It was a late December evening that Colby found himself wandering towards the library, looking to find a corner to catch up on some extra reading for his Arithmancy exam he knew was coming up in the next few days.

Whilst he didn't particularly want to do revision, he knew that if he failed his OWLs, his parents were not going to be happy. Being a pure-blood from an old family, his life had been very 'traditional' up until he started school, and even though he had been exposed to other children for five years now, his actions were still influenced by the formal way he lived at home.

As he walked along the deserted corridor, he passed a slightly adjacent door leading to a spare classroom, and curiosity peaked his interest as he saw a white light coming from behind it. Craning to look through the open section, he was shocked to see his best friend, a tall Hufflepuff called Sam, with his wand out, producing wisps of bright white light.

Feeling confident, Colby opened the door, shocking his friend, who stepped back slightly and locked eyes with him. Colby felt himself blushing slightly as he stared into the light blue eyes that belonged to his best friend.

It wasn't a secret that the Slytherin had had a crush on the Hufflepuff since the beginning of time. Quite on the contrary, his friends were always teasing him about the fact, and it was a surprise that his crush hadn't figured it out by now.

As their eyes broke, Sam broke out into a wide grin and laughed, the blue light emitted from the flames reflecting on his pale skin. Colby's heart beat a few times faster as he heard his laughter.

"Colby, what are you doing here?" He asked, and Colby shrugged in response.

"I was going to the library to read up on some Arithmancy-"

"Of course-"

"- when I saw light from the classroom opposite and decided to see what was going on!" He finished, ignoring the interruption. More importantly, he continued to ask him the question on the tip of his tongue. "Were you just trying to cast a patronus?"

"Not trying, Colby!" He replied back, cryptically and with a smug grin that grew bigger on his face. "I've been able to produce it three times today, in its full corporal form!"

"Are you being serious? How long have you practiced for?" Colby asked, eyes bulging and mouth wide open. How could Sam produce this charm, one that many adults couldn't produce, when he had barely turned 16!

To tell the full truth, it was something that Colby had been trying to do since the beginning of the year, but something was stopping him from reaching the full form he wanted it to achieve. Sure, he'd been able to produce slight wisps of it, but nothing solid. It... disappointed the Slytherin, very much.

"Only for a few weeks, I just couldn't wait to see which animal it was, and it was surprisingly easy for me to get do when I put effort into it." Sam explained, fiddling with his fringe, which had curled out of place with slight sweat. Colby's eyes followed the movement of his hand.

"Seriously? I've been trying for mont-" Colby exclaimed, before stopping himself, not wanting to admit weakness to his friend. It seemed that Sam had already heard him however, and his grin grew even wider.

"Oh my God, I can finally do a spell that The Great top-of-every-class you-can't-do-better-than-me look-at-me-being-amazing-and-clever-and-cute Colby Brock can't do?"

He cried gleefully, causing Colby to go slightly flustered, both because of how Sam was better than him, but also because of how Sam had described him. Did he say cute or was that just Colby making things up inside his head that he wanted to hear? "And on top of everything, he's been trying for 2 whole months, and I managed to do it in only 2 weeks?"

"Hey, don't rub it in, yeah?" Colby retorted, slightly bitterly as it was something he'd really wanted to conquer this term, and it wasn't looking like he'd be able to at this rate. Taking slight pity on him, Sam started again.

"Well, it's not often that I do something better than you, is it really?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "Two months really is a while I suppose."

"Yeah, well whatever, no point dwelling on me not doing something, when you haven't shown me your corporal patronus yet!" Colby exclaimed, eager to see what would come out of Sam's wand.

Admittedly, Colby had tried to imagine what his friends animal would be, but hadn't been able to place his finger on just one that could fit Sam. He had too big a personality for just one animal.

"Ha, ok, so long as I can muster it up. I needed to find the right memory, that's what took me so long. Hey!" He turned, looking at his friend. "Maybe that's what you're having trouble with, finding the right memory!"

"Maybe..." Colby mused, cogs turning round in his mind. "What do you use as a memory anyway?"

He asked back. "Oh, uh..." Sam muttered, scratching the back of his neck with his wandless hand, and Colby could've sworn that he saw a blush creep up slightly on his neck. "Nothing, really, just one of the, uh, happiest memories I have, I guess. Anyway, let me show you my patronus!" He replied, tactfully changing the subject.

As Colby looked on, he heard a mumble of 'Expecto Patronum' coming from Sam's lips, before his wand shook, and a white shape erupted from his wand, immediately stretching out, and leaping into the corner of the room. When it's form finally settled, Colby gasped as he realised which creature it was.

"A panda?" He asked, breathless in wonder at the cute creature on his right.

"Yeah!" Sam replied, guiding his wand around until the panda had shrunk back down, jumping into his outstretched palm. He smiled down at it, Colby reached out to touch it.

However, when his hand touched the white and grey magical creature, it shied away, before Sam pulled his palm away and it disappeared, leaving them in a darkly lit room, opposite each other and very close.

"I'm jealous!" Colby told him, realising that a panda suited Sam perfectly. When debating his friends patronus, he hadn't considered massive mammals because he had assumed it would be a smaller creature. Now, he didn't think it could've been anything else.

"Well, what's wrong with yours then? Show me how you try." Sam asked him and Colby reluctantly took out his wand, knowing that it wouldn't work and that he would look foolish in front of his crush. "Concentrate on your memory, and then perform the charm." Sam chided as Colby closed his eyes.

His memory wasn't the best memory that could be used, but Colby hadn't had many amazing memories in his life yet. He thought back to the first time he stepped into Hogwarts, and let his hand move in the direction the book had shown. Opening his eyes, he saw his wand glow for half a second, before dimming and returning back to it's normal state.

"See? Whenever I try, I barely even produce wisps of magic! It's frustrating!" He told Sam, who was biting his lip in thought, something Colby noticed and was trying not to focus on.

"Well, when I first tried, I realised that the way I was moving my wand was wrong. I tried to put some of my personality into the move, make it more like me and natural." Explained Sam, and Colby nodded, disliking going against what the book said to do, but he was willing to try anything at this point.

He reached out his arm, and went to practice moving it, but what with his uncreative mind and the fact that his crush was standing opposite him, he found it hard to move his hand in any way that could be described as 'himself'. He heard Sam sigh from next to her, and mutter a few words echoing Colby's thought as to it not being his, before a warm hand was placed over Colby's, guiding it to point at the room again

Colby's heart rate picked up tenfold as Sam's warm hand encased his, and guided it around. It was a good job that the lighting in the room was dim because he was positive that he had a bright red blush spreading out across his face. He turned to look at Sam as he continued to explain what his should look like, but Colby didn't catch many of the words tumbling out of his mouth- instead focusing on the boy in front of him.

As he turned to face him, they locked eyes again, and the close proximity of the two was realised by both of them. Colby noticed that Sam had stopped talking for a minute, before he took his hand off Colby's, still standing close to him.

"Try, then." Sam instructed and Colby looked at his hand, waving the wand more loosely before and quietly saying the words 'expecto patronum' for the second time that night. As he looked down, he saw wisps of light escape from it, more progress than he'd made in two months, but still to his disappointment there was no creature.

He found himself wondering if it was a bug too small to notice, or if he simply did not have one, but the rational side of his brain took over, and he knew that it must be something that he was doing.

"I don't think I have a good enough memory," He confided in Sam, who was smiling and congratulating him on being able to produce the start of a patronus. Still standing close, they continued to talk.

"Well, what was your memory?" He asked, and Colby replied back, slightly embarrassed.

"The first time I stepped into Hogwarts."

"That's a bit rubbish!" Sam told him, chuckling slightly. "I mean, maybe it felt happy, but that's more of the whole thought of being magical, not one specific event that makes you happy! Try and think of something else instead." He turned towards Colby, lifting his arm up and moving so that he was practically leaning on the taller Slytherin. Colby tried once again, but there was even less of a product this time.

"Come on!" Sam chided him. "You've gotta concentrate!" He told him. Colby thought to himself that it was pretty hard to concentrate with a cute person leaning on his side, and smiled slightly. "Hm? Did you say something?" Sam asked, and the other boy turned red again.

"Uh, no, nothing." He replied back quickly. "I just don't think I have a good enough memory for this to work. Nothing really sticks out." He said, turning to face Sam again, and found that he was already looking at his face, an expression on it that Colby couldn't place.

By now, they were so close that their noses were practically touching, and they couldn't help but stare. Somehow, his wand hand found itself holding Sam's hand again, and his heart hammered in her chest, faster than it had been before.

"Well, maybe we will have to make a better memory for you," Sam barely whispered, locking eyes before leaning in. And before he knew it, Colby's lips were pressed against another pair of lips, the ones belonging to the same boy that Colby had been crushing on for years. His mind went blank, before he leaned further into the kiss, deepening it.

Sam tasted like butterbeer and sweets, and Colby was in heaven. Their lips moved in synchronization, and Sam smiled into the kiss. Finally breaking apart, Colby leant into Sam's robe in slight embarrassment.

"Is that a good enough memory?" Sam mumbled, and Colby broke his hand from Sam's to mutter the incantation. He gasped, as Sam too looked up and smiled, arm still around Colby. A white shape erupted from his wand, bounding across the room before stumbling to their feet and sitting down. Colby smiled widely as he looked at the small dog that was his patronus, and hugged Sam tighter as it faded away.

Unable to stop himself, Sam pulled out of the hug, before connecting their lips together once again, and losing themselves into the warmth spreading between them.

The next morning, Devyn looked up from her bowl of food to spy her friends Sam and Colby walking into the room, hand in hand and smiling broadly. Sam was wearing a slightly oversized Slytherin scarf as it was a cold morning and Devyn sighed fondly. As they parted to go to their separate tables, she turned to her boyfriend, Corey.

"I told you it would be this year!" She exclaimed, holding out her hand. "Come on, pay up!"

_______________________

Questions:

Do you like Harry Potter?
What is your house?
What is your patronus?

I personally really like HP; )
I'm in Slytherin
and my patronus is a black and white cat 🐈

What about you guys ? Tell me in the comments below.
See you in the next chapter bye <3