Gerard Way and the Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Only two more days remained until the second task, which I now knew did not involve diving to the bottom of the Black Lake. I hadn't made much progress in preparing for the task, but a lot of it seemed to depend on exactly which poisons they used. For now, I was in the middle of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I was still struggling to conjure a Patronus.

"Gerard, I know that you can do this," Professor Howell told me. "Just think of a happy memory."

"I don't have any happy memories," I explained.

"What about when you were a young boy and your father took you into the city to see a marching band?" Professor Howell said. "You're always telling people about that, so it must be a strong memory."

"I already tried that," I said.

"Try another memory then," Professor Howell suggested. "The charm only works if you are concentrating on a single, very happy memory."

I continued to practice the spell, but nothing worked. The class period was over before I was able to successfully cast the Patronus charm. I decided to talk to Frank, since he was the first student to be able to cast the spell. Thankfully, both of us had a free period after Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Frank, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked.

"Sure," Frank said. "What is it, Gee?"

"I'm having trouble with the Patronus Charm," I told him.

"That's not really a big deal," Frank said. "Professor Howell said that many talented witches and wizards cannot produce a Patronus."

"But I want to learn," I said. "What if I get attacked by a Dementor or a Lethifold?"

"Dementors are super rare now that they're not being used in Azkaban anymore, and Lethifolds only live in tropical regions," Frank said. "It's very unlikely that you'll ever need to be able to cast a Patronus."

"It earns you lots of bonus points on the NEWTs," I argued.

"You told me earlier that you weren't even taking the NEWTs!" Frank exclaimed.

"I'm not," I said. "I want to become an artist, and I don't have to take the NEWTs to do that."

"It's really hard to get a full-time job as an artist," Frank said. "Then again, you are really good."

I smiled. "Thanks," I said. "Art and music are just the only two things that I could really imagine myself doing for the rest of my life."

"We're getting off-topic," Frank said. "You needed help with the Patronus Charm, right?" I nodded. "Do you know the incantation?"

"Expecto Patronum," I said. "I know the hand motion too." I took out my wand and demonstrated the hand motion that I was supposed to use.

"Is it the memory that you're having trouble with?" Frank asked.

"Yes," I replied. "I don't have any happy memories."

"I'm sure you have one somewhere," Frank said.

"That's what Professor Howell keeps saying," I said. "What's your memory? Maybe it would help if I knew which memory you were using."

Frank sighed. "It's kind of a long story," he said.

"We have time," I said. "Charms doesn't start until 3:00."

"Well, when I first started at Hogwarts, I didn't really feel like I fit in. Then again, I didn't fit into the Muggle world either. I was expelled from my elementary school."

"How did you get expelled?" I asked.

"I set fire to some kid's desk," Frank said. "I didn't mean to do it, and I'm still not quite sure how I did it, but I know that it was me. The kid next to me was teasing me, and all of a sudden, her desk was on fire."

"It was just accidental magic," I said. "That's normal."

"The principal didn't think so," Frank said. "It didn't matter that there was no way that I could have possibly done it without the entire class noticing. 'Frank is a pyromaniac' was still a better explanation than 'Frank is a wizard who doesn't know how to control his magic powers.'"

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"Professor Hagrid showed up at my house to deliver my letter and tell me that I was a wizard. My mom was okay with it, but my dad just couldn't bring himself to believe in magic. My parents got a divorce shortly before I went to Hogwarts. I thought everything would be better once I arrived at Hogwarts, but it wasn't. The wizarding world was completely alien to me, and there were always kids like Darren who thought that they were better than me purely because they were born into a wizarding family. I got sick a lot, which certainly didn't help."

"I remember that," I said. "So what exactly is your memory?"

"I was in the hospital wing during the Halloween feast that year, since I had the flu. I was really disappointed that I had to miss the feast, but I didn't have any friends at Hogwarts anyways, so it didn't matter that much."

"That doesn't sound like a particularly happy memory," I said.

"It's a strong memory though," Frank said. "Besides, it gets better. You showed up to visit me. I didn't know you all that well at the time, but I could tell that you were different. Even though you were pure-blooded like Darren and his friends, you were still nice to everyone, and you were never afraid to be yourself, even if other people didn't appreciate that. I guess I realized that day that not everyone at Hogwarts was like Darren. I also had the biggest crush on you...okay, I still kind of do, but I know we can never be together..."

"Wait, what?" I said. "You have a crush on me?" There was no way that I had heard that correctly. Frank didn't like really like me.

Frank blushed. "Yes," he said. "I know that you don't feel the same way, but I just had to tell you."

How could he be so oblivious to the way that I felt about him? That was when I did the only thing that made sense to my nonsensical brain. I kissed Frank Iero.