were amazing and she loved them, but the intense focus and sheer will behind the casting ended up tiring her out. That was another reason why she hadn't practiced it much so far.

It seemed that Sophie had already made the achievement, and Lux curiously watched the ferret Patronus zoom around, giving Zander and Toby affection. That was cute, and she really wished that she would be able to achieve that in due time. Maybe it would happen with the new tactic that she was about to try out in a moment. First she would clear her head of everything else and work on some deep breathing - because why not. It wouldn't hurt and helped her with concentration.

Deep breaths in and out, she thought of all the happy memories, which were basically every time she saw him besides when he had been in a coma because that was sad. There was all the times they had hung out as friends, and their first kiss. Of course when he asked her to be his girlfriend... And just all the times they spent together. It was all just so HAPPY!!

Thoughts firmly pictured in her mind, Lux confidently cast the spell. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"