𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 83

CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH HARRY 
BEGINS INSTRUCTING

. . .

"Right," Harry swallowed, still somewhat nervous at it all as Hermione sat down again. "Shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful-"

There was a loud scoff that interrupted him. "Oh please." Of course, it was Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"Just say you can't cast it accurately and move on." Aviana spoke up, also rolling her eyes.

"I've used it against him," Harry replied, certain, tone hard around the edges. "It saved my life in June." Smith opened his mouth stupidly. Aviana watched him expectantly. The rest of the room was very quiet. "But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry shrugged. Zacharias did not move. Nor did anybody else, a mixture of acute awareness of Aviana watching them all oh-so carefully, just waiting for them to say something, and the pure reminder of the horrors that had occurred during the final task of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Okay," Harry continued, still unused to the attention upon him. "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice." Everybody got to their feet at once and divided up. Aviana not moving, making note of who ended up with one another, and watching as Neville stood helplessly, looking nervous.

"You can practise with-" Harry began, before she stood up.

"Me." Aviana finished simply. "Right, Harry?" Her head tilted as she looked over to him. "You're supposed to be the teacher, you need to walk around and make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing."

"Right." Harry swallowed, looking at Neville, who seemed to be growing more nervous by the second. "Is that okay, Neville?"

"Yeah... yeah, fine." Neville shifted anxiously, as Harry turned to the rest of the room to set everyone off. The two made their way to an unused corner so as to practise and stood for a moment, Neville glancing furtively in Aviana's direction as though he had no idea what to do in her presence. And Aviana had an idea why.

It was no secret, at least not anyone who had any connections to Voldemort and any relative with Bellatrix Lestrange, what had happened to Neville's parents. And now, with the publicity of her father's trial about the one thing a pureblood supremacist was sure to do, she had only grown to be more of a social pariah. Not to mention the sheer velocity of bad attitude. And Neville couldn't look more uncomfortable.

"If it helps..." She began, cautious. Neville was looking awkwardly around, anywhere but at her. Her confidence, for once in her life, wavered. "If it helps, they're not actually my parents." She whispered.

Neville's eyes widened. 

"If you dare tell anyone of this, then I will ensure that you will spend the rest of your life being followed by a flock of birds insistent on removing your eyes." Aviana added, before she stood, tall and arms folded. "I am a pureblood, no less, and I shall not tell you who my parents are, but I can assure you my father is not William Rosier." 

He looked at her, finally, as he breathed out and his shoulders relaxed. Somewhat. 

"You swear that you will tell no one?" 

"Yeah. Yes." Neville nodded and shifted on his feet. 

"Good." Aviana reached for her wand, composed all at once, as though it had never happened at all. "Now, let's practise. I will go first. Expelliarmus." The Gryffindor didn't even see her wand move, and yet his own flew across the room. Another flick of her wand and she summoned it back, tossing it to him. "You need to be ready, Longbottom." Aviana instructed. "If you're fighting against a Dark Wizard, then it is possible they know how to do wandless magic."

"Right." Neville nodded. "Is there a way to protect against it?" 

"Not necessarily. But you need to be aware of a spell being sent your way." 

Neville nodded slowly, amidst the chaos, and the practise continued. Wands flying in all directions, missed spells hitting books on shelves and sending them flying into the air. 

"You need to hold your wand like it's actually your wand." Aviana said, slightly impatiently. "Like it's not some kind of erumpet horn and it's a wand. Have you been holding it like that all this time? If you hold it like that it's impossible to do any..." Her words came to a stop, as her attention was pulled elsewhere. 

Past Fred and George, who weren't practising the spell amongst the pair of them but instead firing them at Zacharias Smith's back, who didn't seem to know where his wand was going, but rather where Harry was wandering amongst everyone.

"Oh no," Cho Chang said, rather wildly as Harry approached where majority of the Ravenclaws had gathered. Aviana watched, waited, as something seemed to dawn upon Neville when he noticed. "Expelliarmious!" Cho fumbled over her words. "I mean, Expellimellius! I - oh, sorry, Marietta!"

Aviana bit back a smile as Cho's friend found that her sleeve had caught on fire from the incorrect spell. Marietta extinguished it with her own wand and glared at Harry as though it was his fault. 

"You made me nervous, I was doing all right before then!" Cho told Harry ruefully. Aviana's expression quickly hardened.

"Expelliarmus." She whispered, and watched with glee when Cho's wand flew from her grasp.

And something within Aviana seemed to cement then and there; she was jealous.

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