NOX° SIRIUS BLACK

Chapter Thirty-Two

     Calypso drummed her fingers against the desk while her grandmother set a steaming cup of tea with two sugars in front of her. Dark circles formed under Calypso's eyes from the lack of sleep she had been getting. Now, here she was, losing even more sleep though she didn't mind all that much. She needed to talk to someone and her grandmother was proving to be a good listener.

       "So, it's decided that you want to be a research assistant for the Ministry, then?" Rhea asked. She took her wand out and twirled it between her fingers while Calypso took a sip of the tea. October was quickly passing them by and the teacher's were piling on the work. She just finished working on her Herbology assignment over Chinese Chomping Cabbage while she sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

      "Yeah, I think it'll be fun. I've always been interested in working in the Ministry and the research position combines all of my favorite things." Calypso said. "I won't know what exactly it is that I will be researching until I start, but I'm excited to see what it is. Do you know what N.E.W.T. classes I'll have to take for it?"

        "You'll most likely need five high-level N.E.W.T. classes and you could continue with other subjects, like Arithmancy." Rhea said to her. Calypso hummed thoughtfully at that. She would probably be offered to continue with Advanced Arithmancy in sixth and seventh year. She was surprisingly very good at the subject even though it was pretty difficult to understand for most. "I want to teach you to cast the Patronus Charm. You mentioned wanting to learn how to cast it."

         "You can cast one? What's yours?" Calypso asked.

         "It's a dragon. I'm an Animagus too and that's a dragon as well." Rhea said. Calypso perked up at that.

          "Is it a Hebridean Black?" Calypso asked. Rhea stared at Calypso for a few seconds before shaking her head.

           "No, it's a Hungarian Horntail." Rhea said. "Why do you ask?"

           "No reason." Calypso brushed it off before saying, "I don't know what memory I could draw from. In Defense last year, I tried to use some old family memories and I thought about memories with my friends, but nothing really worked. How do you know when the memory you choose is the right one?"

            "Sometimes it takes a few tries before you'll really get it right and sometimes finding the right memory takes longer than you might think. I couldn't cast a Patronus for years before I finally learned how to. You just have to find a memory where you felt nothing but pure joy." Rhea said. She raised her wand and said, "Expecto Patronum."

          A dragon formed from the tip of Rhea's wand and stretched its wide wings as it soared overhead. Calypso watched it, amazed at the sight. She stood from her seat and raised her wand. She racked through her brain before thinking of memories from her childhood — ones before her family was torn about by Houses and her parent's separation.

         "Expecto Patronum." Calypso said. There was a whisp that started to look like it be the tip of a beak before it flickered out as soon as it came. She turned to her grandmother.

         "Try again. Keep trying and you'll get it eventually." Rhea said. Calypso took a deep breath and tried again and again and again.

        Calypso spent most of the next week watching Peter fawn over Cassandra whenever she came around to speak to Calypso. James was beginning to notice Peter's redirected attention which meant that Remus and Sirius were starting to pick up on it too because James had a bit of trouble when it came to subtlety.