Harry Potter and the Flying Squad (01) - Sahits

The teacher's impatience seemed hardly under control. "Please - can you tell me what it was?"
After a moment's hesitation, Harry explained to Lupin what he had thought and which scene
he had imagined.
Lupin's eyes were burning in the torchlight. "Harry, do you know what you just did?"
"I conjured up a Patronus - except it was golden rather than silvery ... And it was a Centaur,
not the stag as before."
"The Golden Patronus ..." Lupin's voice was in awe. "So it's true."
"What is true? ... And why has this been a Centaur?"
"Of all books about the Patronus spell, there is just one that mentions a golden one. And until
now, most wizards considered this a fairytale, an exaggeration of the author, or just a
metaphor." Lupin told Harry about the history of the Patronus spell, and how this topic had
always suffered, from unreliable sources as much as from the lack of sufficient material.
As Harry learned, the systematic usage of Dementors was fairly new in the wizard history.
Obviously, most wizards in power throughout the centuries had shared Dumbledore's opinion,
that Dementors were a weapon that hurt more than it helped.
When Lupin finished, Harry was already impatient. "That's all very interesting, but it doesn't
answer my questions. What made me do it, and why a Centaur?"
"I have no answer I can prove, all I can offer is a speculation ... Want to hear it?"
"You bet."
"I see three factors playing a role." The teacher counted with his fingers. "The first isn't really
new, but it appears in a new context. Harry - the love of your mother has protected you the
first time, and it has reinforced you again. Don't ask me how, but for me there's no doubt."
"Hmm ... Well, okay. And the second?"
"Your happiest moment in life is embedded in your worst memory. But still, you didn't
hesitate to use it in the first encounter with a real Dementor - I mean here in our training ...
This book I mentioned contains a few lines I couldn't make sense of, all the time - until you
told me what you did."
"You mean - it's this combination what makes the Patronus so powerful?"
"Yes ... Mind you - the Dementor is knocked out, maybe even dead ... I don't think we can use
him ever again."
"Oh. I'm sorry. What ..."
Lupin started to laugh, continued so, unable to stop.
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