Longbottom's Army

Chapter Two: Gawking Nettles

The Feast couldn't end fast enough. When the sounds of wooden benches scraping across the floor overwhelmed the Great Hall, Neville eagerly headed towards the Ravenclaw table, his limp not allowing him to get there as quickly as he would like. Ignoring the looks from the Ravenclaws that were leaving the table - which seem to be a mixture of pitying stares towards his leg or, Neville realised with a blush, admiration - he sat down across from Luna.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" asked Neville eagerly.

Luna tilted her head and seemed to ponder the question. "I'm sure I'll be doing many things tonight, but I can always add something else to the list."

Neville's brow furrowed. "What sorts of things?"

"Breathing, walking, seeing, talking, your normal everyday type things."

He relaxed, selfishly relieved that Luna didn't seem to need to be anywhere tonight. Neville would have waited until tomorrow if she did, but he was just so anxious to talk about his idea tonight. "I'm going to go to Greenhouse Four to check on my plants. Would you like to come with me? I have an idea I want to talk about."

Her face broke into a wide smile. "Yes, please," she said happily, sounding so excited that Neville wondered if she worried he'd take the invitation away if she didn't sound enthusiastic enough.

They stood up and started towards the exit, passing the first year Slytherins, being led by Pansy Parkinson. Pansy stared at Neville for a second before going on her way again. Neville felt his cheek's redden, again, and wondered what the Slytherin Prefect thought of what he had done during the Sorting.

As Neville and Luna began the walk towards the greenhouses, he started to realise the enormity of what he had done. It wasn't very often that Neville truly stood up for what he believed in, and when he did, a trip to the Hospital Wing was usually in order.

First year, he had tried to stop Harry, Ron and Hermione from leaving the Common Room after dark and was humiliated for it. Then he had tried to single handedly fight Crabbe and Goyle - he chalked that up to losing his head for a few moments - and ended up in the Hospital Wing. And trips to see Madam Pomfrey were awarded to him both fifth and sixth years when he rushed to Harry's aid.

It was rather nice to stand up for something and not earn a pass to the Hospital Wing. Of course, the night wasn't over yet.

An unsettling quiet seemed to fall over the corridors leading to the greenhouses. It was so quiet, that Neville almost wished that a ghost or even Peeves would float by to create some noise. Briefly, Neville wondered if he could start telling Luna about his idea, but then decided that he'd rather be somewhere they couldn't be overhead.

Besides, Luna seemed content to walk in silence next to him. Occasionally, he would sneak a peek at her while they walked and she never seemed to be focusing straight ahead. She was always looking at something else. He was a bit envious of that. If Neville looked anywhere except right in front of him for a long period of time, he would trip over his two left feet easily.

They reached the greenhouses quickly enough. Whispering the password, Neville opened up the greenhouse door for Luna and then followed her inside. The moment he stepped inside and felt his feet no longer on the cool tile of the hallways but instead firmly on the dark brown earth of the greenhouse, Neville felt the constriction in his chest ease. He was always more comfortable in a greenhouse, any greenhouse than any other place in the world.

Methodically, Neville took off his school robes and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. Where to start? He smiled warmly at his Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant. It had grown over the summer and now practically took up an entire corner by itself.

Besides him, Luna practically squealed and went over to the workstation Professor Pomfrey gave him permission to use. "This is a Gawking Nettle!" she said excitedly, her eyes widening. "It's supposed to be extinct! How on in the world did you find one?"

"Gawking Nettle?" asked Neville, feeling a bit confused. "I bred it myself. I call it a Mellowsour plant. It's a Gawking Nettle?" He wondered if a Gawking Nettle was anything like a Crumple Horned-Snorkack. Neville didn't really think they existed, but sometimes he wished they did. It would be nice to believe in the improbable like Luna did.

"I've read all about them," Luna said, her eyes not leaving the plant. "It's been extinct for hundreds of years. I've seen drawings of them in a book of Daddy's." There was a hint of awe in her voice. "And you brought it back."

Neville let out his breath, sorry that he was going to damper her enthusiasm. "It wasn't intentional," he apologized. "I took Mellowsweet and Sage and cross bred them. I thought I was making something new."

"Gawking Nettles are supposed to have mystical healing powers," she said dreamily as she knelt down to get a better view. "If you burn the leaves, say a spell and inhale, it's supposed to cure any ailment."

"Firenze asked me to make it," Neville told her. "He thinks it will work better than Sage and Mellowsour on their own when he's trying to stargaze."

"I wish we knew the spell," Luna mused as she stood up and looked Neville. "We could cure your leg. But the spell's been forgotten for centuries."

"So can I just call it a Mellowsour plant?" asked Neville earnestly. For some reason, it made him a bit anxious to think he might have accidentally bred a plant that could have mystical healing powers.

"You really made this?" she asked in wonder. "All own your own?"

"I guess you could say that," Neville said, trying to keep the embarrassment out of his voice.

She looked down at the plant, reached out and gently stroked one of the leaves. "This plant exists because of you."

"I didn't create it or anything," Neville told her, wanting to make sure she understood that it wasn't nearly as special as she made it sound. "It was just an experiment, anything could have happened-"

Her hair whipped around as she turned towards him. "I think it's beautiful," Luna said finally.

The look of wonder on her face as she stared at him with her large, unblinking eyes gave him pause. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was beautiful that he could create something new. He had never thought that of it that way before. It certainly sounded much better than happy accident.

"Thank you," replied Neville, feeling his cheeks reddened. He was more than ready to change the subject away from himself. Deciding to broach the topic he asked her here for, he questioned, "What did you think of the Sorting?"

A flash of anger, an emotion that Neville never once associated with Luna before, crossed her face. But then it was replaced so quickly by her normal expression that Neville thought he might have imagined it. Funny, Luna seemed so calm, so accepting of everything happening around her that until now, Neville never realised how much emotion might be underneath the surface.

"It's not right to taunt first years like that," she said simply.

"I felt bad for them," Neville agreed. He decided to share something that he had never told anyone before. For some reason, he felt like he could tell her. "Did you know the Hat thought about putting me in Slytherin?"

Both of her eyebrows rose, which Neville took as a sign to continue. "Well, to be fair, the Hat thought about putting me in all four Houses. It took a while to decide." He smiled sheepishly. "For a bit, I thought that the Hat was going to set up a new House just for me and call it the House of All-Muggle."

An impish grin settled on her lips. "It was between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff for me," she told him.

"Hufflepuff?" asked Neville curiously. With all the courage she had, he was surprised it wouldn't have been Gryffindor.

Luna shrugged. "I think it was for loyalty," she replied. "I like Ravenclaw. The Hat made a good choice for me."

Neville sat down on a nearby stool and leaned forward. He wanted to talk about his thoughts about the DA. "I've been thinking."

She nodded encouragingly to him. "It's always good to think," she said seriously. "Especially when you have ideas. It might lead to more ideas. And then who knows what could happen."

"Well...I thought...Maybe we could..." Neville trailed off. What seemed like such a good plan in his head seemed a little ridiculous now that he wanted to say the words out loud. Neville and Luna, try to bring back the D.A.? Everyone would laugh at them. Who in their right mind would want to follow Neville as a leader?

"We could what?" asked Luna.

Taking a deep breath, Neville didn't let himself think as the words came tumbling out of his mouth. "I thought that with Defense Against the Dark Arts being removed that you and I could possibly, maybe, if we wanted, start up the D.A. again."

She stared at him for close to a minute before finally clapping her hands together. "I would love that! It would be so nice to pretend that I have friends again!"

"I'm your friend," Neville said before he could stop himself. He immediately blushed as soon as his brain registered his words. He wasn't used to having to define his friendships like that.

"You are?" she asked with wonder. "We're friends?"

Neville wished she didn't seem so amazed at the prospect of being friends with him. There were plenty of better people out there to be friends with. "We're friends," Neville told her, sounding more confident that he felt.

"I'll try to be a good friend to you, Neville Longbottom." Luna spoke as if she were reciting a vow. Though it was sort of nice as Neville didn't really have that many friends. It was nice to have someone be so excited about being friends with him.

"Thanks," Neville said, running his hand through his hair and hoping that his cheeks were no longer red from embarrassment. "So you'd like to help?"

Luna nodded. "If Defense Against the Dark Arts is back next year, I don't want to forgot everything before I have to take my N.E.W.T.S."

"I bet a lot of people feel that way," Neville mused. "I know I need as much help as possible if I'm going to have any chance on my N.E.W.T.S."

"Should we just have the same people as last time?" Luna asked as she sat down on a stool, bringing her legs underneath her, Indian-style.

A sudden image of one of the first year Slytherins crossed his mind. Neville asked cautiously, "How would you feel about inviting some Slytherins?"

Luna stared at him blankly, like she didn't understand the question. Finally, she replied, "Why did you ask that like you thought I wouldn't want to invite them?"

Neville let out a quick breath. He should have realised that she wouldn't have any issue with that. Ideas were forming in his head and he wasn't sure how to voice all of them. "I think it should be invite only," he told her, thinking about Marietta Edgecombe. "People who we can trust."

"Most everyone who was already in the D.A. can be trusted," Luna said. "They might not have shown up that night, but I think if they realised what was at stake, they would have. What about Slytherins?"

"Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson..." Racking his brain, Neville tried to think of some others. He then remembered that Theodore Nott could see the Threstals. "And Theodore Nott. Anyone in your year?"

"Kevin Bundy hasn't called me Looney once since first year," Luna said thoughtfully. "I'd like to invite him. And Cecelia Warrington told me she read an article in the Quibbler last year and that she liked it." Luna's eyes were bright. "I don't think she was teasing me, either."

"That's five." Neville pondered for a moment, thinking of the students that were already apart of the DA. The majority of them were Gryffindor. If there were five Slytherins, he wanted there to be five Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well.

Luna might have been reading his mind, because she picked up her school bag and took out a piece of parchment and a quill. The parchment was almost completely covered with writing and doodles, but there was a small space near the bottom empty. She tapped the quill, which Neville noticed was one of the latest self-inking models and started writing.

While she wrote, Neville tried to glance and see what was on the parchment. There seemed to be Ancient Runes translations, star charts, doodles of animals that Neville certainly didn't recognize and lots of small loopy handwriting that he couldn't read.

"I didn't notice, was Hannah Abbott back this year?" asked Luna.

Neville tried to remember if he had seen her at all today. "I don't think she was," Neville said finally.

"It's so hard, losing a mother," Luna said so softly, that Neville wasn't sure that she meant him to hear. Then louder, added, "If Hannah's not here, there are only four Hufflepuffs left from last time. Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillan and Zacharias Smith."

"Do you remember everyone that was in the D.A.?" Neville asked. He couldn't remember half of the people.

"Yes," Luna told him simply.

"Can you think of anyone else?"

"Megan Jones helped me pick up my books once when a Slytherin split my bag apart using magic," Luna said serenely.

Neville looked down at his hands. Luna had suggested three people now and all three were students that simply shown kindness to her at one point. So many people were cruel to her that it seemed liked anyone that showed her courtesy she might consider a friend. The thought made him sad somehow. Luna deserved better than that. "Add her to the list. Ravenclaws?" he asked.

"Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Padma Patil-"

"Padma and Parvati aren't at Hogwarts this year," Neville said quickly.

"Orla Quircke yelled at some of my Housemates for hiding my things at the end of term last year." Her voice was soft, and Neville could tell that whatever happened must have meant a great deal to her.

"Add her, then," Neville said, smiling for Luna's sake. "That's five. How many Gryffindors?"

"Five."

"I thought there were more than that," Neville said, feeling confused.

"The first time, it was practically all Gryffindors. But some graduated, Harry, Hermione and Ronald aren't here. And the Creevey brothers aren't back. That leaves, you, Ginny Weasley, Lavender Brown, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan."

"So five from each House," Neville said, pleased with the list they made up.

"That's twenty people," Luna mused. "That's plenty."

Neville nodded his head in agreement. He glanced at his pocket watch and noticed that it was really time to get back to their respective common rooms.

Standing up, Neville did a quick check of his plants. Professor Sprout promised that they'd be well looked after and it looked like she kept her word. Not that he thought that she wouldn't take care of his plants.

"Do you want to meet tomorrow after dinner to keep working?" asked Neville.

Luna's reaction was much more subdued this time. She nodded somberly as she put the parchment and quill back into her schoolbag.

They left the greenhouse together and said goodbye when Luna had to turn right to go to the West Tower and Neville needed to head to the left for the Gryffindor Common Room.

He paused for a moment in front of the Fat Lady. Not knowing what to expect, Neville gingerly opened the portrait to the common room. Right away, he could tell that there were fewer students. His class had been halved. There had been eight, but with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Parvati gone there were only four left. With a start, Neville realised that Lavender would be all alone in her dorm.

He looked for Lavender, who was sitting by herself at a table. That alone was odd, as he was so used to seeing Lavender and Parvati giggling together. Neville glanced around for Dean or Seamus, and seeing that they weren't there, headed towards Lavender.

Her face was titled towards the window and her eyes were moving quickly, as if she was trying to find a snitch. When he pulled out a chair to sit down, Lavender looked up, startled.

"Hi, Neville," Lavender said without much enthusiasm and looked back out the window.

Now that he was sitting down, Neville didn't have the slightest idea what to say. He and Lavender never spoke very much. If he spoke with Parvati and Lavender together, most of his comments were direct to Parvati, who was generally much more willing to talk to him. Neville never had forgotten how Parvati stood up for him during their first flying lesson so long ago.

"Did you have a nice summer?" asked Neville awkwardly.

"Did any of us have a nice summer?" asked Lavender vaguely, not looking at him. She then seemed to think she was being rude or something because she shook her head and turned towards him. "It was fine, Neville, thank you for asking."

He nodded and looked towards the fireplace. Some students had already taken over Harry, Hermione and Ron's usual spots. That, more than anything today, made Neville realise that they weren't coming back to Hogwarts. It didn't seem right for a bunch of fifth years to have casually taken their seats like it wasn't a big deal. With a slight sigh, Neville remembered the start of his own fifth year. Bellatrix Lestrange was still in Azkaban and he spent everyday being practically terrified of his own shadow. How things have changed since then.

"I'm going to bed, Neville," Lavender said suddenly, standing up. "Have a good night." Neville watched her walk away and then stood up himself. He looked for Ginny, who must already be upstairs. Not seeing anyone else to talk to, Neville headed up the stairs to his dorm.

Dean and Seamus were sitting on their respective beds, already in their pyjamas. Neville then saw that Dean's trunk was on top of Harry's old bed and Seamus' trunk on top of Ron's. Neville's trunk was sitting at the foot of his bed and Trevor was sleeping comfortably in the cage that Neville finally decided to invest in over the summer.

"Thanks for seeing if I wanted an extra bed," Neville said jokingly, trying to hide his annoyance.

"No worries, mate," Dean said immediately. "We're going to play Quaffles, Parchment, Wands for the beds. Start of next term, we'll do it again."

"Okay," Neville said eagerly. He walked in between Dean and Seamus. The three young men all held their hands out.

"On three," Seamus said. "One, two, three!"

Neville curled his hand into a fist, which represented the Quaffle. Both Dean and Seamus held out their index fingers, a wand. "Quaffle smashes wand," Neville said happily, tapping his fist on both of their hands.

"Alright," Seamus grumbled. "One, two, three."

Dean stuck out his index finger again while Seamus held out his hand flat. "Wand beats parchment!" Dean exclaimed. "I'll keep Harry's bed. Neville, you get Ron's."

"Bloody hell," Seamus muttered under his breath, but levitated his trunk off of Ron's bed. Neville then eagerly moved his trunk into the space just vacated. Gently, he lifted Trevor out of the cage and sat down on his bed. Trevor was still sleeping, which meant he wasn't trying to get away. Neville couldn't help wondering where his old friend was always trying to run to.

"Everything feels different this year, doesn't it?" Seamus asked quietly.

Neville nodded while Dean mumbled something in agreement. "I just wonder why Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't come back," Neville told his dorm mates.

"Probably something stupid and dangerous," Seamus said quietly. "He always did think he was better than everyone else." The words were spoken without venom, just as a matter of fact.

"I don't think he really did, mate," Dean said seriously. "Just that whole, Chosen One thing. It would be tough for anyone to live with. I certainly wouldn't want it."

"Me, neither," agreed Neville. "Could you imagine You-Know-Who marking you?"

"No," Seamus said stubbornly. Neville wondered briefly if Seamus was still jealous of Harry like he had been fifth year. Maybe it never really went away.

"Neville, your frog's at the door," Dean said conversationally.

"Trevor!" Neville jumped off his bed and went to the door. He hadn't even noticed Trevor hop off the bed. Scooping Trevor up, he scolded, "One of these days I'm going to put a Sticking Charm on you. I bet you wouldn't like that."

Trevor simply stared at him, unblinking. Neville never thought that his toad really wanted to run away. But he also knew that if Trevor ever disappeared forever, he would be heart broken. Trevor had been his friend for almost ten years how.

Gently, Neville placed Trevor into his cage, but left the top open, not wanting the toad to feel confined. Neville, Seamus and Dean continued to talk and Neville wondered if he should bring up the idea of bringing back the D.A. But he decided it wasn't right. This would be Luna's project, too. They would decide together when they wanted to start telling people.

Later, when Neville was warm in his bed, under the covers, he thought about what an interesting day it had been. Hopefully no one would talk about his role in the Sorting too much. Just the thought of everyone talking about him made him uncomfortable. With a sigh, he had a feeling sleep wouldn't come too easily tonight.

If this was going to be what it was like the entire year, he knew he certainly wouldn't be bored!