"Alright then, do your best. Harry, I'm sure you'll gain something from teaching Neville, too."
And just like that, after Aisen abruptly passed Neville's tutelage onto Harry, he gave a satisfied nod and disappeared somewhere.
Left behind, Neville and Harry faced an awkward silence.
Though they were in the same House and year, they hadn't spoken much.
To go from being mere acquaintances to master and disciple overnight naturally created a considerable amount of confusion.
Fortunately, Harry, who had experienced all sorts of situations thanks to his master's influence, was the first to compose himself and speak.
"*Ahem. Hem.* Alright, Neville. I heard the gist of your situation. So… shall we start by taking a look at your skills?"
"Ah? Oh, okay. But where should we do it…? We're not supposed to use magic carelessly in the corridors."
Harry was taken aback by Neville's by-the-book response.
Was this truly the mindset of a Gryffindor? Not a Hufflepuff?
It seemed a fundamental re-evaluation of his attitude was in order.
Harry shook his head firmly.
"Neville. You can't face Bellatrix with that kind of attitude. She's a witch who will use any means necessary. If you came face to face with her, would you give up because 'using magic in the corridors is against the rules'?"
"No, that's not what I meant, but…"
Harry crossed his arms and looked Neville over.
Although Harry had absolutely no experience teaching others, even he could see at a glance what Neville was lacking most.
This kid had absolutely nothing that could be called confidence. No, it was an issue of self-esteem.
Harry's face scrunched up as he thought, then he said, "Alright, Neville. I know this might be sudden since you haven't learned anything yet, but just follow me."
Though he stammered, Neville followed behind Harry.
After climbing stairs for a long time, Neville, panting as he tried to keep up, muttered, "Harry, *huff*, where are we, *huff*, going?"
"We're here. Just wait."
Upon reaching the eighth floor of the Astronomy Tower, Harry abruptly closed his eyes and began pacing back and forth in the corridor.
*I need a suitable place for training.*
"Harry…?"
Just as Neville was about to question him, on the blank wall opposite the painting of a monk dancing with orcs, the shape of a door shimmered into existence. It was the Room of Requirement.
Neville, startled, stammered as he tried to point it out to Harry, but Harry nonchalantly opened the door that had appeared on the wall and went inside.
"What are you doing? Come on in."
"O-oh? Okay!"
Neville, who had no way of knowing about the Room of Requirement, looked around with wonder as he entered.
Inside the room was everything one could possibly need for training.
There were scarecrows that would make perfect targets for spells.
The walls were made of a sturdy material that would be unfazed by most magic.
And most importantly, there was no fear of anyone finding out, no matter how much they trained.
Harry turned to Neville and said, "Alright, Neville. See that scarecrow over there? Imagine you have to take it down, and use your magic."
"Okay, I will."
With a tense expression, Neville pulled his wand from his pocket and aimed it with a clumsy stance.
There were a dozen things Harry wanted to point out about his form alone, but for now, he held his tongue and watched.
*Is this what Master felt like when he first taught me?*
"Uh, Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!"
Neville unleashed every attack spell he knew at the scarecrow.
Harry frowned as he watched.
"Wait, stop. Stop."
Harry looked at Neville and shook his head, looking dejected.
"Neville. That's not it. There's no power in your magic at all."
To demonstrate, Harry raised his wand and aimed it at a scarecrow.
"Watch carefully. This is a proper Disarming Charm. Expelliarmus!"
*BOOM!*
The training dummy flew back as if it had been hit by a straight punch rather than a Disarming Charm.
Upon closer inspection, there was a dented hole in the scarecrow's center, as if it had been hit by a blast of compressed air.
While Neville stood speechless, witnessing a Disarming Charm completely different from anything he knew, Harry continued.
"See that, Neville? That's how you use a Disarming Charm."
Neville asked timidly, "B-but Harry. Isn't that less of a Disarming Charm and more of a Stunning Spell?"
"What are you talking about? This is a Stunning Spell. Stupefy!"
*KABOOM!*
The Stunning Spell Harry fired at another scarecrow produced a deafening boom upon impact, like a cannonball.
Looking closely, the scarecrow's neck was bent at such an angle that it was hard to tell if it were inanimate or dead.
Seeing this, Harry spoke with a sense of satisfaction.
"See that, Neville? The Stunning Spell is more dangerous than you think. It's called a Stunner because if you get hit properly, the shock is enough to make you lose consciousness."
Neville's jaw hung open, unable to make a sound.
*A Stunning Spell… worked like that?*
Harry continued to lecture on the Disarming Charm.
"Neville. What do you think 'disarming' means?"
"Huh? Um, making your opponent drop their wand?"
"No, Neville. That's not it. How could simply taking away a wand count as disarming? Wizards who can use magic without a wand aren't that rare, you know!"
*Is… that so?* Neville felt a wave of confusion.
To be clear, it was rare. Aside from wizards in parts of Africa who carried on traditional sorcery, or incredibly powerful wizards like Dumbledore or Aisen, using powerful magic without a wand was impossible for most.
But from the perspective of Harry, who had honed his skills through all sorts of tribulations, it wasn't rare at all.
Considering the wizards Harry had faced so far—Aisen, Dumbledore, Quirrell, Voldemort, Tom Riddle, Bellatrix—a whopping five out of six could use wandless magic.
In any case, Neville, lacking the courage to point out Harry's skewed sense of normalcy, could only nod.
"So, disarming is a spell that renders your opponent unable to attack anymore. Cast the spell with the mindset that you're going to break all of the Dark Wizard's limbs and pin them to the floor."
Even as Harry taught the Disarming Charm, he felt a bit awkward.
The truth was, Harry almost never used the beautiful, red light of Expelliarmus when facing Dark Wizards.
Why would he, when there was a superior version of the same red-colored spell that could not only disarm but also make the target repent for their sins?
Nevertheless, Harry still possessed a sense of 'common sense,' so he wasn't thoughtless enough to immediately start teaching a classmate the Cruciatus Curse.
In any case, whether he was impressed by Harry's explanation or not, Neville gave Harry a resolute nod and cast the spell again.
"Expelliarmus!"
"No, that's not it! Imagine a stronger image!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Not like that! Again!"
"Expe—"
"Again!"
"Again!"
"Just keep doing it until I say you're done!"
However, Neville's skills were more disastrous than he could have imagined.
Harry had to wonder if his own teaching method was flawed.
Until now, if asked to name the person with the worst magic skills among his acquaintances, he would have, regrettably, unhesitatingly chosen Ron.
It wasn't that Ron's magical ability was terrible, but it was noticeably lacking compared to Hermione, let alone anyone else.
But Neville's skills were abysmal even compared to Ron's.
He'd cast the Disarming Charm and acrid smoke would just puff out of his wand. At one point, the spell somehow ricocheted like a bullet.
The strange thing was, the more he practiced, the worse the results got, with increasingly bizarre outcomes.
The very first Disarming Charm he had cast for the skill test had been his best one.
Harry's expression grew more and more serious.
Neville, stammering at the dismal results, hung his head.
"…I'm sorry, Harry. I guess I'm just no good."
"No. Wait, Neville."
Harry gritted his teeth. At this point, it was no longer just Neville's problem. He was Knightly's disciple, for goodness' sake. If he couldn't even teach a friend a simple spell, his own pride would be shattered to pieces.
Right, if it doesn't work, make it work.
"Neville. What do you think is your biggest problem?"
"I don't know… I guess I just don't have any talent."
"No, Neville. You're not untalented."
This contradicted what he had just been thinking about Neville's terrible skills, but paradoxically, Neville's innate magical talent wasn't low at all.
In fact, looking at talent alone, he was well within the realm of a gifted student.
Every time Harry pointed something out, Neville would uncannily correct that aspect in his next cast; Harry could clearly feel the glimmers of that talent. The problem was that a new issue would pop up somewhere else.
As Harry saw it, Neville's inability to use magic had absolutely nothing to do with a lack of knowledge or talent.
If that was the case, there was only one possible problem.
"Neville, no matter how I look at it, your biggest problem is a lack of confidence."
"Confidence? Me?"
"Yes. It looks like we need to instill some confidence and a sense of purpose in you."
And Harry knew a very good way to do just that.
The very same process he himself had gone through five years ago.
Harry put his arm around Neville's shoulder.
"Neville."
"Yeah?"
"Let's go catch Bellatrix."
"Yeah… huh? What did you say?!"
Before Neville could even begin to process what he was hearing, Harry gave him a confident smile and a nod.
"B-but what can I do if I meet Lestrange now! I'm just a fool who can't even cast a proper Disarming Charm!"
*Smack.*
Harry slapped Neville on the back.
"If not today, then when? When do you think you'll be confident enough in your skills to beat Bellatrix? Tomorrow? Next year? After you graduate? No! If you don't have the courage to go today, you won't be able to face her even years from now!"
Harry looked into Neville's wavering eyes and said, "You need to go, and even if you have to run, even if you lose, you need to find out what you're capable of. You can do it."
"I… can do it?"
He was certain they had been told that, starting tonight, everyone would be sleeping together in the Great Hall instead of the dormitories.
In other words, the professors had determined that Bellatrix Lestrange would strike tonight.
Harry was confident that even if he faced Bellatrix, he could subdue her.
He had already done it five years ago; there was no way he couldn't do it now.
Based on that confidence, Harry said,
"I'll help you. Neville, let's go."
***