As though Arlene was not already overworked from Quidditch, her piling school work, detention and the Newspaper, Professor Lupin decided to start the dementor training sessions.
Arlene barely had time to breath, she copied homework off Sage, stayed up all night and slept in class, she got Theo and Blaise to help her in her detentions, went to practice late and left early and drank coffee instead of sleeping. She couldn't believe Hermione would overwork herself the same way willingly.
She considered quitting it, dementors weren't a fundamental issue for her, unlike Harry, and they would learn in Sixth year anyways. Still, Arlene loved new skills, that's why she knows sign language, Morse code and how to read Braille.
But that meant that she would keep fainting whenever they got too close.
And plus, Blacks aren't quitters.
"I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm ready to die." Arlene declared as soon as she entered the Defense Against Dark Arts Classroom, plopping on one of the desks.
"Good morning to you too, Arlene." Lupin, who looked too much like a suburban dad with his tan trousers, white shirt and plaid sweater, said with an amused undertone while taking a sip from his coffee mug.
"So," Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that Harry and Arlene should do the same "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, it's beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" said Harry nervously, Arlene didn't blame him, she was starting to doubt her decision as well.
"Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus," said Lupin, "which is a kind of anti-Dementor, a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor."
Arlene had a mental image of holding Medieval shield and sword while attempting to fight a Dementor who looked at her the way you look at a dog who got his head stuck in a peanut butter jar, Professor Lupin continued, "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. But I must warn you two that the charm might be too advanced for you, many qualified wizards failed it in Sixth year."
"Are all your pep talks this motivational?" Arlene asked sarcastically.
"I've been told several times that I'm very inspiring." Lupin replied with equal levels of sarcasm.
"What does a Patronus look like?" said Harry curiously.
"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it." Lupin replied, leaning against the desk and taking another sip from his coffee "Professor McGongall's is a cat, Dumbledore's is a Phoenix, but not everyone can conjure a corporeal Patronus."
"And how do you conjure it?" Harry continued, drinking up every word Professor Lupin was saying.
"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory," He finished "it could be a birthday, first Quidditch game. For me, it's the day I got my Hogwarts letter."
'He didn't think he'd be able to attend because he's a werewolf' Arlene realized, feeling guilt and shame for all the nights she lied in bed wondering whether Lupin was helping Sirius or not.
She pushed these thoughts out of her head and tried focusing on her happy memory. Meeting her aunt Andromeda? Going to Hogsmead with Hermione? Winning the Quidditch tryouts? Telling Snape to fuck himself is definitely a strong competitor.
"Right." Arlene cleared her throat "I'll start."
"The incantation is this," Lupin drawing circles with his wand "Expecto Patronum!"
The tip of his wand started to glow, releasing a flowy sheets of blue light, but Lupin pulled his wand back before it would form a full shape.
"Ready?"
"Yes," Arlene said, gripping her wand very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom, she hadn't felt this nervous since the sorting ceremony.
Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.
A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Arlene, who felt like the room just drop ten degrees, it was like all the light in the room went out.
"Expecto patronum!" Arlene yelled, she focused on the memory of finding out he was the newest chaser, but her efforts were wasted, the classroom and the Dementor were already dissolving, she felt everything go dark.
"Arlene!"
She jerked back to life, lying flat on her back on the floor, it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.
"Sorry," she mumbled, feeling sweat trickle down her forehead as her heart raced.
"Are you all right?" said Lupin, offering his hand, worry filling his eyes as he scanned her to make sure he was alright.
She took it "I just need a moment" she pulled out one of the chairs to sit and tried to bring her breathing back to normal.
"Here," Lupin handed her a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this and you'll feel better, I didn't expect you to do it your first time, in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
Arlene bit into it "I think that's enough for me today."
He nodded "That's understandable, and I would also recommend going to Madame Pomfrey for a quick checkup," he turned to the Gryffindor "Ready, Harry?"
Harry, as it turns out, was not ready. The boy fainted three times before he decided to call it a day, he then revealed that he kept hearing the voices of his parents and that it was getting worse, although his primary concern seemed to be the upcoming Quidditch game.
"I," Arlene announced "better get going, I have a detention and if I'm late it'll get doubled."
"For what?" Harry asked as he shoved the rest of the chocolate frog in his mouth.
"I used less than appropriate language when discussing the subject of calling Hermione a know-it-all." She simply said, careful to tiptoe around the truth.
Lupin hummed thoughtfully "You know," he started "I'm not one to condone rumors, but," he paused a thin smile coating his features "I heard his childhood nickname was 'Snivilius'."
"You're kidding." Harry said, she didn't think she had ever seen him this excited.
"Far from it, your father was the one who came up with it by the way."
"This is the most amazing thing I've heard all week."
Arlene shook her head "I'd prefer something more profane, like my personal favorite 'slimy fucker', it's very fitting."
They spent fifteen more minutes making up nicknames for Snape and she ended up being late anyway.
Arlene hit her head on the bookshelf and groaned loudly, which earned her a 'shhh!' from Madame Pince.
After she called Snape out on his latest nonsense, he gave her detention every Saturday for a month, which meant that the amount of free time she had went from 0 to negative ten.
Marcus almost murdered her when she told him she got detention, they had a match against Ravenclaw that day and if she didn't finish sorting the books in time, they would be screwed.
Marcus begged Snape to let it slide just this time, but Snape stood his ground. Who knew he hated her more than he cared about the house cup?
But Arlene was confident they were going to win, Marcus, Miles and Jade were all graduating that year, with Peggy and Lucian following them the year after so the stakes were high.
But Wood was also leaving, and judging from the speeches she's seen him give his team, it was anyone's game.
If they both managed to beat Ravenclaw, the final match would be between Slytherin and Gryffindor, which would be fittingly dramatic.
"Less internal monologue, more book sorting!" Sage called out, she knew her too well.
Sage, who was a good friend, Hermione, who was in the library anyway, and Pansy, who was sent by Flint to make sure she finishes in time, all sate on a table next to her.
Sage and Hermione, Merlin bless their hearts, had multiple piles of books around them, helping her sort them to finish faster.
"Don't you want to join us, Pansy?" Arlene asked as she stood on her toes to put a large book back in its place.
Pansy didn't look up from her nails "Nah, I'm good."
Arlene rolled her eyes.
"Done!" her Hufflepuff friend announced cheerfully "and you still have an hour before the match!"
"Then we need to go before Flit comes here and drags us from our ears."
"Flint, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Marcus shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain.
"Mount your brooms, on my whistle, three... two... one!"
Arlene kicked off into the air and zoomed up to catch the Quaffle, listening all the while to the commentary, which was being provided by Sage and Lee Jordan, she briefly wondered if it was awkward since they hadn't spoken since their date, but then she decided she had more pressing issues at the moment.
"Chaser Jade comes soaring in, fun fact about Jade, I had a crush on her in First Year."
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.
"Right you are, Professor, just giving a bit of background information, she was a Third Year at that time and-"
"Jordan!"
"Okay, okay, Slytherin in possession, Arlene Burke of Slytherin, heading for goal."
Arlene streaked past Peggy in the opposite direction and noticed that Cho Chang was tailing Draco closely, she was undoubtedly a very good flier, she kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction.
Draco dived just as a Ravenclaw chaser succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Ravenclaw end of the field went wild, Arlene looked where he was headed and she saw it, a tiny, golden Snitch.
Cho saw what he was doing and tore after him, Draco was speeding up, just then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere, and Draco had to veer off course to avoid it, the Snitch disappeared once again.
There was a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment from the Slytherin supporters, but much applause for their Beater from the Ravenclaw end.
"Ravenclaw leads by eighty points to thirty!" Sage's voice called out as a Ravenclaw chaser scored a goal.
They had now scored three goals, which put Ravenclaw only fifty points ahead, if Draco caught the Snitch before the Raven scored another goal, Slytherin would win.
Arlene grabbed the Quaffle and raced, passing it between her and Jade, they were closing in on the goal, they-
A Ravenclaw beater suddenly threw a Bludger at her, knocking it into her shoulder and causing her to go spiraling down, only managing to gain control of her broom again when she was a few feet away from the ground.
She turned to the Beater and saw he was grinning at her, but it was wiped off his face when the Bludger was sent his way.
Draco dived again, and Cho tried to follow, he pulled out of the dive very sharply but she hurtled downward.
That's when Arlene saw it for the second time, the Snitch was in the deep end on the Ravenclaw side.
At that moment, Jade passed the Quaffle to her, but instead of rushing to the hoops, she threw it down at Draco.
He looked up, confused, then she pointed at the Snitch.
He understood and started accelerating until his speed was equal to that of a bullet.
Cho was gaining at him, both inches away from the Snitch and then-
Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, Arlene turned in midair and saw Draco raise his arm high as the crowd around them cheered, a struggling golden Snitch between his fingers.