Chapter 10 - Expecto Patronum

"And then he kissed her! I don't think I've ever seen Ginny this happy." Luna couldn't stop the smile on her face. She had known about Ginny's feelings for Harry before her friend even told her about it. And last year, during the DA meetings, she had seen their connection. It seemed that something must have happened in the summer because now she often saw Harry staring at Ginny. Luna doubted Ron would be very happy about it, but when she had seen the tall boy, he had seemed very relaxed. He had always argued about Ginny's other boyfriends, much to her friends annoyance. Now she hoped both Ron and Hermione would have talk.

Thankfully Ron and Lavender Brown had broken up and he and Hermione were friends again. There was a much better mood around them. And Luna valued peace between her friends.

She looked sideways at Blaise, who was sitting beside her. He looked slightly uncomfortable. She couldn't quite understand why. But she did understand, quite suddenly, that talking about anyone kissing, with him, resulted in a flurry of butterflies swirling in her stomach. Could his look mean he was possibly feeling the same swirling as she did? But then that would mean he was thinking about kissing her. And as the thoughts of them kissing during a Common Room celebration entered her mind, her eyes flicked to his lips. They looked full and smooth. No, they would never kiss. They wouldn't even be at the same Common Room party. And he wanted to be friends, and she didn't want to kiss any of her other friends. So, why, did she feeling this urge to be closer?

She frowned at herself and tore her eyes back up and was shocked to see him staring back at her with those dark intense eyes that made her skin prickle whenever he looked at her. She felt her cheeks flush as his eyes flicked down for a fraction of a second before meeting hers again. Then he cleared his throat and leaned back on the forest ground, supporting himself on his forearms.

They were sitting in the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by the Thestral herd. Luna had brought a buffet of different cuts of meat that the foals were devouring eagerly. They were growing at a rapid pace. No longer the delicate spindly things, but stronger and more elegant like the rest. Nor were they skittish. They recognised both her and Blaise and were quite happy to come close.

One of the young ones had taken the opportunity of Blaise's movement to position itself beside him, nestling its reptilian like head in his lap. Unconsciously, Blaise started to stroke it's mane. Luna was quite sure it was one of the female foals. They tended to be drawn to him, rather like how unicorns were more comfortable around women. Females in general appeared to enjoy Blaise's attention. She had noticed this in the Great Hall or the Hogwarts hallways. Mostly Slytherin's, who were the only ones brave enough to try and get past his haughty exterior. But now that she was aware of him, she had even caught conversations in her own Common Room and dormitory about him. Ones that always dissolved into giggles. He had apparently looked a bit too often at the Ravenclaw house table.

Luna couldn't help but be amused at this. She could see his reactions to the extra attention. He was either oblivious or wilfully ignored it. She doubted her giggling dorm mates would even believe her if she told them that he was her friend. She doubted it. But she would never ask. Blaise had made her promise to keep their friendship a secret and Luna was far too rational to feel hurt by it. No, she understood. With her father's letters, Blaise's mother's trip abroad and her conversations with Tonks, Luna had a rather good idea about how divided the Wizarding World was becoming. She doubted her own friends and family would be welcoming to Blaise. It was better this way for both parties. Maybe own day it would be different. But that also meant that any thoughts of kissing him needed to leave her mind.

"You care a lot about your friends." His simple statement brought her out of her thoughts that had started to turn back to dangerous territory. She blinked.

"Yes, of course. They are my friends. I want to see them happy."

"And you don't care that Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw and snatched the Quidditch Cup away?" Luna shrugged.

"You know me Blaise. Do you think I would care more about that?"

"Well, I thought maybe your hat got sad. It has feelings too you know."

She laughed and he joined her. Her magically enchanted eagle hat had looked rather forlorn after the match and the days that followed.

"You care about my hat's feelings?"

"I told you I liked it. I meant it."

"I do like my friends more."

Blaise faked a hurt face, clasping a hand to his heart.

"Sure, why not dig the blade in further?"

Luna laughed and gave him a playful dig.

"Stop! Now you're making me feel guilty!"

He grinned at her.

"You have such a pure heart." He said but beneath his teasing tone she could tell he was serious. She smiled back.

"I know you take Quidditch far more seriously than I do…"

"Yeah, I keep score…" Another dig.

"But even you can't choose Quidditch over the happiness of your friends!"

"Sweetheart, you're talking to a Slytherin. If I was Quidditch Captain and winning the cup would mean Nott was miserable for a year, I'd make his life hell."

"That's just silly!"

"It's the truth!"

"Would you make me miserable? We're friends!"

He didn't answer that but simply looked at her, a grin etched on his face. The same tension she felt before came rolling back between them. While the weather in May had started to warm up, it suddenly felt like a heatwave. She felt her face flush. His lips moved and she realised he was speaking.

"Surely you don't have to ask that?"

"You were rather quick about condemning Nott to misery." She countered.

Another grin.

"You're different…" but before she could respond to that, he interjected, "How are your OWL preparations going? You've got two weeks left…"

"Alright I guess. I've been studying a lot with Ginny…"

"When she's not too busy snogging Potter…" she gave him another dig.

"We've got a studying group every night in the Common Room and everyone joins in, even sixth and seventh years…"

"How sweet…"

"AND Padma, Anthony and Terry have been helping me practice with spells. We were in the DA together. Cho too, but Marietta gets upset when she hangs out with DA members and I don't like her. And now that Michael is dating her, welI I don't see him much… I think it annoys Anthony and Terry. Michael is very nice. He used to date Ginny too last year…"

"Lovegood, I really don't need to hear about Weasley's current or past lovers."

"You asked me how studying is going?"

"Yes, that's true. Who else are you studying with?"

"Rolf has been quizzing me on Magical Creatures. He's very good. You know his grandfather is Newt Scamander?" She felt Blaise stiffen beside her. "I thought he was your favourite author?" She asked surprised.

"That doesn't mean I have to like his grandson." Came his clipped reply.

"Why don't you like him?"

"…Quidditch…" She laughed at that.

"Well I think we've established I don't care about Quidditch." He gave her a grin.

"I am going to tell your hat."

And grinned even wider when she dissolved into giggles.

——————

A week later, they met again, this time in an empty classroom by the Astronomy Tower. She had told Blaise she had wanted to practice her patronus charm. Harry had told her that it had earned him some extra OWL points during his Defence Against the Dark Arts exam last year. When she told Blaise, he had reacted both surprised and impressed.

"Potter taught you the Patronus Charm? That's high level stuff Lovegood. I'd love to see."

And so she had messaged him about the classroom. It had been another long week with intense classes and homework. She was rather looking for to the weekend and get in some rest. Despite the attitude of some of her classmates, Luna understood the importance of rest on her performance. But despite her initial fatigue, she instantly felt better when he had entered, his cautious look instantly morphing into a smile when he saw her. Her heart gave an involuntary skip and she focused her attention on her wand movement.

"It's important to think about a happy memory or feeling and it has to be very powerful. The more powerful, the better. It's the difference between a corporal and non-corporal patronus. I'll show you the difference." She cleared her throat lightly, ignoring him as he had propped himself lazily against a desk, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Focus. Happy memory. Go!

"Expecto Patronum."

Out of her wand appeared a glowing shield, it's blue light illuminating the space. She sent it towards the opposite wall. As she turned back, she saw Blaise had straightened, looking to where the shield had disappeared.

"That is its non-corporal form. It's still useful but whenever faced with a Dementor and especially more than one, you'll want it to be stronger." She positioned herself again, straightening her stance and taking a deep breath. She pulled up her memory.

"Expecto Patronum!"

This time a silvery blue hare jumped out of her wand, hopping happily through the air, circling around them. She gave him another glance and was transfixed. All his attention was on the magical hare and he followed its movements with an awed look on his face. The light highlighted his high cheekbones and reflected off his dark skin and eyes. As her hare coming towards her, he met her gaze, and a warm happy feeling filled her body.

"This is magnificent, Luna." He said softly and it took her a second to realise he'd called her by her first name again. She had missed hearing it in his deep voice. The blush returned to her cheeks in full force.

"Thank you." She pushed an unruly strand of hair back behind her ear. She looked up at the patronus that had slowed its movement, now descending to hover close to her wand. "Did you know you can even use patronuses to send messages? Rather similar to Hermione's use of DA coins."

"I did not know that." She looked back up and saw he was standing closer. She could feel the magic waver. Any more and her hare would disappear. Focus! "I like your patronus. It fits you."

Luna couldn't help but smile at that, and before she knew it, with a wispy flicker, the hare disappeared.

"You… you have to keep focused…" she explained at his surprised expression. "Why don't you try?"

He stilled at that and Luna thought he looked nervous. She gave him an encouraging smile.

"Come one, just try it. Hardly anyone gets it the first time."

He gave a brief nod and walked further into the classroom, drawing out his wand. Squaring his shoulders, he fixed his gaze to the rounded window.

"Think of a happy memory." Luna told him softly and he closed his eyes briefly, obviously listening to her. When he opened his eyes again, she couldn't help but hold her breath.

"Expecto Patronum." He said clearly and with a flick on his wand, it started to emanate a familiar blue silvery fog, forming into a shield. She beamed at him when he caught her eye, obviously pleased.

"That is wonderful Blaise and for your first go as well!"

"I was hoping for something more… but glad it's working."

"This is a great first step. Not many manage this. You'll just need some practice and time to think about the memory and more importantly, the feeling you want to channel." He gave a grin.

"I'll try again."

They spent the next hour in the classroom as Blaise kept trying the charm. Luna summoned her Hare several times more for guidance. But while his spell kept getting strong, it hadn't formed into a corporal patronus yet. Luna decided then that it was time to go before he got frustrated.

"We can try again soon." She told her earnestly, and he smiled at her.

"Thank you for the lesson Professor Lovegood." He gave her a mocking bow.

Then he walked her straight to the Ravenclaw Common Room entrance.

"Goodnight Luna." He said grinning.

"Goodnight Blaise. You were marvellous."

"Oh, I know I am." And with that he winked and left , leaving Luna flushed and stammering at the bronze Eagle knocker.

There was however, no time to practice anymore. While her exams came and went easily enough, everything changed when Luna felt the DA Galleon change. She had been summoned. Something bad was going to happen, she could feel it.