"That's excellent, Hermione!"
Tonks's hair changed to bright blue, and Harry smiled and clapped, as he watched Hermione's misty cloud coalesce into an otter. Hermione blushed and turned to look at Ron, whose ears were bright red with frustration.
Hermione frowned. Harry decided to throw himself into the breach before they could start arguing. "Come on, Ron, let's see yours."
"It doesn't have a form yet," Ron muttered.
Draco snorted behind him. Harry gave his twin the kind of warning glance that Draco would know from previous experience would lead to Harry not talking to him for a week. Draco settled back, folding his arms.
"But I know I saw four legs last time," Harry said firmly. And that was true; he wasn't saying it just to make Ron feel better. "So it has to be an animal with four of them. Come on! Won't you at least try?"
Ron cast him a glance. Harry smiled back at him, and Ron finally nodded.
"Can't hurt to try, can it?" he asked, and ignored the way that Draco rolled his eyes. Harry nudged Draco in the side with one elbow. Draco gave him an injured look; that particular gesture was one that his twin never seemed to anticipate or avoid.
Ron backed up towards the far wall of the old classroom where they worked with Tonks on the Patronus Charms, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Harry could see his lips moving, and wondered if he was reciting the instructions for the Patronus Charm to himself, or maybe reliving the happy memory he wanted to use.
"Expecto Patronum!" Ron yelled, as hard as he could, running forwards and whipping around in a half-circle as he aimed his wand.
Harry leaned forwards eagerly, and this time he definitely made out four legs, a small muzzle, and what he thought was a slim tail before the Patronus dissolved into silvery mist. He glanced at Ron with a grin, and saw that his friend thankfully had his eyes open and had seen it.
"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed. "What do you think it was?"
"Looked like a terrier to me," Tonks said promptly, and grew small, floppy dog ears from the sides of her head, which made Ron laugh.
"It did to me, too," Harry said when Ron turned to him. He hadn't been that specific before Tonks said it—he'd just thought it was a dog—but now that he thought about it, he agreed with her.
"It looked like something. Ow!" Draco said, as he got another elbow in the ribs.
"You'll have a corporeal Patronus in no time, Ron." Hermione smiled at him, which made Ron turn redder than any of the rest had.
Harry shook his head at that, and at the way Draco was nudging him back about it. He turned to Tonks, feeling his stomach drop a little. "So—I mean, all of us almost have corporeal Patronuses. Does that mean you're going to leave Hogwarts?"
Tonks smiled, and her hair turned bright green. "No, actually. Aunt Narcissa said that she wanted me to stay here and have a look around at some of the curses that are supposed to be embedded in the castle, like the one on the Defense post. She'd like it if I could either break them or call attention to them for other people to break them—which I'll probably have to, because I don't have the training to do it myself yet. I'll come once a week, the way I have been, and we'll go to lunch in the kitchens, or in Hogsmeade when we can do that."
"Brilliant," Harry said happily. He appreciated having a cousin and an aunt and uncle who were actually nice people, although he hadn't met Aunt Andromeda yet.
"Can we—I mean, I think I might want to be a Cursebreaker." Hermione had her hands clasped in front of her the way she had when Tonks first taught them about the Patronus Charm. "Can I have lunch with you sometimes, too?"
"Of course." Tonks extended her smile to include Hermione and Ron with a little wave of her hand. "I'd hate to give up spending time with you just when I'm getting to know you. And you're going to be magical powerhouses in a few years, if you can all cast the Patronus at thirteen."
"Fourteen, for Hermione," Ron said, sounding as though he didn't know if he was correcting Tonks's mistake or resentful of the fact.
Harry just ignored the way that Draco tried to poke him about that, too. No, his best friend wasn't perfect, but none of them were. And if Draco really had retreated enough into a "Malfoy mindset" to think he was, then Harry was all too happy to bring him back to earth.
"Fourteen, then." Tonks winked at Hermione, and her hair turned bright pink. "Who knows? Maybe I can get someone to come here who could actually break the curse on the Defense position, and then I can be a professor here for real."
"You're too young, Cousin Tonks," Draco said bossily.
"I got an Outstanding on my Defense NEWT," Tonks said, "and that's all you need."
....
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