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The Patronus by Ms Granger

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Chapter Notes: I AM NOT J.K. ROWLING. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF HER MATERIAL, NOR DO I WANT TO STEAL FROM HER. ALL OF THE IDEAS ARE HERS, I am simply one woman who is very grateful to be able to play in her playground.

Lily Evans couldn’t wait for this term to be over so she could enjoy her summer holiday in peace without the constant presence of James Potter and –The Marauders” torturing her every day. They were all in their sixth year, and the date offers had started off early, and had continued like an unrelenting hailstorm ever since they returned from Christmas holiday, since apparently James Potter could find nothing better to occupy his time than to ask her out.

This particular morning, Lily was in an especially testy mood, mostly due to the fact that exams were coming up, and all of her professors had been heavily inundating their sixth years with assignments, much to the chagrin of the students. Sixth year was supposed to be lighter, for heaven’s sake! No O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s to worry about. Yet that small fact seemed to have escaped their professors’ notice. She had been up until three a.m. the previous night finishing up a Charms essay that she’d completely forgotten about, and even after she’d gone to bed, she tossed and turned the whole night.

After getting dressed and collecting her bag and materials for class, she descended the many staircases to the Great Hall for breakfast along with the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor girls. After scarfing down some eggs and toast, she rushed off to Defense Against the Dark Arts and took her usual spot in the front. Their professor announced that they would be moving on to a new subject: the Patronus Charm. A groan filled the classroom instantly. On top of all of the extra work they were being assigned, they now had to practice an extremely advanced spell, one that they probably shouldn’t have to learn until at least the seventh year. –I understand your trepidation,” the professor started in, –but these are dangerous times, and since we are ahead of schedule, I have decided to spend the next few classes going over the Patronus Charm. Today will be dedicated to the theory of the charm, and next class, we will have a go at producing one.”

The next hour was spent going over the history and theory behind the Patronus Charm, and everyone was writing notes furiously. That is, everyone except the Marauders. Lily heard them chuckling behind her, and turned around to find them tossing balled up pieces of paper at each other. Why on earth aren’t they paying attention to this? she thought, This is extremely advanced magic; one would think Golden Boy Potter and his band of cronies would relish the chance to learn about something so advanced for their year. She rolled her eyes, and turned back to the front of the classroom to resume taking notes.

After class, she heard James call out to her, –Interesting lesson today, eh, Evans?”

–Well, I thought it was interesting, but from the looks of you lot, it must have bored you to tears, since you didn’t take a single note the entire class.”

–Oh, Evans, I’m an old hat at the Patronus Charm! I’ve had that one down for months.”

–Well, then you should have no trouble at all producing one next class,” she said as she walked away.

–Oh, none at all, Evans! See you around!” he called after her. 

The nerve of him! How could he possibly know how to produce a Patronus Charm already? He must be fibbing, she said to herself. But then again, what if he wasn’t? What if he’d actually managed to teach himself to produce a Patronus Charm? How the hell could he even do that? And then a terrible thought struck her: what if she wasn’t able to produce one? Potter had somehow managed to teach himself to produce a Patronus Charm, but what if she never could? That would be one humiliation Potter would never inflict on her. She made a plan to practice it tonight and over the weekend until she was able to produce one. She’d work through the night, and sleep be damned if need be.

And that’s exactly what she did, accompanied by much protesting from her friends. She finally convinced them to come along and practice with her, since they would need to attempt to produce one, too. That night, they snuck out of the Gryffindor common room and found an unused classroom on the seventh floor to practice in. Lily practiced throughout the night. Her friends had all gone to bed by two in the morning, but Lily stayed up a few more hours until she could barely keep her eyes open. She eventually conceded defeat that night, having produced nothing but a silvery mist. Once she’d thought she’d seen the beginnings of a corporeal Patronus, but she may have just been imagining it.

The next night she was even more exhausted, having gone through a full day of classes on next to no sleep. But she was nothing if not determined. She went back to the unused classroom, this time without the company of her friends, and practiced ceaselessly throughout the night again, with the same minimal effects. She went to bed in the wee hours of the morning, and slept through breakfast the next day. When she finally woke up and came down to lunch, her friends were full of concern.

–Don’t you think this is a little unhealthy, Lils?”

–Yeah, how do you know he wasn’t just taking you for a ride?”

–Lily, you’ve got to stop. You’re going a little crazy with this whole thing.”

She ignored them and ate her lunch in silence. It was the weekend, so once she’d finished eating, she returned to the abandoned classroom and spent the remainder of the weekend locked in there, only emerging to eat or sleep.

Late Sunday night, she was a pent-up ball of frustration. She could feel how close she was to producing a corporeal Patronus. She sat down for a moment to review her notes for the thousandth time, and reread a passage that made her think it might be better to take a break. It read:

Think of your happiest memory, and let it fill you up. 

The Patronus Charm is a combatant to all things sad, negative, or unhappy.

You must be completely rid of unhappy thoughts to produce a full Patronus Charm

Well, she certainly wasn’t completely devoid of unhappy thoughts. Actually, she was pretty much full of nothing but unhappy thoughts. She conceded defeat one more night, and went to bed, vowing she would try to practice one more time before their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson in the morning.

And practice she did. She woke up a little earlier than usual, and popped over to her unused classroom for one last chance before breakfast. She thought of the happiest memory she could, took a deep breath, and let her memory fill her up. She could feel herself smiling; she was brimming with happiness and confidence. She said the incantation, –Expecto Patronum!” and she felt the most wonderful sensation shoot up her arm as a powerful light emitted from the tip of her wand. A beautiful doe burst into the room, filling it up with white light. It soared in the air for a few moments, before touching down on the floor and trotting over to her.

She could hardly believe her eyes. She’d done it! She’d produced a fully realized Patronus! She laughed and whooped and hollered until her friends opened the door to drag her down to breakfast.

–Oh, my goodness! Lily! I can’t believe it! You actually did it!” they all shouted at her.

–I know! I’m at a loss for words myself,” she replied. She was still laughing and grinning from ear to ear. Take that, Potter, she thought to herself. She’d certainly show him in class today.

They went down to breakfast, Lily floating on cloud nine. She didn’t even feel tired; she was on such an adrenaline rush.

–What’s up with you, Evans? What’s with the huge smile?” James asked her at the breakfast table.

–Oh, you’ll see soon enough, Potter.”

As soon as the bell rang, Lily leaped up and started trotting off to Defense Against the Dark Arts. She took her usual place at the front of the class, and waited with bated breath for their professor to call on them to attempt to produce the charm. Lily was one of the first to go since she was in the front of the class, and she was able to beautifully replicate her corporeal Patronus from earlier that morning.

Towards the back of the room, completely unnoticed by Lily Evans, James Potter was frozen in his seat. He couldn’t move a muscle in his body. All he could do was look at Lily and watch her smile as her beautiful doe cantered around the room. James knew that Remus, Sirius, and Peter were all looking at him, thinking the exact same thing that he was. He couldn’t believe it. After all this time, he had been right. And she didn’t even know.

The professor got to the back of the classroom, jerking James out of his reverie. He repeated himself in asking James to attempt to produce a Patronus Charm. Well, James knew that the attempt would be successful, and that what he produced would mortify Lily beyond anything he’d ever done to her before. So he asked if he could do his after class had ended, to which the professor agreed, but with much trepidation.

Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. James Potter, refusing the chance to show off? It was ludicrous! She knew he could produce one (although how she knew, she couldn’t say), so why was he hiding the fact? She watched as the professor moved on to Peter, Remus, and Sirius, all of whom produced their own Patronus without comment. But they were all looking at James when they were done…and James was looking down at his desk…why? What did they all know that she didn’t? Was he actually not able to produce one? Were her friends right? No, she decided. She knew he could. She decided to stay behind and find out why he was being so secretive.

At the end of class, she walked out with the rest of her classmates, but stuck by the door to eavesdrop on James.

–Whenever you’re ready, Mr. Potter.” Lily peeked around the corner to watch him cast his Patronus. He waved his wand and said the incantation, and a jet of light burst out of the tip, exactly as Lily’s had. Lily knew she had been right, and started to think of ways she could use this to taunt James.

But then her heart sank into her feet.

A brilliant, glowing stag bounded around the classroom. A stag. A stag. A stag. Lily couldn’t believe it. She knew enough about Patronus Charms to know exactly what this meant. She and James were…they were…soul mates.

But he was the most infuriating, vapid, insipid, vain…he was absolutely the most arrogant person she’d ever met. How could they possibly be…

But then something else hit her: James had hid this from everyone. He hadn’t produced his Patronus during class. He had known how…how embarrassing (mortifying, actually) this would have been for her.

And he had spared her from it.

Lily was still standing by the door to the classroom when James came rushing out. He saw her standing there, leaning up against the wall, and he stopped dead in his tracks. They met eyes, and they could barely move.

–Lily! What are you still doing here? Did you need to talk to Professor…?”

–No! No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.” But she couldn’t leave; she couldn’t even look away from him.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours. Finally James broke the silence. –Did you…you didn’t see…” When she didn’t respond, he suddenly knew that she had seen, and that she now knew what he had realized an hour ago.

They both just looked at each other. Finally, Lily found her voice.

–James, I’m so sorry I eavesdropped. I shouldn’t have. I’ll see you around. Good-bye.” And she bolted down the corridor before James had a chance to stop her.

James just stood there for a few moments, staring at her as she rushed away. Once she had rounded a corner, he started to walk towards his next class. Remus, Sirius, and Peter caught up to him and as they were walking away, James heard Remus say, –I think the thing that surprises me the most is that she learned to produce a corporeal Patronus in one weekend. I mean, it took us months to get it right.” James couldn’t help but smile. 

Chapter Endnotes: Thank you so much for reading! This was my very first Fan Fiction, so comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated!