When I eventually got my hand back from Susan, I was able to complete my charms assignment rather quickly. Everyone else was either already done with their homework or just finishing up, and with plenty of time before lunch I started reading the book Hermione had handed me earlier, simply titled 'Magizoology: Beasts Native To Greece'. It was a drab, factual book that seemed more concerned with the statute of secrecy than anything that could help me get past it. "Hermione, did you find any books that compare muggle mythology with actual facts?"

"Not really. I checked through the library's catalogue on anything that covers muggle religions, and at best they gloss over the subject." Hermione replied without lifting her head from the book she was reading. I've often found it odd how she can continue reading and carry on a conversation or write something at the same time.

"Why the sudden interest in mythology?" Susan asked me.

"Well, I found something odd last night that reminded me of a story I heard a long time ago."

"Wait, you found something? That's why you wanted my help?" Hermione asked, giving me a piercing stare and her book now on the table.

"It's not like that." I looked around to make sure there wasn't anyone else around that might overhear. Satisfied, I continued in just over a whisper, "That nap I took yesterday? I didn't wake up until well after curfew. I had to sneak through the restricted part of the third floor to avoid getting caught, and that's where I found the three headed dog. I was planning to be more honest once we were in the dueling room and away from potential eavesdroppers."

"Well, if you want to make it up to me, maybe you could show me it?" Hermione asked, trying to hide a look of pleading on her face.

"Sure. But it'll mean breaking curfew." I said and watched as her expression changed to one of deep, conflicted thought. "You can't expect to sneak into the restricted part of the third floor with students wandering about can you?"

There was a pause with all eyes on Hermione. "I'll do it." She said with a bit of trepidation in her voice. 

"Awesome. Anyone else up for a late night?" I asked the group. Hannah and Lisa both said no and Neville just shook his head. "You in, Susan?"

"Of course I'm in." She replied wrapping her arm around my waist and leaning her head on my shoulder.

________________________________________

Walking into the Great Hall for lunch, I looked at the head table and saw Professor Flitwick already there and conversing with Professor McGonagall. Seperating myself from the group I made my way to the head table. Before I could get close enough to overhear their conversation, Professor McGonagall addressed me. "Ah, Miss Potter, how are you doing today, dear?"

"Quite well, thank you, Professor." Turning my gaze to Professor Flitwick I continued, "I was hoping to ask you for a favor, Professor."

"Oh? You have me intrigued." Professor Flitwick had a jovial twinkle in his eyes.

"I was hoping to borrow the use of the dueling room today, after lunch."

"That is a bit irregular for me to allow a student to practice in the dueling room by themselves."

"Well, it's not just me, sir. Neville… Mr Longbottom is having trouble with his Depulso charm and I offered to assist him. I figured between the spell dummies and the targets, it may help him to visualize the end result. In addition, Miss's Bones, Abbott, Turpin, and Granger will be there too."

"I always like seeing students helping one another. You have proven your responsibility in regards to your learning as well as your restraint while dueling. So, irregular as it is, I see no reason not to accommodate the request. I will, however, be holding you accountable for the state the room is left in."

"Thank you, sir. When we're done you wouldn't be able to tell we even used it."

"I'll see you at the dueling room after lunch then."

"Thank you, professor." I gave a little curtsy and went back to my friends. Everyone was waiting for the answer except for Susan, who had a wicked grin.

"I told you you're his favorite." Susan said playfully. That girl can read me like a book sometimes. I don't know if I find it concerning or endearing though. While most everyone else in the world has friends their entire lives, I've only had the last eight months or so to get used to people caring about me.

"He doesn't have favorites! He just trusts me." I said, knowing Susan is only teasing me to get me riled up.

"Uh huh." Susan said while nodding slowly which got a chuckle from all the girls. 

Neville, on the other hand, didn't quite know what to do so he said, "So, we're good to use the dueling room?"

"Yep. Professor Flitwick will meet us there after lunch." I said.

"Umm. Where is the dueling room?" Hermione asked.

"Two doors past charms." I said. "Oh, and Neville, eat some vegetables with lunch, and if you have dessert, make it something not so sugary. It will help increase your performance." Most wizards wouldn't notice a difference, but almost all of the books on dueling I've read recommend a more healthy diet. A lot of it seems very similar to what I've learned about sports medicine in my muggle education. I'll admit that I'm not as strict on my diet as maybe I should be if I want to compete on the professional level, but I've also made sure to include physical training and exercise in my weekly routine as well.

"Why is that important?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, none of the professors have said anything about that." Hermione added.

"Well, it's talked about a lot in books about dueling. They say there's a connection between physical stamina and magical stamina. Since nothing we are learning in class is too demanding, there isn't much of a need to bring it up."

"Well I guess that makes sense." Hermione said, looking disappointed. Looking at the faces of everyone else, they all seemed to share in the disappointment of eating healthier.

"It's not like I'm forcing any of you to lay off the sweets, just that a healthier diet can help your wand work."

________________________________________

As soon as I was done eating, which I didn't rush, nor did I dawdle either, I was sitting outside the locked door to the dueling room waiting for Professor Flitwick and everyone else. I took the time to look over all of my papers to check for grammar and correct spelling, which is a good thing I did because I forgot the 's' in wolfsbane. 

Susan's voice broke the silence of my solitude. "I thought you got all of your work done already."

"I did. Just fixing a typo. I don't think Professor Snape would take kindly to the use of 'wolfbane' in the draught of living death."

"Yeah. He's hard enough to please when you get things right." 

This got Susan paranoid about her own work, so she decided to check over hers too. It wasn't long for everyone else to arrive, with Hermione and Neville being the last to show up, but they were walking with Professor Flitwick and having a conversation about spell theory and the study of arithmancy. It took them a few minutes once they arrived at the door to the classroom before they finished their conversation. But as soon as they were done Professor Flitwick unlocked the door and we all headed inside. "I'll be in the charms room if you need anything. Please drop by and let me know how everything went."

"Of course, Professor. And thank you, again."

"No problem my dear." And with that he turned and walked the short distance to his charms classroom.

"So where do we start?" Asked Neville.

"We need to set some things up. A couple dummies and some target rings to start." I replied as I walked to the supply closet.

Moving the dummies was difficult. Since they are designed and enchanted to resist spells we had to manually move them and it took three of us to carry each one. The target rings and stands were easy enough though. They consist of a vertical stand for a weighted ball to be placed, and then rings similar to a quidditch pitch, but about five feet above the ground. The largest ring being two feet across, and each subsequent ring would shrink by six inches until the smallest ring at eight inches. The accompanying balls are metal, weighing anywhere from five to fifty pounds, and they measure six inches across. I personally am still working on getting them through the smallest ring at twenty-five feet away. For Neville though, I set the largest ring up ten feet away and placed the lightest ball on the stand.

"Ok, now that we have our blood pumping, Neville, why don't you show me what we are working with." 

"Alright." He held his wand out, pointing at one of the dummies. "Depulso!" He said with a flick of his wrist. The dummy didn't move, but a rune on its chest faintly lit up. "Is that good?" He asked me.

"It's a start. The dummies are very resistant to spells, so don't expect it to move too much, but the rune will glow when hit with a spell. The brighter the light, the more impact the spell would have."

"Should I try again?" Neville asked me.

"I want you to try this out instead." I said pointing to the ball on the stand.

"Oh, okay. Am I supposed to get the ball through the ring?"

"That's the idea."

Neville took a deep breath, aimed his wand and tried again. The spell had enough power to knock the ball off the stand, but just barely.

I picked up the ball and put it back on the stand. "This spell works on intent. Instead of just casting the spell, envision the ball going through the ring. Emagine that the two belong together, and that you 'need' them to be together."

Neville took a deep breath and his brows furrowed. "Depulso!" He said in a resolute tone. This time the ball flew off the stand with more force, but it landed about halfway to the ring. "I did it!" He proclaimed, wide eyes and then gave me a big hug. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me yet, Neville." He released me from the hug and stared at me blankly. "Doing it once isn't the same as being able to do it every time." I walked over to the ball, picked it up and placed it on the stand. "Try it again."

Neville cast the spell again but it replicated his first attempt. "I don't get it. Why didn't it work?"

"I think because your emotion was different." Hermione chimed in. Realising she had several eyes staring at her in confusion she continued. "Don't any of you remember what we were taught our first week? Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both talked about how different emotions can affect magic. It's the whole basis for accidental magic, strong emotion."

Neville kept at it with varying degrees of success, but all in all was making steady progress. Not wanting to just stand around and watch, the others quickly found things to do. Susan and Hannah were taking turns against the dummies, competing to see who could get the rune to glow the brightest. Lisa was levitating things through the unused rings, and Hermione and I took turns retrieving the ball and offering encouragement to Neville.

"Why don't we just use the accio charm to retrieve the ball?" Hermione asked on her fourth or fifth retrieval trip.

"Habit. Professor Flitwick won't let us do that for safety reasons. It seems in years past several students have been accidentally injured by some of these that way. Some of those weigh fifty pounds and accio isn't exactly known for its gentle delivery."

"Oh. That makes sense." She said, placing the ball once again on its stand. "What about that spell you used on Neville's remembrall? Carpe Retractum, I believe it was?"

"Now that, we use regularly. And if you modify the intent, you can do all sorts of things with it."

"Like?" Hermione asked, as I was hoping she would.

I waited for Neville to cast his Depulso, which actually hit the base of the ring stand on its first bounce, and pulled out my wand. "Carpe Retractum!" I said as I flicked my wrist. As soon as the string of light hit the ball I flicked my wrist to the right and sent the ball through one of the rings Lisa was at the moment floating a pillow through. Needless to say a pillow is no match to a metal ball and the ball passed through the pillow with an explosion of feathers and a very startled gasp from Lisa. 

After a moment of shocked silence Neville broke down in laughter, followed by Hermione, then Lisa and then myself. Susan and Hannah must have seen it too, as Susan came up to me and asked "Did you mean to do that? between laughs.

Once my laughing died down I answered. "Kind of. I meant to hit the pillow, but I didn't think it would explode. I think that pillows don't like me today." That comment was met with questioning looks, so I told the story of the impromptu pillow fight earlier today with Pansy and Tracy, which started another round of laughter. Once we settled back down, Neville continued practicing his Depulso while I cleaned up the feathers with Hermione. 

It was after an hour and a half that we were ready to leave the dueling room. Neville was getting the ball through the ring consistently, and at twenty feet away too, and was able to cast a decent Depulso against the dummies. He gave me another big hug and another thank you. I made plans with Susan and Hermione to show them 'Cerberus'. Hermione wanted to do it tomorrow night, but Susan didn't want to go into any of her first classes on little sleep, so we decided that Friday night would work the best.

We put everything back to how it was before our arrival and I went to inform Professor Flitwick that we were done. The door to his charms class was open, but I knocked on the door anyways. "Professor, we're done with the dueling room. Everything is put back to where it was."

He looked up from a parchment with a smile on his face. "Excellent! And how did the tutoring go?" He asked as he made his way towards me.

"It went well. I think I rather enjoyed the experience." I said.

"Perhaps you might want to make a career out of it?"

"I don't know. But I can at least see the appeal."

"There is a certain joy in teaching. Perhaps you would be willing to serve as a tutor again, should the need arise?"

"I think I would enjoy that."

Professor Flitwick had Neville demonstrate his Depulso charm for him on a conjured cup, which went flying out of his hand and across the room, shattering on impact with the stone floor. "Bravo, Mr Longbottom. You had an excellent tutor." He gave me one of his bright smiles and then vanished the pieces of the cup. 

We all left the room together and while Professor Flitwick locked up and returned to his charms classroom, us students all made our separate ways, me and Susan walking together down towards the lake. As soon as we were out of earshot of everyone else, Susan said, "Teachers pet. I told you you're his favorite." And then ran ahead giggling.

"Why you!!!" I yelled as I chased after her.