Patronus Charm
Leigh was walking from her last class of the day towards the common room. Same as last time, the castle was buzzing with anticipation for the forthcoming Hogsmeade trip. Groups of students were hanging around the corridors, chatting, laughing and planning the weekend's activities. The atmosphere was nice, even though it was apparent that some students had that mischievous glint in their eye leading up to Halloween.
Leigh's shoes thumped against the stone floor as she surveyed the crowds. As she had expected, some students were huddling in a corner a bit further in front of her, giggling as they were looking at something together. She sighed faintly, but made her way past them, hoping none of the pranks they were about to pull would in any way be affecting her.
Leigh was glad to see that she wasn't the target for anything, and faintly saw one of the students blow something out of their hand in their friend's direction. Leigh nodded to herself as she recognised the product; forget-me-shocks. She momentarily wondered which version it was. Maybe the spiders, or the ghost Umbridge. She grimaced faintly at the idea of ghost Umbridge floating around the halls.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a scream behind her, and she whipped around to see the friend-group scattered, a frighteningly real-looking dementor hovering above them. Leigh gulped, remembering looking at the item in the shop.
Immediately, everyone in the near vicinity could feel the cold that sank their teeth into them. That empty, hollowing chill that made a shiver run up their spine. If Leigh didn't know it was one of the twins' products she probably would've thought it was the real deal.
Before she had an opportunity to reflect over her next actions, the creature slowly started turning, setting its' sights on her. It moved across the space, its flowing shadow dragging across the floor as it approached her. Leigh started fumbling for her wand, feeling the icy cold feeling growing within her as the fake dementor moved closer. She remembered what Fred told her: they reacted to the patronus charm.
She raised her wand, pointing it towards the creature. Her mouth felt dry, but she parted her lips, trying her best to ignore the chilling atmosphere which had been formed in the space. Then, the words which she had said so many times before left her.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Her heart thumped in her chest, her breathing growing more and more laboured as she observed the dark silhouette in front of her, waiting for the light to protrude from the tip of her wand. It never did.
She backed away, the dementor following closely, reaching out towards her. Her breathing hitched in her throat and she looked at her wand in confusion, feeling her back hit the stone wall of the corridor behind her. "E- Expecto Patronum!" She shouted again, her vision blurring as the patronus, once again, never came.
Her head felt heavy, and the world around her darkened as she looked at the creature, now mere inches from her. Her surroundings started flickering, and she felt herself being paralysed, breathless, as her vision failed her and a variety of sounds reached her ears. The crashing of stone against stone, screams, manic laughter. Although her mouth was closed, she could hear her own excruciating scream in her ears. Images flashed before her. A body forcefully thrown back against a stone wall. A crack. Green flash. Grey eyes staring at her from a heap of rubble on the floor. The sharp, stabbing, unbearable feeling of dread.
Around her, students stood as if stunned, lining the walls while witnessing the event with wide eyes.
The sound of footsteps reached them as two people appeared from around the corner, books and quills carried in one of their arms. The cold was still palpable, and the students huddling against the wall looked at them with wide eyes.
"What's going on–" Hermione Granger stopped dead in her tracks, taking in the scene before her. Ron Weasley remained quiet by her side, but his eyes roamed the space. "Leigh?"
Books and quills were dropped to the floor, and within a few seconds Hermione had thrown herself beside her friend, who had collapsed against the wall, eyes still wide and unseeing as they were focused on the creature in front of her.
Ron was close by her side, immediately reaching for his wand and uttering the patronus charm, watching as the creature dissolved into dust, and then into nothingness. His eyes set themselves on a few students by the wall, their hands holding a box with a few words clearly distinguishable on top: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
"Who set that off?" He asked loudly, glaring at the group who had huddled around the box a mere minute ago. Receiving no response, he spoke again. "Piss off! All of you!"
Not having to be asked twice, the crowd of students hurriedly separated and scurried off down the corridors, glancing behind them as they went.
Ron turned back to Hermione, who was holding Leigh beside her, meeting his worried gaze.
Leigh's eyes remained wide and empty for another moment before she finally took a breath, coughing and spluttering where she was on the ground. Her eyes darted around the space. "Evan," she gasped faintly, taking yet another sharp intake of breath.
Hermione held her arm, looking at her with an expression of concern. "I know. God, I'm sorry." She immediately went to give her a hug.
Leigh let herself be held for a moment before pulling away, straightening her back where she sat on the floor and leaning her head back against the stone wall behind her.
"Fucking hell," she mumbled quietly to herself, hand coming up to run itself through her hair. She had encountered many dementors throughout the years, but none after the battle. Not one had made her feel as bad as the one that had just approached her. And this one wasn't even real.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. The scenes she had seen flashing before her eyes were coming back into her mind, and she grasped her hair tightly in a fist. "Fuck!" She cursed angrily. She was confused, shattered and furious. Reliving the memory of Evan's death shocked her, and she wasn't sure how to react. Her heart beat mercilessly in her chest. She wasn't even able to do the Patronus charm on her own, for God's sake. She shoved her head into her hands angrily, breathing in heavy breaths. "I'm fine." She spoke, loudly and determinedly.
Frustrated, she stood up, holding the wall in support, before wiping her clothes harshly with the palms of her hands. She wanted to get out of here. Now.
Hermione looked at her, uncertain. "Are you sure?" She asked, exchanging a look with Ron.
"Yes, I'm sure, it wasn't real anyway," Leigh grumbled to herself, collecting her things which laid messily scattered across the ground.
"That doesn't mean it can't affect you like it is," Hermione replied quietly.
Leigh shuddered, thinking back to what she had felt when the creature was approaching her. This was not what she needed. Her eyes jumped around the room.
Ron, who had previously observed with a concerned look on his face took a step closer. "I swear, I'll bang their heads together. What made them think selling this to anyone was a good idea?"
She shook her head at his words. "It's fine," she said dismissively, but Ron didn't look persuaded.
"It's not fine," he replied quietly.
Leigh, now standing, started moving down the corridor. Her legs were wobbly, but they carried her the best they could.
"Leigh, let me go with you," Hermione spoke, standing behind her. Leigh turned to look at her, shaking her head.
"No, it's fine. I was just going to the common room." She evaded her friend's gaze.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Leigh spoke absolutely. "Look at me, I'm doing fine. Go to dinner, I'll meet you later." While Hermione looked at her with uncertainty, she said nothing further, and without another word Leigh hurried off. Much to her relief, no one seemed to follow after her, and she started her journey up the stairs towards the 7th floor.
She didn't make it to the common room.
When she reached the 3rd floor she burst into tears and rushed into the nearest bathroom. She cast the muffliato spell before sinking down onto the floor as sobs wrecked through her chest; a combination of pain, anger and the remains of shock coursing through her body. She hadn't cried that hard many times in her life, yet no amount of tears that made their way down her cheeks made her feel any better.
After a long time she finally pulled herself together, wiping her tears harshly and holding her breath as she stumbled up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room, hoping no one would meet her and take notice of her puffy, red eyes.
She pulled on a sweater before planting herself on her bed. Her plans to sit and study in the common room were scrapped, she didn't want to risk anyone coming in blatantly laughing at her for failing to cast the Patronus charm of all charms. She didn't want to leave the dorm.
In due time the common room seemed to fill with chatter and laughter as students returned from the great hall. Leigh huffed under her breath at the distraction, looking at the door, before attempting to focus back on the book in her lap. However, the door shot open before she was able to do so. Nova appeared, a big smile on her face as she said goodbye to people behind her. She turned and her gaze met Leigh's.
"Hi," she spoke, the smile on her face faltering as she reminded herself of the rumours she'd heard during the meal. "I heard about the dementor thing, how are you doing?"
Leigh shrugged. "As can be expected", she mumbled. She didn't want to lie, but she also wasn't used to opening up to anyone, especially not Nova.
A moment passed before Nova spoke again. "I'm sorry." She shuffled over to her bed, sitting down on it and starting to disentangle her hair, which was currently arranged in a neat braid. "I heard Hermione's furious. Ron too. It'd be funny if one of them ends up yelling at the twins in the shop," she giggled quietly.
"I hope not," Leigh replied, although she couldn't help but internally snicker at the sight of Hermione telling them off. An angry Hermione was a sight to behold.
"It'd be funny though," Nova continued. "They kind of deserve it. Whose idea was that?"
Leigh sighed, picking at her nails as they laid upon the book in her lap. She thought back to her tour in the shop a month prior. "I don't know. It's a nice product," she started before huffing quietly. "Just didn't think it'd be so damn realistic," she muttered. A second passed before she threw her book shut, leaning her head into her hands. "I can't believe I wasn't able to do the spell," she groaned. "I should know it by now!"
"Yeah, but you do know it though," Nova replied, momentarily stopping the brushing of her hair to look at her friend. "It's just different now, isn't it." Nova spoke quietly, and Leigh knew the words which were hanging in the air. In a corridor full of people it went for her. Everyone knew how dementors worked. Negative memories, pain, made you vulnerable.
Leigh rubbed her temples, trying to dull the headache which was forming.
"It'll be fine."
Nova observed her, giving her a small smile, then resuming her hair-brushing. She changed the topic. "You should go and yell at them yourself," she spoke with a smirk, referring to Fred and George.
Leigh rolled her eyes, but met her friend's gaze. "I'm not mad at them.., I'm just...mad." She fiddled with her fingernail again. "Besides, I think they'd enjoy me yelling at them too much. They thought my disapproval was very funny last time." She remembered her harshly worded letter, and wondered if it was still hanging on their wall.
Nova giggled, eyeing her. "Just go talk to them then."
"I have nothing to say," Leigh said coldly, and Nova rolled her eyes with a chuckle. Soo stubborn, she thought to herself.
"You know," Nova started, raising an eyebrow towards her friend as she twisted her hair behind her head, planning to place it into a claw-clip. "When I said I'll believe you feel nothing for him when I see it, I didn't mean you should completely stop talking to him."
Leigh averted her gaze and started making some notes in her notebook, attempting to arrange her face into a focused, academic expression. Nova knew her friend though, and saw that Leigh was in fact not making notes, but was merely doodling some flowers in the hopes that Nova would leave her alone.
"We have nothing to talk about," Leigh informed curtly.
"Oh come on," Nova exclaimed, and Leigh couldn't help but glance up at her briefly. "You were there for hours last time!"
"Yeah I cried and ate his food," Leigh huffed, glaring at Nova.
"That's good, he got you to eat," Nova said, looking at Leigh.
She simply rolled her eyes, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "Honestly, if it's not for the project then I have no reason to go there." She left her quill on her bed before standing up, planning to go to the bathroom and hoping that Nova would've dropped the topic by the time she got back. "Going to the loo," she mumbled tiredly before taking a few steps across the dorm, although being stopped by Nova's words almost right away.
"Look Leigh," she started, still sitting on the bed but reaching out to grab her friend's sleeve to stop her in her tracks once she didn't listen. "Leigh."
"What?" Leigh asked tiredly.
Nova dropped her friend's sleeve now that she was standing in front of her. "We both know you had a good night when you were there. You got back here in the middle of the night, grinning like a lunatic." Leigh blushed at her words, but Nova decided to pay it no mind, for now. "Ignore me when I tease you about him. I'm just stupid, you know me, I have to be." Nova paused for a second, watching Leigh as she bit the inside of her cheek. "You obviously like his company. Friends are good."
Leigh mumbled something unintelligible as she avoided Nova's gaze, before shuffling over to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Nova followed her with her eyes, smiling slightly to herself. She knew the words had gotten to her.