Yeah. 

Anathema pulls her curtains and snuggles up in her blankets, drifting off to sleep. 

Zzz.

Anathema has some uneasy nights, but mostly does okay. They get the news Fudge has asked the Wizangamot to force Hogwarts to accept 'protection' from Sirius Black, describing him as a dangerous mass murderer and throwing Dumbledore's failure to protect students last year around as proof of incompetence. The Daily Prophet is apparently only publishing the easiest to mock letters to the editor written in Dumbledore's defense, to the point a couple muggleborn students complain about wanting a different newspaper.

(History class Monday - which goes well, Professor Lupin is an engaging teacher who apparently believes in hands on lessons with their relevance to the current day made clear - reveals that there aren't any, apparently, because between three and two decades ago the Ministry started allowing suits for publishing lies, as determined by the Ministry, and then started fining newspapers for publishing lies, and created a Ministry seal of approval for legitimate newspapers. All but two British newspapers closed their doors, and the second, The Quibbler, survived by branding themselves as a newspaper-themed work of fiction and winning the court case that they're clearly therefore not a newspaper subject to the restrictions. The lesson then segues neatly into the history of news and communications throughout both the magic and muggle worlds.)

Professor Lupin is much better than Lockhart. Probably better than Quirrell, even without the whole... thing.

What sort of 'protection' are they getting?

...It sounds like Fudge wants to surround the castle with dementors.

What the fuck.

What the fuck!!!

So about that Patronus Charm.

Professor Reynolds has their first class on Dementors and general anti-Dementor defense - they feed on despair in the same way plants feed on the sun, and so their presence causes horrible memories to surface in those around them. They also suppress positive emotions, and long term exposure can damage a person's ability to remember anything with a mostly positive association, as well as to form new happy memories or feel joy. Pleasurable emotions are toxic to them, joy the most intensely. They tend to avoid happy people, preying preferentially on the angry and despairing. There's no known way of destroying them, though their populations seem to vary - as far as anyone can tell, more exist when people as a whole are unhappy. The Ministry has a way of controlling them and made a deal to keep them confined mostly to Azkaban, where they can feed on the prisoners.

Dementors ignore non-sapient animals and very small children. No one's entirely sure why, since animals and babies can have emotions, but it's possible Dementors require their victims understand despair. They'll ignore transformed Animagi, though, even though Animagi have human minds. They're less aggressive toward unconscious humans, but they still represent a threat, and knocking yourself out won't dissuade a focused Dementor.

The greatest threat from a Dementor is the Dementor's Kiss. They're supposed to only use it nowadays when pre-authorized by the Ministry of Magic to execute a prisoner. It leaves the victim a breathing, mentally empty husk, also destroying any memories they've ever stored in a pensive or similar measures. The Ministry denies this involves destroying the victim's soul, though theorists, especially outside of the United Kingdom, overall agree that's the most accurate description of what happens.

Cheering Charms (which Professor Flitwick is reviewing with all years) will reduce the after effects of their presence and will discourage them from approaching you, as will other magics that induce joy or pleasure. If you expect to be near Dementors, there's several plants you can wear or chew, and potions you can drink (which they're going over in the relevant classes). However, the best and most consistent defense against them is the Patronus charm. The Patronus charm is an external expression of joy - it's advanced magic, and she'll be teaching it on Saturdays and Sundays to anyone interested. She suggests at least trying; the meditative skills used as a foundation are generally useful to casting emotion-based magics, even if you don't manage or have a use for the full Patronus. (She demonstrates her Patronus, a large silver bird, and explains that the charm can also be used to send messages, to fight a few other magical creatures, to drive out possessions, and to verify the caster's identity - your Patronus can change over time, but adults' do so rarely.)

There's an additional way to fight Dementors, some mostly relevant on Hogwarts' grounds - Thestrals, a horse-like magical creature, are immensely hostile to Dementors. Thestrals are usually rare and migratory, but there's a large herd that lives in the Forbidden Forest year round. They're usually invisible to most people, though some of the students might've caught a glimpse of the younger ones, who pull the carriages at the start of the school year and who are easier to see than the older Thestrals. She's talking to their Care of Magical Creatures professor (Hagrid, starting this year) about seeing if the Thestrals could be convinced to come when summoned - or at least move closer to the school - if the Ministry does win the fight to station Dementors on Hogwarts' grounds. Some other creatures can at least hold Dementors at bay briefly (they're wary of Kneazles; the class jokes a bit about hiding behind Scarlet if they see one).

She runs the class through a refresher on 'calling for emergency help' at the end.

Professor Reynolds remains very good. Ellie plans to attend Patronus lessons. (Between that and Animagus self-study, free time is looking perilously thin. When Quidditch practices start back up, she'll re-evaluate which seems to offer the best defense against Dementors soonest, and prioritize accordingly.)

Their first weekend is clear of Quidditch, at least, so they don't have any problem attending both teaching sessions (Professor Reynolds does make it clear she'll be giving the same lecture at both, though, but if people want to attend both to practice under supervision they can.)

They already have the basics of the Patronus Charm down, actually, given all their meditation (and Anathema's near obsessive practice with Occlumency). The most powerful way to form a Patronus is to hide your unhappy emotions and memories behind Occlumentic shields, using joy, determination, pleasure, and love to form your outer focus. You can practice this in your spare time very easily - even just walking between classes, if you're able to meditate and walk at the same time.

She mentions the fastest way to attain mastery of the Patronus is usually practicing it against a boggart that's shaped itself as a Dementor - boggarts aren't able to summon the same despairing offense Dementors can, but their aura of fear can provide a similar challenge while not suppressing happy emotions or risking long term damage. Still, that requires someone be in the room with a deep fear of Dementors - there's at least one person like that who does Auror training and who sometimes helps with her NEWT classes during their usual Dementor module, so she'll see if he can come in on his off time at least once.

The incantation is Expecto Patronum, and a successful cast creates a silver mist. A very successful cast creates a corporeal Patronus in the shape of an animal. She also answers a few more light hearted questions about a corporeal Patronus's shape - the shape's something you associate with joy or feeling safe, as far as anyone can tell. The Patronus's shape has no actual correlation with its powers or effectiveness. It can change over time, though adults' Patronus forms tend to settle significantly over time. You can't mimic someone else's Patronus. Someone asks if the shape changes when you fall in love. Professor Reynolds says that it sometimes does, though not as often or exclusively as romance novels would have you believe - her Patronus reminds her of her father, and she's known a few people whose Patronus changed after the birth of their first child. The idea that your Patronus takes the same shape as your true love's Animagus form is a myth - if you associate that form with intense joy or safety, it can be your Patronus, but that's hardly a constant.

Oh good, practice is starting to pay off in related fields. That's a sign they're on the path to getting good, Ellie feels.

So she needs to decide on a memory to focus on. Maybe... Last Christmas, at Hogsmeade in the snow. Wrestling Professor Reynolds with Anathema.

That's Anathema's, too - she takes to smiling while practicing.

(They don't get the Patronus right away, of course - the memory's hard to hold firmly enough in the forefront, especially while also shaping the spell itself - but they seem to need less help than the other students. There's a sort of... Warm echo, when they get the wand motion and incantation right.)

It's a bit of progress. Ellie will keep working at it.

Yeah. And 'have a lot of fun' is a great class assignment, really.

As these things go, certainly. Better than eight inches on Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile contest.

"Don't remind me. That's, like, an anti-Patronus."

Ellie groans. "I knoooow."

"Professor Lupin's doing well so far, though."

"Yeah, he's good."

She nods.

Off to practice more?

No sense in wasting time.

That drive proves useful two weeks later, when the Wizengamot rules to allow the Ministry to 'contribute to the defense of Hogwarts in exceptional circumstances.' There's further court battles - Dumbledore opposes the idea that Dementors will contribute to defense, that it's necessary to interfere in the sovereignty of Hogwarts to contribute to defense, that Dementors do not pose a risk to students, that access to grounds is necessary, that an exceptional circumstance exists, and also on several increasingly technical and nit-picking details. The Ministry gets away with doing distant patrols with Dementors escorted by Aurors a few times, though Dumbledore apparently ties every attempt up in red tape. That awkward push and pull remains the status quo for another month and a half - the Ministry winning, but only inch by inch, increasing external patrol frequency and permitting Aurors not accompanied by Dementors on grounds.

And then the Fat Lady, the portrait guarding the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, is slashed over Samhain - the Fat Lady herself escapes, but she claims it was too dark to see the culprit. Someone tall, though, an upper year or adult. The Ministry claims this was an attack by Sirius Black. Dumbledore claims there was no evidence it was anything more than high spirits among students. The Daily Prophet shrieks about threats to students; The Quibbler mocks everyone involved rather roundly, but especially the Ministry, claiming there's been an outbreak of murderous art critics.

The Ministry manages to push for Dementors on Hogwarts' grounds after that, though - not even requiring Auror supervision, since the Ministry argues such requirements are burdens on its administration. Dumbledore wins the argument that they need Auror supervision to come within five hundred meters of anywhere students gather. The Ministry starts pushing for a probable cause exemption, and then starts pushing for sanctions against anyone who attacks a Dementor during the course of its duties after shrieking Thestrals begin harassing the creatures. Dumbledore dares Fudge in open court to deliver a court summons to a Thestral, and then lambasts him about preventing students and professors from protecting themselves. The Ministry claims the innocent have nothing to fear - Ellie and Anathema's names end up in the papers a lot around then, as the courts argue whether the incident on the train represented an attack on students or simply two young girls being dramatic.

It's a political mess, and no one's particularly happy.

Ellie contemplates the virtues of writing a letter to the editor suggesting that the Ministry use Dementors to ward the personal homes and estates of Wizengamot members, since it's clearly so necessary that they be at Hogwarts.

Anathema thinks she should. Maybe to The Quibbler, too, so it'll actually get published.