Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
Well Neville was not so cold, he and Cassius had learned several spells for warming. The Dungeons were cold enough, let alone when winter struck. He put a notice on the board by the exit to the Dorm just in case, so people could cast the spell. No one seemed to take it seriously when he did, which was really their fault.
"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
Neville rolled his eyes, turning to Draco. " And some of us aren't wanted anywhere." Draco turned red, outwitted by Neville, and turned back to measuring his powder. Neville turned back to Harry and smiled, getting a smile in return
Just a few minutes later, he ran into Cassius after class was over. He barreled into him, smiling. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"My gran said you could come over for the Holidays!" Neville was particularly excited. He had bought Cassius a ton of gifts, using a huge amount of his allowance. He could not wait for his only real friend to see the haul.
Cassius beamed at him, then turned cold as ice. "If your family hurts you, I will burn them alive."
"A great present for me then." They both laughed. "I already set it up with McGongagall, it was a huge surprise for you."
Cassius pulled him into the warmest hug. "You're great. I wish I could repay you for what I assume is a trove of gifts and food."
"You already have, seriously I am a greater wizard, and person cause of you."
Cassius burned red. "When do we ship off to your Gran?"
"Tomorrow at noon."
:::
Which is exactly what they did. Before they knew it they were on the train reading over a book on actually interesting history, before exiting to see Augusta Longbottom and her dour face.
"Right on time, let us depart. Cassius, have you Aparated yet?"
"No, I've only read on it."
"Well, it is quite interesting, please hold on tight and do not move." She held out her hand and Neville's and before he knew it, he was zipping away, through a small tube and spiraling into infinity before tumbling back into reality. When the world settled he was looking at a massive manor, with several greenhouses and a powerful air of magic about it. "Welcome to manor Longbottom." She said. She snapped her fingers and two little creatures, House elves by their looks ( he read about them and was horrified to discover that slavery was so present in the Wizarding world) appeared in a crack. "Floppy, Tipsy, take their things to their rooms."
"We's be doing that, Mistress!" They both said before taking their thing away in a crack.
Neville, excited, grabbed his hand. "I wanna show you my Greenhouses." And he led him away, to check out the greenhouses in question with an excited laugh.
They spent the next hour or so looking at all of the various plants that Neville loved, which really was a gift in and of itself for Cassius. He loved seeing Neville happy, and in his element he was just that, Happy...
At least until Augusta burst into the space. "Enough of this Neville, at least show him other things than your... plants." She said plants with a dull, bored tone.
It riled up Cassius. "I like seeing Neville happy, he would make an amazing professor, he really would. His understanding and ability to speak to plants is something amazing Ma'am." She paused, stunned that someone was defending Neville. "I really enjoy listening to him. He learns a lot about Muggle society from me, and together we learn about history and DADA and Potions and so on. Really, it's a great trade off."
She nodded slowly. "I,..."
"And honestly, you should be proud he found his own path, most take decades to do that."
Her entire body deflated. "You are right."
Neville smiled at Cassius. "I could show you our library? We have books on everything, Gran collects them. We even have tomes on Occulemency and Legimency. I have some skill in Occulmency, not much but some."
"And those are?"
"Mind shielding and reading respectively. They also help with focus, memory and other things."
"What are we waiting for, onward!" And they both cackled as the hurried towards the manor, eager to learn.
Leaving Augusta to sigh, realizing her own many, many failures in raising Neville.
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a joy to read.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.