By December, two weeks before the holidays, the sky finally cleared, turning a bright, dazzling off-white. These days were so of the calst Hogwarts had seen in a while. With no sightings of Sirius Black and Dumbledore's fury keeping the Dentors away from the castle gates, things felt nearly peaceful.
It had been about a week since the last Quidditch match, and during that ti, Kyle had noticed sothing interesting: he'd been running into Harry a lot more often than usual. While they were friends, their usual routines didn't overlap much. Kyle spent most of his free ti in the library or the Room of Requirent, while Harry preferred Hagrid's company or a cozy ga of wizard chess with Ron in the common room, only visiting the library when absolutely necessary. Most days, they only really saw each other during als in the Great Hall.
But in recent days, Harry seed to appear everywhere Kyle went. Just today, as Kyle stepped out of the Charms corridor, he saw Harry hurrying down the hallway toward him.
"What a coincidence, Kyle—are you here for class too?" Harry greeted him with his usual friendliness.
Kyle opened his mouth, montarily unsure how to respond. What else would he be doing? Having tea with Professor Flitwick? He would, if he thought the professor would actually agree to it.
"Yes, I'm here for class," Kyle finally replied. "And... what about you? Why are you here?"
"Oh, I just finished class and happened to be passing through." Harry's gaze kept flicking over Kyle's shoulder, as if looking for soone in the crowd behind him. "By the way, which House are you paired with for this class?"
"Slytherin," Kyle answered.
At this, Harry's gaze refocused on Kyle, his interest fading. "Well, I need to find Ron. See you around, Kyle!" he called, walking off as if nothing had happened.
"Where's he off to?" Kanna asked, puzzled. "And Charms is the only class on this floor today. How did he just 'happen' to pass by here?"
"He's doing it on purpose," Kyle said with a grin.
He had been suspicious at first, but after bumping into Harry so frequently, he'd nearly figured it out. Just yesterday, during a class with Ravenclaw, Harry had also shown up. Then, he'd walked with Kyle all the way to the Great Hall, keeping the conversation going with random topics. Not once did he ntion needing to et Ron. And today, with Slytherin present, Harry suddenly rembered his friend?
It was becoming obvious... his interest wasn't in any class, and it certainly wasn't in Ron. It was Cho.
"This is getting interesting," Kyle chuckled, heading down the stairs with Kanna looking at him quizzically.
"Do you know what he's up to?" she asked, catching up.
"Oh, maybe," Kyle teased, his grin widening.
"And...?" Kanna prompted, eager for more.
"Not telling."
"..."
Kanna followed him all the way to the foyer, where a crowd had gathered around the notice board near the Great Hall. Cedric and Cho had just erged from the crowd as Kyle and Kanna approached. Spotting them, Kyle couldn't help but chuckle again.
"What's wrong with you?" Cedric asked, frowning. "Why are you grinning like that—drunk the wrong potion?"
"Nothing, just thinking of sothing funny," Kyle replied, quickly steering the conversation away. "So, what's posted up there?"
"Oh, it's Professor Lupin's Patronus Charm Club," Cedric said with a laugh, letting the matter go. "The headmaster's given the go-ahead, and it starts at 6 p.m. on the first day of term."
"That's still a whole month away!" Kanna said, disappointed. "I thought we'd be starting next week."
Last year, when Lockhart had announced the Duelling Club, it had started just a few days later. She'd assud it would be the sa this ti, but clearly, she was mistaken.
"I think it's probably because of Professor Lupin's assignnt," Cho added. "The notice says that everyone joining the club needs to think of a particularly happy mory to bring to the first session. Professor Lupin didn't say why, but he wrote that having a well-prepared happy mory will make learning the Patronus Charm easier. I suppose he's giving us the month to get ready."
"Happy things..." Kanna muttered thoughtfully.
Just then, Ron and Hermione erged from the crowd around the notice board.
"Why are we supposed to think about happy mories?" Ron asked, puzzled. "What does that have to do with learning Charms?"
"It's essential for the Patronus Charm, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated. "According to The Standard Book of Spells, the Patronus Charm is all about channeling those happy mories and making them physically manifest."
"Oh, that sounds like a lot of trouble..." Ron mumbled, feeling his enthusiasm for the club waver. Truthfully, he hadn't seen Dentors around for quite so ti, and learning the Patronus Charm suddenly didn't seem so urgent.
Hermione was still explaining the intricacies of the Charm, listing the steps and the challenges, while Ron—deciding not to argue—looked around and spotted Kyle nearby.
"Hey, Kyle, have you seen Harry?" Ron called over.
"He's upstairs, looking for soone," Kyle said, struggling to keep a straight face. "Didn't you have the sa class together?"
"Yeah, but he dashed off right after class and didn't say where he was going," Ron replied. "He's been acting a bit odd lately..."
They headed into the Great Hall together, where Kanna walked quietly, her head down, deep in thought about Professor Lupin's request. She turned various mories over in her mind, unsure which would be right. Finally, as they sat down to dinner, she looked up and asked, "Kyle, what mory did you use when you learned the Patronus Charm?"
Everyone else perked up, clearly curious.
"My Hogwarts acceptance letter," Kyle replied with a smile, as he reached for a baked potato.
Cedric nodded knowingly. It was a happy mont for any magical child, receiving that first letter. He'd used the sa mory when practicing the Charm himself, though he'd never quite managed the full effect.
"Anything else?" Cedric asked, interested.
Kyle grinned. "Yes, actually. The other was when Fred and George got their first real punishnt."
He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "They'd made a huge ss of things, and Mr. Weasley hung them from a tree and gave them a serious telling-off. They were howling so loudly you could probably hear it all the way through St. Catchpole. It was so funny... honestly, it's a sha we didn't have a cara; I'd love to have had a record of their faces."
"Er..." Cedric chuckled awkwardly.
He couldn't recall this incident, either because his house was far enough from The Burrow or because he'd been too young to rember it. Glancing over at the Gryffindor table, Cedric wondered if Fred and George knew that their "discipline session" had played a role in Kyle's Patronus training. Most likely not—otherwise, they'd surely be plotting their revenge on him.
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