9Ron Weasley didn't know what to think of Harry Potter.
On one hand, he was nice enough when you didn't bend his weird miniature sheets of parchment, and he was always willing to demonstrate fantastic magic, but he also refused to help anyone with their classwork.
It wasn't like he didn't have the skill, or that he was ignorant of how special his abilities were. Hell, the teachers couldn't stop praising him!
It was super selfish of him, and his excuses always were the same. "A magician never reveals his secrets." Yeah, right. Ron bet he could do what Harry did if only the jerk would tell him how.
"Oh please," a particularly strident voice interrupted Ron's musings. Oh, it was her. There was no confusion in how the preteen felt about her.
Hermione Granger was bossy, superimposing and overbearing. Ron got enough of that at home from his mother, as much as he enjoyed her culinary skill. Couldn't she realise that people didn't care about how old some gargoyle was or how long it has been since Hogwarts last hosted any exchange students? She was such a nerd.
"Hypnotism is absolute hogwash. The human mind is far too advanced to be drugged by some sounds made by another person. It's all televised and fake, nothing but showboating." The girl had her arms crossed, tapping her foot, skirting the edge of a huddle of students surrounding Harry and Neville.
"What about the compulsion charm?" a semi-familiar redhead chimed in, Ron wasn't a hundred percent sure of her name: Sammy or Susan or something.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's magic. It's different."
Harry seemed affronted. "And what I do isn't?" He defended, "Magic is all about perception. Making the bridge between what the brain perceives as possible and what the eyes see.
"For example, this is Neville." Harry gestured grandly at the chubby boy. "All of you know him, you know what he's like." A few chuckles littered the group. "Can you name someone as different from Neville as possible?"
"Draco Malfoy!" An unseen voice called out. This time everyone laughed, Ron included.
"Draco? Why not?"
"Alright," Harry turned toward Neville. "Listen to my voice. Follow my eyes. Track my motions. Relax, release your tensions, your stresses. Your anxieties, anxious of the angst, anchored to your ambidextrous ambient ambivalence. Resting your reality and reasoning, relaxed, maxed out and mulled into sleep."
The last word seemed to strike a chord of power through the common room. Ron balked as both Neville and Hermione slumped over. Wait, what?
The rest of the students stared transfixed on Neville. Completely ignorant to the slumbering bookworm behind them.
Harry's words took on an ethereal tone, calming and focused, thrumming with magic.
"You are prim, you are proper. You are the height of a pureblood heir. You are primed and pruned for greater things. You are peerless, all should be subservient to you and your family. You are secure in the sovereignty of your sacred patriarch. You are DRACO MALFOY!"
Neville and Hermione rose their heads in unison. Neville put on a smug face and turned his nose up. "Well of course I am, Scarhead. Don't sully my name with your halfblooded tongue. I've already written to Father about you and your poor choice of companions. I am willing to give you a second chance, the Malfoy family is well known for its charity, simply apologise and we can start over."
Everyone was gaping at Neville being so… not Neville.
Hannah Abbot was the first to start laughing. But before the wave could fully catch, a derisive snort interrupted her. Everyone turned to stare at Hermione Granger, an ugly sneer on her youthful countenance.
"Salazar, Longbottom, I didn't think you could get stupider. I'm Draco Malfoy. Don't taint my person by trying to better your squib self imitating me. When my father hears about this…"
Whatever "his" father would do sadly went unheard as everyone howled with laughter, Ron included.
Neville broke out into a wide grin, and bumped fists with the young hypnotist, smirking smugly.
Harry was alright in Ron's book
Computer got rebooted and the file for this story got deleted, so I've had to start again. I wasn't that far ahead though, so I think I'll be fine.
