'I'm not with Katie,' he told her bluntly. 'Don't get the wrong idea,' he warned, watching the hope begin to rise, 'I just don't want to have to listen to all the rumours about us. She doesn't deserve it.'
'Is she why your patronus changed?' Ginny asked, her tone cool.
'I don't think so,' Harry shook his head. 'A lot of my friends turned their backs on me last year,' he reminded her, 'that could be counted as both betrayal and loss.'
'Not love then,' she managed to joke weakly.
'No,' Harry lied, thinking of Fleur.
'I wasn't going to tell anyone,' Ginny said earnestly. 'I might have told my friends that I thought you were with someone else, but I thought you and Katie were trying to keep it a secret and just act like you were friends.' 'We are just friends,' Harry smiled. Ginny nodded, and glanced over at Katie who was watching the two of them curiously.
'I think she knows what we're talking about,' Ginny realised. 'I should keep practicing.'
Harry watched her produce a strong cloud of silver mist twice, before reclaiming his spot on the floor by Katie. The session would end in a few minutes for Gryffindor's quidditch practise and he could sneak off to test his Patronus Charm alone.
Only Neville managed to produce a corporeal patronus before the session ended and Harry left to make his way to the chamber.
His was the most surprising of all.
A clicking, gleaming silver scorpion shot from his wand and flexed its tail menacingly in front of his knees. His patronus' form was certainly interesting. Harry knew that the scorpion was used by ancient Egyptian wizards to represent the number six, but he vaguely remembered that they had also considered it symbolic of revenge, nature and had that scorpions had been considered the protectors of the dead.
Harry was very curious to know what his had become.
'Myrtle?' He asked quietly from the edge of the puddle, waiting for her to drift out from the cubicle she normally occupied.
'Harry,' she shot out though the wall to hover immediately in front of him. 'I had visitors at lunch time yesterday,' she warned, tapping her fingers together nervously. 'First years, or maybe second, they were very small. They wanted to know if there was anything special about the bathroom.' 'Did they decide anything?' Harry pressed, his stomach tightening in concern. The chamber was his lifeline, Salazar's advice, everything precious that he owned, his route to Fleur, almost every important aspect of his life would be affected if someone discovered he was using it.
'They never found anything,' Myrtle reassured him, 'but nobody has ever come looking here after you did.'
'If they come back, please tell me, Myrtle,' Harry asked. 'You don't know how important it is to me that the entrance remains a secret.'
'I'll tell you, Harry,' she promised. 'I always know when someone's in here. I can feel it.'
'Thanks.' Harry smiled, his fear averted for the time being. A pair of curious younger students who must have seen the door move on its own when he entered and come back to investigate at lunch after their lesson were not yet a problem.
'Open,' he commanded in parseltongue, waiting for a moment until the top of the staircase was visible before slipping through the still moving entrance and descending into the chamber.
'Mother, I'm home,' he called out upon reaching the beginning of the bridge.
'Welcome back, darling,' he heard the painting mutter with soft sarcasm as he entered the study. Harry chuckled and took a seat on the edge of the desk, shoving the greatly reduced bag of galleons to one side.
'I was wondering what you knew about the Patronus Charm?' Harry asked. 'Mine appears to have changed.'
'Changed?' Slytherin peered at him curiously. 'It used to be a stag, then I was almost unable to cast it, and now it seems to be something feathered, though I have't cast a complete corporeal charm yet.'
'That's interesting,' Salazar agreed. 'The charm itself is very old, it's one of the obvious, emotion-related concepts of magic, but very hard to produce despite that. My own patronus changed form twice.'
'When did it change?' Harry asked, hoping to glean some insight onto why his might have.
'If you wanted to know why you could have just asked,' the founder pointed out. 'It was originally a regular serpent, but when I met my wife it changed and became a runespoor. I was very proud of it.' His expression darkened with sorrow and more than a little regret. 'After my wife's death, and the beginning of my quest to try and undo the sacrifice I made it changed again, shifting to the form of a moth and so it remained until the time I was last able to cast it.'
'You stopped being able to cast it?' Harry inquired.
'You said you were almost unable to cast it, when was that?' Salazar asked.
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