I'm curious – will everyone who reviews please say which house you think you'd be sorted into if you went to Hogwarts? I'm guessing about 50 will say Gryffindor, 30 Slytherin, 17 Ravenclaw and 2 Hufflepuff. Me? I'm positive I'd be Hufflepuff. I'm not sneaky or ambitious, I suppose I'm intelligent, and I have shown bravery, but I think I'd fit in with loyalty more than anything else.
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Chapter 23
Neville
Neville, the morning after they arrived, watched his fiancé and two best friends walk away in different directions of the castle with a sigh. "Cheer up, my dear" Helga patted him on the arm with affection. "You will see them during meals and group lessons, and I promise to keep you so busy you will not miss them very badly."
He smiled and followed the plump witch to her classroom. "What's first?" he asked with curiosity.
"Dueling – magical and with swords." Helga had her hands on her hips and was sizing her new student up. "We don't know how large or just how soon the final battle will be. Rowena doesn't feel it will be a long war – the downfall of either Riddle or you four will determine the outcome of the wizarding world for years to come. Our job is to get you all the training you should have had during your time at Hogwarts." With a sad sigh, she reached on to a table and picked up a couple of swords. "Say hi to your companion for the next year." And she tossed him a long, graceful but sturdy double-edged blade.
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The next year did indeed fly by. Neville went through a few growth spurts, and the constant exercise and workouts grew him into a massive bear of a man. He had no idea how Helga remained so curvy (ok, plump) – she was a taskmaster with a sword. Although Neville was now 6' 4", with his dark brown hair tied back in a pony tail and a thick beard to complement the look, and although he was gaining in grace and skill, his teacher could best him every time.
Neville worked hard at soundless magic, but for the most part would fail miserably. He was simply a fighter of strength, and Helga had to concentrate on this and not what she would of hoped he could do. Not that it mattered – he was such a powerful fighter and wizard, that even if an opponent heard what spell was being cast, chances are they wouldn't be able to withstand the raw force in back of it.
The same for wandless magic – Neville was just too powerful for subtlety. When relieved of his wand, he was a giant of strength in wrestling, swordplay, and brute force. So the dueling time was spent on focusing his power and increasing it, and the founders decided to leave the more cerebral fighting to Hermione and Harry.
Neville did have a spectacular talent with animated transfiguration. That was a skill Helga happily honed in her young charge. In the midst of a fierce duel the young man was able to bring a table, chair, or wall sconce to life and allow it to fight along side. The mere shock value alone would aid in battle without a doubt.
He had an entertaining duel with Luna one afternoon. It started when the two had met in an empty classroom for a quick snog after lunch, and were discovered by their mentors. For 'punishment' Rowena and Helga thought a one on one duel would at least work some frustration out of the young couple.
Luna stood, lightly balanced on the balls of her feet, and transformed her wand into a staff. Neville grinned and did likewise. They circled each other a bit, making slight 'fake out' moves with their staves, but mostly feeling each other out. With a sudden arc of her staff, Luna cast a strong shield the same moment Neville jabbed out and cast an Expelliarmus.
The shield faded and Neville cast once again, this time throwing a ball of fire toward his fiancé. With fast grace she easily rolled out of the way, stood and spun, swinging the six-foot wand. Neville barely dodged a blast of fairy-colored magic of unknown nature. The angle he flinched at allowed him to recover instantly, crouch and fire again, this time charming the floor with ice. Luna slipped and landed hard on her leg with a grunt.
The witch wasn't disarmed, so Neville, grinning in a feral-like manner, circled cautiously while Luna held him at bay with her wand now shrunk back to its original size. She healed her leg with her left hand, sized him up, and with a vicious swipe enlarged the wand back to a staff and knocked Neville's feet out from under him. The boy was flat on his back, hitting his head on the floor and seeing stars, but on the way down managed to fire off a body bind on his fiancé.
Neville recovered from his grogginess to find himself pinned by the shoulders by his smiling lady who had been enervated by their teachcers. "Are you ok?" she asked with a playful smirk. He gave her puppy dog eyes while rubbing the back of his head, which is never fair. Luna comforted him with a good long kiss right there on the floor.
Rowena and Helga were standing in the doorway the whole time, snickering and making observations until the duel ended. Once the couple's kiss had gone long enough, they looked at each other with amusement, conjured twin buckets of ice water and promptly doused their students. Neville charmed a table to chase their two teachers shrieking down the hall.
O0o0o0o0o0o0o
Helga entered the classroom and gave Neville, who now towered above her, a giant hug. "How's my favorite pupil this morning?" she gushed.
Neville returned the hug with a grin. His Gran was never one to display affection, and simple hugs were probably the thing he missed the most about not having his folks. "I am fine, favorite teacher."
"And what would you say to some animagus training today?" The plump witch's eyes crinkled with delight as she read the excitement on his face. But Neville's face fell after a moment.
"What if I don't have an animagus form?" he asked hesitantly.
"Not to worry, dear. I have it on good authority – you fiancé – that you indeed do. Turns out fairy and those of fairy ancestry can just see those things. All we have to do is show you how to become what is already there. The figuring out what is your form is would have been the most difficult part."
"Do you know what I am?" Neville asked with growing anticipation.
"Yes. What do you think you will be?" Helga teased.
"Something strong, loyal… I dunno. A badger like you?" He searched her eyes for hints.
"Try again, dear" she giggled with a flattered laugh.
"I've been told I'm growing bear-like. Could that be it?" Neville looked positively hopeful.
Helga was positively mirthful. "OK, Neville dear, here are some basic rules of animagus. First of all, it will be an animal, bird or creature from your native land. I'm afraid the Longbottoms are about as British as you are going to find, so it will be a creature from the UK. Second rule, it will not be a magical creature – no griffons, grims, unicorns, dragons, etc. Leave that stuff to the Witch Weekly fan fiction contests."
"Hmmm – geese mate for life. And they have quite the bite on them…" Neville was pondering, not looking very happy at the prospect of becoming a common barnyard goose.
"You are a wolf, dear." Helga patted his arm, grinning at his palatable relief. Wolves use to be native to Britain."
It took Neville a couple days, but he caught on "splendidly" according to Helga. He was a magnificent shaggy black wolf, with yellow intelligent eyes and heavily muscled. "I can't wait to run with Moony!" Neville crowed.
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Neville looked around the classroom one morning. The swords and barriers were gone, so dueling wasn't on the agenda for today. Helga bustled into the room a moment later with a large caldron, the size of a child's bathing tub, planted with various plants. "Any idea what we have here?" she grinned mischievously.
"Um" Neville furrowed his brow and started ticking off on his fingers "Crataegus monogyna, Centaurea scabiosa, Lotus corniculatus, Anthyllis vulneraria,…"
Helga broke out in gales of laughter. "Yes, yes. But come here and look closer, dear."
Neville obediently left his seat and walked up to the planter. He peered around the stems and roots, and jump back with a start when he was confronted by two black glittering eyes watching him back.
"A garden gnome?" He looked at his teacher in disbelief.
"Yes sir" she smiled. "Tell me, Neville, what you know about our friend here."
"Well, er, they are considered um, pests" Neville said, looking with apologetic embarrassment at the small gnome. "Wizards are always 'de-gnoming' their gardens.
The gnome in the tub gave a bit of a giggle and came out from between the plants. He sat himself on the edge of the container, folded his hands over his little brown body and watched Neville intently. It was a typical gnome, brown, wrinkly and rather featureless – best described as a potato with limbs.
"Are they sentient?" Helga challenged her student.
"I suppose so – they speak, they build burrows…"
"What damage do they do?" Helga asked him.
"Not much unless you are trying to raise strawberries" Neville answered, staring at the gnome. "They are quite addicted to them."
"OK, Acorn my friend, let's teach Neville here about the real gnomes". And to Neville's shock and delight, the 8" high potato-man stood up, and with a nod transformed into the classic gnome of muggle folk-tales – pointed hat and all.
"How do you do, Neville Longbottom?" the small man greeted Nev with a bow, and quite the sincere twinkle in his eye. "My name is Acorn, tribe of Oak."
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Neville left the classroom shaking his head in stunned disbelief. It was one of those 'who knew?' days. Gnomes were very much like the creatures the muggles liked to write stories about. Powerful in nature-based magic, the gnomes kept to themselves for the most part, helping animals, creatures, and plants behind the scenes. They would occasionally make themselves known to certain witches and wizards, usually to assist wand makers or potion masters.
He spent the rest of his time in Hogwarts past learning to speak gnome, and learning gnome magic that included the speech of animals and sentient plants. Thankfully wizards never treated gnomes worse than being flung by their legs, which they happened to enjoy. If he ever saw a gnome getting abused, well, it wouldn't be pretty.
One of Acorn's favorite ways to teach was to have Neville transform into a wolf. The small gnome would then climb on to the wolf's shaggy back, and they would wander the Forbidden Forest for days at a time. The wolf and gnome became strong friends, student and teacher, sharing the wonders of the creatures and plants.
Hogwarts Herbology in current time was mostly based on plants that Wizards needed. There was the occasional lesson on what plants to avoid when exploring, but it was typically lessons needed for potions, healing, or other plant-related magical careers. The gnomes had a deep love and appreciation for how all plants interacted with each other and the world.
The fact that some plants were sentient was at first mildly disturbing to Neville. But Acorn taught him that the only plants with a soul were some older trees – the intelligence and awareness came after years of life. It wasn't limited to certain species, or even all of one species. You could have a sentient oak right next to a soulless oak of the exact same age. There was no murder involved with harvesting leafy greens, saplings, or soulless trees. Even the gnomes didn't understand why some were sentient and some weren't.
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Acorn sent Neville to the forest early in the morning with the instructions to talk with a grove of sentient birch trees by a far stream. He expected him back by nightfall with a report on why more than one tree developed thought and any observations they wished to share.
With a goodbye kiss to Luna, the young man transformed into his wolf form. His fiancé strapped a small pack on his back that held quills, ink and parchment. With a dry lick to her cheek, he was off. She watched him lope off toward the wood, wishing she could join him as a hawk.
Neville loved to explore as a wolf. Smells were so vibrant and told him so much. He could track where a rabbit had crossed the path he was on the night before, tell that the larch tree he was approaching was dying of a fungal infestation, and that centaurs were in the forest about a mile due east of his location. The information his lupine nose gave him made him feel almost blind in his human form.
Enhanced sense of smell made communication with people a whole new experience too. He could smell when Harry was angry, Hermione was frustrated, and even pick up when Salazar was feeling sneaky. As a wolf Neville found himself with a whole new level of understanding his wife-to-be. Merely by smell he learned that Luna did not enjoy it if he repetitively stroked the back of her hand, that she really, really loved having her neck kissed, and when content she gave off the faint scent of daffodils.
Hearing too was so sensitive now. Neville wondered how pet dogs could stand being in a room with a loud TV or stereo. As a wolf he could pick up the faint rhythmic booms of an unknown axe-wielder several miles away, or the heavy splash of a leaping trout at the far end of the lake. Wolves could also hear farther up and down the sound spectrum, and Neville was surprised to learn that some magical creatures he previously thought mute actually communicated simply in a different frequency.
Enjoying the landscape flying past his quickly running paws, Neville skidded to a stop right outside the grove Acorn had sent him too. With a nervous whine he could smell something new and foreign to his senses. There was somebody or something in the trees, and it wasn't human, centaur, fairy, or gnome. Something he had never met before.
Creeping stealthily around the edge of the glen, Neville the wolf filled his olfactory glands with the new smell. Pricking his ears forward toward the being's location, he could hear nothing beyond the whisper of a faint breeze through the leaves of the birch trees centered by the small stream. He lay down in the shadow of the wood to wait and see what would walk out of the pale slender trees.
A musical laugh, bubbling like the stream at his paws, feminine as the swaying, slender birches, reached his furry ears. A lush form stepped out from the trees and Neville sprang to his feet with a startled growl. The woman stopped a couple yards from him, laughing with mirth. "Are you going to stay like that, or could we talk like people?" the strange being asked him seductively.
The woman in the glade was certainly not human or even fairy. Neville searched his memory for what she could be, but found himself confused – as if he should be able to recall, but the memory was blocked. He gazed at her with his wolf sight. She appeared to be young – barely adolescent, in the bloom of her fresh maturity. Her skin was mottled and patterned, resembling the bark of the trees she had just left and her hair was thick and shiny, moving with a life of its own. She was graceful and fluid in her movements, and her face showed a quick and flirtatious smile. She possessed eyes that reflected fire, mischief, and a blatant disregard for consequences. She wore, well, nothing.
With a gulp, Neville reverted back to his human form.
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Back in the castle, everyone but Neville was eating lunch. Luna suddenly jerked her head up, facing the forest and gasped out "wood nymph!" She quickly stood to make for the door, but Helga put a hand on her arm.
"Sit down, Luna. He must do this on his own." The founder of Hufflepuff was sympathetic but firm.
"But a wood nymph!" Luna looked panicked for the first time that Hermione or Harry could ever recall. "Do you know what a wood nymph does?" she cried, tears welling in her eyes.
Helga put a comforting arm around the trembling witch's shoulders. "You will see why he is my heir, Luna. You will experience the loyalty of Hufflepuff."
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Neville trembled as the being approached him. Now seeing in color, for some reason it didn't bother him that the girl's skin was tinted like the birch trees – silver, green and marked with small lines. He tried not to look at her nakedness, but he found his eyes drawn to her form repeatedly.
"You find me attractive?" she smiled encouragingly. "We could live here you know. You could get to know me very well, my man-wolf."
Neville scratched his beard nervously, and found himself backing away. It sounded so tempting. What a breathtaking woman-girl. Such an enchanting glade – the trees and her beauty just sang to him. But didn't he have something he was supposed to be doing?
She paused so he wouldn't run. "You mean you don't think I'm pretty?" she crooned, slowly batting her eyes in forced submission and play hurt.
"I-I-I think you are beautiful" he breathed heavily, and took a step toward her.
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A lone tear escaped Luna's eye. She did sit back down, but her face was still turned toward the forbidden forest, and her heart was checking her mind-link with Neville in a panic borne of fear.
"What is a wood nymph?" Hermione asked quietly as she moved to the other side of her best friend and wrapped her arms around her in support.
Anne and Lady Hogwarts looked at each other with sad sympathy. The former ghost spoke after a moment's pause. "wood nymphs are very self-serving creatures. They are born of ancient magic – some say they are sentient trees that have taken the next steps in their evolution. Some say they are the off spring of man and fairy."
"Why are you so scared, Luna?" Harry asked her intently. He had never seen his friend anything but unflappable, and it shook him down to his toes to see her so distressed.
"They delight in seduction" Luna murmured. "It is nothing to a wood nymph to take a man, use him, and destroy him. Sometimes their victims disappear, sometimes they return – empty husks forever trying to find their former lover again. They go insane then die." Another tear joined the previous one, and she buried her face against Hermione's neck.
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The nymph ran a finger down his chest seductively. "Come with me" she said. It was not a request.
Neville had taken the first step toward her, but abruptly stopped. Something wasn't right. Although every pore in his being screamed at him to gather the girl in his arms and never leave the glen of birch, he didn't reach for her and frowned with concentration.
"I want you," she said, clearly annoyed. Never before had a man resisted her. Never before had a man even tried to.
"What am I forgetting" the young man pondered. He closed his eyes to think without distraction. The girl was breathtakingly beautiful, but she wasn't going anywhere. "But maybe I'm insulting her? What if she goes?" He could hear her plainly stamping her foot with impatience. Now that wasn't becoming. Then he remembered another girl – recently? A year ago? Years ago? A girl with long silver-blond hair and strangely bulging blue eyes. A girl of purity, beauty, strange wisdom, and calm peaceful love.
"Luna" he spoke reverently out loud. His head whipped around toward the castle.
"What's a Loona?" the nymph spat angrily. "Are you coming with me or not?"
"No" Neville turned from her and headed back toward the castle.
She ran to him, grabbed his shoulder and spun him around with unnatural strength, her anger pouring off her in waves. "Come with me NOW!" she demanded, spit flying from her lips. Her spell of attraction abruptly ended – Neville found her repulsive.
Neville grabbed his holly and amber wand, transfigured it into a staff and struck the ground. Magic rolled off the staff in concentric ripples, filling the glade of enchanted birch as he spoke an ancient Celtic spell of binding.
"NOOOOOOO" she shrieked, falling to the ground and clawing it to keep from going back. Invisible forces dragged the young nymph screaming to the tightly grouped trees. The trees moved, trapping the girl in the center of them until the branches blocked her from Neville's sight. With a final, extremely unfeminine shriek of fury, the girl was silenced.
Without a backwards glance Neville resumed his wolf form and ran back to the castle on swiftly flying paws.
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Luna collapsed limply against Hermione. "He's back. He's coming back" she said softly. Gratefully she dried her tears on the corner of her outer robe, and resumed her normal peaceful demeanor.
"What happened?" Hermione asked with typical curiosity.
"The nymph has been banished to the fairy dimension" Helga stated with pride. "My children are loyal."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------At this point you might have noticed I handle the animagus magic a little differently than other fanfictions. I absolutely will not allow them to become magical creatures. In Rowling's books it doesn't happen, and I feel that most magical creatures would be too powerful. I know many fanfics have Harry become a phoenix, and I love to read them, but I don't want my Harry that powerful. Gosh – if he can be a phoenix then all he has to do is flame above Voldemort and drop a two-ton safe on his head! I'm also not allowing them more than one form. In my little universe the animal form is a reflection of your true personality – so one form unless you have multiple personalities.