It was an ordinary day. Hermione Granger was in the library, studiously scrutinizing diverse tomes in preparation for the upcoming year-end exams. She knew that Harry and Ron were off in the common room, engaged in a game of wizarding chess- still basking in the glory of Gryffindor's quidditch victory and, as of yet, not nearly as concerned about the upcoming exams as she was. Madame Pince was pacing between rows of bookshelves, casting dark glares at any students who were not maintaining perfect silence as they studied. Indeed, it was a perfectly ordinary day.
Hermione had stacks of books that she couldn't possibly have time to read piled around her- and several open before her, spread out across the spruce wood desk. Even as she flipped through the pages of Numerology and Grammatica, rapidly taking notes, she was simultaneously scrutinizing a battered looking copy of Intermediate Transfiguration. She was so focussed on the task at hand that it was almost impossible to draw her attention. She scarcely noticed the nervous boy shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably across from her.
The boy raised a shaky hand to readjust his collar, then smoothed down his red and gold tie, before finally clearing his throat lightly. For a moment Hermione started, as though she was about to look up and see him, but her gaze never once lifted from the arithmancy equations she was studying.
"Uh, Hermione?" Said Neville, carefully, after another extended, awkward pause. Finally she raised her eyes and blinked a few times, her gaze briefly darting back and forth between Neville and her books as though she was considering ignoring him entirely. But an instant later she caught herself and snapped several of her books closed as she remembered her manners.
"Hi Neville." She said. The boy squirmed uncomfortably, probably noting the unintentional note of annoyance that had entered Hermione's voice at the unwelcome interruption.
"Hi," He responded, trailing off as though he had entirely forgotten why he was there. Hermione shifted in her seat and raised an eyebrow at the boy to encourage him to continue.
"I was, uh, I wanted to ask for your help." He flinched for no apparent reason, before quickly rushing on. "Dean- you know, Dean Thomas, he's in our house- oh, of course you know Dean- Well, he told me, he told me you would be able to help me. With Defense against the Dark Arts. Studying for the exam, I mean."
Hermione took a moment to decode his stuttered request, then sighed and moved a large stack of books out of the way to make room for Neville to sit. As Neville sat down and began pulling notes out of his bookbag, Hermione dug through her piles of books to locate The Essential Defence against the Dark Arts, which she placed in the center of the desk and opened to the first page.
"What specifically do you need to study?" She asked gently, watching Neville fumble with his quills and nearly send ink spraying across his robe.
"It's not-" Neville stopped talking, took a deep breath, and sat up straighter in his chair. "I understand all the theory well enough. I've already read the textbook through multiple times. But on the exam, well, we're going to have to actually cast the spells. And I can't do that."
"Neville," Hermione hesitated, for a moment unsure of what to say. "You can. I saw you cast Riddikulus on that boggart. If you can do that, you can cast any spell, I'm sure of it."
Noticing Madame Pince beginning to shoot nasty looks at them, Hermione swept her notes and belongings into her bag, indicating to Neville to do the same. A sudden single-minded determination had come over her. She was no longer worrying about preparing for her many exams, but was entirely focussed on a new project, of sorts- Neville Longbottom was going to be confident in casting every single spell that Professor Lupin had taught them by the time she was done.
"We can't practice casting spells here." She said, by way of explanation, as she led the boy out of the library. "But the courtyard will do fine."
She didn't cast a single longing look back at the stacks of books she had left sitting on her desk, nor did she worry about not putting them away. She was quite confident that Hermione Granger would be back, looking through those books, not more than a minute later. Madame Pince would have nothing to complain about, she assured herself, as she absentmindedly fingered the Time-Turner around her neck.
"I like your necklace." Said Neville, who was now walking beside her. Jolting away from her thoughts, Hermione quickly tucked the precious artifact back under the collar of her robe, muttering a quick "Thanks" in response to his innocent compliment.
"I know you can cast Riddikulus, Neville." Hermione said, when they were standing in the courtyard, their bookbags resting out of the way on the ground. "I don't think we can practice that one without a boggart. But why don't you give Carpe Retractum a try?"
It was a charm that Hermione herself had found very easy to master when they had learned it, and she was sure she would be able to teach Neville to do it. She quickly pulled a quill from her pocket and transfigured it into a small doll, which she placed on the ground.
"Watch me." She backed up a few steps, arranged her body into a proper spell casting stance, and pointed her vine wood wand at the figurine.
"Carpe Retractum!" She cried, waving her wand in the correct pattern. A shining silvery rope appeared instantly, pulling the doll through the air until she was able to catch it in her left hand. She then tossed it back, a few metres away, and told Neville to try. He was only able to make a thin white string appear, which moved the doll a few wavering inches before disappearing entirely.
Over the next hour or so, Hermione did everything she could to help Neville, carefully observing his stance and pronunciation and correcting every error, however small, that she could recognize, but he was never able to cast the charm with as much success as she had. After a while, as she grew impatient and Neville disheartened, she tried practicing some different spells with him, none of which produced more encouraging results.
"I'm never going to get it Hermione, it's hopeless." Said Neville after another failed attempt at casting Glacius, sounding resigned.
"That's it!" She announced triumphantly, feeling a wide grin break out across her face. "Neville, the problem isn't that you're holding your wand wrong, or incanting incorrectly."
"But that would be fixable!" He exclaimed, visibly dismayed. "I can learn wand movements and incantations. But Hermione, I can't make myself more powerful. Merlin, I've been told I'm a near squib so many times, I should have known. I'm never going to be able to do it. I'm just too weak." He appeared to be almost collapsing in on himself, shrinking back, lowering his wand, and beginning to blink back tears.
"That's exactly it!" Hermione hastened to elaborate at the devastated expression that played across the boy's face. "Neville, it's not that you don't have the magical power to cast spells. It's that you don't believe that you can!" She briefly considered trying to quickly learn the cheering charm so she could cast it on him to improve his confidence, but immediately knew that it would take to long and be potentially risky. So instead she swallowed, stepped closer to Neville, and gently took his wand out of his hand, holding it in front of her.
"Neville. Look at this. This is your wand."
"Well actually, it's my dad's old wand, but-"
"It is your wand now, Neville." Continued Hermione, refusing to be deterred. "You are here, at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, because you are a wizard. Do you think that you would have gotten a letter if you don't have the ability to cast a single spell? Neville, look at me." The boy looked up, tears in his eyes. She pressed the wand back into his hand.
"You are a wizard, and you can cast these spells Neville, do you understand?" He nodded rapidly, standing a little straighter than before. "You are not weak. You have the ability to cast any and every spell that we will ever learn at Hogwarts. You just need to believe in yourself."
Neville raised his chin and levelled his wand at the figurine "I can do this." He said, in a louder voice than she had perhaps ever heard him use before.
"Carpe Retractum!" He yelled, whipping his wand in the correct movement with practiced precision. A thick silver rope materialized into existence at his wand tip, pulling the doll jerkily through the air towards him.
"I did it!" He shouted. "I really did it, Hermione!" As his concentration broke, the rope faded away and the doll fell back to the ground. But now Neville was grinning, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and he began practicing his spells with renewed vigour, this time with significantly better results as each subsequent success bolstered his confidence.
Hermione had never been quite so pleased with herself as she was in that moment. Not only had she helped Neville prepare for his Defense against the Dark Arts exam, as he had asked, but she had done something that no amount studying from books could ever have done- given Neville Longbottom confidence in his own abilities. And she had absolutely no doubt about the fact that having faith in himself would help Neville in more than just the one exam.