Neville's First Jack-o-Lantern

"Alright, Neville," Hannah announced, gesturing to the wooden table in front of her. It was covered in an array of metal implements that made Neville feel a little nervous just looking at them. "I present to you...pumpkin carving tools!"

Neville tentatively picked up a serrated knife and dangled it from his fingers, as if afraid it might come to life and stab him. "Are you sure this is safe, Hannah?" he ventured.

"Of course!" Hannah shot him a troubled look. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"Oh." Neville blushed slightly and put down the knife. "Gran always said it was too—too dangerous."

"Well, that's nonsense," Hannah said, clucking her tongue. A moment later, she clapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said—I'm sure she meant well."

"No, it's fine," Neville chuckled, patting her arm. "It probably was a little ridiculous."

"Do you have the pumpkins?" Hannah asked.

Neville nodded and reached into the pocket of his robes. Inside were two pumpkins that he had picked that morning, shrunk down to one-twelfth their size. With a wave of his wand, he restored them to their normal dimensions and placed them on the table.

Hannah leaned over to examine them. Both were about the size of a Quaffle and two of the finest that Neville had grown that season. "These are wonderful, Neville," she said admiringly.

"Thanks." Neville shoved his hands into his pockets. "Erm, you'll walk me through how to do this, right?"

"Of course," Hannah reassured him. Neville couldn't help but smile at the warmth in her voice. She always seemed to know exactly how to assuage his fears.

Picking up the knife that Neville had touched earlier, his girlfriend demonstrated how to cut off the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the insides.

"It's a little messy," she said, "but it's so worth it once you've hollowed it out."

"Remind me again why we're not just using magic?" Neville inquired.

"Because that's how Muggles do it!" Hannah exclaimed. "If they can do it without magic, so can we. It's way more fun this way anyway."

Neville decided it was best not to argue with that logic, and gamely grabbed another knife, which he used to carefully slice around the stem of the second pumpkin. It was tougher than Hannah made it seem, but he managed to do it without hurting himself, which had been his biggest worry.

"That's it," Hannah said encouragingly. "Now, take that part off and use the metal scoop to clean out the insides."

Neville did as he was told. Hannah was right—there was something oddly satisfying about pulling out pumpkin guts. He said as much to Hannah, who giggled and nodded.

"Right. Now that we've hollowed out our pumpkins, we can draw our design," she said. She picked up a thick black marker and began to sketch out a simple face. "I'm not much of an artist, so I just do triangles for the eyes and nose, and connect two jagged lines for the mouth."

Neville took the marker from her and drew his own face on his pumpkin. It ended up being similar to his girlfriend's, except that the mouth was made of two curved lines.

"Aw, it looks so happy," Hannah commented. "Now we get to carve out the face. Are you ready?"

Neville said that he was, and watched as Hannah began to cut through the lines that she had drawn. After a few minutes, he started to do the same. At first, it was tough getting the knife in and out, but he established a sort of rhythm after he figured out the proper angle.

"Alright, I think I'm done," he said. He sat back and wiped his forehead. Some of his lines were a little crooked, but he hadn't expected perfection. "That was kind of hard."

"It looks great, though," Hannah said excitedly. "We're basically done—we just have to do this last part, which is my favorite."

She selected two lantern-like objects from the table and tapped them with her wand. They began to glow with a pulsing light. "Magic lanterns," she explained. "They'll last far longer than a candle."

"That's a great idea," Neville told her. He put a lantern inside his pumpkin and watched as his face was illuminated. "Wow."

"We'll use magic for the cleanup too," Hannah said, quickly vanishing the pumpkin innards and leaving the table as pristine as it had been before they had started.

Looking at the two Jack-o'-lanterns side by side, Neville was proud of what they had maanged to achieve. It was nice to use Muggle methods sometimes, he concluded. But it was nice to have magic on their side, too.

"Shall we put them on the porch now?" he asked.

Hannah grabbed her Jack-o-lantern and flashed him a wide grin. "Yes!"

WC: 805