#* 02 .

he knows why she asks . the bond he’s made with hermione granger is unique & wonderful , a little sister he never knew he wanted until she’d walked into his classroom eager to learn , to grow ! hermione had lived like quirinus had , in the muggle world , knowing nothing of magic — ❛ i used to think so — ❜ there is a gentle lilt to his voice , traces still of the young man from dublin who wanted to see the world ( not this melancholy thing he had become out of loneliness & foolishness ) . ❛ i think ... i think ... i might’ve been happier if they had been . ❜ 

caelus quirrell had been a well known curse breaker before he vanished from the wizarding world , marrying the muggle artist , elaine burnham , & having a sole heir , quirinus . while war ravaged the realm of magic , caelus had ensured that his son would grow up in the safety of a world without the terror wrought by a monster - man hellbent on gaining nothing but power . caelus would not have wanted this for his son . no , quirinus knew well that his father would ... 

call it acute & terminal illness , he’d whispered to albus on a night when his thoughts were still his own . tell my father ... tell him ... this isn’t what he’d want for me . tell him i’m sorry — & the wise wizard , with a twinkle in his eyes , had placed a gentle hand upon the young scholar’s shoulder ( chased away the shadows with something akin to a grandfather’s love ) & spoke : you will have the chance to tell him the truth yourself . a sigh , thoughts racing , he knows the next words will be disjointed , stumbled over , but they will be true & wise & lasting . 

❛ my father is a curse breaker , but my mother is a muggle . an artist — they ... when i was born , it was ... he ... it was war . no child should grow up in a place of war . so i didn’t . ❜ 

❛ a patronus ... miss bones , i do hope this ... that it’s only curiosity that makes you ask — ❜ he’s been sick since the summer , body slowly wasting away . his thoughts are not his own , & even his body , it is not his own . not anymore . with his sickness has come the inability to use his wand — for the wand knew just as well as the headmaster did that quirinus was not himself , he was no longer his own . ❛ the patronus charm is highly advanced magic ... but ... ❜ 

❛ to answer your question , yes . i ... it manifests as a fox — with enough willpower . however , a patronus can also be non - corporeal . that’s okay , too ... ❜ his voice falters , his hands shake . yes , in the forests of albania when he was driven to desperate measures , it was his fox patronus that chased away many dark things — but there was one that it could not . if only he could still cast it now . susan bones has come asking about the patronus , to the defense against the dark arts professor , & quirinus knows — it’s logical to go to the defense against the dark arts professor in times of need . to defend against the dark arts .