Glory |A. Potter|

Sixty-Two

The weather got colder as the time passed, November changed to December and the grounds got covered by snow, the lake froze over. The students were tired after all those months of school and the promise of a couple of weeks away seemed extremely relieving.

Jane, despite the lack of Quidditch practice and choir meetings, still was at her wits end with all the studying she needed to do. She had managed to not stay behind on her homework or her studying, although she was possibly the only one. She still didn't stop studying. She visited the library with her friends whenever they were there although most times, she went on her own. Sometimes, although not often, Antonio would join her. Despite her exhaustion during the day, though, she still didn't stop staying late at night in the common room, usually with Albus as her company, in hopes she would one day manage to cast a Patronus once more.

Tonight was no different.

After her patrol, Jane found Albus sitting at one of the couches in the common room, his Care for Magical Creatures textbook at hand as he studied. There was no ounce of hesitation on her part as she walked over and sat down beside him.

"What are you studying?"

"The upcoming lesson," Albus replied, not looking up at her as she sat down beside him. "How was your patrol?"

"We caught a second-year Hufflepuff out of his common room and escorted him to his Head of House, other than that, it was pretty uneventful," she admitted, already taking out her wand. She stole a look at the subject he was reading about to realise she had studied that chapter a couple of days back, and then she let him be. She focused, and the way she had been doing for the last couple of weeks, she tried to cast a Patronus.

The two of them fell in comfortable silence broken only by her occasional incantation and the rustling of a page as it turned. At some point, Albus finished reading his chapter. Logically, he had no reason to stay in the common room any longer. Still, he didn't leave to take some sleep, his eyes instead moving to watch Jane as she attempted to cast a Patronus.

There were no corrections he could make in her form, her pronunciation or her movement, although he didn't expect any fault in that. Her voice lacked conviction at points, and he knew, the only reason she hadn't managed to cast a Patronus already was because of the doubts in her mind. She tried again and again, unyielding in her attempts, not willing to accept her failure. And then, it happened.

The common room was illuminated as the lynx broke free from the end of her wand and started moving around the room. Jane's eyes widened, she froze, mouth gaping open as she watched her lynx run around the room. Albus, on the other hand, grinned, pushed himself up and didn't waste a moment to walk to her side, his arms moving to encircle her body.

"You did it."

Her focus wavered at his touch and the lynx disappeared, yet when she turned to face him, there was a wide smile on her face. He mirrored it at once, leaned in without thought to press his lips against her own. He meant it to be brief, to pull back soon, but when he tried to he was met with a pressure on the back of his head. Jane had put a hand there to keep him in place. His lips stretched into a smile during the kiss, and not long later, she was smiling as well. They pulled back, unable to kiss properly, and she rested her forehead against his sternum, her arms moving to loosely wrap around his waist. He held her in return, with her head lowered, finding it easy to place his chin over her head.

"I'm proud of you."

She let out a small sigh, "I know." He chuckled, pressed a kiss on the top of her head. "Albus?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to worry about kissing me, if you were wondering."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"