A/N: I originally had Dean Thomas in this chapter, then remembered that he couldn't have been in the Gryffindor common room while on the run. Oops!
Amanda woke early that Saturday morning, too excited to stay asleep. Neville had promised that he would show her the secret project he was working on for Herbology. Only Professor Sprout knew what it was.
As she quickly dressed in the chilly dormitory, she noticed that Ginny's bed was neatly made. She frowned. Ginny usually left her part of the room in a terrible mess; the other girls teased that Hogwarts had needed to acquire extra house elves just to keep up with her.
Maybe she fell asleep in the common room, Amanda thought.
She made her way down the stairs to find the common room completely deserted. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that she was a little early, so she settled in one of the big chairs before the fire to wait for Neville. Noticing someone's Charms textbook lying on a nearby table, she decided to make the most of her time and get a little studying in; unfortunately, she needed all the extra help she could get.
The hour struck six and Neville was still nowhere to be seen. At half past Jimmy Peakes came down the stairs. "Oh, hello, Amanda. You're up early."
He knows my name? "So are you. Quidditch practice, I assume?"
"There's nothing like flying before breakfast to work up an appetite," he answered with a grin.
"Jimmy … um, is Neville up yet?"
"Haven't seen him. Up and gone pretty early, looked like."
"Oh, ok, thanks." She wondered if he'd forgotten about her, or maybe she'd been mistaken and they were supposed to meet at the greenhouse? Yes, that must be it. She grabbed her warm cloak off the back of the chair and followed Dean towards the portrait hole. It swung open just as he reached it, causing him to nearly collide with the person entering.
"Oh, sorry, Ginny. Ginny! You're filthy!"
"Thanks so much, Jimmy." She stepped further into the room, running fingers through her tangled hair. Neville followed behind, smears of dirt on both his cheeks and a tear in his grassstained trousers.
"Neville? What on earth?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Good morning, Amanda. Sorry I'm late, but do you mind if I clean up first?"
Half an hour later, as they made their way through the castle towards the greenhouses, Amanda found the nerve to ask Neville where he'd been with Ginny so early in the morning.
"All night, actually. We were in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and Luna."
"The Forbidden Forest! But that's dangerous!"
"Not really, when you have Hagrid along." He grinned. "Not that it would have been my first choice to spend the night in, though."
"Then why did you?"
Neville looked around, as if making sure there was no one listening to them. "Snape caught us in his office and that was our detention."
Amanda was confused. "Why would you be in his office? How did you even get in there? Nobody knows the password."
"How? Well, that has to be a secret. But I'll tell you why." He paused and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. "We were trying to steal the Sword of Gryffindor."
"What! But why?"
"I can't tell you, at least not without talking to Ginny and Luna first. Now come on, I have some amazing plants to show you."
Amanda knew she wasn't going to get more out of him then, so she simply sighed and followed along.
What he showed her in the greenhouse was nearly as astonishing. He'd somehow managed to breed a plant for use as a weapon.
"How it works is, a whistle at just the right pitch will cause them to throw barbed spikes in whichever direction they're facing. Stand back here and I'll show you."
She moved behind the table to stand next to him as he raised a small silver whistle to his lips. One clear, high note filled the air, and instantly the room was filled with a shower of spikes, most of which bounced off the glass walls, although a few embedded themselves in the wooden support beams.
"These are immature plants, so they can only throw one. When they're bigger, each plant will be able to do multiple volleys."
"That's amazing. But why did you make these? Do you really think Death Eaters will come here?"
"You mean besides the ones that are already here? Yes, I think it's possible that Hogwarts will be attacked. And I'm not about to let anyone take this place without a fight."