Ethereal [George Weasley]

𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 - 𝙨𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙚

I left the wing a little while after Harry had woken up and rushed back to my dorm to tell my friends what Lupin had told me.

"He wants to give us lessons on how to cast a Patronus?" Lindsey repeated. "Really?"

"Really!" I responded in excitement. "We can protect ourselves from the Dementors if they attack us!"

"When, though?" Asked Evelyn.

"He said we'll practice after lessons every Friday." I remembered.

"Wicked!" Harley grinned, her mood rising a bit since the loss. "I can miss a day of practice!"

"It's really hard to produce one though..." Lindsey said in doubt.

"Then the last one to do it has to do a dare!" Harley grinned again.

"I wonder what our Patronus' will be?" Amanda said, deep in thought. "Mine has to be something graceful - they do represent us, right?"

"What, like a spirit animal?" Evelyn proposed.

"There's no other way to put it." I said. "Oh, I can't wait!"

I really couldn't. The days seemed to only become longer. By Monday, I was already far too eager - I had checked out a book on Patronus Charms on Sunday and I had already finished it by the night.

Monday's Charms and Transfiguration were a drag - the twins were being pretty irritating too, though I did my best to ignore them. And that Daniel Bishop. He was honestly getting on my nerves. He was so unnecessarily sour when I got a higher mark in our mini test.

"Always gets the special treatment." He spat ever so quietly, though I could still hear him. "Just because she's McGonagall's favourite."

Okay.

But his stupid remarks didn't faze me. By the end of lunch, I was practically skipping to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"You seem jolly." Evelyn laughed as she sensed my happy mood. The five of us were walking in a straight line as we made our way to the DADA classroom.

"I'm just excited for lessons." I smiled in return.

"As per usual." Harley rolled her eyes, as she walked in front of us whilst we walked through the narrow corridor to the classroom. "You'll be absolutely buzzing when you take your O.W.L's-"

Suddenly Harley bumped into a large, dark figure. She looked up. It was Snape.

"Withers." He said coldly. "I suggest you watch where you're going. Get inside."

Harley kept her mouth shut as we quickly stepped into the classroom.

"Is he teaching us?" Amanda mouthed to me in confusion. I nodded. I think he was.

Everyone scattered to their seats as Snape marched to the front of the classroom.

"Your usual..." He paused. "Teacher, is not here today. I shall be covering his lessons for this week."

"Good thing we only have this lesson today." Harley whispered.

"Turn to page 394." Said Snape.

We did as we were told. I noticed that the page has asked for was on a third year topic - werewolves. We had 'covered' that last year (that lesson was also about Lockhart and his hair)... so why were we covering it again?

I kept my mouth shut, knowing better than to question Snape. He was the teacher after all.

"A Werewolf," Snape began dryly. "also known as a lycanthrope, is a human being who, upon the complete rising of the full moon, becomes a fearsome and deadly beast. This condition is caused by infection with lycanthropy, also known as werewolfry. Werewolves appear in the form of a wolf but there are distinctions between them and regular wolves."