HP : The Chronicles

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"Between Quirrell and Lockhart, it's no surprise I can't cast a good defence spell to save my life!" The brown eyed boy stated self-depreciatingly. Harry pondered on that for a few seconds; there was a war coming, sometime in the future, and he didn't know when exactly; maybe it would be in a decade, maybe in a month. What would happen to Neville then? He shivered at the thought; his mind was made up without hesitation.

"Look, Nev," Harry began, taking a spare scroll from the table in front of him where his completed transfiguration essay lay, inking his quill and writing down the titles of a couple of the books he had read and had helped him with his basic spellwork; he knew that if Neville wanted to improve -and he knew that his friend not only wanted to that but also had what it took to achieve it- he would have to start with the basics. "Here are some books that have really helped me out." Harry said and gave the small list to Neville. "You can start with those, you can borrow them from the library, and then continue with our year's normal curriculum. Once you've read them, I'll help you practice. How does that sound?" Neville just looked between the list in his hands and Harry in utter disbelief.

"You mean it?"

"I wouldn't offer to help you if I didn't mean it." Harry assured him with a smile. "Isn't that what friends are for?" Neville's answering smile was blinding, his eyes moist.

"That's exactly what friends are for!" He answered and Harry chuckled at the role reversal. He couldn't wait till Christmas day; Neville was bound to be stunned with his gift. He had been working on that idea for months and Severus had been overjoyed to help.

Well, Severus had been overjoyed that Harry had finally found a friend his age in general and wholly approved of the green eyed wizard's choice; Neville Longbottom was a timid boy, he had said, but only due to the way he was raised. He had potential, Severus was sure, and had gladly agreed to help orchestrate what Harry had in mind. And that was the only thing that Severus had enjoyed the past few weeks. With everything that was on his mind, he was very close to his breaking point.

So, it came as no surprise to Harry that the potions master chose to unleash some of his pent-up frustration just to torment Lockhart. The green eyed wizard didn't mind anyway; the prancing idiot had managed to take a Duelling Club and turn it to a theatre, thus Severus had actually volunteered to help him just so he could get a chance to curse him to oblivion. Harry was one of the students clapping when he hexed Lockhart with a vicious Expelliarmus to the other side of the room. Even the ponce had realized he was out of his league and hastened to pair the students for some practice.

Adrian was just about to duel with Ron, Harry taking his place opposite to Neville when his brother caught Draco's sneer from the other side of the room; the staring contest evolved into a duel, with Lockhart shouting at them that they were only supposed to disarm their opponent. The blond had even gone and used some basic burgeoning spells that were inadmissible to duels between minors and would have caused serious damage had someone else been his opponent instead of Adrian. One of the deflected curses from Adrian's shielding charm almost hit Justin Finch-Fletchley in the face, resulting to the poor boy fainting from the mere shock.

And while Harry and Severus were unsuccessful in their attempts to find the attacker or the kind of snake that caused the attacks, a day after the Duelling Club incident, Justin was found petrified, having escaped bodily damage from Draco's curses only to be assaulted by Slytherin's monster pet. And even worse? Petrified next to him floated Nearly Headless Nick.

"How in bloody hell can you petrify a ghost?" Harry had exclaimed furiously at Severus's office that night. It was a mark of how preoccupied the potions master was that he didn't even caution the green eyed wizard to watch his language. And worst thing was, it had been Adrian who had discovered the victims and Peeves who had stumbled over Adrian; once again rumours flied around the school with the poltergeist feeding the fire, up to the point were everybody suspected it was Adrian himself that was the Slytherin Heir. That had only seemed to have intensified his brother's urgency to finish whatever it was he was planning with his friends and Harry's urge to bang his head against the wall.

And there they were, a few days before Christmas holidays, planning to stay in the castle once again. Their parents would be busy for most of the holidays and, while the Potter twins would floo over a day before Christmas, they would spend the greater part of their holidays at Hogwarts. That worked just fine for Adrian it seemed, but not for Harry who, besides dreading that whatever his brother was planning would prove catastrophic, had also been dying to try out his latest design; all those sleepless nights and the pent up worry had led to some very productive late night designs on his broomstick side-project.

"Studying for Charms?" Fred asked plopping down next to Harry on the couch startling the boy from his thoughts.

"Yep." Harry answered laconically, closing the book as he scooted over for George to sit down too.

HI GUYS IF YOU WANT READ 200 + CHAPTERS THEN VISIT

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