the_debt_of_time

"You're awful." Mia rolled her eyes and moved to join Remus.
"It's getting there," he said when she approached, redirecting his focus on his wand
as it struggled to hang onto the silvery wisp it was emitting.
Mia grinned coquettishly. "You thinking of something happy?"
"Can't think of anything too happy. Prongs is right there." He gestured to James,
who was in the corner, consoling a bitter Sirius who was still pouting with his arms folded
over his chest.
"What's your happy thought?" Mia asked, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's
waist from behind and snuggling her cheek into his back, breathing in his wonderful scent
of parchment and grass. The scent was calming, grounding, and she was sure she could
summon a Patronus just by breathing him in.
"Happy thoughts? Well, there's Hogsmeade Station, the woods out behind my
house," Remus said with a grin and added, "broom cupboards. Broom cupboards make
me very happy."
She smacked him lightly on his arm. "Happy thoughts, not... frustrating thoughts."
He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her flush up against him. "Oh,
are you frustrated, Miss Potter?"
"You have no idea, Mr Lupin. Now, stop flirting. Do the charm. Focus on
something less... anticipatory. Something from the past," she said with a helpful smile as
she pulled away from him.
"That's easy then," Remus said quietly and then looked ahead. "Expecto Patronum!"
Unlike the struggling wisps everyone else was having trouble with, a silver wolf
fluidly formed out of the end of Remus's wand to stand tall and regal in front of the group.
"Whoa!"
"Did you see what Lupin did?"
"That's amazing!"
"It's... a wolf," Remus said, his expression tense and confused.
"A Patronus is a manifestation of who we are. The purest part of us." Mia placed a
hand on his arm and watched as he struggled with her words and the image of the wolf in
front of him. "This is who you are, Remus."
"That's not who I am." He shook his head and withdrew his wand, the Patronus
vanishing into mist.