Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Warnings: NA

Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Assignment 10, Foreign Exchange 2—Write about someone putting their magizoology or herbology skills to good use outside of school); Shower of Words; MC4A

Individual Challenge(s): Hufflepuff MC; Gryffindor MC; Quoteth the Bardeth; In a Flash; Golden Times; Fall Leaves; Seeds; Not Just Straightening and Handwashing; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

Representation(s): Fall Equinox

Bonus Challenge(s): Tomorrow's Shade; Second Verse (Endless Wonder; Peddling Pots); Chorus (Not a Lamp); Demo (Bee Haven; Tomorrow's Shade; Queen Bee)

Tertiary Bonus Challenge(s): NA

Warning(s): NA

Word count: 874

The Art of Conversation

Hannah screwed her courage to the sticking place. She plucked it up. Took it up in both hands. Mustered some grits to go with that courage… and stopped thinking up idioms and walked into Greenhouse VII.

She knew that's where he'd be, or at least she had made a fairly educated guess once she'd gotten her hands on a copy of Professor Sprout's detailed layout of the greenhouses and located where the Autumnstar Azaleas were grown. And sure enough, her research and hours of anxiety-driven planning seemed to have paid off, because there he was at the other end of the room, jumper sleeves rolled up and apron hastily thrown on. He'd always been shy, Neville had, but now that they were back to finish seventh year for real he'd become reclusive. Quiet. Independent. But he picked up odd jobs for Sprouts and was still excelling in her class, so Hannah had figured—well, if there was something he'd be interested in talking to a nobody like her about… Herbology might be it.

She could see the dirt on his nose from afar, which was quite endearing, and his jaw was clenched in concentration as he plucked the branch of what appeared to be a miniature lemon tree.

Thanks to all those hours in the library, she knew that he was tending to a (quite handsome) specimen of Morpheus Apples. Their juice were associated with lessening the toll of nightmares; it made sense for Sprout to be growing more of them than usual given the… Well, Hannah's courage was all being directed at this conversation at the moment. There was no time to think of the events of last May. She did her best to shoo the thought away, and turned back to the greenhouse.

She patted the trusty flashcards in her pockets three times in thanks, and scanned the greenhouse. She recognized most of the shrubs and trees and vines and potted this-and-thats. She chewed her lip, wondering which of this particular greenhouse's flora she could talk about the most. Which one did she remember the most about? Which one had a Latin name she could say without slipping up? Which one would she sound the most intelligent discussing?

She had just about settled on the rheumatistic roses by the windowsill when Neville said her name.

"Hannah?"

She immediately panicked.

"The roses are nice," she said.

Neville looked over and then turned back to her, nodding.

"Yeah, Sprout grew them when she was in Hogwarts. They're ancient."

Hannah nodded, but her brain had picked up on that word and now she had to spew out the rest. "When asked by the Herbological Botanical Society of Western Europe at the Annual Convention of 1852 how he had come to discover the unique properties of roselum achejointicus, Colin McDonoghue informed them that it was because there was yet no cure for being ancient other than a rather unpleasant one he was working very hard to delay."

Neville snickered.

Yes, good, a victory.

"That sounds like him. I didn't know you liked Herbology, have you ever read any of his other treaties?"

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, not good, not good. Back to square one. Or maybe less than square one, because now she'd established expectations she would be unable to uphold.

This was a bad idea.

What did Justin say Muggle plane pilots said when a plane was crashing? Oh yes—mayday, mayday, mayday….

There went that courage; unscrewed and spiralling to the floor. Falling like a coin, spinning on itself once, and crashing down.

No, stop that. Say words Hannah, she thought to herself. Use your mouth, he is looking at you and waiting and looking at you and waiting and looking at you and…

"I mean, it's fine if you don't," Neville said, scratching the back of his head.

"I do!" She promised. "I do. I read lots, I know lots, I'm good for lots."

"Oh that's good," Neville said, smiling again. "The Autumnstar Azaleas are going to flower tonight, at midnight on the day of the Fall Equinox. I've never seen it happen before, but Professor Sprout said that she was confident that the seedlings I'd been working on would probably be strong enough to do it. It's supposed to be really nice, and I was hoping… See, I didn't want to get Ginny or Luna in trouble by telling them to sneak out with me, but since you're here, maybe you could…"

"Yes," Hannah nodded. "Yes, I'll stay, I'll watch, I'll be here."

"Great," Neville said. He looked up to the roof the greenhouse; sunset was just starting to drown them in orange and yellow hues. "Well, we'll be here awhile… Sprout gave me the keys to the greenhouse and a pass to dodge curfew with the promise that I'd do some chores for her. Did you want to help? I mean, some of them are boring, but trimming the Morpheus Apples is kind of fun. We'll get to juice them soon too. Well, I will, you can too if you…"

"Yes," Hannah said. Yes, yes.

And funny enough, as the night went on, Hannah didn't need any courage. It just became so easy, so simple, so natural, to play around in the dirt.