A Most Interesting Career | Neville | PG-13
Title: A Most Interesting Career - Chapter 2: Start As You Mean To Go On
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Nothing really, tiny bit of angst in Chapter 4
Featured Characters/Pairings: Neville/Hannah, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, basically canon couples!
Chapter Word Count: 3,992
Summary: Neville looks back over certain days in his career teaching at Hogwarts
Author's Note: This is a birthday fic for realmer06 and she asked for Neville's interaction with the 'next gen' kids and this happened. Short chapter this one and I had a lot of fun with it :D Obviously I'm in no way biased towards Hufflepuff house… *whistles*
Start As You Mean To Go On
He had already had a meltdown about being solely responsible for the Herbology education of the students of Hogwarts, he had already rewritten his lesson plans for the first term three times, and Hannah had had to remove any quill and parchment from his Grandmother's house because he had threatened to write a letter of resignation five times. Thankfully she had managed to talk him round four times, but had cast Silencio on him the last time when she had finally run out of patience. Considering she normally had the patience of a saint, (she was a Hufflepuff after all) Neville realised he may have been overreacting slightly.
After two weeks of relative calm he had arrived at the school with his battered old trowel and a brand new set gardening tools - a present from his Grandmother, which had nearly brought him to tears - and arranged the small office at the back of Greenhouse One as he wanted. On the first of September at six o'clock he sat at the staff table in the Great Hall and watched as the forty or so new students walked nervously to the front of the hall and he watched as they got sorted. He clapped a little louder every time a new student was sorted in to Gryffindor and ate the wonderful food as if he wasn't going to eat for days.
The next morning he arrived at the school, and, after a quick meeting with Professor McGonagall - which mainly consisted of him feeling rather nervous and the Professor telling him over and over again that he would be fine with only the first year students not knowing him as a teacher - he walked down to Greenhouse One. His first class happened to be the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw First Years and as he arrived at the battered and weather-worn door of the Greenhouse a thought occurred to him and he smirked to himself. He quickly looked at his watch and realised he had enough time to execute his newly-formed plan.
He ran through to his office and pulled out a piece of parchment, he loaded his quill and scrawled a quick note.
First Years,
Very sorry, will be a few minutes late, come in and have a look around but DO NOT touch anything.
Professor Longbottom
He stuck it to the door and ran through to Greenhouse Two. He carefully picked up the pot which housed the plant who had seen his training through with him - the Venomous Tentacula 'Toothy' he had nursed back to health - and after the plant had swiped him across the top of the head as an objection to being rudely awakened, Neville put it in full view of the main door to Greenhouse One.
With a quick glance at his watch, which read 8:50, he dragged his battered wooden stool into the corner of the room and cast a Dissolusionment Charm over himself. He quickly looked between the plants through the glass and saw the first few Ravenclaws making their way down the steps of the castle entrance.
He grinned and sat still waiting for them to arrive.
It seemed the first five students wanted to wait for backup before they ventured inside, and when there was a group of about ten students one brave Hufflepuff carefully turned the handle of the door and stepped inside. The others followed and Neville watched as a few of the Hufflepuffs pointed at a few of the plants that they recognised from their common room. Neville hadn't been in the Hufflepuff common room but Professor Sprout had told him what was in there and that a few of the now seventh years would look after the plants and come to Neville should there be a problem.
A couple of the Ravenclaws had been drawn to Toothy who had reached out a couple of his tendrils towards the students. One of the Ravenclaws lent in towards the plant and reached his hand towards it.
'Um… I wouldn't… if I were you. It might attack you.'
Neville grinned at the timid looking, blond haired Hufflepuff. She reminded him of Luna a little.
The Ravenclaw boy turned around and smirked at the girl. 'Oh, please, it's a plant, what harm can it do?'
The Hufflepuff went to argue but the Ravenclaw boy had already turned around and Neville could have sworn he saw a look of mischief on the Hufflepuff's face.
After a few seconds the Ravenclaw boy had poked the plant and then shrieked as Toothy clamped it's jaws around his hand and when he went to free himself, tendrils quickly wrapped around his other wrist.
Another of the Ravenclaw boys went to help and drew his wand from his pocket, but after thinking for a second he realised he had no idea what spell to use and looked at his wand like it was a stick he had picked up off the ground.
Neville let the students panic for a few seconds more and then removed the Dissolusionment Charm from himself and walked through the Greenhouse. A couple of the girls squealed when Neville appeared out of nowhere and they moved out of his way as he walked through them and over to the attacking plant and his victim.
'Toothy!' Neville said to the plant as if telling off a misbehaving puppy, which, to Neville, the plant was. He put his hand on the Ravenclaw boy's shoulder. 'Stop struggling.'
The student looked at him like he was insane but after a couple of involuntary twitches his shoulders relaxed. The plant, however, didn't loosen his grip. Neville turned towards the rest of the students.
'Does anyone know what I could do to get this plant here to release…'
He looked at the boy who quickly glanced at Neville before looking away again.
'Reece,' the boy said.
'Reece,' Neville repeated.
The girl who had spoken out before raised her hand in an almost apologetic way. Neville smiled at her.
'Vinegar, Professor. That's a Venomous Tentacular and they react badly to vinegar. Some people say that malt vinegar is worse, but that's not been proven and is more of an old wives tale than anything.'
Neville's smile grew wider and the girl smiled, too.
'Correct!' He turned once more towards the plant. 'Toothy, do I really need to get the vinegar out?'
The plant froze and after a few seconds unravelled from around Reece's wrists and finally removed his teeth from his hand. Instantly Reece started rubbing his hands. He sucked at the small puncture wound on his hand.
'Um, professor? Should he have done that? It is a Venomous plant after all.'
All the colour drained from Reece's face and he stared at Neville with his mouth open.
'Normally, yes, but this plant is no longer venomous, hasn't been for a few years now. Reece, you will be fine, Toothy here is relatively harmless as long as you don't poke him!'
Reece cleared his throat and blushed. Neville was relieved to see some colour come back to his face. 'I'm sorry, Professor Longbottom. It won't happen again.'
Neville nodded. 'Take five points for being curious enough to look and explore.'
Reece looked very shocked and instantly grinned at his first house points for Ravenclaw.
'However, you blatantly ignored what my note said. Not all the plants in the Greenhouses are as harmless as Toothy here and you always need to listen to what I say when you're around them, mainly because I'm your teacher but also because some can harm you. Five points from Ravenclaw for not doing what you were told.'
Reece looked mortified that he had lost his house points but nodded at Neville in resignation and understanding. Neville smiled and turned to the Hufflepuff who had answered his questions and tried to prevent Reece annoying the plant.
'What's your name?' he asked as he pulled the class list out of his robes.
'Clarissa, sir.'
Neville glanced down his list and didn't recognise Clarissa's surname. 'Well, Clarissa, take two points for knowing the name of the plant, two points for knowing what can protect against it, one for checking about the venom and five for trying to prevent Reece being chewed on in the first place.'
Clarissa looked overcome with the abundance of points she had been awarded and turned bright red. Neville couldn't help but notice how all the Ravenclaws looked jealous at Clarissa's points.
The rest of the lesson went without incident and he was pretty confident that none of them were bored.
He decided that would be the way his 'first' lessons would go from now on, with instructions and observations and teaching the students their most important Herbology lesson.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Nothing really, tiny bit of angst in Chapter 4
Featured Characters/Pairings: Neville/Hannah, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, basically canon couples!
Chapter Word Count: 3,992
Summary: Neville looks back over certain days in his career teaching at Hogwarts
Author's Note: This is a birthday fic for realmer06 and she asked for Neville's interaction with the 'next gen' kids and this happened. Short chapter this one and I had a lot of fun with it :D Obviously I'm in no way biased towards Hufflepuff house… *whistles*
Start As You Mean To Go On
He had already had a meltdown about being solely responsible for the Herbology education of the students of Hogwarts, he had already rewritten his lesson plans for the first term three times, and Hannah had had to remove any quill and parchment from his Grandmother's house because he had threatened to write a letter of resignation five times. Thankfully she had managed to talk him round four times, but had cast Silencio on him the last time when she had finally run out of patience. Considering she normally had the patience of a saint, (she was a Hufflepuff after all) Neville realised he may have been overreacting slightly.
After two weeks of relative calm he had arrived at the school with his battered old trowel and a brand new set gardening tools - a present from his Grandmother, which had nearly brought him to tears - and arranged the small office at the back of Greenhouse One as he wanted. On the first of September at six o'clock he sat at the staff table in the Great Hall and watched as the forty or so new students walked nervously to the front of the hall and he watched as they got sorted. He clapped a little louder every time a new student was sorted in to Gryffindor and ate the wonderful food as if he wasn't going to eat for days.
The next morning he arrived at the school, and, after a quick meeting with Professor McGonagall - which mainly consisted of him feeling rather nervous and the Professor telling him over and over again that he would be fine with only the first year students not knowing him as a teacher - he walked down to Greenhouse One. His first class happened to be the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw First Years and as he arrived at the battered and weather-worn door of the Greenhouse a thought occurred to him and he smirked to himself. He quickly looked at his watch and realised he had enough time to execute his newly-formed plan.
He ran through to his office and pulled out a piece of parchment, he loaded his quill and scrawled a quick note.
First Years,
Very sorry, will be a few minutes late, come in and have a look around but DO NOT touch anything.
Professor Longbottom
He stuck it to the door and ran through to Greenhouse Two. He carefully picked up the pot which housed the plant who had seen his training through with him - the Venomous Tentacula 'Toothy' he had nursed back to health - and after the plant had swiped him across the top of the head as an objection to being rudely awakened, Neville put it in full view of the main door to Greenhouse One.
With a quick glance at his watch, which read 8:50, he dragged his battered wooden stool into the corner of the room and cast a Dissolusionment Charm over himself. He quickly looked between the plants through the glass and saw the first few Ravenclaws making their way down the steps of the castle entrance.
He grinned and sat still waiting for them to arrive.
It seemed the first five students wanted to wait for backup before they ventured inside, and when there was a group of about ten students one brave Hufflepuff carefully turned the handle of the door and stepped inside. The others followed and Neville watched as a few of the Hufflepuffs pointed at a few of the plants that they recognised from their common room. Neville hadn't been in the Hufflepuff common room but Professor Sprout had told him what was in there and that a few of the now seventh years would look after the plants and come to Neville should there be a problem.
A couple of the Ravenclaws had been drawn to Toothy who had reached out a couple of his tendrils towards the students. One of the Ravenclaws lent in towards the plant and reached his hand towards it.
'Um… I wouldn't… if I were you. It might attack you.'
Neville grinned at the timid looking, blond haired Hufflepuff. She reminded him of Luna a little.
The Ravenclaw boy turned around and smirked at the girl. 'Oh, please, it's a plant, what harm can it do?'
The Hufflepuff went to argue but the Ravenclaw boy had already turned around and Neville could have sworn he saw a look of mischief on the Hufflepuff's face.
After a few seconds the Ravenclaw boy had poked the plant and then shrieked as Toothy clamped it's jaws around his hand and when he went to free himself, tendrils quickly wrapped around his other wrist.
Another of the Ravenclaw boys went to help and drew his wand from his pocket, but after thinking for a second he realised he had no idea what spell to use and looked at his wand like it was a stick he had picked up off the ground.
Neville let the students panic for a few seconds more and then removed the Dissolusionment Charm from himself and walked through the Greenhouse. A couple of the girls squealed when Neville appeared out of nowhere and they moved out of his way as he walked through them and over to the attacking plant and his victim.
'Toothy!' Neville said to the plant as if telling off a misbehaving puppy, which, to Neville, the plant was. He put his hand on the Ravenclaw boy's shoulder. 'Stop struggling.'
The student looked at him like he was insane but after a couple of involuntary twitches his shoulders relaxed. The plant, however, didn't loosen his grip. Neville turned towards the rest of the students.
'Does anyone know what I could do to get this plant here to release…'
He looked at the boy who quickly glanced at Neville before looking away again.
'Reece,' the boy said.
'Reece,' Neville repeated.
The girl who had spoken out before raised her hand in an almost apologetic way. Neville smiled at her.
'Vinegar, Professor. That's a Venomous Tentacular and they react badly to vinegar. Some people say that malt vinegar is worse, but that's not been proven and is more of an old wives tale than anything.'
Neville's smile grew wider and the girl smiled, too.
'Correct!' He turned once more towards the plant. 'Toothy, do I really need to get the vinegar out?'
The plant froze and after a few seconds unravelled from around Reece's wrists and finally removed his teeth from his hand. Instantly Reece started rubbing his hands. He sucked at the small puncture wound on his hand.
'Um, professor? Should he have done that? It is a Venomous plant after all.'
All the colour drained from Reece's face and he stared at Neville with his mouth open.
'Normally, yes, but this plant is no longer venomous, hasn't been for a few years now. Reece, you will be fine, Toothy here is relatively harmless as long as you don't poke him!'
Reece cleared his throat and blushed. Neville was relieved to see some colour come back to his face. 'I'm sorry, Professor Longbottom. It won't happen again.'
Neville nodded. 'Take five points for being curious enough to look and explore.'
Reece looked very shocked and instantly grinned at his first house points for Ravenclaw.
'However, you blatantly ignored what my note said. Not all the plants in the Greenhouses are as harmless as Toothy here and you always need to listen to what I say when you're around them, mainly because I'm your teacher but also because some can harm you. Five points from Ravenclaw for not doing what you were told.'
Reece looked mortified that he had lost his house points but nodded at Neville in resignation and understanding. Neville smiled and turned to the Hufflepuff who had answered his questions and tried to prevent Reece annoying the plant.
'What's your name?' he asked as he pulled the class list out of his robes.
'Clarissa, sir.'
Neville glanced down his list and didn't recognise Clarissa's surname. 'Well, Clarissa, take two points for knowing the name of the plant, two points for knowing what can protect against it, one for checking about the venom and five for trying to prevent Reece being chewed on in the first place.'
Clarissa looked overcome with the abundance of points she had been awarded and turned bright red. Neville couldn't help but notice how all the Ravenclaws looked jealous at Clarissa's points.
The rest of the lesson went without incident and he was pretty confident that none of them were bored.
He decided that would be the way his 'first' lessons would go from now on, with instructions and observations and teaching the students their most important Herbology lesson.