21

"Harry!!!" Hermione rushed up to me and tackled me with a hug when she saw me standing at the station, about to board the Hogwarts Express.

"Hey Hermione. Let go, I can't breathe." I tap the over eager witch as I gasp for air which was knocked out of me.

"Sorry. But what are you doing here? Didn't you spend the holidays at the school. I thought we could only leave via the Hogwarts Express. And that was on the day the break started." She rambled on as she looked at me curiously.

"Yes that is right. Hogwarts Express only leaves the castle once during the break. I just took the floo from Headmaster's office to the London branch of the Ministry. I got his permission." I explain as I dust off my brand-new clothes.

No longer was I wearing the rags that the Dursleys' provided. I had bought a lot of new and comfortable clothes with the money I obtained, and I was not afraid to spend.

"Oh yeah. I loved your gift. The whole trunk was full of rare copies of books. How did you get those?" as if remembering something, she lightly smacked her forehead as she asked me about her Christmas gift.

"That's a secret." While the books were rare, they weren't unattainable.

By looking around in the RoR, I found a few books from the ages past, and made a copy of them with a simple spell.

I even made a few revisions on the edges of the pages to show the correct facts or methods present in the dozen or so books.

If one were to provide a monetary value for those books, without the revisions, they would cost about 2000 galleons, but with my revisions, they would easily be worth 8000, each.

One had to know, even the firebolt, that harry would eventually get, was worth 2000 galleons. It was equivalent to buying an above average car in the early 1990s.

Hermione, hearing my answer, pouted cutely before I pinch her cheeks and head towards an empty cabin.

As soon as we entered a fairly empty cabin, the cute face Hermione had in front of me disappeared and a neutral, stoic expression found its way to her face.

"Hey Neville. How was your holiday?" seeing a familiar face in the cabin, I greet the shy boy and attempt small talk.

"Hey Harry. The break was great. I spent the new year with my nan. We even went to meet my parents at St Mungo's. They were lucid enough for me to hear their voices this time." The boy replied cheerfully, masking his deep sorrow and pain.

"That's great buddy. I just spent the holidays roaming around the streets of London. It was fun." I chuckle awkwardly at the boy's answer and slowly end the conversation.

"hey Harry. Is it ok if I ask you for help with my Potions homework? I saw that you were top of our class and you are the only Gryffindor that Snape doesn't scold. I don't want Snape to target me again." The boy asked softly.

"Well, I wouldn't say that Snape doesn't target me, at most he targets me as much as a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. Though my treatment is much better than a Gryffindor. Yes, I will help you with potions, but I will only teach you the basics of what's taught in class, the homework is to be done by you, is that clear." I explain to the chubby boy.

"You'll do that for me. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you, Harry. I promise I won't bother with my homework, just teaching me would be more than what Snape can achieve." He almost cried tears of joy listening to my response.

"Alright. Don't be so emotional about such a small thing. Take out your textbook, we have a few hours to pass, so I'll go over the content from the beginning of the semester." With that started my first ever teaching session in this world.

Hermione looked at me crazily at first. After all, I was the one who told her that I shouldn't help others with homework if they are just going to use us.

"You see Hermione, I'm not at all helping him by completing his homework for him. I am simply providing him with the understanding and knowledge with which he can complete his homework. This way, he will be my student, sort of, and not a peer who would leech off of me lazily."

A look of understanding appears on her face as she listens to me teaching Neville the content that Snape had 'taught' for the past two and a half months.

Unknowingly, 7 hours went by as both members of Gryffindor were engrossed in my lecture and had even forgotten about the outside world.

For them, the cabin was a closed off space and time seemed to stop inside the cabin. Feelings of hunger seems to have escaped their senses and the boredom and terror that usually accompanied Snape's lessons was nowhere to be found.

The two were jolted out of the trance when the door to the cabin slid open with an audible bang.

"What are you still doing inside the train. We reached here half an hour ago. Don't you guys have schools to attend." An annoyed lady pushing a cleaning cart chided the three of us when she noticed us still in the cabin.

"Sorry miss. We lost track of time. We'll head off now." Taking a look outside the blinds, I notice that we had indeed arrived at the school and the sky had darkened considerably, indicating it was quite late in the evening.

"Sorry miss. We'll head out now." Neville hurriedly apologised to the annoyed cleaning lady and stuffed the books into his trunk and hurried of the train.

"That was so awesome Harry. You taught us concepts that even I had trouble understanding in potions. I usually wouldn't say this, but Snape truly is a horrible teacher. It's like you opened up a window and showed us a world outside of a small dark room. Your teaching was incredible." Hermione praised after we got of the train and headed towards the castle.

"Yeah, Harry. Only now did I actually understand the subject. It really is so interesting. Snape wasn't lying on the first day, it's like a delicate balance between art and science. Potions even incorporates so many concepts from Herbology. It is amazing." Neville praised endlessly as he suddenly turned really talkative. The shy attitude from before suddenly was nowhere to be found.

"h-hey Harry. Can we continue these lessons till I get the hang of Potions, please." I spoke too soon. His shy side showed itself.

"How about this. I'll set up two hours every other day in the library. I'll teach you potions and any other subject you have trouble with an hour each. Just, I have a fee. You up for it?" I ask as a sleezy smile crawls on my face.

"F-fee. How much?" he asked nervously.

"How about 100 galleons per subject, per semester." Instantly, my smile turns wider as I see him contemplating the option.

"OK. Deal." He grabs my hand and shakes it firmly.

"Alright Rich boy. Find me in the library every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you want extra classes on the weekend, my fees double, no triple, I'm quite busy on the weekends." With that, I got myself a student for the rest of the year.

After reaching our dorms, we go our separate ways as I walk with Hermione to the great hall to fill our stomachs first. Neville had something to do before eating.

"Harry, don't you think that 100 galleons is too much. That's about 800 British pounds. Isn't it too expensive?

"Let me give you a life tip. If you can do anything good, don't do it for free. And secondly, Neville is the only heir of the Longbottom family. Its almost on par with my potter family. His nan has very high expectations of the kid, she'll do anything to get him to raise his grades and get a 'good' career later on if he becomes a potions master. She doesn't think herbology has a lot of future. That's something he has extraordinary talent it. To be fair, he also has talent in potions, the two usually go hand in hand, but because of Snape, he's crushed, and borderline fears the subject. He'll do anything to get away from being Snape's target. Understand?"

"..Yeah." she dumbly nods to my words as we sit at the crowded tables and enjoy our food.

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