Neville hurried through the last of the Forest trees, guiding half a dozen buckets behind him with his wand. He'd completely forgotten to prepare the compost for first lesson and now he was going to be late. He thought he could even see his students lining up outside greenhouse one, the bright sunshine reflecting off the glass. His robes were coated in twigs and thorns and he tried to pick them off as he ran.
Hagrid's huge figure emerged from behind his hut as he crouched low over his pumpkins, supporting himself with a thin tree trunk that he used as a walking stick. His white-grey, straggly hair spread over his shoulders and back, and he straightened up as Neville jogged by.
'Alrigh' there, Neville?' he called. 'How are yer?'
'Good, thank you, Hagrid,' answered Neville. 'No lesson this morning?'
'Nah, not 'til after lunch - I take it yer late for yours again though, eh?' he asked with a chuckle.
'Yes, yes, yes,' said Neville hastily, pulling on his dragon hide gloves as he walked. 'Oh, by the way, there's a Thestral calving back there ... I didn't want to agitate it ... must be nearly there though.'
'Oh, blimey, I'd best look over tha' ... see yer, then, Neville.'
'Yup, g'bye,' said Neville, and forced himself to run over to the greenhouses where his class were chatting loudly. They all began shaking their heads in an exasperated sort of way as he approached.
'Morning guys!' shouted Neville brightly. 'Greenhouse Three today ... if you'll follow me ...'
The students exchanged excited looks as they followed their Herbology teacher into the third greenhouse: they had only worked in Greenhouse One before. Neville led the buckets to the back table, where they clanged loudly. A number of potted plants lined the shelves, as well as an equal number of empty pots. The class continued to chatter and titter loudly, some still excited about moving to this advanced greenhouse, where, they knew, lurked much more thrilling plants. Neville spotted a familiar black-haired student waving his wand at a small black ball for the entertainment of those closest, bouncing it up and down.
'OK, calm down, calm down,' said Neville. 'James, if that pod breaks, it will explode and the liquid will burn your arm off in seconds ... I would leave it alone.'
James smirked and stowed his wand back in his robes after replacing the Snargaluff Pod back on its shelf. The class fell silent, looking up expectantly at Neville.
'Excellent. Well, today first-years, we'll be -'
'Second-years,' the class chorused back in a bored voice and Neville tried not to laugh.
'Second-years, that's what I said. Today we will be repotting Mandrakes, these little blighters -' he said, indicating the potted plants on the shelves. 'Can anyone tell me what a Mandrake is?'
A short silence followed before someone called out, 'A plant.' The class laughed.
'Yes, very good, Mr Goldstein, it's no wonder the Hat put you in Ravenclaw yesterday,' said Neville and the class laughed again. 'Mandrakes can be cut up and used to make a cure for those who have been Petrified, but their screams alone can also be extremely harmful to us, even deadly, which is why you need to listen carefully, Mr Potter.' Neville raised an eyebrow at James, who quickly retracted his hand from a swaying Tentacula and looked up at his teacher with false innocence.
'Fully-grown Mandrakes' screams will kill you in seconds, but we will only be dealing with the younger ones today; however, their screams could still knock you out for several hours, which is why we will be wearing earmuffs as a precaution. We will repot the Mandrakes, as their soil is dry and infertile and Mandrakes don't like being kept unhappy. The empty pots are up here with the Mandrakes, there's fresh compost behind me, and earmuffs are in the cupboard. Let's go.'
There was a great bustling as the class shunted hither and thither, and the thuds of buckets and pots, a couple of which smashed, rang through the thin glass walls of the greenhouse. Neville quickly remembered to show a demonstration when they had their equipment ready, giving them the thumbs up when he'd finished.
'OK, make sure you tip the old compost in this bag, remember to cover the heads entirely - James, don't do that, it'll have your fingers for breakfast - earmuffs on ... go!'
The silent screams of the Mandrakes vibrated the table and glass walls, though, fortunately, everyone was successful in repotting their crying plants, though James did end up getting his finger bitten slightly after all at the end of the lesson.
'Mum and Dad send their love,' he said quietly as Neville fitted a plaster over the boy's bleeding finger, the last students filing out.
'Good, good, I hope they're both well ... I haven't written to them for a while actually. Dad busy at the Ministry?'
James shrugged.
'Not really. I told him there was no point in being an Auror, when there're no Dark wizards to be caught - but he just says it's only a matter of time before someone like Voldemort turns up again.'
Neville gazed into the boy's face. If Neville plonked round glasses on it, he might just have been talking to Harry during their own second year in the greenhouse.
'Yes, well ... you can never be too sure ... your Dad would have them any day though,' he added with a grin, and James laughed.
'Off you go then.'
'Yes, Professor.'
Neville watched as his friend's son grabbed his bag and sprinted out the door in pursuit of his classmates. He stood there a little longer, thinking of those days in these greenhouses with Harry, Ron and Hermione, filching out the slippery pods in sixth-year. It had seemed comparatively stressful back then, what with Voldemort running wild and his Death Eaters on the prowl. But all was peaceful now, and he could pass on his plant knowledge at school to students, without needing to worry about - well, anything.
He cleared off the rest of the soil from the table with his wand before digging out the preparations for his next lesson.
Under Snape's Regime by joehook
Chapter Notes: Well peeps this is the last chapter :) thanks to everyone who read the story and a bigger thank you to all those who reviewed, it's much appreciated :D