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hunting unicorns
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As spring approaches and the snow begins to melt, Jenny and Emma take to spending their free afternoons outside, practicing flying or doing homework on the lawn or just generally enjoying the sunshine. Their spot of choice is not, as such things go, all that far from the forest, and for Jenny it becomes something of a game: see if you can spot a unicorn. She never does, but she never gives up hope. Someday.

After about a month of this, Emma decides to leave the lawn early- she's finished her letter to her parents, and wants to drop it at the Owlery- so Jenny is left to her own devices. Bored, she examines the forest. It's only supposed to be unsafe at night, right? It won't hurt to go wander around a little in search of unicorns. She won't go very far.

And if she's lucky- unicorns.



Half an hour later, Jenny is deeply regretting her idea. She is completely lost, and the forest has gotten much darker and gloomier. She would go back, if she had any idea where to go. She's taken to making little piles of rocks, to attempt to mark her way; unfortunately, so far all this has told her is that she is definitely going in a circle.

The next time she re-encounters a pile, she branches out to the left instead. She's pretty sure she came from that direction, so maybe-




Cold.

Jenny is friends with Miranda. Miranda has been compulsively researching Dementors all year; she knows what it means, this cold, the screaming terror. But it's so much worse than anything ever, ever said it would be. She's frozen to the spot, unable to move, brain screaming in terror.

And then the Dementor appears. Slowly but visibly, it approaches her. Is it bigger than the books said they should be? She thinks it is. It's already looming and it's not even close.

Frantically, crazy with fear, Jenny does the only thing she can think of- she shifts away her mouth.

The Dementor stops, seeming to hover in place. Jenny stays frozen in place. The Dementor doesn't seem to be planning to Kiss her... but it's not moving, either, and she's still stuck.

Oh, God. Now what?
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When Jenny does not appear for dinner, Emma is concerned, but only mildly; she's skipped dinners before, if she gets caught up in something.

When it's approaching curfew and Jenny is still nowhere to be found, she starts to panic. It's been a long time since they were writing on the grass, and no one's seen Jenny since. She asked.

She's Jenny's friend, she doesn't want to get her in trouble, but this is Hogwarts. Jenny is Muggleborn; she doesn't always know the dangers. And she is missing, from right next to the Forest.

Emma is getting a teacher right now.
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Karen has dragged Miranda away from "definitely being on to something" about Dementors to come with her and talk to the transfiguration professor about - Karen can't remember what her excuse was. American curricula? Switching Spells? Animagi? Something like that. Something other than Dementors. At any rate, they are currently talking about why it's easier to turn a hedgehog into a cactus than it is to turn one into a bowling ball, because that was the riddle they got when Miranda tried to go back for her notebook. The answer was "because they both have spines" but neither Ravenclaw is sure why spines are more important than the hedgehog's ability to roll into a ball.

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Emma stumbles on them as she rounds the counter, out of breath. She officially does not care that she's interrupting, she will apologize to Miranda and Karen later. "Professor, Professor, help please, my housemate is missing and no one's seen her for hours and the last I saw her she was by the forest and I'm afraid she went looking for unicorns but she hasn't come back and-"

At this point she runs out of breath, but she thinks he got the point.
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"Okay, kid, breathe, it'll be okay." He puts a hand on her shoulder calmingly. "The paths in the woods aren't great, I'm sure she's just lost. Now, who's missing, exactly?"

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"Jenny," Emma pants. "Um, Genevieve O'Meara. Blonde Hufflepuff, my year."

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"Jenny's in the forest? - are you positive? If she tried to get into, I don't know, our common room, while we weren't around...?"

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"I'm not totally sure? But we were out studying by the forest this afternoon, and she was wearing her cloak, and it's not back in the room and she hasn't been seen since and I can't think where else she would have gone with it that she could be gone this long?"

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"Professor, can we come help look?"

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Following a professor should be safe, and she's worried about Jenny. "Please?"

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He smiles at them. "Worried about your friend? I suppose I'll allow it. But stay close to me and do as I say, mind, the grounds aren't safe without a teacher at night."

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"Of course," agrees Karen.

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"Good. Keep close now. Miss Mason, if you'll show us where you were?"

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Emma nervously leads them outside to where she and Jenny had been sitting.

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Sure enough, no Jenny.

"Point Me", he murmurs to his wand. It spins, and points directly into the forest. He sighs. "In we go, then. She must be lost."
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Emma follows, sticking close to Miranda and Karen, and thereby to Professor Fisher. She does not like this forest.

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After about fifteen minutes, the wand takes a turn to the left. In the distance, they see a blonde girl standing leaned against a tree.

"See? There she is," Scott says in relief. He jogs over to where she's waiting-





-and sees her frantic eyes and eerie, mouthless face too late. He's wrapped in a shroud of cold, cold, cold, and he doubles over, gasping, before slumping forward unconscious.

In the woods behind him, something very, very large stirs.

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"Professor!"

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They're not supposed to be that big.

But Miranda knows what it is, and when she looks at it - numb in the face, like it sprayed her with ice or anaesthetic or like she isn't there at all - when she looks at it the thing she was almost onto, rereading that one chapter for the tenth time to understand, clicks.

There are numerous hypotheses about the metaphysical implications of the Dementor. Many suppose it to be, simply, a monster, with no greater symbolism; others have likened it to the torporous sadness that befalls susceptible minds; it has been likened to everything from inevitability - for they cannot be destroyed, only diverted - to darkness - for obvious reasons. A poet, looking after his exposed son, compared the Dementor to death itself -

But Death is not inevitable. The Philosopher's Stone existed once, it could be made again. There is surely more magic waiting to be discovered.

She doesn't know how to make the Philosopher's Stone on the spot. Let alone how to spontaneously invent a new Dementor-killing spell. The cold is trying to make her give in to this discouraging fact.

But she has a very, very enthusiastic wand.

She brings her shaking hand to her hair, and pulls the chimaera-hair wand out, and she's read the chapter ten times, she knows the motion and the words -

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

It's not an animal, even a chimaera. It looks like - a person. A genderless, giant, graceful person of silver light, pouring forward from her wandtip towards the unreasonably large dementor. They're of a size.

And when the glowing person wraps its arms around the monster, they are no longer of a size.

The dementor shrinks, and screams, and shrinks, and Miranda holds her wand up, trembling.
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Jenny crumples to the ground. Her face reverts to normal and she starts to sob hysterically.

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Emma realizes she was screaming. Funny, she hadn't even noticed. She forces herself to stop, and promptly hides behind Miranda. "Oh my god oh my god oh my god," she whimpers, mostly to herself.

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"Merlin's wand," whimpers Karen. "Miranda, what are you -"

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"Almost," says Miranda softly. "Almost almost almost -"

It's such an enormous Dementor, why is it so big -

But finally there doesn't seem to be any of it left.

Its cloak crumples in the Patronus's hands, and falls to the ground.
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"What did you do-"

But, seeing the Dementor crumple, she gives up and runs for Jenny. "Jenny, Jenny Jenny Jenny, are you okay, what happened?"

She wraps her arms around Jenny and starts to cry as well.
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There will be no coherency out of Jenny for a while. She is going to right keep sobbing, just now on Emma's shoulder.

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Professor Fisher twitches, and then groans. He does not seem in any shape to get up just yet.

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"You did it," breathes Karen. And: "We need to all go inside and get a lot of chocolate as fast as we can..."

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Emma manages to get Jenny upright and helps her move towards the others. "I can get her," she says breathlessly, "can you guys manage the professor?"

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Miranda's wand twitches.

The Patronus scoops up the professor off the ground, and when Miranda takes a step, it follows.

"Yep," she says.
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Emma half hugs, half carries a sobbing Jenny inside, and heads directly for the hospital wing. As she enters, she yells, "Madam Pomfrey? Madam Pomfrey? Help, please help!"

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Miranda directs the Patronus, still carrying the unconscious professor, into the hospital wing; Karen is hovering nearby, ready to break the man's fall if the silvery person winks out.

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Madam Pomfrey comes scurrying over, stopping short at the sight of them. "Oh my goodness, whatever has happened? Come in, come in, put-" she eyes the Patronus in shocked confusion but does not comment, "-put Professor Fisher over here. And your friend, what's her name, dear?"

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"Jenny," Emma mumbles, "her name is Jenny." She helps Jenny over to a cot and sits down next to her.

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Jenny curls up next to Emma's knee and shivers.

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Miranda jabs her wand at the Patronus. It puts its burden in a bed, and then she jabs her wand again and it dissolves.

"We all need chocolate, especially Jenny," she says, voice shaking a little.
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Pomfrey immediately sets to obtaining chocolate. She returns with a large pile of chocolate bars; Chocolate Frogs must be too high of a escape risk. "Here," she says, handing each of the functional girls a large bar of their own and sorting the remainder out into piles next to the two cots. "What happened? Was it a Dementor?" She feels Jenny's hand. "She's clammy, poor dear, it certainly seems like a Dementor... and that Patronus... but wherever did you find one?"

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"J-Jenny got lost in the woods and got stuck there with a Dementor and she morphed her mouth away so it couldn't kiss her and Emma got worried and found Professor Fisher and we were with him and came along and when we found her the Dementor was GIANT it has to have been three stories tall and Professor Fisher fell unconscious and then MIRANDA KILLED THE DEMENTOR!" exclaims Karen. "It's gone! It shriveled up!"

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Madam Pomfrey just- blinks at her a few times. Then she says slowly, "Why don't I just fetch the Headmistress, then?" She summons a house elf to find McGonagall, and then returns to fussing over Professor Fisher. She occasionally fusses over Jenny as well, but Jenny continues to be half-draped over Emma and she doesn't seem inclined to reshuffle them just yet; not as long as Jenny is eating her chocolate, anyway.

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Professor Fisher is slowly coming to. He isn't very coherent yet, but nothing he is saying is particularly child friendly.

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Miranda sits and eats her chocolate.

And pulls her notebook out of her bag, because she had it, she was taking notes when Professor Fisher was talking to her and Karen -

And writes.
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McGonagall arrives shortly thereafter. "Miss Swan, I hear you have a story to tell," she says dryly. "A summary, if you please?" She eyes Professor Fisher, who has managed to stop swearing but is still quite pale and shaky. "Professor Fisher, I will be wanting your report as well- once Poppy is done with you."

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"Yes Professor," says Miranda, closing her notebook. "Jenny went missing and Emma found Professor Fisher while me and Karen were talking to him. And we all went looking for her in the forest and she'd been cornered by this dementor at least three times as big as they're supposed to be and she'd shifted her mouth away so it wouldn't kiss her. And Professor Fisher collapsed, I don't think he was expecting a Dementor. And I knew the incantation for a Patronus, so I made one, and it was a very big Patronus and it killed the dementor and picked up Professor Fisher for me and we all came back to the castle and went straight here."

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"...You say you killed a Dementor, Miss Swan?"

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"I did," says Miranda. "It shriveled up until its cloak fell to the ground in a heap and then it didn't feel Dementory around the place at all."

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McGonagall sighs. "We do not need another media circus around this school," she says, mostly to herself. "I must go; we shall need to investigate the Dementor's presence. They were supposed to all have left, after the Battle." She looks at them over her glasses. "Are you all willing to keep this quiet until I have determined what, precisely, happened? I should like to have some answers before the public speculation begins."

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"I want to kill the rest of them," says Miranda. "All of them. How long do you want us to wait?"

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"Telling others? Preferably, not until we can figure out where the Dementor came from, and why you say it was so large. I would add 'until we know what you did to it,' but honestly, Miss Swan, I expect that to take quite a while." She sighs. "As for killing the rest of them- do please recall, Miss Swan, that you are eleven. And under my supervision. While I fully support any endeavor to rid the world of Dementors, if you wish to participate you will need to wait until graduation."

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"I cast a Patronus. I did it exactly like in the book," says Miranda. "I'll show you if you want. If everybody's Patronuses could kill Dementors we'd already know about it."

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"Miss Swan, whether or not you did cast a Patronus is irrelevant. You are a child, and you are in school. Wizards have coexisted with Dementors for centuries; they can continue to do so until you are an adult. You are a Hogwarts student, not an Auror, and your Patronus will keep until you finish your studies."

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"I cast a giant, person shaped Patronus that killed a Dementor. A huge Dementor. It could keep me safe!"

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"Miss Swan, you have withstood one Dementor, whom you say was visibly unusual. What if its size represented a weakness of some kind that you exploited, and other Dementors will not fall so easily? What if you encounter more than one Dementor, and are overwhelmed? For that matter, last anyone saw them, the Dementors were in league with all sorts of Dark creatures, which were not necessarily deterred by a Patronus, and may still be in their company. I have no intention of finding out with your life, Miss Swan. This school has lost more than enough students already!"

Flushing, McGonagall collects herself and straightens. "Enough. Back to your Houses, all of you; it's well past time. You can visit your friend tomorrow."
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"I could go with somebody, somebody else who also wants them gone -" Miranda begins, but Karen is already tugging her away.

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Emma leaves reluctantly, but is finally shooed out by Madam Pomfrey. Once outside, she turns to Karen and Miranda. "I'm so, so sorry, I had no idea!"

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"Don't be sorry, if we hadn't come along Professor Fisher would have gone in alone and fainted and he'd probably be dead and that wouldn't help Jenny at all," says Miranda.

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"If you hadn't come along. I didn't do anything."

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"What did you do, anyway...?"

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"I cast a Patronus, just like in the book. Expecto patronum and thinking of something happy and -" She demonstrates the wand motion, still holding her second, overpowered, supposedly chimaera-hair wand. "And then it worked like that and I'm not totally sure why, but I bet I could do it again."

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"Weird," Emma shivers. "Do you think using that wand helped?"

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"Maybe. I'm going to try it with the other wand, but - I tried to make Patronuses before, with my regular wand. They didn't work, I just got mist. I don't know if I could do it this time because I had to or because I tried the overpowered wand."

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"I hope I never have to," Emma says vehemently, "that was so scary. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Then she pauses, realization dawning. "Oh Merlin what am I going to tell my parents?!"

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"Maybe you should find out what Professor McGonagall is going to tell them, first?" suggests Karen.

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"Yeah," Emma sighs. "I wouldn't quite put it past them to get mad at me for not telling them immediately anyway, but- the Headmistress said to wait, so I'll wait. Do you guys have any idea what you'll say to your parents...?" Not focusing on Miranda here, nope.

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"I'm going to owl Renée and tell her exactly what happened and see if she'll try to find a way for me to do it again sooner than McGonagall has in mind. If she doesn't, well, I would've probably had to wait till I was of age anyway."

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"Dear Mum and Dad, one of my friends got lost in the woods, and me and Miranda went with the one who reported her missing and a professor to find her, and the professor was useless but Miranda beat the monster and we are all okay?"

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"It sounded like she just wasn't comfortable being the one sending you to dangerous places?" Emma volunteers tentatively. "I bet if you found an Auror who would let you tag along over the hols or something, she'd- okay, she's probably complain, but I bet she'd let you."

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"I'm going to definitely write Aurors and anybody else who might be able to bring me places to Dementor-hunt," agrees Miranda. "Especially if it turns out I can't figure out what I'm doing special to make it a killing instead of a chasing Patronus."

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Emma manages to summon up a smile. "If the special wand is part of it, I think it might not catch on quick."

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"Well, I'm not sure what else I'd be doing different, unless it matters very much what your happy thought is."

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"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

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"You're going to be famous, Miranda," says Karen certainly. "You're definitely the first and maybe the only ever Dementor destroyer and you're awesome."

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Miranda giggles.

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"Killing Dementors is up there with like... being Harry Potter," Emma agrees, hushed. "No one's ever killed one."

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"I don't know if I'm quite Harry Potter level. It didn't really - it could have rushed us or something and it didn't. I wasn't fighting, it was like the Dementor was a curse that was just sitting there and then I countered it. And then it was over."

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"...baby Harry Potter?" Emma suggests after a moment's thought. "Not all the stuff he did in school, but- only person to survive the Killing Curse, only person to kill a Dementor? That's kinda the same level."

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"I think I'm like between grownup Harry Potter and baby Harry Potter. Because baby Harry Potter didn't do anything at all, he was just lucky, and I did a thing."

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"Yeah, of course, totally," Emma hurries to assure her. "I just meant- the fame side."

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"I don't know, do you think absolutely everybody is going to know my name? ...Ugh, I hope they don't try to print my first name in the Daily Prophet, nobody can pronounce it."

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"I can pronounce it, you taught me."

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"I mean from reading it. And there's kind of an accent for it and it doesn't sound right if you don't know, like, how my grandparents used to say it? I dunno."

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"I wonder if you'll get a title? There was the Boy Who Lived, so you could be, ummmm, the Girl Who Dementored?"

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"I didn't Dementor! I undementored."

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"Patronus Girl. The Girl with the Silver Person. I never heard of a person Patronus."

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"The Glowing Girl? I know it's kinda wrong, cause it's the Patronus that glows, but being totally correct never seems to worry newspaper people too much."

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"Well, maybe we'd better come up with a good title and tell it to them before they make up something terrible."

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"The Girl with the Killer Patronus? No," she sighs, "that makes you sound all scary."

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"I'm scary to Dementors. But they don't read newspapers. Silver Girl?"

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"Too - Slytherin-y. Since silver's one of their colors."

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"Patronus Girl is the only one that's seemed okay to me so far. Um. Dementor's Bane?"

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"That makes me sound like a weapon. Maybe my wand can be Dementor's Bane. But then I want a name for the other one too."

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"Are you going to let people borrow the wand to try the spell? In case it's that?" Emma asks curiously. "I mean, what if something happened to it?"

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"I... think I'd let someone else try the wand. I'll let Karen try it when we're up in our room," decides Miranda. "I might let somebody borrow it, if they could make the special Patronus with it and they were going to kill Dementors and then they'd give it back when they were done."

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"Well, if it is the wand, you could probably get someone to figure out what it is, so they could maybe make more later. Dementor Killing probably beats Wand Snobbery, right?"

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"If it's really chimaera hair it might be super hard to make more."

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"And when have I been a snob about it?"

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"Not you! Remember Ollivander?" She puts on her best imitation of an Ollivander voice (which is admittedly not at all close, but is at least markedly different than her normal voice.) "How dare you want a second wand mine are perfect in all ways."

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"Oh! Yeah. He might start using chimaera hair if it'd let people kill Dementors. Maybe it'll do other stuff, even."

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"To hear Alli tell it, it's great for sticking feathers to ceilings."

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"Well, it did do that once," says Miranda. "Oh man, I want to tell her, but McGonagall wants it quiet..."

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"Ugh, I didn't even think about that. How long could it take McGonagall to figure things out, do you think?"

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"She'll probably want to... look at the cloak? Maybe check it out with magic and make sure it's not going to... spawn from it again, or something, I hope it doesn't, that would be bad."

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"There aren't that many spells she could cast, I don't think," Emma says doubtfully. "So it probably won't take all that long then? As long as nothing scary comes up."

Like, for example, the Dementor is not actually dead. And is now mad at them. There is a thought that should go away immediately or it will turn into some spectacular nightmares.
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"Yeah, I guess. Do you want to come up to our room and watch me try the Patronus again and watch Karen try and maybe also try or do you just want to go to bed?"

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Emma checks the time quickly. Definitely past time to be back in Hufflepuff. "I should go back," she says uneasily. She doesn't like being late for curfew. She doesn't like breaking rules at all. "I can try tomorrow if you want more testers, and watch you guys again if you want to wait that long- or want to do it again- but for now, um. Bed. Definitely bed. Sorry?"

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"You don't have to be sorry. Sleep well."

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"Thanks, you too."

The next morning, Emma arrive in the dining hall somewhat impatient and upset. She tried to stop by the infirmary first thing, but Madam Pomfrey was most insistent that Jenny needed her rest, so, it can wait. She heads for the Ravenclaw table in search of Miranda and Karen instead.
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Here are them!

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"Hey. No news on Jenny, Pomfrey wouldn't let me in," she sighs. "Any luck with the testing?"

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"I can do a person Patronus with either wand but it's only huge with the chimaera wand, and Karen can't do a Patronus at all," says Miranda.

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"Huh. I wonder what it being huge means then?" She grins. "Other than making sure we can't forget it's there. It's practically a giant beacon!"

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"The regular size one is pretty shiny, too," says Karen. "I'm going to keep trying doing it, but if Miranda's wand is special I don't think I'm gonna be able to see if it's special for me too until I can do one with my regular wand."

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"I haven't managed one either but I've only tried a couple of times. I can try again, I guess." She swallows. "I don't know if this whole thing will- help, or hurt, though."

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"If what whole thing will help or hurt what?"

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"The, the, meeting an actual real life Dementor. Cause I mean- now I really want a Patronus, but wanting one because I'm scared isn't likely to help."

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"I was scared when I cast mine," says Miranda encouragingly.

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That gets a tentative smile. "I'll try, I will."

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"I had tried it before I saw the Dementor and I didn't get anything. I think it might have been important for me to see it. But I don't think that can be usual because plenty of people learn to cast them without having Dementors around, if you needed Dementors to learn to cast Patronuses it would be less common I think."

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Shudder shudder shudder. "I just bet not," she says fervently. "Besides, they all used to be at Azkaban anyway." This slightly wistfully. At least when they were at Azkaban, you knew where they were.

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"Well, if there was some kind of Patronus workshop where you'd go sit near Azkaban and cast Patronuses at it - but I'm pretty sure there wasn't, so my thing has to be out of the ordinary somehow."

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Emma giggles. "Ummmmmm. Yesssssss?"

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"Unusual in more ways besides you destroyed an entire giant Dementor," says Karen.

It seems like it might take her a while to be over that.
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"Which by the way I am so extremely very thankful for. Sooo, um. Thanks again. For the life...saving... thing? That." She has yet to come up with an acceptable form of thank you (she would ask her parents for advice, but- she can't tell them, she's not allowed, ugh), but she's working on it. All things considered, she would like it to be rather impressive. Life saved, and all that.

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"You're welcome, but you don't have to be, like - that especially grateful? I was in danger too."

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"Wellllll, yes. But we were all in danger, you were still the one who actually saved us? I mean, I don't think Harry Potter is any less of a hero for killing You Know Who just because he was also in danger..."

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"Okay, but don't put yourself out about it? You can be impressed when I've got them all."

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"I guess," Emma says with a faint smile, "but I might just be grateful anyway. So um. So there!...or something."

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Karen giggles.

"And I'm impressed already! Take that!"
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"All right, all right."

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"...I kinda want to tell the Prophet to call you the Protector of Hogwarts now, but I bet that's already actually something's name," Emma sighs.

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"If it is I can't think of it off the top of my head," muses Miranda.

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"I will totally tell them that if you like it!" She pauses, then grins. "At least it gives us a couple years to come up with something more general for when you go on your Ultimate Mission. Miranda Swan, Dementor Destroyer, the Vengeance of Azkaban!"

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"The Vengeance of Azkaban sounds like I am personally Azkaban and I'm mad at the dementors for - I don't know, abandoning me?"

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"Ugh. I was going for 'upset about them haunting you' but I guess the abandoning thing is also valid. You are totally a Dementor Destroyer though."

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"Yes. Yes I am."

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Emma laughs. "Not going for Modest Dementor Destroyer, huh?"

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"I would prefer Very Accurate Dementor Destroyer. It is very accurate that I destroyed one."

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"You did!" She looks down and shuffles her feet. "I hope I can tell my parents soon."

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"Yeah. I want to tell everybody in case they have ideas for how I can do it again. I'm kind of stuck on it until I know what's going to happen."

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"But... I thought you said you could make the Patronus again? When you were testing?"

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"I can. Just fine. I just can't get it near any Dementors from inside the castle. That part somebody is going to have to help me with."

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"Oh. That kind of 'how to do it again'. Um. There's probably Aurors looking for Dark creatures after the Battle? Or something like that?" She falters. "I think I would... probably leave the hunting stuff to you?" She looks down and mumbles, "'m not as brave as you."

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"It's okay, I don't need you to come along or anything," Miranda reassures her. "I'm just - fixated, not hinting at you or anything."

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"I know. Mostly I know? I just," foot shuffle, "I feel so unhelpful. But- Dementors are scary, and I don't know what I'd do."

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"...If you want me to think of things you could do, I can, but it doesn't sound like you want to, and that's also okay."

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"Maybe.... maybe later? It might be less scary when I'm older, and know more spells, and stuff like that. And I don't want Dementors to exist either, and I want to help, I don't want to just abandon you to Dementors or anything! I just, um, for now they're scary."

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"I totally understand. I wouldn't want to go looking for them if I couldn't dissolve them into nothing but their cloaks, either," Miranda assures her.

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"I will have lots of chocolate for you when you come back though!" she adds firmly.

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"Excellent."

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Later that afternoon, after their last class, they receive a summons to the Headmistress' office.

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The Ravenclaw girls show up promptly.

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Emma arrives just behind them.

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Since Jenny and Professor Fisher are still in the infirmary, the Headmistress waves to Emma to close the door behind her and settles into her chair, looking at the three of them solemnly.

"I'm sure you know why you're here," she tells them. "And- well. We have run every test we could think of, and as far as we can tell... the Dementor is dead." If one looks closely, one might notice a large torn black cloak in the back corner of the office, in fact. "We have, after extensive searching, discovered no others in the area. And while we are admittedly operating rather on guesswork, we also have an idea of what happened to it, to make it so- large."

Her brow furrows. Whatever she's thinking about, she's not pleased.

"The Dementor appears to have obtained a- let us say, a powerful artifact, lost after the Battle. It has now been safely retrieved." Her flat tone discourages questions. "I can guarantee that no others exist. Hopefully, this will reassure you as to your continued safety here."

She clears her throat and continues. "As far as your Patronus, Miss Swan, I admit to being concerned about the reaction of the press. The Prophet has been known to sensationalize stories at the expense of their subjects. I have no intention of granting interviews without certain safeguards in place, but I would appreciate your cooperation." She scowls. "Certain reporters have been known to attempt to- circumvent such restrictions."
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"I don't - especially want to talk to reporters," says Miranda. "But I can make the giant person Patronus even when I'm just in our dormitory, it wasn't a one-off, so I still want to kill more of them. I'd go with somebody if somebody will take me."

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McGonagall stares at Miranda over her glasses. "You are in school, Miss Swan," she sighs, "though I suppose I cannot control your holidays. But while you are at Hogwarts, you are expected to attend your classes and complete your work." She taps her wand on the desk in thought. "Please tell a professor if a reporter attempts to contact you. Even if it's just an owl. That goes for all of you," she adds, looking rather sad. "You never know, these days."

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"...um. Headmistress? Does this mean I can tell my parents now?" Emma ventures to ask.

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McGonagall nods slowly. "We'll have to tell the Ministry, of course," she says, partly to herself. "Others will need to know about this. You do not need to maintain perfect silence, though, again- reporters should be sent to your teachers. Or really, anyone you do not know. But your parents, yes, your parents are fine."

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"And we can tell them everything?"

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"As you like. It was rather a brief, if- spectacular- encounter; there is only so much to tell. And like I said, the Ministry will know of it soon enough."

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"What will the Ministry think of it?" wonders Miranda.

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"Honestly, Miss Swan?" McGonagall sighs. "With the state of the Ministry these days- I haven't the least idea."

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"There's not like - an endangered species law or anything that someone can be stupid about if they decide they don't like me, is there?"

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"Merlin help us, I can't begin to think what's a law these days," McGonagall snorts. "After all the, the, turnover at the Ministry, I'm sure all their records are a right mess." She shakes herself and eyes them. "Was there anything else?"

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"Is it all right to tell other students if they ask?"

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"Hm. If they won't talk to reporters about it, I suppose."

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"...How do we tell if they will?"

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"If you don't know them well enough to know the answer, perhaps you should rethink telling them?" McGonagall suggests mildly.

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"Well, I don't think Alli would tell reporters," Miranda says. "Everybody else can just wait."

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Given permission to tell her parents, there's nothing else Emma feels like asking the Headmistress. Hogwarts seems to have things under control; and anyway, it's not like she has any desire to talk to reporters regardless. She mumbles a thank you to the Headmistress and summarily flees the office. She knows she's not in trouble, per se, but in the office, it still feels like it.

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Miranda lingers to inquire if McGonagall would perhaps like to see her Patronus and maybe cast spells at it to see why it's special.

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Once Emma and Karen have left, the Headmistress sizes up Miranda. "Miss Swan. I believe a more thorough examination of your Patronus should be left to an expert; the Ministry has promised an experienced Auror 'at their first availability.'" She's a bit skeptical of this, as it happens, but it can wait. If the Ministry drags their heels, she'll worry about it then. "However, there remains the concern of your... less than standard wand. Professor Flitwick tells me you have seen unexpected results with it before?"

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"It's mine," says Miranda. "I'll show you whatever you want to see but it's my wand, not a 'concern'."
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"Given recent events, I should like to verify that it is not dangerous," McGonagall says mildly, if sternly. "You have proven yourself capable of feats with that wand that should be well beyond a first year. If the wand is in some way unstable, or powered by Dark Magic... these things are best discovered early." She softens slightly. "If it proves to simply be an unusual wand, that is a very different matter, of course."

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"If you are even considering that you might take my wand away I would like my mum to be involved in the conversation." Since listening to Miranda herself is probably out of the question. "Casting a Patronus at all is supposed to be too advanced for a first year and I can do it with my normal wand too, it just gets me a smaller one."

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"I have no intention of taking your wand away unless I can prove it is a danger to yourself or others. Is that acceptable?"

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"Prove it to who?"

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McGonagall adjusts her glasses with a sigh. "If we disagree you are welcome to involve your mother. But as you have said, it's your wand, Miss Swan. You will need to be present and involved at least sometimes. I will not be... be..." she is somewhat at a loss for words here, "absconding with your wand to perform Nameless Tests without your input."

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"Okay. Well, what Professor Flitwick saw was a feather going up really fast and sticking into the ceiling when I tried the Levitation Charm on it. When I try other things it does what I'm trying to do, just really - thoroughly. My Patronus in particular is about three times as tall when I cast it with the chimaera wand - the pawnshop person said it had chimaera hair in - than how tall it is when I cast with my other one."

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"Well then. I shall ask Professor Reed to set up a time with you for tests." She reaches for one of the papers littering her desk. "Is that all?"

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"Unless you want to see the Patronus or something, yes, Professor."

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"I will not object if you'd like to show me, Swan, but it can certainly wait for the Auror."

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If Professor McGonagall isn't in a hurry Miranda isn't either. She shrugs and gets up.

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Once Emma was far enough from the Headmistress' office that she didn't get the You Must Be In Trouble vibe, she parked herself in an empty corner of the hallway to await Miranda. She doesn't want to just- leave her friend behind, after all. She's slightly concerned when Miranda takes a while to appear, but it hasn't been that long. Probably everything's okay. Right?

She looks over at Karen, who's waiting with her. "Um. She's not in trouble or anything, right...? Wasn't she behind us?"
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"Maybe the Professor wants to see the spell," suggests Karen.

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"I guess..." This is reasonable enough to keep Emma in place, though she does twitch occasionally. Miranda's not in trouble, right, what if she got in trouble for saving Emma, that would not be okay. "She should be along soon then..."

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And presently, here she is, wands crossed in her hair. "Were you waiting for me?"

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"Yeah... you weren't in trouble or anything, right?" Emma asks anxiously. "We didn't know what happened."

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"I'm not in trouble. She wanted to talk about my wand. I'm going to do some tests with Professor Reed sometime," says Miranda.

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"More Patronus tests?"

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"Tests on the wand in general, I think. For a bit I was scared she wanted to take it away, but it seems like she's not going to do it unless it's really bad and she can convince my mum, and my mum listens to me."

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"Really bad like how?"

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"Like the explanation for it is 'Dark magic' and not 'chimaera hair', I guess."

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Emma blinks. "That didn't even occur to me. I guess it's good that they're checking...? It's, um, we don't actually know it's chimaera hair really."

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"I don't think a really Dark wand could do a Patronus at all, let alone a special Dementor-busting one," opines Miranda. "Anyway, let's get dinner and tell Alli and then go see if they'll let us visit Jenny."

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"Ooh, yeah, we can tell her now," Emma agrees, brightening. To dinner it is.

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Alli is awaiting them at the entrance, not particularly patiently. "What. What. You've all been missing all day, and Jenny's in the infirmary, and I had to be told by an older Slytherin who thought I did it and it's all part of my," air quotes, "'evil plan for hanging out with you guys.' And... and..." she throws her hands in the air in angry exasperation. "What is going onnnnn?"

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"Jenny got lost in the forest and cornered by a Dementor, and when Emma found a professor to help look for her me and Karen were with him and we came along, which was good because it was a giant one and he passed out as soon as he saw it and I killed it with a huge Patronus from my chimaera wand," reports Miranda.

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This earns her a few good seconds of blank, confused stare, before the scowl returns. "If you're pulling my leg, I swear..."

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"It's true it was amazing," defends Karen.

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"Giant dead Dementor? They don't even die! They just... float, or something."

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"They don't die until Miranda's Patronus goes up to them and squeezes them into nothing and all that's left is a cloak," says Karen. "She really, really did it. It was amazing and she's not lying."

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"It happened," Emma confirms. "I, um, I know it sounds crazy-"

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"No kidding," Alli grumbles.

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"-but it did. She saved us, it wanted to Kiss us. We're not lying! Be nice!"

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Alli raises an eyebrow. "That's an awful lot of insisting from- y'know. You two," she says reluctantly. Neither of them is normally this... fervent, about anything. "If it happened- if- then that is stupidly stupidly cool and Miranda, thank you for saving them." She looks at them suspiciously. "But I might not believe you until I hear it from a teacher," she warns. "I mean... still. Giant Dementors at Hogwarts. And if you are messing with me and Jenny, I dunno, hurt her ankle flying, man are you going to catch it."

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"We aren't lying. Come with us to visit Jenny after dinner and ask her if she's - talkable-to yet. Follow me up to the faculty table between dinner and visiting when I ask Professor Reed when she wants to meet to test my chimaera wand."

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"Well, yeah. Visiting Jenny, duh." She pauses. "Should we bring something? I dunno, does she need any of her stuff?"

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"Oh, Merlin, I didn't even think to ask," Emma says, looking struck.

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"Well, you have the same classes as she does, so you can bring her assignments, unless you think they'd make her relapse," says Miranda. "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is drowning her in chocolate. I think there's a spell to conjure flowers but I don't know it."

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"I think it's something about orchids...?" Emma says slowly. "Mother uses it sometimes when she has people over. But- yeah, I can bring homework."

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"Homework is bad enough when you're not sick," Alli opines. "We should- leave it with Pomfrey. Or something."

Alli's method of kindness: try to delay your homework from reaching you as long (legitimately) as possible.
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"Leaving it with Pomfrey's a good idea," says Karen. "Anyway, let's eat."

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"Food!" Alli agrees cheerfully. Lunch looks good today; she is happy to dig in. Potatoes nom nom nom.

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And when food has been et, Miranda goes up to Professor Reed and says, "Professor McGonagall wanted me to make an appointment with you."

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(She has a spectator. A quiet, if not terribly sneaky, spectator.)

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"Hello, Miranda. Yes, the Headmistress mentioned," Professor Reed says. "Something about an unusual wand, wasn't it? During the day would be best; do you have time tomorrow before class?"

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"If it's right after breakfast, yes."

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"After breakfast will be fine. I'll see you then." She smiles slightly. "And Miranda? I was encouraged to remind you that I was, and I quote, not planning to spontaneously abscond with your wand."

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"Good. It just - I was nervous," mutters Miranda.

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"That's perfectly reasonable," Professor Reed assures her. "Until tomorrow, then."

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Miranda nods, and collects the rest of her friends to go check on Jenny.

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Madam Pomfrey allows them entrance, though only accompanied by dire warnings of the fates that shall befall them if they upset Jenny in any way. She appears somewhat distracted by Professor Fisher; from what can be heard of their conversation, he seems to be of the opinion that is well past time for him to be released, and Madam Pomfrey seems equally convinced that this is wrong.

Meanwhile, Jenny can be found on a bed in the end of the hall, next to a window with lots of sunlight. She is curled up in her bed nibbling rather despondently on a piece of chocolate, next to a pile of empty chocolate bar wrappers indicating her diet (and primary Madam Pomfrey Approved Activity) since they last saw her.
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"Hi Jenny," says Miranda. "How are you doing?"

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She shivers. "Er. Better than before...? I think." She looks rather fragile, but she's at least not quite as deathly pale as she was the day before.

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Emma immediately relocates to the bed and wraps her arms around Jenny. Hugs, lots of hugs.

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Snuggle snuggle.

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Hugs are not Alli's thing. She shuffles awkwardly. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner," she mumbles. Believing crazy stories about Dementors at Hogwarts being defeated by a first year becomes much easier when faced with a seriously Dementored friend, and she has no idea what to do. Except chocolate, and that has clearly been handled. "Do you- want another hug...? Or something?"

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"It's okay," Jenny tells her. "It- feels long, but it hasn't been, really." The offer of a hug earns Alli a weak smile, at least. "I'm good for now, thanks," she says, managing about half a nod in Emma's direction, except that her head is rather blocked against Emma's shoulder.

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"I'll hug you too, if you want," says Karen. "And not if you don't want, because you are not supposed to be upset when Demented."

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"...hugs are good," Jenny mumbles. It's not quite a request.

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Karen clambers up into the bed to participate in hug.

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Alli says nothing- no upsetting the Dementored friend- but looks slightly confused and sad. Okay, so she is not really a hug person, but still. No hug for her?

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Jenny notices her face. "You don't really hug!" she says defensively. "I thought you were just- You can join if you want."

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Emma glares. Dementored friend!

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Alli waits until Jenny returns to her snuggles and isn't looking at her, and raises her hands up to indicate not on purpose, sorry! to her glaring friend. Then she compromises and sits on a chair next to the bed and attempts to pat Jenny's knee comfortingly. (Mostly she just gets 'awkwardly', but hey, she's trying.)

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Miranda thinks the hug looks too crowded and also takes a knee to pat in lieu of participating.

"The Dementor is really and totally dead," she mentions. "McGonagall checked."
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Jenny flinches a little at 'Dementor' but 'dead' seems to help. "Thank you," she mumbles. "I didn't- I mean- thank you."

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"You're welcome."

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"It's okay, you're safe, she got it," soothes Karen.

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"Sorry," she gulps. "Was just scary."

Terror and powerlessness and sadness and fear and cold, cold, cold, cold.

Cling cling cling.
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Hug hug.

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Pat pat. Miranda can't believe they used to do this to people as a supplement to imprisonment.

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Hugs- and the rest of her chocolate bar- calm her down at least enough to release her death grip on Emma's arm. She looks around tentatively. "You're all okay, right?"

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"We're all fine. It was you and Professor Fisher who got it bad, we were totally okay after a couple Frogs and a night's sleep."

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Jenny looks at the far side of the room, where Professor Fisher can be seen to still be arguing- unsuccessfully- with a stern-faced Madam Pomfrey. "Yeah, he's been-" obnoxiously loud "-not taking it well, I think."

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"He seems like kind of a bad invalid."

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"I can hear them, sometimes. He doesn't like infirmaries, but she doesn't want him to leave yet. I think he might be- allergic? Or something?"

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"...To infirmaries? To chocolate?"

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"...noooo." Shiver.

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Pat, pat. "You're probably positively sick of the stuff now. Do you want us to sneak you some green beans and eggs and toast?"

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Tiny smile. "Sick? Of chocolate?"

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"Never," Emma says with an encouraging nudge. Jenny smiles! She approves of Jenny smiles.

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Jenny cuddles back into the Emma/Karen pile in response. To Miranda, she adds, "Thanks, that's sweet. It's still chocolate, but... something different would be nice. If it's not a big deal to grab something."

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"I'll see what I can do - it might not be hot food, though, probably a lot easier to wrap a muffin in a napkin and put it in my sleeve."

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"That's fine. You're already being nice and bringing me things."

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"I wouldn't stop eating chocolate a minute sooner than I had to, I don't know where Miranda's coming from talking about green beans."

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"The chocolate is pretty great!"

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"And you have a medical excuse. Chow down."

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Jenny does, in fact, chow down. She's still much more subdued than usual, but the chocolate and the hugs/knee pats are definitely helping.

"So are you all famous now?" she asks Miranda once she finishes her latest chocolate bar.
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"We're not supposed to tell reporters or anybody who might, but I bet it gets out sooner or later. Any ideas on cool media names for me?"

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"Dementor Killer? Mighty Rescuer?" She suddenly grins. "If you were still in Australia, you'd be a rescuer down under!"

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"A what...?"

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"Beats me."

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"Yeah, uh, huh?"

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"Awww, really? No one? It's a kid's movie, it's got cute talking mice and stuff."

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"Sorry... I mean, I don't even know how to get a movie to play."

She knows what they are by now, courtesy of Jenny, but technology is still rather beyond her.
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"A movie is like a... photograph with a plot?"

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"Yeah, I've seen movies, just not that one."

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"The mice travel all over the world to rescue people! And in that one they go to Australia to rescue a boy from a hunter, and so they are Rescuers, who are Down Under."

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"How do mice rescue anybody?"

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"Mostly by getting larger animals to help. Birds a lot, for some reason, there were eagles and some big white birds. But, I mean, also movie stuff. Pulling tricks on people?"

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"Huh. Why is the hunter trying to hurt the boy?"

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"The boy was friends with the eagle and the hunter wanted the eagle, I think. Or the eagle's husband? Or eggs? I forget, it's been a while."

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"Eagles get married in this story?"

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"The mice got married! The eagle had eggs, but I think she was alone. Because of the hunter. The hunter must have gotten him somehow."

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Alli snerks. "Mice weddings, there's a picture."

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"I think mice weddings would be cute."

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"They are extremely cute," Jenny confirms.

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"Students are allowed pet rats... I wonder if we could find a couple to borrow? We could have our own mouse wedding!"

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"But rats aren't the same thing, and how would we get them to say vows?"

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"They're not the same thing?"

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"Rats and mice? Are not the same thing."

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"...huh. I thought rats were just... big mice. Or something."

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"No, that's... horses and ponies. Are the same thing."

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"Ponies are smaller! Less than fourteen hands. But otherwise the same."

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"Oops. I guess I don't actually know anyone with a rat, so it wouldn't have come up? Or something."

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"I don't really see the point of rats. Or toads. Cats you can at least pet, and owls are useful too."

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"My cousin has a rat. They're pretty cuddly," Alli mentions. "And a lot cleaner and friendlier than you would think a rat is."

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"You've held one? An actual rat?"

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"They're not bad at all! You should meet one. You'd like them, they're little and soft."

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"...maybe."

(Nope.)
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"I'd be sort of worried about getting bit. Even a tame rat."

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"And not by a cat? Same idea, smaller teeth."

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"Those I'm not scared of, though. Kitties know how to warn you if they're mad."

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"Bet rats do too," she shrugs. Then she smiles wryly. "Not a clue how, though, I don't have a rat."

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"Cats are still cuter," Jenny declares. Fluffy white cat ears peep out of her hair to emphasize the point.

(Normally she'd add whiskers, but... she's not feeling like modifying her face, right now. Maybe later.)
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"If you don't know how to read the warning it might as well not be there. And cats are cuter, and purr."

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"I don't- Hmm. Ugh. Words, words are hard. I don't know if I can tell they're mad. Not, I don't know how to tell they're mad. I have never seen an angry rat! I could be able to tell, if I saw one. Or not." She pauses. "I almost want to get one now, to see. Promise you'd tell your owls not to eat it?"

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"If you borrow someone's rat I won't let Amber eat it."

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"Mwahaha, my rat plans can continue!"

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"You will have to warn me if you're carrying one around, though, if she just sees a random rat..."

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"I will." Innocent face. "Just not by owl."

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Miranda giggles.

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At this point, Madam Pomfrey apparently finishes arguing with Professor Fisher, and- from his continued presence in the infirmary- seems to have won. Free of that particular distraction, she bustles over to Jenny's bed, looking stern. "All right now, children, time to go. You've had plenty of time to chat and Miss O'Meara still needs her rest," she tells them.

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"Feel better," Miranda advises Jenny, getting up.

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Karen disentangles herself. "Yeah. Enjoy the chocolate while it lasts!"

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"Get well soon," Emma tells her with a last hug.

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"Later, candybar," Alli says cheerfully.

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The next morning, Professor Reed can be found awaiting Miranda in her classroom. It is, as promised, immediately after breakfast.

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Miranda appears on time.

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"Good morning, Miss Swan." She proffers a piece of parchment. Her handwriting is somewhat on the fancy side, but still reasonably legible. "These are the tests I'd like to get through." She eyes Miranda wryly. "I had a feeling you might like to look it over before we begin."

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"Yes, thank you." Peeeeeer.

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It's not actually that long a list. There's a few spells for Dark Magic detection, with notes like "for use when wand is casting" and "for use when wand is idle" and "use when casting specific spells". One involves dipping the wand into a potion, which is probably contained in the jar on her desk; the note next to that line specifies how much needs to be immersed (not much), how long it needs to be immersed (a few minutes) and risk to the wand (one ingredient will react rather spectacularly if the core turns out to be any part of a red cap, but this is unlikely.)

"You are welcome to cast almost all of the spells," Professor Reed tells her, "and in fact in most cases that would actually be quite helpful, as I'd like to analyze the wand while you cast. However, I do insist on casting Morsmordre myself."
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"Okay. You just need to borrow it, not win it, right? To do that?"

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"I do not need to win your wand to cast Morsmordre," she confirms. "I... believe that was part of its original design, that it could be used to cast suspicion upon others." She grimaces.

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"Okay. Um, most things I can do with this wand are pretty dramatic and might wreck the furniture or something, but the Patronus is safe, should I just use that when you need me to be casting nonspecific things?"

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"Hmm. Tentatively yes, unless I need to see a lower power spell for some reason? For which I believe I can supply you with feather as necessary; even dramatic feathers should be reasonably safe," she says with a smile.

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"Okay. They might stick to the ceiling though."

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"I believe the ceiling can withstand such a fate," she laughs. "If you're ready, then?"

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Miranda nods and starts down the list.

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Professor Reed is unable to conclusively determine what, in fact, the core of the wand is. This seems to annoy her. Everything she tries is consistent with chimaera hair, and one test suggests it, but definite proof is elusive.

She cheers back up when faced with the Patronus, though. Patronuses aren't precisely common in America, and she sheepishly admits to taking a couple seconds just to admire the spell before actually analyzing it.

Except for a minor incident with a chair leg, everything else goes seamlessly. She Repairs the chair with her own wand and returns the hazel wand to Miranda. "Well, there you have it, Miss Swan. Not unstable, not Dark. As far as I can tell, it's simply very powerful." She stares at it uneasily. "Would you object to a tutor? I think one-on-one training would be safer for everyone involved."
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"I wouldn't mind trying it," says Miranda, sticking her wand back in her hair. "What do you want me tutored in?"

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"That's not quite my concern. Your wand may not be unstable but it's hardly predictable. If things go awry- if you sent a person shooting at the ceiling instead of a feather, for instance- best not to be in a classroom when it happens. Or worse, alone, or far from help."

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"I've been using my other one in classes," says Miranda. "I tried the hazel for the Patronus because at that point overdoing it couldn't really hurt."

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"We're all very grateful for your quick thinking, of course. Your heroism saved a number of lives. By no means do I intend to rush you; you're doing just fine in your classes as it is. But down the line, whenever you wish to practice with this wand more regularly- consider a tutor my suggestion."

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"I've been trying things a little bit, carefully," says Miranda. "Who would tutor me?"

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"That's likely to depend on what you wish to practice. I'm sure the Headmistress would have suggestions, if you need them."

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"But I mean - another student, or a professor, or...?"

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"Anyone who's passed their- drat, what's the test name here- O.W.L.s should be more than competent enough. After that, it would depend on who has free time, I'm sure."

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"Okay. I'll ask some older Ravenclaws maybe."

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"Sensible of you," she approves.

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"Is that all, Professor?"

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"That's all, Miss Swan. At least until class, of course."

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"Right."

Off she goes.