douchiesnacks
I didn't get an alert either or for the reviews posted. I had to double check that the chapter had been posted at all. Hope that doesn't happen for this chapter.
war sage
Glad you liked the last chapter. This one might be a dull as its filler mostly. I didn't want to rush to the end of the first year too quickly so I wrote this chapter. Although I think I managed to make it engrossing.
The First Gothic. Book One. A Wizard In Training. Part Seven.
Neville's Greenhouses. Longbottom Manor. The Wizarding World.
I was spending my Easter holidays at Longbottom Manor and so far I had to admit that it didn't suck anywhere near as much as I'd thought it would.
Luna had told me that it would be a good idea for me to not be at her house this Easter as she was going to convince her Dad to let her go on my planned Summer holiday rather than his planned trip to try and find rare, if not totally non-existent, magical creatures. So spending some time with her father without me around would make it easier to convince him that I wasn't going to steal his child away from him just yet.
Not that it was my planned vacation the whole idea was the Traveller's idea. In return for enchanting a few amulets so that the Outcast's couldn't have their minds read and a container of Basilisk venom he'd demanded, or at least strongly suggested, that we should let him plan our Summer holidays.
I guessed that saying no to the creature that could reverse my ageing, throw me into a fictional universe and give me magical powers as a reward wasn't a smart thing to do. At least not if you wanted your sanity left intact afterwards.
So this Summer I would be spending my time on another world, or at least that was how it sounded since the Traveller did mention that it would be out of this world. The only other clues the Traveller gave us was that we would be learning a lot while gone and that we'd back in time for our second year at school.
These clues, as poor as they were, led me to deduce that we would only be gone for a matter of weeks and that we would taken care of as we couldn't return for our second year at school if we were gone to long, and that someone would be both teaching and looking after us as while Luna and I might be mentally older than our peers we weren't that capable of defending ourselves. At least not yet. But just in case I was wrong I was going to make sure that we practised some more combat spells before the school term ended. After all there were places out there in omni-verse that made the Wizarding World at it worse look like an average day in Noddy's Toyland in comparison.
At least I was getting some rest and relaxation while at Longbottom Manor. It was very peaceful here and I had quickly discovered where Neville got his talent for Herbology. There were more greenhouses at Longbottom manor than there at most of the garden centres I'd visited.
Also it turns out that the Longbottoms aren't just rich they are very, very rich and judging by Neville's genius with plants if he played his cards right he could end up increasing his fortunes by selling plants that supplied rare potion ingredients. If Snape gets as planned sacked we might be able to learn enough to actually make new potions using what could be cultivated in these Greenhouses.
I'd likely end up hinting at the idea of making money once we got back to school, for now I was happy to let him ramble on about his passion for plants. During the times when I could be bothered to pay attention I must of learned more than all my Herbology classes put together so far.
This guy was really that good but he wasn't the type to show off at school and even now he sounded more like he was lecturing on the subject he enjoyed rather than boasting about his talent to a friend.
All I did was nod politely and look at whatever it was he was pointing at which was mostly at exotic plant species that shouldn't be able to grow outside a tropical jungle and wouldn't have for anyone but him, at least in my opinion.
Still despite my almost complete lack of interest in Herbology I really was having a good time. I'd of much preferred to spend my time off being showered with attention by Luna but if I couldn't be with her then this was the place to be.
It was a thousand better than what I'd be putting up with if I had accepted Ginny's invitation as unlike like Luna's Dad I didn't think that Arthur Weasly would be happy with me being in his daughters bed. I wasn't old enough to worry Gin's parents about bed stuff that much but I was too old for it to seem totally harmless. So I'd of likely of ended up sharing a room with Ron which sounded horrible as according to Neville the guy snored and he wasn't subtle about having a wank either. I'd take Neville and his plant stories over the ginger nut any day of the week.
Another reason why I was glad to be out of the school for Easter was that the first Outcast newsletter had published and sent out. Having your own House Elf was so handy when it comes to self publishing. My... well slave was the only word for it as she refused to be paid, had taken what we Outcasts had made to Xeno and he had turned it into a proper newsletter.
It had been wonderful to see my groups hard work as a finished product. It gave us all a great sense of accomplishment. Granted there wasn't much in the first newsletter as we had to be careful about what we said but everything in it was true. Recruiting Susan and Hannah as reporters (or spies as half the Outcasts called them) had been a great idea as they knew everything going on in their house and that gave us more to write about.
My contribution to the Outcast newsletter was a rather good piece about Lockhart's book sales. Rather than write about his teaching style (if you could call it that) or point out the impossibilities in his books (of which there were many) I'd instead pointed out that adding his entire book list to the school equipment list had allowed his novels to dominate the best seller lists last Summer. I'd not written that this was a bad thing I'd just pointed it out while mentioning that none of the other teachers had added their own written work to the list despite the fact that many of them had written books.
This had involved quite a bit of research since as I'd had to find those books which would of normally been impossible if I hadn't gotten Granger's help. In retrospect that had been a silly idea as she was smart enough to realise that her tour of the library had involved showing me how the library catalogued its stock. She might put two and two together and then figure out why I had wanted to know were the books on each subject first and second years studied could be found.
Of course she had no proof that my search had anything to do with the Outcast newsletter but she still might make the connection and if she did well she would tell everyone just to show off as she would want everyone to know that she'd figured out who the 'Cunning Fox' was. Her need for approval from authority figures combined with her desire to demonstrate her intellectual superiority would cause her to 'out' me before the the rest of her peers had finished reading page one of the newsletter.
Given that I was even smarter than she was (if only because I'd been around longer) I realised my mistake and made sure that that one article mentioned the hard working House Elves at Hogwarts in the hopes that it would distract her. It might work and if didn't then the Outcasts would be exposed.
Luna had told me not to worry about it and that Granger wouldn't expose me. I trusted my Seer but I couldn't help but think that the swot was going to be trouble. I was also worried that Luna might do something extreme to ensure that I wouldn't be exposed as the 'Cunning Fox' . Luna didn't think like other people. To her things weren't right or wrong they were simply done at the right time or not at all.
Of course I might be worrying over nothing but I really couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to regret ever talking to the swot. If I'd been a school this week I might have done something drastic myself. I had no idea what that would be but it wouldn't of been something good.
So all things considered spending most of this week in Neville's greenhouses was a blessing even if it was too warm here and rather bad smelling due to the compose heaps.
I should of really been worried about the plants. Some of them were rather dangerous and oddly a few were cannibals. Cannibalistic plants that was idea hard to process you wouldn't think something that could be part of a salad could be fed on a diet of other plants. The food chain in the Wizarding World was very strange. But I shouldn't really judge as its well documented that humans have eaten other humans throughout history and even in modern times if driven to by hunger.
Thoughts like that were going to put me off my food at this rate. That would be a shame as Neville's Grandmother was the type to feed growing boys large amounts of cake and sweets. She wasn't the stern figure that I imagined, at least not in her own home, and seemed quite happy for Nev and I to spend the whole week making a mess of the place by either exploring the grounds or hanging out in the greenhouses.
Although to be fair its hard to get mad about kids making a mess when you have House Elves around, they make the dirt vanish so fast you could end up wondering if you'd actually made any mess in the first place.
"And this rare tree is from the magical nature reserve in the Amazon" explained Neville "its not magical itself but its being preserved along with hundreds of square miles of rainforest due to the muggles".
I snapped back to reality as Nev told me that.
"Sorry what was that about rainforests?" I asked.
Nev seemed happy to explain.
"Back in the 60's lots of Wizards and Witches went down to South America to start warding parts of the rainforests so that the muggles couldn't cut them all down. They work with some of the magical tribes over there to protect the environment".
I had no idea that Wizards did that sort of thing. I'd always thought that they paid little or no attention to what mundane humans got up to, it was odd to hear that some of them were doing something so constructive.
"Wizards do that sort of thing?" I inquired "care for environment and such?"
Nev seemed surprised that I didn't know about that.
"Of course, we do" he replied "its our planet to you know. There are lots of groups working to counter pollution. I mean muggles are mostly harmless but that doesn't mean they can't hurt us by accident".
They could it on purpose if they knew Wizards existed. Muggles could destroy cities but I thought it best not to mention the existence of atomic weapons. If Wizards thought that deforestation was the worse we... they could do then telling them about nukes would scare the shit out of them. The idea that the muggles could destroy this entire planet might make them panic and people who panic do stupid things. That or it wouldn't be believed which seemed more likely as it wasn't as if the rest of muggleborn or muggle raised didn't know about nuclear bombs.
You couldn't really fault magical folk for not knowing what muggles were capable of, that they knew as much as they did was amazing as they were a completely separate civilization after all with their own money, businesses, schools, hospitals and pop culture. Sure they knew little about muggles but most muggles knew nothing about wizards unless they had one in the family.
And yes Wizards and Witches were lazy but they could afford to be. If it weren't for the odd Dark Lord appearing now and again I'd call their world a near utopia at least for humans. Sure it wasn't so great for non-humans but starvation was unheard of here as was homelessness. Ginny's family might be considered poor but they had a roof over their heads and plenty to eat. Wizards didn't enslave other human beings and they didn't build WMDs. Granted they weren't all nice people but a lot of mundane humans weren't very nice for that matter.
Before I could ask about other Wizard groups that were out trying to save the world Neville's Grandmother (or Mrs. Longbottom to me as while she was a kind women she liked her etiquette) appeared wearing her trade mark vulture hat and carrying a handbag that could be used to demolish buildings if I was any judge.
"Its time to visit your parents Neville and then we shall do some shopping in the afternoon. This evening we shall be attending a dinner party with friends".
I tried not to look worried but my face betrayed me. Her formal tone made me think that the dinner party would be rather posh.
"Not to worry young man the dining is informal you and Neville will be with children your own age".
"Were going to Hannah's" explained Neville "she and I are arranged".
"As in arranged to be married?" I asked.
"Err yeah but its not mandatory" he said as if assuring himself "Either of us can opt out if we want to marry someone else its only the really traditional families that will force their kids to marry or be cast out. And if I marry someone else before the arranged ages then they don't have to give bride price back".
It was times like this that I was reminded about how backwards the Wizarding World seemed to be. For all its culture and comforts it felt very old fashioned to me. Arranged marriages in muggle Britain were considered barbaric by many but I understood that such things weren't uncommon in other parts of the world. At least only the 'traditional families, which I read to mean the inbred, insane dark families like the Blacks, would ever try to enforce such things. Neville's Grandmother and Hannah's parents probably just thought they would be a good match. And it wasn't as if some muggle parents would never disown a child for marrying someone they didn't approve of either.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Luna's father approached you about such an arrangement soon" mentioned Madam Longbottom (as she was called by adults) "I know that silly man had an arrangement with a friend of his for her to marry his son but your a much better match for that girl, she might be a bit dotty but I'm sure the marrying into an old family like yours would provide her with a more comfortable lifestyle. And Neville has told me how much she dotes upon you".
Then it clicked. Luna had written about planning a wedding with me as soon as possible. I'd thought it was a just a young girl being silly after all girls (at least the ones I grew up) did spend time planning weddings to guys they hardly knew and they rarely did marry that guy as he was soon replaced with another crush. Often this happened within the same week.
"What happens if Hannah wants to marry someone else?" I asked to know.
"Then I get the bride price back" answered Neville "but its not the money that matters its a matter of honour. Neither of us would back down unless we really wanted to marry someone else".
"But what happens if you don't like the person your going to marry" I questioned "but haven't got a partner already".
"You'd get married anyway" replied Nev "its just what's done".
Now I was beginning to worry. Was Luna trying to make me marriage material to avoid marrying someone she didn't know? Or was she going to pressure me into marrying young because she wanted to be with me but had a contract hanging over her head? Oh gods if I didn't marry her at seventeen I might lose her forever!
Taking a deep breathe I came to understand why parents arranged these sort of things. It was to much to worry about when its you. I was worrying about things I shouldn't have to because I didn't have parents around to deal with them. Being an orphan in this world was starting to suck.
"Hold on I'm a ward of the state" I pointed out "how can agree to an arrangement even if Luna's Dad asks?"
Lady Longbottom (her formal title) frowned at me as if I was being extremely stupid.
"Its not a legally binding contract young man" she clarified "its an arrangement between the heads of families or parents. Your a special case as normally an orphan is sent to any family they have be they muggle or magical. From what Neville told me your Father passed away as you started school so there was no sense in arranging an adoption. Wizards have no orphanages because most of us are at least distantly related to every Wizarding family in the country. Again the Masons seem to a special case. It must have been decided for you that you would stay at the school and spend your summers with your friends such as I assume you will with the Lovegoods this year. You are of course also welcome here".
She paused to make sure I understood what she had said before carrying on.
"A trust fund would have been set up at the bank to ensure that you had enough to buy your school supplies and of course pocket money. During your last year of schooling you will be given access to the Mason family fortune, as will Neville once he finishes school and I retire fully, but aside from the fact that you can't live alone or assume control of your family vaults until the age of Seventeen you are considered to be the head of your house".
This I already knew it was written in the letter the Traveller had sent me.
"You also have the right to arrange a marriage, to make investments as long as they don't overdraw your trust fund, purchase a House Elf, to decide what OWL and NEWT classes you will take and even to write your own Last Will and Testament".
Well my 'Father' had already signed up for the OWL and NEWT classes which he/it could do since he already knew what grades I get. Of course I could change them but that might make him/it a bit miffed at me.
Mrs. Longbottom then leaned forward a bit and said softly.
"And while you can't pay the bride price right now you can make an offer now and pay when your seventeen. Just remember you can back out as long as you still give that silly man the money".
The idea buying Luna seemed wrong but she could back out too. I wasn't so much buying a wife as I was buying the option to marry her later. If I had the arrangement to marry her I wouldn't feel pressured as it would be up to us when we got married if at all. Really I was just paying for her not to be forced into a marriage with a stranger.
"Now Damien you know how to use the floo, I assume?" Madam Longbottom inquired.
I nodded.
"Good Neville and I shall be taking the Knight Bus to St. Mungos. While we visit you shall use the floo to contact Mr. Lovegood and ask for his daughters hand in marriage. Don't barter its rude just take his offer, but do negotiate your terms fourteen is too young in this day and age you shouldn't be worrying about that sort of thing until after your NEWT exams.
"Terms?" I asked.
Nev's Grandmother sighed again but it was sad sigh this time.
"Your Father must have been very ill not to have explained this to you. Just tell him that if he plays silly buggers that I will take him over my knee again, he'll understand".
Well it wasn't hard to figure out what that meant and if Nev's smirk was any indication he'd sussed it out as well.
"Once you have made the arrangements you will take the Knight Bus yourself and met us at the Leaky Cauldron for a light lunch. I'm sure that you will want to buy your future wife a gift to celebrate as I am equally sure you will want to thank me. I will show the sort of things that are appropriate for young girls and ladies such as myself".
I was guessing that it would involve flowers as I doubted Mrs. Longbottom would expect a kid to fork out much money. She'd like flowers as Neville didn't seem to grow them perhaps they weren't lethal enough for him.
"Now you know where the fireplace is" she hinted "get to it young man".
The Leaky Cauldron. London. The Wizarding World.
Well that had been the kind of fun that wasn't. Luna's Dad was so laid back and cheerful that it was hard to talk to him about a serious matter. At least until I'd mentioned who had directed me to make the call. Amazingly Xeno had managed to turn even paler upon hearing upon hearing who it was.
I walked up to the bar and ordered a pint of beer forgetting for a moment that I wasn't quite eighteen yet. Thankfully Tom the manager didn't kick me out.
"Only if its butterbeer" he said in a joking voice "I don't serve the strong stuff till your seventeen"
Given that I hated butterbeer and that the exploding lemonade was well named I stuck with ordering a nice cup of tea before finding Neville and his Grandmother.
"So how did it go?" asked Neville before I'd even sat down "are you arranged?"
I nodded and then for some reason I decided to bury my face in the table.
"That bad, then" commented Nev.
His Grandmother demanded a more detailed answer while pouring me a glass of water from the jug.
"Well he set a price" I informed the Longbottoms.
I gathered that actually telling the price would be considered a bad thing as if it wasn't a social taboo I was sure that Madam Longbottom would of told me what she paid for Neville and Hannah to be arranged in order to give me an idea of the kinds of money involved.
I'd gotten the feeling from Xeno that the whole thing was normally a way of securing grandchildren and the continue on families than it was about money or ensuring that your kids have a good partner. Which made sense really as ensuring that your DNA gets carried on down the generations is a strong desire for human beings. It might be odd by the standards of how I was raised but I no longer saw as it something so wrong.
"Then we discussed terms"
My mouth was dry so I drank some water just in time to her Mrs. Longbottom say.
"Since you two will be dating soon no doubt. I assume you waved the virginity term".
Turns out that it is possible to nearly drown with only a glass of water.
"What!" I said in shock.
"Its traditional for the young lady to abstain from sex if her marriage is arranged. But the Lovegoods were always a free spirited lot so don't be shocked if she doesn't want to wait. Luna was just like her Mother was as babe, neither of them would keep their clothes on for long at least until they were sent off to Hogwarts and her Father spent some his youth living with muggle hippies sampling the odd plants they grew".
Hearing your friend's Nan talk about sex, nudity and people getting stoned is very uncomfortable although it did help me to come to the conclusion that this version of Nev's Grandmother was the reason this version of Neville wasn't as timid as I'd thought he would be.
She wasn't normally this open in public either but there wasn't anyone around to overhear us right now. Or at least not anyone would who repeat what she was saying.
Then I started thinking about how Luna's lack of sanity must run in the family. Assuming things went well I was going to marry a free spirited nudist (which admittedly had its up sides) and any kids we would have might have her lack of inhibitions combined with my strong egotism and possible megalomania. If I wasn't the next Dark Lord then it looked certain that I'd be the Father of one, maybe it could be a family businesses. We could advertise ourselves in the Quibbler.
Lunch arrived and we talked more as we ate, what I hoped was, beef stew.
"Did you set an age?" asked Nev.
"Xeno wants her married the summer after she finishes school" I informed him.
"He's not a good Father" commented Mrs. Longbottom "not a bad one of course just absent minded. He wants her married quickly so someone takes her off his hand. Silly man should of remarried by now. If anyone needs a proper family its dear Luna but getting her settled down quickly is the next best thing, otherwise she'll be off in heathen lands living in a forest like some sort of savage".
I could so picture her doing that. She'd be off riding something invisible across the wilderness while buck naked. That would be a waste of a brilliant mind there were much better use for her talent aside from the naked part that would be fine with me (in the years to come) but I really did feel that she should end up doing something more meaningful with her life.
"Now you need a gift" reminded Madam Longbottom "some keepsake for the young lady I remember Neville's Grandfather presenting me with a lovely music box. Does Luna have one?".
I hadn't a clue.
"No" I possibly lied "I'll get her a music box".
"And you will get me some tasteful flowers as a thank you for my help" she insisted "gift giving is important in our society".
I really should pick up a book on Wizarding World customs at some point. It would help me to avoid future problems. I didn't want to end up getting married to anyone but Luna and so I had to make sure that giving a girl a certain kind of gift didn't end with me trying to get divorced before I'd even left school.
"Oh there was something I wanted to ask of you Damien" mentioned the elder of the two Longbottoms once lunch was done and were making our way into the alley.
"What is it Mrs. Longbottom?" I questioned.
She didn't answer until we were in the alley proper and the background noise was enough to make any attempts at eavesdropping rather futile.
"One of the things you can't do until you reach manhood is to use your family seat on the Wizengamot".
I didn't recall the Traveller mentioning that the Mason family he created having a seat but it shouldn't surprise me. The Cosmic Horror did things for its own reasons and while I had no idea why I just couldn't be that surprised by this latest bit of news.
"I assume you don't much about our government so I will explain" the woman offered "the Wizengamot is made up of the heads of Pureblood families and officials of which are hundreds. Only about fifty serve at one time and the more seats you have the more often your called in to vote on issues and to oversee important trails. Controlling more seats means you get to vote more often. Most recently the more traditional families have been getting the most seats. I'm hardly a liberal but that law that Mr. Malfoy prevented was closer to passing than most realise. Had I been there it might of passed as I did support it".
It didn't take someone with a high IQ like mine to figure out where this was going.
"I assume then that I can give my vote to you Madam Longbottom"
It wasn't a question but she answered anyway.
"The Masons are quite an old family you control more than one seat being your proxy would ensure that I attend a lot of sessions. I'm surprised that old fool Albus hasn't asked you to let him stand in as your proxy. He has the Weasly and Potter seats already which are both important seats. He can't vote for those seats but he can make sure that those seats go empty and that they won't be filled by members of the traditional families".
Did he now. That was very interesting to hear. And it was also interesting that Mrs. Longbottom wasn't trying to manipulate me into giving her my seat. She could have offered me something but she was being tactful about it not actually asking so much as letting me offer it to her.
"I'd be happy to let you sit in proxy for me Madam Longbottom" I said sounding rather formal "until I'm finished with school"
A tight smile appeared on the old woman's face.
"Thank young Master Mason the Longbottom family are in your debt. I shall be sure to report regularly on what the Wizengamot votes upon in order to keep you informed".
It might seem like she was taking advantage of me but really she was doing me a favour as I had no idea how the government worked but by taking my seat Mrs. Longbottom would ensure that when I did sit in the Wizengamot as an adult that I would have an idea of what was happening and what my vote actually meant.
"Now that's enough business for one day, you two boys should be enjoying yourself during the school holidays. We shall have a fun afternoon of shopping and then a party with your young lady friends. I'll floo call your future Father-In-Law and the Abbots later to make sure Luna attends the Abbot's party they always get an invite in any case. This means that you must both have a proper gift for them both which means we shall be here for sometime. Damien you will need dress robes if going to show off your bride to be it will be more formal than planned".
If synchronised moaning was an Olympic sport Neville and I would have taken home the gold. Neither of us was a fan of shopping or dress robes.