Flying, Dueling and Detention


"UP!"

Neville's broomstick didn't move. Hermione's twitched a little, but Harry's flew up into his hand immediately. He made it look so easy… Hermione was successful on her second try. As for Neville… not so much. What was the point of flying lessons, anyway? There were other ways to travel. Neville screwed up his face in concentration.

"Up!" he commanded. The broom jumped about a foot in the air, surprising Neville so much that his concentration broke and the broom fell back to the ground.

Now Neville was the only one without a broomstick in his or her hand. Why did this always happen to him?

"Almost," Hermione encouraged. "Try again."

Neville forced the thought of flying from his mind and gave it another shot.

"Up!"

The broomstick leapt from the ground and into Neville's hand. He was so shocked he almost dropped it. Madam Hooch looked immensely relieved and began to explain the actual flying part of it. Neville's pulse was pounding so loudly in his ears that he could barely hear her.

When it came time for the first-years to attempt lift-off, Harry was in the air immediately, swooping and diving.

"Show-off," Hermione muttered bitterly.

Finally, Harry landed gracefully and hopped off his broom. Madam Hooch actually applauded him.

"I assume that wasn't your first time flying," she said.

Harry smiled. "No."

"You want to be a Quidditch star like your dad?"

Harry's smile widened and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, you'll have to try out next year," Hooch said briskly.

Harry looked as if he had been slapped across the face.

"He thought he was going to get around the first-year rule," Hermione smirked, as a couple more students became air-born. Hermione set her jaw and kicked off from the ground. Neville watched her: She was wobbly and clearly uncomfortable in the air. It was somewhat a relief that she wasn't naturally good at everything. Hermione quickly returned to the ground, landing clumsily.

"I did not like that," she commented. "Not at all."

Thanks, Neville thought. That makes me feel better. Just then, Ron Weasley crashed into Draco Malfoy and both of them fell a ways to the ground. Neville distinctly heard Draco threatening Ron:

"You wait until my father hears about this…"

They were led up to the hospital wing, despite their protests that they were fine. Draco muttered something to Ron that sounded a lot like "filthy blood-traitor."

By the end of the chaotic class period, no one seemed to have noticed Neville hadn't left the ground, and he wasn't about to point this out to anyone.

The first-years set out from the Quidditch pitch back up to the castle. Harry was walking in front of Neville and Hermione, and complaining to anyone who'd listen.

"I'm telling you, they'll regret this first-year rule. I should really be an exception, anyway. You know, I'll have my dad talk to Dumbledore about it. I mean, the team needs me. I have a Firebolt!"

Hermione was muttering to herself. Neville caught only a couple of words, among them; "spoiled… arrogant… Potter… disgusting…"

Suddenly, her grumpy muttering was interrupted. Hermione shrieked and stumbled backward, stepping on Neville's toes. He looked around her. She had been walking near to a clump of tall grass and bushes. Then Neville spotted what the commotion was about. There was a small snake on the ground, looking up at Hermione and flicking its tongue curiously.

"Go on," Neville said to the snake, kicking at it with his feet. It looked up at Neville. "Go away. Shoo!"

The snake turned around and slithered back into the brush, out of sight. Neville noticed that Hermione was staring at him, wide-eyed. The rest of the class had similar expressions of shock, and… fear. Neville felt his face heat up. It was one thing to embarrass himself and he did that all the time. But now he didn't even know what he had done to deserve the unwanted attention. Surely that was a new low, even for Neville.

"You're a Parselmouth?" Harry said suddenly, glaring at Neville.

Neville was too confused to answer. A Parselmouth? He wasn't a Parselmouth! His hesitation gave Harry the chance to continue.

"Really, it's beyond me how you're in Gryffindor. Not only are you a cowardly git, but you're a bloody Parselmouth!"

Hermione's wand was out before Neville knew what was going on.

"Flipendo!" she cried, knocking Harry backward with surprising force. He scrambled to his feet, his own wand out. There was a small pause, before Harry fired his own Knockback Jinx, which missed Hermione. They threw jinxes and hexes back and forth, skillfully dodging and blocking them.

Dean Thomas, an innocent bystander, was hit by a rogue Jelly-Legs Jinx. He yelped and fell to the ground. Neville and the rest of the first-years moved further away from Harry and Hermione. Seamus Finnegan dragged Dean along with him. Suddenly, Hermione was in the air, upside-down. She shrieked and still continued hurling jinxes in Harry's general direction, all of which he dodged easily.

Finally, Professor Sprout ran, or rather waddled, rather, out from the greenhouses and disarmed them both. Hermione fell to the ground with a moan.


Hermione Granger arrived in Professor Lupin's office five minutes before the detention was scheduled to begin. She and Harry would be helping Lupin do something (the only professor who needed any assistance this early in the year), most likely busy-work, and probably write some lines of, "I will not duel," though Harry should write, "I will not be an insufferable, arrogant, bullying jerk," a few thousand times. Hermione thought that might rub the message into his thick skull. To her surprise, Harry was already in the office when she arrived. She thought she was the only person who would ever show up early to detention…

"You two certainly are punctual," Lupin commented, checking his watch. "Well, let's get started."

Hermione glared at Harry when he looked at her. He returned the favor. They positioned themselves on opposite ends of the classroom and began to go through boxes of homework assignments, sorting them by year and house. Hermione sighed tiredly. She had thought Lupin was more organized than to just dump the papers from all his classes into boxes.

"Mind if I ask what you two dueled over?" Lupin said casually.

"Potter was picking on Neville," Hermione spat, wanting to make sure Lupin got her side of the story and not whatever twisted version of events Harry would likely relate.

Lupin sighed heavily and turned to him.

"Did you know Longbottom's a Parselmouth?" Harry said quickly.

Confusion crossed Lupin's eyes. "That's no reason to pick on him.

Harry shrugged dismissively and picked up a piece of parchment. "Eh, Moony. No name. What should I do with it?"

Lupin gave Harry a reproachful glance.

"We're not in class right now!" Harry protested.

"You're in detention," Lupin said loudly.

Harry nodded and winked. "Right. Sorry, Professor."

Lupin ignored him and returned to his desk. The office was in silence. Hermione looked back and forth between Lupin and Harry. They clearly knew each other outside of school, but how? After a while, Harry spoke again, confirming Hermione's suspicions.

"Are you gonna come over for Christmas?"

"Yes," Lupin said stiffly, not meeting Harry's eyes, obviously trying to discourage a conversation. Harry didn't take the hint.

"Have you seen my dad or Sirius recently?" he asked.

"Not since school started."

"Me either. They write, though. And my mum."

Lupin nodded and picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet. He was still trying to cut off the chit-chat. Harry wouldn't have it.

"So, do you—"

"Harry. This is a detention, not social hour."

Harry frowned. "I was just going to ask if you—"

"Does it pertain to the task at hand?" Lupin said, gesturing to the boxes of papers.

"Well, no, but—"

The look on Lupin's face alone made Harry close his mouth. Hermione found herself to be quite fond of Lupin suddenly and returned to sorting the assignments.

"So, Hermione," Lupin said after a moment. "You're enjoying school?"

"Er, yes, I—" she began.

"Oh, she gets to talk, and not me?" Harry blurted. "Not fair!"

Lupin reached across his desk and grabbed Harry's arm, yanking him over. Lupin's grip looked painful. He hissed something in Harry's ear. Hermione looked away and pretended to be completely absorbed in her work, though she really wanted to hear what Lupin was saying. When he let go of Harry, Harry returned to the box of homework, sulking and quiet. The awkwardness in the room was tangible. Hermione shuffled her papers just to break the silence. Lupin coughed, probably for the same reason. About ten minutes later (likely the longest Harry had ever gone without running his mouth), Lupin addressed Hermione.

"You can go now, Hermione."

She nodded and left without reminding him the detention was only half over. She went back to Gryffindor tower, where Neville was doing homework in the common room. She sat down next to him.

"I thought your detention went until eight," he said.

"Lupin let me leave early," Hermione explained. "But he made Potter stay. Have I ever mentioned that Lupin is my favorite professor?"

Neville smiled faintly. "You should've have jinxed him. Potter, I mean."

"Well, I did. And I don't regret it," she said truthfully.

"Am I really a Parselmouth?" he asked quietly.

Hermione nodded solemnly.

Neville looked down at his hands. "Everyone's been staring at me."

"Aren't you used to that by now?" she teased.

"Well, before they stared because I'm famous. But now it's like… they're scared."

"Well, what's wrong with being a Parselmouth?" Hermione meant it as a rhetorical question, but Neville answered her.

"It's considered Dark Magic," he mumbled.

"But you can't help it!" she pointed out.

"You think they care?" Neville said, meeting her eyes. This in itself was rather bold for him. "I can't help it that I defeated… You-Know-Who, but everyone goes crazy about that. It's who I am. I'm just the kid who killed him."

"You're more than that, Neville," Hermione said softly. She was sure that was the most words Neville had strung together in the entire time she had known him.

"Not really," he retorted. "It's the most interesting thing about me."

Hermione didn't know what to say… Admittedly, that was an accurate statement and she didn't want to lie to him. Neville seemed to notice her hesitation. He hurriedly gathered up his things and ran up into the boys' dormitory. Hermione could follow him—girls could go into the boys' dormitory, though not vice-versa—but she was sure he wanted to be alone.

She noticed for the first time that everyone in the common room was staring at her. She quickly looked down at the floor and realized for a moment what it was like to be Neville Longbottom.


Lupin felt fatigued and his mind was a little hazy. That, of course, signaled the upcoming full moon; the first since he had started working at Hogwarts. Luckily, he had the Wolfsbane Potion now, which made the entire ordeal much more bearable. Still, he wasn't looking forward to tonight.

Lupin had his classes work quietly and individually today, because he had very little energy to spare. His first-year class was almost over. They were all slightly restless, accustomed to having more exciting Defense lessons.

Harry hadn't said much more than, "Good morning, Professor Lupin," to him ever since his detention. Lupin had to admit it was a nice break from Harry's usual incessant chatter. Harry was remarkably like James. When class ended, his students filed out of the room, except for one who lingered behind.

"Professor?" said Harry timidly.

"Yes?" Lupin said carefully.

Harry glanced over his shoulder. "Tonight's a full moon, isn't it?"

Lupin nodded slowly, going to close the door.

"And you have your potion, right?" Harry continued once the door had been shut.

"Yes," Lupin answered.

"Well, do you want me to stay with you when you transform?" Harry said quickly. "I don't want you to be lonely."

Lupin smiled sadly. This was why he loved Harry. He had forgotten how very exactly Harry was like his father. "I appreciate the offer," he said, "but I'll be alright. Besides, you have class tomorrow. I usually just sleep, anyway."

Harry looked surprised and disappointed. Lupin knew what he was thinking of.

"No, I wasn't planning on running wild around the Forbidden Forest like the good old days."

Harry smiled shyly. "Okay, well, have a nice night."

Lupin laughed. "I'll try. See you, Harry."

"Bye, Moony," Harry called, then clapped a hand over his mouth and widened his eyes. Lupin didn't correct him this time, and Harry scurried out of the room before he had the chance to.


A/N: See, Harry's not so bad after all :) Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Pleeeeease review! What are your thoughts on... Neville? Hermione? Lupin? And Harry, of course, since he's the most changed? Who's your favorite?