Year 7- Patronus Lesson

G

Gabriel Lloyd

Well-Known Member
Messages
839
OOC First Name
Amanda
[As I mentioned before, I am hoping for this lesson to be an interactive rp. Feel free to roleplay with your fellow classmates, ask me questions... Let's see what we can come up with!]

Professor Lloyd waited patiently for the seventh year boys to arrive. He knew that the kitchens were a rather obscure place to be testing out the Patronus Charm, but a change of scenery never hurt anyone. The dark haired man was quite excited for the lesson to start, considering that they would be experimenting today with probably their most difficult charm of all. He had asked Professor Rowann to help him with this lesson. She was the DADA professor, after all, and during this lesson the students would probably need more help from an instructor. This was Gabriel's first time doing the Patronus Charm with seventh years, so hopefully this method would work out well.

He smiled when all of his male students arrived. "I hope you've all come with some happy memories today," he started with a smirk. "The House Elves have been kind enough to let us men the dining room space here to practice with the Patronus Charm." He pulled his wand out of his pocket as he continued to speak. "Just for some clarification, you haven't been separated from the girls over sexism- mostly over my laziness. That way, I don't have to waste my time making groups and everyone will get some more practice and feedback."

Stepping forward into the open space, he intoned energetically, "Let us begin. First, point your wand at anything in the room, focus on the happiest memory in your life, and say, 'Expecto Patronum.' Repeat after me. 'Expecto Patronum. Good. Now, let's see what you guys can bring to the table."
 
Bruin had spent a lot of time alone over the past week, trying to sort out his thoughts about his life, where it was headed and such, but had not forgotten about trying to think about some happy moments to help with this very exciting lesson. Bruin had a collection of happy memories from his home life back in the Canadian Rockies, hanging out with his Yellow Lab Ray, playing hockey with friends, and family vacations, but no one particular memory from that life really stood out for him.

Bruin had also considered the past six and a half years here at HNZ and realized that it had provided a wealth of amazing memories from which to draw on, although his life recently had become a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. Bruin had selected a few memories that he thought might do the trick and leveled his wand at a series of copper pots and stated "Expecto Patronum!" as he thought about the first time he had flown. A thin white stream of smoke slipped from his wand tip and disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Hmmmm... what else? Bruin thought to himself, before refocusing his thoughts on being named Top Student at the school in first year, beating out his friendly rivals Estrella, Cyndi, Ford, Sophia and Courtney for the honour in first year. Again, he cast Expecto Patronum! with similarly disappointing results. Bruin shrugged and waited for Professor Lloyd to approach. "Uh, I don't know if my wand movement or pronunciation is off...or maybe I just don't really have the right type of memories? Should the memories we choose be something that made us personally happy or proud or do ones where other important people around us were happy as well work better?" Bruin asked, not sure if there was a proper answer to this question.

Being a Gryffindor, Bruin knew how important his friends were to him and was beginning to wonder if he was looking for happiness in the wrong areas.
 
Jaken wondered what his happiest memories were. He had a few, but he doubted that some of his memories were in Durmstrang. But he would give it a shot as well. Jaken entered the kitchens to attempt to perform the spell. From what he had heard, it was a difficult one. Jaken hoped that he would even succeed anyway. Even some mist would build his confidence. Jaken stared at Professor Lloyd, before greeting his fellow classmate, "Hey, Bruin." It was simple, but it was better than just ignoring the Gryffindor that brought a lot of enjoyment to the school.

Jaken listened to the Charms professor, nodding his head as he spoke. Jaken repeated the phrase in mind. He also picked out a memory. One over in Durmstrang, with just him, Dietrich, and Demitris hanging out and cutting up. Jaken pointed his wand at a few pans and intoned, "Expecto Patronum!" A tiny poof of white smoke emerged from his wand, but that was it. Jaken concentrated harder on the memory, and intoned it once more. Again, a tiny poof of white smoke. Or mist this time? Jaken couldn't be sure what the transparent stuff was.

Jaken decided that the memory was not happy enough. He thought of when he got his first win in Quidditch, and once more, nothing but a tiny wisp of mist. Jaken mused, "What if you don't have strong enough happy memories? Or am I doing something wrong?" Jaken shook his head, his mind knowing which memories would be strong enough, but he could not reach them, just yet.
 
James entered the classroom with his normal attitude as if every lesson was going to be something new. James had ignored some of the lessons but still didn't mind learning them as he watched the charms professor speak. James had to admit being with nothing but guys was a little weird considering they were only using the Patronus spell. James found it an interesting one that tended to help members of the Order as well as many of the Aurors in London, he was curious as to whether New Zelanders found it as usefull as there European counterparts did. James pulled out his wand as he smiled thinking of his usual happy thought.

It was originally the day he'd been made captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team since it was also the day he'd recieved his first kiss from the former Captain in celebration. Though it had only been a friendly kiss that hadn't meant anything to her it meant something to James at the time. That memory had been replaced by many others including his first goal he'd made playing for the Canons. Now however it was something else that James couldn't let go even though he sometimes wanted to. James thought about Isabella and how much he'd enjoyed the time they had spent together over the years. James pulled out his wand and thought about last winter and the blue flames that had surrounded the happy couple that had reunited.

"Expecto Patronum!" James said as he pointed his wand straight. Instantly a large Dog appeared from his wand glowing brightly as if some heavenly messenger in the guise of an animal. The dog in question was said to be Sirius Black the man for whom James' recieved his middle name from. James' father had enjoyed seeing the dog and it was only after seeing him in a picture that James had decided that he liked his patronus, a remeberance of someone that had been dead for many years defending his father and the world from a dark threat that would now never harm the Earth. The dog did as it always did when it was freed from James' wand and began running around the room excitedly.

It came back to James as he looked around feeling a bit strange at having been the only student to summon his Patronus on the first try however it wasn't the first time he'd ever summoned it either as he had done it a few times since beeing taught it by several of his family members. It was a necessary percaution as the Potters were constantly being seen and could easily be attacked by Dementors still loyal to the dark ways, James had never had to use it of course but was glad to see that the lesson hadn't been wasted as James looked towards the Professor for more guidance.
 
Professor Lloyd stood back and watched his students as they attempted to use the Patronus Charm. He turned to Bruin Dumbledez as he was questioned. "The memory behind your Patronus is the most important part when you are casting the Charm," he explained. "What you are remembering may not be strong enough to cast the spell, or not well rounded enough. You may have to apply another memory." He gave the Head Boy a small smile. "As for your next question, I believe that a combination would be best. The happiness of yourself and others around you may have a much stronger effect, although what memory you use will be up to you. Each memory varies in quality and happiness."

The Charms Professor next brought his attention to Jaken Styx. "As I just told Mr. Dumbledez, the memory is the most important part of the charm. However, pronunciation and wand movement is also important. If you could demonstrate the charm for me again, I may be able to help you." He waited for Jaken to show him his attempt at the Patronus Charm.

Gabriel turned to another of his students in disbelief as a large, silver dog bounded about the room. He was impressed, though he had never heard of any student learning the Patronus outside of the Charms classroom. "Where did you learn the Patronus Charm, Mr. Potter?" His expression was flat as he looked back to the student, though a little bit of amusement was present in his dark eyes. He rarely ever saw the kid in his class.
 
Bruin listened to Professor Lloyd's reply and began thinking about richer memories, first attempting to focus on Gryffindor's first House Cup win in his second year with rather dismal results and then attempting to draw on something more recent, hiking through the woods at his home with Cyndi, Kat and Andy. He thought about how amazing the summer had been, but the happy thoughts associated with Andy were clouded with the more recent events involving the two of them and Bruin could only muster the odd puff or wisp of silvery smoke.

Bruin glanced around the room and watched as Jaken struggled along with him and gave him a simple smile and shrug of the shoulders. Bruin had always liked Jaken and regretted not having made a better effort to get to know him. He was determined to offer Jaken an invitation back to the Wizard's Retreat after class so that they could commiserate over a butterbeer and shoot the, well, you know.

Bruin's attention was suddenly drawn to the other side of the room where James Potter, glory boy himself, had just produced a rather impressive dog patronus. The thing was rather big and shaggy looking as far as Bruin could see and he simply shook his head in disgust. Bruin still didn't like the way the girls of Gryffindor had all fawned over "boy wonder" when he strutted into Gryffindor for the first time and acted like an ass. "Stupid Patronus!" Bruin muttered to himself before refocusing himself as an idea struck him.

Bruin took a deep breath, closed his eyes to gather his focus and then made a magnificent transformation into his animagus form. A large bear stood on all fours in the centre of the kitchen, raised one of its paws towards James and gave a simple wave as if to say "Yeah, whatever...why don't you try coming to classes sometimes if you're such an all-star!!!". The bear then rose up onto its hind legs, it's massive head almost knocking down a hanging rack of pots and pans in the process and let out an impressive roar. Bruin then transformed back into his human form and stood there with a rather satisfied grin before offering up a half-hearted apology. "Oh, sorry about that...just had an itch!"
 
Jaken smiled at the professor. He knew that he was pronouncing it correctly, and the wand movement was also correct. However, it was the memory that was the problem. Jaken was about to choose a certain memory, a memory of asking Estrella to the ball, back when he was a fifth year. Jaken tried again, and this time, had more of a result. Jaken smiled, when the mist was a bit whiter, and it was somewhat larger and lasted just a bit longer. Jaken said to Professor Lloyd, "It is the memory part that is the problem." Jaken needed a memory that stood out among the rest, the ones that brought warmth and joy just thinking about them. Many of them were times with Estrella. And one of them was time with his family, when the two females were alive and laughing, even his father had a smile on his features. That alone was rare.

Jaken was about to try again, but then, he spotted the Potter kid. Unlike Bruin, Jaken disliked this boy from the beginning. Whether it was because of the glory he received because of his father and all, and that it clashed with his own blood. His blood, it was tainted with the same as the family Death Eaters. Jaken rolled his eyes at the impressive Patronus, and saw how shaggy it looked. Jaken ran his fingers through his hair to remove it from his face. His stormy eyes darkened slightly from his annoyance. However, a smile reached his face, as Bruin transformed into a bear. He was quite large, but Jaken had no sense of fear. Jaken laughed, and shook his head at Bruin. Jaken glanced up at the moving pans, and was rather glad that Bruin transformed back into his human self.

Jaken glanced back at the Potter kid, and thought in his mind, He better stay away from Estrella if he knew what is good for him. However, Jaken was also being slightly protective over her. He knew his feelings for her, and they may be still apart, but that did not stop him from disliking the boy. Even though he had no idea if Potter even knew Estrella, but Jaken's imagination had taken over. The Slytherin teen turned to Bruin and laughed, "Think you can hold off on that bear bit so that we can actually produce the charm?" Though the spark in his eyes clearly read, 'Loved it'. Jaken glanced at the professor to see what he would have to say.
 
James was a bit taken aback when Bruin transformed into a bear right in the classroom, he'd seen an animagus before but never had any desire to become one. transforming into a bear right in the middle of the classroom was a little crazy in James opinion and he wasn't sure how that was going to help him produce a patronus. James would've been afraid except he knew that the bear was Bruin and compared to Acromantulas, Centaurs, and all the other creatures James had seen in the Forbidden Forest; a bear was nothing more than a house pet, nothing magical or special about it. James looked down at Sirius and gave a small smile as he turned towards Professor Lloyd. "My dad tried teaching it to me when I was fourteen but I could only produce the vapor patronus, I wasn't actually successfull in learning how to create a corporeal patronus untill my Aunt taught me at the begining of last year" James replied it wasn't as if he'd mastered it on the first try yet the other boys were acting a bit stupid.

James simply decided that it would be best to focus his attention away from the others as he seemed to make them feel uncomfortable, James couldn't really blame them since they had tried and failed miserably to create a patronus when the person they didn't like succeeded. James looked down at Sirius and pulled out his wand as the dog vanished from sight, it would be a waste to keep his patronus out when there was no real need. James just walked over to the wall and waited to see what the other two boys would produce. "Don't worry, I hear it's hard to produce a patronus and almost nobody get's it on the first day" James said with a sly grin at the two as he pulled out his wand and began summoning tiny birds from his wand just for a bit of mild entertainment.
 
Bruin listened to Jaken's comment and gave him a quick, sheepish grin and an apolgetic hand gesture. "Sure, no problem... sorry about that, but couldn't resist!". Bruin saw that James had put his dog away and heard his comment about people struggling with the Patronus Charm on the first day, although it sounded more like a dig than an offer of encouragement to Bruin. Did he honestly think they didn't know that already? Either way, Bruin ignored him as he didn't care what James had to say, he never had and likely never would. Bruin knew that the Patronus Charm, like anything else rewarding in life, required patience and hard work and he would persevere as always until he had mastered it.

Bruin tucked his wand away and turned to Professor Lloyd, looking a little reserved. He wasn't sure how the Charms Professor would react to his disrupting the class and wanted it to be clear that he was sorry for having done so. He had always liked Professor Lloyd's style and hoped that he would excuse Bruin this one indiscretion. In truth, Bruin had grown a little tired of practicing and knew he needed to do some soul searching to come up with a memory worthy of the Patronus Charm. Being in the kitchens didn't help either, his stomach growled loudly and he wondered if they would be able to break soon so that he could get something to eat. Bruin had no intention of working on his Patronus further today. He recognized that he would prefer that when his Patronus revealed itself for the first time that he was either alone or in the company only of people that mattered to him.
 
Jaken was determined to produce the patronus charm in front of Potter. After that comment, Jaken had to. Jaken rolled his eyes and turned his back on Potter. All he needed to do was concentrate. Jaken chuckled at Bruin, "If I were an animagus, I probably wouldn't resist either." Jaken smirked a bit, and turned his attention to hunting down a memory strong enough to produce a patronus. Jaken calmed himself down, and cleared his mind. He brought out his memories, his happiest ones. It was just like a movie, and Jaken was screening them all in his mind, with his stormy eyes shut. He was completely in tune with his memories, and if only he could choose one.

There one was, a memory where his family was all together. His mother, his father holding Kailie in his lap, Kaleb and Alessine. All of them vivid in his mind. They were on a picnic outside the park. Even his father was smiling. All of them were having such a good time. Jaken held onto it, even though the memory itself was very, very old. Jaken intoned, "Expecto Patronum!" Jaken opened his eyes to see more of a result. It was vapor, but it wasn't nearly as large, and it faded away as quickly as it emerged from his wand. Jaken needed a stronger memory, and he went back into his mind to search. That was when he stumbled upon it. The one...

It was the memory of Jaken's and Estrella's final kiss. When he realized that he was practically in love with her, through that kiss. Though the events before and after were not happy, but this one was. Jaken allowed himself to be filled up with the memory, and a smile appeared on his features. Jaken pointed his wand, his mind holding on to that memory with a firm grip. Jaken intoned clearly, "Expecto Patronum!" Still holding on to the memory, the strangest thing happened. An animal flourished from his wand, and it crouched to the ground. It was not a strong patronus, but it was one. Jaken smiled to himself, seeing that the animal was a panther. A glowing, white panther. Jaken watched it fade away as he accidentally let the memory go. It lasted long enough, and Jaken needed a break.
 
Professor Lloyd nodded simply as the Potter boy explained where he learned the Patronus Charm. It was an impressive feat for someone so young, although the Charms professor managed that had taken ages of practice. "Very well, you may carry on," he said as he moved away from James and stood back to observe the progress of his other students.

Gabe did not flinch as Bruin Dumbledez transformed right before his eyes, though it was a bit intimidating to have a bear in the kitchens with them. Becoming an Animagus was a long, difficult road- one that Gabe had not chosen to go down- and the fact that Bruin had managed this by his seventh year was quite amazing. Flashing a crooked smile at the seventh year, he commented, "Be careful not to knock things about, Mr. Dumbledez- we don't want to give the house elves any more work than they have already."

He clapped his hands as Jaken Styx, one of the transfers that had proved to be a good student, produced a silvery vapor that outlined some large cat. "Good work Mr. Styx! You're on the right track."

Gabe had not failed to notice that his students were tiring of practicing. After a few more minutes he piped up, "If you would all like to retire for the day, that is fine with me. Remember that practice can make near perfect. If you need any help with this charm or any others that have been covered over the years, feel free to visit me in my office."

[Excellent work guys! If you want to continue practicing feel free. I'd like to have this thread wrapped up by Friday, July the 3rd. Each post counts towards a higher grade(don't worry, you're all already getting extra credit.) If you need any help with the material that has been covered over the past seven years, feel free to PM me or start up a topic in my office.]
 
Bruin was relieved when Professor Lloyd's reaction was essentially one of amusement. He set about straightening any pots or pans that appeared to have been disturbed, but managed to catch a glimpse of Jaken's next attempt. It looked like a Jaguar or something and Bruin nodded his head approvingly as he grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies from a jar on the shelf and began munching hungrily, careful not to leave any crumbs.

Bruin was even more relieved when Professor Lloyd indicated that they could knock off for the day and he started to gather up his things. "Thanks professor...I'll come and see you if I continue to struggle with it..." Bruin said between mouthfuls. He wasn't sure if the others were going to stick around and continue practicing or not, but decided to extend his offer for a butterbeer to them anyways.

"I'm heading over to the Wizard's Retreat for a quick butterbeer, anyone care to join me?" Bruin asked, hoping that Jaken would accept and not really certain if James would or wouldn't. It was strange, part of Bruin hoped that he would decline while the rest of him was kind of hoping he would accept.
 
Jaken was tired of practicing for the day. He put his wand away in his robes, and shook his head at Bruin when he saw the Head Boy stuffing his face with cookies. No matter, it was still humorous to see. Jaken released a sigh and said, “I think I’m done for the day. Thanks for the help, Professor.” Jaken adjusted his Slytherin robes and stated to Bruin, “I’ll come with, since I don’t have much else planned for today.” Jaken grinned over at the Head Boy, regretting that he had not received much of a change to become friends with the lad.
 
"Excellent..." Bruin replied, glad that Jaken had opted to accept the invitation. Bruin needed some time hanging out with some guys his own age. It was always just so much easier talking to guys. As much as he liked them, girls just complicated things too much. Bruin packed up his things and turned to Jaken. "Ready to go?", he asked, still leaving the door open for James to speak up if he wished to join them as well.

(OOC- I'll PM you the password. We used to guard it carefully against female RPer's, but now, not so much ;) ).
 
[Grades for this lesson are posted in the classroom. You may continue to rp if you wish.]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top