When You Wish…
It was a cool day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Two boys, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom were sitting on the lake’s edge discussing typical teenage issues.
Ron buried his head in his hands, frustrated with his two best friends. “I just wish they would speak to each other again! I’m not used to being the peacemaker between the three of us.”
Neville was picking at a few blades of grass where his feet were resting. He examined them as he pondered Ron’s situation out loud. “Ron, what was it that started this whole thing?” He looked at Ron and asked, “What happened that was so bad that they aren’t speaking?”
Ron looked up. “Hermione said something to him that many of us had threatened to say but we were too afraid to mention.” He adjusted his position on the grass.
Neville gave a nervous laugh. “As long as she didn’t say anything about his hero complex, I don’t think…” He saw the look on Ron’s face and his jaw dropped. “Oh no, you’re not serious, are you?”
“Yeah,” Ron confirmed, “And don’t even get him started on their conversation about Sirius, now that you mention it.” He shuddered and his friend groaned.
Neville watched as Ron stood up. “I’m going to head back to the common room, Nev. Thanks for the talk, mate. I feel better knowing that I was able to at least vent.”
Brushing dandelion seeds off of his trousers, Neville looked Ron in the eye. “I’m happy that you’re feeling better but let’s face it, venting won’t make them speak again.”
Ron bent down to pick up his robes that he was sitting on and gave a girlish scream when he saw something crawl across it.
“Sp-sp-spider, Neville! Please step on it for me…” He walked towards the tree behind him, never taking his eyes off the eight-legged critter.
Neville shook his head and groaned. “Where is it, Ron?” He got up and jogged to the spot where his friend had been only moments prior. He got down on all fours and crawled around looking for the aforementioned arachnid. Ron watched and then mumbled, “I’m just going to head back, all right, Neville?”
Neville nodded and continued to look around until his eyes fell upon what he thought was a very unique looking insect. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it must be the spider that caused Ron such a fright.
“My, my,” he muttered quietly. “You are quite the extravagant looking creature, aren’t you?”
“Why thank you.”
Jumping back a few feet, Neville looked around him, trying to find the source of the female voice.
“I’m down here, child,” she indicated from the top of a reed near the water. He looked in the direction of the spider he had been inspecting. His eyes grew wide when he noticed her detailed appearance. She seemed to be a mix of creatures. While her body was that of an arachnid, her face was something that reminded him of the pictures his Gran would show him of fairies; Long wavy brown hair and a face with a glittery shine to it.
“Um, hello… I guess.” Neville wasn’t exactly sure about how to approach a creature such as this.
She bowed her head in a formal greeting and he lay flat on his stomach to gain a better view of his new acquaintance.
“So, um… what are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
The creature both looked and spoke as if she were far older than her looks suggested. “I am of a race of beings who call themselves Teutonarans. But you can simply call me Arin.” She seemed to be looking right through the Gryffindor boy as she spoke.
Overwhelmed by the information given to him by this small yet seemingly knowledgeable creature, he tried to grasp for the right questions. Something told him looks were deceiving and there was more to her than what he could see with the naked eye.
Neville sighed a heavy sigh and his new acquaintance tilted her tiny head to look at him. “Tell me, child, what is it that seems to be troubling you? I can see it in your eyes and if you keep it inside it will eat at you until you get sick!” Neville could see the concern in her eyes.
“I’m just being overly sensitive, that’s all.” He became flushed with irritation and said, “I just wish everyone would get along!” After speaking, he placed his head face down, laying on his arms as if he were giving up.
Once his words were spoken, the creature watching him shivered slightly and from behind her an iridescent set of wings appeared. They began to flap, slowly at first but then increasing their speed until Neville looked up. Watching Arin with an expression of shock, he observed as the simple movement of her small wings caused everything around them to move in its breeze.
“Wh...wh…WHAT is happening?” Neville exclaimed. He stood quickly and looked wildly around him. He felt a shiver exit his body as her wings slowed their movement until they were stilled once again. He looked over to Arin and watched as the wings folded and disappeared behind her, hidden.
Arin began to make her way down the reed she had been sitting on and crawled to Neville. He was still taking in the event that had transpired and did not see her at first. After feeling a tingling sensation on his shoe, he quickly glanced down and noticed she had perched herself there.
“I am sorry if I frightened you, child. I scare myself sometimes when that happens!” she smiled, letting out a gentle laugh at the thought.
Neville blinked hard a few more times before making an attempt at speaking. “Excuse me… erm… what was that?” He knelt down, careful to keep her stable in her spot on his shoe.
There’s no sense in making her mad by knocking her down. No telling what she would do then!” he thought to himself.
He was able to sit down completely and she made her way up to his knee. It was the perfect height for them to see eye to eye.
“Ah, that? It was just a little magic, I suppose.” She sat (as well as a spider could sit) and gave an eerie smile. The boy in front of her became a bit nervous.
He peered into her eyes the best that he could without being rude and then moved to place his finger under her abdomen to touch her. She jumped off of his leg quickly as his hand came close to touching her.
“Oh, no. That’s not such a wise idea my dear.” She gave a polite smile and he looked at her, confused.
“Oh, are you a dangerous creature? I’m sorry.” He placed his hands in his lap.
She sighed to herself and made her way back onto the boy’s knee. “I’m sorry to answer so abruptly, child. It’s just touching me affects my magic and I would rather that didn’t happen.”
Neville shrugged and gave a polite smile. All of a sudden he looked around and, realizing the time, jumped up from his position, throwing Arin onto the ground in the process.
“Oh no, Arin! Are you all right? I’m so sorry!” Neville scurried down to check on the small creature and let out a sigh of relief when he realised she was fine.
“I am fine, dear. It’s quite a common occurrence but my kind have always been wonderful survivors when it comes to adversity or excitable young men as seems to be the case today.” She laughed at her little joke but Neville didn’t find it very amusing at first. Once he saw her laughing, however, he lightened up and laughed nervously with her.
Looking back at the castle, he cleared his throat. “Arin, I’ve got to get back to the castle now. It looks like it’s getting late and I am feeling a bit hungry now.”
She watched him rub his stomach. “That’s quite understandable, child. I would love it, though if you might come back to visit every once in a while. It’s not often I find a human child who is not afraid of a little conversation every once in a while.”
The Gryffindor was relieved that she was being so gentle. “I’d like that… yeah.” He blushed and bent down to grab his cloak from the grassy area. “I’ll be seeing you then,” he said a little more confidently.
“Yes you will, child.”
Neville knew something was just not right when he approached the castle. He looked around to try getting a better view of people inside the walls of the school.
“Hey Longbottom,” said a passing Slytherin.
“Oh, hi, Zabini,” he replied, stopping in the middle of the hall. He turned to look behind him and saw the green Slytherin robes flow dramatically behind Blaise as he turned the corner towards the Great Hall.
’Did I hear him right?’ he thought to himself. He tried to convince himself that he was not losing his mind. ’Well, I suppose of all of the Slytherins, Blaise has never really taken to being overly rude so I suppose a greeting would not be an impossible occurrence.’
Neville continued his walk towards the Great Hall for dinner, his stomach speaking louder than the thoughts in his head by that point. He reached for the large doors to the hall and gasped when he saw what lay in front of him.
The traditional house tables which usually adorned the room were replaced by four arc-shaped tables which, when put together, made a circle. There was a smaller central table which was a simple circle which was composed of the Prefects and Heads of House.
He glanced in the direction of the staff table and did a double-take as he watched Professor Snape laughing with Professor McGonagall.
As he looked for his friends he noticed that they were surrounded by people from different houses in what appeared to be an animated conversation. Neville tried to pick his jaw up off the floor and made his way further inside.
As he looked for somewhere to sit, he saw Ginny waving her hands in the air, motioning for him to join her. He smiled briefly and approached her, taking the seat to his friend’s right side. “What is going on, Ginny?” he asked her incredulously.
Looking confused, she asked him, “What do you mean, Neville? Did something happen on your way here?”
Serving himself a helping of potatoes, he tried to remain calm. “Ginny, there are people from different houses everywhere! If that wasn’t strange enough for you, Blaise Zabini told me ‘hi’ on the way over here!”
Giving him a confused sideways glance, she said, “Neville, are you feeling okay? You’re acting weird.” She shook her head and reached across the table for the desserts. Deciding on a large helping of double chocolate cake, she found a dessert plate and placed the cake on it.
Neville was about to respond when he heard an unmistakable voice call across the crowd of students.
“Hey, Hermione!”
On instinct, Neville reached for his wand until he saw Hermione turn in interest to look at the person trying to get her attention.
“Heads up, Granger.” Everyone watched as Draco Malfoy sent a beautiful black owl in her direction carrying a rolled up parchment.
Rolling her eyes while smiling, she said, “Oh for Merlin sakes, Malfoy. You are pathetically lazy, you know that?” He shrugged and smirked. “Thanks for your class notes, though.”
Watching the exchange was the final straw for Neville and he decidedly got up quickly and walked briskly out the large doors of the Great Hall.
Neville was sitting in the Gryffindor common room when the portrait hole opened and his friends walked in laughing. Seeing the despondent look on his face, Hermione asked, “Why are you so sad looking? I noticed how quickly you left the Great Hall and Ginny told us you were acting strange.”
Still unsure if he should say anything about what he saw, he shrugged. Harry sat down next to him on the large couch. “C’mon, Nev. You can tell us. Where were you today, anyways?”
Feeling slightly perplexed, he looked at his friends. “You’re just trying to get me to talk about it. Nice try, guys.” He leaned onto the back edge of the couch and closed his eyes but he could still hear their whispers.
”He looks a little ill.”
“I don’t know, love... he might just be feeling quiet is all.”
Neville rolled his eyes under his closed eyelids. “I can hear you guys, you know.” He sat up and let out a deep breath. “I’m just having a hard time with the changes here at school, that’s all.”
Feeling a little better after expressing his woes, he looked up to see their confused expressions. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and asked, “What are you talking about, Neville? What changes?” She looked to her two best friends and they shrugged their shoulders. “Where?”
”Well now, this is interesting, isn’t it, Neville?” said a voice in his head.
Sitting up quickly, he looked around. “Where did that voice come from, Harry?” He was trying to see behind him, looking for the female the familiar voice belonged to.
Ron chuckled. “I think you’re starting to look a little pale, mate. Do we need to take you to Pomfrey?” Hermione proceeded to feel his forehead but he stood and shook her hand away.
He suddenly realized where the voice came from.
Without explanation, he made a quick exit from the common room and ran down to the lake. He walked carefully around until he found her resting on a leaf below the reed he had left her on.
“Arin, what did you do?” He was panting from running and, after being humiliated in front of his close friends, he wanted answers. “It was your wings, wasn’t it? The powerful winds “ That magic you spoke of was actually you granting my wish!”
Arin sighed and looked up towards the boy in front of her. He was rightfully upset at her for not being upfront about what she had done, but...
“I thought it was what you wanted! You were so crestfallen about your friends bickering that I wanted to make your one wish come true, child.” She gave a solemn smile and sat down on her leaf.
Neville was torn. On one hand he was livid for this creature turning his life upside down but on the other hand the playful banter between the once opposing houses was almost amusing.
“Neville,” she said, speaking his name for the very first time since they had happened upon one another. “Let me touch your hand, dear.” She stood and looked at him with gentleness in her eyes.
Neville was the one to back up this time. “But you said that I shouldn’t. You said that it wasn’t wise.” He was trying to study her features, willing himself to understand what she wanted.
Arin shook her head. “I asked you not to touch me because it would affect my magic.” She raised an eyebrow as she emphasized the last word. Neville caught on quickly.
Dropping down to his knees to speak on more of a level plain, he exclaimed in realization, “You didn’t want me to touch you because that would have affected my wish coming true?”
As he watched her nod he found himself facing a tough decision.
A life of happiness. A life without any fears of bigger students or rude comments. Oh, what a great life that would be... right?”
“Arin, my friends I have in *this* dimension... do they have the same memories that I do of our past?”
She shook her head. “Due to you making this wish so late in life, they only have faint glimmers of the life that you are familiar with. They know you are a good friend but they couldn’t tell you any memories that weren’t positive. The wish gave them a selective memory, so to speak.”
This newfound knowledge made his decision that much harder. It would be wonderful to simply brush aside the bad times but while they had no recollections of tough times, he would have memories he could not share with them. He wasn’t sure he could live with that. The difficult times they had survived together made them who they were.
Arin was watching his expression change as he processed everything he had been told. When she felt the time was right, she asked, “Have you made your decision?
Neville woke up early on Saturday morning. He stood up and rubbed his eyes, getting the sleep out of his eyes. Grabbing a pair of loose fitting pants and his favourite jumper he made his way to the door.
“Gah! Neville, could you be any louder?”
He glanced in the direction of Seamus’ four poster and gave a slight chuckle. He whispered a quick apology and quietly closed the door behind him.
As he made his way to the Great Hall for a bit of breakfast he felt a shove from behind. He turned to see a pair of familiar green and black robes turning a corner. Before the figure was out of sight, Neville called out, “Good morning, Blaise.”
Within seconds, the Slytherin was in Neville’s face, staring him down. “Did you just speak to me, Longbottom?” His eyes held a fury that caught Neville off guard momentarily.
“Sorry, Zabini. My bad,” he shrugged.
Blaise looked at the Gryffindor with an expression of shock. How dare he speak to him in that manner! On the other hand he was trying very hard not to turn into an evil prick like his housemates and decided to ease off the boy. He seemed nervous enough.
“Get out of my sight before I do something I might regret later, Longbottom.” Blaise let a smirk escape his lips.
Direct and to the point but not to the point of warranting a detention, he thought to himself as he walked away.
Fortunately for Neville, Blaise missed the smile he released as they parted ways.
Walking with more of a spring to his step, he made his way through the doors of the Great hall and smiled at the four, long rectangular tables separating each group of students.
Taking a deep breath as he inhaled the sweet breakfast aromas permeating the room, he missed a pair of feet sticking in front of him and fell face first to the cold floor.
“Wait, I know that sound anywhere,” said a familiar voice.
Neville didn’t know whether he should flinch or smile. He opted for the latter because for now he would focus on the fact that his life was back to normal. He sat up and rubbed his aching forehead.
Draco saw the smile and glared at the boy in front of him. “I never told you to get up, Longbottom.” He stood to face Neville and found himself a few inches shy in height. The blonde Slytherin was about to say something more when he was approached by Gryffindor’s Head of House.
“Are you all right, Mr. Longbottom?” She glimpsed in Draco’s direction with a questioning look in her eyes. Bringing her attention back to the taller of the two, she said, “Why don’t you go ahead and join your friends at your table, Neville. I expect the two of you to be well rested for our exam tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” they answered in unison. Draco returned to his breakfast at the Slytherin table and Neville made his way outside.
Finding himself sitting once more on the edge of the lake. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the water lapping the surface. He felt relaxed despite the turbulent morning he had. Actually, he was relaxed due to the events which had transpired that morning.
“Are you pleased with your decision, child?”
Neville smiled when he heard Arin’s voice. He turned around to face her. “Yeah, I am. Life wasn’t meant to be carefree and if I had kept the wish I had made, what kind of life would I live? What kind of person would I become?”
Arin smiled at the boy in front of her. They talked for a while and then over time Neville felt his stomach reminding him of the meal he did not have.
“I should get going. I failed to eat breakfast this morning and I am beginning to feel the after-effects.” He laughed and she smiled at him in return. He looked down when she called him over.
“After you leave here today, I will be leaving as well so this is my goodbye, dear.”
Neville tried unsuccessfully to hide the shock he was feeling but it was apparent when she looked in his eyes. “I guess I didn’t expect you to stay but I didn’t expect you to leave so soon either. Sorry.” He began fumbling with his jacket.
“You have nothing more to gain from me being here and you know I am right.” She motioned towards the horizon. “I have somewhere else I need to be now.”
She had almost a maternal tone and he nodded.
“Will I ever see you again, Arin?” he asked quietly. He watched as her wings emerged once again. “Arin, what are you doing?”
Neville watched in amazement as she flew towards him and floated at his eye level. “This is goodbye, dear. You will do well both here and in life. Just follow your heart.”
Arin gave a final wink and disappeared in front of him. In the back of his mind, he could hear her voice.
Enjoy your life, Neville. You’ll be fine.
He knew that she was right but for the time being he followed his growling stomach to the kitchens for a midday snack.
A/N: “Teutonians” is a word taken from the combination of Teutonic (Order) which were healers originating in 1190 and also from Araneomorphae which are spiders who are considered modern and are able to tolerate exposed habitats.
When You Wish... by NikkiSue
Chapter Notes: This here is my first attempt at writing Neville as a main character. I hope I did him justice. The plot bunny came to me fairly quickly so I slept on it for a while before submitting. Thank you to the always reliable Abbi and Elle for looking over this for me. The plot and Arin belong to me but everything else is the product of JKR's brainchild.