Rock reached out and guided Neville's hand, speaking softly. "Neville, show me that motion one more time."
Neville paused for a second, then nodded and began the incantation.
Bang!
This time, with Rock guiding the movement, the form was flawless, and Neville's pronunciation was perfect.
Unfortunately, the matchstick just exploded.
Everyone gathered around could smell the sharp tang of sulfur in the air.
"Neville, is that wand actually yours?" Rock asked, looking at the wand in Neville's hand.
Just then, through his own magical senses, Rock had felt that the synchronization between Neville and the wand was incredibly low.
"It's... it's my father's old wand," Neville whispered.
The group exchanged glances. Suddenly, it made sense why Neville's spellcasting was always so erratic.
Rock smacked his forehead lightly; he'd completely forgotten about that detail. "Let's side-step that issue for a second. Adam, let Neville try using your wand."
Adam didn't hesitate. He pulled out his wand and handed it over.
"Neville, give it a try. Just feel it out."
Neville nodded. The moment he gripped it, the wand felt surprisingly warm in his hand.
"Okay, try the spell again. Don't worry about actually transforming the object; just focus on feeling your magic flow through the wood as you cast."
Neville gripped Adam's wand and took three deep breaths.
"Vera Verto!"
The wand slashed through the air with a silvery trail. The matchstick flickered, spun... and then transformed into a delicate needle.
A perfect needle.
Everyone immediately started clapping. Neville turned beet red, looking a little embarrassed by the attention.
"Hey Neville, if I can ask... why do you use your dad's wand if it clearly doesn't fit you?" Terry asked, looking puzzled.
Next to him, Michael tried to stop him, but it was too late. The words were out.
A heavy silence fell over the room.
"It's okay, Neville. It's actually pretty common," Rock jumped in quickly to shift the focus. "In Wandlore, there's a concept called the 'Secondary Attunement Phase.' You probably just need a little more time to break it in."
"But... when I used Adam's wand, it felt so easy. With my dad's, it feels like I'm constantly fighting against it," Neville said quietly.
"Honestly, I've always felt like this wand is connected to something that happened when I was eight. My Great Uncle Algie thought I might be a Squib, so he hung me out of an upstairs window by my ankles. He accidentally let go... I thought I was going to die."
"But I bounced. I flew right across the garden and landed on the road. They were so happy I showed magic. That very night, my grandmother gave me this wand."
It was like a dam broke; Neville just started spilling the whole story of how he got the wand.
Padma covered her mouth to keep from gasping. Just hearing about it was terrifying.
Michael and Terry looked at each other, suddenly feeling a wave of sympathy for the guy.
Rock gave Theo a signal. Theo, picking up on it immediately, walked over to chat with Neville, giving Rock a moment to examine the father's wand.
Is the core Dragon Heartstring?
Rock suddenly remembered—Neville wouldn't get his own wand until this one was destroyed during the battle at the Department of Mysteries.
And Dragon Heartstring, according to Ollivander, is one of the most powerful cores, but also one of the most temperamental.
"Neville, here's your wand back," Rock chuckled softly, handing it over naturally. "Some wands hold onto the habits of their previous owners. Your father's wand is used to his style of magic, and you are different."
Neville looked at Rock in surprise. He had expected Rock to tell him the wand was useless for him.
After all, the tradition of handing down wands was generally considered a bad practice.
"You need to find a way to communicate with it, not force it to obey," Rock said gently, pointing to the wand.
Neville looked down at the wood in his hand. He didn't say anything, seeming to forget to ask how exactly he was supposed to communicate with it.
The study group moved on to other topics, everyone tacitly agreeing to drop the uncomfortable subject.
Time flew by, and soon Neville had to leave for his next class.
He took the needle he had successfully transfigured with Adam's wand with him, though his footsteps were still heavy with self-doubt.
The rest of the group didn't leave yet; instead, the conversation circled back to Neville's wand.
"The mismatch... it's not that Neville has 'no talent' for Transfiguration," Michael said directly. "It's that his talent is being stifled by the wrong tool."
Clearly, the Ravenclaws were intrigued by the theory of it. Even Theo chimed in.
"But that wand carries the weight of his father. Every time he fails, Neville doesn't just feel like he can't do magic—he feels like he's failing his father's legacy."
The room went quiet again. Many wizarding families had similar baggage.
Admitting the wand was a mismatch was, in a way, admitting that the legacy had failed.
"So what can we do?" Adam asked the group. "We can't just tell him 'Hey, your wand is wrong.' That's too cruel."
Although Neville hadn't explicitly said why his grandmother gave him the wand, wands are usually only passed down when the original owner is gone.
The room fell into a thoughtful silence. No one knew how to solve a problem like that.
"Did I say something wrong earlier?" Adam asked, looking at everyone's reaction nervously.
"No, you were right, Adam. I was the one who put my foot in my mouth," Terry said, looking like he wanted to slap himself. After Michael explained the implications, he realized how insensitive his question had been.
"Why do you think that?"
Rock's clear voice cut through the room, drawing everyone's attention.
"This is our first study group, sure, but do you guys really see each other as just random classmates?" Rock asked.
"Not really. I think Neville is a good friend, even if we've only hung out a few times," Adam was the first to speak up.
"Same here!" Terry added. Maybe it was guilt from his earlier blunder, but he was feeling very supportive of Neville.
"I agree. Neville's a decent Gryffindor," Michael said with a raised eyebrow.
" definitely. I heard he was the one who stood up to Malfoy's trash talk the other day. That kind of guy is worth having as a friend," Padma nodded in agreement.
"So, Rock... that stuff you said about 'communicating' with the wand—was that real?" Theo asked thoughtfully, latching onto Rock's earlier advice to Neville.
"Partially. Mr. Ollivander has said that a mismatched wand doesn't mean it 'can't be used,' just that it's hard to master," Rock explained, borrowing Ollivander's reputation to back up his claim.
As to whether it was strictly true?
Well, it's not like anyone here could go ask Ollivander right now to check.