Neville stood nervously outside of Professor Snape's office. Taking a deep breath, Neville knocked on the door.
"Enter," Snape's voice rang out into the empty corridor.
Before he could become anxious, Neville opened the door and entered the office. Closing the door behind him, Neville observed his surroundings. The office was dimly lit, with walls made out of stone. Along the walls there were multiple bookshelves containing a variety of potion ingredients and books. In the middle of the room was a plain wooden desk with a chair behind it and a chair in front of it. On top of the desk sat two piles of homework and a third, smaller stack of files. Suddenly, Neville noticed a small amount of movement to his left. Turning immediately, he faced Professor Snape.
"You wanted to speak to me sir," Neville said politely.
"Yes," Snape said with a sneer, "Take a seat."
With a nod, Neville went and sat in the chair facing the desk. He watched as Professor Snape began to shift through the stack of files, until he pulled out one towards the bottom of the pile and sat down.
"Mr. Longbottom," he said, opening up the file in his hand, "I am sure you know why you are here. It seems that while you are doing exceptionally well on your written theory work, but your practical work needs some immense improvement. Especially in Potions," the last part was said with a sneer on his face. "Care to explain why this is?"
Neville was pretty sure that the question was supposed to be rhetorical and that Snape did not want to hear what he had to say. Neville decided to take a risk.
Taking a shaky breath, Neville began to speak, "Well, sir, I tend to find the theory part easy to understand, but I have a hard time putting that theory into action. I have also been studying this kind of material since I was little, so I have a tendency to pick up the material faster than others. However, I have never had the opportunity to do actual magic till I came to Hogwarts." Neville was quite proud of himself for not stuttering through his little speech, and small smile crept onto his face.
"Well, Mister Longbottom, many children here have been studying magic since they were little, and none of them have been having this much difficulty," Snape sneered.
Neville's smile fell from his face as quickly as it appeared. He resisted the urge to slouch down into his seat at this comment. Instead, he tightened his hands into fists and shoved them into his robe pockets.
" Due to your inability to understand even the basics of casting a spell", Snape continued, "I have decide to assign you a tutor. I believe that you are familiar with Miss Granger."
"Yes sir," Neville replied, already knowing where this conversation was leading.
"Good. You will be meeting Miss Granger in the library every day after classes and at 8 a.m. on weekends, starting tomorrow." Snape replied. "You are dismissed," he said with a wave of his hand.
Neville nodded and exited the office with a sense of dread in his stomach.
