The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 64: Plants

*CW: Violence & Gore*

Disclaimer: Scenes including the underlined content warning(s) have the first and last words bolded. Please read at your own risk.

» ━━━━━━ « ☾⋆☽ » ━━━━━━ «

I couldn't believe it. I smelled plants, more specifically the greenhouse. The greenhouse had a particular smell: a mix of plant fertilizer and jasmine; something that Neville always smelled like when he would visit the greenhouse during his free periods last year. That was what the amortentia smelled like, and I knew right away that it was him.

"Plants..." I hesitated, "I smell plants..."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, "Is that him? Is that-"

"Neville?" I stammered, cutting her off, as I backed away from the potion, "Yeah, that's him..."

"Well, that's good right?" Hermione beamed. I didn't respond at first, "Dawn... isn't that good?"

I nodded slowly, returning to reality, "Yeah... Yeah, it's good! I just... the potion... it conjured some sort of memory from me, similar to what it did last time..."

"What memory was it?" Hermione asked enthusiastically.

"It was the fourth day of school, first year," I explained as a small smile formed on my face, "It was the day Neville and I became friends... I was his first friend here, remember?"

"Yes, I remember very clearly!" Hermione chuckled.

"Also, I just realized I met Cedric that day too, one of his friends yelled at me..." I scoffed jokingly, "I was such a little prat... also, I loathed you! It's a bit ironic now, isn't it?"

"Well, the feelings were mutual at the time," Hermione laughed, "But we're friends now, so I don't think that old rivalry means too much, right?"

I shook my head in response, "Oh no, it means nothing at all! I just thought it was funny, but to answer the original question... yeah, I smelled Neville."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Hermione asked, "Go!"

"Go where?" I questioned.

"Go find Neville! Go tell him how you feel!" Hermione exclaimed, "And you might as well bring a gift while you're at it. I mean, it is Valentine's Day!"

"You're right... and he told me that he wanted to talk to me earlier," I stammered, "He wanted to ask me something..."

"THEN GO!" Hermione scoffed, "GO GET A GIFT, AND MEET ME BACK IN OUR DORM IN NO LESS THAN TWENTY MINUTES!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A GIFT IN TWENTY MINUTES?" I protested as Hermione began to clean up her materials.

"I DUNNO, FIGURE IT OUT!" Hermione chuckled, "YOU BEST GET A MOVE ON THOUGH!"

I rolled my eyes as I stood up, and ran out of the girl's bathroom. I had less than twenty minutes to prepare a gift for Neville, and I had no idea what to get him. I mean, he liked frogs and plants... THAT WAS IT! PLANTS!

An idea struck me, it was a dangerous idea, but one worth getting in trouble for. I mean, I was a prefect, so if anything, I could have lied and said that I had permission to do it. I ran over to the Herbology classroom, but to my disappointment, there was something going on, so I couldn't walk in, and do what I wanted to do anyways.

I was going to steal a plant, and pot it for him. I wasn't sure if he would be able to tell that I had stolen it, but it was the thought that counted, right? But my plan was ruined anyway because Professor Sprout was in the middle of talking to a couple of students. I only knew one other place in the school that had a garden, and that was Hagrid's, which was probably a better idea to begin with because I didn't have to steal from Hagrid, he would have given me the plant as long as I asked.