George Weasley x Reader ~ Jaffa Cake

18 - Gillyweed

February 23rd, 1995

Sitting in the library, the atmosphere was quite idyllic. You were surrounded by a small pile of books, possibly three or four, with your quill in hand, scribbling down notes as quickly as possible for your upcoming herbology test. It wasn't that you were concerned about failing it as Herbology wasn't too difficult in your opinion, but you wanted to cast your mind to other things. Something was extremely off-putting in your mind about the Triwizard Tournament, but you were unsure as to what it was, as the feeling lingered but never revealed itself. To make matters a little more daunting, small flickers of warning flashed from deep in your brain somewhere whenever you were with Cedric. You'd taken to ignoring it, and it was working, as the only time it ever happened was when you first looked at him upon meeting him. After that, the twinges of admonition were silenced and you would promptly forget about them. You hadn't actually talked to him for quite some time, and you assumed that this was because he was busy preparing for the second task - rightfully so, as it would be quite a challenge to figure out how one would be able to breathe efficiently underwater for an entire hour - so you left him unbothered. Your mind was making your hand write almost automatically as you lost yourself in visualisations. Not soon after, an abnormally loud wail followed by a crash of what sounded like books snapped you from your thoughts, and you slowly stood up, peering out from the wall of the bookshelf.

Neville Longbottom was standing (or rather, crouching) next to a large bookcase which was stuffed full with books about Herbology. You only knew this because the pile of books on your table were all about Herbology, and you'd just picked them from that very shelf. Neville was holding an old looking book, with an intricately detailed cover, and you saw that it was labelled 'Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean', and you also saw that, due to its size, it had caused a lot of the books crammed around it to fall stiffly to the ground. He was frantically picking the books back up and trying to push them back in their places, and when he saw that you were watching him he stopped abruptly and went a light shade of pink.

You approached him as if you were walking towards a wild horse and held out your hand, offering him to shake it. He did just so, and when he realised you weren't out to get him he gave you a sheepish smile, which your returned all the same.

'Hey, I'm not sure if we've met before?' you said as he quickly picked the rest of the books up off the floor and placed them on the table behind him. 'My name's y/n l/n.'

At this, Neville looked back around at you with his mouth in an O shape, as if he'd just recognised your name. 'Oh, you're the Slytherin who's with George Weasley', he spoke almost to himself. 'I'm Neville Longbottom.'

'I thought so', you replied as he turned back around and fiddled with the books behind him. 'Are you studying for Herbology too?'

Neville eventually stopped trying to busy himself and turned fully to face you, before shaking his head. 'No, I was gonna put Harry in the right direction for the second task. You see,' he said, walking forwards a little and dropping his voice to a whisper, 'there's a magical plant called Gillyweed that allows you to breathe underwater, and I was gonna give one to him because I think he's struggling to find a solution.'

Giving him a nod of approval, you took the book from his hands and brushed the front cover with your fingers. The book felt slightly rough but slightly soft at the same time, and it was pale blue with a bit of wearing on the corners. You flipped to the index and ran your finger down to where the Gillyweed page was located, before turning to that page and reading. As you did this, Neville had taken to trying to stuff the books back in the shelf with great difficulty.

'It says there's some debate amongst Herbologists about the effects of it in Saltwater vs Seawater', you mentioned, scanning down the page. 'Are you sure it's safe?'