Chapter One - Plant Perfection

"Do you see it?" Neville Longbottom asked his pupils, marvelling at the perfect leafy green leaves that sprouted out of the mandrake pots. "Beautiful."

His first year pupils exchanged glances, not yet used to the slight eccentricity of their professor. Neville sighed, and the sigh was happy.

"Do you know, this is the first time Hogwarts has had madrakes since I was twelve? Now isn't that incredible?"

The class began to whisper, and Neville heard someone say "Chamber of Secrets". Suddenly all eyes shifted to Albus Potter who was suddenly very interested in his mandrake.

Neville attempted to take the spotlight off Albus. "For homework, I want you all to write a short essay on the mandrake. I know we haven't done much work on them yet, but it will be interesting to see what you come up with."

Most of the students groaned, and their groans became more obvious as Rose Weasley's hand flew into the air.

"How short?" She asked, and Neville smiled as he noticed the resemblance between her and her mother.

"A half of a scroll of parchment will be sufficient, Rose," He said, still smiling at her. She grinned back.

"First week here and we've already got homework," Neville heard a small dark haired boy mutter, and he smiled, enjoying the behaviour of the eleven year olds.

As the students began to leave the greenhouse, young Albus Potter hovered next to the mandrake he'd been inspecting.

"Professor -"

"You know you can call me Neville when the other students aren't around, Al," Neville said to his godson.

"Neville, then." Albus said, and he smiled.

Neville didn't say anything, he just waited for Albus to reply. Al was shy, and needed his time.

"Mum said I have to send you love," Al said, and he visibly cringed. "James wouldn't do it, so I said I would."

Neville smiled and patted Al's shoulder. "Thanks Al. You pass on the same message for me in your next letter, won't you?"

Albus nodded, smiling, and Neville once again noticed the startling resemblance between him and Harry. It was like looking at eleven year old Harry Potter all over again, except his nose was more Ginny than Harry.

"Everything going okay for you, Al?"

Al shrugged. "I like it here. I miss Mum and Dad a bit, but it's okay. And I'm glad I have Rose. James is just annoying."

Neville laughed. Over the years, Neville had noticed that James Potter possessed a nature similar to that of Fred or George Weasley. Neville sighed then as his memory flashed back to the evening when Fred had died, and a little twinge of sadness pierced his heart.

"You'll be late for lunch, Al," Neville said, and Albus nodded, picking up his schoolbag. "Come on, I'll walk up with you."

Together, they walked up to the castle.


Later that evening, Neville sat in the staff room going over his notes for his sixth years.

The staff room door swung open and Professor McGonagall stepped in. Neville cringed inside as he greeted her - even after three years of teaching at Hogwarts, he was still intimidated by his old Transfiguration teacher.

"Good evening, Neville," She said crisply, conjuring herself a cup of tea. "Would you like a cup?"

"Yes, please, Minerva." Again, and internal shudder. It was so weird to be addressing her as Minerva.

She handed him the cup of hot liquid and sat in her regular chair next to the fire.

Neville felt slightly worried as he watched her, her grey hair scraped neatly into her regular bun at the back of her head. She was so old now.

"Something wrong, Neville?" She asked sharply, catching him staring.

He blushed as if he was twelve again. "No, no, nothing wrong."

She nodded curtly and returned to her work. Gradually the staff room began to fill up as more of the professors returned from dinner.

The door opened once again and Neville shuddered as Argus Filch entered. He hated the man with a passion. Neville couldn't believe he was actually still alive. Because Neville was a professor now, Filch treated him with a little more respect, but Neville had caught him glaring at him more than once.

Filch was followed by his cat, Lucy. Mrs Norris had died years ago, Neville had heard, and after almost ten years of mourning, Filch finally managed to find a cat as horrible as the one he had had during Neville's school days.

After sitting in the staff room long enough to finish correcting essays and planning classes, Neville finally left the staff room.

He checked the Gryffindor Common Room (as head of house is was his duty to do so) and found the common room in a state of calm, almost emptied except for a couple of students lounging in front of the fire.

Then he went to his bedroom, a small chamber that was entered through the door in his office.

Neville sat on his four poster bed, one that was not unlike the one he had slept in during his years at Hogwarts, and mulled things over. He picked up the photograph album that was under his bed, and began to flick through it. The first picture he came across was Harry and Ginny's wedding. Harry was dressed smartly in a suit, and Ginny in a white dress. Ron was standing next to Harry as best man, with Neville next to him as groomsman. Hermione was Ginny's only bridesmaid. They all smiled and waved up at Neville, who smiled back before turning the page. The next picture was Ron and Hermione's wedding, and this one really made Neville smile. It was still hard for him to believe that after all the years of bickering, Ron and Hermione had ended up married. This was more of a group photograph, with almost all the wedding guests in the picture. Neville laughed when he saw Luna Lovegood, dressed crazily in her robes of egg-yolk yellow, waving at the camera. Loony Lovegood. Harry and Ginny were in this picture too, and Ginny's stomach was perfectly rounded with James. Neville sighed as he flicked through the album. When he finally turned off the light, he couldn't sleep.


I wrote this story as an experiment. I've never written anything for Harry Potter before… do you think I should continue? It will inevitably be a love story.. All my readers know I love them!Please review and tell me what you think. If you like it, I will continue.

Lily x