Captured

Twenty-Four: Close

"Okay, so first we'll just go over wand movement and incantation. I - Well if you're just going to keep rolling your eyes then I'm not going to help you."

She had slipped back into the familiar tone she used when she'd help another student studying, as easily as pulling on a favorite sweater. Malfoy had rolled his eyes towards the ceiling dramatically as soon as she started speaking.

A sudden laugh spilled from him, as his eyes landed on the hands on her hips before flitting back up to take in the look of annoyance on her face.

"What?" She snapped, suddenly self-conscious as he laughed at her.

She didn't like it, feeling self-conscious. She wasn't exactly a stranger to it, having been a bit of an outcast the first eleven years of her life, but she never used to care what Malfoy thought of her - he had laughed at her throughout the years too many times to count. The only time it had really gotten to her was when he was shaming her publicly, and that was more to do with the magnitude of the teasing as opposed to who was doing it. But even though it was just the two of them, an unfamiliar wave of insecurity was washing over her as he laughed. It felt... odd, to be standing in front of him, ready to fall back into teaching like she had never left Hogwarts, like this was any number of the many younger students she had helped learn a charm or spell over the years. But it wasn't Hogwarts and it wasn't one of those wide-eyed first years, it was Malfoy, and with him.... She couldn't pretend like the last few months hadn't changed how she saw him, and how she wanted him to see her. That had apparently settled a new feeling of vulnerability deep within her that she hadn't realized until then. Also, though she'd never admit it, he had really been the only student at Hogwarts to ever cause her any sort of anxiety over grades and the thought of teaching him inherently made her nervous. He'd know if she said or did something wrong, more-so than any of the other students she had helped over the years. And while she felt ridiculous for it, she wanted him to be impressed by her. Her arms moved from her hips to cross protectively in front of her chest as she retreated within herself.

"Granger you look like a prefect getting ready to admonish a bloody first year." He laughed again and his words were breathy with it as he continued, "I feel like you're about to give me detention."

The laughter continued and she began to relax, realizing it wasn't her he was really laughing at. It was the situation. It was a jarring juxtaposition, the almost childish familiarity of who they were at Hogwarts before the war, paired with the harsh reality of their current situation. She felt herself smiling slightly, as she forced herself to shake off the feeling of self-doubt, and soon she was laughing too.

"Okay, just show me." His laughter was finally calming down and he gestured to her to continue. She cleared her throat and began speaking again.

"Now, don't feel discouraged if you can't produce one right away, patronuses are very hard to conjure. Many witches and wizards are unable to produce even an incorporeal one, let alone a corporeal patronus with form. The incantation is Expecto Patronum." She brandished her empty hand as she said the incantation, as if she were actually casting the charm.

He stood from the chair he was sitting in, to come stand beside her. He held his wand out and she adjusted it slightly, her fingers tingling from where she readjusted the bare skin on his wrist and hand, wondering if he felt it too.

"You're going to want to focus on the happiest memory you can find. This is incredibly important, as a patronus is a manifestation of positivity. A shield made of a kind of positive force to stand between yourself and the dementor. In order to conjure this, you need to be drawing from a place of pure happiness and light. Try and think of the happiest you've ever been, and then focusing on that, speak the incantation."