Yura is a Slytherin, and is the best in his class in terms of studies, even surpassing his classmates from Ravenclaw. He is very popular among the students in the fifth year from all the four Houses. He gets a lot of letters, gifts and love confessions, but he gives so little attention to these things. But beyond what people think about him, lies a desire that he has never mentioned to anyone...
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Beka, the Gryffindor Seeker in his seventh year, the mysterious tough-guy who excels in playing Quidditch and being attractive. He's also good in class, and is liked by a lot of students from different Houses and years. But his heart has been captured by someone long ago.
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Yura notices it, he always does; in between classes when he's walking from his previous class to the next one, in the Great Hall during meals, or during Quidditch matches or practices when he'd sneak around to watch. He notices how Beka, the famous Seeker, always glances towards him. And when Yura meets his gaze, he'd look away.
Why? Does he have a problem with me? Yura thinks to himself. Or maybe he wants to tell me something? What's with that Gryffindor Quidditch player?!
One night, Yura wanders off, taking a walk on the grounds of Hogwarts. It's quiet, peaceful... And then something catches his eyes; his heart started racing. It is a silver figure of a tiger, a beautiful beast. It moves gracefully, taking every step with elegance. Yura takes every single ounce of self-control that he has to stop himself from chasing the mystical white tiger. He decides to watch it from a distance, so fascinated, he starts smiling to himself. A pure, bright innocent smile.
Concealing himself in the shadow, Beka is the one conjuring that Patronus. Yura's smille surprises him, for it's been so long since he last saw it. Yura has been projecting a smile which always seemed so empty, like it was meant fake happiness. But this one is different, it's perfect. This is the smile Yura gave him back then, when they first met. Yura, your smile is beautiful, he whispers to himself as he allows his Patronus to fade.
The next day, Yura approaches the Charms teacher, Professor Nikiforov.
"Professor, you instruct your students on how to conjure their Patronus, right?" Yura asks.
“Indeed, I do, Mr. Plisetsky. Do you want me to teach you how to conjure a patronus too?” Professor Nikiforov offers.
“No, Professor. I just want to know; do you know anyone who conjures a Patronus in a figure of a tiger?”
“Among all the students I teach now, I know only one with a tiger as his Patronus: it is Otabek Altin, a Gryffindor,” the Professor answers.
This catches Yura’s interest. That seventh year Gryffindor looks at him a lot, and his patronus is a tiger? Is this just a coincidence? By the way, Yura loves cats, wild cats included. Wild cats like tigers. He has Muggle stuffs with tigers on it, like Muggle t-shirts and jackets with tiger prints. He keeps them hidden, though. Because his parents hate Muggle stuffs.
Is it just a coincidence? Yura wonders. He then spends the next month brewing Polyjuice Potion. He gets it done well enough to disguise himself as someone else for about an hour.
Professor Nikiforov’s image is the perfect choice, he decides, so he can ask Beka as a professor, and avoid suspicion.
He takes the potion, and again, he wanders off to where he saw the tiger Patronus. And there it is again, as beautiful as it was when he first saw it. He decides to chase it, intending to find where the conjurer in hinding.
“Mr. Altin? I know you’re around. Show yourself.” Yura, disguised as Professor Nikiforov, announces.
“Yes, Professor.” Beka steps out of the shadows.
“What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? You’re supposed to be in your dormitory...”
“I just wanted to have a little practice on conjuring my Patronus, Professor.”
“I’ll spare you from detention, Mr. Altin. But I’d like to ask you something, what do you think of when you conjure your Patronus? It has to be a powerful memory for you to produce such a fascinating image of a tiger,” Yura asks, doing his best to sound formal.
Beka, though confused by this question, answers with the truth to avoid the detention.
“It is the memory of someone I met in the Diagon Alley long ago. We were younger back then. There was this boy, he was holding a small stuffed tiger. He was looking at a broomstick, his eyes were sparkling. I walked towards him and heard him say, ‘When I grow up, I want to play Quidditch too.’ He looked so happy and excited. And then he turned to me, and asked 'What about you? Do also like Quidditch?’ I told him that I like Quidditch too, and that I actually love it. He said that maybe someday we can play Quidditch together, and then smiled at me. His smile was so beautiful, it made me so happy, it gave my heart an amazing warmth. That boy, he got into this school when I was in my third year. He was sorted into Slytherin, but he doesn’t play Quidditch. They say he’s the best in his class. I’m still hoping that maybe we can play Quidditch together, and maybe I can see him smile again, that smile he gave me when we first met and when he saw my Patronus.”
Beka’s eyes shine brighter than all the stars above them as he tells the story. Yura watches him too intently, that he did not notice that the potion was starting to wear off…
