Chapter 6: The First day

Neville and Draco were summoned to Dumbledore's office. This was the first time Neville was going to meet the legendary Albus Dumbledore. Neville and Draco entered the office and saw the sight of the old man sitting on his chair.

"Ah! Welcome, Neville and Draco. Some lemon drops?" Headmaster asked kindly.

Neville gladly accepted. After all, he was not feeling any guilt or fear from Draco Malfoy or his family. He took a few candies from the headmaster and sat politely on the chair. Draco also sat timidly. He was really not comfortable like Neville. In his eyes, the most powerful white wizard was sitting in front of him and this powerful wizard never liked his family.

<><><> Nev POV<><><>

"It seems you boys really had a bad first meeting. Here." Dumbledore said and waved his hand. A white light started glowing around Draco and all the visible marks and signs of the beating started healing.

"What kind of magic is this Sir? I mean this is healing magic but I don't know any charm that can do this kind of rapid healing." Neville blurted out. He really could not control himself. He knew Dumbledore is a powerful old wizard but this is wandless healing magic that can do wonders during any duel.

"Ah! When you grow old like me, you tend to pick up few things here and there." Dumbledore chuckled. He was really not saying anything related to the train incident.

Finding my topic shifted, I started looking around his office. There were memory portraits of old principals where all of them had eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. Then there was the mythical beast and loyal companion of Dumbledore, the Phoenix. Around them, there were rows of books, chairs and a lot of other alchemy items.

"Yes, now I received a rather interesting letter from the head boys that we assigned this year about a certain incident. Somehow, you two were involved in a scuffle before you even reach Hogwarts.

Now, I hope you can keep the same spirit towards your homework and focus to learn more about the magic that duels. In case you still like duelling, Professor Filius Flitwick might be glad to receive you." Albus kindly guided them.

"Ah! Thank you, Headmaster. I will definitely approach Professor Filius later. Somehow, I feel learning more about the art of duelling will be helpful in the wizarding world." Neville said.

Draco watched in amazement as this little bastard was not at all feeling intimidated by the Headmaster Dumbledore. He was acting like a guest in somebody's house. What the fuck? Seriously, we had a fight, the head boy got involved and we are sitting in the Headmaster office. At least you should be feeling guilty or something.

"Ahem, Headmaster Dumbledore, it was him who beat me in the train. All the prefects saw this sir. He should get expelled from the school for his behaviour. Shouldn't he? I think my father listening to all this, won't be happy." Draco again played his father card.

"Yes, Yes. We certainly do not tolerate these things in Hogwarts Draco. However, you see, you were in the Hogwarts train that is not part of Hogwarts ground and before you reached inside the Hogwarts ground, you are not officially considered a Hogwarts student.

Many students including your father did play a lot of pranks using this loophole I believe. Anyway, you can write a letter about this incident to your father, Mr Malfoy but I am not sure he would be happy to know about your fight." Dumbledore shut him up mercilessly.

Draco had an unsightly face. He will never ever in his entire life tell his father about this incident. He was beaten to the point where his bones were broken and he even peed in the pants. This was a humiliation and shame Draco will never let his father be aware of.

"Also, I must warn you, Mr Neville, a duel which is considered part of a wizard life and etiquette, a random fight is not. I hope you can trust that you are safe within Hogwarts walls and work hard to achieve your house cup. Now, why don't we bury this incident here and you boys head to your rooms?" Dumbledore politely sent the kids away.

Outside, their house prefects were waiting for them.

Neville was walking with his house prefect and he was silent along the way. He was really not in the mood for small talk and his focus was more on the walls and paintings along the way.

"So, you beat Draco Malfoy, alone like a punching bag and broke his nose or something? Is that true?" The prefect asked him suddenly.

"Well, I guess that is one way of putting it. It was not really my best moment." Neville tried to avoid any attention.

"HA HA HA HA...." the prefect boy suddenly started laughing. "You will fit right into our house little lion. Welcome to the Gryffindor." He said when they reached the entrance to the common room. The perfect said the password to the fat lady portrait and they headed inside.

Neville was tired after the whole journey and the first day was way too long. He found his room and his other roommates were already asleep. He found an empty bed where his luggage was neatly placed. He arranged the luggage, changed his clothes and then jumped on the bed and fell asleep. That was the first night in Hogwarts without any night tour.

Neville woke up late on the first day and found his other roommates missing.

"Shit, I will be late!"

The first class is Transfigurations. Professor McGonagall will take that class and she is not an easy one. Shit! I need to run. Neville hurried to get ready & was out of the common room in less than 10 minutes. Wait, where is the classroom? Fuck.

Classes will start in a minute but he has no idea which way to go or which floor. Neville was thinking of the solution when he saw the famous prankster twins.

"Hello, Fred and George Weasley, right? I need to reach Professor Mcgonagall classes now but I am late. Can you help?" He asked them straightforwardly.

"Can we George?"

"I don't know Fred. He was not polite anyway."

"10 galleons. Now!" Listening to their twin chatter, Neville immediately took out some galleons from his pocket and handed them over to them. For twins, this was seriously the first time they have such a junior moneybag.

"I think we need to rush Fred."

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"Yes, George and Junior, try to keep up," Fred Weasley said and both Fred and George started running in the halls and went towards the room. Neville was more than enough fit to keep with them. He may look fat but bulls are not pigs.

Just a few minutes later, the twins reached the classroom and pushed Neville inside.

Neville was half panting from all that speed run but tried to take deep breaths to control his breathing. He saw Professor McGonagall in her animagus form sitting on the table as a cute cat with strange markings on her face.

He looked and found there were still two boys late than him. Thankfully, he can still escape this.

"Apologies Professor. I was lost in searching the classroom and got a little late. This is my first and last time I promise." Neville acted like a good boy and apologised for being late.

Other students were wondering why he was treating the Cat as a professor. Some were even whispering "the fatso is not right in the head" and "he is the one who Dumbledore called on the first day".

"Whoo!.. We made it!" Suddenly a voice came from behind. Neville knew it was Ron. Thankfully the problem duo arrived. He gave a bow to the professor and took a seat at back.

Ron gasped as he and Harry burst through the back door doubling over for air. Hermione was also with them. Ah! The destiny trio is already forming a group. Hermoine rolled her eyes. "I can you imagine the look on Professor McGonagall's face if she saw us coming in late?"

Suddenly the cat suddenly leapt off the Professor's desk and transformed into Professor McGonagall.

"That was bloody brilliant!" said Ron.

Professor McGonagall smiled wryly at him. "Thank you, Mr Weasley, for that assessment. Perhaps for my next trick, I should turn one of you into a pocket watch. That way at least one of you might be on time. And unlike others who were late but apologised, I don't hear any apologies from you. I trust you can find your seats now?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

The whole class was abuzz with this great opening into the magical world. The trio also ashamed hurried into the last seat at back and Hermione took the seat near Neville.

Neville was focused on this class and listening to the professor. Although his own studies are now at the third-year level, hearing actual theories from professors can be quite beneficial.

The assignment to change the match into a needle was an easy one and I finished it within seconds. However, looking at others who were still trying I decided not to make a big impression on the first day. This surprised Hermione who was sitting near me and she looked at me like I wronged her somehow.

"Why did you not tell Professor that you can do the charm? You know if you can speak up first, our house will get more points." She tried to lecture him.

"Thank you Hermione but I believe the professor can notice these things themselves. Besides, I want others to have the opportunity too." I acted like a normal boy and then pretended to not see her ugly face.

At the end of class, Hermione was able to turn her matchstick into the needle and won 5 points for her house. I found a lot of eyes looking at me for using a pink girlish wand but who cares. Looks are the most deceptive thing in the magic world.

As long as Harry Potter is inside Hogwarts, he can easily act in the background.

The second class was a challenge for my patience. It took all my effort and self-control to stop myself from attacking the Potions professor, Severus Snape.

This was the guy who had leaked the prophecy to his master Voldemort but remembering that it killed his own love, he felt a little satisfaction in his heart. I hardly had any patience to spend the time in the class. I looked around the class, rows of potions and crucibles making new ones. It was a small factory and workshop in some manner.

I knew the content is written on the blackboard and my quills were working automatically under the desk. Well, they are banned during exams but not during any class. So why not use them?

Harry Potter was again late and Snape picked him up. They had their hatred-romance thing going on while I suddenly thought of one very important thing.  Snape was able to make his own spells, deadly spells by the fifth year and he was ahead of many potion makers.

His diary was a lot of research value that he had stored somewhere with the name of Half-Blood prince. I looked at the teacher's cupboard. It must be there. I was already making plans in my head and my quill copied everything and I decided to leave the class.

"I am done professor," Neville said while getting up from his seat.

"Oh! We have another genius here apart from Mr Potter it seems. You are Neville Longbottom, correct?" Professor Snape asked.

"Yes Professor Snape. Lord Longbottom now as my parents were not able to maintain that position. You might have heard of them. Anyway, I missed my breakfast in the morning professor and am feeling hungry. May I take leave?"

I could see snape's mouth twitching but in the end, he just said "I think skipping some food might be helpful in your case Mr Neville but looking at you, I think we passed the stage to worry. You can choose not to come to my class if food is that important for you but then, I will have your tests, alone, at the end of the semester."

"Oh thank you, professor. So kind of you. I will definitely not let you down at our semester exams. You can keep my crucible here as a donation from the Longbottom family. Thank you so much, professor." Neville smiled and ran outside the classroom.

Anyway, since Snape offered to skip his class, he will be a fool not to take that offer. He hardly needed to know any information about first-year potions and Snape would never teach them anything valuable.

So, the whole class of young lions and snakes watched with their jaws on the floor as Neville picked up his notes and ran off from the class. This is not how this works right? If your teacher says this you should apologise or something....right? You look at me and I look at you and no one had any clear answer on this.

"Harry, why didn't he offer us the same deal?" asked Ron to Harry in a low voice.

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