"Expecto Patronum." I flick my wrist gently into the air, but the tip of my wand only sparks lightly and fizzles out. Defeated for nearly the fifth time, I feel like giving up but I know I must'n't. I square my shoulders back and stand up straighter, a bit tense as I concentrate. Just as I begin to say the charm again, I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder. I drop my hand to my side and turn, smiling cause I expect it to be Severus, only to find
Potter.
"Hey," James says with a chuckle,
"lemme show you something." He steps closer to me without allowing me to object, placing one hand over mine gripping my wand and the other gently on my hip. I can feel my face getting red hot when his cheek almost brushes mine. In my peripheral vision, I could see his glasses protruding in front of his face, barely staying on the end of his nose. And then I can hear him speaking in his rough tone, sounding as if he had just ended puberty and he was still getting used to his deepened voice.
"Relax Lily. You feel so tense." How could I relax? Potter was holding me for the first time, and it felt so right. I had to admit, I liked him. I suddenly wondered in that moment, how he felt towards me, if at all. Could we even consider each other friends, or just acquaintances? I do as he suggests and let my body relax, turning my head a little to look him in the eye.
"This is supposed to help how?" He chuckles lowly.
"Just watch." He shifts behind me a bit, pressing his chest against my back ever so slightly, enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I look forward to avoid eye contact, afraid he'll read me like a book.
"Now Lily, I want you to think of a happy memory. Take a moment and think of a time when you were really, truly happy." Well that was easy. The day I found out my younger sister, Petunia, had written Dumbledore after I had been invited to attend, begging him to let her attend Hogwarts alongside me.
"Quit calling me a freak. That's a mean thing to say Petunia!" I yelled at her.
"You and that freak from down the street, going to that school for weirdos. That's right, weirdos and freaks, that's what you are Lil'." Her smirk could curdle milk.
"That's not what I heard! I know you wrote the headmaster and practically begged him to let you into Hogwarts! That's pathetic."
I couldn't stop smiing at the memory, being able to relive that moment was the victory feeling I got when Griffindore wins their quittich matches. Just amazing.
"I've got it." I looked at him and I could almost see my smile reflecting in his eyes. Gorgeous.
"Alright. Now say the words, and hold that memory in your head." I nod, raising my wand.
"Expecto Patronum." A small wisp of white light swirls around at the tip of my wand before fading into thin air.
"Crap.""No, no. That was good Lily. It's just a matter of getting the hang of it. Maybe try a different memory. One much stronger." I can feel James's thumb on the top of my hand tenderly brush my skin, sending shivers down my spine. I try to think of something much greater than one-upping my sister.
"How about the time whe-""Shh." I can feel his breath on the back of my neck. Hot. A relief from the cold of the mid-winter at Hogwarts.
"No need to tell me. Just think." I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"Kay." I scan through the files of memories in my mind, deciding over a lot of good ones. But only one stuck out from all the rest. This moment.
"Ready?" I look around at a few other students looking at us in the classroom, forcing myself to look away so I can regain my happy memory instead of the scared and shy feeling I was getting right now.
"Ex-pecto..Pa-tronum." With a soft wave of my wand, a bright snowy blue aura ball takes shape at my wand's end, morphing into a small doe. My eyes widen at the sight as well as my smile does, watching my patronus doe prance around the room full of students and their own patronus charms. I look around at everyone's, smiling when my own returns to my side, evaporating in a blink of an eye.
"Amazing, Lily," James says in my ear just as he pulls away and walks off, whispering over his shoulder.
"Just like you." Now my heart was racing in my chest, pounding against the walls of my diaphragm. I manage a soft, shy smile, opening my mouth to say something but nothing comes.
