Animalistic Endeavours

The last thing that Elijah Krum had been expecting was a letter from his father’s old friend. It had been years since he’d spoken to his own father, let alone that of Brice Volkov. Nevertheless, when summoned, Elijah was only happy to oblige and he found himself instructing Bal needlessly in what to do to keep the children amused while he was out that day. He hated to leave them, having gotten used to being home more than he’d ever been, really, and now upon leaving he had all of the reservations in the world. But still, he had a job to do.

After donning a light jacket, Elijah apparated out of the foyer of his home, a manor nestled within Wiltshire, surrounded by fields and a woodland on one side. He’d come to love living there, above all of the places he’d called home before, and now that he was finally beginning to get on in life he wanted nothing more to stay ensconced there. He found himself again in Bulgaria, however, perilously close to his father whom he did not wish to run into under any circumstances. As pretty as Sofia was in the summertime, it was a little too near for his preferred tastes.

Elijah was let in by one of the Volkov House Elves and he handed over his jacket with a thankful smile before being led into a sitting room. While he waited he was attended to lavishly, being supplied with tea and an array of cakes or biscuits. He sipped at the tea while he waited, nibbling idly on one of the brightly iced cakes and he decided that, really, he was glad he’d somewhat abandoned the lap of luxury of the Bulgarian social circles. He had a large home, still, but he didn’t miss all of the trappings that came with it. He’d let that fall by the wayside, though.

No, he had a job to do. Not for the first time, he found himself about to teach a budding Animagus.

Brice closed his book the second that one of his house elves entered his room. As soon as he was told Elijah had arrived, he jumped from his chair. He was extremely excited, and almost let the cup of coffee that was nestled on the table, fall. He fixed his black shirt's collar. He didn't think his father would actually do it, but he didn't complain. Maybe it was in order to make Brice owe him a favor, since his little sister, Lily, didn't want to go alone to London. Neither did Brice, and his father probably didn't know he had never felt guilt since he was a kid. He didn't plan on doing it for his father. He realized he was taking too long, and hurried downstairs.

"Hello!"

He had barely entered the room before rolling his eyes. The elves were everywhere, serving and offering. To him, that was extremely annoying. He always tried to go to the kitchen hidden to get something, but they always got there before he even sees them coming. Minor problems, though. He could tell them to leave. He looked to Elijah sitting there. He barely rembered him, but didn't show it. He did know that he was Viktor's son though, so that was probably good.

"Hopefully they didn't annoy you, did they? These elves just love cooking."

At the sound of a voice that unmistakably did not belong to one of the elves, Elijah looked up. As if on cue the ones with the cake trays disappeared and he took a moment to mourn their loss before standing up, stepping out from around the coffee table to offer his hand in greeting to the young man who had gotten quite a bit older in the intervening years between visits to Volkov manor. He couldn’t remember any particulars about the Slytherin when he was younger but nevertheless it was interesting to see the degree of change and Elijah was pleased to meet him.

“Not at all,” Elijah assured Brice smoothly. “I don’t mind House Elves at all, really. They’re pleasant little things. They only want to help.”

With that, Elijah dropped himself back down on the sofa, tossing an arm over the back of it. He didn’t know how long this was going to take. Animagi were a different kind of breed of people. They were different in so many different ways that it made Elijah wonder whether Brice had the bottle for it. Nevertheless, Transfiguration was Elijah’s strong point and he felt as though he could get anyone to wrap their head around it if he took the time and the care to make sure they did. He could sort Brice out by the end of the summer, he was sure.

“So,” Elijah began conversationally. “What I think I want to do first is teach you the Patronus Charm. If we can get it corporeal, it will reveal what your Animagus form will be and thus it will be easier for you to concentrate and get it right in your head what is meant to be done. So is there somewhere in particular we can go where there is no need to mind furniture or expensive vases?”

Patronus... Patronus charm, that's right! Brice remembered about it, a spell that you must put all your concentration in a single good memory, and project it into the patronus. It would probably be hard for him, since his mind was usually so disperse. But he was going to try anyway, if that was what he needed to do. He remembered the boy in Lorcan's apothecary, that kept trying without assistance to become an Animagus. It was pretty funny the fact that he became a half-cat, but Brice wondered how he'd gotten so far. Well, enough of that, it was time to try that Patronus.

"Yes, we can go to our quidditch training field. It's out the back, just climb a little bit and there we are. We made it there so muggles passing by won't see it. Follow me!"

He was so excited he didn't even hear Elijah answer. He walked towards a door under the back of the stairs, opened it, and started walking up the pathway to the training field.

Dutifully, Elijah followed on after Brice, his long legs ensuring that he stayed only a breath behind the energetic teenager. He found himself mirroring some of the enthusiasm. He was eager to get going, to get some optimism in Brice. Once the Patronus was under his belt they were in luck because ultimately it was just a case of becoming part of the animal. There was an element of hypnotism to it, in a way. Ultimately it was all for a good cause, though, and Elijah knew the boy would find a kind of release in being an Animagus. It was so much simpler as an animal. Everyone knew that.

“Alright then,” Elijah began once they’d reached the training field. He removed his wand from his pocket and flicked it around a bit, getting his magic loose and limber before fluttering it, exclaiming “Expecto Patronum!” Immediately a great ethereal tiger sprang from the end of the wand and danced around him, brushing up around his legs like an overgrown cat. It was corporeal and while he wasn’t sure it was something they’d master with Brice that day but he was hoping the boy was a quick learner. The cat disappeared after a moment or two and Elijah gestured to Brice.

“Your turn.” He endeavoured. “Expecto Patronum is the incantation. You have to channel happy feelings and they have to be particularly strong to show your animagus. Okay? Give it a go but don’t be disappointed if you don’t get it at first. It takes a while.”

That'd be hard. In first place, what memory would he focus on? What had once made him really happy? Once he knew the memory, would he be able to concentrate completely on it? He was known for having his mind always jumping from thing to thing.. but at least the wand movement and incantation were no problem. But he thought it was better if he just tried already. So maybe... the day they bought Leala! Leala was one of the things that Brice most liked in the whole world. No time to waste, though. With his nearly-photographic memory, he flicked his wand out of his pocket and tried to focus as much as he could in that memory. He repeated the wand movement and then repeated the incatation, with the exact spelling Elijah used.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Even though he tried his max to focus on the memory, he still wasn't completely able to get the charm. He did actually focus for one second, which projected a small flash of light from the tip of his wand, which disappeared a second later. He knew he wasn't supposed to get disappointed, but he thought the outcome of the first try would be better.

"Hum... what do you think I did wrong?"

“It’s not strong enough,” Elijah said without preamble.

He had suffered the same way. He had been young when his tutors had tried to instruct him in the Patronus Charm. Young, first of all, lacking in the experience of true happiness and then secondarily he also didn’t have the necessary skill. It wasn’t until he’d had his daughter that he understood what it meant to be happy and what such a spell needed in order to be performed. Brice was young and Elijah was perhaps guilty of hoping that the fifth year had experienced as much as he had by that age. Nevertheless, it was something they could work around.

“You can’t just pick any old memory,” Elijah went on, softening his speech so it seemed less as though it was Brice’s fault. Because it wasn’t. It wasn’t an easy charm, after all.

“Slytherins do struggle,” Elijah added as an afterthought as he sat himself down on the ground. “So take a moment. Think, alright? Think of a moment in time that has filled you with so much happiness you want to burst. A time when optimism kind of smacks into pessimism and shows it what’s what because in those moments the optimist can’t be wrong. There’s nothing else but happiness. Think of something like that. Find a memory like that. Then try again.”

Think, think. Brice stood there,as if he was a statue, not moving at all, while trying to think about that one moment in his life that happened just like Elijah told him. It didn't take long before he widened his eyes. A memory with such a good vibe he barely even thought twice. His younger sister, Lilyana, was the person he loved most in all the world. More than even his parents. The memory was so obvious, he didn't understand how he hadn't noticed before. It was with the same quidditch training camp that he was standing on. He looked to the way they came from in that sunny day when they inaugurated it. The fact that in that moment he reunited with his sister, got his Firebolt and opened a training camp just made him overflow with joy. Focusing again, he even grinned largely without knowing. Barely paying attention, he repeated the wand movement, not as perfect than when he tried before, but still good, and said:

"Expecto Patronus!"

A large, non-corporeal Patronus appeared from the tip of his wand, assuming a bracket-like shape and that even made Brice open his eyes to look. As soon as he realized he actually got an non-corporeal one done, he was even more overjoyed. It suddenly disappeared, and even though he should of have at least said something, the fact he got it right, even if it was non-corporeal, just stunned him. He stood there, looking to the tip of his wand.

"That's brilliant!" Elijah exclaimed, getting to his feet.

It was a start. All he'd wanted was a starting point. Getting a corporeal Patronus took a little bit more concentration than the standard shield and Elijah had no fear now that they had that as a basis that they could get the corporeal one out of Brice. By this afternoon, hopefully.

"Right," Elijah began, taking out his wand once more.

"You need to concentrate," he explained, "and really narrow down your happy thoughts, right? So you have to pin down that exact feeling and harness the power of it, do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Elijah flicked his wand, uttering the incantation, bringing to mind his memory and lifting out a shield version of the charm like Brice had done a minute or two ago. It sputtered in the same way and Elijah looked at Brice.

"So, that I just barely touched on. It gets stronger as you build the layers of the feeling. What was the memory? What was it about that moment which made you happy enough to burst? Pinpoint the second you became that elated and you've got your power."

The elder wizard pocketed his wand again.

"Remember, happiness is a kind of love and love, irrespective of what the Dark Lord believed, is power. The Patronus is pure love, in a sense, pure power. There's nothing irrational about the way we feel and no one has any right ever to tell you that. We're human. We might be fallible but what we feel is real. So find that feeling. Then harness it, Brice. You can do this, I know you can. Try again."

After recovering himself, Brice paid as much attention as he could. He didn't believe he'd get it done, but he brushed that thought aside. He could do it. He just had to find the point of the memory that was the actual source of his happiness. He thought for a bit. Just remembering that moment made him smile. But which was the one that actually made him happy? While thinking, he repeated the wand movement and murmured the incantation, so he could do it without thinking while channeling all of his attention to the memory.

And he found it.

There was the image of his sister, so happy that he felt like there was no way to live not being like that. Seeing his sister happy, that's what made HIM happy. He decided to focus now. He'd do it. First try. He never had lack of confidence in himself, and there was no way he was lacking of it at the moment. He focused all he could on the memory, closing his eyes so firmly it seemed they were sewed. Without even thinking, in fact, so immersed into the memory it seemed it was real, he cast the spell.

"Expecto.... PATRONUS!"

A feline at the size of a cat, but with the looks of an leopard came out of the tip of his wand. Brice slowly opened his eyes and with a small stutter from astonishment, said:

"It's... It's an Margay!"