Professor Neville Longbottom felt more like a music conductor today than a herbology professor. He moved his hands vigorously through the air, controlling the many spades in his greenhouse with his mind.
It was a busy day for certain. Neville was trying to get as much done as possible during these few weeks off from school. That meant gathering enough potion ingredients for Professor Haywood's potion classes, preparing food for Professor Hagrid's Care of Magical Creature classes, and seeding plants for his own classes.
His recently discovered elemental ability definitely helped with the tasks though.
Unlike most magic, he took to metal magic very quickly. It was as easy as picturing what he wanted in his mind and seeing it happen in real life.
He suspected it had more to do with his increased confidence, a trait he had gained during his final year at Hogwarts. Leading your fellow students against oppressive school leadership did that to you.
That last year had cemented his decision to follow in Professor Sprout's footsteps and become the school's herbology professor. She had retired only a year after he had started up as a professor, seemingly satisfied with his proficiency at teaching. But it wasn't like he never saw her; she enjoyed visiting her old school and would give him advice from time to time. Although he suspected that there was a certain cat shape-shifting Headmistress that she was truly visiting.
He was grateful to his old head of house for permitting him to apprentice as a professor, and then hiring him immediately following Professor Sprout's retirement. He had long since forgiven her for humiliating him in front of his housemates for forgetting the password to the common room and upon writing it down, inadvertently letting in a suspected mass murderer. He had forgiven Professor Snape too for his bullying, after Harry had told him of his role as a spy for the order and the overall tragedy of his life.
But he not forgotten.
Like steel, he knew he had to remain strong and protect his students. Whether that be from outside threats like Death Eaters, or from inside threats like fellow students or professors.
He didn't have anyone like that growing up. No one stood up for him against his grandmother. Or his professors. Or any of his former bullies. Harry had mentioned once that Snape had been bullied by Harry's own father. And that bullying had played a big role in how Snape treated his students.
But he would break that cycle of bitterness. He would not give in to his internal suspicions about his Slytherin students, they were not the same students who bullied him back in school. And many of them were bullied themselves.
No, like metal he would not bend to these old fears. He would be strong.