AU! No Voldemort. Set in Sixth Year.

Seamus's dialogues are written this way on purpose. Those are not SPaG errors.

WRITTEN FOR QLFC, SEASON 9

Puddlemere United

Chaser 1: Write about a Herbology incident

Prompts:

(character) Neville Longbottom

(character) Seamus Finnegan

(object) flower pot

Word Count: 1898

Neville stroked the Venomous Tentacula's leaves before plucking them from the stem. He knew a gentle touch was very important when dealing with the poisonous plant. The Tentacula twisted its eyeless head away from Neville and shot its vines out to grab onto Dean's hair, but fortunately, it missed.

"Ew, this Umbrella Flower is bitter," Seamus whined.

Neville chuckled at his words and turned around. Seamus stood near a large flower pot that held the green plant. His nose was scrunched up, and he held a half-bitten colourful flower, his tongue sticking out.

"You're the idiot who decided to take a bite out of it," Dean said pointedly, crouched near Seamus's feet. He was carefully pruning a flutterby bush for Professor Sprout's assignment.

"It looked gran', so I assumed it would be good enough ta eat," Seamus said with a shrug. "Besides, Neville said it wasn't poisonous."

"It's not poisonous," Neville said, shaking his head with barely controlled laughter, "but it's also not made for human consumption."

"You mean I'm gonna die? I don't want ta die," Seamus cried, taking a big step back. Neville's eyes widened as Seamus's heel struck the brown flower pot placed directly behind him.

"Seamus, no!" Neville and Dean screamed in unison, and the other students around them looked up at the sudden cry.

It was too late.

Seamus flailed his arms, attempting to balance himself, as he toppled over the flower pot and landed on his rump in front of the Venomous Tentacula. The plant struck out in defence.

It wrapped a thick vine around Seamus's left leg, continued crawling up his thigh, and then, it yanked the young Irishman up into the air.

"Dean, 'elp!" Seamus screamed as he hung in the air upside down. His wand fell out of his pocket, and Seamus used his arms to bat the vines, trying to escape.

Dean cried, "Nev, go get help!"

Neville whirled around and took a step towards the door. He yelled, "Professor Sprout! Come quick! Seamus needs—"

As luck would have it, Neville didn't see Goyle's foot until it was too late. Neville tried to skid to a stop to avoid stepping on it, but he tripped over his long robes and slammed his head into a flower pot.

The thunderous crash rattled his teeth, and a burst of light behind his eyes temporarily blinded him. He tumbled to the ground in a heap of limbs, mud, and dirt. Large Umbrella Flowers rained down upon his head. Colours seemed to swirl together and swim in front of his eyes, and panic set in. He couldn't see! He squealed in fear and flailed his arms around, trying to find something to hold onto.

Fabric rustled nearby, and Neville leapt in its direction, blinking furiously. He seized the soft robes and tried to drag himself up to his feet.

"Just what do you think you're doing, Longbottom?" a very familiar snobbish voice snarked, and Malfoy's hands shoved Neville away.

Neville's vision returned to him but immediately shut his eyes tight when he saw the yellow spikes of the plant he was flying towards. He collided with the prickly plant and let loose a shrill howl of pain that echoed throughout the greenhouse before nose-diving towards the ground.

"Neville, 'elp!" Seamus screamed from behind, and Neville cursed Seamus' carelessness in his head.

Couldn't Seamus see what was happening?

Pain seared in Neville's shoulders and face where the spikes had embedded themselves, creating slowly oozing trails of blood down his neck, and Neville thought, 'I'm going to die! This is the end! Goodbye, Trevor!'

"Malfoy, what are you—" Hermione trailed off with a loud gasp and shrill cry. Neville hoped it was because she had seen him lying on his face in the mud and was about to help him.

"Granger, don't!" Malfoy yelled.

"What's going on?" Neville yelled, attempting to blink away the tears streaming down his face. When he found the courage to open his eyes and rolled over onto his back, a gasp escaped his lips—and it had nothing to do with the pain running through him with a terrible intensity.

Hermione and Malfoy were in some sort of embrace.

On closer inspection, Neville noticed the green vines enveloping their bodies, the plant leaving no space between the two rivals. Malfoy's cheek was smushed against Hermione's temple, and their arms were firmly by their sides. They were trying to wriggle around in an attempt to get the vines to let go but to no avail.

"Nev, do something!" Dean cried, and Neville snapped his head to look at him. A vine grabbed hold of Dean's foot and slammed him to the ground with a loud thump.

"Ow! Curse you, you vile thing!" Dean snapped as he kicked at the vine and pulled his leg away.

"Save me first!" Seamus's face was red due to the blood rushing to his head. He puffed his cheeks out and cried, "I'm gonna barf!"

"No, he's going to help us first," Malfoy snapped. The effect of his murderous glare was ruined by Hermione wriggling against him. Malfoy's eyes crossed as he tried to look down at Hermione. "Granger, stop moving!"

Neville clenched his eyes shut as he tried to calm himself down and to stave off the sharp pain throbbing in his head. First things first…

"Goyle, get Professor Sprout," Neville barked, and Goyle glared at him.

"I don't take orders from—"

"Just do what he says!" Hermione and Malfoy yelled in unison. Goyle quickly scampered away.

Neville pulled out his wand and rushed to remember what he knew about Venomous Tentaculas. Severing Charms would work on stunning the plant and severing its vines, but it wasn't as lethal as its adult counterpart as the plant was just a sapling. It could only gnaw at Seamus, which would still send the boy to the infirmary for a week.

"Dean, cast the Severing Spell at the head. Not the vines. Make sure you don't hurt Seamus," Neville ordered, turning towards Hermione. "Hermione, could you stay still?"

"Something's poking me," she cried, her face red with embarrassment.

"It's not what you think! It's my wand!" Malfoy snarled, his face just as red as hers. Still, he tried to squirm away from her. Because the plant was just a sapling

Neville didn't even want to know the truth. He moved closer, making sure not to agitate the writhing vines, and pointed his wand at the shattered flower pot. "Reparo."

It repaired itself within seconds and was as good as new. Neville glanced over his shoulder at Seamus and Dean, who were both safely on the ground now. Seamus's face turned green before he pivoted on his heels and vomited on Dean.

"Stop staring at them and do something about us," Malfoy growled, and Neville grimaced as he turned to them.

"All right, just calm down," he muttered, trying to figure out how to free them. If he used a Severing Charm on the vines, it would hurt the plant, but if he didn't use it, Malfoy would hurt him.

"Longbottom…" Malfoy hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Neville bit his lower lip before waving his wand at the vines. "Petrificus Totalus."

The vines stopped writhing. Hermione leapt away from Malfoy, but she flew back into his arms the very next second. Gasping, she smacked the blond's hands away from her waist. "Let go of me, Malfoy!"

Seamus and Dean walked over, the latter's clothes now clean of the contents of Seamus's stomach. Seamus was wiping his mouth with a grimace.

Neville frowned at Hermione and asked, "What happened?"

"I can't move!" Hermione cried, trying to pull away and failing. "I'm stuck!"

"So am I!" Malfoy attempted to elbow Hermione away, but she didn't budge. They began arguing over whose fault it was they were trapped together.

Professor Sprout hurried over, her wand out. Neville said, "Oh, Professor! Thank Merlin you're here. Something's wrong with these two." He pointed at Hermione and Malfoy. "I got rid of the vines, but they're still stuck."

Professor Sprout groaned but smiled at Neville. "Good job, Mr Longbottom...Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy." When the two finally turned towards her, the stout professor said, "Look up."

The students all looked up and gasped in unison. A sprig of mistletoe hung above Hermione's and Malfoy's head.

"Oh, hell, no!" Hermione barked, and Malfoy's face reddened. Surprise filled Neville to the brim; he had never heard Hermione swear before. It was so uncharacteristic of her.

"Ooh, looks like someone's gettin' an early Christmas present," Seamus teased, a wicked grin on his face. "By someone, I mean Malfoy."

Malfoy glared at Seamus, and Neville pursed his lips to muffle his laughter. He shouldn't be so amused by the look of consternation on the Slytherin's face; after all, Hermione would have to suffer, too.

"I am not kissing him," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not happy about this either, Granger," Malfoy snapped, glaring at her.

"Kiss 'er, kiss 'er, kiss 'er," Seamus chanted, clapping along. Dean smacked his head, but Seamus didn't stop grinning.

"You're all daft if you think I'm going to kiss her," Malfoy snapped.

"If you want to unstick yourselves, that's the only way, I'm afraid. These plants are ridiculously strong when it comes to getting what they want. No amount of hexing and cursing them will help you. Unfortunately, we do need to use the parts of these plants in different potions, so we can't just get rid of them—no matter how annoying they might be," Professor Sprout said. She turned to Seamus and said, "Come along, Mr Finnegan. The blood's all gone to your head. Mr Thomas, Mr Longbottom, you two as well. Madam Pomfrey will patch you all up soon."

She led Dean and Seamus away, and Neville hesitated before taking a step back.

Hermione cried, "Neville, you can't leave me here with him!" Malfoy let out an indignant cry at that.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but my head hurts, I'm bleeding, and I still can't see properly," Neville said, rubbing the back of his head. "Just kiss him and get it over with."

He stumbled towards the doors of the greenhouse and glanced over his shoulder at Hermione. If Ron and Harry hadn't been practising for the Quidditch match, Neville was sure this situation would have been even more violent. He grimaced as he imagined the bloodbath, shivering in response.

Ten minutes later, in the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey had just finished applying the ointment on Neville's face when a frazzled Hermione stormed in. Her skin was flushed, her lips were bruised, and her curls were frizzing up due to the snowflakes melting in them. She ignored Seamus's wolf-whistling and made a beeline for Madam Pomfrey.

"Reckon Malfoy got a good one in?" Seamus asked, leaning over his bed and grinning at Neville. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

A resounding thwack echoed around the infirmary, and Seamus cried, "Dean, stop hitting me!"

"Stop making dirty comments about her, then," Dean retorted. "You're an idiot, but you don't want to be on the wrong side of Hermione's wand, do you?" Seamus scrunched up his nose but didn't argue.

Hermione didn't meet anyone's eyes as she sprinted out of the infirmary as fast as her legs could carry her. Neville chuckled, but he too wondered how exactly had the kiss gone down.