#I wrote another fic where Harry offers to teach Draco how to conjure a Patronus

[teledild0nix]

okay so Allie @oflights got me thinking about this fic I wrote last year where Harry teaches Draco how to conjure a Patronus, and I just find the scene so fun that I’m going to post it here 🥰

“Right. Okay. So,” Harry leaned back against his desk, feeling a little self conscious. “The Patronus Charm is one of the most ancient pieces of magic still in common use. You can actually track surges of its use through history. It’s associated with troubled times, obviously. At the moment, we have an unusually high number of people trained in its use. Some of that is down to Dumbledore, actually. Because of the talking Patronus messages you saw Hagrid use yesterday. That was a favoured method of communication used by the Order of the Phoenix.” 

Harry paused to let Draco catch up in his notetaking, picking up the thread again when Draco raised his head and resumed eye contact, “There’s been this idea in the past that a Patronus can only be cast by someone pure of heart, which. I think is kind of silly. What does pure of heart even mean? The reality is that because it takes so much magic, it requires an equally incredible amount of focus and clarity of purpose.

“I find it helps in casting to understand what exactly a Patronus is-”

“It’s a physical manifestation of hope and joy,” Draco interrupted quietly. 

“Exactly. I’d add to that, it’s a physical manifestation of your survival instinct also. And since a Dementor's a sort of personification of despair, a Patronus can drive it away. The incantation actually translates to ‘I summon my protector.’”

“Poetic,” Draco said, scribbling in his pad. 

“Yes, well. It works. So the most common way to summon a Patronus is to fix a powerfully positive, joyful memory in your mind, focus on it with all your might, and then cast. Generally, I have my classes practise focusing on the memory before trying to cast the spell.”

“All right.” Draco didn’t move. 

“You should put away your notebook,” Harry advised, raising his wand, “Nox.” 

The torches in the wall brackets extinguished themselves, and they were plunged immediately into a much deeper darkness than Harry had been expecting. The curtains were drawn, and it was rather dark outside anyway, as it was snowing. 

“Potter,” came Draco’s voice, bemused from the sofa. “Are these theatrics strictly necessary?”

“Shush, you’re meant to be focusing.” 

“Fine. For how long?”

“That’s up to you. When you’re ready to try casting, try casting.” 

Draco fell silent then. Harry tried to keep as still and quiet as possible. The only sound in the room was Happy’s slightly whistly breathing from her bed. 

Presently there was a shifting as Draco rose from the sofa, “Expecto Patronum!” 

The room was illuminated by the silver cloud that burst from his wand. It hung moon-bright between them for a moment, then faded away into nothingness. Draco inhaled loudly and steadily and cast again, “Expecto Patronum!” 

This time, the thing that exploded from his wand was a distinctly animal shape, four legged, hairy, huge and dazzling in the dark office. It vanished too quickly to make out what it was, and Draco promptly dropped his wand. 

“Did you see it?!”

“Of course I saw!” Harry was so excited he could have hugged Draco. “I wasn’t expecting you to get it so fast.”

“One would think you’d have learned not to underestimate me by this time, Potter,” and Harry could picture exactly the whisk of his hair that accompanied that remark. “I told you I’ve cast the incorporeal form before. I’ll bet I have it perfect next time.” 

But Draco tried twice more, and produced only silver mist, even more indistinct than his first attempt. 

Harry heard him throw himself back onto the sofa with a huff, “Got to focus. Give me a moment.” 

The silence that followed lasted far longer than the first time. It set Harry wondering what happy memory Draco was honing in on. His desire to ask grew stronger as he waited in the dark, though he knew it would be abominably intrusive, and he didn’t dare break Draco’s concentration. 

Harry was thinking so hard about what Draco might be thinking that he didn’t even notice him get to his feet, and the bellowed incantation took him quite by surprise. 

“Expecto Patronum!” 

This time, the enormous shape that sprang forth was perfectly clear, a shining, silver-white lion so dazzling and so huge that it obscured Draco from him completely. It opened its jaws in a silent roar, then faded away, leaving them in darkness again. 

Harry felt hot all over, his skin too tight. He thought of Snape’s silver doe. Tonks’ wolf. His mouth went dry, and he fumbled for a seat more secure than the edge of his desk. 

After a moment, he raised his wand, “Lumos.” The torches flickered into light.

Draco was still staring in wonder at the place where his lion had vanished. “It was so beautiful,” Draco said quietly. “I didn’t know it would. I wasn’t expecting that.” 

Harry found his voice, “There’s nothing like seeing it for the first time. That bit of you that you’ve never laid eyes on before. Right in front of your face.”

“Yes,” Draco said reverently. Then, hesitant, “Show me yours?” 

Harry stood and raised his wand, “Expecto Patronum!” And the stag came at his call, as he knew it would. Quickly and easily as a devoted old friend. 

With the torches lit, the stag did not appear as dazzlingly as the lion, though it was just as huge. It stepped delicately right up to Draco, and lingered, nose to nose with him for just a moment before it disappeared. 

“I wish he could be with me all the time,” Draco said softly, almost to himself. “My lion.” 

“Well,” Harry said. “He is, isn’t he?”

A slow smile spread over Draco’s face, “I suppose you’re right.” 

———-

read the rest on AO3!

#The next bit is even more fun #Bc Harry can’t sleep so he lets himself into the Headmistress’s office #And tries to ask Snape’s portrait about it 😳 #Liddy’s fic #Apliddell #Drarry #I wrote another fic where Harry offers to teach Draco how to conjure a Patronus #But kisses him instead #Draco’s Patronus is also a lion in that fic #I know people like a bird for him but I feel like a lion is perfect #Showy and powerful and clannish