they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 3 - 23

"Now are you sure, Astrid? You know this is very advanced magic well beyond the ordinary wizarding level."

Is this man trying to discourage me? Because I will tell you this only makes me want to do it more.

Astrid stood determinedly in the small circular Astronomy Room and nodded at the professor in answer. 

"I know you're a smart and determined girl, I've noticed that, but even many qualified wizards have difficulty with the charm."

"They just didn't try hard enough," she spoke confidently and the professor chuckled before standing back straight from the railing he had been leaning against and walking towards her.

"Okay," he said stopping a few feet away from the girl. "Now do you remember what I asked you to do before coming here?"

"Think of happy memories."

"Correct. Do you know why?"

"Should I know why?"

"No, no, I was just wondering. So have you done that?"

"Yes, I just couldn't quite choose which I liked most."

"You have to choose the most powerful one. What we will be trying to learn today is a Patronus Charm. When it works correctly, it conjures a Patronus which is a kind of anti-Dementor — a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it."

Astrid nodded in response. 

"What you'll have to do is take that memory you have and concentrate solely on it and the good feeling it associates you with. Lose yourself within it. And then speak an incantation - expecto patronum."

Astrid nodded again.

"Say it," the professor chuckled and Astrid grinned awkwardly.

"Oh, um... expecto patronum."

"Good, good. Now let's try it for real."

Astrid nodded once more. Truth be told she was a little nervous. The girl wanted to get it first try, but something told her she wouldn't. But Astrid was a Slytherin. She was ambitious. And she did not give up once she had set her mind onto something.

"Close your eyes," the professor spoke soothingly and the girl obliged. "Concentrate." This was harder than she thought it would be. Her thought scrambled to find the best memory. Though she had come up with several good ones, she couldn't decide which she liked best. Her brain was in chaos, just as it always was and she felt she couldn't find anything.

"You have a memory?" the professor asked and in panick, Astrid picked the first thing that popped into her mind. Her first bike ride. She hoped it would be good enough. Astrid took a deep breath and tried to concentrate solely on the memory and solely on how she had felt. "Allow it to fill you up." Without noticing it Astrid smiled. "Then when you're ready open your eyes and speak the incantation."

Astrid took another breath and concentrated as hard as she could. She stood her eyes closed and as Lupid had asked, filled her up with the good energy. 

But then her mind slipped as she started thinking about how it must be harder to feel happy that evening because of the potions essay Snape had assigned only for her to write. The man was still mad at Astrid's behaviour in his D.A.D.A. class as he believed the girl had been intoxicated (which in fact she had been) despite the fact Madam Pomfrey had excused her as being perfectly fine. Astrid couldn't understand why the man despised her so much. She never-