Harry woke before Ron and Hermione. He gathered his things and checked in with Madame Pomfrey before heading up to the dorms and showering. Neville pelted him with questions as they made their way down to breakfast. He answered what he could but kept most of the reasons to himself. He didn't want anyone to think less of Ron for his outburst or Hermione for letting the words get to her.
He was just finishing breakfast when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see Hermione standing there.
"Thank you for the help last night," she said, a worried and slightly embarrassed look on her face. "I don't want to think about what could have happened if you hadn't shown up."
Harry smiled at her and gestured for her to sit with him at the table.
"No problem, besides, I only did what anyone else would do."
"I'm not sure that's true but I appreciate it even so."
She made her plate and Harry did his best to include her in his conversation with Neville. Eventually, Ron came in and sat down across from them, next to Neville. Harry didn't know why but he felt comfortable. Hermione sitting next to him going back and forth with Ron on the importance of Quidditch while Neville threw in a comment or two. He decided to just go with the flow and enjoy it.
Harry couldn't remember having a better time in his life. In the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday he'd made some really excellent friends in Ron, Hermione, and Neville. The other first years were also pretty great for the most part and he knew he'd enjoy the rest of his years at school with them.
The older years had also started to trickle into their friend group, showing them the castle and its secrets. The Weasley twins were definitely the most outgoing of the older students and were a big part of making school fun. They'd even convinced Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, to watch Harry play in the weekly pick up game held for the underclassmen.
Afterwards, Harry heard Wood had gone directly to Professor McGonnagall to see if he could play for their team. She'd reluctantly told him no due to Harry not belonging to the house yet. Harry was still invited to meet the other players of the team and was assured he'd have a spot if he was sorted into Gryffindor. Ron had also impressed the team and was looking forward to trying out the next year.
Hermione still studied hard and made sure the boys were doing their best, however she had calmed down quite a bit and Harry found her to be as quick witted as any he'd ever met. He appreciated her ability to help them when they struggled with school work. She'd even been able to make him not hate math as much. He was surprised, though, when she asked for his help in defense.
"I have all the theory down but I just can't seem to get the spells right," she said after a defense class. "I feel like I'm hitting a wall with my magic and I can't break through."
"I can see why that might be frustrating," he replied, "but why do you want my help? I'm still just learning this stuff as well."
"Well, it seems like you are always the first in the class to cast the spells we learn even though you still struggle with the theory. I know how much work you put into everything but your practical skills seem to come a little more naturally to you than everyone else."
Harry wasn't sure what to say to that. Sure, he'd picked up the spells fairly quickly but he wasn't that far ahead of the others was he?
"Hmmm… Let's meet up in the practice room after dinner and I'll see what we can do."
She beamed at him before giving him a quick hug and a thank you, promising she'd do her best.
When Neville and Ron heard about his little tutoring session they asked if they could tag along. They knew Harry was the best in their year when it came to the practical side of magic and wanted to see what he'd be able to teach.
Harry got to the practice room about 30 minutes before he told the others to be there. He set up a few magical dummies and reread the part of their textbook Hermione had struggled with. When he noticed his friends arriving he stood with a smile.
"Okay, I'm not really sure what I'm doing here when it comes to teaching so let's just see what you guys can do. I'll demonstrate the spell and then you guys will follow. Does that make sense?"
He received three nods in response.
He then took his place in front of the middle dummy and readied his wand.
"Flipendo!"
The spell rushed from his wand and knocked the dummy back into the wall with a decent amount of force. When he looked back to the others, Hermione was furiously scribbling in a small notebook while Ron and Neville just looked slightly impressed.
"Alright, Ron, your turn."
Ron shrugged and stepped in front of another dummy before drawing his wand. When he cast the spell, the dummy was pushed back about halfway to the wall before falling over.
"You've got the incantation right but try to tighten up your wand movement. Remember the first part is a quick cut down followed by an upward flourish. I think the dummy fell over because the wand movement was a little wonky, making the magic less accurate."
Ron tried again and was able to push the dummy up against the wall.
"Brilliant!" he said, giving Harry a thumbs up and joining the others.
Hermione stepped forward, a determined look on her face.
"Flipendo!"
Harry watched her wand movement and couldn't see anything wrong with it. He did notice that it looked underpowered but couldn't really tell why. He had her do it again and watched as the dummy was pushed back a few inches. After a couple more tries, he thought he had figured out what was going on.
"I think you're holding back on your magic."
"How can that be?," she replied. "I feel like I'm putting everything into it."
"You are trying but it's like you're trying to muscle the magic through your wand instead of just letting the magic flow." He paused for a second before walking to the other side of the room and dragging a dummy closer.
"I want you to do it again but this time, you aren't trying to knock back the dummy. I want you to move it one inch."
"One inch?" Hermione was confused. The spell was supposed to knock the target back and off their feet.
"I know it sounds weird but I want you to focus on letting your magic do the work. Let it trickle out and see what it does."
Hermione furrowed her brow. She'd always just done the spell. She'd never focused on the amount of power she was using.
Eventually she took aim and fired the spell. It hit the dummy with barely more than a puff of air, as if someone tried to hit it with a fly swatter but missed. Frustrated, she turned back to Harry.
"Okay, so it didn't move an inch but did it feel different when you actually let the spell go?"
Hermione thought back and had to admit it was different than when she tried to cast at full strength. When she told this to Harry he had her try again but instead of only moving it an inch, try to move it a foot.
This time, Hermione let the magic go a little bit more and the dummy was pushed back almost a foot. She almost jumped in excitement at the results and readied to try it again. Before she could go, however, Harry stopped her.
"That was awesome, Hermione," he said. "This time I want to go a little further. I want you to forget about where the dummy ends up. I want you to cast the spell without limiting where you want it to go but also without trying to push it super far. Just relax and cast it."
Hermione nodded again, her confidence somewhat bolstered by the small improvement she'd already made. She took a deep breath and fired the spell, doing her best to let the magic go.
The dummy slid back several feet, almost hitting the wall. Harry smiled and turned back to Hermione to congratulate her when he was suddenly being squeezed in an incredibly tight hug.
"Thank you so much, Harry!" Hermione said, releasing him and taking a step back. "I'd never thought about the actual amount of magic I was using in each spell. I'm going to have to rethink the way I cast my other spells. It's no wonder my Lumos spell is so dim."
Harry chuckled, he wasn't used to receiving hugs and it threw him off balance a bit.
"It's no problem, I'm glad I could help." He turned to Neville, "You ready, Nev?"
"Sure, I've been struggling a bit with this as well but that goes without saying."
Neville had struggled the most with actually casting spells. He knew the theory pretty well and the spells he had casted were technically correct but they always seemed to be somewhat less than what the others were doing.
He took position in front of the last dummy and cast the spell. Much like Hermione's first attempt, the dummy moved but not very much. Harry had him do it again, watching the wand movement and listening to the incantation. Again, the spell didn't do much to the dummy.
"It doesn't look like you're trying to force it like Hermione was and your wand movement is almost perfect. What does it feel like when you cast a spell?"
"I guess it feels a little muffled," Neville replied, unsure what the issue was. "Maybe there is some sort of limit on me?"
"I don't think it's on you, Nev," Harry said, approaching his friend. "I think we'll need to talk to a professor for this one. Maybe Marcus during charms?"
Neville nodded, not looking up from his wand.
"In the meantime, why don't we practice a few more times then call it a night?"
The others nodded before joining Neville on the line. The four of them later climbed into their respective beds magically tired but happy with the progress of the night.