Sarah Potter and the Mauraders

Part 38

Now that she has captured the attention of the whole class, she continued: "In order to cast the charm you need to know what a Patronus is. It's a kind of positive force and for the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield, with the Dementor feeding on it, rather than him. In order for it to work, you need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory… Allow it to fill you up... lose yourself in it... then speak the incantation Expecto Patronum." Sarah recited the words from old Remus.
"There are two types of Patronuses: One, the corporeal one which means that a Patronus has a particular shape and form, and two, the uncorporeal Patronus. The uncorporeal Patronuses looks like white mist and don't have any particular shape. They aren't as powerful as the corporeal Patronuses", Jack carried on.
"I won't sugarcoat it, it is hard to cast a uncorporeal Patronus, even harder to cast a corporeal one, so don't expect too much from it, it's your first time. Don't let your failed attempts discourage you!", Sarah appealed to the students, "to summarize all we've said: First, think of your happiest memory you can think of because the happier the memory, the better the charm will work. This is the wand's movement (here she began to draw circles with her wand). And then speak the incantation 'Expecto Patronum'."
The class dutifully repeated the incantation and the wand's movement because they all wanted to learn it (well, at least the Gryffindors, most of the Slytherins looked disdainful at her).

"Now for the start it's best if you now take 5 minutes to think about what your happiest memory is", Jack advised.
The class was silent, each trying to conjure the happiest memory they could think of. After a while excited murmurs started.
"Does everone have a memory?", Sarah asked. When all students nodded, she said: "Remember what we told you. It's an incantation which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory. Don't let your failed attempts discourage you!"
And with that, everyone started to shout the spell but only few of them managed a white mist. The few included James (she guessed she knew now where she got her talent from), Sirius (shockingly!) and two girls from Slytherin who Sarah only knew by face. The others looked disappointed, it was clear that they all hoped to see an animal coming out of their wands. "Again", Sarah said.
As Sarah and Jack went through the students to give them pieces of advices, Sarah was stopped by none other than Malfoy. "That was a pretty rare creature you managed to conjure", he said scrutinizing her with his eyes. "So what?", she snapped back. She felt uneasy in his presence and was reminded of her 'stay' at his manor. "You know people say that only Dumbledore have ever managed to conjure a phoenix as his patronus", Malfoy drawled. "Come to the point, Malfoy, I don't have time for your games", Sarah said impatiently and was ready to turn away but she was stopped with his hand on her arm. "You're pretty powerful", he said, "and very good at DADA. I know someone who would be interested in you." "Oh no", Sarah screamed in her head, why couldn't she act like a normal person. No, instead she had to attract Voldemort's attention. "Well, I have no interest in him", she said coldly and quickly went over to Remus who seemed to struggle with it. Before she got there, Jack was next to him and said: "Maybe you should change your memory. It doesn't seem strong enough." "What do you know about it?", Remus snapped back. Jack looked slightly stunned by Remus' attitude but quickly got angry: "I was just trying to help you. You don't need to be so defensive. It's okay to not be able to make a patronus on your first try, you..." "I don't need your help", Remus said aggressivly. Sensing a fight breaking out, Sarah moved next to Remus and indicated Jack to look after the others. Jack only nodded resigned.