ficlet: conquering fears - challenge 50
Title: Conquering Fears
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Neville, his Gran
Summary: The last fear for Neville to conquer is his fear of potions making.
Word Count: 280
Registered purchases?: quill and parchment
Neville hovered anxiously over the cauldron, checking the instructions in his book every few moments. Even without being in class - without Snape hovering over him, giant, hook-nosed, and terrifying - he still wasn't very confident in himself.
Not when it came to Potions, at any rate. Not even for a simple potion for his Gran, who needed something to help her sleep when her "old bones started to creak", as she put it. Neville watched the liquid in his cauldron swirl, and tried to breathe deeply.
"Neville?" he heard, from just outside the door. "Aren't you done? You've been in there nearly an hour-"
"Getting close, Gran!" Neville called back, a bit anxious. He dumped the little bowl of nettles he'd crushed into the cauldron. "Just relax, I'll have it for you soon."
He heard her mumble something, but before he could even begin to try and figure out what she had said, the cauldron rumbled ominously. Neville managed a single step backward, lifting his hands to shield himself as the cauldron blew up, smoke going everywhere.
When the smoke cleared, Neville threw up his hands with a sigh. His worktable was a mess, and there was no way he was going to be able to make his Gran a potion tonight, but he was determined to keep trying.
He had faced down the Carrows, and Voldemort, and Voldemort's enormous snake. He'd survived a war, despite all odds. He'd even managed to get a job as an Herbology teacher at Hogwarts, starting next fall. But if he was going to feel as though he'd truly conquered all his fears, he was going to have to get better at Potions.
Annalisa||Slytherin
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Neville, his Gran
Summary: The last fear for Neville to conquer is his fear of potions making.
Word Count: 280
Registered purchases?: quill and parchment
Neville hovered anxiously over the cauldron, checking the instructions in his book every few moments. Even without being in class - without Snape hovering over him, giant, hook-nosed, and terrifying - he still wasn't very confident in himself.
Not when it came to Potions, at any rate. Not even for a simple potion for his Gran, who needed something to help her sleep when her "old bones started to creak", as she put it. Neville watched the liquid in his cauldron swirl, and tried to breathe deeply.
"Neville?" he heard, from just outside the door. "Aren't you done? You've been in there nearly an hour-"
"Getting close, Gran!" Neville called back, a bit anxious. He dumped the little bowl of nettles he'd crushed into the cauldron. "Just relax, I'll have it for you soon."
He heard her mumble something, but before he could even begin to try and figure out what she had said, the cauldron rumbled ominously. Neville managed a single step backward, lifting his hands to shield himself as the cauldron blew up, smoke going everywhere.
When the smoke cleared, Neville threw up his hands with a sigh. His worktable was a mess, and there was no way he was going to be able to make his Gran a potion tonight, but he was determined to keep trying.
He had faced down the Carrows, and Voldemort, and Voldemort's enormous snake. He'd survived a war, despite all odds. He'd even managed to get a job as an Herbology teacher at Hogwarts, starting next fall. But if he was going to feel as though he'd truly conquered all his fears, he was going to have to get better at Potions.
Annalisa||Slytherin