Forum Thread

Faith’s lips curl into a smile. It wasn’t the same as the one she gave Dimitri, this was far more sinister. “He’s not a freak. And yes, I am strange. Curiously so. In fact….” Faith’s eyes glow a literal black— just for a teensy moment and her head is tilted. She raises her wand strikes twice in the air, and a sparrow streaks towards Jennifer. The sparrow isn’t silvery white like a patronus though, it’s made of negative emotions. When the sparrow is treated nicely, it disappears, but if swatted at or worse, it provides the same feeling a dementor does. “A little spell of my own”

---

Jennifer's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she stuttered, "T-th-What is that?" She took a couple of steps back, then jabbed a finger at Faith. "You're just as much a freak as him! You two are such a pair, aren't you? W-well, you deserve eachother, the maniac and the monster!"

---

Anyone in the halls of hogwarts at the time could hear the sound of footsteps, followed by the laughter that was Sterling, running alongside her patronus. Suddenly all her worries about the prophecy seem to be.. gone? Something about her Patronus made all her worries fade away, maybe because they needed a happy memory to appear.

Sterling transformed into her Animagus form again, the patronus fading away due to her transforming. The eagle owl screeched in happiness, flying through the school for fun. Some could say she was hooting a song due to her current mood, cause owls cannot hum, sadly.

---

Suvansh shook his head in mock dismay at Cassandra's groaning. "Oh you missed nothing important. Except the most boring arithmancy lecture in the world, if you chose it, and a prophecy from our dear old Mr. Sorting Hat!" He grinned at that, as if to knock it off as a joke, but his face just couldn't hold it, breaking down as fast as it was formed. "C'mon, it seems like you just reached here, you must need some rest. I'll have you catch up later. Want a chikki?" He asked, as he took out one of those nutty-sweet bars that he loved from his pocket.

---

As his Patrous disappeared, Mickey sat down in the courtyard, he sighed but he ignored his loneliness and took out the small book from his pocket and began to read it again.

Her laugh is dark, and she smiles once more. “That’s to teach you not to mess with a freak monster’s friends. Dimitri, off to your next class. Just pay attention, this situation is between me and her” Her voice becomes a purr. “He’s not a freak, but I may be. And are you really so scared of such a cute sparrow?” She croons, stroking the ‘sparrow’ as it disappears.


Professor McGonagall appears from around the corner, and shouts “Students, move along there’s nothing to see here. Jennifer, Faith. Come here, you’ll be given detention.” Faith smiles and replies with a smooth “of course professor, before flashing two sharp fangs at Jennifer

---

Mickey walks down the corridors towards the Hufflepuff common room, he continued to read the small book he was holding.

The next few lessons went ahead like a blur for Sterling. Herbology was nothing too exciting or boring, though the Puffapod plant did look stunning. Then she had Care of magical creatures, her elective class. However during her favorite class, the worry about the prophecy came back to her. There were students spreading rumors about her Patronus, her beautiful bird patronus. Surely they were just mistaken, that her patronus was one of the prophecy ones right? She desperately hoped so as she continued listening to the lesson on Hippogriffs.

---

Mickey walked into the class, "Terribly sorry I'm late! I had a bit of a...personal issue to deal with." Mickey said as he scratched his head.

The breakthrough came quite unexpectedly. He had been spending lunch holed up within the charms room, wand strewn somewhere among the mess of paper that seemed to litter every surface available. His throat hurt from the amount of mumbling he had done, hands pinched around a quill as he scribbled down charm theory. "Patronum Avenseguim" he muttered, hand flicking in a vague direction. "Its the right incantation, right? Or would it be Patronum Appare Vestigium? No it wouldn't make sense, Appare Vestigium is about revealing magic traces and Avenseguim traces a item back to its source. Logically it would be Vestigium but there are no traces to be revealed." Untying his dark hair from its position as a high ponytail, he ruffled his hair violently before scrounging for his wand as a bolt of inspiration hit him. He found it buried between a pile of paper denoting the Hufflepuff 7th years and the nature of finding spells. It was made of alder wood, simple and not very flashy with light engravings carved into the handle. It seem well loved by at this moment Jules couldn't care as he firmly pointed it before him. "Expecto Patronum" He chanted, not even seeing if his patronus formed corporeality before whipping his wand to point at the paper frong he had so desperately been charming before."Patronum Avenseguim"

Nothing happened. Jules crumpled onto the desk groaning and threw his wand across the room, the wood clunking against the wall before rolling pathetically on the ground. Instantly guilt gnawed away at Jules and he got up to go pick his wand back up, intent on making sure that it was fine. Silently calling his wand back into his hand, he checked it over only to see movement at the corner of his eye. Whipping around, he was surprised to see that it was the paper frog he had enchanted, hopping about. It was heading towards the door of all things and Jules, stunned to the core, opened the door and followed the frog out into the bustling halls. Soon the frog let out a raspy croak before dissolving into a sparking display of lights before a stunned student. From the many many reports Jules had slaved over, he recognized the student as one of the many candidates who had a patronus that fit the cryptic song, having one of an adder.

After giving a stuttering apology to the poor student, Jules all but ran back to the Hufflepuff common rooms. He even got the password wrong in his haste, cringing as he finally got the door to open. What a sight he must have made, busting into the common rooms with stray hair flying everywhere and casting his already heavy eye bags in even more shadow. He found Suvansh quickly, talking with another 7th year who he recognized as Cassandra. For a moment he was relived to see her again as he had feared that she could have possibly just dropped off the face of the earth as he had not seen her all term, but that was quickly brushed aside. "Guess who just successfully cast a patronus finding charm?" He asked breathlessly, manic glint obscuring the sheer amount of glee bubbling within him

---

Rey slept through the Patronus class. What they taught, he already knew. He had read through book by book, over and over, and still had no progress. Dragging himself from the classroom to the slytherin room, he muttered "Capacious extremis" to his suitcase once again. Lounging on his chair, in his mini hideout, he picked up a book about spellcrafting, and tried to read off his annoyment. As he kept reading, a feeling of part anger, part determination felt like it was building up inside him. If he was ever going to master the patronus, it would be now. Grabbing his wand "EXPECTO PATRONUM"

A blue wisp built up from the tip of the wand. growing thicker and thicker, and eventually solidified into...

nothing.

The wisp disappeared, as if it never existed in the first place. Rey sighed. Nothing had changed, ever since his first attempt. It seemed that he wasn't meant to master the patronus after all. He turned his face back to his book, only to feel a chill wind blowing past him. "woosh" Rey turned around, to see the once neatly-stacked books behind him now a giant mess on the floor. Suddenly, the wind stopped, with blue mist materialising out of nowhere, just behind the pile of messed up books. and disappearing just as quick as it came. What's going on?

After a long while of convincing himself not to get his hopes up, he turned back to his book. Surely it was just a fluke. Surely.

---

"Oh, you did not, Jules...Spellmaker? Hadrian! Yeah don't blame me I was never good at wordplays~" Suvansh says in awe, as he wondered what he exactly meant by it. And how he had managed to do it. Suvansh for one had never tried spellcasting, though yes it was no quantum science. "So what's it done yet?! Found anyone new?" He asks though he doubted it, as Jules' current state of excitement gave an idea that he had pretty much just had the Eureka moment, after a few many cups of coffee. "Oh also, have you heard the rumours?? A first-year Slytherin girl in the Great Hall today morning cast a patronus! A corporeal patronus. And not just that, it's actually a mythical creature, a Runespoor..." He says to Jules before he could answer. "We should keep an eye on her y'know~"

---

Cassandra's warm smile faltered slightly at the mention of a prophecy. She ignored the last question and asked without thinking: "what prophecy?" Is it something bad? She didn't dare speak the last part out loud, fearing the worst.

Could that be why the hallways were filled with nervous chatter? She had mostly ignored it, blaming it on stress. Could it have something to do with this prophecy? No... Not all prophecies were bad, maybe she was overthinking this. "Suvanish-" Cass says sternly "what's going on?"

Jules sudden entrance makes Cass jump in surprise again. Her gentle smile returns back onto her face as she watches a very stressed looking Jules enter the room. "A patronus finding charm? I don't think something like that is in our textbooks, how on earth did you manage to do that?" She asks with a chuckle. "Don't stress with those advanced charms! You should focus on your classes!" Suddenly her face twists into feigned worry, "oh dear... Is that something we're supposed to do? Learn an advanced spell?"

She silently listens to Suvanish, still wanting to learn more about this prophecy but not wanting to press. It seemed like Jules knew about it too. Did everyone know!? Was she seriously the sole person unaware that something either really bad- or really good- was going to happen to them? "A first year? That's... Amazing! You should take her under your wing Jules! She has some serious talent if she is able to cast a patronus summoning spell at her age!"

Dimitri shuddered slightly as he picked himself up, putting the books back in his bag. But, he sighed, and said, "Guess I owe you one, Faith, thanks." With a slight limp, he began going off to his next class, praying that the commotion with Jennifer would be of no notice, and that no one had figured out that he was part of the prophecy.

Jennifer protested, but only a little, especially when she saw Faith flash her fangs. "F-fine by me," she stuttered angrily, following Professor Mcgonggall, and keeping a clear distance from Faith.

---

"Wha- no no no Professor Flitwick did most of the heavy lifting I swear. I really didn't do much except cast it." Jules babbled, flustered as he twisted his hands in embarrassment. "And there's still a lot of fix. Right now it's just a one use thing and there isn't much indication as to which patronus in particular it can find. If Professor Flitwick can tweak and improve it, that means that we save months of work. Months!" So caught up in his excitement, Jules nearly missed the worry and confusion scrawled over Cassandra's face and immediately backtracked with a flurry of apologies

"Uh, no. I-its more of a charm that Professor Flitwick and I made? Kinda? You... You weren't here for the prophecy weren't you... It's... A pretty big deal right now." He grimaced, feeling awkward about voicing the entire schools worries and the root cause of all this tension. "Well long story short the sorting hat sang something about a dark lord rising. A new one? I can't remember, but it also talked about eight patronus. A tiger, swan, dragon, eagle, dove, bear, snake, and leopard. Suvansh and I were tasked with finding any student fitting that criteria so to speed things along, ta-da. A new charm." Not exactly the most... comprehensive explanation of the mess that was going on but at least he tried.

At the mention of a first year summoning a corporeal patronus Jules flinched. That was exactly the type of thing he was hopping wouldn't happen. First years were much too young to be caught up in this mess and if he could, he wished he could turn a blind eye to this. Still, he made a mental note of this while staunchly ignoring any ideas that anyone could be taken under his wing and actually flourish. Sure he knew he was good at charms but not to the extent where he could teach anyone

---

"There's the answer to your question~", Suvansh said to Cass, as Jules summed up the situation.
"Jules, would you mind saying you did nothing to the mirror? Just look at yourself jeez! First of all, eat something. And you really could use some sleep too, i.m.o. Here, grab this." He says, handing him the bar of chikki he had unwrapped for Cass. "We can look more into the spell and all the rumours around later, get some rest for now! And yes, however impressive the feat is, I'm afraid it could put her in some serious trouble, the first-year I mean. Especially if she indeed is the one referred to in the prophecy!" He says, at last, matching Jules' thoughts. "God is this stressful, but yeah, good job again on the charm!" He half-mutters, giving Jules a shaky smile.

---

Jules visibly paled at the mention of resting, an impressive feat considering how pale he already was from locking himself in classrooms and the library researching. He did however, take the chikki gratefully, the nutty crunch of the treat dissipating some of the tension stored within tightly wound up muscles. "I still have to tell Professor Flitwick and finish my potions essay. I also have a class at the Astronomy Tower tonight so I have to get ready for that too. Not to mention there's another rumor going around. A girl from our house... Sterling Hedge I think her name was. She has an eagle patronus. That also warrants further inspection especially because the Sterling Hedge I know is only a third year. Even that is too young for me." Jules rambling words were slightly muffled, having taking a bite of the chikki though his stomach protested at the idea of eatting any more and he hastily shoved what remained into his robes. At this point it was clear that yeah, Jules needed to sleep. But he had always been stubborn, pushing past his own exhaustion to continue working and it was clear that this was one such occasion.

---

The mention of a new dark lord rising makes Cass pale. She was all too familiar with the death and destruction that Voldemort had caused. Why was it happening again? Was that same death and destruction going to happen again? And more importantly, who was the next dark lord? Was it possible that the parents of her peers, and some of her peers could be involved in this like last time? No.. she is getting too far ahead of herself. Now wasn't the time to speculate. She releases a shaky breath and forces a smile back onto her face. Now wasn't the time to panic, this was the last thing they needed.

"Suvanish is right. You should take a break... Both of you" Cass pauses, looking lost in thought for a moment. "Is there anything I can do to help? You two shouldn't have to burden these responsibilities alone." Cass was never one to take classes seriously, but now, passing her exams seemed to be the least of her worries. "There'll be plenty of time for you to do your homework later, you won't be helping anyone if you exhaust yourself" Cass gently points out.

"Ah right the potions essay! But yeah no, I'm doing mine, and you can copy it from me later. You. Need. To. Relax." Suvansh says to Jules, quite relating to his dormmate. The seventh year at Hogwarts with their N.E.W.T.S. looming would have been hard enough, and there he had to get extra responsibilities on himself. He mentally groaned hearing about Sterling, who he had seen around a few times. An eagle patronus. By a third-year. It was quite impressive, again, with how young she was, but that was their biggest concern, as pointed out by Jules yet again.
When Cass suggests he needs rest too, it of course was true, but he wouldn't have it. "Oh no no, I'm quite alright. I can't ask you to trouble yourself, Cass, we have the most important exams in our lives coming up..." He said, with a rueful smile. He couldn't help but feel guilty about getting Jules into helping him find the students...and another person helping them would just make it easier on them both...but he just couldn't ask her to. "But Jules, yeah, you aren't writing a word until you have a nap. And the Astronomy class? Forget it. You aren't sitting for the exam anyway! Now, if you will excuse us, I'll make sure Jules gets some good rest...Have a good day!" He addresses the last part to Cass, and motions Jules towards their dorm room.

---

Soleil was going to murder someone. Her classes were hard enough, she didn't need the extra weight of a prophecy dragging her down too! She hated the fact that the sorting hat had specified patronus's. It was stupid and unfair. "Calm down Sol." she whispered, rubbing her wrist for the 1000th time in an hour. There was no way they'd be able to discover what every student's individual patronus was right? Sure they might have a database or two but it's not like every student learned it in class. She didn't even learn it in the same school. She was safe. Probably. Hopefully... Probably not. Solei sighed. She was screwed.

---