James, Sirius, Peter and Grace spent the next four months tirelessly trying to produce their own corporeal Patronus Charm. It turned out that the books hadn't been exaggerating how strenuous the task was proving to be.
They had succeed several times in producing shapeless flashes of white light from their wands - in fact, the four of them had mastered incorporeal Patronus Charms - but these glowing whips were not going to help them when it came to becoming Animagi.
"Was that a worm?" Grace questioned, pointing at the small ball of light that had just protruded out of Peter's wand.
"I'm going to be a worm!?" Peter shrieked, causing the charm to fizzle out.
"Maybe. Or a snake. Or something else completely different," Grace replied with a laugh "But I think I saw some kind of long skinny thing. Perhaps a tail of some kind."
"I better not be a worm," Peter cried, ignoring her. "Imagine how useless that would be. What if a bird ate me or something?!"
"Calm down, Pete, I'm sure you won't be a worm. Who's next?" James asked. They had decided to take turns attempting to produce a corporeal Patronus in the third year boys' dormitory whilst Remus was in the library with Abbey, Ely and Sam. Grace, Peter, Sirius and James had been down there as well, but had been kicked out by Madam Pince for causing too much of a ruckus. It was the last week of school, and the four of them were desperate to succeed before their third year came to an end.
"I guess I'll have another go," sighed Sirius, getting up "Fiftieth time lucky, right?"
"There will be no negativity in my classroom, Mr Black!" Grace exclaimed in her best teacher voice.
"Sorry, Professor Thorne. Won't happen again, Professor Thorne," Sirius replied, monotone, before pulling his wand out of his pocket and closing his eyes.
He took a deep breath in and pictured sitting on the Hogwarts Express back in his first year, with four other eleven year olds - possibly the first four people to treat him with genuine kindness and friendliness. His happiest memory.
With this memory in mind, he turned his wand in circles, pointing at the makeshift dummy they had set up: nothing more than a pillow dressed in James' school robes and charmed to float in front of the door. Over their four months of training and practising, they had learned that the spell was much easier to cast if there was a target.
"Expecto Patronum."
Silvery wisps appeared from the tip of his wand, reaching out to form a glowing ball in front of him. Two padded feet stuck out.
"Paws!" Sirius yelled as the light faded. "Did you see the paws!?"
"Sure did! Two whole paws. That has to be the best one so far!" Grace exclaimed, causing Sirius to smirk proudly at James. The two had struck a bet of 2 galleons as to who would be the first to produce a corporeal Patronus.
"Hear that, James? Professor Thorne said that mine was the best."
"Best so far. I haven't had my turn yet," James retorted jumping up and taking Sirius' place in the centre of the room.
---
A week later Grace found herself back in the forest behind her grandparents' house, still attempting to cast a corporeal Patronus charm. Remus was sitting in the grass reading a few meters away, chuckling to himself as she became more and more frustrated.
On the very last day of school, one hour before they boarded the train, James had produced a beautiful silvery stag from his wand, making him the first of the group to succeed, and Grace was desperate to do the same. She was so close - earlier that day she had managed to produce one whole furry feline head from her wand - but the frustration was beginning to affect her ability to cast the spell.
"It's not working! Nothings working, Remus," Grace whined "I can't even cast an incorporeal one anymore."
"Maybe if you stopped pacing you actually might be able to focus," Remus replied, rolling his eyes, before getting up from the ground and abandoning his book. "Come here."
Grace frowned, but walked over to the patch of grass where he was standing. "What do you..."
"Close your eyes," he instructed, and she complied, her eyes fluttering closed as he placed a hand on each of her shoulders.
"Take a deep breath in..."
"I don't think-"
"Just shut up and listen for a second," he interrupted causing Grace to finally fall silent. "Now, take a deep breath in..... and out.....and in...."
They continued like that for a few seconds, breathing in synchronicity. It was actually quite enjoyable, Grace realised, just stopping to breathe and hearing nothing but birds twittering, leaves rustling and Remus quietly muttering "In... and out".
"Thanks, Rem," she whispered, pulling him into a hug as she exhaled for the final time.
Grace then pulled away and gripped her wand tightly in her right hand, thinking of the moment that had just passed whilst waving her wand in circles. "Expecto Patronum."
A few lone glowing wisps drifted out of her wand, reaching outwards towards the tall rock that she had been using as a target. As they curled around in the air, Grace let out a sigh of disappointment. She had failed yet again.
Then, without warning, the silvery tendrils began to grow and wrap around each other, four reaching downward, one curling into the air and another forming a round shape at the front, before morphing into a beautiful mountain lion.
"Merlin's beard!" Remus cried, as the lion tilted its head at the curiously. "You've done it, Grace! You've actually done it!"
Grace gasped in wonder as the lion leapt into the air and ran a full circle around the two of them, slowly fading.
"A lion! How Gryffindor is that?" she laughed.
"You're practically Godric Gryffindor himself!"
"Do you think that his Patronus was actually lion? And Salzaar's was a snake and Helga's was a badger and so on? Is that how they decided it?"
"I literally have no idea, Grace."
---
If anyone has any idea what a good nickname (eg Moony, Prongs, Padfoot) for Grace would be then PLEASE let me now bc everything I come up with is cringy or just weird.
And I realised that I COMPLETELY forgot that her parents were teachers at the school (i went back and added another reference to them and stuff) which is sooooo bad of me im sorry.
Also, since Melbourne has a long weekend, there might be another update in the next three days. Maybe.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN (if you celebrate it)
-Grace
YOU ARE READING
The Forest - R.L.
Fanfiction(Remus Lupin - Marauder's Era ) She was wandering through the forest when she saw it. A wolfish being, about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips. But she wasn't afraid. --- Grace Thorne is an eleven year o...
