Chapter Six – Lessons with Snape
Without Professor Snape's favorite in class, Neville found Potions much more enjoyable than normal the next afternoon. After the now expected warning about this being the most important year at Hogwarts, being a N.E.W.T. year, Neville was actually able to concentrate.
Towards the end of class, Neville had some spare time because he had been one of the first to finish his restorative potion. Normally, he would be thrilled about this, but his potion was more of a pink, while Hermione's was salmon. Trying not to be obvious, he looked at Professor Snape. More than ever, Neville thought about what a perplexing man he was.
Professor Snape knew that Neville had been hit with a powerful memory charm after he witnessed his parent's torture, leading to most of Neville's memory problems. The man knew because he was there. Yet, he continued to berate Neville, acting like Neville was an idiot, instead of a victim of a backfired charm.
Neville locked eyes briefly with Professor Snape, and instead of the expected "Get back to work!" Professor Snape merely went back to grading scrolls.
He waited until every student had left the classroom before approaching Professor Snape's desk.
"Sir-" Neville said hesitantly.
"What, Longbottom?" Professor Snape snapped.
"I was wondering, sir…" Neville stuttered, and then took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you had a chance to work on a cure, a potion for Luna, over the summer?"
In a moment of desperation last year, Neville asked Professor Snape for help, and somehow, he agreed. For the last few weeks of term, Neville met with Professor Snape once a week to see if they could find a cure.
Professor Snape leaned back in his chair and sighed. "No, Longbottom. I was given another task over the summer. I didn't have time to do any research," Professor Snape said.
Neville's shoulders slumped. "None at all?" he asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
The professor shook his head. "But if Miss Lovegood's still willing to give blood, we can continue where we left off next week."
Neville's face brightened. "Thank you, sir!" Neville said eagerly.
Professor Snape nodded briskly and stood up. Without another word, he slipped into his office and closed the door behind him.
With the rest of the afternoon off, Neville decided to go to the Greenhouse to look after his plants. He threw his school robe over a stool casually, and rolled up his sleeves to get to work. Quite a few plants needed repotting.
Close to a half an hour later, there was a knock on the door and Neville looked up quickly. Luna was standing there, already changed out of her school robes. With his free hand, Neville grabbed his wand and opened the door.
Luna strolled in, and threw down her book bag on the floor. Neville looked at her happily. "Are you free this period, too?" Neville beamed.
She nodded peacefully, and sat down on the floor. "We spoke about it this morning, and agreed to meet in the Great Hall after class," she said easily.
Neville's jaw dropped. "Luna, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot," he said honestly.
"I figured as much," Luna smiled. Neville was glad that she didn't sound upset at all. Neville went back to work, and Luna took out the new edition of the Quibbler.
After a few minutes of silence, Luna shook her head. "Fudge is going to be in trouble one of these days."
"Now what happened?" Neville asked. He still never quite believed anything in the Quibbler. Yet somehow he found himself being envious of Luna's firm beliefs. He wished he believed in something that strongly.
"Daddy thinks he's being bribed, and allowing the Death Eaters access to Ministry plans," Luna said, folding the Quibbler up and placing it back in her book bag.
"Why would he do that?" Neville asked. Neville was actually quite surprised that Fudge was still in power, especially when it was proven that Death Eaters had made it all the way into the Ministry itself.
Luna shrugged. "The better question is, why wouldn't he? Fudge has absolutely nothing to lose. His name's already in tatters. He's not able to torture goblins anymore and I heard he lost his favorite bowler hat."
Neville had learned a while ago to stay silent and simply nod once in a while when Luna starting quoting the Quibbler. She went back to the paper.
"Someone finally was able to release his grasp on the weather. Did you notice that summer was a normal temperature? Don't think that's a coincidence for a moment," Luna said, looking quite pleased with herself.
"Well-" Neville started.
"I don't want to talk about Fudge anymore," she said, standing up quickly. "I want to try something."
"Okay," Neville asked, taking his wand and cleaning the earth off of his hands.
"Daddy heard about this and wrote me an owl. I just want to see if it works," she said excitedly.
Luna stood up, her feet shoulder width apart. "When I say three, cast Wingardium Leviosa on my right shoe," she said serenely.
"Why?" Neville said interestedly.
She spread her arms out wide and threw her head back. "Because I want to fly!"
"What if you fall?" Neville asked worriedly.
"I just want to levitate a bit off of the ground. I read some horror stories of wizards that tried to levitate too high," Luna said, shuddering at the thought.
"If you're sure…" Neville trailed off.
Luna nodded eagerly. Neville pointed his wand at her shoe. "One…Two…Three!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" they chimed in unison.
Very slowly, Luna's sandals, with her in them, started floating off of the floor. Just a few inches at first, but then they both concentrated a bit more. Finally, Luna was a good foot off of the ground.
"I'm flying!" Luna shouted happily. But then she made the mistake of throwing her arms out, like a bird. Her left foot promptly fell to the ground. Neville caught her just in time, so she didn't fall to the floor.
"I was a bird for just a moment," Luna whispered, wrapping her arms around Neville's neck.
Without thinking, Neville brought his head down and kissed Luna hard on the lips. This was what he loved so much about Luna. That she wasn't scared about life. That all she wanted to do was give life a big hug and experience every single thing she could. Neville wished he could live like that.
Luna stood on her tiptoes, deepening the kiss. Neville felt her run one hand through his hair as he put his arms around her waist. For a few moments, time seemed to stop.
But then there was a sharp knocking on the window. Neville and Luna jumped apart. Professor Sprout was outside the Greenhouse, and she shook her head. Then she walked away and went into Greenhouse Four. Neville felt his cheeks go red instantly.
Luna slid to the floor and behind a workstation, where they usually went to kiss. Where they were hidden and not exposed by all the glass windows of the Greenhouse.
Neville was glad to see that she was giggling. He tried to laugh it off, but knew he was going to be embarrassed when he saw Professor Sprout in Herbology tomorrow.
"I love you, Luna" Neville said quietly.
Luna looked up and smiled. "I love you, too, Neville Longbottom," she said, bringing her knees to her chest.
They weren't a couple that said 'I love you,' everyday. Not like Ron and Hermione, who always called each other 'love,' and had no problem saying 'I love you,' to each other before going to bed, even in front of other students. For some reason, Neville only said 'I love you,' when it the feeling overpowered him, like now. At first, Neville was worried, and thought Luna would want to hear that everyday. But then he realized that she didn't tell him that she loved him everyday either. They only said those special words when the time felt right.
And when Luna's grey, almost silver eyes met his, and they both leaned in for another kiss, the time definitely felt right.
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"Thank god it's Friday," Ron muttered over his bowl of cereal. Neville nodded his head sleepily in agreement. They had a practical astronomy lesson last night that lasted almost till two o'clock in the morning. Every seventh year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff looked exhausted.
"At least it's an easy day," Harry said, resting his chin on his hand. "Defense against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures."
"You forgot double Transfigurations in the afternoon, mate," Ron said, rubbing his eyes.
"Damn," Harry groaned.
Hermione joined the table then, looking bright and cheerful. She gave Ron a kiss on the cheek and started loading her plate with eggs. "Good morning," she said brightly. "Wasn't astronomy fun last night?"
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes. Neville tried to answer, but ended up yawning, leaving the words jumbled.
Ginny looked over at the Ravenclaw table. "Luna's eating breakfast with Draco again," she said, trying to sound casual.
"She's eaten with him every morning, if you hadn't noticed," Neville said grumpily. He really didn't want to talk about this now. It was bad enough that she was making Neville eat lunch at the Ravenclaw table. Well, according to Luna she wasn't forcing him to eat lunch with them, just encouraging him.
"Sorry," Ginny said, looking down at her plate. Neville looked up in surprise. Ginny actually did sound sorry.
The bell rang then, and everyone jumped up and headed in their separate directions. Neville waved to Luna across the hall and she threw him an exaggerated kiss. The morning classes went by quickly enough, followed by lunch at the Ravenclaw table. Draco still didn't say much, but did listen to everything that was said.
Transfiguration was quite fun actually. This entire year would be devoted to human transfiguration. Today, with a partner, they tried to turn each other's fingers into silverware. Neville was able to make Dean's ring finger a knife and his middle finger a spoon. He had trouble with the tongs of the fork, and ended up with a second spoon for Dean's index finger. Everyone had problems with the tongs, except for Hermione, who also earned ten points for a lovely design on the silver.
Just as the bell ran, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and said, "Potter. Longbottom, please stay after class."
Neville and Harry shared a look, not quite sure why they were being singled out. As the rest of the students left the classroom, Ron and Hermione also came to the front of the room.
"I asked to speak to Potter and Longbottom only," Professor McGonagall said sternly. Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise. The teachers normally always let everyone stay because they knew they would tell them everything anyways.
"I'll see you at dinner," Ron said under his breath. Ron and Hermione left quietly, closing the door behind them.
"Follow me, please. We're going to see the Headmaster," Professor McGonagall said sternly.
Five minutes later, they entered Professor Dumbledore's office. Both Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape were there. Neville stomach dropped, already knowing what this would be about.
Professor Dumbledore motioned for the boys to sit. "I would like a report on your summer," he said casually. Neville looked at the Headmaster, quite confused. Dumbledore sounded like he simply wanted to know about their summer vacations.
"More precisely, whether you both had any shared visions like last year," he said pointedly.
"No visions," Harry and Neville said in unison. Then Neville added, "But-" then stopped when four heads turned towards him quickly.
"But, what, Mister Longbottom?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"I had these strange headaches over the summer," Neville said simply. Even as the words came out of his mouth, he realized how stupid it sounded.
"What kind of headaches?" Professor Snape asked.
"Really quick," Neville stammered. "Like a flash, and then they're gone."
Professor Dumbledore brought his fingertips together. "Harry, did you experience any headaches this summer?"
Harry shook his head. "My scar hurt once in a while, but it didn't feel like that," Harry told the group. "The pain lingered."
"I want you both to continue practicing Occlumency under Professor Snape's watch. I'm also requesting that you both spend one hour a week working on Legilimency with him as well. You will practice Legilimency separately," Professor Dumbledore said seriously.
Neville had to keep himself from groaning. As if he already didn't have enough to work on already this term!
Harry crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Professor Snape with pure loathing. Neville half expected Harry to refuse, say he didn't want to work with Snape anymore, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Very good," Professor Dumbledore said. "You'll both work Monday after your last class. Then you can figure out your individual times with Professor Snape. You are both free to go."
Neville nodded and together, he and Harry left the room. "I don't believe this," Harry said the moment the door behind them closed.
"I guess we should have figured he'd want to work with us again," Neville said.
"I already had an hour of Occlumency with him," Harry said angrily. "That's three hours a week of private lessons with Snape. I'm going to go mad by the end of term."
Neville was about to say that he'd have three hours too, with practicing and then researching Luna's potion. But he stopped himself just in time. Luna hadn't told anyone else that she had a life threatening disease. Just Neville. It wasn't his secret to tell.
"Come on, Harry," Neville said, trying to sound cheerful. "Let's forget about it for now. It's the weekend, after all."
"I guess," Harry said. "How many times did you get your headaches?"
Neville shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe four or five times? It wasn't like it was every day. How many times did your scar hurt?"
"I don't remember," Harry said honestly. "I went through a lot this summer."
"Like what?" Neville asked. He was honestly surprised when Harry answered the question.
"The minute I turned of age, I left the muggles," Harry said darkly. "I'm never going to see or talk to them again. As far as I'm concerned, they don't exist."
"Where'd you go?" Neville asked.
"Headquarters. Ron's mum wasn't too pleased to see me," Harry said. Neville was glad to hear a bit of laughter in his voice. "I took the Knight Bus, and she was furious. Thought it was too dangerous."
"You're of age, they can't stop you," Neville said smiling.
"Exactly," Harry said. "But try telling anyone from the Order that."
They reached the Great Hall by then, from which loud sounds of talking and laughing could be heard. Neville raked his eyes for Luna, and was quite pleased to see that she was waiting for him at the Gryffindor table.
Neville felt some of the tension from the past week leave his shoulders. He was definitely ready for the weekend.
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A/N – I have no idea why, but this chapter was really hard to write. Does it feel choppy? Or is anyone completely out of character? I hate putting up chapters that I'm not 100 percent happy with, but I just couldn't make it flow the way I wanted to. So I cut my losses, and went on to the next chapter (which is going much better, thank you.) Just let me know if it's awful, cause then I'll pull it and keep working on it. Thanks!