Harry Potter And The Other Boy Who Lived

"Hey Neville, You have to help us in Transfiguration and Charms. I can't even light up my wand yet."

"Ok, ok, I will help you for sure! No problem!"

Then I just repeat those same words over and over to every student that came looking for me. Some older students from Gryffindor just pat in my shoulder and compliment me, but the first years students simply ask me a lot of questions about Transfiguration.

Ravenclaw students even invited me to join theirs study group. I said I liked to study alone, but I promissed I would go there to help whenever they ask and I could. After all, there are a lot of cute ones in Ravenclaw! Help them now and when they m.a.t.u.r.e they could help me too...

Aaah women! They are the only things that makes me focus in other stuff besides studying and my goals, but they are also the thing that makes me focus in study the most since I'm too young for the m.a.t.u.r.e women and the girls around my age are young for me. Tsk, and I'm becoming more horny as my testosterone production increases, I don't know the normal levels for a 11 years old boy, but I guess mine are more high than normal. I think it is related to my production of blue cells. I don't know. Maybe I develop earlier than the others...

After a long time, I just excuse myself saying I'm super hungry, leave all the students behind and head to the table. Hermione is still sitted, so I sit besides her.

"What would you tell me in Transfiguration class?"

"Hermione, I'm really sorry, but can I explain things to you later? I'm really really hungry. I could eat a whole cow by now."

"To the others you stopped to explain things, but for me you have no time." I was going to retort but she storms away madly. Tsk, I didn't said I would not explain. I simply wanted to eat! Nevermind, I will apologize to her later. I need food!

After eating four servings I started to look for Hermione. I went to the library but she wasn't there. Then I go to the Common Room of Gryffindor, it is packed and as I enter Ron and Harry come talk to me asking me for help in Transfiguration. I notice Hermione in a corner with a Quidditch book in hands. She must be studying for the Flight class later. I'm about to excuse myself from Harry and Ron when I see Ron seems to get upset with my lack of attention to them. I don't want them to back away from me as they did to Hermione in the original timeline. I look at Hermione and decide to stay with them. It is so hard to please them all!

We talk for a long time and I lend them my "A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration". It has a lot of notes, so I say to them to not tell anybody about it, because I don't want to lend my book to everyone. I would end up losing my book. Both Harry and Ron seem to understand a lot of things quickly. When it is almost time for the flight class I look at the 'Hermione's corner' but she was not there anymore. So I go with Harry and Ron to the class. Ron talks a lot about his previous experience with a broomstick and starts to give us some tips .

When we arrive at class, for my surprise there is a blackboard. I sit next to Hermione and apologizes to her. She looks at me and says nothing.

"You should not give me a cold shoulder, Hermione. You know that people packed around me and I had no way out without being rude to them. I really just needed to eat something and I never told you I would not talk to you later. I did a lot of spells earlier, you know?"

"A lot of spells?"

"So, are you talking to me again?"

"You will have to tell me everything later. We need to focus in class now."

II smile but it quickly fades away. The first lesson of flight is also theoretical. After class I explain to Hermione how I've already finished studying and mastered all the spells of the first year curriculum of Transfiguration. She gets a little exalted, I calm her down and promise to help her to advance in studies too. In this first week, she have already noticed that she is not far behind the students that come from a wizard family. In a matter of fact, she is far ahead of most of them.

Tomorrow is a double Potions class. I'm kind of anxious to meet Snape properly. I really needed his help in Potions. If I could get his book like Harry in his sixth year of Hogwarts, it would be amazing. I really wonder how Snape was able to change the recipes so easily when he was still a student. Is there any book that catalogs ingredients? The books I've read so far doesn't explain the reason why we use an ingredient X instead of an ingredient Y, for example.I really needed some help from Snape to evolve more in the matter, otherwise I'll have to spend a lot of time in the library.

In the morning, while I was having breakfast, an owl arrives for Harry and I remember Hagrid invites Harry to a cup of tea today and it is when Harry knows about the roberys attempt in Gringotts more clearly and starts to connect it with the package he and Hagrid have took away from vault 713 at the same day of the robery attempt. I must be present in the conversation.

"Hey Harry, I thought you were raised by muggles, how did you get an owl?

"It is a letter from Hagrid."

"Oh, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts? The half giant who guided us from the Hogwarts' Express to the main gate?

"Yes, he was the person who took me to Diagon Alley to buy my supply list. He was my first contact with the wizarding world too. He is a very close friend for me. You should meet him. He invited me to a cup of tea this afternoon, you can come with me and Ron."

Ron interrupts, "Nah Harry, Neville will problably study at the library today too."

"I really do have to study, but I'm feeling tired today, I have to rest a bit. Hagrid really seems a nice guy. I would love to meet him. So I guess I could go. Of course, I don't want to bother you."

"You would not be a bother. I think Hagrid would like to meet more people." Harry smiles to me. A good kid indeed.

"So it is settled! What time we depart this afternoon, Harry?"

"He said about three o'clock..."

"So after lunch I help you guys in Charms and then we head there by 14:30. What do you think?"

"For me it is okay..." He looks at Ron that says " I didn't want to study nothing more until sunday, but we could do our homework of Charms, after all we have to do it before monday."

What he wants is to copy my homework... But there is no problem, the person who copies is the person who loses. How can he aspire of being a Prefect this way? Me, Seamus and Dimas must have been really bad students for Dumbledore to choose Ron for Prefect. Or maybe it is a matter of appease Ron's jealous.

"No problem for me. We should head to Potions class now. It is almost time."

Harry answers, "Yes, I don't want to get there late. I've got the impression the Professor Snape don't like me."

"He is the headmaster of Slytherin, he hates all the other students, specially Gryffindor ones. Don't take it personal." Ron says.

"I hope that is the true." Harry answers.

Unfortunately for Harry, he was right. Harry makes Professor Snape remember the most painful facts of his life. Firstly, there is Harry's father. Snape hated Harry's father and his friends, they were practically like Harry and Draco, with the exception that Snape was alone against the 4 marauders. Harry looks a lot like his father, so every time Snape looks at him, this old hatred comes to the surface.

And secondly, there's Harry's mother. Snape was in love with Harry's mother. He loved her so much that he decided to betray Voldemort to try to save her. He still blames himself for her death, so every time he looks into Harry's eyes, that unbearable pain that touches his whole soul comes to light. I can not imagine how much Snape must suffer every time he looks into Harry's eyes. To Carry with himself the pain of having caused the death of the person you loved most in your life... It must be unbearable. There is no way he can treat Harry well. Harry is practically the embodiment of the greatest traumas of his life.

In class, Snape sorted the students in pairs and started the class by taking the roll call. He mocked Harry calling him a new celebrity and then embarrased him by asking several questions about the book 'Magical Drafts and Potions'. I don't think he is that wrong. Students should prepare better for class, but there was a question present just in the penultimate chapter of the book. It was clear that Snape really wanted to take revenge on Harry's father.

After this beginning of the class concentrated on Harry, the class was very good. Snape began by talking about flame control, mixing movements inside the cauldron, and the importance of preparation of ingredients. He then started talking about the potion we would try to do today, the Sleeping Draught Potion. He divided the potion in several steps and said that since our magical control was still very poor, we should do the potion in pairs first.

Today we are going to make the first stage of this potion. I'm paired with Seamus and start saying I have some experience helping my grandmother with some potions. Then I start teaching him how to prepare the ingredients and I combine with it that every time I said 'now', it should put the ingredient of the turn immediately.

Our potions class is with the Slytherin students, so Snape practically dictates and fixes the potions of the Slytherin students while leaving the Gryffindor students for themselves. Luckly we are in doubles and the potion is very simple. From Gryffindor, me and Hermione stand out. I guess it is because we decorated the steps before doing the Potion. Since I have a lot more experience than Hermione, Seamus and me end well before the others. Snape looks at my potion, looks at me and says nothing. He really don't seem to like students from Gryffindor...

The class ends with Snape criticizing all Gryffindor students who failed to finish the potion stage in the given time. He gives 10 points for Slytherin due to the 'excellent performance' of Draco and Daphne. And As in Transfiguration and Charms classes, I wait for the other students to come out of the dungeon and then I head to Professor Snape's table. "Hello Professor, do you have time to talk to me for a moment?"

"What do you want Longbottom? I don't have much time, be quick."

"Well, Professor, I have been practicing potions with my grandmother for some time and she told me that every seven years there is a competition of potions students. I researched this week and found out that it will happen in my fifth year, more precisely in December 1995 at the Japanese school of magic, Mahoutokoro. I would like to know what should I do to participate?"