Harry smiled as he watched his sixth year Gryffindors trying to conjure Patronuses. Twelve years had passed since the end of the war. Harry had managed to defeat Voldemort, but the encounter had affected him greatly, and for two years he had withdrawn from the rest of the world. It had taken the entire Weasley family and Hermione to coax him out again. To everyone’s surprise, Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts at the time, had immediately approached Harry and offered him the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Even more surprising, he accepted. Since then, Minerva had died and a new Headmaster, a man by the name of Persius Prendergast, had taken over her position. Harry was still there, though, and currently teaching his sixth years how to conjure Patronuses.
“Focus!” he exclaimed to the room at large. “Concentrate on your happy memory. That’s the key to doing this!”
And focus the sixth years did. Some were focused so hard that their faces were turning purple. Harry fought back the urge to laugh and walked over to one of the students that was having a particularly difficult time.
The girl’s name was Ambrine Thomas. She was Dean and Lavendar Thomas’ daughter, and she usually did really well in Harry’s classes. The Patronus Charm, however, seemed to be eluding her.
“I can’t do this, Professor Potter!” she cried as he approached. The thin, dark haired girl threw down her wand and plopped down into her chair. “This charm is pointless! All the Dementors went north, into hiding, when you defeated You-Know-Who! Why in the world do I have to learn this?”
Harry smiled and drew up a chair next to her. “You’re right,” he said. “But I’ll tell you what. Give it one more go for me, and if you still can’t get it, I won’t make you try again. How does that sound?”
Ambrine looked at him as though she had never seen anything quite like him before. “You can’t be serious,” she said incredulously.
“I am. Just one more try, and then you can give up if you want.”
She looked at him thoughtfully. “Okay. Just one more try.”
She got to her feet, raised her wand, and started to say the incantation, but Harry raised a hand to stop her. She looked at him inquisitively.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” he said. “What happy memory are you using to try and conjure your Patronus?”
She flushed slightly and looked down at her feet. “Well, erm…I was…thinking of…uh… the first time I ever...er…kissed my boyfriend.” Her face turned a deeper shade of red and she looked anywhere, but at Harry.
He smiled at her embarrassment and leaned back against the desk. “A good memory,” he said thoughtfully. “But apparently not strong enough. Hmm…”
“Close your eyes!” he said suddenly. “Go on! Close them!”
She looked at him curiously and then did as he told. “That’s better,” he said. “Now, I want you to think. What was the happiest you have ever been in your life? When were you so happy that you couldn’t be happier? No, no!” he exclaimed as she started to speak. “Don’t tell me. I don’t need to know, just now. Just focus on that memory. Let it fill you up. Every detail about that time and every happy emotion you felt. Let it swell your heart up and fill you to your very core.”
As he spoke he watched her face. She had started out looking slightly confused and rather angry, but as he spoke her face relaxed and a gradual smile came to her lips. Soon, she was looking positively radiant with joy.
'“Now,” he said. “You’re ready. Perform the spell.”
She raised her wand, eyes still closed, and shouted, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
A huge, silvery wolf erupted from the end of her wand and padded around the classroom. Ambrine opened her eyes as the Patronus howled. She looked at it in shock and then broke into a wide, joyous smile. She punched the air with her fist as the wolf came running back to her and dissolved into silver mist. She rounded on Harry, positively bursting with excitement and joy.
“Did you see that?” she exclaimed. “I did it! I DID IT! I conjured a Patronus! A real Patronus! Not just mist!”
Harry smiled widely. “I did see it! Outstanding job, Ambrine! Very good.”
Just then, the bell rang. The class began to gather their things and head for the door. Harry settled himself at his desk and started to prepare for his next lesson. He had just gotten started when someone cleared their throat. He looked up.
Ambrine was standing in front of his desk. She looked up at him and smiled shyly.
“Professor?” she said hesitantly. “I just…I just wanted to thank you. I never would have been able to do that without you.”
He smiled at her and leaned back in his chair. “You did an excellent job, Ambrine. I’m very proud.”
She turned slightly pink and then looked down at the ground for a moment. When she looked back up, it was with a troubled expression on her face.
“I was wondering,” she said. “If you could tell me why my Patronus took that particular shape. It’s not that I’m unhappy with it!” she added hastily. “I was just wondering if you knew.”
Harry frowned and considered the question. “Well, a person’s Patronus is strongly representative of his or her character. My friend Ron’s Patronus is a Jack Russell terrier. Ron is a very loyal person and Jack Russell terriers are known for being loyal dogs. Your Patronus is a wolf. Wolves are known for their cunning and their courage. I’d say that fits you pretty well, wouldn’t you?"
She smiled at him and looked thoughtful. Harry watched her for a moment then went back to the lesson for his next class.
“I want you to see the memory I used,” she said suddenly. “Can you do the charm to pull my memory out?”
Harry looked at her, slightly shocked. “I can,” he frowned. “But I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. Your memories are a very private thing, Ambrine. I would feel like I was intruding.”
“But I want you to see it. It’s important to me.”
Harry considered her carefully and then nodded. “All right.”
He stood up, retrieved a large stone bowl from the back of the classroom, and set it one his desk. Then he took out his wand.
“Okay. All you have to do is concentrate on the memory you want me to extract. Like you did before, let it fill you up. Experience every emotion all over again. Live the memory again.”
The radiant joy he had seen earlier blossomed on her face again. He sighed and put his wand to her temple. As he pulled it away a fine silvery strand came away with it and the joy faded off of Ambrine’s face. She opened her eyes and looked at him as he put the memory in the stone bowl.
“I can’t remember it anymore! There’s just a big empty space where that memory used to be.”
Harry nodded. “Yes,” he said. “That’s what happens when you extract memories. Don’t worry. I’ll put it back when we get done. Extracting a memory doesn’t taint it or harm it in any way. You’ll recall it exactly the same as you did before.”
He looked at her relieved face and smiled. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “How do we view the memory?”
“Just touch your face to the memory in the bowl and you’ll be in it.”
He watched as she lowered her face and touched the memory and then he did the same. He fell through darkness and then landed next to Ambrine in a comfortable looking living room. He gasped as he saw his old schoolmate, Lavender Brown, sitting with a small child on her lap. Lavender kept looking anxiously at the door and was nervously bouncing the child up and down.
“That’s me and my mum,” Ambrine said. “I was four. It was right at the end of the war, just after you defeated You-Know-Who. This is my earliest, most vivid memory."
Harry watched as Lavender continued to stare anxiously at the door. The younger Ambrine had her thumb in her mouth and was twisting a lock of her mother’s hair around her small fingers. As Harry watched, she pulled her thumb out of her mouth and looked up at Lavender.
“Mummy?” she said in a small voice.
“Yes, sweetie?”
“When is Daddy going to be here? I want to see him.”
Lavender took her eyes off of the door and kissed Ambrine on the top of her head. “He’ll be here soon, Ambrine,” she said softly. “Daddy will be here soon. Are you excited to see him?”
The little girl nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes, Mummy! Do you think Daddy will want to play tea party with me?”
Lavender laughed. “Of course, sweetheart. I’m sure he will.”
The young Ambrine smiled sweetly and put her head on her mother’s shoulder. She was just about to nod off to sleep when the door suddenly burst open, causing Harry to jump. The older Ambrine laughed and Harry grinned sheepishly and watched as Dean Thomas strode into the room.
“Daddy!”
The younger Ambrine pelted off of her mother’s lap and into Dean’s arms. The young girl's face was a mirror of what Harry had seen back in his classroom when she had conjured the Patronus. Dean swung Ambrine around and smothered her with kisses. Lavender went to them both and Harry smiled at the scene of the happy family. As he watched, the memory faded. He grabbed the older Ambrine’s arm and they were both transported up and out of the memory. When they landed, they were once again in Harry’s classroom. Harry turned to Ambrine.
“That’s the happiest I’ve ever been,” she said quietly as he scooped the memory out of the bowl and placed it back in her head.. “I remember how happy I was. My daddy had finally come home. What kid wouldn’t be happy?” Harry was startled to see that there were tears in her eyes.
“That was the last time I ever saw my dad,” she whispered, the tears sliding slowly down her cheeks. “He was called away, back to war, to help everyone round up the remaining Death Eaters. A Death Eater killed him three days after that memory. That’s my happiest memory because it’s the only memory I have of him. Every other memory, I was too young and every memory after that is tainted by his death. That’s the only time I’ve ever been truly happy.”
She wiped her eyes when she had finished speaking and smiled at Harry.
“I’m sorry, Professor,” she said. “I just wanted you to see that. I don’t know…I guess it was just important to me. I have to go to class now. Bye, Professor.”
“Bye, Ambrine,” Harry said quietly.
When she was gone he seated himself at his desk and put his head in his hands.
I should have been there, he thought sadly. I could have saved Dean. I could have saved Ambrine from having to grow up without a father. But no. I hid myself away and refused to help, while my friends were out there finishing my job for me, dying even. I am such a coward.
The next day, when Harry was showing his sixth year Ravenclaw class the proper way to perform the Patronus Charm, he noticed that his own Patronus was no longer the familiar stag he had become so used to seeing. He watched in sad irony as a cowardly mouse scurried around the room.