No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 29

You'd think that the high of winning against Ravenclaw would be enough to keep Arlene's spirits high, but against all odds, she still managed to show up for breakfast looking like she got the dementor's kiss.

Flint called less practices now that they had won the last game as the next won won't be until the end of the term, still, schoolwork was piling up and Blaise could only do her homework for too long before he got tired, especially since he was doing Theo's as well.

To be quite honest, she didn't know what was happening, her detention was over –Snape begrudgingly agreed with Flint that she deserved a reward for pointing the snitch out and helping Draco win the game- and she dropped by the Hogwarts Weekly room way less.

Sage assured her not to worry, Lee helped her with the Quidditch section, Neville Longbottom, who, surprisingly, had a hidden passion for writing, helped her write articles and Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw Second Year and Draco's cousin (Her mum 'Pandora' was Lucius's sister, but as a pureblood, it was advised not to focus too much on blood relations) had a passion for abstract art and would help her with the drawings.

Alas, Arlene still felt like a horrid friend for not doing more, especially since she had no excuse for not helping, she didn't have an excuse for why she was falling behind or why she couldn't sleep at night.

Maybe it was because of how emotionally conflicted she felt, going from hating Sirius Black with every inch of her being to wondering if he was innocent, maybe it was because of all the theories that don't add up, maybe, maybe, maybe.

Crowley, how did Harry Potter do this every year?

To top it all off, Arlene's anti-Dementor lessons were not going nearly as well as she had hoped.

After several lessons, she was able to produce an indistinct, silvery shadow every time the Boggart-Dementor approached her, but her Patronus was too feeble to drive the Dementor away, all it did was hover, like a semitransparent cloud, draining Arlene of energy as she fought to keep it there.

Arlene felt angry with herself, she had always been an overachiever, she was fluent in French by the time she was eight and one of the earliest first years to learn sign language. Trying something new and not succeeding immediately was her equivalent of failing.

"You're expecting too much of yourself," said Professor Lupin, sternly in their fourth week of practice. "For a thirteen year old, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge achievement, you aren't passing out anymore, are you?"

"I thought a Patronus would charge the Dementors down or something," said Harry dispiritedly, voicing what they had been both thinking "Make them disappear."

"The true Patronus does do that," said Lupin comfortingly "But you've achieved a great deal in a very short space of time, if the Dementors put in an appearance at your next Quidditch match, you'll both be able to keep them at bay long enough to get back to the ground."

"You said it's harder if there are loads of them," said Arlene skeptically.

"I have complete confidence in you," said Lupin, smiling "Here, you've earned a drink, something from the Three Broomsticks, you won't have tried it before."

He pulled two bottles out of his briefcase.

"Butterbeer!" Exclaimed Harry without thinking, causing Arlene to mentally slap her forehead "Yeah, I like that stuff!"

Lupin raised an eyebrow.

"What he means," Arlene stepped in, glaring slightly at Harry "Is that Ron and Hermione bought us some back from Hogsmeade." She lied coolly without missing a beat.