Dallin smiled at Louisa's smile. Nope, he hadn't been held back or anything, like she was probably thinking. He was just surprising her in all sorts of ways, wasn't he? "October," he told her with a nod. "When's yours?" If she knew his, he should know hers. It was only fair.

He leaned forward, watching her closely as she closed her eyes. He waited for her to say the spell... and waited... and when she finally did, he looked at her wand. And looked at it. Slowly, his smile faded to a frown. Nothing. How disappointing.

When she looked at him though, he had a encouraging, you-can-do-it look on his face. "Well, nothing," he told her truthfully, "But don't worry. It takes practice. It took me ages to do it. And maybe you need a happier memory." Of course he didn't know what her memory was that she'd been thinking of, but it was the only other thing he could think of that would help.

"January." She mumbled, still disappointed by her Patronus NOT showing up. She turned around again facing that area again. A happy memory, well that one was her happiest.. and the most that she remembered. Hmm..

Another one popped up. Louisa and her family having their vacation.. last one. She was very happy and not a witch yet- sorta. She was remembering it while her wand raised. Her brothers and herself playing in the balcony. She remembered the incantation. Johnny dropping his ball to the ground. "Expecto Patronum." She muttered as the memory of herself flying down the balcony instead of falling behind the ball; declaring her magical abilities.

BAM!

A small explosion was heard and she opened her eyes immediately. She saw nothing except for a little smoke rising from her wand. Her head snapped around to Dal, "What was that?" Her tone was worried.. and a little scared.

Dallin was silent as he waited for Louisa to try again. He crossed his fingers, hoping a little luck would help her. Why he wanted her to get it so bad he didn't know. He just did. Maybe he thought that if he could help her get a Patronus, it would mean that he was good at doing it.

He leaned forward in anticipation as she said the spell... then jumped back, the desk banging against the wall. He eyed the smoke coming from her wand, his eyes wide. "I have absolutely no idea what that was," he told her honestly, scooting back onto the desk and putting Louisa's bag on the floor. "Uh, what were you thinking of?"

She swallowed and moved closer to the desk, "Err... I thought about the first time I found out I was a witch." her voice was calm and shook a leeettle bit. "I..I think that should be a happy memory, right? I read that somewhere." She tried to defend her choice.. afraid of the opposite fact. "We should be happy to know that we're wizards and witches. We have special abilities even if our family is different." A lump rose to her throat and she faked a cough to let it go.

After a few seconds of silent stares between them she spoke again, "I was really happy that day. We were in a vacation at the beach. It was Johnny's first time swimming over there. I caught his hand so he wouldn't be afraid. Danny teased him and I was the one Johnny used as a shield." She smiled sadly and stopped talking. She babbled... again. This time it wasn't about books... or mocking people's lack knowledge. What was it? She didn't know.

"You think it wasn't a happy memory?" She asked desperately, and part of her didn't want him to answer. She didn't want to hear a shocking reply such as 'not happy enough'.

As soon as she said that, Dallin sighed. She had read that that was supposed to be a happy memory? He almost had the urge to laugh, but when he heard her voice shake a bit he forced himself not to. "Louisa..." Thinking for a second, he bit his lip. "You can't tell yourself to have a happy memory. You can't read something in a book and make yourself think that something was the happiest memory you have. It might be, but if it's not then that's just that. You can't do anything about it."

He leaned back, resting his head on the wall and closing his eyes. "I'm sure it was a happy memory." For some reason, Dal felt like he had to reassure her about that fact. "But I want you to think hard. At that time, did you feel like you never wanted to stop smiling? Did you feel like you had everything you ever wanted in that moment?" He knew that was how he felt in that memory that had helped him see his Patronus for the first time.

She listened silently.. for a minute, she wondered how he knew all that. He didn't even have that attention span! He said so. How come he knew those things? She blinked to remove those thoughts. "I... felt I owned the world yes. Back then. But now... I don't know." She shrugged looking back at him, "Things have changed and.." She forced a smile, "I got what you mean, anyways. Let me try again."

She stepped forward and closed her eyes again. This time, she picked a recent memory. An adventure that made her heart race without the teenagers nonsense about love or the passion of reading. The swings. With Dal. She still remembered it vividly and loved every second of it.

"Expecto Patronum." She said gently and this time her eyelids were opened and she saw a faint silver smoke rising from her wand and quickly fading away. She grinned and shouted, "Dal! Did you see that?!" She jumped over at the desk and raised her wand to his level, "You saw that?" She repeated... in case he didn't her shout before.

Dallin nodded, shrugging good naturedly. He knew what she meant. People changed, feelings and memories changed. He was quiet, though, while she walked away to try again. He hoped she thought of something good. He couldn't wait to see what she did.

Seeing the silver mist come from her wand, Dal jumped off the desk, grinning. She did it! When she came over to him he laughed. "I saw!" He nodded, almost as excited as she was. "That was great!"

The grin didn't cease nor did her excitement and she felt even more excited when he smiled at her... and jumped off the desk. "Now it's your turn!" She looked down at his free hand supposedly the one his wand should be in. She propped herself on the desk, dangling her legs but not rocking them- because she wasn't a KID. Ahem.

"I'm sure you can do it." She said happily, and confidently. If she could come up with a mist, Dal could conjure his easily... she was sure. Even if it took him some time to find the right memory, he was good at everything without books ^__^

Just like that Dal's grin was gone. So was his excitement. Louisa wanted him to try? He looked from her to his wand, then back to her. Then back to his wand. He started to sit down again, but then Louisa took his spot. He sighed, walking forward so that he wasn't next to her or facing her.

Closing his eyes, he thought about the same memory he'd told Louisa about before. He remembered it - how he felt when his dad was with him without any sisters or his mom. He remembered the taste of the churro his dad had bought him, and how he had thought that it might change things.

"Expecto Patronum!" He thought and felt the memory with all of his might, but all that came out of his wand was the same gray mist that came from Louisa's. No shape whatsoever. Frustrated, he lowered his wand and closed his eyes again. A better memory. He thought of a particularly good day he'd had not too long ago; he'd been at the beach all day. He was laying on his board in the ocean, watching as a wave came in. He started out toward the wave and at the perfect time he stood up. He surfed the wave until it fell and he went down with it, tumbling into the water with his eyes open.

He opened his eyes. "Expecto Patronum!!" This time, the mist swirled as if it wanted to do something. But it faded away before that could happened. Dal sighed, his shoulders dropping. He didn't turn around.

Louisa's smile was huge... but it got smaller when Dal's first try conjured only a little mist. Her success meant his failure.. sorta. She didn't react right away because he tried again almost instantly. This time, the mist was bigger and it swirled. Louisa thought it was something and jumped from the desk striding toward Dal, "It was done! You did it! It just faded away too quickly!" She said excitedly.

He wasn't happy. She stood close to him and looked up at his face and saw... disappointment? Sadness? Her excitement died away, "Dal.. you did it. Well, almost. Come on. You're one step away from a full one! You can do it!" She was shaking his arm gently in an attempt to 'wake him up' from the moment. "I did a mist in my second try! You can do even better!" Her voice was pleading. He helped her do it. He was so good. She wasn't going to let him surrender or look weak- he was her hero...

"Dal...." She sighed one last time before dropping her hand from his arm.

Dallin didn't look at Louisa as she came up close to him. He listened to her, though, and tried to make himself believe what she was saying. It wasn't a big deal that he couldn't do it - it just took practice. He'd said that himself and now he was being hypocritical. He should just try again and he would get it soon. It wasn't a big deal; he just needed a different memory.

When she shook his arm he finally looked at her, forcing a small smile on his face. "You're right." Whether he was telling her that or telling himself that he didn't know. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How about... how about you try again?" It would give him a chance to think of another memory.

He turned around swiftly, but another idea struck him and he looked back at her over his shoulder. "Actually..." his voice was suddenly shy. "Do you wanna try doing it together?" Of course he didn't know what good it would do... but it was worth a shot.

Louisa returned his smile and was glad that he didn't quit. When he asked to do it together, she got even more excited! "Sure!" She stood by his side and pointed her wand forward. "One.." She thought about the time her mother told her about her real wizard father, "Two.." She thought about the last visit from her family, "Three.." The feeling of the swing tire fall!

"Expecto Patronum!" She muttered, hopefully as the same time as Dal, and the silver mist made it from the tip of her wand but was lost after two seconds. She was still too weak. But that wasn't what she cared about, she wanted Dal to make it. He should make it.

Stepping up beside Louisa, Dal raised his wand. He had thought of another memory - his parents telling him he could go to Hogwarts. That had meant that he could get out of Merlin's, experience new things and meet new people. Make some friends. He'd been so happy right then.

"Expecto Patronum!" his voice was loud and strong; sounding much better than he was feeling. But once again the silver mist failed to take a shape and disappeared after a few seconds. Not wanting to get disappointed again. Dal shook his head to clear it and looked at Louisa. He had been so intent on his own that he didn't see how she had done. "How'd you do?"

She wanted him to do it so bad that when the mist went away, she had to fake a smile so he wouldn't be sad. "Just like the last time." She shrugged, "Yours was pretty good this time though." which was a lie so he wouldn't feel bad... and she had no idea why she cared about his feelings or study this much. Not even Enya was that important to her... well, she was but not in that sense. Kind of.

"What did you think of this time?" She asked trying to sound wise, "The tire swing fall helped a lot." She grinned at him, glad that he was there to understand how the rush felt, "When I let the adrenaline rush goes through me again, I was happy beyond any time I remember." Maybe he should try it? She didn't suggest it though. He might not be as excited as that simple adventure as herself. He had that Florida he talked about so..

Dallin chuckled, shaking his head. Louisa was probably just humoring him by telling him that he was doing good. He knew that he wasn't doing well. At least... not as well as he wanted to. Meh. "I thought of coming to Hogwarts," he told her, leaning his head back to look at the roof and rubbing his neck. Come on Dallin. Think of something!

His eyes widened and he suddenly looked back at Louisa. "Right!" That was such a fun day - with the tire swings and the instant darkness powder... Dal grinned. "Let's do it again, okay?" He nodded to himself and raises his wand again. Remember how you felt up on the swing. How it was when you jumped onto it and started swinging. It was fun and exciting... "Expecto Patronum!!"

The mist came from his wand again, but instead of disappearing before it had a chance to form, it actually made a shape. The ghost-like shape of a dog formed, jumped on a desk, then slowly faded away. Dal stared in amazement. "I did it," he whispered, once again forgetting about Louisa and what she was doing. "I did it!"

Louisa's eyes widened as Dal's spell worked. She saw the Patronus hop onto the desk and vanish into thin air. She blinked but his voice snapped her back to excitement. She jumped and clapped, "You did it!" Scratch that lousy happy reaction, she gave him a sided hug and squeezed. See? She was right all along! He was good at everything.

But she needed to know what triggered the happy place in his mind.. "What was it then?" She grinned up at him after pulling away, "the happy memory.." Huh? She wanted to know. Maybe he could think about it even more and let the Patronus hang around? ^__^

A lame one-armed hug wasn't going to suffice for Dallin. No, he was happy he'd gotten a shape out of the dumb mist. So happy, in fact, that he picked up Louisa in a big hug and spun around. He didn't even think about being embarrassed when he set her back down on the floor. Even if the dog hadn't stayed for long it had still shown up. And that was enough for Dal right now.

"Swinging," he told her. His ears and cheeks flushed in embarrassment but he hardly noticed. "The tire swings." He was grinning.

Now he just hoped Louisa could do it.

..and she was flying. Not falling. Flying. She grasped his shoulders tightly as her feet suspended in the air and all she could hear was her giggles and Dal's breaths. The scene, on the other hand, was blurry. Who cares!

The second he set her down, she was grinning and fixed the few hair that escaped her ponytail. "That was awesome!" Yep! Better than the tire swing even! She waited for a few to catch her breath from all the excitement. It meant he did like the tire swings thing! That was great. No reason. Just great.

Determined to follow his league, she raised her wand, her cheeks were still shades of red, and muttered, "Expecto Patronum!" With the flying sensation still at its peak. The silver mist this time shot from the tip of her wand forward. It didn't form a shape. It was just a silver quick line of mist. She didn't want to ruin her mood. "I think it's the best I can come up with. At this level." She looked at him uncertainly.

"That hug?" Dallin laughed. Sure, he knew that it had to be awesome to get hugged by him [/ego] but maybe that one was just especially awesome. It was true that he didn't hug like that a lot. He was just really happy right now. Really happy.

He shrugged when she tried again, still smiling. "Don't worry. You're a third year - you have plenty of time to keep trying." It wasn't like she had to do it anyway, this had just been for fun. "You've done really good as it is." And he wasn't just saying that, either.

She nodded vigorously in agreement. She was only a third year indeed- in fact she was thinking of bragging about how a silver mist went out of her wand while she said it, Vashti would be happy… Enya would indifferent… Kita would be childishly excited! It was set then.

"You know, we only practiced one spell from your book." She started, the excitement fading away. "And I don't think that's a progress. Even if your Patronus made an appearance." She faked seriousness. She wanted to celebrate this awesome victory a little longer and all, but she was determined that he studied. And she didn't finish that big book of Hippogriffs so. "So.. I suggest we take our places.." She gestured to the empty desk, "And read a little more before practicing the spell." See? Now that should be more interesting than just read. For Dallin of course, Louisa craved for more time at the library.

Meh. So she hadn't totally forgotten about their supposed-to-be-studying like he had hoped. Dal groaned in disappointment but surprisingly did as Louisa suggested. He hopped onto the desk - not the chair - and dug out his book Louisa had been reading from in the library.

Avis... makes birds come from your wand. Engorgio... makes objects bigger - counter to reducio. Expelliarmus... disarms target. Incendio... starts a fire. Dallin went over the spells he read, closing his eyes a few times and trying to get them etched into his brain. The concept was easy. there were a few that he'd never tried to cast, but he had a feeling he could do it.

Satisfied that he obeyed without complaints groaning doesn't count she took a seat on the abandoned chair and picked her non-school book. Hippogriffs were so interesting and Louisa hadn't known much before this summer when they were mentioned in her school book- but not enough details. Not for her.

Zoning out as usual, she sank into the big book and read... and read... and read. The wand was still clutched in her hand while it held the book, she was so concentrated on the book that spoke of brutality of Hippogriffs specifically. She was getting afraid of them now... more afraid... when she ended one paragraph of the way they tear up an animal and eat it, she gasped quietly.

Drop..drop...drop

She didn't stop reading or become aware of her surrounding till freckles of snow fell on her book. "What-" She looked upward to see if it was a prank or something but saw nothing and the snow stopped. Closing the book and placing her thump between the pages so that she wouldn't lose where she was, Louisa looked up at Dal.

His eyes were open.. good sign. "Hey." She addressed him with a small smile, "Any interesting and challenging charms to practice?" They'd been reading for half an hour.. right? He deserved to take a break. She had a heart after all.

So there was a birthday party in the Room of Requirement, therefore it could not be used for other purposes at the moment. It took Ari a long time to come up with another place where she and Jory could practice the ballroom dancing mentioned on the DADA assignment list. Finally, she found just the spot: a classroom on the ground floor, currently deserted. The girl scribbled a note quickly and sent it via owl to Jory, telling him to meet her there as soon as he could. The Gryffindor really missed her Hufflepuff friend.

Jory hurriedly made his way to Classroom Eleven. He was very happy to hear from Ari after not seeing her for a while. He was also nervous; he knew he had to be dancing soon.
Jory reached the Classroom and opened the door. He spotted Ari looking around the room.
"Ari!" he said happily "Long time no see. How are you?"

The girl skipped towards her Hufflepuff friend, giving him a big hug, awkward at first, but not so much overall. 'Sorry for being so absent lately, but school, homework, and researching my family tree took up most of my time. I guess we'll have to continue exploring the castle in our second year as well.' she smiled. 'What have you been up to?'

'So...are you ready to...err...dance?' Ariadne asked Jory, a bit nervous herself. This wasn't going to be easy. 'Also, do you have a partner for the Potions final?' it would be fantastic to use a boy's hair for the Polyjuice Potion, and therefore see what it's like to be a boy for a few hours.