Matt was in the Great Hall as early as ever that morning. He felt good, maybe for the first time in a long time. He liked to eat in here, where the other students eventually would as well, but the quiet was almost deafening. Matt could hear himself eating as he browsed the newspaper. Nothing exciting was happening, which he took to be a good sign.
He almost missed the single blurb about a breakout at Azkaban prison. He furrowed his brow and knew something was amiss with that. Something like that should not be commonplace but he knew it had happened at least twice before now in the last five years. It was disconcerting to say the least. He shook himself mentally and tried to put it out of his mind, it was not like whoever had escaped was coming after him. The article mysteriously had failed to mention exactly who it was either. Matt shrugged; the person could not be important if the reporter did not bother to name them.
Matt spent the morning back in the library, reading textbooks now. He was refreshing himself now. Matt had convinced Madam Pince to let him see copies of previous year's course book lists to get an idea of what differences, if any, his school had to Hogwarts. Sure enough, there were some slight differences. Matt was annoyed to learn at least three of the books he thought were different, had merely been titling changes.
However, there were a couple of books that were unique in the Hogwarts curriculum and Matt decided to try and brush up on any gaps he might have. He was nose deep in a book when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up shocked to see Ginny Weasley standing across the table from him.
"Hermione's looking for you…" the red head started. "Although, I don't know how she missed you. This isher spot you know."
"I'm sorry? What do you mean 'her spot'?" Matt asked, marking his place in the book with a piece of parchment.
"This is the exact same spot she always comes to, whenever she comes to the library." Ginny stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, it makes sense, comfortable seat, good lightning, easy access…" Matt listed off the reasons why it was obvious anyone would sit there. Ginny smirked and shook her head.
"What?" Matt asked, wondering what he had said or did.
"Nothing." Ginny mused.
"Why did you say Hermione was looking for me?"
"Because you're late!"
"I'm not-" Matt looked down at his watch, something else he had picked up while he and Hermione were in London. "Son of a-" he kept cutting himself off. Quickly he stood and made his way around the table.
"Better hurry, you're already in for it and she's got something special planned for you today." Ginny cheekily added as Matt walked as fast as he could out of the library.
"Do I need to be worried?" he asked. "I feel like I should be worried with the way you're talking."
"Oh, not really. It's just your funeral." Ginny smirked.
"You know, if there was ever something to be late for…that would be it." Matt quipped as they climbed the stairs to the third-floor corridor.
"There you are!" Hermione said, as she stood outside of their usual training spot, her arms crossed.
"Sorry, I was reading and lost track of time." Matt replied sheepishly.
"You didn't lose track of anything else I hope." Hermione quipped.
"No, no, I think everything else that's supposed to be here, is." Matt pulled out his wand and snapped it into its cane form and back again.
"That wand is so not fair!" Ginny whined.
"Oh, you have no idea." Matt grinned and twirled it between his fingers.
"Wait, what else can it do?' Ginny asked. Matt just gave a small chuckle and mischievous grin.
"You'll see." Came his cryptic reply.
"I've got something a little different lined up for your training today." Hermione said.
"Oh?" Matt raised an eyebrow. Hermione opened the door and the three stepped inside. Luna was already there, quietly waiting with two other people.
"Matt Santini, meet Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley." Hermione said as she introduced her closest friend and her boyfriend, respectively. Matt's eyes grew wide, noting that Hermione stood next to Ron and interlaced her fingers with his. His suspicion that there was more to them than the newspapers had said was confirmed.
Matt felt a twinge of disappointment, for some reason. Hermione was supposed to be just his friend, right? He put on a good face and wanted to make a good impression. He stuck his hand out to shake Harry and Ron's hands. Matt felt Harry's grip, strong but not overpowering. It felt good. Ron's on the other hand, was different. He was incredibly firm but fleeting, as if he wanted to simply show strength then remove himself. Matt concluded that Ron must not be a touchy-feely kind of guy. He could respect that.
"Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Once Hermione's done with whatever she's got planned for us, we've got a lot to talk about." Matt said with a heavy sigh. It was clear there was something weighing on him now, shook loose by the introduction.
"You're American?" Harry recognized the other's accent or lack thereof.
"I am! I mean I can try an accent if you want, but I'm pretty sure I'll offend someone, and it might not even be people in this room!" Matt replied with a grin.
"Please don't." Hermione interjected.
"Ron, nice to meet you! I've read about you." Matt said proudly, moving over to the shorter red-haired boy.
"Oh, you have, have you?" Ron said, disdain in his voice.
"Well, you know, whatever the papers have had to say anyway," Matt said brushing off the coldness of Ron's tone. "Lots of catching up to do, Current Events is now my weakest subject, apparently." Matt gave a good-natured smile. "So, Hermione, to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting these two heroes?" Matt asked, slightly nervous.
"Do you really need to ask?" Hermione queried. Matt took a breath and rolled his eyes.
"Given the time, place, and why we're always here, yeah, I figured." Matt replied. "And here I was just hoping for a social call."
"It's all part of your rehab." Hermione said with a grin. She was having too much fun watching him twist.
"How is it going?" Harry asked.
"He's proven himself well in most areas. He's not as good as we are though…" Hermione explained. "When it comes to dueling. I thought this would be a clever way to bring him up to speed."
Harry looked a little skeptical but did not argue. Matt, upon seeing Harry's look, started to have doubts, maybe Hermione was up to something more. What that could be, he had no idea, but he was starting to become afraid he may have misplaced his trust. Ron did not help matters. He kept a cold steely gaze on Matt the entire time, his arms crossed over his chest, he seemed tense. Matt had seen Hermione tense before, around strangers, he used that as a comparison of her significant other, and this was entirely different.
Matt sensed a lot of anger from Ron and seemed to be incredibly suspicious of Matt. He was already nervous about taking on these three war heroes in dueling, but Ron made him the most nervous. Matt was almost relieved when Ron volunteered to go first.
Matt stood opposite Ron and with a quick bow they were seemingly ready. Ron more so than Matt. Before Hermione could count them in, Ron fired 'Stupefy' at Matt. He was caught off guard completely. Matt was knocked back almost to the door.
"Ronald! We don't need to fight dirty." Hermione exclaimed and started to move towards Matt.
"It's ok, I'm sure he was just testing me." Matt said and got up. "Right, Ron?" Matt kept his voice even, and light, yet hopeful.
"Sure, if you say so." Ron said coldly.
"Round Two or do you want to quit while you're ahead?" Matt asked with a slight challenge.
"Yeah, I'll go again." Ron said and readied his wand. Matt was completely on guard, after the bow he immediately fired off 'Expelliarmus', Ron's wand shot into the air and Matt caught it.
"Now we're even!" Matt said happily. Ron scoffed and snatched his wand from the other boy. Matt furrowed his brow and wondered what he did to get on Ron's bad side. Matt selfconsciously wondered if he had accidentally flirted with Hermione in front of him or even before and she mentioned it to him.
"Harry, why don't you have a go?" Hermione said nudging the Auror over.
"Oh boy, this is not going to go well for me, is it?" Matt asked.
"Don't sell yourself short, you seem to know what you're doing." Harry said, he seemed to almost instinctively slip into a teaching mode.
The two readied themselves and Hermione counted them in. Both fired off spells at one another as they ducked and dodged. Ultimately, Harry disarmed Matt and was more than willing to extend a hand to help him up after a powerful knockback spell.
"Matt…" Hermione started.
"Huh?" Matt replied.
"You're holding back." Hermione observed. Matt wondered if she figured out that he had been holding back a lot the entire time he had been training with her, Ginny, and Luna. Hermione motioned to Ron as she stepped up next to Harry, Ron joining her.
"Oh, come on…This isn't fair, it's cruel, even for you, Hermione!" Matt said.
"You've dueled three against one before." Hermione stated, readying her wand.
"This is a little bit different; I think." Matt was much less confident.
"I'm sure you'll manage." Hermione replied. Harry readied his own wand.
"Yeah…manage!" Ron growled, echoing Hermione.
Matt readied himself and just before Hermione could count them in, he immediately fired smoke from the end of his wand. It was not real smoke, but it had the same effect of reducing visibility. That was all Matt needed to accomplish. The Golden Trio was caught off guard, not sure where their quarry had vanished to.
"You were right, Hermione, I was holding back." Matt's voice came from seemingly everywhere, in multiples. "But you wanted to see what I could do, here it is!" Suddenly Matt jumped out of the smoke. A spell fired from Ron's wand, but it passed straight through Matt.
"He's using an illusion spell!" Hermione said and gave a wave of her own wand, the smoke cleared before her. As the smoke cleared, there was not just one Matt, but eight of him around the room.
"Which one is the real one?" Ron asked as he started to fire spell after spell. The various Matts responded by throwing up shield charms and firing back. The trio broke apart to dodge the spells, not knowing if they were real or not. Some of their own spells fired back, passed through the shield charms and the fake Matt as if they were nothing.
"Find the real one!" Harry said as they moved around the room, spells went in every direction. One of the Matts fired a spell at Hermione, and she failed to dodge, it passed right through her stomach, and she gave no reaction.
"The spells aren't real either! Only one of them is!" Hermione said, as she became more brazen. Matt knew he was in trouble. His illusions were not perfect, if you looked closely at them, you could tell them apart. "There!" Hermione shouted and shot a spell at one of the Matt's Ron and Harry did the same.
"Shit!" Matt swore as all three spells hit him at once. The illusions immediately vanished, and he was sent sprawling onto his back and into the wall, his wand thrown from his grip. He coughed a little as the dust settled. Ron kicked Matt's lost wand over to him.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked as they approached him.
"I'm fine." Matt said as he slowly started to stand. He lifted his wand and snapped his wrist, transforming it into its cane form. Matt used it to haul himself up. He was out of breath and wincing in pain. Ginny and Luna quickly pulled a seat over to help him sit.
"I knew you were holding back." Hermione said, smugly.
"Well…yeah…I didn't want to go all out. No need for it, it's just some training. Not like we're in actual combat. Although, wow, you three are deadly." Matt said motioning between the Golden Trio. "And before you ask, no, you still have not seen all my tricks. There's a couple you do not need to see just yet. Preferably ever for at least one of them."
"What've you got to hide?" Ron pressed. "Go on then, show us!" he demanded. Matt glared at Ron.
"Fine," He snapped his wrist and the cane turned back into a wand. Matt twirled his wrist; his wand stirred the air. "Electrify!" he cried out and a bolt of lightning shot out of the end of his wand. It struck the floor and a trapdoor that had been replaced some years ago exploded.
Everyone in the room flinched and ducked. Ginny yelped, meanwhile Harry, Ron, and Hermione were holding their wands at the hole in the floor.
"Bloody hell! Where did you learn that? What do they teach you in America anyway!" Ron shouted, visibly shaken. "Ginny, Hermione, c'mon we're leaving! This guy's absolutely mental!" said Ron as he stormed out of the room.