This Bag of Stones
Chapter 8 – Neville's Creation
Previously:
Neville took advantage of the following silence to slip the moss-covered stone that he had claimed from Harry's stash into the earthy soil near the roots of the tree. Looking around furtively to ensure no one had spotted him, Neville returned his hand to stroking the Wiggentree carefully before stepping back and rejoining his classmates.
One day later:
"Neville?" Harry asked in confusion as he looked up from his bacon and eggs.
"I need to do something. I'll see you in class," Neville said, pushing away his plate and getting up from the table.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, taking in Neville's tense stance.
The young Longbottom did his best to smile reassuringly but it was quickly seen through by Harry and Hermione. She snapped her chosen reading material for the day shut and drained her glass of pumpkin juice. Harry followed her actions and shovelled the remaining food as quickly as possible into his mouth. He nudged Ron, who seemed to be in the third course of his usual breakfast routine, but was consequently ignored for another serving of hash browns. He shrugged and stared at Neville expectantly.
"Well?"
"Guys, you don't have to-" he began.
"Don't worry about it, Neville," Hermione smiled. "We WANT to." Neville met their determined gazes and his shoulders sagged in relief.
"Thanks."
"Now, why don't we go to this oh-so-important place, huh?" she teased. They left the Great Hall, after informing Ron that they'd meet him in the following lesson. They weren't too sure whether he heard them or not. Neville hesitantly lead them out of the doors and into the cool chilly air.
"Yesterday.. I- I felt like I had to do something," he stuttered. "It was dying! The tree! And Professor Sprout!" He choked, his face screwing up in frustration.
"Hey," Harry lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's alright."
"You did something, didn't you?" Startled, Neville looked up to see Hermione staring knowingly at him. She gave him a small smile. "We knew something was off last night. We just wanted you to tell us first."
"You can trust us Neville," Harry added earnestly.
Neville took a deep breath and said, "Iputmystoneinthesoil." At their incomprehensive stares, he relaxed and said more slowly, "I put my stone in the soil. Yesterday, when no one was looking." He dithered before adding in an uncertain tone, "I thought it would help."
"Oh," Hermione breathed, her eyes wide. "I think- I think you might have something there!"
"Blimey Neville!" Harry playfully punched him lightly on the arm. The boy grinned abashedly and ducked his head, hiding the blush that was threatening to take over his features.
"It might not have worked," he mumbled. They hurried to the greenhouse. This time, Harry was certain that Neville succeeded in making his stone work. As they approached Greenhouse One, Harry hoped with all his heart that the tree would have at least recovered from its attack.
"What were you thinking when you pushed the stone into the soil?" Hermione asked. Harry recognised the academic tone that had taken over. Neville merely shrugged in answer.
"I just wanted the tree to get better."
"What do you expect will happen overnight?"
"I... I was hoping that the broken branches would have fallen off and maybe some new shoots." He grimaced. "Hopefully the leaves would have recovered or be replaced? I don't know- am I asking for too much?" He turned pleading eyes towards his friends.
"All you can do now is just to hope for the best," Harry said. Neville nodded fervently.
Before they reached the door, a dark shape from the inside of the greenhouse slammed the door open.
"Professor Sprout!" Hermione said, a hand raised to her chest in shock. The professor's hat was dangerously tilted with wild bunches of hair pulled out in a frazzled mess. Her face had turned into a mottled red and her pupils were blown wide open.
"Miss Granger!" she said faintly before noticing the two boys beside her. "Mr Potter! Mr Longbottom!"
"Professor," Neville asked hesitantly. "Is everything alright?"
"Alright?!" She mimicked rather hysterically. "Why, Mr Longbottom, they're just fine! Just fine..." she shook her head as words failed her. "Must tell... tell... yes." Her eyes roved over to Hogwarts before spotting the three students standing in front of her again. "Good day!" she said in a high-pitched voice and marched off towards the castle. They stared at her receding figure and then at each other. Without another word, Neville hurried into the greenhouse. His hands were trembling with nerves and anticipation.
Hermione and Harry rushed in after Neville but before they could take more than two steps into the greenhouse, Hermione slammed into his back and rebounded onto Harry. It was only due to his quick reflexes that she hadn't fallen.
"Nev, wha-" Harry trailed off, his eyes catching sight of the Wiggentree that only yesterday had been well on its way to becoming compost.
A towering canopy of verdant leaves strained against the ceiling of the fragile greenhouse. The shrunken, wizened trunk had straightened and expanded into a healthy, humongous tree while roots as large as they were spilled from the small pot and were entrenched deep in the soil below the greenhouse. Huge branches stretched out above them, forming a web-like network that blocked out all light. The trio could practically hear groaning noises as the Wiggentree pushed desperately against the inhibiting walls.
-Lifestone-
Description: A flat pebble mottled with green moss.
Function: Has healing properties when immersed in soil near the plant.
Conditions: Only works on one plant. May induce special properties in the plant when it is healed (e.g. more magical strength).
The first thing that occurred to Harry was "Merlin! Does this mean the Bowtruckles grew too?"
His words finally seemed to filter through to the other two who were still staring up at the tree with their mouths dangling open. Hermione recovered first and quickly assumed her scholar persona.
"That's quite probable, actually. Perhaps not grown in individual size per se but grown population wise. What do you think, Neville?" she asked suddenly, jolting the boy out of his shock.
"What?" He was unable to tear his eyes away from the sight of the tree. "I- This is..."
Harry smiled proudly and patted him on the back. "Knew you had it in you the whole time, Nev."
"Harry, I don't know what to say..." He looked overwhelmed. Hermione looked at him in concern.
"Perhaps we should just look for your stone," she suggested, hoping that giving Neville something else to focus on would help. Beforehand, being able to use the stones as another conduit of magic had simply been a hobby -a useful one, no doubt, but a mere pastime nonetheless. However when Neville managed to create a new stone, it had somehow made it more realistic and showed them how far-reaching the consequences were.
Neville nodded mutely and turned back to the tree. They regarded the massive tree once again, taking in the sheer size of it. The trunk itself would require up to 5 people to be able to wrap their hands around it.
Silence reigned for a few seconds before Harry bluntly asked, "Great! Where do we start?"
They were just in time for Charms. Panting for breath as they joined Ron, they stumbled into the seats he had saved them at the back of the classroom.
"Where have you been?" he hissed angrily.
"We told you!" Harry protested between pants.
"No, you bloody well didn't," Ron scowled.
"You were a bit...side-tracked," Hermione said delicately as she placed her bag down. "Anyway, do you want to hear Neville's big news or not?" Ron whipped around to face the beaming boy.
"No," he said aghast. "You did it? You actually did it? And I missed it?" Neville nodded and held up the mottled, green pebble.
"It saved the Wiggentree from yesterday," Neville said with a proud smile
"Let's go see!" Ron got up determinedly.
"Ron!" Hermione pulled him back into his seat with a thump. "Class is just starting!"
They finally tumbled out of the classroom an hour later and hurtled towards the greenhouse without another thought.
"Go go go go go!" Ron chanted excitedly. When they finally arrived, Ron was the first through the door.
This time, it was Hermione, Neville and Harry's turn to laugh at Ron's flabbergasted expression at the sight of the tree. Trying to stifle his laughter, Neville took his time to analyse the massive tree – which seemed to have only grown larger in their absence- and noted the comparatively humid atmosphere inside the greenhouse.
"So where did you find the stone?" Ron asked, awe-struck.
"Believe it or not," Neville said as he brought out the Lifestone, "a Bowtruckle gave it to me." Ron paled.
"Bowtruckle? Those scary things with sharp nails Professor Sprout was talking about?"
"Walked right up," Neville confirmed.
"I think it was thanking you," Hermione mused, bringing out her notebook.
"Whatever for?"
She scribbled down several words before snapping it shut and meeting Ron's confused stare. "Well, think about it. Bowtruckles live in Wiggentrees. When this one was attacked, obviously the Bowtruckles would have been affected. When Neville here healed the plant, he also gained the gratitude of the Bowtruckles for restoring their home," she finished matter-of-factly. Neville shifted meekly.
"I was just thinking about the tree," he admitted modestly under their admiring gazes.
"You did it anyway, mate!" Ron slapped him hard on the back and laughed when the pudgy boy stumbled forward a little.
"You did great, Nev," Harry said, his eyes flashing with amusement. "Well done!"
"Very impressive indeed!" Hermione genuinely congratulated. "Now," she leaned forward and the notebook magically appeared in her hands, propped open and ready to be written on. "Tell me exactly how you felt when you placed the Lifestone there?"
The three boys groaned and exited the greenhouse, bantering cheerfully as they made their way back to the castle.
A/N: Hey all! Did you like the Lifestone? I know, I'm not exactly the best at explaining the stones' magic in my story so I'm just going to lump the explanation here for those who didn't really get it:
So each stone has a certain 'spell' or magic that is decided by the owner from the beginning. It's pretty much stored in the stone so every time it is used, the person just has to channel the magic and let the stone do the work (this is why Harry doesn't understand wands). Each stone needs specific conditions to work under. The benefit gained by the owner is that they can design their own spell and depending on how it works, the stone can perform the user's wishes without supervision.
