when i met you

114

Almost a month later, the DA had finally begun learning about Patronuses. This was probably the one spell everyone could agree was their collaborative favorite. Though Harry had asked Lexi to teach everyone how to produce a Patronus, he was quite the one doing most of the teaching, much to her amusement. Harry kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy," said Cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped Patronus soar around the Room of Requirement during their last lesson before Easter. "They're so pretty!"

This girl seriously got on Lexi's nerves.

"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said Harry patiently. "What we really need is a boggart or something; that's how Lexi and I learned, I had to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a Dementor —"

"But that would be really scary!" said Lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapour out of the end of her wand. "And I still — can't — do it!" she added angrily.

Lexi had been the first one to conjure her Patronus by the request of everyone in the group. She'd done hers for show; when Harry did his, it was for teaching. Her corporeal Patronus, like it had always been, was a badger—which, honestly, she wasn't sure fitted her personality too well.

Lexi had been working with the sixth- and seventh-years to perfect their Patronuses, while Harry worked largely with the other years there.

To her great surprise, Angelina's Patronus—as she was one of the first to manage it—was a dolphin, a mammal of great intelligence and grace. Fred and George had the same Patronus (predictably) which was a magpie, Lexi found this interesting though she didn't voice that.

There was a saying about magpies: "one for sorrow, two for joy". What was one without the other? Sorrow.

Moving on, Alicia and Katie hadn't gotten as far as to produce a corporeal Patronus, but they were oh so close. Her personal favorite so far was Lee's Patronus, a blue jay, an animal that was renowned for confidence and luck. Rolf and Amber were currently arguing over what animal Rolf's Patronus actually was, neither of them could quite make it out.

Cedric hadn't quite gotten his yet either, so Lexi had focused on him temporarily.

"What memory do you use?" asked Cedric dejectedly when he failed again.

Cupping his face in her hands, albeit a bit awkwardly when she was still holding her wand in one hand, Lexi smiled and whispered to him so quietly that anyone else trying to listen wouldn't be able to hear.

"You."

"Me?" spluttered Cedric with a look of certain disbelief.

"Yeah," she almost giggled, "you."

"I'm your happiest memory? Not Harry — or-or Sirius — or Remus? Why?"

She looked at him then with so much love and adoration that in that moment, it was quite clear to her why he was her favorite memory.

"Because I love you." Pausing for a moment to let that sink into him, she continued to smile. "You've always been the memory I use."

"Right from fifth-year?!"

"Always."

They stared at each other for a moment longer and then Lexi whispered again, "What were you using?"

Cedric swallowed, "Our friends."

"Okay," she looked from his eyes to his lips and back again, "now try just me."