Call Me Broken

Happy Times

Sorry for the time skip but I want to get to the holidays :)

Chapter Twelve: Happy Times
***Embry's POV***

"You have to think of your happiest memory and just let that memory take over as you say the spell." Harry instructed everyone as we all tried to cast the Patronus Charm. It was our sixth meeting, so far we'd gone over various defensive spells and practiced them to death. Today was our last meeting before the holidays and tomorrow everyone would be leaving to spend them with their families.

This was one lesson that I was unable to help Harry teach since I had never done this charm before myself. I stood with the others trying to cast it but nothing seemed to work. I had tried memories with Dobby, escaping to the Weasley's, my first Christmas with the Diggory's and Weasley's, meeting Cedric for the first time, messing around with the twins, and the night Cedric and I were in this very room together. With some of those I'd get a slight silvery mist but nothing more no matter how hard I tried. It was infuriating!

"Relax Lu," Harry came over to me when he saw how frustrated I was getting. Looking around I could see others who had mastered the charm easily. Ginny had a silvery horse, Hermione an otter, Luna a rabbit, Hannah a small bird, and Cho a swan. How had all of them gotten it so easily?! "Tell me about the happiest memory you have, go on."

I just stood there thinking. In just the past two years I'd made more happy memories than I had the whole first fifteen of my life. How could I pick one out of all of them? Especially when most of them include Cedric. It was at that moment that one specific moment popped into my mind.

I'm an idiot.

"My first Hogsmeade trip." I smiled at the memory. That day had been my first date with Cedric and it'd also been the day I revealed my past to him and he accepted me without hesitation. We'd just spent the whole day talking to each other about all sorts of different things and I'd felt so safe. It had been the perfect day. Even that night, when Sirius had tried to break into the tower he'd been there for me. I'd been too terrified to fall asleep and he'd held me close to help me fall asleep.

"Go on, try." Harry smiled as me.

"Expecto Patronum." I did the small hand movement that most did with their wands and watched. A silvery mist appeared but it then started to take shape of an animal. I could feel my friends watching to see my animal. I wasn't surprised in the slightest though when I saw a silver badger in front of me.

"A badger?" Dean Thomas looked at my Patronus in confusion.

I only nodded as I thought back to one of my conversations with Cedric when we'd first gotten together. Out of the blue he just started asking me random questions: my favorite color, favorite food, favorite season, and then my favorite animal. I'd told him that I liked owls because they were always free and able to fly wherever they wished to go. They had nothing holding them down anywhere, no problems. When I'd asked him the same question he'd smiled and seemed embarrassed before telling me it was the badger, the symbol for Hufflepuff. He'd told me that they were such loyal creatures and never abandoned one of their own, he thought they were a good role model for people. That had been the day that I had started to like badgers. It being my Patronus only seemed fitting to me, I'd loved a badger and that was what my happiest memory brought me.

"It's beautiful," Hannah smiled as the badger disappeared and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I knew that she, and some of the others, knew the meaning of it. I looked down at my left hand where the ring Amos had given me after Cedric's death was on my fourth finger.

"That's great work for today everyone!" Harry complimented everyone as we gathered around him, I stood with Hannah, Ginny, and Luna. "This is our last meeting before break so I want to wish everyone safe travels."

"Come on Lu, Luna wants to go feed the Threstals!" Ginny and Luna pulled me towards the door. I glanced over my shoulder to see Harry now talking with Cho over by one of the mirrors. The mirror that had pictures of the original Order of the Phoenix taped to it, along with one of Cedric.

"You can't even see them Ginny, why are you so excited?" Dean Thomas chuckled as he joined our group when we reached the hallway.

"Not seeing them just makes it more interesting!" Ginny rolled her eyes but I could see the faintest color in her cheeks. We all knew that Ginny and Dean had been flirting with each other for some time now, but I'm pretty sure that she's only doing it to try and make Harry jealous. It wasn't really working too well for her though, what with Harry drooling over Cho. Maybe one day she'll get her happy ending.