Further Study May Be Required (G; Neville, Hannah; 400 words)
eoforyth prompted me with Neville Longbottom: Alihotsy and angiosperm. Early evening in Greenhouse Six.
Further Study May Be Required (G; Neville, Hannah; 400 words): Neville doesn't know enough about flowers.
Neville finds it easier to study for Herbology in Greenhouse Six; no one tends to hang around the place in the early evening, and it smells good. What he's studying now are angiosperms. They're seed-producing plants, and they're special; they produce flowers. Sprout will be testing them on Alihotsy and Puffapod blossoms soon, so Neville wants to review their properties. He knows that Alihotsy leaves cause hysteria, and that Glumbumble parts are used in the antidote for the condition, and he's been reading about how the plant's small pointy purple petals are used in calming draughts. Alihotsy's fairly straightforward; it's Puffapods that concern him.
Stroking a fat pink Puffapod, he thinks, They'll burst and release their seeds if dropped. Their petals and seeds are used in perfumes. Their stems contain a sweet "milk" that's used in burn potions, but what else can they do?
"Special"-Sprout said that of all the magical flowering plants, Puffapods were the most special, but Neville's found nothing in his texts-he's borrowed the Fourth Year text from one of his older house mates-or the herbology journals in the library that tells him how they are.
Did I miss something? he thinks, snapping off a pod and twirling it carefully while flipping through his text, not really noticing when someone enters the greenhouse.
"Oh, pretty."
Neville looks up. "Hannah, I thought you were studying with your friends."
"You're my friend, and it was getting noisy in my common room. Do you mind?"
"Er, no, 'course not," Neville says, holding out the Puffapod for Hannah to take so that he can shift his things to give her a place to sit. When he looks up, she's beaming at him in a queer way. "What is it?"
"Thank you for the flower, Nev. It's beautiful."
Something in Hannah's tone makes him not ask for his flower back; she seems to really like it, and he can always get another. "So, have you worked out why Professor Sprouts thinks Puffapods are so special?"
Hannah frowns, and the flower slips from her fingers; seeds fly everywhere. "Oh, no!"
"It's all right. I don't mind the mess," says Neville.
Rolling her eyes, Hannah tells him, "Good. I'll just go look at the Alihotsy."
"Suit yourself." Neville shrugs as Hannah leaves him for the other side of the greenhouse, not understanding her sudden change of mood. Glad the test's not about girls.