Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Term 12 - Gryffindor House

Challenges listed below

Word count: 1815

"THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

Alice woke up with a startle, whipping out the wand she kept under her pillow as she looked around the dorm room alarmed searching for danger or the source of that really loud noise. It took her a few moments, but as soon as she saw the redhead on the bed next to hers punching a pillow, she understood.

"Good morning, Lily," she greeted her friend, yawning. Then, a little more sarcastically, added, "Is there anything bothering you in this beautiful morning?"

"It's this ridiculous spell. It doesn't work," she replied, throwing the pillow against the wall.

Lily Evans was the sweetest person in the world until something annoyed her, which happened constantly, and there were two things that never failed to make her snap. James Potter and failing at something. Nowadays, as only Alice and a handful of their friends knew, Petunia Evans and Severus Snape were added on that list. Sixth year was not going great for her at all.

"What spell are you talking about, love?" Alice got out of her bed and moved to sit at the feet of Lily's.

"The Patronus. I can't conjure one for the life of me!"

"Okay, Lils. Why don't we get out of here, before you wake everybody up? You know how cranky Mabel gets if she doesn't get her 9 hours of sleep."

"9 hours of sleep is ridiculous," complained Lily already grabbing her robes and changing out of her pyjamas.

"Sure, Lils. Everything is ridiculous as you so eloquently stated about the spell and now Mabel's sleep schedule."

"I told you it wasn't working," said Lily, defeatedly. Her shoulders sinking along with her hopes of passing Defense Against the Dark arts.

"We're just looking at it the wrong way. We need help from unconventional places."

*hphphp*

The Ravenclaw common room was far from being an unconventional place to look for when one needed help with anything related to school. Granted, they were a little exotic sometimes, but they were all for finding the best and easiest way to do things. Some people called that being lazy, Ravenclaws called that being smart.

"Hey, Marly!" called out Alice, when their dark-haired friend walked out of her common room. They could have gotten in, but none of them were in the right mind to solve the riddle the eagle knocker was going to throw at them.

"Hi, there. How can I help you?"

"Lily's having trouble with a spell. Can you help us?"

"As a matter of fact, my dearest Gryffindors, I can. I was reading up on the History of Magic in itself, not that BS on Goblin Revolution, but how magic came to be," she explained upon seeing her friends' confused expression. Everybody knew Marlene McKinnon hated History of Magic and spend the better part of class playing tic-tac-toe on the back of Sirius's and James's hands. "And I found some very interesting theories. Follow me."

She took them to the top of the Astronomy tower, Lily and Alice silently communicating with looks the whole way there, but not brave enough to ask what their friend was talking about. They were totally sure that if Frank saw them, they would never hear the end of how un-Gryffindor-like they were being. They filled Marlene in on what spell and everything they had tried so far and that hadn't worked out.

Marlene conjured a bag with her wand and had the girl sit in such a manner that they were forming an equilateral triangle. She opened the bag and quietly took out some purple candles, a pomegranate, myrrh and a very dark resin that Lily remembered seeing in the potion classroom called storax. She drew a circle with a white chalk and began to talk.

"This circle is to represent the boundaries she's associated with, the guardian of borders." She proceeded to draw a line from where Lily was standing right to Alice's feet, then to where she was sat, and from there to Lily. "The triangle represents her three faces and all the choices she gives us."

Lily looked a little alarmed, but didn't dare to say anything. She was willing to sacrifice her sanity for that O in DCAT and there was no one better to take it away then Marlene. The girl was now placing one candle on each of the three tips of the triangle, some myrrh on Alice's, the pomegranate on Lily's and some storax on hers, which made Lily extremely grateful because that thing had a really strong smell.

"Now, Lilykins, you have to light each candle with your wand and ask the goddess to show herself to you so you can talk to her."

Lily's eyes widened. She didn't think she would have to do anything during that ritual. She was far too logical and not spiritual at all.

"Marly, are you sure that's okay? I mean, we deal with the supernatural daily here, if something goes wrong, we can be in serious trouble."

"Trust me, Lils. Go ahead. Call for her. She will help. She is the mother of all Magic."

Lily took a deep breath and, shaking, stood up. She took the wand in her hands, twirled it around a couple of times and started to move.

"No! That's enough. Lily does not need divine help to master that spell. What she needs is practice and a little break. Thank you, Marly, but that is too unconventional even for you. I love that you believe in the gods and are in constant contact with them, but I think Lily needs something a little more concrete right now."

"But Ali, what can be more concrete than the goddess of magic herself in front of you?"

"Marlene, do you know how crazy you sound just entertaining the though that Hecate, if she even exists, will show up to a bunch of sixteen-year-olds?"

"You Gryffindors are always stuck in that little dueling ring of yours and forget to think outside the box. Besides, Lily needs to decide what she wants. What will it be, Lily, dear?"

"It doesn't hurt to try, does it?" Lily looked up at Alice with her eyes full of desperation. It was clear she didn't believe it would work, but she didn't want to hurt her friend who had gone out of her way to try and help her. Also, she liked to have hope and she would do anything to master that spell.

"Lils. Love. You and Marly are being completely irrational."

"I've tried to be rational about it, Alice, but I couldn't." Alice could sense by the speed Lily's speech was picking up just how anxious her friend was. "This spell is irrational, not me."

Lily sighed, for what felt like the millionth time that day, and knew exactly who she had to go to if she wanted someone who could handle irrational. At least she liked him, she thought, she made her laugh. During inappropriate times of course, but it was still a good laugh nonetheless.

She stood up, giving up on the entire summoning ordeal, and leaving her friends to deal with the mess went looking for none other than Sirius Black.

*hphphp*

"Okay. It's not the wand movement, it's not the pronunciation. It has to be something else."

"Yes, my incompetence."

"Now, now, Pet. Don't say that." He looked her in the eyes. "You're the most hyper competent witch I know. Tell me what memory you are drawing from."

"You see," Lily hesitated, "I'm having a little trouble with the happy memory part. It's like they're all tainted."

Right then, Sirius figured out exactly what was going on. During their fifth year, she had had a huge fall out with her then best friend, Severus Snape, whom Sirius detested and he himself had hit a rough patch with his best friend, James Potter, whom Lily detested. So they bonded, Lily and him, over lost friends and family. James and Sirius had eventually talked and punched this out, but Lily and Snape never got to do that.

"Let's sit down for a minute." Sirius took her arm and sat her down on the grass next to him. "You knew what the problem was all along, didn't you?"

"Yes," she nodded sensing nothing but warmth in his tone. "And that's one of the reasons why I asked you for your help."

"You thought I could provide you with a happy memory?" He took his hand to his heart and batted his long eyelashes at her. "Petal, I'm flattered, but James would kill me."

"No, you tosser," she playfully hit him in the shoulder. "You're Sirius Black. You don't like rules. I thought you would have found a way to bend the rules of the Patronus too."

"I'm afraid there's no way you can get out of that one, Lily." She startled at the sound of her name. Sirius rarely addressed her by her name. "Tell me, why are they tainted?"

"It's just that most of them involve Severus and my sister and we're not exactly on good terms right now." She sensed Sirius's body tensing by her side. "It feels wrong to use them."

"Don't get me wrong, but they are your memories. You can do whatever the Merlin you want with them. It doesn't matter who is in it, as long as it makes you happy to remember that time. And if your sister and Snape are part of that, then so be it. By all means, use them."

"Do you, I mean," she asked, not meeting his eyes and fidgeting. "You know."

"Do I use memories of my family? Rarely. I have one happy memory from that house strong enough to produce a Patronus and is with my brother, who, as everybody knows, isn't exactly my best friend right now. The others are with the boys or the Potters."

Lily took a deep breath and stood up. She extended her hand to help him up and he took it.

"One more. Just for the hell of it."

She concentrated. They were her memories, no one could touch them. She waved her wand in a circular motion and enunciated clearly.

"Expecto Patronum."

What Sirius saw made his eyes widen and a huge grin take over his face. Right in front of him stood a beautiful silver doe. Majestic in every way.

"Godric's lions, I did it!" Lily jumped him and threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "Thank you, Sirius. You were of great help."

"Of course, Pet. I'm glad I could be of use." He hugged her back, before letting go. "I have to go now. See you later."

Oh, Prongs is going to die when he sees this in class tomorrow, he thought to himself as he walked away from his future sister-in-law.

Assignment #5 Ritual & Ceremonial Magic

Handfasting Task 4. Gods, goddesses, or Earth elements may be invoked during the ceremony. - Write about trying to contact a diety/spirit

Insane House Challenge

#52 Word: Irrational

Writing Club – March

Character Appreciation - #7Dialogue: "Hi there. How can I help you?"

Disney Challenge - #2 Stitch: Write about someone with a short temper.

The Fabulous World of Comics - #3 (color) purple

Angel's Archive - #5 Write about someone woken up by something other than an alarm clock

Winter Seasonal Challenge

Days of the Year - March 9th - Panic Day: Write about panicking.

Slytherin Challenge - #47. Determined

Star Chart - January 10th - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse - Prompt: Trait: Dramatic

Religious Holidays - February 2nd - Candlemas (Christian): Object: Candle