Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter.

End disclaimer

A few days had passed, and I had still not heard from the headmaster. Strange, considering he wanted to speak with me. But o well, that just left me with more time to study.

The teachers gave homework, of course, but with no social life – or friends for that matter- it was easy to keep up. To a higher standard than before, even. I read with the rest of my free time, mostly the textbooks for my year. Never hurts to know what we'll be learning in class beforehand.

I saw Neville approaching my little slice of hidden heaven and closed my book with a snap when he just stood there, ten feet from my table, fidgeting.

"Yes, Neville?"

The poor guy looked ready to bolt, but appeared to gather his resolve. "H-Harry."

"Neville." I will admit to fucking a bit with him, but it was just so eassssyyy.

"I… Mayb… could… joi… y…" He managed to stutter out. Now I just felt bad.

"Could you repeat that, Neville?"

He took a deep breath and stopped shaking, looked me dead in the eye and said with a voice so filled with conviction that it he even startled himself; "I thought a lot about what you said, about being here to learn. And I decided that you were right. So, I thought that maybe I could join you, for studying…"

His voice, so filled with conviction and strength, almost appeared to have died when he reached the end of his speech. Still, a major improvement over the guy that could barely say good morning to me before.

"You want to join me? For studying?" I was honestly a bit baffled, but whatever you say Neville. "Sure, why not?"

Neville's face split into a grin and he took a seat. "Thanks, Harry."

That was the last time we spoke for hours as I continued to read ahead in charms and Neville did his homework for potions. Half an hour into our little study session and he appeared stuck with it. So, I stood up and got him the book that I used for that essay. He looked like I'd remembered his birthday and got him a puppy. Strange kid.

It was dinner before we packed up. Neville, having long since finished his essay, took my example and read ahead in his herbology book. I had almost forgotten; the kid's a prodigy with herbology. Strange that he has such problems with potions, the two go hand in hand. Well, those two and care for magical creatures. Almost all ingredients for potions are either plants based or come from magical creatures, so an understanding of the two is vital for a good potions master.

"Neville." He looked up when I said his name. "Why do you have such difficulty with potions when it's so closely linked with herbology?"

Neville looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened and he shot off to somewhere in the library. I shrugged and went to dinner.

When Neville didn't show up at all, I decided that I might as well so something nice and packed him up some leftovers. When I returned to my little table in the library, I saw Neville sitting there, half a dozen books littering the place.

"Neville, I brought you dinner… You know… Since you didn't show up." I deadpanned. He wasn't even paying attention to me. Rude.

"Neville!" I snapped my fingers a couple times and he finally looked up, startled.

"Harry?! You were right!" Of course I was. "About what?"

"About Herbology and Potions! They are linked! Do you know what this means?!" He rapid fired at me. Jesu-Merlin, what have I created?

"No Neville, what does this mean?" He's lucky I can't really feel annoyance.

"It means I get potions! Here look!" He shoved an old book in my hand and gestured almost violently at some plants and their properties relating to a potion I've never heard of.

"And what's this?" I asked as I read that the plant has a strengthening effect when properly mixed in with the brew.

"What? Oh, nothing, just some old potion that's obsolete when a better and cheaper one was invented." Neville waved away. "That's not the point, if I can think of potions as an extension to herbology, I can concentrate! Where before it was boring, now it's interesting. Where just an hour ago I wanted to run and hide from professor Snape, now I kinda want to ask him some questions about this!" Neville said excitedly as he plucked the book I was holding away and shoved another one in my hand, gesturing to some potion made entirely with plants. Seems like he becomes another person when herbology is involved. Good for you kid, good for you.

"As fascinating as this is, Neville, you missed dinner. I brought you some leftovers." I threw him the bundle of wrapped pie and potatoes, carefully as to not fling the contents everywhere.

Neville, still riding his new herbology is linked to potions high, caught the food easily and smiled; "Thanks Harry! Gotta be careful that I don't turn into Hermio…" He began jokingly before he visibly shrunk into himself. "Sorr-y-y-y H-Harry. I d-d-didn't mean t-to…" He trailed off when he saw that I hadn't even twitched. Little did he know that a wave a grief threatened to overwhelm me and was fighting it out with the cloud of nothingness.

"Let's just study some. I can recommend the counter-spell Finite Incantatem, it has a wide range of uses." I said tonelessly as I handed Neville an old second year charms book that I had found. You'd be surprised what students lose around here. "It's on page 293."

With that said I sank into a large chair and pretended to read as the grief was slowly drowned out.

It was while entering charms class the next day that I overheard a sixth year saying that professor Flitwick had tried to convince her to enter the dueling circles, he'd even offered to coach her!

Flitwick is offering to teach students dueling? That's a bit of interesting information I wasn't aware off.

I mostly waited for the period to end – He was covering something that I had already read about, although professor Flitwick did offer some information that wasn't in the book – so that I could speak to him.

The lesson finally ended and I waited for the class to leave, waving Neville away as he looked at me curiously.

"Can I help you with something, mister Potter?" Flitwick asked as he cleaned up some papers from his desk. Not all of course, that would be preposterous!

"Yes, professor. I overheard a sixth year saying that you offered to teach her dueling."

"And you want to take me up on those lessons?" Flitwick asked excitedly, looking me up and down, as if judging me.

"Yes, professor." I confirmed.

"Hmm, good build. Fast. Good reflexes, or so Minerva tells me, says you're good enough to bend the first-year broomstick rule." He winked, I stared.

Quidditch! I had complete forgotten about that! I'm supposed to be on the team, aren't I?

Whatever, I'll deal with that later.

"You're too young for me to really teach you any of the magic you need to know, but I can always teach you the other skills you'll need." He pointed at me sharply. "Dueling is about more than just being powerful or knowing lots magic, you know. Too many only focus on the magical side of dueling, instead of the physical."

When I looked at him questioningly, he explained; "While knowing advanced spells and being magically powerful will help, most neglect their physical prowess. If I dodge a spell instead of blocking it, I can save my magic to attack. Or defend if I have no other option." I nodded, it seemed logical to me.

"If this seems like an obvious thing to do, good! This is what I will teach you, for now at least." I raised my eyebrow at him. Just like that?

"Yes, mister Potter. I will teach you dueling. I've been looking for an apprentice since my last student graduated Hogwarts two years ago." I nodded, no questioning good luck. That's just asking for trouble.

"Are you free Friday after dinner?" Flitwick asked, mostly rhetorical. "Yes professor."

"Good, meet me here after dinner then." Recognizing a dismissal when I heard it, I turned around left. Flitwick's voice stopped me at the door.

"I know why you really want to learn dueling, mister Potter, and it's not to enter the dueling circles." He raised his hand when I was about to speak. "It changes nothing, I will still teach you. I felt the same during the war, believe me. But try to limit yourself." He once again motion for me to stay quit. "I know, I know. It's an impossible request." He sighed, looking old and tired. "At least try to find a hobby, mister Potter."

I nodded and left the classroom, but not before hearing one last piece of wisdom;

"It's a good goal, Harry. But don't let it consume you. It will, if you let it."

I ran into Neville down the hall, the guy had been waiting for me. That's nice of him.

"What do we have now?" I asked as we walked down the hallways. "Herbology, it's the last period for the day."

I nodded and we briskly walked toward out last obstacle before freedom. Well, before more study.

We made it with a few minutes to spare, they give more time between classes for the first half of the first year. Its quite a large and mazelike castle, after all.

"Want to partner up, Neville?" I said as we walked into the greenhouse. Quite a beautiful place, actually.

Neville looked at me with wide eyes and quickly nodded, like he was afraid I'd change my mind.

Herbology was a breeze, particularly because Neville was a treasure-trove of information, and soon enough everyone was racing out of class and toward their free evening. Not me and Neville though, he wanted to talk to Professor Sprout, and since Neville waited for me, I waited for him. I'm nice like that, most of the time.

I was lazing in front of the greenhouses as Oliver Wood came up to me. Right, quidditch, seems I'll be dealing with it sooner rather than later.

"Harry! I thought I could find you here. I wanted to give you this." He handed me a schedule, presumably for practice.

"I'm withdrawing from the team. You'll have to find a new seeker." Might as well rip off the band aid.

Wood seemed to freeze for a second before fixing a pained grin on his face. He grabbed me by the shoulder and started dragging me off. "Neville!" Neville's face appeared from the greenhouse. "It seems I'm being kidnapped." I deadpanned. "I'll meet you in the library once I'm done." Neville nodded uncertainty, looking entirety confused with the situation but going along anyway.

One slightly painful journey later – Wood's hand becoming tighter and tighter the closer we came to… where ever where going. – and we stopped before a familiar office. Wood knocked.

"Come in!"

"Professor, Harry's withdrawing from quidditch!" Wood almost shouted the second we stepped into Mcgonagall's office.

"What?" She asked as she put her quill down, appearing to be grading some papers.

"Harry's withdrawing from quidditch!" Wood repeated, luckily quite a bit quieter.

"Mister Potter?" She turned her sharp gaze on me, a gaze any student would have trouble meeting. Not me though, I cared little about her ire.

"I find that I do not have the same enthusiasm as I did when I first… Joined, so I'm withdrawing." I drowned. Wood just looked at me like I had gone crazy, to him I might as well have. Not being enthusiastic about quidditch probably equals crazy in his book.

She looked at me with confusion for a few seconds before understanding dawned on her face.

"I understand, mister Potter. We'll just have to find someone else." She added the last bit when it looked like Wood was going to interrupt her.

"Thank you, professor." With that surprisingly easy task done, I turned around and made my way to the library.

Once there I saw that Neville hadn't arrived yet, so I opened a book and began reading about a charm – technically a counter-charm, as it "counters" a locking charm – that had caught my eye. The Alohomora, as it was called, is a discreet and easy to learn charm to open any door. According to the book, anyway.

During my second reread of the passage containing the charm, Neville showed up. He looked like he had run the entire way here.

"Sorry, I lost track of time." He apologized between deep breaths. He looked genuinely sorry too, for something as minor of losing track of time when we hadn't even agreed on a time. I'm starting to like Neville, just a little.

"No worries. It happens." I waved away the apology and motion for him to sit, something he did gladly. Silence fell for a while before Neville's stomach told us it was dinnertime. Almost two and a half hours had passed.

"Who makes the food anyway?" I asked as we packed up our stuff. "I dunno, house elves probably." Neville shrugged.

"What's a house elf?"

This innocent question led to a crash course of they enslaved and often mistreated elves, and how they had their own brand of magic. Though little is known about it.

"Wait. I want to test something." I said as I dragged Neville into an empty classroom about halfway to the great hall. "What?"

"Uhm, can I speak to a house-elf please?" I asked the empty room, ignoring Neville. Much to my surprise, the empty room answered. With a quite pop a small creature appeared out of nowhere.

"Students wanting something from Rozy?" The small and quite adorable little elf asked.

"Yes, could we perhaps take our dinner in this room? If it's not too much trouble of course." I asked, not seeing Neville's eyes widen behind me.

Rozy appeared to be thinking about it before she nodded her little head, making her ears flop everywhere. "Rozy can do that, Rozy will be right back." She said with a satisfied look on her face and disappeared.

I looked back at Neville to see him looking at me with a disbelieving look on his face. "What?"

"You… Just… But…" Neville gave up when a table for two showed up, complete with chairs and a white tablecloth. Seconds later it was filled with the same food they serve in the great hall, although much less of it.

"Thank you Rozy." I said to the once again empty classroom. I motion for Neville to take a seat and did the same.

After enjoying a peaceful meal, and sometimes catching Neville looking at me oddly, I spoke up again.

"This was delicious Rozy, thank you." The little elf appeared again and bowed deeply, trying to, and failing, to hide the blush that had spread over her cheeks. She disappeared soon after, taking the table, chairs and dirty dishes with her.

"Now that dinner is over, want to practice some spells?" I asked Neville, looking around the room and noticing that it was mostly empty.

"S-sure Harry."

"Relax, it'll be fine." I waved away his hesitation and got my book out to double check something. Satisfied, I looked around for something to practice on. I found nothing.

"Neville, can you do the Locomotor Mortis?"

"N-n-no, Harry." He looked down, apparently not wanting to see the disappointment on my face. Not that there was any.

"Alright, do you know the wand movements?" Neville nodded, good.

"Alright then, practice on me." I said casually as I laid on the ground. No need to fall on my face…

"What! No!" Neville practicality shouted, his hesitation and self-doubt coming back in full force. "What if I mess something up? What if you get hurt, what if…"

"Neville!" I interrupted. "If you don't want to practice at me, shoot at the wall." I said as I got back up. Still looking nervous, Neville did a halfhearted attempt. Which failed.

"And now with some enthusiasm." I drawled as I sat on a desk and watched Neville almost shake with shame.

"Neville!" I snapped at him, his head shooting up to mine. "Why are we here?"

Neville froze for a second then stood up straighter and stopped shaking. "To learn."

"Right. And when we learn, what do we do?"

"Make mistakes?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling you."

"Good, then try again." I watched as he squared his shoulder and tried again, with much more vigor this time.

After half an hour I was perplexed. Neville had the cruse down alright, but no matter how perfect his wand movements where, or how good his pronunciation was, his curse always came out slightly different. Slightly wrong. It was baffling.

"Well, you seem to have it down. Although why there is a level of variation in your spell work well will have to discover another time." I proclaimed as I jumped off the table that I had been sitting on.

"Now cast the curse on me." Neville, who had been looking happy for successfully doing the curse, looked a loss let happy after my proclamation. "But…"

"No buts, you have been casting that spell correctly six times already. Time to move on." I pointed at my legs and made a get on with it gesture. Neville took a deep breath and;

"Locomotor Mortis!" My legs flicked together, and I realized that I had still been standing. Luckily Neville realized the same and grabbed me by the shoulder before I could fall. "So what now?"

"Now I try to counter your curse, of course." I said as I grabbed my wand and pointed at my own legs;

"Finite incantatem." Nothing happened. I checked my wand movements and did a few practice swings in the air.

"Finite incantatem." A weak flurry of light impacted my legs, but nothing changed.

"Finite incantatem." This time a bright beam shot to my legs, breaking the curse and freeing my legs. A look at Neville revealed him staring at me with wide eyes. "That was the first time you tried that charm, wasn't it?" He had a resigned expression on his face, like he knew the answer.

"Yes, why?"

"Why?! But… You… Third try… Never mind. Let's just go back to the library." He sighed, now wearing a mixture of awe and resignation.

"Not so fast." I said sternly. "You're not leaving here until you break my curse." He looked fearful for a second, like I was about to curse him right then and there. "Don't worry, practice first. These are the wand movements. Did you read the chapter?"

I asked as I showed him the wand movement regardless, and then I had him practice the incantation. "Good, practice both until I'm satisfied." When he looked at me funny, I decided to give him some motivation. "Because I will be cursing you in forty-five minutes."

"Or if I see you slacking." I added with an afterthought. "Chop Chop. Get to it." I clapped my hands for dramatic effect, then sat back on the desk and pulled out my defense book for second year. I borrowed it – Stole it with the intention to give it back – from a second year that was careless enough to forget it when leaving the library.

Half hour later Neville got his first result, a weak torrent of light that looked like it committed suicide soon after being created.

Ten minutes after that he got a decent result, a lightshow that actually made it to the walls. Just as the forty-five-minute passed, I motion for him to stop.

"Alright then, you got some decent results. A bit inconsistent, but its good enough for some real practice." I nodded at him sagely and told him to lie on the floor.

"Ready?" He nodded. I shot the curse at him, having already practiced it beforehand. His legs locked up and snapped together, it looked painful. It's not, just a bit uncomfortable.

"Alright then, good luck." I said in an obviously fake cheery voice.

"Finite incantatem." Neville muttered, having long since tired of shouting everything and realizing it made no difference.

To my surprise, his legs where freed on the first try. Granted, he had forty-five-minutes beforehand, but still. Practicing against a wall and actually breaking a curse are two very different things. Neville stood up and shot me a grin, one that I returned. Mine slightly more forced than his.

"Anything else you wanted to work on?" He asked sarcastically, but groaned when he saw my face.

"I did, actually. Alohomora, the book says that it can open doors and windows. Sound useful." I shrugged. Neville surprised me;

"It is, together with the Colloportus." When I looked at him strangely, he added; "Gran made me practice both when I was eight and locked myself in the closet, again." Now it was Neville's time to shrug. "Took me weeks, but gran was insistent."

"I get the Alohomora, but why make you learn alocking charm?"

"Punishment, or irony. One of those, said that if I kept locking myself in I might as well learn how to really lock myself in. Was so scared I didn't go near a closet for months." He looked sheepish at the end. With reason, I guess.

"Can you teach me?" I asked innocently. I could learn on my own, no doubt about that, but this might give him an ego boost. Merlin know the kid needs it.

"Really?" there was doubt in his voice, doubt and maybe a bit of smug satisfaction. Couldn't be sure though. When I nodded, he started talking;

"So I'll teach you the Colloportus first, it's good to know how the charm works before trying to break it with Alohomora."

Neville spend ten minutes explaining how the spell works, then I practiced for another ten. In the end I managed a working version twenty-five minutes after learning that the spell exists. Not bad if I do say so myself. Neville looked a little put out, but that quickly changed to pride when he realized that he taught me something. Him teaching something to Harry Potter. Gran was going definitely going to think he was lying. It already brought a smile to his face.

I had already read about the Alohomora, so it took me only ten minutes or so to get it working. Took me another ten to break Neville's Colloportus though, the kid can really lock a door. Merlin.

Maybe I'm using Merlin too much now, should really stop that before it slips out back "home". All hell would break loose should that happen.

"Alright, that's enough for now. Let's go spend the rest of the evening in the library. I still have that charms essay."

I opened the door to the charms classroom and found that all the tables had been pushed to the side, leaving a large open space in the middle. Flitwick was waiting there, seemingly meditating.

"Professor." I said as I put my bag to the side and walked up to him.

"Mister Potter. Good, we can begin." He stood up and looked at me. "Since we already established that you have no interest to join the dueling circles, I won't bore you with the rules. There is only one rule." He pointed sharply at my head. "Staying alive."

I said nothing, we just stared at each other until I gave a small nod. Flitwick seemed satisfied.

"Your first lesson will be in dodging, we'll be doing this until I say otherwise." I nodded and he continued. "For the first few lessons I will be shooting low level curse's at you, for motivation of course, and you will try your hardest to evade. Begin!"

With barely a second warning I was forced to dive to the side to avoid a purple looking curse coming straight for me.

"Well, we at least know that your reflexes are indeed excellent. That was meant as an example that these curses sting, quite badly at that." Flitwick crowed happily as he fired another spell at me, blue this time.

For the next five minutes or so I was forced to dive, roll and jump out of the way of increasingly fast and well-aimed curses. At the two-minute mark he had already hit me twice. At four I had a dozen painful reminders on my arms, legs and chest that yes, these curses sting quite a bit.

"That's enough, mister Potter." I stopped franticly looking for the next curse and bend over. That. Was. Tiring.

"You did pretty good, considering you have no prior training or experience. Well will be working on your rolls for the remainder of this lesson, you could break an arm doing some of the things you did." He scolded lightly as he flicked his wand.

I could immediately feel the pleasant sensation of pain disappearing as he healed my sting marks. When I looked up and saw him grinning at me, though, I was forcefully reminded that our kind and goofy charms professor was part goblin. A more cruel and vindictive species has yet to be found.

I was proved right as I was dragged headfirst into the most torture like training session I will most likely ever experience. And I'm using the word training very lightly here.

That's it for today, I'll try to have a chapter of 4-5k every Friday. Wish me luck with that…