The New Student is a Year Four ☆•*: . | Neville Longbottom Fanfiction

Chapter Five - Herbology

I'm woken up by the sound of a loud alarm and hear rushed footsteps around me. I groan and cover my ears with my pillow. Is it morning already? What time is it?

When it's clear that the sound won't stop, I get up and struggle to open my eyes. I see the girl from the train with her uniform on balancing on one foot, trying to put the sock on the other.

"Hey! Asphodel, right? You should probably hurry and get ready. I forgot to set my alarm to the right time and slept in. We're really late for breakfast-" She gets cut off by me running to the restroom.

"LATE?!" I groan as I put the toothpaste on the toothbrush. "I forgot to set my alarm clock! Thank you for waking me up, I can't imagine what would've happened if you didn't."

I try to brush my teeth and comb my hair at the same time. How could I wake up late on my first day of school? I finish brushing my teeth and put my hair up with a dark blue ribbon that matches my uniform. I rush back into the dormitory and look for my black and blue uniform that I put somewhere last night.

"No problem! I can wait for you if you want? If we get in trouble at least we'll be together. I'm Cho by the way," She says.

"Nice to meet you," I rummage through my bag, where the hell did I put it? "You can go ahead. I don't want you to be even more late because of me, they'll take off double the points if we show up together."

"Okay, well, I'll go now," she hesitates, "if you need anything, you can tell me."

"Thank you," I smile at her and go back to rummaging. I hear the door close as I look through my bed. Maybe I put it somewhere in here last night. I look under one of the pillows and find my uniform. I sigh in relief and I put it on quickly, get my bag, and run out the door.

I dash through the hallways and down the stairs until I reach the Great Hall. It is loud with everyone talking over each other and getting their mail delivered by owls. I walk silently to the Ravenclaw table, joining Luna and Cho.

"You're here," Luna says calmly.

"Yeah, I'm glad it was breakfast and not first period. I need to set an alarm before this happens again tomorrow," I look over at Cho, who is looking at the Gryffindor table.

"Is something interesting going on there? Or is it someone?" I grin and she laughs.

"I'm not interested in anyone at Gryffindor, but Longbottom might be interested in someone at Ravenclaw," she gives me a look. "He's got an eye on you, you know."

"Really?" I look behind me and see Neville staring right at me. As soon as he notices that I'm looking, he looks away. I tense and turn back to my table. "Maybe my hair is messed up and that's why he's looking so much."

"Mmm, if you say so!" She says before a girl beside her begins a conversation.

I turn to Luna. "Who was the person at Gryffindor that you mentioned yesterday? The one who can lend me an owl?"

"Oh yes," Luna says, "I noticed that you've already met Harry, you could ask him to lend you Hedwig, I'm sure he won't mind."

I nod and dig into my food before I have to go to my first class.

———

"—and Potions with...Professor Snape. Hm, sounds nice." I'm looking over my schedule with Hermione to see what classes I got.

"Nice?" She scoffs. "There's nothing nice about Professor Snape unless you're good at Potions. Which you are, so at least one of us is going to survive his class."

"Do we have his class together?" I say.

She looks at her schedule. "It depends. Sometimes it's Gryffindor with Slytherin and Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff. The classes switch around a lot."

I sigh. "This is so confusing. I'll just figure it out myself and I think it's about time we get to class. Let's meet up in the gardens after lunch."

She agrees and we both say our goodbyes. I head downstairs towards the greenhouse where my Herbology lesson is supposed to be at. Only when I arrive do I find that not only I am early, but also that the professor is not here yet. So it's just me and, well, Neville.

"Hello Neville," I wave. He's writing something on his notebook and closes it immediately when he acknowledges me.

"Oh, hi Asphodel," he returns the greeting.

I walk around quietly, examining the different plants before I stop in front of a shelve full of them. Some I recognize, like the Mandrake and the Dittany. Helpful plants that could be used specifically for their restoring abilities and are safe enough to be kept at home. Then I spot Wormwood which is one of the most common ingredients used in potions. Specifically for healing potions.

"Asphodel," I hear Neville whisper.

"Hm?" I answer.

"Your name. Asphodel," he pauses for a moment. "Were you named after the flower?"

I nod. "Yes. That's right."

The Asphodel is a flowering plant that is used as one of the ingredients in the Draught of the Living Dead, a potion which can make a person fall into an enchanted state of sleep. It can also be simply used as a herb to warm the body.

"That's very interesting. Have you always liked plants?" he asks.

I smile. "Yes, since I was a child. And you?"

"Same." He says quietly.

"Hello Neville," says Professor Sprout. "Glad to have you back for another year. I see that you have met Miss Evergreen here."

I smile. "Good morning Professor."

"It's good to see you Miss Evergreen, ready for your first year at Hogwarts?" She asks.

"I can't wait!"

Not a very long chapter but I hope you enjoyed!

Word count: 998