Purpose

~ Chapter 32: Fenix's Patronus ~

Just before another informal meeting...

Sirius could not help himself as he repeatedly gave Fenix several surreptitious glances all the way through their dinner, but otherwise he remained silent. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that Harry had to give him a sharp jab in between his ribs to catch his attention.

: Sorry, Harry. I've been woolgathering. :

Sirius gave him a chagrined look but his godson just shook his head slightly.

: I don't blame you if you're thinking about the melancholy looks that your oathsister had been subjecting some of us

for the past hour. She's making me a little nervy, : Harry spoke lightly and his mindvoice took on a more cheerful frequency. : By the way, Sirius, do you have any idea what B.F.S. means? : he asked hopefully but sighed when his godfather gave a small frown and shook his head. "Anybody in this company know what B.F.S. means?" Harry asked almost in an exasperated tone.

Fenix tilted her head to a side and rattled out. "Basic field surgery." Ron gave a baffled look at her and asked her in a curious tone why did they have to study that. She gave a small smile as she answered the Gryffindor Keeper. "Just in case mass casualties have occurred somewhere. The concerned people might-- as a last resort-- persuade the School to deploy some of you to help," she said in a light tone. Comprehension dawned on the students' faces and they finished their dinner in silence.

"So..." Harry paused as he drank his pumpkin juice, "Madam Pomfrey would be teaching us this?" The Fire Master nodded and also told them that Professor Sprout would also be with them.

"Actually, it's also to be considered as a Joint Exercise," Snape provided lazily.

"You mean the whole school?" Ginny asked and the four adults nodded their heads. That meant the only place the lesson could be carried out would be in the Hall. "Then what about the lessons tomorrow?" She looked pointedly at Sirius and the Potions Master while the two men looked back at Remus and Fenix. The latter just looked at the men and briefly told the students that they would be told before nine or if possible, earlier than that.

"So then you'll have to excuse us and we'll discuss this with your teachers," Fenix said cheerfully, tugging Remus up to his feet and beckoned to the other two men. The Fire Master was looking seriously at the Potions Master as they walked, whose forehead creased a little as he gave his comments via mindspeech.

Hermione was strangely quiet. She seemed to be pondering about something. She began slowly, "I have just noticed something. Hogwarts have many strong magical enchantments that prevented anyone for Apparating or Disapparating. So how come Fenix can do that?"

"But she isn't exactly Apparating, is she?" Harry pointed out gently. "But you know, if Fenix had found ways to do it, would it be possible for her magic to be duplicated?" His face became worried mercurially, but in the end he shrugged, sighing.

Draco looked pensively at him. "I wish my life was less complicated. Why do I have to be born as the same century as you do, Potty?"

"Why are you looking at me, Drake? As if I have the power to prevent my parents from having me," Harry said sardonically.

**********

: So how? :

Fenix asked them for the fourth time that evening. They were back in the bedroom, resuming their previous positions. She looked at the direction of the door and was not surprised to see Moody barging his way unceremoniously into the bedroom. He conjured a comfortable chair and sat down, looking at them expectantly, not really surprised to see Snape lying on her lap, but the Potions Master reddened in embarrassment. "What's up, Mad-eye?" she asked curiously.

"I feel that it would be better if the three divisions have the same kind of class tomorrow. For at least about one hour, before we split into groups," Moody explained patiently. Remus however looked dubious.

"But do we have enough space for all the students?" he fretted.

Moody gave an indifferent shrug. "We could always use the pitch." All four heads nodded.

"We would be doing Patronuses tomorrow," Snape informed him, and Moody nodded in approval.

"Right. Patronuses for an hour, and then the rest of the two hours?"

"Physical exercise," Fenix answered in an almost mischievous voice. "Then, we'll ask the students to practice the Shield Charm and Stunning, I expect." She looked at her partner who nodded solemnly. "I want to try something with the students later in the next few weeks and then see if Harry could still duplicate my shield. That would be very useful in protecting the injured."

"Creating a physical barrier?" Moody asked doubtfully. "The students can do that?"

Fenix smiled mysteriously. "Never try, and you probably will never know. I've noticed that the spells they're learning like the Shield Charm, only deflect hexes and the like, but not against physical objects. So I guess, we might have to do with some experimentation. The shielding spells that Remus and I had taught the students only worked as an individual, but not as a group."

"I wonder if the twins might be useful," Sirius said absently.

"Hmmmm?" Fenix looked curiously at him, wondering if his thought was related to her sentence.

"Well, whatever resources that could be useful..." her oathbrother replied evasively. She narrowed her eyes and a sudden wicked grin appeared.

"Do you remember that Compression hex Fred threw at George while we were staying at The Burrow?" Fenix asked, her voice filled with amusement, while Sirius and Remus struggled to contain their mirth. Snape was looking at them impatiently. "That really would absolutely cause a major distraction."

"Why don't I see if I could get the twins to explain how the twins created the hex?" a silvery voice belonging to one of Fenix's Sylphs spoke up.

"We should have gotten you a wand," Sirius suddenly said.

"Don't worry, Sirius. I already have one," she answered in an almost bored voice. Remus just looked at the company with interest, watching his best friend's reactions.

"Is it a real wand by the way? Because I think, it would be better for you to learn how to summon a Patronus as well." Her oathbrother pestered her. She shot a disgusted look at him, signaling Snape to sit up, and got out of her bed, going straight for a drawer where she had kept most of her knives. She took out a black case of about eleven inches long. She crawled back to the bed and opened the case with a peculiar smile on her face. Her presumed wand was wrapped in black silk and she opened the folds of the black silk carefully, and the three men in the room all gathered close to peer into the case. Remus leaned back, watching them with mild amusement.

Snape nearly did whistle, which was highly uncharacteristic of him, when Fenix revealed a glossy wand of oak and hawthorn of about ten inches. Fenix gave a soft laugh at his expression and carefully lifted her wand. "Well, it's old, but I wouldn't trade this one for a new wand. It's old, but powerful." The Potions Master jerked back a little when the wand suddenly shot out a wisp of blue mist. She looked slightly sheepish and apologized for startling Snape. "I almost forgot that he used to do that when I've abandoned him a bit too long."

"All right, I give up. But why on earth do you still keep your wand when you don't really need it?" Sirius questioned her in bafflement.

"So now you're telling me I don't need the wand?" she shot back acidly and her oathbrother gave up at that point. She was about to place the wand back when Snape held out his hand, eyes looking almost pleadingly at her. She gave him a puzzled look but gave him her wand for inspection.

: I never would have dreamed that I'll have the chance to see you fumble like a student tomorrow, :

Snape said in a teasing tone as he felt the wand's weight and the sense of old power that was embodied in it.

: Be nice. :

Fenix flinched at his entirely correct assessment and Sirius suddenly let out a bark-like laugh as Snape commented to him privately. She just gave both of them a lofty look, and leaned back against Remus. Then her melancholy mood returned and she sighed softly. "I just hope we have enough time to prepare the students."

**********

Twenty minutes to nine...

Fenix was feeling a little restless and informed her two wolves that she would be doing some exercise. They had all informed their students to gather round the Quidditch Pitch for their afternoon lesson at four, if the weather was clear. If it happened to rain, they would gather in the Hall. Somehow, due to her excellent timing, she bumped into a lone Malfoy as he headed out of the library. He stepped back in surprise when he first saw something totally dressed in black but when she stepped into the dim candlelight, he let out a deep breath.

"Draco, you shouldn't be alone," Fenix said softly.

"What are you doing? Dressing up all in black?" the young man questioned her as she escorted him down to the Entrance Hall.

"Feeling restless, so I'll be doing a bit of exercise outside to calm my nerves," she confessed.

"Isn't that a little dangerous, Fenix?" Draco asked her seriously and paused at the entrance of the narrow staircase. The Fire Master was secretly pleased that he had called her by her first name casually and gave him a reassuring smile. To his embarrassment and surprise, she slowly gave him an embrace, and as she was shorter than the boy by almost two feet, she conveniently pressed her cheek against his chest.

"Draco, you've got friends now. Ones you could count on," she whispered, making the Slytherin more confused than ever. She suddenly let go of him and moved off quickly out to the Grounds. Then there was a faint whisper in his mind, : Love you, Draco. Just like I love Harry. : He stood frozen there until Filch came by with Mrs. Norris trailing behind. Automatically, Draco descended the staircase, trying not to feel shaken by Fenix's sudden confession. I should go to bed and sleep until it's time for me to wake up. Trust Dumbledore to complicate matters by bringing in this strange woman, he thought resolutely to himself, but he could not block out the whisper that lingered in his mind.

**********

Tuesday, 26^th September.

Harry was struggling to keep his concentration on changing his half-pincushion, half-hedgehog back to its original state. Ron was having a much more difficult time than he was; his friend had accidentally mispronounced his incantation and instead of having two species bound together, he had three. His hedgehog/pincushion had a lion's tale and McGonagall was lamenting and gesticulating to herself, wondering how on earth her student had managed to garble the recitation.

Harry abandoned his subject for a moment to close his eyes briefly and to take several calming breaths. When he felt that his head was not about to feel as if it had been crammed full of information, he recited the formula once more. There was a soft 'poof' and his hedgehog was again whole and was resting on its soft velvet cushion, looking at Harry expectantly with its small, black beady eyes. He slipped his hand into his pocket and fished out a tidbit that the hedgehog seemed to be fond of and fed it to the hedgehog. It shyly reached out for his treat and began munching it steadily as Harry carefully picked the hedgehog and placed him back in his cage.

Hermione had already changed her mis-transfigured hedgehog back nearly forty minutes ago, which was practically the beginning of the Transfiguration practical. She was helping McGonagall help some of the other students and presently, she was carefully reciting the magical formula to Ron who was listening attentively to her. He repeated the incantation after her and he changed his subject to its previous form-- minus the lion's tail. Harry watched his friends in detached amusement and took out his pocket watch. It showed eighteen minutes to four. Finally, he heard the soft puff coming from Ron's direction and it was time for him and his friends to head down to the Quidditch pitch.

The group of students separated as they all scrambled to get to their respective Towers to dispose their bags and their school robe. Fenix had specifically warned them that they might need to do a bit of tumbling during their special electives. Harry paused for a moment to look out the window of his bedroom and concluded to his friends that they would be heading for the pitch since the sky looked pretty clear to him. They made their way down to the common briskly, with Ginny helping Hermione to braid the bushy hair into something less than a distraction. Both the girls were dressed in loose turtlenecks, which they carefully tucked into their skirts, and were also wearing a pair of shorts. Dean and his best friend, Seamus, were betting on whether or not Fenix would loosen her fireballs on them for their current lesson as they trooped out of the Tower for the pitch, their lines merging with the Slytherins as they reached the Entrance Hall.

**********

At the Quidditch pitch...

The six instructors were waiting patiently for the students. Fenix was wearing dark blue for that day and equipped with her dark-blue Nike shoes. They had specifically warned the students not to wear their school robes for they were bound to run a lot that morning-- after dealing with the Patronuses. Silver and Wind were seated calmly at the pitch, scanning their surroundings. The Fire Master had already cast a magical shield from intrusion or spies. If there were any spies at all, they would only see an empty Quidditch pitch. The Fire Master was being very cautious, constantly turning her head at the direction of the Forest.

: Nervous? :

Sirius came and stood next to her, looking expectantly at the gate. She gave a curious look at him.

: Nervous for what? :

: At making a fool of yourself. Because, I think you're the only one who doesn't know how the Patronus work, :

Sirius said with a straight face, and she glared at him.

: I'll let that pass bro. :

She almost hissed, but regained her composure when the students began to pass through the gates.

Sirius, dressed all in black almost seemed to be an extension of the Potions Master. He was watching the gates carefully, counting heads as the students entered, smiling a little as he caught sight of Harry's jet-black hair and found that there were exactly thirty of the students. He noticed that the group was mainly made up of students of Harry's year. There were no second or third years among them, and he was surprised when he saw four of the first years-- Jude Howell, Miranda Arawn, Aine Moonbeam, and Jeff Howard. I wonder what they had gone through their childhood, he asked himself silently.

Automatically, the students separated themselves to their three divisions and waited for instructions from the teachers. Somewhat to Sirius's surprise, the students were equally divided among the three divisions. Remus moved to the front a little-- six of them had agreed that he should be the one to address them as he was technically the perfect candidate being the Defence teacher. The werewolf cleared his throat uneasily.

"Good afternoon, everyone. First, I would like to inform you that the first thing we'll be doing is to practice the Patronus charm. I don't expect you to succeed in this spell immediately, but be assured that being in these select groups, you would be able to. Miss Maxwell here," he jerked his head back casually at Fenix, "will be joining you in conjuring up a Patronus."

"What on earth for?" Neville asked quizzically.

"Subterfuge." Fenix shrugged. "If I act like the rest of the students, which is quite easy to do by the way, we'll have the element of surprise if someone mistook me for being an amateur." Her eyes twinkled mischievously at the batch of students. "I sound like a pompous fool, don't I? I'm doing it because it's time for me to re-study what I have forgotten. Anyway let's get to practice. You do know how to conjure the Patronus, yes?" She looked at the students and the teachers began to methodically spread them out.

"Do act as if you have a horde of Dementors before you, all right?" Remus called out to them.

For some reason, Snape had attached himself closely to the Fire Master and she cast a look of sufferance at the blue sky above her. She closed her eyes to concentrate on a happy moment, which was the day she had found out about her gifts. "Expecto patronum." A faint silver wisp shot out of her wand but it was weak. Which means that, that particular memory is not as strong as I thought it would be, or maybe my witchery skills are not up to standard. The Potions Master was chuckling under his breath as he looked at her consternated expression.

All over the pitch, the students' commands of the Patronus Charm rang out clearly. She saw Harry's silver stag prancing about Hermione's stallion. Ginny and Ron were experiencing several false starts and abruptly, Ron took a seat down at the sandy pitch. "What are you doing?" Hermione asked him quizzically.

"I'm trying to figure out what was my most prominent happy memory," her partner replied absently, and she left him alone to ponder, while she experimented in commanding her Patronus with her voice. She noticed that her Patronus seemed to respond quickly to her when she pitched her voice into a very serious command, and responding slower if her command turned into a desperate one. Then, she experimented on a theory that she had been arguing with Harry a few days back. Her friend had repeatedly told her that the silver otter that she had conjured during their DA session just before Umbridge had discovered them were because she was not under threat. She imagined that she was very happy and not weighed down with her thoughts of the Dark Lord or his followers. "Expecto patronum." She focused her eyes to see her silver otter frolicking about her and smiled when it vanished. Then she forced herself to relive the instant the Dementors were approaching the students during their train ride, and her silver stallion was back. Okay, so Harry was right in his observation, she concluded silently.

Fenix shook her head to pull her attention back to her task. She imagined she was experiencing the very same feeling that she had when she felt the presence of the Dementors during their train ride to the School. She took a determined breath and focused on the day they were at Sirius's home, and remembered her sense of exaltation as she watched Snape joining the rest of the household in playing the board game with them and the faint smile that hovered on his lips. "Expecto patronum!"

Snape managed to jump out of the way as something very bulky and silver shot straight past him suddenly. All eyes were turned to the direction of the Fire Master and stared at her in puzzlement when they saw her eyes still closed, but she was smiling as she found herself reminiscing. Right next to Snape was her Patronus, which was looking at her calmly with its pair of distinctive silver eyes.

"Bloody brilliant..." Ron whispered, his voice sounding awed.

Fenix finally opened her eyes, still smiling and stared incredulously at the luminous silver wolf. Thinking that she was imagining, she looked around for Silver but he was with his mate, watching her from several feet away. She was still staring at the wolf in confusion when it slowly cantered toward her, pausing a moment to butt his head against her chest before vanishing.

: Was that my Patronus? :

Fenix demanded the three man who were watching her quizzically.

: It does seem so, lover. :

Remus applauded, his mindvoice thick with approval.

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