Norah nodded slowly and gave Professor Dakest a small smile. He was a nice guy, this one. Real nice. And the imagination bit made sense, mostly. Even she couldn't imagine stuff that well, and she was practically a professional imagine-er. "I'll find a real one then." She wasn't entirely sure if she was saying it to him or to herself, but it didn't really matter.

The fourth year rested her head on her knees so her cheeks got all squishy, closing her eyes again because it was time to think. Real thinking. Yeah. A smile stretched across her face as well as a smile could in this position as she zeroed in on a memory. It wasn't a memory of an event as much as it was the memory of a feeling, or something like that she wasn't really sure. Where did you draw the line between those two, anyways? Whatever it was, it was doing something right because as she thought and thought about that feeling-memory-ish-THING she felt it pushing out the darkest horrible-est things that were sitting in her brain and usually weren't given any attention at all. They didn't deserve any attention, and now they were being pushed out. With renewed enthusiasm, she stood up so quickly that her head felt funny and she had to hold onto the edge of her chair to make sure she didn't fall over. She'd probably lose hold of the memory if that happened, and after all this work she couldn't just lose it. It was special, okay? Really special.

She took a deep breath and started whispering the incantation over and over. "Expecto patronum. Expecto Patronum. ExpectoPatronumExpectoPatronum." Another deep breath. Norah's eyes followed Sophie as she left the room, suddenly wishing she could abandon the class all together and give her a big ol' squish. Or something. Anything, really. The Hufflepuff wasn't going to be able to do the spell. Everybody knew it. Even she knew it, and she probably barely knew anything at all. She lifted her wand regardless, because what if Professor Dakest got sad because she wasn't doing the activity? Professor Dakest didn't deserve sadness at all. So there it went. Another deep breath, 'cause it seemed like she did a lot of those recently, and then the memory. She closed her eyes, going back to that time years ago, not focusing on how old she was or where they were because she wasn't entirely sure she could recall those bits at all. There they were, Sebby and Marcel both on her lap because Marcel was so teeny weeny that they could both still fit, and she was reading to them. Or at least pretending to read to them, because she was too ickle to be good at reading at all, but her brothers hadn't known that and Sebby had looked at her with his blue eyes ginormous and in awe. Sebastian had been in awe of HER, the big kid who could do stuff. He'd thought she was smart. The corners of her lips quirked upwards as she let the memory fill her from her toes all the way up to her head just like Professor Dakest had said. She moved her wand in a circle. "Expecto Patronum!"

Norah's eyelids fluttered open. There was nothing there. She wasn't entirely sure when she'd let herself believe there would be, but there was most certainly a hundred million percent nothing there.

Puck looked up at Sophie’s Patronus and sighed. Great, she must have looked like some feeble thing, like she had no strength or integrity at all. Here she was, a prefect, and she couldn’t even cast a Patronus when the Ravenclaw Prefects could.

“Okay, let’s do this.” She muttered more to herself than to anyone around her. She thought about Bianca, and all of the fun times that they had over the terms. It was nice, heart warming. Meeting Bianca and her family, it was like finding a new family. One that accepted her even more than her own excuse for a family had ever accepted her.

“Expecto Patronum” she muttered, practicing the spell aloud once. Circular wand motions seemed easy right? Right? She could do this, well, that part of it at least. Picking up her wand she simply had to focus right? That wasn’t going to be hard.

Cilla had been concentrating very hard. So much in fact that she had not heard Professor Dakest at first. She gave a small, slightly startled jump when Dakest spoke.

"Thank you, Professor. I think a breather would be good," Cilla replied as she wiped her brow with her sleeve. She looked around at her fellow students. If they wanted any help, she was very willing if Professor Dakest allowed it.

They were going to try to produce patronuses? Penelope knew that she wouldn't be getting her corporeal patronus today, but she could work on the happy memory stuff. Happy memories. Did she have any patronus conjuring happy memories? Snaps, divination lessons... Hmm... What could she use as a happy memory? Penelope thought about butterflies and her sister and her parents and some of their pets and her mother's garden. Not just any random thoughts about these things, a specific happy memory that she would never tell anyone, just like Professor Dakest had said. Maybe that would work for a happy memory?

"Rodriguez," he sighed for what felt like the millionth time as the professor walked away. His first surname was Rodriguez. And Professor Dakest needn't worry about him. Xavier was certainly going to work on this spell obsessively until he mastered it. Just maybe not quite so loud in a room full of students.

He took another deep breath, calling back that elated feeling of the fire and the dancing and the people and tried again. "Expecto Patronum" softly, and intensely. There were no visible results, but this time Xavi felt a little energy slip away from him, as if the spell had tried to work and just hadn't quite made it, but that was progress from the last time.

Chocolate issue far from her mind, Lux was busy spazzing out because HELLO HER PATRONUS WAS MORE FORMED THAN EVER.

Excuse her, she was just having a moment as she watched the faint form disappear. It had almost looked like something, but she wasn't sure what. No matter because this was awesomesauce and Professor Dakest was PRAISING her. An Auror was praising her. WOW. This was like when Professor Culloden said that she would be a great potion inventor.

Feeling more confident and proud of herself, Lux was so ready to give this spell another go. She was determined to make her patronus even stronger this time, and the challenge made everything more worthwhile in the end. She had her game face on, and she would DO THIS.

Bringing her mind back to her happy memories, Lux let them all play through her head over and over again. There were so many of them and they were all so happy. She loved this so much and tried her best to let them fill her like Dakest said. It was hard, but she was totally trying her best. Performing the wand movement again, she cast the spell. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"

The result was even stronger than last time, and Lux let out a squeal. "Did you see that, Professor???" EEEEP!! Even if it wasn't a true Patronus, she was getting there. Her thoughts were super happy, but maybe the concentration was her problem; she needed to focus even harder.

Coming up with a happy memory was harder than Brooklyn would have thought. IT wasn’t that she didn’t have any, but deciding on one that was strong enough to actually protect her was the hard part. Her first ballet recital, violin performance, moving to London and getting to experience things that her sister hadn’t really gotten to do, the first time she’d read Game of Thrones…being sorted into Slytherin. She had plenty of happy memories. She just had to sort through them and choose one, and that was a lot of work. She’d much rather not do that much work, so instead she’d decided to practice the separate parts of the charm first. Then maybe she’d go back to the memory part.

“Expecto Patronum…expecto patronum, expectopatronum, expectopatronumexpectopatronumexpectopatronum,” she said, gradually finding her whisper gaining speed until the words had bled together until they were barely recognizable. At least she knew she was still pronouncing them correctly. “Expecto Patronum.” See? She could totally manage the incantation. And she wasn’t really worried about the wand movement either. A simple circle. She could do that in her sleep, but she took out her wand and did it a few times just to prove it. Easy. The hard part was the stupid memory part, and being happy when she was steadily getting more and more frustrated by how hard it was to decide on one.

Zhenya felt quite full of her memory. Her happy memory. She had peeked over her shoulder to see how everyone else was going. Lots of silver, a few hints of a patronus. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she heard the Professor speak to the others in the class and give suggestions or encouragements. She told herself that she would be able to cast a patronus. That was easy, wasn't it? Telling yourself you could do something. She got into a good stance again, raised her wand, and spoke; "Expecto Patronum," clear and loud, performing the circular wand movement at the same time. There was a few hair-like silvery wisps coming from the end of her wand, and she was DELIGHTED. It was something! Seeing the silver gave her more encouragement, she concentrated on her Grandpapi. His kind, wrinkled face, the knowing look he always had, how he could sit there for hours just listening, how good he was at teaching, how patient, how loving and caring he was. She felt full of warm energy and raised her wand. "Expecto Patronum," she said again, loud and clear, circling her wand in the air. Something MORE came out of her wand. She looked in astonished delight as what appeared to be a silver dome came out of her wand. It was very clearly NOT an animal, but it seemed she had been able to cast a nice, strong, if possible, non-corporeal patronus. It remained coming out of her wand, sort of fuzzy, until she dropped her hand, breaking the spell.

OH WOW, she mouthed to the wall.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Benzi got to his feet and looked around the classroom. He knew his memories of course. He'd been practicing the Patronus charm for Merlin knows how long. Probably since he was fourteen years old. He'd always viewed it as a must for his preferred career choice, and it was the one thing he could not do no matter how hard he tried.

He noted with some dull, petty satisfaction that not everyone his age seemed thrilled by the prospect of practicing patronuses today. The little kids were delighted of course, but they knew nothing of it. Looking at them cheered him up though. They reminded him of Suri, of how inexplicably happy she could be at times.

Then he noticed the telltale silvery light of a successful patronus, and turned to see a ferret bouncing in the air. Frowning, he cast his eyes around the nearby faces, finally tracing it back to Sophie Brown. Of course. Of course Sophie Brown could do it. His mood sank back down again, and he suddenly fervently wished Suri would be able to cast her patronus well, when the time came. She'd been much younger when... when everything had happened. She could bounce back from it better than he had.

Eyeing Toby as he went to sit in the corner, Benzi was sorely tempted to join him. But no. He had to show the professor he could cast a strong, albeit disc formed, patronus. At least that. After over two years of hard work, that's all he managed. Benzi sighed, and shrugged his shoulders to shake this heavy feeling. With a long exhale, he closed his eyes and brought forth his happiest memory.

Heh. WHOOPS?

It wasn't him, he swore, though... he wouldn't mind if Sabel thought it was him that started this, what would the man even do about it? Not that any accusations of the sort would stick anyway, if there was anyone with a liking for mid-class treats as much as him, it was AJ. The girl was all sorts of fierce.

Head down, Zeke continued his considerations of the Patronus Charm.... and he his a light chuckle while he was at it.

Shame AJ couldn't get through to him either.

...

...

It didn't bother him the slightest that Sabel was wandering around, it was to be expected, and as much as he would have liked to share his memories with the man, it was NOT going to happen. Nope.

"Expecto Patronum," he said clearly and with measured breath. "Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum, Expecto Patronum...."

It really wasn't a difficult incantation to learn, the words lid from his tongue without effort.

Time to try together?

When he was free and flying he was certainly happy. Especially when he had been atop that dragon created from a stone last term. That had been cool and a smile graced his face at the thought. But then times spent with his friends, especially Adi and Angel, made him happy as well. It was just the point of picking and finding a memory that was strong enough and positively happy enough to work on the task at hand.

His attention was brought back around to the class when the professor spoke up again to them all. Benny wasn't quite sure he was doing fantastic like the rest of his fellow students already were, still dwelling on memories while others could be heard trying things out. The flash of a student-cast ferret hadn't gone unnoticed.

He decided to try working on the actual incantation, knowing he'd need that right too. "Expecto...Patronum," the Gryffindor spoke at first, the two words divided as he got his mouth around them. "Expecto Patronum...ex-pec-to pa-tro-num...Expecto Patronum." The circle of the wand moment was simply enough, it was all the incantation, happy memory, and intent behind the spell that mattered. "Expecto Patronum."

Brushing her fingers against the grooves on her wand was all she could do to stay calm. The nagging feeling that she would fail this kept playing in her mind. C’mon, she had to show people that she was nice and not overly so…or whatever it was that Sophie had said in the Compartment on the way to school.

She had to do this, to try at least. If she didn’t it was only going to hinder her, what if she needed to talk to someone covertly? What if she needed to make business plans with…friends.

Stretching out her back and standing tall was the first thing she did. Well, it was second after biting her lip. “Expecto Patronum” she enunciated as she moved her wand in a circular motion.

All she could see were a few hair like wisps of light…so, that wasn’t the right memory was it? She thought and shifted to run a hand through her hair only stopping when her fingers couldn’t trail through it. Braids. She’d forgotten about the braids.

Looking around the room she decided to try and see how happy everyone else looked first…the little kids were brilliantly happy…Sophie was well, she had just left so that wouldn’t help right now…and…Benzi well, he looked like he was trying really hard. Taking a few steps closer Puck moved over to the claw boy.

“Hey Rider,” she sent him a grin, though it wasn’t the happiest looking grin. It seemed to almost be veiled with sadness. Or well, the veil she used to hide her sadness. When she slipped closer to him she kept thinking of happy moments, and trying to find one to focus in on.

Then it hit her like a punch to the gut. “that’s it” she whispered and started to smile in earnest. The time’s she spent with her mother in her darkroom, those special times that made her feel special and loved as a child. Sure, she missed her but she always had those memories.

“E-“, she paused, “Expecto Patronum” she cast again her smile brightening as she thought about her. Hey…look…it was a thing? It wasn’t a disk which she would have been happy about, it was more…well like a thinly shaped dinosaur? Wait…no, it had wings! And Scales! It seemed to grow brighter as she watched it and beamed.

“It’s a dragon,” she grinned but the dragon seemed to fade and flicker as the pain of thinking about her mother came into play…she had to think about other things as well…about spending time with Claire and about those summers with Lo, and of course about Bianca and her family…and it seemed to be stable again as it soured around the room.

As always, whenever he thought of happy memories, his dead uncle swam up to the surface. It was unavoidable, and very annoying, because he'd found pretty early on that all those happy memories were tarnished and unusable. Perhaps he'd gain perspective one day, but it was still too soon. He could still remember everything a tad too well.

Recalling that first night ever in London, a small smile finally appeared on Benzi's face and he raised his wand. Relaxing his wrist, he did a couple of circular motions with his wand to familiarize himself once more with the movement before he sucked in a deep breath.

"Expecto Patronum!" he cast, and watched with a wry smile as an almost blinding bright disc erupted from his wand, large enough to protect him from the odd dementor or lethifold but not strong enough to morph into his animal familar.

Abruptly, the silvery light melted away and Benzi sighed.

"Hey," he turned to Puck, matching her sad smile with his own and watched curiously as she went about casting her own patronus... Benzi's smile froze on his face and he stated as Puck's dragon drifted in and out of existence. He should be happy for her.

He'll be happy for her later. "Good job," he said, his voice hollow and he turned to look at Toby's corner longingly. Perhaps he'd go over there.

Marsha couldn’t help the giggle as she saw some more patronuses burst forward. There was a cat.. and oh, the Professor’s otter was back.. and the Ravenclaw’s ferret had just poofed out of existence. That was sad, but hey! She’d managed in the first place. OH! WOAHHHHH.

LOOK AT THAT DRAGON.

Excited, laughing and giggling happened. She couldn’t help it, she was safely cocooned in the warm loving warmth of family. Not only her parents and her sister, but the large (EXTRA large) family that she herself had with her parent’s cousins and her grand-parents and their best friends and their children who were basically aunts and uncles too. To Benny, Xander, Xandra, Whitney and Evan to name a few who were still at Hogwarts in their last few years. To her new family that she had found as part of Gryffindor, with Lance and Rusty, Zac and Evie. To the older students who had been nothing but nice; Zander, Puck, Eden and Adi to name a few.

”Expecto Patronum!” She said, twirling her wand. Marsha watched as she got a handful of silvery whisps… GRIN! She knew it wasn’t a full Patronus, but she didn’t care! SHE had managed something.

However, if she could manage something, surely she could manage more… right?

Holding her wand in her hand, she turned it in the circular motion, imaging that she was pulling all of the happiness that was bubbling up inside of her out of her body through her wand. Closing her eyes, she felt the happiness of her little bundle of Alis in her arms, the amazingly tight protective hugs that her Tad could give her, the careful way that her Mam helped her get up onto her horse. The way Rusty’s smile could light up a room. Lance and HIS smiles. There was nothing their strength wouldn’t be able to help her do.

”Expecto Patronum!!”

Opening her eyes, a huge GRIN paired with a bubbly laugh as she saw a patronus infront of her. It wasn’t in the form of an animal, not yet anyway - but it looked like a solid(ish) incorporeal patronus. WOAH. She had done that. HER! Marsha.

GGGGGGGIIIIIGGGGGGGGLLLLEEEE.

Moving her wand around slightly, she watched the disc moving with her. Woah.

Gaining more confidence, Ethan took in a deep breath as he held on to his wonderful, wonderful memory. The picture, the feeling, it meant everything to the teenager, and there was absolutely NOTHING that can change his mind about the love of family. Although both Mordaunt boys went through difficult times separately, the trust behind their close relationship just might be stronger than what real siblings share. Tough times changed them both, and definitely for the better.

Ethan was momentarily distracted when he caught the proud smile from his professor. The Slytherin gave him a smile back, and saluted him with his wand. “I’ll give it another go professor. I got this.” He said confidently, and nodded back to the man. “I shall not fail, jedi master Dakest.” Hehehehehe. What? He needed confirmation too that the professor was indeed a StarWars nerd like himself! Hehehehe.

The Slytherin slowly ceased his smile, and focused at the task at hand. He’s an ambitious student, and he wanted to produce a corporeal patronus. He just HAVE to, because he believes SO MUCH in his happy memory.

Centering himself once more, Ethan focused on the bright blue-white light in him and supplied that light with the positive energy of his happy memory. For him to get what he wanted, Ethan knew that he needed to follow through with the spell. Inhale, exhaled, “Expecto Patronum!” Again, another thick puff of smoke came out of his wand, but it lingered somehow. The Slytherin knew it was his cue. He just needs to project the memory more.

Wait…of course!

A projection! That’s what he needed to do. Ethan lowered his wand, as he theorized inside his head. The memory, the energy, all of those needed projection. He needed those two elements to come out of him, but still connected within his soul. Maybe…maybe that’s the secret to sustain and form an animal figure!

Clearing his mind of everything else, the Slytherin gripped his wand in his hand and raised his arm in front of him. Inhale, exhale, and Ethan with his serious façade, concentrated on his happy memory supplying the blinding white energy inside him, and imagined it to come out of his wand arm and through his wand. “Expecto…Patronum!!” Ethan, with all his might imagined the ball of energy projecting out of him while keeping the same energy at the center of his whole being, protecting him.

Lo and behold, a form was made.

Ethan did not dare blink, and stared proudly at his Patronus. “Whoa…” He was definitely…definitely a happy camper!

Angel was not enjoying this, she had to think of a memory that made her super happy, well that was a choice of well what had she done that she was super proud of, there was a few things that were good but were they strong enough to make this spell work and to help her.

Angel decided that the next thing that she had to do was practice the wand movement and so without even coming up with a thought, she could do that later right... she started to make sure that the wand movement was 100% correct, it would be a shame to get everything right then have it all go wrong because she got the wrong wand movement.

She could feel eyes on her, watching her and she knew it was Professor Dakest. She didn't lift her gaze or try to catch his attention because she was A-OKAY and didn't need help. This was something Hady was going to do on her own no matter how long it took her.

With the wand movement and the incantation both down the third year closed her eyes letting some of her deeper more passionate memories overcome her. Ones from when she was just a very young child. So far back in fact she had to take down the carefully constructed walls up in her mind just to be able to access them. As she let her mind wander freely through these memories the third knew she had found the memory she needed for this. The beautiful clear blue sky on that spring morning, the slight breeze blowing her hair about her face, the sounds of laughter and water splashing against the rocks. What it was like to be picked up and spun so fast in a circle and set on your feet so dizzy you fall over but you get up wanting to do it again. The young snakette could see their faces clearly and hear the shouts of delight.

This was it. There was no denying the face that she knew which memory she needed to use as her free hand lifted to fiddle with the locket around her neck for the briefest of moments. Opening her eyes slowly she inhaled deeply shaking the feeling the memory gave her and focused on nothing but the happiness or it. Holding her wand firmly she was ready.

Making a perfect circle movement with her wand in front of herself she spoke the incantation clearly her focus set on the memory she was going to use, “Expecto Patronum!” A tiny puff of smoky white shot from the tip of her wand and faded away after a few seconds. Nothing else happened. It was a huge start though!

So they were going to practice doing the Patronus charm which was fine by Michael seeing how he had been able to do the charm for the past year and a half.

He noticed that a few students weren't very eager though. Was it because they thought the spell too hard or because they had no happy memories? He had no problems in finding happy memories. All he had to do was think of Zahra and that made him happy every single time.

Standing up from his chair, Michael moved into a clear area and drew his wand. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind from everything else before bringing up a happy memory. He chose the time when he and Zahra had been about seven years old and they had built a fort and were guarding it from imaginary wild beasts.

He made a circular motion with his wand and said the incantation. "Expecto Patronum." At first there was just silvery mist shooting out of his wand, but as he concentrated more on his happy memory, the mist changed into an animal. A sea lion to be exact. It swam around him a few times before dissolving.

"Hey Sir! Can I try doing the spell non verbally?"

It was both cool and disheartening, seeing other people cast corporeal patronuses. he watched them for a while, the dragon that apparently belonged to Puck, and there was a bear one too.

....

OKAY ZEKE BROWNE, GET YO ACT TOGETHER!

He was perhaps more determined now than before to cast the Charm, and it gave him confidence knowing that Charms was an area he excelled in - though he could hardly take the credit, it was his wand that favoured them... through him... or something like that. Either way, there were reasons that explained why he was better at Charms than Transfiguration.

...

Deeeeeeeep breath.

Focus.

"Expecto Patronum!" Zeke announced, his wand moving in a tight circular fashion.

Nothing.

Perhaps he wasn't thinking hard enough.

Letting the memory of that day at the park overwhelm his senses, he could almost feel the discomfort in his chest, he could hear the wind in his ears, he could remember the kids scattering...

...

Again, he cast the Charm.

"Expecto Patronum!"

This time he wasn't unsuccessful, so to speak. Whips of silvery white escaped his wand tip, falling like a curtain briefly before fading away.

That was a good sign, right? Right? Granted, it was neither a shield nor a corporeal patronus.

Grayson wasn't aware that there was someone standing near him, let alone the freaking 'fessor. Dude had been standing there letting his emotions show because guess what? If he was alone in his own world, he can show as much of his deepest darkest emotions as he wanted and no one could stop hi--

HOLY FREAKING MERLIN WHAT THE ACTUAL--

The Slytherin jumped at the sudden hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Dakest standing RIGHT THERE. Jeez! Talk about scaring a guy. He immediately let a neutral expression cross his face as he listened out to what the guy had to say. What would he protect most in the world? ......... Er......... jeez, this was hard, man. Those questions really made him think because honestly? Grayson didn't know. Had no clue whatsoever.

Why in the name of Merlin was this so difficult?!

After a couple of seconds, he nodded slowly and said, "So like friends. Family. My girlfriend?" Those were the very few things he was absolutely loyal to and would defend without a second thought. And it sounded kinda cheesy and all but whatever. "I also like my face very much but I don't think that's what we're going for here."

"Yeah, I'm gonna try one of those. Thanks, Professor." Nod. See? He had MANNERS. He took a deeeeeeeeep breath and tried to think of one of those things. Namely, family. The family that annoyed and embarrassed him to no end but the family he WOULD do anything for, even if he didn't like to admit it.

"Expecto Patronum!" he called with enough confidence to fill the oceans. The result?

.........................

A tiny whisp of blue-white smoke. Tiny. He could just about make it out but it couldn't be bigger than his fist.

Brian wasn't very sure at all that he honestly wanted to try this. It wasn't that he didn't have any happy memories or anything, it was just the fact that he knew that he wouldn't be able to cast and seeing everyone else around him (including one particularly talented first year) being able to cast theirs really did nothing for his self-confidence.

BUT the professor guy did say that it was entirely possible for him to be able to cast one. So there was some form of hope, wasn't there? Well, whatever happened, he'd just hope for the best and kinda work on it. But if nothing happened, it was okay. It was always good to be realistic.

Inhaling deeply, he made a lousy attempt at calming his nerves as he attempted the incantation. "Expecto patronum," he said, the words tasting funny on his tongue. "Expect patronum." I await a protector. The more he said it, the less stupid he felt. "Expecto patronum." If he really thought about it, it was just a little funny. His ma would probably laugh. She'd say something about sending him to a prestigious magic school to await a protector was ridiculous. "Expecto patronum."

Interesting that. That it might not be something you could be afraid of. He wondered if there were cases in which a wizard mind find his own father protective but a bit scary and thus have his patronus take the shape of a beast that might actually scare him a bit. A small smile was forming on the young wizard's face as he considered the absurdity. Such a condition, he thought was beyond pathetic and it made him snort a bit at it. This was not washed away in time as he looked toward Sophie Brown in time to catch her look toward him. Was she hitting on him again? Merlin! These Hogwarts witches.

But her timing was perfect. As they were asked to begin considering happy thoughts. The Sophsicle went off without a hitch and he was actually quite proud of it. Plus, the look on Toby's face was particularly hilarious. Drawing a hand up to his mouth to stifle the laughter, Cutty took his wand in the other and casted.

He'd stopped his shoulders from shaking and the laughter was only a threat now. He had use of his mouth once again for it was not spilling over his snarky little laughter. "Expecto Patronum." The tip of Cutty's wand leaked the usual ethereal looking whisp of glowing mist and it swirled and thickened into a sheet of the mist.

Okayyy the glaring was kind of hot. The maggots, not so much. Gross. Ruby still wasn't exactly convinced about the whole thing though, because it was something that she did herself, invent a little justification for a thing just to make herself feel better about it. That's what this whole dark wizards can't do patronuses thing sounded like to her, people using a few incidents in history or whatever to try and feel superior.

All the same, she was actually pretty keen to give this a go? The main thing was that there wasn't notes she had to take or a board she had to read. Ruby always did better in lessons where she could listen (if it was interesting enough) than those where she was expected to read or write.

She might've got started daydreaming about Grayson (because honestly, happiest memories were definitely wrapped up in him), but Ruby noticed her brother being boring. And quiet. And like honestly, there was no reason he shouldn't already be casting a billion patronuses right?

.... yes, she had a lot of faith in him, basically.

She scooted over and gave his parchment a nudge.

Here she was, big brother.

The incantation down, Brian decided that it was time to move on. The wand movement was apparently simple, but what if the circle wasn't actually round? What if it was oblong? Would small things like that throw off the mechanics of this spell, being all complicated as it was? Well, probably not considering that this charm was used in emergencies but he was obviously procrastinating.

What an awful Hufflepuff he was, afraid of work. No, not afraid of work, just afraid to fail. Taking out his wand and sighing, he set out to draw a perfect circle. Yes, he was still procrastinating.

Okay, whilst she was waiting for Professor Dakest to answer her question, Rowan was practicing the wand movement again. There was something really lovely about holding her wand, she'd found. It fit perfectly in her hand and it was comforting and sort of warm..ish? Not like... temperature, but it was a warm feeling. Even swishing it about felt like some kind of dancing... wasn't magic lovely?

She'd finally settled on a memory - her tenth birthday party. It wasn't particularly remarkable as a party, but there was something about everybody being there and happy and celebrating that warmed her up from the inside out, and she thought that might be a really helpful thing to do.

Maybe she could try the spell now... she'd chosen a memory and she was quite confident with her wand movement, so here goes.

Rusty closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to imagine herself at the party with all her family around her, cutting into the plum cake that their Grammy made, then took a deep breath and... "Expecto patronum!" She did the wand movement and opened one eye to see if anything had happened...

No. Well... not no... there was a silvery mist floating in front of her, and it looked like it had come from her wand. But no animal friend yet... Huh...

How could she improve? She'd done it all right, hadn't she..? It had yet to occur to Rowan that magic, just with almost everything else you had to learn, needed practice, and it was very unlikely that she would get spells right first try, especially when she was only eleven.