As Potter is to Snape

Chapter 42

Harry walked into the History of Magic classroom at exactly eight o'clock. He lit the lanterns with his wand and waited for Remus to get there. He had just left the Potions Club and, true to his word, Snape had partnered him with Malfoy. They had until the next week to come up with a potion to brew, write an essay on it that was no less than two feet, and brew it together at the next meeting.

Draco and Harry hadn't been the only ones to be paired up with a classmate from a different House either. Snape had made sure that everyone's partners were from a different House, which Harry wasn't so sure was a good idea. But besides a few grumbles, no one seemed to be too upset about it. Hermione had been paired with a Ravenclaw girl that Harry didn't know and Ron had teamed up with Ernie Macmillan. Even Neville, who Harry was surprised had even come, had a partner: Hannah Abbott. Harry really hoped that she could help Neville out so that he didn't mess up too much.

Only a few minutes after he had arrived, the door opened and Remus came inside carrying a large suitcase that he dropped heavily onto the floor beside Professor Binns' desk.

"Hello, Harry," Remus said brightly, "Hope you haven't been waiting long."

"No, I just got here." Harry pointed to the case. "What's that?"

"A boggart. I've been looking all over the castle for one and I finally found it in the filing cabinet in Mr. Filch's office. I thought this would be the next best thing to a real dementor."

Harry tried not to look too apprehensively at the case. After all, a boggart wouldn't be a real dementor, and that had to count for something.

"So," Remus said as he came to stand next to Harry and took out his wand. "The spell that I'm going to teach you, Harry, is highly advanced magic. Well above Ordinary Wizarding Level, so I don't want you to be discouraged if you don't get it immediately on your first try. Alright?"

Harry nodded. "What's it called?"

"The Patronus Charm. When done correctly, it conjures up a Patronus, which is a sort of guardian or protector from dementors. It's like everything that the dementors feed on: hope and happiness. But I'm very serious when I tell you that this is no easy charm to learn. I know some truly skilled wizards that cannot perform it."

"What does it look like?" Harry asked even as he took out his own wand from the pocket of his robes. "And how can it be a protection from the dementors if it's basically made of everything they want?"

"It can't feel despair, so the dementors can't hurt it. And it looks different for everyone. Patronuses are unique just like the wizard who conjures it. Which you can do," he went on quickly when Harry opened his mouth to ask another question, correctly guessing what he would ask, "with an incantation. But it will only work if you concentrate really hard, with everything you have, on a single, happy memory. The happiest one you've got."

Harry grew quiet as he tried to think of something that would be happy enough to drive away a dementor. There hadn't been a lot of really happy times in his life and he was afraid that he wouldn't have one strong enough. He finally settled on the first time he had ridden a broomstick, the way he felt so weightless, soaring higher and higher into the blue, cloudless sky.

"Okay," he said after a moment. "I've got one."

"Right, then," said Remus before clearing his throat. "The incantation is Expecto Patronum."

Harry repeated the spell a couple of times under his breath before he glanced back up at Remus and nodded.

"And you're concentrating hard?" Remus asked.

"Yes, I think so." Harry took a deep breath and moved into the center of the room. He thought hard about flying as he gripped his wand tightly.

Lupin reached for the clasp on the suitcase and pulled it open. A second later, a dementor floated up and out of the case. As it turned its hooded head towards Harry, the lights in the classroom went out and the room became eerily cold.