Dedicated to Forever_Everlasting for the intimate cover she made ;) Thank you so much, hun!

Song For This Chapter: Humming Bird - Alex Clare

Ch. 10: Neville's A Genius

    "Hey, Ron." A nervous Neville squeaked as he walked up to the four of us walking towards Defense Against the Dark Arts. Apparently, I was cool enough to hang with the Golden Trio now that my friends were no longer attending Hogwarts.

    Writing Jenna, I found out that her parents didn't re-enroll her for Hogwarts because they no longer trusted Headmaster Dumbledore. Apparently, they felt he was off his rocker and Jenna needed to be as far away from that school as possible.

    Ron rolled his eyes, pausing in his conversation with Harry. "Not now, Neville, I've got to talk to Harry about something."

    Flushing, Neville nodded an stepped away, turning to Hermione who's head was buried into a thick book as we walked. "Er... Hermione? Could, could I talk to -" But, he dropped it, realizing that she was too involved with the information on the pages to even hear him.

    "Will no one listen to me?" He rose his voice, making me glance up at him with a small smirk.

    Chuckling, I nodded at him. "Alright then, Neville. I'll listen, what is so important?"

    He paused for a minute and scratched the back of his neck. "Well... I found a place for us to practice our sessions." He muttered, ears burning slightly pink as I rose a brow at this.

    "Eh-hem." A short little stump cleared her throat, glaring daggers from the entrance way of her classroom. "Miss Granger, Mr. Longbottom. What was that about practicing sessions?"

    Jumping in front of the guilty Neville, I beamed at Umbridge and clasped my hands together as if I was truly excited. "Oh, Professor - I'll be teaching Neville how to play the cello!" I gave her a small wink as I leant forward, whispering slightly. "He really likes this one girl who loves guys that can play instruments. So, I'm teaching him a skill!"

    Her eye twitched a little at my proximity and took a sharp step back, shoving a sickly sweet and utterly fake smile onto her face. "Well," She breathed out, nose scrunching as if she smelt something foul. "That's lovely, Miss Granger. But, perhaps you haven't been informed, organizations of any size have been disbanded." Her cold eyes flickered onto Neville. "Sorry."

    As soon as she turned her back I made a move to flip her off, but Hermione quickly smacked my hand down. Giving me a bug-eyed look that read: 'Do-it-and-die-an-excruciating-death'. She had so many different looks, it made me curious if she had spent hours in the mirror perfecting them.

    Rolling my eyes, I gave her a look that merely stated how little I cared.

    After school, Neville guided our group through the halls and up a few flights of stairs, stopping in front of a blank wall. For a minute or so, I watched as Neville stared up at the blank wall, brow furrowed as if he was concentrating really hard.

    "Uh... Neville?" I began, sparing Harry, Ron, and Hermione the same confused look they had on their own faces. "What 'cha up to?"

    Neville frowned at me, but didn't respond. Instead, he continued to pace around in front of the door. Sighing, I was about to just walk away from the crazy scene, but a low rumbling sound caught my attention.

    Slowly, the wall began to crumble and, bit by bit, a thick, iron clad door appeared. Hermione grinned ecstatically and tugged one of the large doors open. Ushering us all inside, she quickly shut the door and clasped her hands together, excited. "Neville's done it! He's found the Room of Requirement!"

    A grin spread onto Ron's face as he clapped Neville on the back, making him teeter a little. "You're a bloody genius, Longbottom!" He sent the look a dopey grin. "How did you ever manage to find it?"

    "What, exactly, is this place?" I asked, feeling slightly confused about where we were and why everyone seemed so excited. Looking around, I noted that Luna was the only one who seemed perfectly at ease in this place.

    Hermione smiled at me, her eyes brimming with knowledge. "It's also known as the 'come' and 'go'  room. The Room of Requirement only appears when a person has real need of it. And, is always equipped for the seeker's needs."

    "Seems a little coincidental." I muttered, earning a small glare from Hermione.

    Sniffing, she stuck her nose in the air. "Well, of course. It's built for coincidence."

    "So," Ron cocked his head to the side. "Say you really needed the toilet..." He spared Hermione a challenging look as she bit her lip to keep herself from snickering.

    "Charming Ronald." She rolled her eyes. "But... yes. That is the general idea." I snickered as Fred flicked the back of Ron's ear as if to tell him he was a fool.

    Our group of DA members started to spread out a little, looking around at the glass walls and racks of fighting equipment. "It's brilliant." Harry stated, a grin forming in the corners of his mouth. "It's like Hogwarts itself wants us to fight back."

    "Harry?" Ginny stepped forward. "Are we going to practice today?"

    Harry's face paled a little, no doubt due to nervousness, but as he watched everyone's faces turn towards him for answers, his back straightened out and he nodded. "Yes, alright... Good, let's all line up and practice some basic spells, then."

    "Which one?" Cho called, smiling at him. Harry faltered a little and I stepped forward, making sure it was okay with him.

    "How about... Expelliarmus? The disarming spell - something elementary?"

    We all lined up, me between George and Fred, Harry and Neville at the very front. Slowly, a mechanical Death Eater raised it's fake wand towards Neville as if to strike him. His hands shook a little as Neville raised his wand. "E-expelliarmus!" He hollered.

    However, as he did, the spell back fired some how, sending his own wand flying back. Fred yanked me down as it ricocheted towards my face.

    Smirking a little, I pat him on the shoulder, looking up into his eyes. "Thanks for saving me, sir."

    "No problem, m'lady." He gave me a curt bow, making me scoff and turn my attention back onto Neville and Harry as Neville stated that he was worthless. The sound of how defeated he was made me feel bad for the poor guy.

    "You're not, Neville." Harry offered him a reassuring smile. "You are just flourishing your wand a bit too much. Watch me, okay?" He nodded and Neville turned back around to watch as Harry face the metal Death Eater.

    Again, the Death Eater slowly raised it's wand as if to strike Harry. "Now, try it like this." Harry waved his wand curtly and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" With a flash of light, the wand shot out of the Death Eater's hand and toppled onto the floor with a clatter.

    We all decided to meet after school everyday since there was no longer any Quidditch matches, nor practices to attend. I was bouncing between schedules of taking exams from last year and making up lost classes so often that my days began to blur.

    I would wake up thinking it was Friday morning, but in reality it was still Thursday afternoon. Hermione was getting worried. "Elle, are you almost done finishing your make-up classes?" She asked me one night, sitting beside me next to the fire. "I feel like I'm looking directly into my third year here." She sighed.

    Wiping some sleep from my eyes, I spared her a small smile that probably was not reassuring. "I'm fine, Hermione. Plus, all I have left is my History of Magic exam left to take then I will be done with this traveling." I stifled a yawn, but she seemed pleased with those words.

    "Did you do the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework?" Hermione asked softly, knowing I didn't and that it was due tomorrow.

    Shaking my head, I fought to keep my eyes open as I scrawled my name onto my Potion's essay. "No, it's a load of crap anyway, 'Moine. Rewrite the lesson four times?! I'm not going to." I bit out stubbornly as I angrily began to list bullet points of all the ingredients needed to create the potion Snape had assigned me.

    "Well, if you don't, you will fail that class." She spoke sternly, as a mother would. "But, you don't need to worry. I did it for you." She grinned, pushing a strand of bushy hair behind her ear and handing me a roll of parchment.

    Groaning, I cast her a displeased face. "No, how many times do I need to tell you? I'm not one of your free-loading friends. You don't need to do my homework!"

    Hermione stuck her nose up into the hair, but slightly seemed pleased with my response. Ron, who was sitting in the corner playing Seamus at Wizard Chess scoffed at this and frowned. "Hey!" I only shrugged at him in response.

    "Sue me."

    He rose a brow, giving Hermione a confused glance. "What?"

    "Muggle thing, don't worry about it, Ron." She sighed, pulling out a book and propping it open to the middle.

    The next day we walked to the DA meeting, Filch was peering around the corner, trying to subtly follow us, but failing miserably. Goes to show that Umbridge wasn't as dumb as we all thought she was.

    "We are going to need to be a lot more careful." Hermione sighed as the training began. "Perhaps we should come in groups? Never too many at once." She instructed, getting everyone to agree. "Also, we made these coins," She held up a golden coin in the air as Harry handed them all out to each member. "They will alert us when and if something happens."

    "Cool." I grinned, pocketing mine.

    Harry had the group separate into two sections, boys on one side, girls on the other. "Today, we will be going over stunning." He twisted his wand around in his hands as he walked down the middle of the groups. "Stunning, it's like a wizard's bread and butter really. It leads up to a more experienced wizard."

    He looked through the line of boys and waved a small Gryffindor over towards the middle of the room. "Come here, Nigel is it?"

    Slightly scared, the boy nodded and glanced around at everyone's faces as we watched him curiously. "Y-yes, Mr. Potter." Harry chuckled a little uncomfortably at this and told him just to call him Harry.

    Walking to the other end of the room, Harry spread open his arms and called towards the small boy. "Alright, give me your best shot."

    There was a pregnant pause throughout the room as we all looked at the two of them with arched brows. The boy too a deep breath and aimed his wand at Harry, yelling: "Stupefy!" The impact was so rough that not only did Nigel send Harry flying, but also he went flying backwards as well.

    Grinning, I gave him a small applause while people gave me strange looks.

    Grunting, Harry picked himself off the ground. "Good, good. Not bad actually - well done, Nigel." He coughed a little while Nigel brushed himself off, wearing a face that told he was surprised he had actually succeeded in hitting Harry Potter.

    Smiling, Harry motioned towards the girls. "How about a volunteer pair?" His eyes connected with Hermione's and he motioned towards the middle of the room. "Hermione? Would you like to?"

    Frowning a little, she stepped forward and nervously spun her wand in her hands. "Yeah, okay." Smirking a little, I rose a hand, getting Harry's attention.

    "I volunteer Ron, to give us a good demonstration." I teased as Hermione's eyes widened, glaring at me. "Unless," I took a dramatic pause, turning to look directly into Ron's eyes. "Ron's afraid."

    Ron flushed a little and scoffed, shaking his head. "I'm not scared, I'll go." He smile weakly, stepping forward to whisper something into Hermione's ear. She furrowed her brow and chuckled, shaking her head.

    Grinning, I turned towards Fred and George holding up three fingers, mouthing the word 'Sickles'. George grinned and accepted the bet, getting Fred in on it too. "Come on, Ron." The boys begun cheering him on as he paced back to face Hermione in the challenge.

    "Come on, Hermione!" I jested, getting Ginny to join me. "Let's go!"

    There was only a small pause that Hermione and Ron looked each other dead in the eyes. Curious, I watched Hermione falter a little, waiting to give Ron the chance to draw his wand. The duel was over long before it had even begun. As soon as Ron opened his mouth, Hermione called out a bored, "Stupefy" and shot him three feet through the air.

    "YES!" I belted out, prancing over to the Twins and holding out my hand. "That'll be three sickles for me." Fred smirked and elbowed George. "What? Coming up empty?"

    "Not at all, Letter." Fred grinned. "In fact, I bet on the know-it-all too. So Georgie here has to pay up, six sickles than, come on." George rolled his eyes and tossed us the money, muttering something under his breath.

    Ron limped over to us, keeping his head low. "I let her do that..." He lifted his eyes towards his brother. "It's what any good man would've done." Fred smirked and nodded with him, pretending to agree one hundred percent while George continued to sulk a little.

    "It was...." He trailed off while I watched him, chuckling a little.

    "Completely intensional?" I finished for him, seeing how he'd lost his will to speak.

    After an hour, Harry called everyone's attention. "Alright guys, very good work - we will pick it up again tomorrow. Have a good night's sleep." There was a rumbling noise from the left of the room, and slowly a new door began to form. "I guess we should all leave through that entrance, then." He grinned and everyone said goodnight, sneaking out the door in threes.

    "Good night, guys." I waved at Hermione, Ron, and Harry as they stayed behind to discuss tomorrow's lesson. Sticking my hands in my jacket pocket, I caught up with Fred and George. "So, how is the business going?"

    George chuckled as we checked the hallway for any teachers before maneuvering outside. "Very well, in fact. You want to begin the rough production of WonderWitch products?"

    Raising a brow, I nodded. "Sure, but I guess you'll have to tell me what the heck a 'wonderwitch' is."

    "Oh, you know." Fred shrugged as the three of us climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor portrait hole. "Feminine products and magical skin care stuff, love potions, shampoos that eternally make you stink like roses."

    Scoffing, I rose a brow. "Yeah, typical easy things." I stated sarcastically. "You want to mass produce love potions? Those things are dangerous!"

    Fred smirked. "Hardly."

    "Hardly?" I challenged him as George gave the Fat Lady our password. "Did you know that if a woman gets pregnant under the spell of a love potion, the child will be born without ever being able to feel love?"

    Fred rose a brow at that, shaking his head. "Nope. Well, I guess that's why we recruited you, huh Letter? A bookworm's twin should have some smarts too." He smiled down at me, but sighed. "Look, if it really bugs you - we can make temporary love potions, yeah?"

    "You are such an idiot." I rolled my eyes, teasing him. Fred pretended to be hurt and then wrapped an arm around my torso, pulling me in close and kissing me lightly on the lips, muttering against me.

    It was only after he'd gone up to bed that I had realized what he'd said. "What can I say? I'm a Weasley."

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Sorry if it's a bit rushed, more chapters soon, I just wanted to supply you all with your weekly fix of FRELLE

Do you want a sneak peek into the next and final book?