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Chapter 26: Ministry of Magic

I am very pleased that Vander figured out this wand business," McGonagall said, perched on a chair at the little kitchen table. "You've been able to make remarkable progress."

It had been weeks since Vander had given her the willow wand, and her and McGonagall had been meeting nearly every weekday to try and manage her magic. She could contain her magic about 90 percent of the time, even when McGonagall turned her face into a shark, made Katherine's head a pumpkin, or even turned herself entirely into a grey tabby cat. Katherine had spooked, however, when McGonagall used something called a leg-locker curse while she was trying to let Corliss out. Her static blasted a hole in the window as she fell to the ground.

Once on accident, when McGonagall was trying to startle her with a jinx, Katherine had thrown her hands up in front of her face instinctively and the spell rebounded, sending McGonagall soaring to the ceiling. Katherine had apologized profusely, but McGonagall made her try again and again. Katherine let some magic travel to her eyes. She could see a teal wall sprout from her wand, crackling against McGonagall's spell, the same faceted grey as her animagus form. The sparks shot back towards her face, causing the professor to still for a moment before she shook the remnants off and had another go.

Today, however, McGonagall had simply dumped all of Katherine's clothes onto the floor and told her to make each item refold itself. Sporadically, she'd turn one into a bat or light it on fire just to keep the young woman on her toes.

"See, that last one is very crisp. Do you feel the wand makes you stronger?"

"It's just makes it feel less abstract," Katherine mused, looking at the neatly folded shirts in a stack on the table. "Like putting on my glasses in the morning."

"Good. I think we should another formal spell, then."

Katherine groaned. The spells were clunky and made her magic move in ways that felt jittery and unfamiliar.

"Fewer dramatics please, Ms. Waine. I have one today I think you might enjoy."

She stood up from the table and pulled out her wand. "This spell is one your aunts and uncles seem rather fond of. It is advanced magic. It's meant to be used against a particularly ghastly creature called a dementor. But Professor Dumbledore and those fighting in the war found ways to use them to communicate as well. They are tricky and rarely achieved without much practice, so it will give us a good benchmark. The incantation is Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto patronum," Katherine repeated.

"The words are useless unless you think of a very happy memory. In its weakest form, you will see just puffs, a mist really. At its strongest, it will appear as a fully formed animal. Each person's is unique. For example," Professor McGonagall squared her shoulders and repeated the spell, a wispy tabby cat springing from her wand. It stretched on the ground before pouncing onto the counter, eventually curling in a ball and dissipating.

"Now you try," McGonagall said. "Focus on your memory, let it reach every part of your being, and then repeat the incantation."

Katherine thought for a while. But she landed on the day her and her mother had moved into their little house. Katherine was young, maybe eight, and so excited to have a real driveway rather than an apartment parking lot. The Parkers had come to help them unpack, and they had listened to Whitney Houston and danced the whole time, Her mother was barely phased when Katherine spun into the table and sent a glass crashing to the ground. That night, the two of them built a pillow fort in the living room, ordered their favorite pizza, and fell asleep watching TV.

Katherine could practically smell the pepperoni when she lifted her wand and thought "Expecto Patronum."

This spell wasn't as jumpy as some of the others. It was soft and cozy, and her whole right arm felt a cool breeze. And then, out of the end of her wand burst a woodpecker. It flew around the room, leaving trails of blue light behind it. After a few rounds, Katherine held her hand out and the bird landed, cool to the touch, on her arm. It let her pet it in a way that the real thing never would have. It didn't even look at her suspiciously, just stood tall. After a moment, it flew over to Corliss's cage and perched next to her. The owl did not seem amused, but Katherine couldn't help but laugh.