In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter CLXXVI: Their Pitchforks and Proof

They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one
They got their pitchforks and proof
Their receipts and reasons
They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one
So light me up, light me up
Light me up, go ahead and light me up
Light me up, light me up
Light me up, light me up

They say I did something bad
Then why's it feel so good?
They say I did something bad
But why's it feel so good?
Most fun I ever had
And I'd do it over and over and over again if I could
It just felt so good, good
Oh, you say I did something bad
Then why's it feel so good, good?
So bad, why's it feel so good?
Why's it feel, why's it feel so good?
It just felt so good, good

"I Did Something Bad"
Taylor Swift

~

LUCY:

I folded up the piece of parchment on which I'd written my letter to Cedric and stuck it in my trunk with the others. I thought offhandedly that I really ought to find a better place for the letters, possibly even think of a way to "send" them, but I had to head to the Room of Requirement. I dragged my sleeves across my face a couple of times as I hurried there to try to destroy any evidence that I'd been crying, but as soon as I walked in and saw Harry, his face fell.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "I'll be glad when Patronus lessons are over."

"Only one or two more meetings of this, then we'll go back to shields. Those are more universally helpful anyway." Harry opened his arms and raised his eyebrows. "C'mere."

I rushed forward and accepted the hug, and a couple of the broken pieces came a little closer together.

"Reckon we could try to find a boggart sometime?" I asked as we pulled away. "It would help make sure everyone's Patronuses are battle-ready."

"Good idea! We can look over the holiday," he replied.

I couldn't wait for the Easter holidays. A whole week of uninterrupted O.W.L. preparation. Hermione and I had drawn up a schedule already so we could make the most of the time we had, and we'd been brewing wideye potions under our beds for weeks at that point. I reckoned we could make an allowance to find a boggart, though, because it would give us a chance to practice the Boggart-Banishing Spell. I would mention it to Hermione later, maybe we could sneak out with Harry and the Invisibility Cloak that night.

The Room of Requirement slowly filled, and, to our surprise, there was a new face in the crowd. Dean had finally managed to bring Seamus along.

That night, there were several people able to produce corporeal Patronuses. Hermione and Ron were among the first to do so, an otter and a Jack Russell respectively. To my surprise, Cho was able to produce a Patronus too, a swan.

"Just remember," Harry called at one point, "it's easy to produce a Patronus in a brightly-lit classroom when nothing is threatening you! If a dementor is around, this will become much more difficult!"

Cho sighed. "Oh, don't be such a killjoy. They're so pretty!"

"They're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," Harry muttered in reply.

"Harry and I learned with a boggart," I piped up, "so we'll look for one over holiday that we can bring here! We had to try to conjure a Patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor."