Second Seed; [Action]

[nearlychosen]

[If anyone's traveling in the vicinity of House 26, they might take notice of the little garden that's steadily been popping up outside over the past few weeks. Even if it's just another garden at first glance, today one of the residents is kneeling outside in the dirt attempting to change that. In the midst of a patch of what looks like mundane

Comments

[pinkribbons]

[...There's a boy talking to himself and poking flowers with a stick.

That looks just weird enough in a place like this that Yuzu stops to try and figure out what he's doing.]

[nearlychosen]

[There's nothing weird about it! Silly Muggle. Though it might be more impressive if the things he's trying were showing any visible signs of having worked.

She's picked a bad place to stop, though. She's found the sunlight, and the sudden shadow she's cast has Neville jumping, then feeling silly about having done so. He stands, offering a feeble smile.] Good morning, Miss.

[pinkribbons]

[whoops. She smiles back.] Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you.

[...but since she's still nosy] What're you doing?

[nearlychosen]

It's all right. [It's only okay because she's not furiously pointing a wand at his back like he'd been expecting.]

There's only Muggle plants here. I'm trying to fix that. [Isn't it obvious?]

[pinkribbons]

Muggle? [She's trying to remember where she's heard that word. She looks from Neville to the stick, and then realizes it's a bit too fancy to be something he just picked up.] Oh. Are you one of those wizards? Like Harry?

[nearlychosen]

You know Harry? He's one of my mates from home. [He brightens at that. Being tight with Harry is automatic entry into being cool with Neville.]

[pinkribbons]

Yeah, sort of. We were partners for a school project.

[nearlychosen]

What sort of project were you assigned? [He's curious about that school, suspecting it as one of the possible reasons Harry's gone completely mental lately.]

[pinkribbons]

Uh.... [well, this is sort of embarrassing.]

We had to take care of an egg. To learn about parenting.

[nearlychosen]

[A blink. Harry certainly didn't mention taking any Care of Magical Creatures classes here...] What kind of egg was it?

[pinkribbons]

Just a chicken. We weren't actually trying to hatch them.

[nearlychosen]

What else could you learn from them about parenting, if not through hatching?

[pinkribbons]

Pretend it's a kid and try not to break it.

[nearlychosen]

... And on your world, is that how children are normally raised?

[pinkribbons]

Well, no. An egg doesn't cry or need changing.

[nearlychosen]

Then I'm not really sure how that assignment is suppoed to work. [There's no cynicism in this, though. He's genuinely confused by the practice. Why would Harry willingly volunteer for something like that?]