The Incredible Patronus

The Incredible Patronus

Charles took flight beneath the night sky, thrown up by the centaurs.

The Great Elder looked at the large pile of supplies Charles had delivered overnight, a radiant smile spreading across his face.

Although they still had to wait a while for the arrows, this was already enough to get the tribe through a relatively comfortable winter.

Everyone only managed to bring Charles back down after five minutes of flight. He handed the list of materials they needed to the Great Elder, who said there was no problem. They would search the warehouses first thing tomorrow morning, and prioritize gathering anything they lacked.

The Great Elder directed the other centaurs to move the supplies into the warehouse for distribution the next day, after which everyone returned home to sleep.

Charles was still staying at Twilight's house. The centaur girl was sorting some beautiful feathers beside a basin of glowing plants.

The centaurs collected brightly colored feathers, arranging them into patterns shaped like leaves or flowers, then gluing them to the walls with tree resin as decorations.

The feather decorations on the walls of Twilight's house were already very old. She had scraped them all off a few days ago and was preparing to replace them.

Charles crouched nearby and watched for a while. After calculating the date, he turned to Twilight and asked, "Can I trade you some sugar for a few pretty feathers?"

"Sure!" Twilight smiled. "Just take whichever ones you like."

Charles picked out two feathers of different colors. One was blue and should have belonged to a Dementor. Twilight had quite a few of them, and the exchange rate was one feather for one soft candy.

The next morning, he wandered around the tribe and, after making a full circuit, gathered feathers in all seven colors.

He had nothing much to do that day, so he went into the wild with Twilight and the other girls to pick fruit.

These maroon fruits had somewhat tough skins and could only be eaten once the flesh inside had begun to rot.

The girls divided the work clearly. The older ones knocked down the ripe fruit with poles, while the younger ones picked it up and put it into baskets.

Charles helped them with the Accio Charm, finishing half a day's work in less than half a day.

That afternoon, Charles went to the small lake where he had first met Twilight and began practicing the second spell the Old Man had rewarded him with.

This Eastern spell was called Phoenix of the Rising Sun. After it was cast, a fiery phoenix resembling the rising sun would fly from the tip of the wand, incinerating everything it passed. When it finally struck its target, it would explode, all while emitting a pleasant sound as it flew.

Although this spell's effects were similar to Incendio, its appearance was especially flashy. That alone was enough.

The magic Jack had learned while traveling had two defining traits: either it was unavailable in Britain, or it looked incredibly flashy. This one was obviously the latter.

Charles still remembered that Phoenix of the Rising Sun belonged to the same series as several other spells. There was Ice Phoenix of a Thousand Miles, which summoned an ice phoenix; Phoenix Departs the Terrace, which used a wind phoenix to blow away a target or send the caster flying to escape; Phoenix in the Cage, which bound opponents; and the ultimate spell, A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, among others. They were all spells with spectacular visual effects.

He wondered if the Old Man might issue missions in other forms next time, with these spells as the rewards.

That afternoon, fist-sized flaming fat chickens flew across the lake from time to time, shrieking in agony. Charles was left speechless.

Twilight, however, had no idea what this spell was supposed to look like. Whenever she saw the flaming fat chickens blast towering columns of water into the air, she cheered excitedly.

In her eyes, a powerful spell was a good spell. The fact that it could explode meant the spell had been a success.

Charles practiced for a while and felt that he must have done something wrong somewhere.

He quickly realized that he had always thought in English all these years, while this spell was not in English. The problem was probably caused by switching between the two languages on the fly.

So Charles closed his eyes and began reciting the multiplication table from nine times nine backward, spending more than ten minutes switching his brain over.

"Phoenix of the Rising Sun!"

This time, the spell was much more successful. It was no longer a fat chicken but a phoenix—although its tail was a little short.

Twilight patted him on the shoulder and comforted him. "It's okay. It's a little thin, but it still looks pretty good."

Charles smiled and practiced for a while longer until it finally looked the way it was supposed to.

Next, he decided to try the Patronus Charm.

Yesterday, he had secretly asked the Old Man about the Patronus Charm, but the Old Man had merely told him to practice according to the instructions in the book.

Charles stood by the lake, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed both his body and mind.

He tried hard to recall the happiest moments in his memories: witnessing the "Hand of God" with his own eyes at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 22, 1986, and seeing several zeros in his bank account after returning to Britain in July...

His wand kept drawing circles, and a faint silver-white mist appeared inside them.

As the mist grew denser, Charles felt as though he were experiencing the happiest moment of his life. More and more pleasant memories appeared in his mind, whether from this life or his previous one.

Just as he felt he had reached the peak, he spoke the incantation: "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver-white light shot from the tip of his wand and landed on the grass ahead.

Twilight cheered from the side. Although she had no idea what was happening, a spell that could create something had to be incredibly powerful.

Charles looked at his Patronus and fell silent.

He had once imagined that his Patronus would be incredibly flashy. He had also told himself that something ordinary would be fine.

He had thought of things that flew through the sky, swam through the water, ran across the ground, and burrowed through the mud. Charles had imagined them all. But he had never imagined that his Patronus would be like this.

He rapidly recalled every detail he knew about the Patronus Charm and soon remembered that a person's Patronus could change. For example, Lupin's wife's Patronus had changed into a wolf after she fell in love with Lupin.

But that was still a wolf. Unlike his own, which was simply a person!

Twilight's puzzled voice interrupted Charles's thoughts. "Why are you crying?"

Charles froze, wiped away his tears, and answered perfunctorily, "The wind blew some sand into my eyes."

"Oh, I see." Twilight believed him. "Then let me blow it out for you."

She reached out, cupped Charles's face, and leaned over to blow on his eyes.

Charles immediately shook his head, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then rubbed his face and forced a smile. "It's fine. Wiping them is enough."

He then dispelled the spell and said to Twilight, "I'm going back to the castle first. See you next week. You should hurry home too."

Twilight answered softly and watched Charles leave, a little worried.

After walking for a while, Charles felt somewhat agitated. Before long, he had a vague idea. Perhaps it was connected to the part of his memories from his previous life that he was missing.

This made Charles even more restless. He finally understood how Neville had felt when he saw a Remembrall reminding him that he had forgotten something, yet could not remember what it was. In the end, he decided to take his broom for a spin and vent his frustration. He pulled out his flying broomstick, mounted it, and shot toward the evening glow at top speed.