Chapter 5
Neville stood outside as he contemplated the greenhouse. The day was bright with just a bit of overcast clouds. The runic magic of the Hogwarts' greenhouses kept the plants inside warmer and helped to amplify the sunlight shining down on them so that they can grow all year round and not be a subject to the seasons. Many of the vegetation outside of the greenhouse had already given in to the chilly grasp of November, but the vibrant green inside the greenhouse practically called to him.
He let out a contented sigh. "I made the right choice."
~* Late the night before *~
Neville studied the notes dubiously. "I'm still not sure about this," he mumbled.
Harry let out a sigh. "Neville, we just want to help you to be more. Don't you want to be able to stand up for yourself?"
"I dunno. This makes me think I will actually be less of myself. I'd be somebody else."
Harry shook his head. "No, mate. It's more like you have more options." He sighed in frustration. "Just look through the avatars available, and see if anything seems of interest to you."
With that said, Harry stepped back, letting the other young wizard think about it.
Hermione and Harry had consulted Xander earlier, wondering if Neville could be a participant in their avatar program despite it no longer being Halloween. Xander consulted Isabel, the essence of Hogwarts, and she had told him that she could endow avatar abilities, though they would be less powerful, and would not last for too long.
It had taken a while to convince Neville; Harry had had to walk on the walls and Hermione had shot off a small starbolt at an old brazier to show their sincerity.
In the end, Neville only had one concession. He wanted Luna Lovegood to have an avatar, too.
"No, Luna, you can't be Smurfette!" insisted Hermione. "I'd sooner let you choose Emma Frost than a Smurf! It's almost as bad a choice as Applejack!"
Unfazed, Luna continued to look at her options. "Hmm, I think Daenerys Targaryen is interesting," remarked Luna.
"…why her?"
"Then I would be the Mother of Dragons, of course."
"No!" Hermione exclaimed with finality.
"Apple White?"
"No, Luna."
"Caroline Forbes?"
"Who?" Hermione leaned into look at the information Luna indicated. "She's a vampire! No way am I letting you turn yourself into a vampire!"
"That's racist!"
"No, it isn't! You can't just say that to win an argument. Now pick another choice." Hermione was looking rather frazzled.
Xander watched it all from his crystal cage with great amusement. He shared quips with Isabel whose immaterial form sat next to him, enjoying this rare treat of companionship.
"I can't tell if she is leading her on or if she is serious," Xander said, wiping away a tear.
"A bit of both I believe," Isabel remarked. "If that one does not have Fae blood in her, then I say she seems so close to them that she might as well be related."
Xander snorted. "Not sure it works that way."
"Does it matter?"
"It might to any Fae who run into her." He gave a contemplative look. "Then again, the supernatural creatures of this universe could be different from those I am used to. The Fae might just love her. And hopefully not the kind where they love to have someone for dinner. As in she'd be the dinner."
"The Fae are not so cruel on this plane. The Founders had several interactions with the Fae as my second body was constructed."
"Do you miss your first body?" Xander asked.
She considered. "There are many differences. When I was in my human body, the warm sun and wind felt wonderful against my skin. The sun and wind on the stone walls do not have the same sensation, though I can register the heat and cold on the walls. Also, before, I had mobility, could enjoy good food, draw with charcoal. And yet now that I am a castle, I do not hunger, I can feel the lives of those living within me, and have a longevity I could never had before. But if you wish to know what I miss the most, it would be to interact with others."
"Well, now that this room had been rediscovered, if we can change the wards that keeps you from talking with the students and staff, you should be able to have this room give you a body, if not physically, then at least an image of one."
"That is how it was before when the Founders still lived. Rowena and Salazar worked for years to create this room. I think it was their last great project together."
Before Xander could respond, he overheard something that sent tendrils of dread down his spine.
"Buffy Summers? That name is almost as bad as this other one - Anya Jenkins."
"I think they both sound pretty," Luna remarked. "Maybe I could amalgam both avatars to me like Harry did with the Wolverine and Spider characters."
Xander jumped to his feet with all haste. "Ye godz! I have to get over there before something worse than an apocalypse happens!"
Isabel chuckled quietly, enjoying the antics.
Meanwhile, Neville continued to peruse the choices offered to him, and was not having a good time of it. He had already rejected Aquaman, Angel and Animal Man simply because he was not comfortable with deep water, flying high in the sky or most animals. Likewise, he rejected the Human Torch because Neville did not like large fires. Speedball just reminded him of how clumsy he was. Cannonball was always crashing into things, so was on par with Speedball in Neville's opinion. Sentry was mentally unstable (why was that even an option?). Hank Pym, though brilliant, also had mental instability that made Neville leery of accepting him. John Constantine was into demonic activities that just gave Neville the shivers reading about them. Green Arrow and Hawkeye also relied on gracefulness for their skills to work that might be offset by Neville's clumsiness, thus putting whoever Neville would be trying to aid in even more jeopardy from the arrows he shot. Cypher could instantly translate any language, but Neville was not that much of a reader. The Flash seemed like a good idea, but with the hyper senses, Neville realized he would soon be bored beyond belief with everything moving in slow-motion around him. Havok was just too powerful, and with Neville being as clumsy as he was, he was afraid that he's accidently blast the castle to smithereens his cosmic energy plasma blasts. Booster Gold seemed more of an attention-seeking git than a hero. He didn't want to be green, so that meant no to Brainiac 5, despite how smart that would make him. As for Element Lad, his abilities made Neville think of his skill in Potions which never when well. And Thor…. It seemed ostentatious for Neville to try be a Norse deity, though he was surprised that the Thor avatar was blond instead of with red hair as depicted in myth.
"Looks like you've made some headway on clearing away what you are not interested in," Harry observed.
Neville nodded as he rejected Captain America. He would have loved to have that one for an avatar, but Neville was a British citizen, not an American.
Choosing Captain Britain had a warning on it saying that selecting this avatar might very well get him inducted into the Captain Britain Corps, and make him have to go on adventures throughout the multiverse. Neville moved that one into the discard pile.
"This is not as easy as it looks."
Harry nodded. "It took me a while to make a selection, too. How about we look in your 'maybe' pile?"
Neville sighed and nodded. "There's only one in there right now," Neville said, feeling embarrassed. "I know this is a big thing, but so for this is the only one with which I feel comfortable.
Harry read the avatar's description. "Um…"
"I know it seems like a joke or prank," Neville said nervously. "But if you look down further, you will see he later trained in a military setting, refining his abilities in ways that no longer made him a joke."
"I can see why you are comfortable with his powers," Harry acknowledged.
"You don't mind?"
Harry smiled and shook his head. "I'm good with your choice. You just have to run it by Xander." He glanced over at where Xander was trying to have a rational conversation with Luna. "In fact, he might appreciate it if you did it now."
"No!" Xander shouted. "Princess Peach, Aurora, Cinderella and Rapunzel are not good options for you!"
"Calm down, Xander. You're shouting." Hermione was glad that Xander was stuck in the yellow, glowing amber cage that somehow brought him to this reality.
"Calm down!? We are offering her the chance to augment herself by giving her an avatar form, and she's considering becoming a Powerpuff girl?!" He pointed an accusing finger at the place Luna was keeping her avatars to consider, specifically to Bubbles of the Powerpuff girls.
"She seems nice, yet strong," Luna said airily, and without concern.
"If you are considering someone powerful, why not someone like Captain Marvel?" Hermione asked.
Luna considered for a moment. "I don't think our personalities would be very harmonious. There would be many conflicts of interest, which, as you know, could lead to a serious wrackspurt infestation."
"How about Power Girl?" Harry asked, having glanced to Luna's remaining choices.
Luna tilted her head to one side. "I am not sure I am ready to have assets that big, though her added strength would mean there would be no back pain dealing with such a load. There would also be the conflict that my father would not like it for his little girl to put her top bits in a window display like Power Girl is want to do."
Harry reddened and took a step back. Xander, having trained a couple dozen Slayers at this point, decided to wisely defer to Hermione before things got anyone out of hand.
"How about we give Luna and Hermione some more time to think about things while Neville and you tell me how his selection of an avatar is going?"
Every mumbled their agreement and the males quickly fled to where Neville's screens were.
Xander took one look at the screen, turned and asked, "Is this a joke?"
~* Late the night before *~
Neville took another step toward one of the greenhouses when he heard someone shout in alarm.
Neville's eyes narrowed, as he wondered if it were possibly a trap. Afterall, many people see him as the weak gullible one who has been the butt of jokes around the castle for years.
Reaching out with his new powers he quickly determined that it wasn't someone setting a trap for him. Someone else had been the prey this time.
"Look like it's time to get all Gryffindor," he quietly said to himself.
There were four perpetrators and one victim. Four males and one female.
"Let's go see who is there," he said quietly to himself. He liked to come early to class. Not only did he avoid a lot of people, (especially the bullies), but he got to look around more and see how all the plants were doing. Hermione had said it was therapeutic for him. Now that he had amalgamed, he understood what she meant and agreed, though working with the myriad of plants had not fixed the problem, it just treated it.
The five people were behind Greenhouse #13, which held several of the more dangerous and exotic plants. Neville was one of three students allowed to go into that greenhouse without Professor Sprout to supervise him. The other two students were Seventh years.
Neville quietly moved along the brush that seemed extra lush under his feet. The Spikey Bush, a plant literally covered in long sharp spikes, had been losing a majority of its spikes during this time of year, and yet quickly filled in with a number of new spikes to help hide Neville's presence.
The Gryffindor peeked and saw five Slytherins. The female was Daphne Greengrass and she was trapped against the back of Greenhouse #9 with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle on one side of her. On the other side of her was a tall new potted plant that Professor Sprout had placed here out of the way of anyone. She and several other Herbology professors from around the world had discovered a new land over the summer called Xanth, and had been able to return with several plant samples that need to be near high concentrations of magic to survive. This particular tree Professor Sprout had brought back with her was called a Toilet-tree due to any flesh and blood creature that comes near it feels them in need to relieve themselves, and thus fertilizing the ground around the tree. If Daphne did have to go that way to escape Draco and his goons, she would be humiliated, a fact Draco was counting on.
In front of her, just a few feet away was a smirking Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. In Draco's hand was two wands, one of which Neville was sure belonged to Daphne.
"-disrespect to me is going to end, Greengrass. As far as everyone in Slytherin is concerned, I rule everyone from Fifth year and down. I won't have a Fourth year in my own year putting me down before everyone in our own common room."
For her credit, Daphne regarded him with a cold glare of disdain as Draco continued to rant at her.
Grimacing, Neville considered the situation. He had no wand since it had been broken yesterday by Marietta Edgecombe. His grandmother was planning to take him to Ollivander's to get his own wand on the weekend. If he used his new ability gained from the amalgamation process, he would be revealing something that others could anticipate later. But to not do something would mean allowing harm to come to Daphne who he knew.
Neville focused on his avatar and the military training he'd eventually had, especially in espionage work.
He nodded to himself began to focus on several of the plants in Greenhouse #13, though most of them seemed too dangerous to use, so he focused on Greenhouse #9, too. If Malfoy made to do anything other than scare the girl, Neville was going to have to get creative.
He'd been in deep concentration for a few minutes when Draco bellowed for his two stooges to grab Daphne and bring her over to him. Daphne, still with a cold glare edged closer to the toilet-tree while backing away from Crabbe and Goyle.
'Okay, showtime,' Neville thought to himself.
Suddenly, from Greenhouse #13, a Venomous Tentacula vine burst out of one of the windows, and reached out to almost grabbing distance of Greengrass, who jumped back from it which also took her farther away from the Toilet-tree. Meanwhile, a purple Bouncing Bulb the size of a doorway smashed through a window belonging to Greenhouse #9. The massive plant bulb bounced twice on the ground before rounding on Goyle, leaping upon the burly Slytherin. Goyle managed a brief shriek before being buried under the thumping plant.
Vincent Crabbe was trying to extract his wand from his pocket to try and help his best friend when a mature mandrake actually walked over through the debris. Everyone stared in shock knowing that if the mandrake were to open its mouth and scream, the sound would kill them all. But the mandrake stayed strangely silent and it carried a load of leaves over to Crabbe. When the mandrake was right in front of Vincent, the plant creature threw the greenish-brown leaves it had been carrying directly into the boy's face. Its mission done, the mandrake turned and walked back to its resting place in the good soil of the greenhouse.
Crabbe pulled off the sticky leaves, flabbergasted by what has happened, but glad it hadn't been worse. If fact, he began to chuckle.
"What in Merlin is going on here?" demanded Draco, glancing around for any other bizarre occurrences.
"Dunno," Crabbe managed between chuckles. Finally, a series of laughs burst out of him causing him to fall to his knees.
"He's been poisoned," Daphne said matter-of-factly.
"What!?" Drake snapped, incredulously.
"Those leaves he touched has a particular oil on them that he has absorbed through his skin. It causes hysteria and uncontrollable laughter that is said to be worse than the Tickling Charm. The leaves come from a tree called Alihotsy, also known as the Hyena Tree."
Nott glanced about nervously, especially at the Venomous Tentacula that flailed about trying to grasp anything living, but unable do to everything just out of reach. "Mandrakes aren't supposed to move around like that. The plants aren't supposed to break out of the greenhouses like that."
"Professor Sprout told students that it was not safe to go between these buildings," remarked Daphne who was carefully stepping around a madly cackling Crabbe and then eased around the Bouncing Bulb that was still leaping on a groaning Goyle. "These are possibly traps set by Professor Sprout to keep us away from something she has around here that is even more dangerous than what we are seeing here."
Both Nott and Malfoy considered that. It wouldn't be the first time the faculty at Hogwarts had set up a series of elaborate traps to protect something. During their first year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had warned the students away from the third floor unless they wanted to die. That had warned away many of the students, but others saw it as a challenge. Draco had been told by Flint that he had seen a Cerberus guarding a trapdoor by their second week. Those students who had not been scared off by the Cerberus spent much of their spare time trying to learn how to get past the three-headed dog. Word is that at the end of the year, Potter, Granger and Weasley had managed to not only get passed the triple-headed giant canine, but several other traps as well. Potter and Weasley had ended up in the Infirmary, but Granger wouldn't tell anyone what had happened. Officially, Draco insisted that Potter and Weasley must have been injured trying to get passed the Cerberus, but in his heart, Draco knew the trio had somehow managed to make it all the way through, and he hated them for it.
Daphne had been walking on the path, but that would take her right to Draco, so she tried to step off the path only to be suddenly beat back by wild rice.
Theodore Nott, deciding to deal with what he knew instead of the chaos around him, went to confront the Greengrass girl.
"You fool!" she snapped as he tried grabbing her arm. "Haven't you noticed that all of these plants seem to be reacting to the aggression you boys are causing?"
Nott sneered at her postulation, and made another grab for her, causing her to back away.
Just then a massive snake rose from among the wild rice, hissing as it headed toward Theodore.
"It's a cobra-lily!" announced Draco. "But it shouldn't get that big! It's tethered to its root base! Just get away from it! It can't follow you far!"
Theo moved back, but the cobra-lily followed after him.
"How long is this thing?" Theo cried out fearfully, unsure if the plant was poisonous or not, or even how poisonous. "Draco! Shoot this thing! Curse its head off!"
Draco had already come to that conclusion and was lining up a shot. "Reducto!"
Daphne cried out in alarm. "You idiot! Watch where you are shooting! You cut my robe!"
"Who cares about you, treacherous witch!" Theo barked. He kicked away the severed head of the cobra-lily. "This is all your fault!" He moved to go after her again, but froze when he heard the sound of more hissing.
This time four serpent heads rose from among the wild rice, and all were staring at Theo.
"That's it! I am out of here!" Theo broke off down the path, running as fast as his legs would take him.
Draco glanced after Theo, but was resolved to not be defeated. "You! You did this! I don't know how you did it, but you are going to pay! Time for some severe humiliation!"
Just as he has about to cast, a series of Creepers fell upon him from overhanging trees. "What is Slytherin's name…?"
The vines tightened around the young wizard making it impossible to use his wand without hitting his shoulder.
Daphne stared in amazement at what had happened to her antagonists. She glanced around to make sure nothing was coming to attack her. She even looked up at the tall Elder tree that she was sure was longer that it had been when she had fled here. "How is this all happening?"
"Get me out this!" Draco demanded.
She gave him an incredulous look. "You chased me in here. You took my wand. You threatened me. And now you want my help?"
Daphne noticed that the plants all seemed to stop in motion, but Draco didn't seem to realize that. "If you don't get me out of here, it will be much worse for you!"
The plants were moving again. The Creepers, a magical vine that would ensnare creatures and haul them to their doom, now dragged Draco down the path. Daphne actually had to step out of the vine bundled package as it continued passed her. She let out a sigh of relief as it went by her.
"Let me go! Where are you taking… No! Not that way!"
Daphne suddenly realized that the Creepers were taking Draco to the same fate that he most likely had had for her. Daphne heard him cry out at the vines brought him into proximity of the toilet-tree. Daphne turned away as the spoiled wizard soiled himself again and again.
Noticing a movement near her feet, she froze as a cobra-lily laid down her lost wand at her feet, and then retreated back into the wild rice.
She glanced around, she now realized that some intelligent entity must be behind all of this. "Thank you," she said meekly, letting her icy personal drop for the moment. She picked her wand up and put it away. Again, she said thank you. And took the path through the plants back out to the main area.
"Hey, Daphne," spoke a male voice, making Daphne look up with alarm. She let out a small sigh of relief when she noticed it was only Neville Longbottom.
"I'm fine," she stated as she restored her impassive face.
"I just saw Nott run out of there, and I thought I heard someone cry out."
"Just some… troublemakers," she said, realizing with Neville here she couldn't just deny that anything happened. "I should let Professor Sprout know when she gets here."
"Are-are you bleeding?"
Daphne glanced down to where Draco's reducto had clipped her robe. Sure enough, there was a small trickle of blood running down her leg. The adrenaline must have kept her from noticing.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think Draco would do that. If only I'd…"
"What?" She glanced up at him. Neville was always overlooked. He was considered a squib by most people. He was browbeaten by his grandmother. He was the joke of their Potions class. And yet…
Neville was the top of their Herbology class. He excelled at it to such a level that even Professor Sprout was impressed and thought of him as a protégé. And then there is the story going around on how he'd tried to rescue that Lovegood girl.
She looked back to the place she had been trapped, and then back to Neville. "You did that? Merlin, you did!"
He managed a sheepish smile. "Uh, let's just keep this between us, ok? I'd rather people not know about this."
"How?"
"I, uh, I'm really good with plants?"
She regarded him with an evaluating eye. "I doubt Sprout could have organized half of that if she was given a month to set it up. You… you somehow did this at a moment's notice."
Neville groaned. "I'm supposed to be quiet about all this."
"How were you able to do that? You, you are considered the Gryffindor blunder, and yet you totally shamed Draco and his goons. When the rest of the castle hears of this…"
"Do they have to?"
She hadn't heard this, as she was already trying to deal with other concerns. "Draco's going to be bloody pissed, and-and he's going to partially blame me!" She looked at him with alarm. "He's going to come after me again. It's the only way he'll think he can restore any respect for himself in the school."
It was Neville's turn to consider. Daphne was a Slytherin, true; but that didn't make her evil. He'd more or less known her for years due to both of them being pure-bloods. Even so, they had hardly ever had a conversation, and there had been that one awkward dance back when they were eleven-years-olds. Things he did know were that she was one of the few to not mock him, she never let Draco put her down, and she was protective of her friend, Tracey Davis, who was a half-blood in Slytherin.
He sighed. "I think… I think I have a way so that you can protect yourself from Draco and his troll squad. I just have to run it by someone first."
"Potter?" she asked.
Neville winched, just then remembering that she was also known to be one of the brightest in their year. "Yeah, but he's a real good bloke. But there are some others I would have to run it by first. And if they say 'no', well, I'll do everything I can to help anyway."
She raised an eyebrow. "And do you think by doing this that I will automatically become your girlfriend?"
Neville gave her a startled look. "What? No, no, nothing like that. Besides, I think someone else has kind of claimed me for herself."
Daphne half raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Hmm. That wouldn't be Lovegood, would it?"
Neville gave a sheepish look. "Um, yes. It's just all new to me. And I am not sure about a lot of things. I'm not even sure if we are officially boyfriend/girlfriend, or if we are really old enough to try be boyfriend/girlfriend. I just don't know. Do you?"
Daphne eyed him skeptically. "Are you asking me for relationship advice?"
Neville frowned. "I guess."
Daphne shook her head. She knew Neville couldn't get any parental advice from his parents, and she doubted Augusta Longbottom was very approachable about such things. "You know I am the same age as you. I've got similar issues, but the boy I like…" She sighed. "Sometimes I think my mother is right and that we are just too young to process our emotions effectively for a relationship. She may be right. I don't know. Not even sure I care." She then gave a sly grin. "But I will take you to my relationship guru. You might know her: Tracey Davis."
Neville pinked around his face. "Um, yes. Last year, Fred and George tossed her and I in a broom cupboard and sealed the door for a few hours. She, uh, she thought the only way out was for us to, uh, kiss. Um, I understand that I went into hyperventilation and woke in the Infirmary."
Daphne smirked. That had been a favorite story of Tracey's, though she had been a bit miffed not to have gotten a kiss out of the ordeal.
AuThOr'S NoTeS: 7/25/2020
As to the concerns to Neville's selections, I made him blond like he is said to be in the book, thus his choices for an avatar were blond for an easier compatibility. Neville isn't one to stray from his comfort zone yet. He is still maturing and leery of things that are different, which is why I had him stick close to what he excelled at or felt he could not mess up. Some people grow in several ways, others choose only a narrow path that they are comfortable with.
Who is his avatar? I thought I'd let people guess, though he did use a somewhat obscure hero who is a bit out there. Send me your guesses. I'll let you know.
Yes, I brought in a little bit from the Xanth series, but just plants because that is what Professor Sprout would have been mostly interested in anyway. No one really needs to be familiar with Xanth for this story. Just a few magical plants will be used. So no worries. Xanth is a fantasy comedy series with tons of pun-fueled magic. For example, the Toilet-tree I used in this story is a pun based off of 'toiletry', but focused on the need for the toilet than anything else (because it is funnier that way). In the Xanth series they also have an Infant-tree, which is a tree filled with military-minded babies. It's crazy and silly but fun if you are looking for a fun book series to read.
I also want to recommend a new fanfiction story called 'The Ghostbusters with the Most' by MonkeeGirl97. It's a well-done crossover between the Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice. Check it out and leave a review.