CHAPTER 7: Teenage Angst

Harry was frowning at his potions textbook with interest. The book was turned sideways as he read the notes in the margins. Apparently, this so-called 'Half-Blood Prince' was a magical prodigy. Harry had been reading him slowly developing spells for several pages now. Suddenly Neville and Seamus settled down across from him.

"You know, I always liked Flitwick," Neville said glumly.

"Yeah," Seamus drawled "liked." Harry snorted and finally closed his book.

"What was the topic supposed to be again?"

"Charms and transfiguration overlap," Neville said before he dug into his pocket and drew out a small notepad. He began furiously flipping through it before stopping. "Hermione gave me a list of good library books," he flipped to the next page "and we should read chapter 12."

"Ill go find them." Harry offered with an outstretched hand. Neville agreed handing the pad over. Harry wandered through the shelves, collecting the small stack of books. As he dipped into the last section he froze. Hermione was sitting on one of the desks. Standing in front of her was the Ravenclaw prefect. And they were definitely not studying. Well Anthony was kinda studying. Studying the location of Hermione's tonsils. With his mouth.

"Hermione?" Harry squeaked out in shock. Instantly the pair jumped and separated. Hermione looked at Harry, bright red, and completely mortified. Anthony was pale. He probably thought Harry was gonna blow him up, or sick Snuffles on him. But slowly Harry's shock morphed into a wide grin "When did this start?" Hermione continued blushing but slowly smiled.

"I… don't really know," Hermione admitted quietly. Then she looked over to Anthony. The pair gazed at each other in a way that would REALLY make Dudley gag. "It just sort of… happened."

"Well," Harry said with a nod, "congratulations."

"Thanks," Anthony said with a relieved smile. Harry jerked his head back towards the table.

"Come sit with us. We're working on Flitwick's essay."

"Sure," Anthony said

"Oh!" Hermione cried simultaneously. Then both of he and Hermione reached for the same book on the shelf. They descended into a fit of giggles. Harry winced despite himself. Maybe he shouldn't have invited them. Seemed like they couldn't see past their own eyes. The trio moved back over to the table.

"Oh! Hermione!" Neville cried with a relieved drop of his shoulders "There you are. We were looking for you in the common room."

"Have we met?" Seamus motioned to Anthony with a squint.

"Anthony Goldstein." the blond reminded him.

"Oh right!" Seamus cried "You're a whippet at stunners!"

"Thanks," Anthony said with a grin.

"He's my boyfriend." Hermione suddenly blurted out. Both Gryffindors blinked at Hermione slightly gapping. Then Seamus shrugged.

"Fair enough," he said, before gesturing to the chairs across from them. "Take a seat."

"Right," Anthony said. As he sat he rubbed his hands together excitedly. "So! Charms and transfiguration overlap."

"I used to like Flitwick," Neville repeated as he grabbed the top book off of the stack Harry had brought.

"Didn't we all." Anthony agreed.

Harry settled into the Gryffindor table with a yawn. Then he looked over to Ron and had to double-take. His ginger friend was looking over towards the other tables with a very cross expression. Harry slowly followed his gaze and flinched. Anthony had also noticed the staring, judging by how pointedly he was staring at his own plate.

"What do you think his deal is?" Ron suddenly muttered.

"Who?" Harry offered weakly, despite knowing what Ron was definitely talking about.

"Haven't you heard?" Ron demanded, finally looking away from Anthony for the first time. "Hermione is dating Anthony Goldstein. Remember? The Ravenclaw prefect?"

"Oh." Harry said flatly "Good for her."

"Good for-" Ron began incrediously. Then he scwoled and went back to glaring at the boy. "He's up to something."

"What?" Harry said in exasperation.

"I'm telling you mate!" Ron insisted. "Why is he so interested in hermione all of a sudden? It's suspicious!"

"No, it's not." Harry insisted tiredly. Then suddenly Hermione sat across from them.

"Good morning!" she cried cheerfully.

"Morning," Harry mumbled, already tired, waiting for Ron to open his dumb mouth.

"Since when do you date?" Ron demanded crossly. Hermione blinked. Then she scowled.

"Well to be perfectly honest that's none of your business." Hermione drawled, pointedly avoiding looking at Ron as she angrily stabbed at the serving tray in front of her.

"Oh come on!" Ron snapped "Anthony Goldstien? Really? He's a specky git!"

"Thats 'specky git' is my boyfriend." Hermione snarled angrily. Harry groaned as the two began an angry snarling debate.

"Im gonna go to transfiguration early," Harry muttered, standing up.

"YOU DO THAT!" both of his friends screamed at him. Harry sighed in exhaustion and made his way towards the classroom. He settled on one of the benches in the courtyard and began reading ahead in his textbook.

"Harry." a familiar voice suddenly said. Harry looked up and felt his chest constrict.

"Cho." he mumbled. Snuffles, who had been dozed under the bench suddenly perked up. He stared at the girl. Then he licked his lips sloppily, a sign of annoyance. Cho took a few stepped to try and sit next to him when Snuffles suddenly stood, blocking the seat with his massive bulk. She settled for standing above him awkwardly.

"How have you been?" she asked quietly. Harry shrugged. "Look Harry I… I've been meaning to talk to you."

"About what?" Harry asked. Cho winced and began twisting her hands into her sweater.

"I just," she began before taking a deep breath "I wanted to say I'm sorry. For how things ended between us."

"Oh." Harry said, swallowing down the lump in his throat "Right."

"I really thought we had a chance." Cho continued. "It seemed like such a shame."

"Yeah," Harry mumbled. Snuffled gave an incredulous whine. Cho smiled.

"I really think we should give it another chance." Cho reasoned. "After all. It was just a big misunderstanding." Harry blinked.

"Misunderstanding?" Harry began. Then he stood up with a frown "Misunderstanding?! You called me a selfish asshole."

"It was just heat fo the moment." Cho tried with a wince "I was just upset."

"Yeah? Well, I don't want to get insulted everytime you get upset." Harry argued coldly. Suddenly Snuffles started tugging him away. Harry looked behind him and saw McGonagall opening her door. He looked back at Cho. Then he realized something. The little spark of lingering affection hed been carrying for her all these months had just fizzled out. Now when he looked at her all he felt was pity. Not for her, but for whichever sorry sod got roped into dating her next. "See you around Cho. Have a good life." Harry said flatly before marching towards the transfiguration classroom.

"Potter?" McGonagall said with an incredulous blink "You're here early." all Harry did was settle into his usual seat with an exhausted huff. Today was turning out to be a really shite day.

Dudley let the leter from Harry settle into his lap with a sigh. As expected Harry didn't exactly talk about himself in his letter, even though Dudley had asked how he was holding up in his last response. Not for the first time he bitterly cursed Dumbledore under his breath.

"Magic my ass," he muttered darkly. He started penning a response, but his fury was making his hands shaky and eventually he huffed, tossing his pen away with disgust. As he buried his face into to folded arms he sighed. He just felt so useless. He wanted to be there to help Harry. More than just being able to predict when bad things would happen. What kind of a shite gift was that anyway. Without REAL magic he would never be much help at all. If only he could wake his magic up somehow. There must be a way. He sighed and wished Sirius was there. He knew way more about magic than he did. Then suddenly he sat up straight. He could hit himself! Why should he be moping about Sirius not being here when he had Remus! The man literally taught Harry magic for a whole year! In an instant, Dudley was jogging down the halls, and then banging on Remus's door. The ragged man opened the door somewhat apprehensively. When he saw Dudley though he threw the door open fully.

"Dudley! Is it your nausea again?! Is something bad about to happen?" he demanded worriedly.

"Teach me magic." Dudley blurted out. Remus blinked.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"Teach me how to do magic," Dudley said again, much more strongly this time. Remus's face fell.

"Dudley… I'm sorry. But I'm afraid no amount of training will turn you into a wizard."

"I'm already a wizard." Dudley insisted crossly. At Remus' sympathetic frown he scowl. "Oh so your telling me being able to see the future isn't magic."

"You yourself have said you don't actually see the future," Remus argued.

"Still magic." Dudley insisted. The he sighed, mashing his palms into his eyes. "I have to do something. I can't just sit here, waiting for everyone else to fix things. Please professor. Even if you're right, I'd rather being doing something. Anything!" Dudley begged. Remus stared at him with pity for several seconds before he sighed heavily.

"Come in," he said tiredly. Dudley smiled and rushed to follow the werewolf. "Here," Remus said as he handed Dudley a wand. Dudley looked down at it curiously. It looked just like a normal stick to him. He held it in his hands, trying to feel something. And he sort of did. It seemed kinda unnaturally warm. Or maybe that was just his hands sweating.

"Where'd you get this?" Dudley asked curiously.

"The seedier side of wizarding London," Remus admitted quietly. "One never knows when a spare wand can come in handy. Always best to be prepared."

"Fair enough," Dudley said before he strengthened his firm grip on the wand. Remus tsked slightly.

"First things first, we work on your stance," Remus said before he put his hands on Dudley's shoulders. "Try to relax. If even a powerful wizard was too stiff or tense the spells wouldn't work regardless."

"Right," Dudley said before shaking out his limbs.

"And while keeping a firm grip on your wand is smart, try not to grip it too tightly. Hand cramps don't arise just from essay writing." Remus commented. Dudley snickered but complied, loosening his grip. Then Remus took a step back and hummed in thought. "Now what to teach you…"

"Something simple maybe?" Dudley offered. "Like… I dont know, that spell to conjure those ghost animals?"

"A Patronus is not simple!" Remus countered incredulously. "Its a devillishly complex spell that usually requires months of effort."

"Usually?" Dudley questioned. Remus straightened his jumper.

"Harry managed it in a few weeks." the man admitted. Dudley whistled. Then he shook his head.

"Alright. Not that then."

"I know!" Remus suddenly cried "lumos!"

"Lumos?" Dudley asked. Then he sucked in a breath. He felt that. The wand in his hand had definitely given a little jolt. He held it away from his face in shock. Remus had also stood up starighter and took a step closer.

"Well… that definitely answers the magic question." he muttered in awe. Dudley gave him a dirty look. The werewolf sheepishly cleared his throat. "The effect is a small ball of light at the end of your wand. The brightness depends on how much magic you put behind it."

"A light?" Dudley said in disappointment. "How is that supposed to stop a death eater?"

"You'd be surprised." was all the man said with a pointed look before instructing Dudley to say it again. For a solid hour, Dudley continued to encant the light spell. But time and time again, he'd feel the little jolt, a much more familiar sensation by the end, but the light never matirialized. They'd even turned the lights out, to see if maybe he was doing it, but it was just too dim to see under the fluorescents. But no. Dudley's limited magic was reacting with the wand, but it just wouldn't go that extra mile and light it up.

"Too bad, we can't go to that Ollivander bloke." Dudley lamented "I bet he could find me a wand that would work."

"You know the wand can work," Remus said flatly before he sat down and gave the teen a weary look. "You must accept that you're not like Harry, Dudley."

"I know that!" Dudley snarled "I don't want to be like Harry! I just…" he trailed off and sat across from the man in defeat. "I just want to help."

"You can help." Remus insisted.

"How?" Dudley demanded. "By warning him whenever bad things are gonna happen? Oh yeah, that's real helpful! 'Harry, I have to warn you! Something bad is gonna happen! No, I don't know when exactly. No, I don't know what it's gonna be. But I'm sure you can handle it! Just like you handle everything else!'" Dudley finished with a roar. "I'd be no better than everyone else demanding he save the bloody world! I'm about as useful as a ten-day weather forecast!"

"You're more than just a weather forecast." Remus insisted

"How can you say that when I can't even cast a fucking LUMOS!" Dudley screamed. Then suddenly a spurt of white sparks leapt from the wand still clutched in Dudley's hand. The pair stared at it silently before meeting eyes.

"Well." Remus began before smiling "Lessons start every Sunday at noon? For about an hour?" all Dudley could do was nod in stunned disbelief. Remus stood with him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But Dudley. If we don't manage to get anything more than a few sparks I don't want you to be discouraged. You are one of Harry's greatest assets, even without magic. You love and support him in a world that struggles to even see him for who he truly is. And that's far more important than making a few lights come out of a stick." Dudley held the man's amber gaze and nodded. But still, he held the wand like a lifeline. Harry had been saving the world on his own for too long.

It was time he helped.

A/N: See chapter 8 for notes ;)

-TTC