HP Fic - “The Deep Woods”
Title: The Deep Woods
Fandom: Harry Potter
Prompt: Neville, and humor
Wordcount: 1578
Genre: General
Rating/Warnings: K, utterly innocent. :) ♥
Summary: There’s something strange inside the Forbidden Forest, and Professor Neville Longbottom and his young apprentice-of-sorts are out to discover what it is.
Author’s Notes: A Christmas present for shimotsuki. :)
“There’s something strange going on in the Forbidden Forest,” Adrien said one evening.
“Is there?” Neville asked, taking a sip of his tea. “I didn’t notice; I’ve been too busy grading final exams. I should just have left it as the practical part; what possessed me to assign essays?”
Adrien smiled and shrugged. “Dunno. But yeah, Hagrid and I were walking past it yesterday, and he said that all sorts of funny stuff was going on. Like the woods are sick or something; we didn’t know what it could be.” Running a hand through his straw-colored hair, the boy lifted his own teacup to his lips, then paused. “I thought you might want to take a look at it, because it seems to be something with the plants. I would’ve gone and checked it out, except that Hagrid had somewhere to be and couldn’t go with me.”
Adrien, being a Muggle, would not have been wise to go into the Forest alone. His family had lived relatively near to Hogwarts until they’d been killed in the war, and the school had taken in their infant son out of something like guilt. Technically, he was Hagrid’s assistant, but he was as fascinated by plants as he was by animals, so he had soon befriended the gentle Herbology professor.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Neville agreed. “If there is something wrong with the Forest, the sooner we identify it, the better - best to fix it before it spreads.”
“Should we go now?” Adrien asked.
“I think so,” Neville decided, draining his teacup and standing. “It’s going to be dark in a few hours, and I’d rather be back here by then. The Forbidden Forest at night isn’t on my list of this year’s most pleasant vacation spots.”
After putting his teacup into the sink and waiting for Adrien to do the same, he made his way out into the hall, where he collected a scarf and a thick coat.
“Would you like to borrow a jacket?” he asked. “It’s going to be very cold out there.”
“Thanks,” Adrien acceded, taking the puffy red specimen and similarly-colored scarf that were passed to him. “Nothing like December in Scotland to freeze you solid.”
“Well, we shouldn’t be out too long,” Neville said, collecting his walking stick from beside the door. “It does get dark early, doesn’t it? It’s barely afternoon and the sun is close to setting.”
“I think today might be winter solstice,” Adrien remarked. “I lose track of days sometimes, but I know Monday is Christmas Eve.” He wrapped the scarf around his neck and shrugged the jacket on, pulling it tight around himself, and Neville opened the door and stepped out into the cold day.
It was early afternoon, but it was evening, as well, because he could see the bright blot of the sun sinking already behind the gray clouds that blanketed the sky. The air was chilly and damp, and mist clung in pockets of the land and hovered over the surface of the lake. The edges of the Forest, down at the base of the slope by Hagrid’s hut, had filled with it.
“So what exactly did you two find wrong?” Neville asked as the pair made their way down the hill and towards the fringes of the Forest. As they approached, trees rose to tower above them, dark and silent.
“The plants,” Adrien explained. “They were withering. The trees looked all right, but the other plants seemed sick. And we didn’t see any animals, and something just felt… wrong.”
Neville understood completely. Even Muggles could sense when something was out of tune with a place as magical as the Forbidden Forest - and, as they passed into the shadows of the trees, he experienced it for himself in the form of a sudden strange chill that had nothing to do with the deeper shade.
“You’re right,” he murmured instantly. “Something is wrong - but it’s coming from deep inside the Forest. We’ll have to be careful; stay close to me.”
The two fell silent after that, making their way through the dim, close trees by the light of the pale globe of illumination hovering at the top of Neville’s walking stick (after one too many times losing his wand, he’d had it built into something too large to misplace). The mist surrounded them, making it hard to see more than a little ways ahead without the light reflecting back at them even as the shadows between the trees deepened.
“I hope we get there soon,” Neville murmured, breaking the silence. “Or else we won’t get out by sunset.”
“Is it still day?” Adrien asked, even his quiet voice sounding loud in the silent forest. “I can’t tell. It always seems like night in here.”
“I think we’re getting close,” Neville remarked.
“It feels like it,” Adrien agreed. “I - wait, is that snow on the ground?”
“It is,” Neville said, pausing to examine it. “That’s strange; it hasn’t snowed within the past two days. This can’t have been left over that long.”
“Look.” Adrien pointed. “There’s a clearing up there, and I think I see lights.”
It was only a short walk further - and when they arrived, Neville heard Adrien gasp softly. He himself couldn’t have spoken if he’d wanted to; the sight greeting his eyes was too astounding, too impossible, too lovely entirely.
They were standing at the edge of a small clearing, the ground of which was entirely covered with white snow glistening in the moonlight. The sky above was a deep, dark blue, and little stars twinkled down from a gap in the clouds.
But what really got his attention was the tree. Standing in the middle of the clearing was an enormous pine tree, towering above the others - and on every branch hung glimmering colored lights, red and yellow and blue and green, lighting up the clearing with a soft, ethereal glow.
“It’s a Christmas tree,” Adrien breathed.
Mutely, Neville nodded.
“Is it magical?” Adrien asked softly.
“It must be,” Neville murmured. “I don’t know anybody who would come out here to decorate it. Either there’s some kind of enchantment on it, or it’s some rare species of magical plant that’s not in the books.”
“Is it what’s sick?” Adrien wondered. “It looks beautiful; I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Neville half-nodded in agreement, looking carefully up at the tree where it shone in front of the dark sky.
“There,” he pointed. It was at the very top, and hard to see, but… “The star.”
“What star?” Adrien squinted. “I don’t see one.”
“That’s because it’s fallen off,” Neville explained. “See, look, it’s caught on one of the higher branches. It must have blown off when it was so windy the other day, and without it, the tree is getting sick.”
“I can climb up and fix it,” Adrien volunteered. Neville shook his head.
“No, I’ll go. It might be dangerous, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Besides, the topmost branches won’t be very sturdy, so the star will probably need to be levitated onto the point once I get close enough.”
“All right,” Adrien agreed. “But how are you going to climb with your walking stick?”
Neville smiled. “Very carefully,” he promised.
True to his word, he made sure he had steady footing on each branch before attempting to reach the next. Luckily, the tree had many branches, most of which were spaced closely together. Keeping his walking stick in his right hand and holding on with his left, Neville climbed and climbed, until he was lost in a world of branches and pine needles and evergreen.
And then, at last, he emerged near the top and simply looked.
The clearing below him was a pool of white in an ocean of dark green, and Adrien, looking up from below, was tiny. Lifting his eyes, Neville looked out over waves of dark trees shrouded in mist, across a silent black lake to a castle that rose on a hill, yellow light spilling from the windows. It was as if he was floating between the eternity of the land and the endless sea of the sky, cool wind whipping his face and humming in his ears, colored lights hovering around him.
His eyes stung faintly, whether from the cold or from the beauty of the winter landscape he didn’t know and didn’t care.
After a long, long few moments of looking, he turned and found the star. It was large and glowing softly, surprisingly light when he lifted it, and the work of a moment to levitate onto the highest branch of the tree. It seemed to glow a little brighter when it reached its perch, and the needles beneath his hands where he held onto one of the branches seemed to shine a little bit greener and stand up a little bit more enthusiastically.
After another long look, Neville climbed back down, once again taking care not to slip. When he reached the ground, Adrien was waiting for him, smiling.
“Ready to head home?” the boy asked.
Neville nodded.
And as the two made their way back through the darkening forest to the sanctuary of golden-lit windows and crackling fireplaces and softly-steaming hot chocolate, he couldn’t help think that, even as a professor at a school for wizards, there was still some magic that was entirely mystifying to him - and, for that, entirely beautiful.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Prompt: Neville, and humor
Wordcount: 1578
Genre: General
Rating/Warnings: K, utterly innocent. :) ♥
Summary: There’s something strange inside the Forbidden Forest, and Professor Neville Longbottom and his young apprentice-of-sorts are out to discover what it is.
Author’s Notes: A Christmas present for shimotsuki. :)
“There’s something strange going on in the Forbidden Forest,” Adrien said one evening.
“Is there?” Neville asked, taking a sip of his tea. “I didn’t notice; I’ve been too busy grading final exams. I should just have left it as the practical part; what possessed me to assign essays?”
Adrien smiled and shrugged. “Dunno. But yeah, Hagrid and I were walking past it yesterday, and he said that all sorts of funny stuff was going on. Like the woods are sick or something; we didn’t know what it could be.” Running a hand through his straw-colored hair, the boy lifted his own teacup to his lips, then paused. “I thought you might want to take a look at it, because it seems to be something with the plants. I would’ve gone and checked it out, except that Hagrid had somewhere to be and couldn’t go with me.”
Adrien, being a Muggle, would not have been wise to go into the Forest alone. His family had lived relatively near to Hogwarts until they’d been killed in the war, and the school had taken in their infant son out of something like guilt. Technically, he was Hagrid’s assistant, but he was as fascinated by plants as he was by animals, so he had soon befriended the gentle Herbology professor.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Neville agreed. “If there is something wrong with the Forest, the sooner we identify it, the better - best to fix it before it spreads.”
“Should we go now?” Adrien asked.
“I think so,” Neville decided, draining his teacup and standing. “It’s going to be dark in a few hours, and I’d rather be back here by then. The Forbidden Forest at night isn’t on my list of this year’s most pleasant vacation spots.”
After putting his teacup into the sink and waiting for Adrien to do the same, he made his way out into the hall, where he collected a scarf and a thick coat.
“Would you like to borrow a jacket?” he asked. “It’s going to be very cold out there.”
“Thanks,” Adrien acceded, taking the puffy red specimen and similarly-colored scarf that were passed to him. “Nothing like December in Scotland to freeze you solid.”
“Well, we shouldn’t be out too long,” Neville said, collecting his walking stick from beside the door. “It does get dark early, doesn’t it? It’s barely afternoon and the sun is close to setting.”
“I think today might be winter solstice,” Adrien remarked. “I lose track of days sometimes, but I know Monday is Christmas Eve.” He wrapped the scarf around his neck and shrugged the jacket on, pulling it tight around himself, and Neville opened the door and stepped out into the cold day.
It was early afternoon, but it was evening, as well, because he could see the bright blot of the sun sinking already behind the gray clouds that blanketed the sky. The air was chilly and damp, and mist clung in pockets of the land and hovered over the surface of the lake. The edges of the Forest, down at the base of the slope by Hagrid’s hut, had filled with it.
“So what exactly did you two find wrong?” Neville asked as the pair made their way down the hill and towards the fringes of the Forest. As they approached, trees rose to tower above them, dark and silent.
“The plants,” Adrien explained. “They were withering. The trees looked all right, but the other plants seemed sick. And we didn’t see any animals, and something just felt… wrong.”
Neville understood completely. Even Muggles could sense when something was out of tune with a place as magical as the Forbidden Forest - and, as they passed into the shadows of the trees, he experienced it for himself in the form of a sudden strange chill that had nothing to do with the deeper shade.
“You’re right,” he murmured instantly. “Something is wrong - but it’s coming from deep inside the Forest. We’ll have to be careful; stay close to me.”
The two fell silent after that, making their way through the dim, close trees by the light of the pale globe of illumination hovering at the top of Neville’s walking stick (after one too many times losing his wand, he’d had it built into something too large to misplace). The mist surrounded them, making it hard to see more than a little ways ahead without the light reflecting back at them even as the shadows between the trees deepened.
“I hope we get there soon,” Neville murmured, breaking the silence. “Or else we won’t get out by sunset.”
“Is it still day?” Adrien asked, even his quiet voice sounding loud in the silent forest. “I can’t tell. It always seems like night in here.”
“I think we’re getting close,” Neville remarked.
“It feels like it,” Adrien agreed. “I - wait, is that snow on the ground?”
“It is,” Neville said, pausing to examine it. “That’s strange; it hasn’t snowed within the past two days. This can’t have been left over that long.”
“Look.” Adrien pointed. “There’s a clearing up there, and I think I see lights.”
It was only a short walk further - and when they arrived, Neville heard Adrien gasp softly. He himself couldn’t have spoken if he’d wanted to; the sight greeting his eyes was too astounding, too impossible, too lovely entirely.
They were standing at the edge of a small clearing, the ground of which was entirely covered with white snow glistening in the moonlight. The sky above was a deep, dark blue, and little stars twinkled down from a gap in the clouds.
But what really got his attention was the tree. Standing in the middle of the clearing was an enormous pine tree, towering above the others - and on every branch hung glimmering colored lights, red and yellow and blue and green, lighting up the clearing with a soft, ethereal glow.
“It’s a Christmas tree,” Adrien breathed.
Mutely, Neville nodded.
“Is it magical?” Adrien asked softly.
“It must be,” Neville murmured. “I don’t know anybody who would come out here to decorate it. Either there’s some kind of enchantment on it, or it’s some rare species of magical plant that’s not in the books.”
“Is it what’s sick?” Adrien wondered. “It looks beautiful; I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Neville half-nodded in agreement, looking carefully up at the tree where it shone in front of the dark sky.
“There,” he pointed. It was at the very top, and hard to see, but… “The star.”
“What star?” Adrien squinted. “I don’t see one.”
“That’s because it’s fallen off,” Neville explained. “See, look, it’s caught on one of the higher branches. It must have blown off when it was so windy the other day, and without it, the tree is getting sick.”
“I can climb up and fix it,” Adrien volunteered. Neville shook his head.
“No, I’ll go. It might be dangerous, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Besides, the topmost branches won’t be very sturdy, so the star will probably need to be levitated onto the point once I get close enough.”
“All right,” Adrien agreed. “But how are you going to climb with your walking stick?”
Neville smiled. “Very carefully,” he promised.
True to his word, he made sure he had steady footing on each branch before attempting to reach the next. Luckily, the tree had many branches, most of which were spaced closely together. Keeping his walking stick in his right hand and holding on with his left, Neville climbed and climbed, until he was lost in a world of branches and pine needles and evergreen.
And then, at last, he emerged near the top and simply looked.
The clearing below him was a pool of white in an ocean of dark green, and Adrien, looking up from below, was tiny. Lifting his eyes, Neville looked out over waves of dark trees shrouded in mist, across a silent black lake to a castle that rose on a hill, yellow light spilling from the windows. It was as if he was floating between the eternity of the land and the endless sea of the sky, cool wind whipping his face and humming in his ears, colored lights hovering around him.
His eyes stung faintly, whether from the cold or from the beauty of the winter landscape he didn’t know and didn’t care.
After a long, long few moments of looking, he turned and found the star. It was large and glowing softly, surprisingly light when he lifted it, and the work of a moment to levitate onto the highest branch of the tree. It seemed to glow a little brighter when it reached its perch, and the needles beneath his hands where he held onto one of the branches seemed to shine a little bit greener and stand up a little bit more enthusiastically.
After another long look, Neville climbed back down, once again taking care not to slip. When he reached the ground, Adrien was waiting for him, smiling.
“Ready to head home?” the boy asked.
Neville nodded.
And as the two made their way back through the darkening forest to the sanctuary of golden-lit windows and crackling fireplaces and softly-steaming hot chocolate, he couldn’t help think that, even as a professor at a school for wizards, there was still some magic that was entirely mystifying to him - and, for that, entirely beautiful.