Private Tutor for Hire

George turned around and left the corridor whilst slowly lowering the bunch of flowers into his enchanted sack. Luckily, things stayed upright in there, so he didn't have to worry about the water spilling. Although George was bold enough to walk up to Hermione in the middle of the Great Hall and hand over the flowers, he had a much better time and place in mind.

He went to the Great Hall and enjoyed another Halloween-themed lunch, George ate a large pastry in the shape of a tarantula. Everyone in the hall was having a good time and was getting into the Halloween spirit. Some of the students had started dressing up in modified uniforms that made them look like the undead. The ghosts all came out as well and told the students about horror stories of their deaths in gruelling detail, they seemed to be taking pleasure out of spooking the younger students.

George's attention however was on the Gryffindor table, his eyes were scanning the table for the absence of one curly-haired girl. After swallowing the final leg of his tarantula beef pasty and downing a pint of blood-coloured grape juice, George stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. He never liked doing this since it required him to walk directly in front of the teacher's table, but weeks of practice had resulted in him getting surprisingly good at blocking them out.

Neville seemed to have developed a sixth sense for George as he was first to look in his direction once he reached the table. Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean all noticed Neville and turned to face George as well. Their conversation stopped as they recognised him, they all just sat there and stared at him without saying a word.

To end the awkward silence, George asked with a cheery attitude, "you guys got anything planned for Halloween?"

The group looked at each other before turning back to George whilst shaking their heads, they weren't helping to end the awkward atmosphere. George decided, in the absence of small talk, he might as well get straight to the point. He leaned over the table, forcing Neville and Seamus to nudge over, and picked up a particularly long and thin sausage that was meant to mimic the shape of an intestine. He shoved the entire sausage in his mouth and swallowed it in one go.

The passive-aggressive comment from Ron finally came out, "is there a problem with the food at the Slytherin table?"

"Not the food, just the company. I'm sure you know all about that... being in Gryffindor and all", George answered whilst licking his greasy fingers.

"And what do you mean by that?", retorted Ron.

George took a gulp of juice before saying, "Slytherins don't make for the best company, it's as simple as that. You guys, on the other hand, are much better."

Ron seemed to simmer down after hearing his compliment. Unlike the outspoken Weasley, Harry was normally quite reserved around George and infrequently spoke whenever he came over to their table.

That vow of silence was broken today as Harry asked, "why do you keep coming to the Gryffindor Quidditch practice?"

George stopped reaching for another sausage and looked up at Harry, this was a question he couldn't just brush aside. The answer wasn't complicated since the Quidditch practice served the same role as the Hogwarts Gardens. Due to his first week at Hogwarts, George realised that he couldn't work every single minute without a little time off now and then. Therefore, he scheduled a time to visit the Gardens once a week and go to the Quidditch practice with Neville.

George leaned forward and asked Harry, "is that a problem? Do you want me to stop coming, is that it?"

"No, not at all. It's just… weird. You're in Slytherin, don't you want to watch them practise instead?", Harry was quick to amend his words.

"Yeah. Why don't you watch the Slytherins practise instead?", Ron said in a much more antagonistic tone.

"Maybe he's smart enough to support the house team that's going to win", Dean suggested in an attempt to defend George.

"And you would know all about that, wouldn't you Dean?", George said whilst raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Dean immediately turned red as he realised what George meant. Then he picked up a biscuit in the shape of a pumpkin and threw it at George in retaliation. George saw the projectile coming a mile away and caught it out of the air and threw it into his mouth.

He said whilst chewing, "just accept it, your team is gonna lose. Go and support Chelsea instead, their odds are way better than West Ham. Oh, and next time, could you throw something more savoury like a sausage or a pork pie? I haven't got much of a sweet tooth."

Before Dean could throw something else, George looked back to Harry and finally answered his question.

"Getting back on track, I'll be honest with you but I would appreciate it if you could keep it between us…"

Then George said in a hushed voice, "Slytherin is full of slimy gits like Professor Snape. If you guys think it's bad to share Potions class with Slytherin, try sharing every class and the same common room with them, then get back to me. On the topic of Potions, you guys have no idea how bad Snape is as your Head of House. He is breathing down my neck twenty-four hours a day. I bet if you look over my shoulder right now and see him sitting at the professor's table, he will be staring right at me. Go on, have a look."

The harsh words that left his mouth seemed to leave Harry and the rest of the boys somewhat stunned. They all looked over George's shoulder and, judging by their shrunken pupils, he was right on the money. Snape was looking in their direction, but not necessarily at George. He would most likely be looking at Harry and George as a collective.

Since the conversation had fallen into a lul, George leaned over to Neville, "anyway, how were things in Charms? Did you get the hang of the Wingardium Leviosa spell?"

Seamus turned back to George, "how do you know Professor Flitwick taught us Wingardium Leviosa? Slytherin doesn't have Charms class until tomorrow."

George tapped the side of his nose, "I have my sources, but they're confidential."

Neville took a few seconds before he timidly answered, "not so well. Professor Flitwick wanted us to make a feather fly into the air, but I couldn't do it."

"It wasn't just you Neville, nobody could do it. Seamus even set his feather on fire", Ron said whilst pointing towards the slightly charred boy.

"Ron, I told you not to bring that up again", Seamus grunted.

Harry added, "what about Hermione? She made the feather fly really high."

Ron turned to Harry and rebutted, "she doesn't count. She's good at everything."

The group went silent once again, George looked around and could tell that there was something that all the boys were feeling guilty about.

He turned back to Neville and offered, "I know we don't normally do this, but would you like to practise with me? Maybe I can give you a few tips."

Neville's face lit up after hearing George's suggestion, "when?"

"Right now. I'm a bit busy this afternoon so I've only got this lunch break to spare", George said whilst checking his watch, "if we start right away then we should have half an hour to practice."

George stood up from the bench and Neville mimicked his actions immediately after. George nodded at Neville with a smile before grabbing another sausage and preparing to leave, but he was stopped by Ron's irritating voice.

"What makes you so good that you can teach Neville? It's like Seamus said, you haven't even been taught the spell yet", he asked George condescendingly.

George merely answered Ron's doubt by turning around and brandishing his wand at the annoying boy.

He waved his wand and eloquently said, "WinGARdium LeviOHsa!", just like Hermione.

The goblet in Ron's hand suddenly floated out of his grip and hovered above him. It kept flying upwards until it was seven feet off the ground and was directly above Ron's head. The group of boys plus a few of the other first-year Gryffindor students watched in amazement as the goblet remained suspended in the air just like the pumpkins illuminating the room.

George put away his wand, "I think that proves my qualifications."

He looked down at Neville and saw him innocently smiling at the floating cup before looking up at him in reverie. George gave him a cheeky wink in response and turned to leave. Then he acted as if he'd remembered something and turned back around to Ron to address the annoying boy one last time.

He said in a slightly raised voice, "oh yeah, I almost forgot. I haven't quite mastered the spell yet so you should probably try and grab the goblet before it falls, I would hate to hear that you get drenched in pumpkin juice because of my incompetence."

George and Neville then heard the faint giggles of children as they left the Great Hall. They were laughing at Ron as he attempted to stand on the table and stretch for his goblet that was ever so slightly out of his reach. George and Neville walked out of the castle and were now standing in an open field beside the Forbidden Forest.

"Why do we have to do this outside? It's freezing", Neville said whilst shivering in his own tight embrace.

Frost had started to form on the trees in late September, the Black Lake was already covered in a thin sheet of ice. George and Neville were producing plumes of frozen moisture with every breath. George assumed that it was probably around five degrees Celsius, although, the heat generated by his body somewhat distorted his natural thermostat.

George cracked his knuckles while saying, "we are out here because nobody else is, we have the entire field to ourselves. So there will be nothing to distract you from mastering Wingardium Leviosa."

"Nothing except hypothermia", Neville added while he was breathing into his cupped hands.

George did a double-take after hearing Neville's jab, he could hardly believe his ears.

He wondered to himself, "did Neville just talk back to me?"

Like a dog getting a treat for good behaviour, George felt it was only right to reinforce Neville's comment by warming him up. With Neville shivering beside him, George raised his hand and clicked his fingers. A flame the size of a tennis ball appeared above his palm, this of course captured Neville's attention. George stared at the flame and concentrated as it grew in size rapidly, it had grown to the size of a watermelon within a second. The temperature given off was enough to resemble a small fireplace.

"Now you have no excuses", George said whilst gesturing toward the roaring fire.

Neville was quick to hobble over to the hovering flame as if he was planning to embrace it in a hug. He held his arms around it and waited for the warm glow to spread through his body. After a minute passed, Neville turned around and pulled out his wand. Determination could be easily read from his chubby face, like a puppy trying to impress its master. George looked at the ground, picked up a rock the size of an acorn, and held it in his open palm towards Neville.

He promptly demanded, "show me what you got. Try and make the stone float into the air."

Neville appeared quite hesitant, "but what if I hit you with the spell by accident, you might end up flying into the air?"

George chuckled, "if you were capable of levitating something as heavy as me into the air on your first try, then you wouldn't need me to teach you. There is a reason Professor Flitwick starts you with a feather. Now, show me what we're working with."

Neville listened to George and timidly nodded. It would be hard for him to look any less confident in himself as he brandished his wand. What George didn't tell Neville was the fact he'd been gaining the defensive characteristics of the Ukrainian Ironbelly. He'd conducted some tests over the past month and realised that, even in his human form, weak Charms did nothing to him or rebounded back at the caster.

Neville waved his wand wildly and shouted, "Wigordiome Lefiosa!"

Just as George had anticipated, he neither felt himself nor the rock move in the slightest. It wasn't a surprise since he knew the moment Neville spoke that the spell was going to be a failure. His wrist movements were completely random and his pronunciation was barely comprehendible. Luckily for Neville, he had a private tutor on hand to show him the way.

George thought about Neville's problems and came up with a solution he'd been brewing over a week ago in the Library. The rock was just meant to serve as a gauge of Neville's ability so he threw it aside to Neville's surprise. George didn't bother to explain as he pulled out a notebook from his enchanted sack. He also pulled out a big green permanent marker and pulled the lid off with his teeth.

Just as he was about to start writing, Neville asked, "is that another one of your cool pens?"

George spat out the lid and said, "this pen is a permanent marker, you want to be careful with this one. As the name implies, it doesn't come off. You would have to visit Pomfrey if you ever wanted to wash it off."

Neville looked very intrigued as George started writing with the permanent marker on the first page of the notebook. He wrote in large letters 'WING-GUAR-DEE-UM LEH-VE-OH-SA', across the top, taking up about a third of the page. George paused and mimed casting the Levitation spell in his head with the marker instead of his wand. Once he felt like he was imitating the movements of the spell perfectly, George repeated the process except whilst pressing the marker against the notebook.

George left a large green squiggly line below the 'WING-GUAR-DEE-UM LEH-VE-OH-SA' that looked a bit like a seven that had fallen over to the right. Then he drew arrows pointing from the syllables to different points along the squiggly line. Those arrows indicated where Neville should say that part of the word during the wand-waving. George looked at the page and felt this illustration was a concrete way of ensuring the correct wand movements and incantation of the Levitation Charm.

He put the marker away and turned the notebook around to face Neville, the boy didn't appear to be very impressed. Neville looked at the nonsensical words and the scribble below it with an expression of pure befuddlement.

George pointed at the letters while saying, "don't you get it? Wing-gaur-dee-um Leh-ve-oh-sa. It's how you say Wingardium Leviosa in eight easy steps, I've just broken it up into the syllables for you. As long as you say the syllables like this then you'll do fine."

Then George reached forward and grabbed Neville's hand which was holding his wand. Neville's arm was so feeble that it was like wielding a noodle, George had to be careful not to squeeze too hard or risk breaking his wrist. He guided Neville's hand so that his wand was pointing directly at the far left end of the seven, Neville put up no resistance as he continued to look at George like he had gone insane.

George started to move the wand along the sideways seven, "the squiggly line is a path your wand has to follow to cast the spell correctly. When you get to this point…"

He tapped Neville's wand against a curly part of the seven, "you say the GAR part of Win-Gar-Dium. And at this point…"

He tapped Neville's wand against the peak of the seven, "you say the OH part of Lev-Oh-Sa. Then you finish by moving the wand back down the line as you say SA. Dead simple, right?"

Neville looked to be using every brain cell he could muster to concentrate on George's instructions. Whilst still grabbing Neville's wrist firmly, George repeated the movement along the squiggly line while saying the incantation slowly.

Then he abruptly let go of Neville's wrist, "now it's your turn. Just remember; it's not Wingardium Leviosa anymore, it's Wing-gaur-dee-um Leh-ve-oh-sa. We can worry about saying it faster later."

Neville nodded at George and stared at the squiggly line. He appeared to be repeating the incantation in his head over and over again in preparation for saying it out loud. After a few seconds, Neville brandished his wand and pressed it against the notebook.

He slowly and hesitatingly waved his wand along the line, "Wing-gaur-dee-um Leh-ve-oh-sa!"

Nothing appeared to have happened, suggesting a failed spell casting, but George still clapped his hands whilst being careful not to drop the notebook on the wet grass. Neville was clearly disappointed in himself for failing, but he was also confused about why George was acting as if he had succeeded.

He asked him, "what are you clapping for? I still messed up. Even with your help, I'm useless."

George stopped applauding, "you said the incantation correctly and made the right wand movements. It was a massive improvement from your last attempt. I was clapping because you're progressing far faster than I anticipated, you should be happy as well. The spell only failed because you hesitated and performed it too slowly. Just give it a few more attempts and I'm sure you'll succeed in no time."

A glimmer of hope appeared in Neville's eyes, "really, you're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

George winked, "really really. Now come on, we've only got another fifteen minutes before lunch ends and it's freezing. I want to see you outperforming the rest of your class by the end of the day and uprooting trees by the end of the week."

And so George and Neville stood opposite each other whilst Neville attempted to cast the spell repeatedly. The boy slowly made improvements to the flurry of his wand and the pronunciation of the incantation. George had come to anticipate a certain degree of resistance from Neville, as anyone would get annoyed after repeatedly failing the same thing over and over again, but he was pleasantly proven wrong. With only a little motivation, Neville had become a workhorse as he grinded away without complaint.

Soon the monotony of repeating the same spell over and over again was broken by the sound of the bell chiming in the clock tower signalling the end of the lunch hour. Neville finally lowered his wand after hearing the bell and appeared to be incredibly disheartened as he looked toward the ground shamefully, he must have thought he'd let George down. On the contrary, George's smile did not waver as he still held onto the notebook tightly.

He asked Neville sarcastically, "did you find something interesting on the floor?"

Neville slowly raised his head and murmured, "I couldn't do it, even after all the help you gave me. You were wrong about me, I am useless."

George merely tutted before retorting, "I wouldn't be so sure."

He let go of the notebook which had been fighting against his grip, it instantly shot up into the air like a rocket. The book must have reached over twenty feet into the air before it slowly fell back down to the ground, George made sure to catch it so it didn't get wet from the grass. Neville's miserable expression was exchanged for astonishment as he witnessed the magical event transpire.

He asked George in a high-pitch voice, "what just happened?"

"Come on Neville, have you not been paying attention? You've been casting the Levitation charm for the past fifteen minutes, what did you think was going to happen?"

A new wave of shock seemed to overcome Neville as he pointed at the notebook, "I did that?"

George nodded, "yep, that was all you. I was really struggling to hold on, I guess I was saved by the bell. That book was probably charged with about twelve minutes worth of Levitation Charms."

Neville looked as if he was about to start dancing, but suddenly his expression changed as a new thought dawned on him.

"Wait a minute, does that mean you've known I was casting the spell correctly for the past ten minutes and didn't tell me? Why?", Neville asked with a hint of betrayal in his voice.

George wasn't fazed as he nodded his head, "it was twelve minutes, but yes, I did hide it from you."

The look of betrayal on Neville's face only got worse after George's confession.

George held up his hand to Neville, "sure I could have told you the moment the spell first worked, that way we could have wrapped this up early and gone back to the Great Hall. Then you would be just like everyone else, plodding along at the rate the school deems acceptable. But, I saw that look of determination on your face and I knew that you were capable of far more, that if you push yourself you could exceed the low expectations everyone else has come to expect from you.

You must have heard them talk behind your back. Hopeless, a failure, a disappointment, a waste of space; this is what currently defines Neville Longbottom to them. I can tell that you're already starting to believe it yourself, that they're right about you. But this isn't the truth, they are all wrong. If you push yourself, then you can reach heights they could only dream of.

That's why I didn't tell you that your spell worked twelve minutes ago, so you could see that fact for yourself. And I wasn't wrong, was I? I bet even Hermione couldn't launch a notebook that high. I just want you to realise what I have known since the very first day I met you. You, Neville Longbottom, are destined for greatness."

Neville's brain didn't seem to compute very well when it came to an oversaturation of compliments. The poor boy's expression was somewhere between befuddlement and joy. It was a lot of information to take in, so George was satisfied with leaving his sappy motivational speech there for now.

George gave the notebook to the still-unresponsive Neville, "we both have Flying lessons now so we better make our way over before Professor Hooch gives us detention."

All Neville did was nod his head in response as he slowly put away his wand. George used his signature smile as he wrapped his arm around Neville and guided him towards the Flying lesson field. Once they walked a dozen yards away from their original spot, the watermelon-sized flame suddenly fell out of the air. The flame hit the ground and exploded, sending embers in all directions. All evidence of the fire vanished moments later except for a few glowing embers slowly gliding to the ground.