TRUST, harry potter¹

ch. 13 - patronus

'Her smile had stolen my heart from the stars'

-Atticus

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"How bad can she be, really?" The redhead asked.

It was yet another practice for Dumbledore's Army—or, the 'DA' for short. This lesson, the last before Christmas break, they were focusing on the Patronus charm to use against Dementors—dark, cloaked creatures that fed on happiness. Nearly all of the DA members by now had produced corpeal Patronuses—silver glowing animals and reptiles of many species running, flying and galloping through the air around their practice room, though Adeline was still yet to succeed.

She had to use a wand, considering Dumbledore didn't want many people knowing about her wandless magic and breathtaking abilities, as the 'wrong people could find out'. Nevertheless, Harry had merely told her with a shrug that 'Dumbledore said.' after she asked for the reason why. The other explanation seemed too complicated to try to explain privately without being overheard in such a crowd of students.

The practice room was really the Room of Requirement—a magical, hidden room within the Hogwarts castle, where if you pace before the bare wall thrice, imagining clearly what you necessitate, then a grand, double oak door with delicate engravings would appear, holding inside what you require. It was the same wall that Adeline had paced when searching for Dolores Umbridge's office, which had granted her a leading passage, though at the time she hadn't known of it—a lot of students at the school still do not know of its existence, even some professors, though she had found it by sheer coincidence; luck.

The current version of the room had three large walls acting as mirrors, and lots of space on the even floor; perfect for training. On the wall with the doors leading inward, there were shelves filled to their brim with books on defensive magic, as well as plush, circular cushions of different colours for the students to sit on.

"You're too confident, Ron." Harry responded, shaking his head. The two were onlooking Adeline a little in front of them, who was growing more frustrated after every failed attempt at a corpeal Patronus. He tore his gaze from her to the ginger. "She could tear apart mountains with her bare hands, you know. Burn down entire villages with a glare. Hell, Addie could topple kingdoms without so much as breaking a sweat. Believe me when I say, she could kill you in a second, with elegance and beauty and grace and—"

The chattering room abruptly grew silent, and seeing Ron's eyes widen in the direction of her, Harry looked over as well with curiosity lacing his expression.

There she stood, arm extended outward with her wand tucked securely away in her uniform skirt pocket, a string of wisping white emerging from her palm, leading to a small, silver butterfly, to which was fluttering around her head, a beaming smile lighting up Adeline's face.

Apparently, she had yet to notice all eyes on her, and when she did, the corpeal Patronus disappeared with lack of concentration, her cheeks tinting a faint pink. She grabbed her wand quickly in an attempt to disguise the fact she didn't need one, but the damage was already done; all had seen.

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Hastily walking the halls she had passed mere minutes ago, Adeline's shoes clicked on the deserted floor, retracing her previous steps. The setting sun shone proudly with its last light, causing the indoors to seem colder than and not as light as outside, the rays shimmering onto her as she passed by the old windows. After pacing before the bare wall thrice, repeating in her head 'I need the DA room', the bulky doors formed from the wall slowly, engravings appearing to draw themselves onto the wood.