Although the words etched on the back of Harry's hand refused to fade, Harry considered himself lucky to not have any more detentions. The next week flew by quickly. Harry finally got a moment to focus on his classes and his homework. He even started having small lessons with Neville. Ron said he'd wait for the real lessons; he'd rather practice quidditch.

Friday night saw Harry and Neville wands out in an empty classroom. Harry had planned to focus on their current work, but Neville was so far behind, that Harry figured it was no use. They had to backtrack. Harry decided to start simple—expelliarmus. They had been at it for 20 minutes and Neville had yet to disarm Harry.

"It's no use Harry," Neville said dejectedly. "I'm just no good. I might as well be a squib."

"Don't say that Neville," Harry said. "You just have to believe in yourself."

"Why?" Neville asked. "No one else does."

"That's exactly why Neville," Harry insisted. "There's no better feeling than proving people wrong. Trust me. I would know."

Neville was quiet for a moment, just staring at the wand in his hands. "You really think I could?" he asked finally.

"It doesn't matter what I think Neville," Harry answered. "It only matters if you think you can." Harry got back into position. "But, for the record, yes. I do think you can."

Neville looked up in surprise. He smiled at Harry and got back into positon. "Okay, let's do it."

"Grip your wand tight," Harry instructed. "And mean it Neville. You have to really mean it."

"Okay Harry I'll try," Neville said. He took some deep breaths and Harry could tell he was really concentrating. He took one more breath before pointing his wand at Harry and shouting, "EXPELLIARMUS!" Red light shot out of his wand and next thing Harry knew his wand was flying from his hand. No one was more surprised than Neville himself. He stared at his wand. "I did it," he said in surprise. He looked up at Harry who had a smile that took up his entire face.

"You did it!" Harry exclaimed.

"I really did it!" Neville exclaimed back. He ran over to Harry and wrapped him in a hug. "I did it!"

"Yeah Neville," Harry squeaked out. "But uhh…could you not suffocate me?"

"Oh sorry Harry," Neville said, releasing Harry. "I'm just so excited."

"You should be," Harry said. "I'm proud of you Neville." Neville beamed at Harry, but before either of them could talk again, a familiar dreamy voice spoke up from the doorway.

"What are you guys excited about?" Luna asked. "Did you see a wrackspurt?"

"Oh hey Luna," Harry said. "And uh…no. I didn't see a wrackspurt. Neville completed the spell we were working on."

"Oh?" Luna asked. "I thought we weren't supposed to do spells," she asked with a dreamy smirk.

"Well," Harry began, "technically we aren't supposed to do spells in class." Luna laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Oh just wandering," Luna replied.

"Looking for wrackspurts?" Neville offered.

"Among other things," she replied. "Are you both finished, or are practicing some more?"

"Up to you Neville," Harry said. "What do you say? Want to try another one?"

"You bet Harry!" Neville answered.

"What about you Luna?" Harry asked. "Want to join us?"

"Sure," Luna said.

The three of them spent the next hour and a half working on the stunning spell. By the end of the night, Neville had not quite mastered it, but he had certainly made progress. Harry told him so, and figured that one more practice would do it. Luna thanked them for letting her join, and the two boys headed back towards their common room to complete homework. They joined Ron and Hermione at the table the two were spread out on. Neville regaled them with his successes and the two looked at him and Harry in surprise.

"Still worried about teaching others?" Hermione asked Harry. Harry rolled his eyes.

The following morning as Harry was leaving the Great Hall after breakfast, he saw Cho Chang doing the same. He suddenly remembered his promise that the two of them would go flying together. Not being behind on homework at the moment, Harry thought it was a perfect day to make good on that promise. His practice wasn't until the afternoon anyway.

"Hey Cho!" Harry called out. She turned to look at him and smiled.

"Hey Harry!" she responded cheerfully.

"Are you busy this morning?" he asked. "I was thinking we could go flying. You know, like we talked about?"

"Oh!" Cho exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "That sounds lovely Harry! I'll have to go get my broom."

"Me too,' Harry said. "Meet in the entryway?"

"Sure thing!" Cho answered.

Harry hurried up to his dorm to get his broom and change into his gear. He had thought Hermione would disapprove of the way he was choosing to spend his morning, but instead she just smirked at him when he told her and Ron. He blushed as he headed out the common room. He couldn't stop the butterflies in his stomach as he made his way down to the first floor. This was the first time he would really spend alone time with Cho. He wasn't sure his previous 5-minute conversations counted.

When he came around the corner and saw her standing in the entry waiting for him and he felt a flutter in his chest. He wondered if he would be able to manage the morning without making a complete arse of himself. Cho looked over as he walked up and smiled at him. He liked her smile.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Sure am," she replied.

The two chatted about their classes as they made their way down to the pitch. Talking to Cho was easier than Harry thought it would be. She had a silvery laugh that Harry quite enjoyed. He made it a point to make her laugh. When they arrived at the pitch, they grabbed a snitch and decided to have a contest of seekers. Harry thought it was much less of a contest than it was him just trying to show off for Cho.

He tried all the dangerous maneuvers just to show her he could. Of course he caught the snitch many times, but he also let Cho catch it just as often. It was important to be a gentlemen. At least, Harry thought he was letting Cho catch it. She was rather good herself.

When they had had enough of their "contest" Harry offered to let Cho try out his firebolt. Afterwards, they decided to hang out on the grass of the pitch because it was such a beautiful day.

"That really is an amazing broom!" Cho exclaimed. "I was convinced it was all hype. You know how people are. Every new broom is better and faster."

"It almost makes me happy that my old one got destroyed," Harry said with a laugh.

"I bet!" said Cho. "No wonder you guys won that year!"

"Good thing we did," Harry said. "Our chances don't seem as good this year." He plucked some blades of grass.

"Really?" Cho asked. "The team's that bad? I thought most of the players were returning."

"They did," he said. "Ron is the only new player."

"And he's not good?"

"He's decent," Harry said. "When no one is looking," he added with a sigh. "Some slytherins came to our first practice and it was an unmitigated disaster. I'm actually afraid to see what a game will look like."

"Wow," she said. "That sucks. Well, for you guys anyway." She laughed.

Harry gave her a playful shove. "Hey now." They chatted for a while longer before heading back to the castle for lunch.

"Hey, rumor has it that you plan to teach those who are willing to learn?" Cho asked. "You know, considering that some of our instructors this year are a bit sub-par."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You heard about that?" Harry asked. "It was Hermione's idea but I didn't realize how far it reached. Hope it doesn't reach Umbridge."

"Oh don't worry," Cho assured him. "No one is that dumb. Everyone's real careful about who they tell."

"Well, yeah," Harry said. "I sort of agreed to teach people. I started with Neville last night. He's already improving." Harry paused. "I don't know when I'll be branching out. I guess I should talk to Hermione about that."

"Well, let me know when you do," Cho said as they reached the castle.

"Sure thing."

"I had fun today," she said. "We should hang out again."

Harry caught sight of a familiar head of blond hair out of the corner of his eye. "Definitely," he said with a smile.

The following week was also relatively normal. He received a note from Snape on Wednesday instructing him of another occlumency lesson on Saturday night. On Thursday, the Daily Prophet published another story about how crazy Harry and Dumbledore were. The whispers followed him all day. He could feel the stares on his back as he walked by. Twice he was forced to hide in the loo until the panic subsided. He resisted the urge to cut. Just barely, but he did it.

When he left the toilet the second time, he ran face first into Malfoy. The blond stumbled backwards and without thinking, Harry reached out to catch him. The end result was an armful of slytherin. The two looked at each other in shock for a moment, before Harry quickly let Malfoy go and stepped back. Malfoy just stared at him in surprise. Right as he collected himself and made to speak, Harry was also able to step out of his shock and beat him to it.

"Watch it Malfoy," he spat. He pushed past the blond and stalked away.

"You watch it Potter," Malfoy spat back. "Five points from Gryffindor."

"Whatever."

The following night, Harry had another lesson with Neville and Luna. Harry actually felt bad. They had not thought to invite her, but they had found her in the corridor on their way. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that she had been hanging around the place she had seen them the previous week in the hopes she could join them again. Harry didn't think she had many friends.

They continued practicing the stun spell and by the end of the night Neville had successfully pulled it off. He was ecstatic. He even told Harry that he was improving a bit with his school work.

"Yeah?" Harry asked.

"I mean, the classes themselves are about the same," Neville admitted. "But my homework grades are improving!"

"That's great Neville," Harry said. He saw Luna hovering by the doorway, unsure if she should leave. "Hey Luna, I don't know if you've heard, but I might be expanding these lessons soon. You're welcome to join when I do."

"Oh that sounds lovely Harry," Luna said. "I will keep my ears peeled."

The next day Harry and his friends mostly did homework. Even though he wasn't falling behind anymore, the professors were still giving them an enormous amount of homework. The good news about not being behind was that they didn't have to work nonstop. They actually got to hang out as friends for a change.

"So," Hermione began gingerly, "how was your date with Cho last week?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Harry. If he had been drinking something he would have spit it out. As it was, he nearly punched a hole in the parchment he was writing on. He looked up at Hermione in surprise.

"My what!?" he exclaimed.

"Your date," Hermione repeated. "With Cho."

"We didn't…it wasn't…that's not," Harry sputtered, face getting red. "It wasn't a date," he finally managed.

"You met up with Cho right?" she asked.

"Yes, but…"

"And you guys hung out together?"

"Well, obviously. But we were just…"

"And you talked a lot?"

"Yes…"

"And flirted?"

"Okay well I don't know about…"

"Face it Harry," she said smugly. "It was a date." Ron and Neville tried to hide the fact that they were sniggering behind their books.

Harry sighed angrily. He refused to meet anyone's eyes. "It was fine," he muttered.

"Are you going to have another one?" Ron asked.

"I suppose," Harry said. "We talked about hanging out again, but we didn't make any plans."

"Nice mate," Ron said. Neville nodded along.

"She also heard about the whole "Harry teaches everyone" idea," he added. "She's interested. I didn't realize how far this whole thing had spread."

"Yes I've been meaning to tell you that the response I've been getting is quite good," Hermione admitted. "I was thinking we could set a meeting next weekend in Hogsmeade. Better to do it outside of the castle, away from Umbridge."

"Works for me," Harry said.

That night Harry glumly made his way down to Snape's office. His potions professor had kept his word. He was never close to pleasant to him, but he hadn't purposefully failed him either. That didn't mean Harry was in any way looking forward to spending extra time with him.

He had been practicing clearing his mind every night. He hadn't had any nightmares in weeks, only a recurring dream about a strange corridor. However, he still wasn't sure about his ability to keep Snape out of his mind. He reluctantly knocked on the door of Snape's office at 8pm sharp and heard the familiar voice drawl, "Enter."

Just like his previous lesson, he entered to see Snape sitting as his desk. He was writing something, though Harry neither knew nor cared what.

"Sit," Snape said. Harry did so. "Have any incidents occurred since our last lesson that I should know about?"

"No."

"No?" Snape raised an eyebrow at Harry. "No nightmares? No visions? No weird dreams?"

"No," Harry said. "Nothing."

"You know that if you are lying I will know," Snape insisted.

Harry sighed. "I'm being honest. There's been nothing. The only thing even that might be worth talking about is that I've been having a recurring dream of a corridor with a doorway at the end. Nothing exciting."

"Do you know this corridor?" Snape asked.

"No, but it looks familiar," Harry answered. "It's as if I've seen it some…wait a minute." Harry smacked himself. "It's the corridor from the dream where I was Voldemort."

"Well you're right nothing at all to report," Snape said sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well I wasn't intentionally leaving out important information. I only just realized it was the same place. Where is it?"

"Nowhere you need to know," Snape answered.

"But you do know where it is," Harry insisted.

Snape sighed. "It is a place the Dark Lord is preoccupied with at the moment. That is all you need to know." Snape stood up. "Now, get into position. We will repeat what we did last time. I will enter your mind and you will repel me by any means necessary."

Harry got himself into position. He tried to clear his mind, but Snape was too fast. Before he could so much as blink, he was back on the quidditch pitch with Cho. They were once more flying around trying to out-seeker each other. Harry fought with everything he could, and with a shout he was back in Snape's office. He nearly fell over and just barely caught himself on a desk.

"Charming," Snape drawled.

"Shut up," Harry retorted.

"Again," Snape said. Before Harry could even right himself properly, he was being attacked again. This time, his mind took him to the tower.

Malfoy had just grabbed his hand, which caused him to jerk away.

"What's wrong?" Malfoy asked.

"Like you care," Harry replied.

"Let me see," he said quietly.

"Are you mad?" Harry asked.

"Look," Malfoy began, "I know you don't have much reason too, but please just trust me. I'm more than decent at healing magic."

"Healing magic won't work on this."

"How do you know?"

"People smarter than you have tried."

"Who?" Malfoy sneered. "Granger? She's talented. I'll give her that. But I've been around magic my entire life. Trust me. There are just some areas a raised wizard is more knowledgeable of." Harry didn't budge. Malfoy sighed. "What's the real reason you won't show me?"

He looked down at his hand and tried to figure out what to say. He didn't want to admit the truth. I must not tell lies. Harry looked back at Malfoy.

"I don't want you to think less of me," he said quietly.

Malfoy nodded. "I understand," he said just as quietly. "I won't think any less. Whatever it is." Harry looked doubtful. "How about a truce? A temporary moment of niceness between enemies."

Harry thought about it for a moment. Realizing it really couldn't hurt anything, and that he genuinely did trust Malfoy for some unfathomable reason, he gingerly handed over his hand.

This time, Harry wasn't strong enough to kick Snape out. The professor left on his own. The two stared at another in silence. Harry could feel a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Malfoy again?" Snape asked quietly.

"I wasn't harassing him," Harry said defensively.

"That much was obvious," Snape said. "That was not what I was going to remark."

"Oh yeah?" Harry asked. "What then?"

"I was only going to say that it is rather strange that the two of you keep meeting," Snape said. "And peacefully at that." Harry stayed stubbornly quiet. "It is also rather unusual how my seeing you with Cho didn't bother you, but you seem rather more affected by your memories of Malfoy."

Harry blushed harder and refused to meet Snape's eyes. "I don't know what you are talking about." Snape raised his eyebrow. "I don't," Harry insisted.

"Well, I certainly won't be pulling it out of you then," Snape said. "On the list of discussions I'd rather not have with you, this would be at the top. Perhaps a talk with your godfather is in order?"

Harry nodded, just hoping it would be enough to make Snape shut up. It was. He readied himself for another attack. They spent the next hour battling for dominance over Harry's mind. Judging by Snape's sour look, he wasn't doing well. Then again, Snape always looked sour.

Nonetheless, Harry was more than ready to call it quits. He collapsed into his bed that night thinking about the session.

Why had he been more embarrassed about Snape seeing him with Malfoy? His moment with Cho was meant to private. Their date, as Hermione had so bluntly put it, was a moment he certainly didn't want Snape looking in on.

But I want him looking in on Malfoy even less, he thought. But why? Because it was private, he answered. But wasn't his date with Cho private. But his time with Malfoy was more special.

What? Harry couldn't figure out his own mind. Why would he feel more strongly about Malfoy than the girl he had a crush on?

Unless….

No. No absolutely not.