"I don't think there's any difference," Orli said after thinking for a moment. "Perhaps some people can summon magical creature Patronuses. Their power isn't directly related to their type, but to their owner's heart. The stronger the happy memory, the stronger the Patronus."
"But it's not easy," Harry added. "Practicing this spell is very difficult. At our rate of once a week, it'll take at least a month or more before you see your own Patronus. That's assuming you practice on your own and create some truly powerful happy memories."
They began practicing the spell together. It was interesting—the goal was clear, and no one could get hurt. But the spell was equally difficult. By ten o'clock, most of them could only produce silvery mist from their wand tips.
"Maybe we could meet more often, since Umbridge should have slunk away by now," Parvati said with a giggle, whispering to Lavender.
"No, that's not safe," Hermione said. "We need to keep meetings to once a week. Umbridge hasn't left the school. So I need to emphasize again—don't leak any information!"
She pulled a handful of coins that looked like Galleons from her pocket and handed one to each person.
"We get paid too?" Fred asked in amazement.
"They're fake," Hermione said. "I thought people from different Houses moving around the Great Hall too frequently would arouse suspicion." She took a coin herself and pointed to a number on the edge. "On real Galleons, this is a serial number representing the goblin who minted it. But the numbers on these fake coins will change to show the time of our next meeting. The coin will get warm when the time changes—you'll feel it if you keep it in your pocket."
"Harry and Orli's coins can both change the time, because I've put Protean Charms on these coins that link them together. Everyone's coin will show the same changes—even if Umbridge searches our pockets, she won't find anything suspicious about the Galleons."
"So you can cast Protean Charms?!" Neville asked.
"That's N.E.W.T. level," George said admiringly.
"Oh..." Hermione looked a bit embarrassed, trying to appear modest. "It's nothing, I just cast a series of spells..."
"Come off it, Hermione, you're a genius," Orli said with a laugh, giving her a gentle push. "The Sorting Hat nearly put you in Ravenclaw, didn't it?"
"But I wanted to be in Gryffindor in the end," Hermione said easily. "So, everyone agrees to use these fake Galleons?"
A chorus of agreement rose from the group.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Harry said quietly.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"The Dark Mark on Death Eaters' arms," Harry said. "When Voldemort summons them, they all know."
"But you'll notice we're carving the time on metal, not skin," Orli said. Her mind flashed back to that night of the Triwizard Tournament final, Snape's mark burning terrifyingly on his arm.
"Well, the only danger is we might accidentally spend it," Harry said, noticing Orli looked somewhat troubled and quickly making a joke.
"Not likely," Ron said, looking rather sadly at the fake coin in his palm. "Mum never increases my allowance, and Fred and George don't cut me in. I don't have any real Galleons to mix it up with."
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