Chapter 5. Aether

"Aether, wake up!" Lyney's voice pulled me out of my sleep.

With great effort, I opened my eyes one by one, squinting against the morning sun that streamed through the curtains and landed right on my sleepy face. So this was my first morning at Hogwarts as a seventh-year. The room was already bustling with activity from the other students—seems like, as usual, I'm the last to get up.

"You have 20 minutes to get yourself ready."

Barely managing to stand, I sleepily went through my morning routine—washed up, combed my white hair, and braided it at the back of my head.

"It looks awful," Xiao commented on my hairstyle as he entered, "turn around, I'll fix it. You're a prefect, after all, you can't show up in front of the other students looking like this."

"Thanks," I yawned, turning around and accepting my fate. "Why are you so good at working with my hair, anyway? Yours is much shorter; who did you practice on?"

"I've watched plenty of tutorials; someone has to keep an eye on them within the school walls."

"I'm not that bad at managing my hair!"

"Sure, but not when you've just woken up, and we don't have time to wait."

"In that case, why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your sound sleep without reason."

"How is that without reason? You just said I can't manage my hair when I'm half-asleep!"

"But I'm here to fix anything you mess up," Xiao said as he finished working on my now perfectly styled hair, inspecting his work with satisfaction. "Done. Let's go; breakfast is waiting, and then you need to escort the first-years to their flying lesson with Professor Beidou and make it to your own Defense Against the Dark Arts class. You'd better not be late; Professor Diluc won't overlook the fact that you're a prefect, even if you're the prefect of his own house."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Will you come with me?"

"Of course."

"Lynney, I have a favor to ask you."

"Hm? What is it?" he replied from across the room, where he was gathering his things for the day, which included not only school supplies but also various magical gadgets intended for pranks and tricks.

Lynney and Lynette were big fans of the Weasley twins and had learned a lot from George himself. This summer, they even worked part-time at his shop. I explained my request to him, to which he confidently replied:

"I'll take care of it, don't worry. I'll have all the information by the evening."

"Thanks…" I said with a hint of sadness in my voice.

"Don't worry, it's all for family, right?"

After that, I followed Xiao's plan: breakfast, during which I had to calm down a few third-years who decided to start a food fight. After that, we gathered the first-years and took them to the courtyard for their lesson, then quickly headed to see our head of house.

This year, our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were to be held together with the Ravenclaw students, which meant that all the Gryffindors had to prepare especially hard. After all, studying alongside the "superbrains" made earning extra points a particularly challenging task.

Fortunately, Xiao and I crossed the threshold of the classroom just seconds before the lesson began. The first thing we encountered was yet another argument between Kaveh and Alhaitham.

"You'll never reach the heights of magic if you rely solely on academic methods to study it!" Kaveh dramatically threw his hands up, clearly showing that he was on the brink of losing his patience in trying to make his point to his opponent.

"Academic methods have been tested by many generations of wizards and have a clear structure and instructions. By following them, one can master any spell," Alhaitham responded with titanic patience and calm.

"No! I mean yes! I mean, of course, it's necessary to use these methods, but they need to be adapted individually for each caster. Only then can we achieve perfection in casting!"

"And which spell have you perfected already?"

"I! I! That's not important! What's important is what I will achieve!"

"When you achieve it and write a report about it, I'll be happy to read it and learn something useful. But for now, the textbooks state that to cast a Patronus, one must use their best memories. Genuine memories."

"But the members of the Order of the Phoenix wrote in their diaries that Harry Potter used false memories of his parents, whom he never knew, and it worked! And he's one of the most skilled Patronus casters alive!"

"Those are just third-party recollections; no factual evidence has been presented to support this yet."

"You're both right to some extent," Professor Diluc interrupted the heated debate, suddenly appearing in the classroom. "Spells can be adapted and thereby strengthened by an individual wizard. However, this requires either incredible natural talent or a very precise understanding of the spell's essence. Otherwise, attempting to interfere with the structure of magical entities can lead to unforeseen results, including injury or even death to the caster, which I would prefer to avoid in my classes if you don't mind, Mr. Kaveh." At this, Kaveh dramatically slumped into his seat, displaying utter disappointment. "However, as for the Patronus spell, as you've already learned, in some cases it can indeed work when using so-called false memories, but only if the caster truly believes at that moment that the memory could be real." Hearing this, Kaveh perked up and seemed to have already forgotten the tragedy that had befallen him less than a minute ago.

Professor Diluc began to explain the topic of today's lesson in detail. With a wave of his wand, he moved the desks to the edges of the classroom, creating space for practice. We were paired up to take turns attempting the spell. As usual, I paired up with Xiao, Lynney with Lynette, and Kaveh with Alhaitham. Not all students managed to cast the charm successfully at first; some could only conjure shields of light, while a few managed to summon magical familiars from their wands.

The first to achieve perfect execution was Alhaitham. A white falcon burst from his wand with a cry, soaring across the classroom and landing on Kaveh's shoulder. Kaveh hesitated but decided not to shoo the magical bird away. He closed his eyes, muttered the incantation, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes and pondered for a moment, then looked at Alhaitham's familiar, closed his eyes again, smiled slightly, and tried again. The second attempt was much more successful—another bird took flight. While Alhaitham's Patronus took the form of a predatory hawk, Kaveh's bird looked less menacing, resembling a white blend of a dove, parrot, and phoenix.

"Very good, Ravenclaw. Kaveh, what do you think this creature is?" Diluc asked.

"I don't think this species actually exists, Professor," Kaveh hesitated.

"It's a bird of paradise," Alhaitham interjected.

Kaveh stared at his partner in surprise but didn't argue. After circling above, the bird of paradise landed on Alhaitham's shoulder. It didn't seem that the familiars were trying to defend their "owners" from their "opponents," which prompted stifled laughter from Cyno and Tighnari, who had summoned a jackal and a fennec, both curiously sniffing each other.

Lynney and Lynette simultaneously cast "Patronus," summoning two cats that rubbed their foreheads together and sat down opposite their owners.

It was Xiao's turn. Without hesitation, he closed his eyes and immediately shouted the incantation. A third bird burst forth, but unlike the others, its wings glowed with a faint golden light.

"Professor, is that normal?" I asked somewhat warily.

"Yes, in some cases, the color of the familiars can vary slightly. I've never seen this species in nature either. Xiao, what will you name it?"

"Golden-winged bird, Professor."

"Good," Diluc lowered his eyelids with a slight smile. "Aether, you won't let the others outshine you, will you?"

I started to feel a bit nervous; my friends had already managed to summon their Patronuses. What memory should I use? I delved into my thoughts, sifting through various moments of my life until I found the right one. Here it is—I've got it!

"Patronus!"

Glowing dots connected by thin lines burst from my wand.

"It's a constellation," Xiao said in awe. "But isn't a familiar supposed to take the form of an animal?"

"Not always, but I've never seen a constellation before either," the professor admitted, thoughtfully stroking his chin. "In any case, many of you did very well today—10 points to Gryffindor, 10 points to Ravenclaw. Don't forget to practice this spell, and remember when to use it—it could save your life. That's all for today, you're dismissed."