WHITE LIGHTS LIT UP THE ROOM, AND MALKA WAS ALMOST BLINDED. Swirls of materialized happiness jumped around the room, as all the fifth years of Hogwarts gathered together from six to eight p.m., ready to test their Patronus Charms. They'd done Theory for the past week, and most of the students (including most of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors) were shaking with excitement. It was a nightmare, Malka thought, putting everyone in the Houses together for two hours. But they were doing it anyway, and a few people out of the fifty-or-so fifth years had already done it.

Malka was not one of those people. She had produced some swishy white light, and so far, that was all she got. Cassana, meanwhile, had already produced a Patronus. A squirrel had jumped from her wand, tickled her and Malka with tiny nails, before fizzling out.

"-So I knew what I wanted to think of, it was me and Clorfan, in front of the Great Hall those months ago! But I guess that wasn't enough," Cass ranted excitedly, pressing her wand into Malka's hands as if the engraving of the roses provided the answer to figuring out the Patronus Charm. "It was just when I thought of the feelings I was thinking that it worked, y'know?"

"Mhm, the feelings," Malka said distantly. She was getting quite bored with the class, and was standing at the sidelines watching everyone else. A few sulky Slytherins were at the other side of the room, refusing to participate. Reg was among them. She couldn't see him, but she felt him.

"Come on, everyone!" Professor Carmichael walked to their group, beckoning to them. "Miss Fortescue has succeeded, we still have over an hour, get moving,"

He went over to the Slytherins next, and even he looked a bit intimidated at Evan Rosier's scowl. Cass let out a small huff, glaring at Clorfan, who was standing in between the two watching groups. She hustled over and grabbed his sleeve, dragging him to Malka.

"You two are hopeless, honestly. Come on, let's practice more," she said, placing each palm on their backs and pushing them into the red practice circle.

"Okay," Clorfan tweeted.

"Cassana," Malka hissed through clenched teeth. Their dragging feet caused a clot of Hufflepuffs to look at them curiously. "Everyone can see us,"

More and more thoughts filtered into her brain, most of them frustration and a select few of relief, each from the non-Occluding members of the circle. So, basically everyone. Eyes were the window to the mind, and all their eyes were on her. All of them, brown, blue, black, green, hazel. Merlin. And now Cass made it so they could see her. Just being quiet would probably do the trick.

"Don't focus on them, just focus on the Charm," Cass said reassuringly, placing her hand in Malka's before turning. "Clorfan, just concentrate on the most recent happy memory you have,"

Clorfan pouted. "The most recent happy memory I have is getting a full night of sleep without Avery's snores, 'Sana."

Malka laughed. Cass glared, before stepping forward, grabbing Clorfan's hand in her own, and kissing him full on the mouth. Clorfan's knees buckled momentarily, before his other hand came up to cradle Cass's blonde head. But it was only for a moment, as Cass pulled away, her face dark scarlet. "Okay, try it now,"

Clorfan looked too lost to concentrate on a spell just then, but he pulled himself together, clutching Cass's hand and pulling out his wand. "Expecto Patronum,"

A horse burst out of its tip, the stifled sound of stomping hooves distracted Malka as the warm feeling rushed over her. Cass squealed, grabbing Clorfan's arm with both hands and planting kisses on his other palm. Malka watched the horse gallop around before it slowed to a canter.

"Great job, Clorfan," Malka congratulated him, before looking around. The Slytherins were still standing in the corner, looking at their trio with sulky eyes. A few neighboring Hufflepuffs had clapped for Clorfan at the sight of his Patronus, and had now turned back to their own practice.

"See, Malka, you have to concentrate on the butterflies, or whatever you were feeling deep inside your stomach during the memory. Not the memory itself, but the feelings," Cass said in a very Professor McGonagall-like way.

"Okay, I'll try it," Malka said, exasperated, as she turned away from the crowd so they wouldn't see her concentrating face.

"Have you gotten a memory?" Cass asked eagerly, pressing near Malka. Malka hummed a no.

"Give her some time," Clorfan chuckled, gently tugging Cass away. "You can do it, Malka,"

A gallery of memories flashed through Malka's mind. It was weird combing through her own past, when most of the time she combed through the minds of others. Shoving her cheek into a white unicorn's side, dancing with Cass to Queen, there was a lot. Finally, she settled on her memory.

Winter, first year. She would've picked her mother's hug before she got on the Hogwarts Express that fall, but that had been the day she left home for the first time, and she hadn't quite been able to linger in her mother's arms due to the tight coil of nervousness in her chest. That winter, however, she'd waited till all the other students left and leaped off the train to the platform, right into her mother's furs. And she'd hugged her tight, whispering a few words of love in Italian before Apparating them both to the Ministry. 

Malka smiled, closing her eyes as she thought back. It had felt like a giant stone lifted off of her during Christmas first year. She hadn't been friends with Cass or anyone back then, and it was bliss to be home. She remembered the nerves in her fingers as she clutched at her mother's fur hood, the squeeze of her eyelids. The rasp in her mother's voice, the faint scent of cigarettes. 

"Expecto Patronum!," Malka gripped her hazel wand, and let out a sliver of sight through her shut eyelids. OhMerlinIhopepeopledon'tlook-

A mew shot through the whispers of the room, and Malka opened her eyes, breathing heavily as she concentrated on the feeling of her beating heart all those years ago. A small cat, honestly, the smallest cat Malka had ever seen before, bounded through the watery air, shooting past legs, arms, and heads as Cass clapped in delight.

"Ooh, it looks like Fergus," Clorfan cooed as Cass laughed. 

Malka gave Cass an exasperated look as the Patronus faded. She'd only been able to sustain it for a few seconds, but hey, she'd done it. Without attracting many gazes, either, since across the room, Evan Rosier was shrieking in excitement at his parrot Patronus, taking up all the sound in the room.

"Malka, you've got an admirer," Cass whispered in her ear, and Malka looked where the blue eyes indicated.

Across the room, Rosier's bird streaked over Regulus's face. Their group of Slytherins stood hunched over, with their arms crossed and unimpressed. They were ignoring Rosier, and Regulus was especially ignoring him, as his gaze was fixed upon her, eyes narrow as he clenched his fist slowly, before releasing it and tightening it once more. Malka rubbed her arm self-conciously, before touching her thumb to her lower lip as she always did. Though that must've been the gesture that brought him back to reality, for he swallowed hard and looked back to the bird once again.

-

"The unicorns should be almost ready to run free," Kettleburn crowed as their class wandered through the sunny forest. The unicorns had been periodically released from their pen to roam the forest, and now the sessions were becoming more frequent. "Make sure you get plenty of exercise with them today!"

Malka pulled down her cardigan uncomfortably, very not used to being in athletic wear during the school day. Black was just wearing the normal undershirt and pants the Quidditch players wore, and it looked quite comfortable.

"When I joined this class, I never imagined we would have running as a minor assessment," Malka bit out, huffing as she squashed a piece of moss under her boot.

Black only laughed. "It's not about the running, it's about the bond-"

"-Okay, I know," Malka rolled her eyes. "I know, you didn't have to remind me,"

As if he was offended at her sarcasm, Prancer reached over, butting her head before giving it a few sniffs. The unicorn was now at her eye level, and if he reared up he would be a good five feet taller. The splotches of grey had faded, and now he was a brilliant white, though under sunlight his hair tinted gold.

"Children, children," Kettleburn's pocket watch glinted silver in the lighting. "Eyes up. Now, remember to avoid any of the bogs, the marked centaur areas, or any body of water for that matter. Just stay in the places that look like this. Now, first person to bring back seven sprigs of nightshade wins! On your marks,"

"I'll try not to slow you down," Malka muttered at Reg, clenching her firsts and preparing to follow Prancer. The test was about their bond, after all. Theoretically, each unicorn was supposed to understand their caretakers' need for nightshade, and lead them to it.

"You wouldn't dare," Black teased in a murmur, stroking Prancer's neck one last time.

"And thr- oh, sorry, my Puffskein was acting up. Three, two, one-" Kettleburn yelled. "Aaand, bring on the belladonna!"

The unicorns took off before the humans, galloping in different directions. Nightshade grew in several, very sparse patches over the forest, it would be quite the contest. Malka shot one last look behind her as her feet started moving. All six of the unicorns were running, but there was one wearing a bridle (what idiot put a unicorn in a bridle?) that was preoccupied with trying to throw it off. Another wasn't even trotting, and the two Hufflepuffs with it were struggling to get it to move.

Prancer had taken off in a rightful jaunt, and Malka's hair swung side to side as the duo kept up. He hadn't ran like a bullet, which one of the unicorns had. That was a relief, not just so Malka didn't have to run as fast, and also because perhaps Prancer had already scented the nightshade, and it wasn't that far away. 

The unicorn swerved to the right, making Malka huff in impatience as she took the long way around. 

"Malka, keep up," Regulus said, arms barely swinging in his balanced job. 

"Oh, you wanker-" But Regulus only laughed.

Prancer let out a whinny as he slowed to a trot. Malka peered around him, panting slightly. And in front of him was a tiny patch of nightshade.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Malka sighed. 

"Don't thank him yet," Reg had crouched down, smoothing out strands of moss and dirt over the patch. "This is only five sprigs,"

Malka groaned, throwing her hands up as Reg tucked the nightshade into a small pouch at Prancer's neck.

To her chagrin, the next patch was quite a distance away, and Malka felt her throat close up in effort as her chest heaved. There was a knot in her chest, her legs were itchy, and she needed water badly. Black, the idiot, seemed fine, but Malka was not built for this. Prancer sent flaky leaves bounding side to side as he cantered through the neverending forest. Malka saw a small stream and hesitated, wondering if she could call them to stop. Before she remembered it probably wasn't water, and could likely make her sick. Oh, well. She shot another, quick, longing glance at it before continuing.

If Malka listened, there were faint chittering and splashing sounds nearby, from the Black Lake. But she wasn't really listening, and she was really, really tired. So when Prancer finally slowed, she felt like she could faint.

"-Finally," Malka put her hands on her knees as Black collected the nightshade. "Get that smirk of your face, Black,"

"I'm not smirking," he smirked. "And I'm 'Black', now, yes?"

"Shut up," Malka's face was red. "We're walking back now,"

Prancer led the way, pure white unicorn hair swishing side to side. Malka thumbed through each nightshade flower, making sure they had seven. She'd wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead, heaving a sigh.

"When Ollivander makes wands, do you think he gets them off the mane or the tail?" Reg asked her, his feet crunching under twigs.

"Er- tail. It's cleaner," Malka said, nodding her head decisively. 

"Oh. Really?" Reg replied, before tilting his head to observe Prancer. "Prancer's mane looks whiter than his tail,"

"Because he's an English unicorn. Wandcores only come from Welsh unicorns, since their hairs are longer and more brittle. The best ones live in Bannau Brycheiniog, but people've raided their unicorns too much recently, so they're looking in other parts of the country," Malka said lightly.

"For someone disinterested in magical creatures, you sure know a lot about unicorns," Reg mused.

"Cass's mum used to be an Ollivander. She talks about wands a lot," Malka said, recalling Aspasia Fortescue's curly red hair. "And I never said I was disinterested in Magical Creatures,"

She did say that. On more than one occaison, but maybe times had changed. Prancer was kind of adorable.

When they came back, there were two other groups there. One, which had apparently came back first, didn't win because they'd gotten impatient and ran off without their unicorn to collect the plants. So, the other group, two Slytherins won, and Kettleburn handed something to them which he described as a Potion which would transmute the most vile tasting foods into something sweet and delicious.

Malka glanced over at Reg on their walk up to the castle, wondering if she should apologize. After all, it was her insisting they walk that made them lose first place. But he looked sort of content, his hands in his pockets and the normal furrow in his brow when he was somewhat Occluding. It's fine, she thought. They were familiar enough with each other.

"-Will you be at the Quidditch Cup on Saturday?" Black asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes," Malka said. Cass had already had two nervous breakdowns over it. "Ready to lose?"

"We'll see," was all Black said before they entered the castle.