Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Neville's Redeption	By : Marti Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 3293 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
A/N~~~ Hey everyone! ok, I am hoping the writer's block is unblocked....I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't worry, other stories haven't been forgotten, but I'm having severe block on Rihanna's Son.

Enjoy!

Marti

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1 � 16 years later

Mary Brazel cocked her head to one side as she watched Professor Slughorn at the front of the Potions class. He had developed some of Snape�s habits when MacGonagall had informed him and the entire school that Potions would now be mandatory for all years and that Hermione Granger was going to be teaching first and second year Potions as an aide to the Professor. Mary could have sworn that she saw steam blowing out of the Potions Master�s ears at the announcement.

Now, during her first morning of classes after the Arriving Feast, she watched the old fat professor stalk around the classroom, snarling angrily at Neville Longbottom who sat three tables over from her. Neville jumped and dropped a whole bottle of dragon tears into his cauldron.

�Oh, shite!� Mary ducked under her table, her partner joining her without further thought, knowing that if Mary was hiding, well, it would be in her own best interest to do so too. Most of the rest of the class joined her on the floor as Slughorn swore profusely at Longbottom, using words and phrases the boy had heard for five years from Severus Snape. The rotund professor even started yelling in French as he and Longbottom were covered from head to toe in brown sludge-like goo. Mary thanked the powers-that-be that the potion wasn�t dangerous with a few extra dragon tears. Of course, the explosion caused all the other potions in the room to be unusable. With a wave of his wand, Slughorn banished all the potions and snarled at the class to vacate his classroom IMMEDIATELY!

�Miss Brazel, please remain behind. Worry not; you�re not in trouble, girl.� He boomed in his large man�s voice. The class filed out quickly. Mary gathered her books neatly as she waited nervously for the professor to call on her. He closed the door behind the students, leaving only her and Longbottom with him.

�Mr. Longbottom, since I didn�t have you last year, I can�t evaluate you properly. You are certainly intelligent enough to understand and follow the directions correctly, so pray tell why you blunder this course so thoroughly?�

�You-you scared me, sir. Like Professor Snape used to.�

�Ah, yes. You�re renowned fear of Severus Snape. Well, I�m in charge of Potions now, boy, and Professor MacGonagall has determined that all students are in need of a potions background throughout their school career. Unfortunately.� Slughorn rolled his eyes, reminding Mary of Snape yet again. She listened quietly as Slughorn talked to the Longbottom heir.

�I have decided that for the safety of the entire class, and to help you, Mr. Longbottom, that Miss Brazel will be your lab partner. I expect you to tutor Longbottom outside of class, whenever you can, Miss Brazel. I want to see him if not excel at this course by Christmas, then to at least not blow up cauldrons. Or students.� He smiled at the boy, making a complete change from his previous attitude.

�But, sir!�

�Miss Brazel, since Miss Granger is my assistant this year, you are the most qualified to give Longbottom the necessary help. I believe that you can turn this fine fellow around. Maybe he won�t be a potions master, but hopefully someone who is fairly competent about potions.� Slughorn gave her one of his patented sickly sweet smiles. Mary groaned inwardly and smiled back, agreeing to the professor�s new duties for her. Well, at least Neville wasn�t a Slytherin.

Neville looked at the girl sitting two tables over from him with resignation. Great, he�d have another girl bailing him out of trouble, just to end up getting into trouble herself for helping him too much, like Hermione had for five years. Then, Mary too would come to resent helping him. Hell, she already looked like she resented having to spend her free time with him.

�Well, uh, Brazel, how about we get together tonight after dinner then?� Neville, ever the Gryffindor asked her first.

Knowing that Slughorn was watching her, Mary smiled at Neville and nodded her head. �I�ll be in the library at six thirty. Is there anything else, Professor?� She turned to the potions instructor. He smiled back at her and shook his head.
�No. The two of you get going. I�m sure your next instructor will be wondering where you are.� Slughorn waved his wand and conjured two late passes for them. He handed them out with his jovial smile still in place. He watched them leave his classroom, the smile slowly turning into a long familiar sneer. Hermione Granger came out of the back office and smirked at the Potions Professor.

�No one�s going to believe you�re Horace Slughorn if you don�t stop looking like that. Then all of the headmistress� work will have gone to waste, sir. Remember, joviality and pomposity!� She laughed when he snarled at her, looking down at the papers in front of him. It was only the first week of classes and Longbottom had already destroyed two cauldrons. At least today�s debacle had no casualties; human or cauldron.

�You do your job, Miss Granger, let me do mine.� Slughorn rubbed the ridge of his massive nose, attempting to keep in character. �Miss Granger. The first year Ravenclaw/Slytherin class will be here soon. Go prepare yourself for your students. I�ll be in my office should you feel the need for my aide.�

�That won�t be necessary, sir. I�m sure I�ll be able to handle the little darlings all on my own.� She smirked at the older professor and flounced out of the classroom to her small office, her blue teaching robes swirling around her like sapphire water floating about her feet. He shook his head at her and returned to his lesson plan for the sixth years due in two hours.

�Bloody Gryffindor know-it-all!� He thought to himself, gathering his papers and carrying them in one arm into the office next to Granger�s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neville trudged back up to the Gryffindor tower, having been given a free hour after taking Care of Magical Creatures off his schedule this year. Seamus and Dean sat in front of the fireplace, sprawled out with their uniforms completely undone. They grinned at their classmate as he struggled through the portrait hole.

�What did ol� Sluggy want, Longbottom? To invite you to one of his parties?�

�No. He�s making Mary Brazel from Ravenclaw tutor me. Intensively tutoring me, like all my bloody free time tutor me!� Neville snapped as he dropped his satchel next to the chair and dropped himself into it to imitate his friends.

�You mean the brunette girl who�s always giving Hermione a run for her galleons?� Dean snickered as he remembered the quiet black haired beauty that usually sat in the back of the classroom and listened attentively to whichever teacher they had.

�She didn�t look happy to be tutoring me, the worst student to ever pass through the Potions classroom. It�s just Slughorn�s scaring the bloody hell out of me. Sometimes when he�s stalking the classroom, he reminds me of S-Snape.� He stuttered over the hated professor�s name.

�I think you have a mental block against Potions. And anything to do with Potions reminds you of Snape. This means you get all angsty.� Seamus grinned and turned the page of the Quiddich magazine on his lap.

�He�s not even here and he�s making my life miserable.� Neville sighed and dropped his head back against the chair. Now he had to deal with a girl, a creature he wasn�t used to talking with on a regular basis. He�d much rather spend his free time in the Greenhouses with Professor Sprout and the magical plants he adored. At least they didn�t make him tongue tied and nervous.

�He�s not making your life miserable; it�s your problem with Potions, Neville.� Dean popped a cockroach cluster into his mouth and chewed loudly. He sat up quickly as he noticed Ginny Weasley coming through the portrait hole with another of her classmates, a sixth year girl that most people overlooked. Now that she wasn�t with Harry Potter, Dean thought that maybe he might have a chance of getting her back. Seamus and Neville shook their heads as Ginny walked right by them without even acknowledging Dean�s greeting.

�Oh, yeah, she�s mine. Did you see the way she ignored me?�

�Yeah, Dean, she ignored you right good.� Seamus rolled his eyes at his roommate and laughed when Dean tossed a pillow at him. They started a rough and tumble fight right there. Sighing heavily, Neville pulled his Herbology textbook out of his bag and started reading the familiar words, ignoring the pillows that landed near him.

During dinner, Neville watched Mary out of the corner of his eye. He�d never really noticed anyone from the Ravenclaw table before, except for Luna, but now that he�d met her (sort of) he was entranced. Her black hair swung loose down to her waist, straight and shiny. In the candle light it had a blue highlight he�d never seen anyone�s hair have before. But she was a girl and he knew that she wasn�t going to give him any attention beyond the Potions tutoring she was obligated to give. When she got up, he waited a moment and finished his dessert, grabbed his bag and hurried out of the hall after her.

�Mary! I�I thought we could walk to the library together.� He smiled at her, making sure to keep his mouth shut and not reveal his teeth. Merlin knows what might be there after dinner.

�Whatever makes you happy, Longbottom. Aren�t you Sprout�s assistant sometimes?� She had been thinking about him all afternoon, wondering why Slughorn would even have her tutor him. There were students right in Gryffindor House who could have been just as good.

�I just like Herbology. My grandmother thinks it�s stupid and she wants me to follow in my dad�s footsteps and become an Auror.�

�Not to be rude, Longbottom, but I don�t see you as an Auror. Herbologist, yes, but never an Auror. You don�t have the menacing attitude that�s needed.�

�What are you going to do?�

�Well, my mum owns a little store in Diagon Alley, and I thought I�d continue my Arithmancy training and help her out more, maybe expand the business a little bit.�

�Your parents are magical?�

�My mum is. I don�t know who my father was. Not really a big issue, really. What about you?�

�My grandmother raised me. My mum and dad were�wounded by Death Eaters when I was a baby. They�re in St. Mungo�s now.� He flushed as he admitted something to her that he�d never told anyone else about. Harry, Ron and Hermione and discovered the truth a couple of years before when Ron�s father had been in the hospital for a snake wound, but he�d never talked about his parents to anyone before.

�I�m sorry. My mother�s entire family is gone because of the Death Eaters. So it�s just the two of us.� Mary hurried up the stairs as they groaned in preparation of shifting again. Neville followed her quickly, breathless as the staircase moved as he landed. She grabbed his tie to hold him steady. It wouldn�t do to have the last Longbottom falling three flights because the stairs were being temperamental again.

�Thanks. Sorry about your family.�

Mary shrugged fatalistically. It wasn�t like she�d known them or anything. Every since she could remember, it had been her and her mother, Anne, alone for every holiday, every birthday. At least she and her mum were friends as well as mother and daughter. She could talk to her mother about anything, and owled her letters twice a week or more often.

�So, how come you are horrid at potions, Longbottom? You seem intelligent enough, especially if you�re that good in Herbology, so Potions should be a snap.�

�Professor S-Snape. I think of Potions and then I think of him and he makes me so nervous.�

�He�s gone, Longbottom. He can�t intimidate you anymore. And Slughorn is almost as easy a professor as Binns. At least Slughorn has a pulse.�

�He reminds me of Snape! Today he was stalking about, hovering behind me and breathing down my bloody neck!� Neville held onto to the banister, Mary having let go of him once he was fairly well supported. He loosened the tie from choking him, then shrugged and pulled it off to stuff into his robe pocket. They continued their journey to the library silence.

Two hours later, Mary was rubbing her forehead, trying to stave off the headache that bloomed behind her eyes. Now she understood why Professor Snape always rubbed his forehead after the Slytherin/Gryffindor potions class.

�Neville, you understand what you�re reading; I don�t understand why you can�t process it and actually brew the damn potions!�

�Me neither! Do you think I like looking like a bloody fool in front of my friends and classmates?� Neville snapped and slammed his potions textbook closed. He didn�t want to look like the Gryffindor fool, but it seemed inevitable. Everyone knew of his abject horror of Potions and how he feared the former potions master. It had carried over into Slughorn�s class though. And he kind of liked the walrus-like potions professor. Even if he was the very definition of a sycophant, the type of wizard his Gran loathed.

�Okay. I�m sorry for snapping at you, Neville. It�s just Potions doesn�t even require you knowing or having magic. It�s like cooking. You follow the directions and voila! You have a casserole, or cake.�

�Well, my grandmother gave up on teaching me how to cook, too.� Neville sat back with a disgruntled sigh. It he could just take Herbology and Charms, he�d be completely happy.

Mary laughed. Yes, she was frazzled by the lack of progress they�d made, but he was a funny fellow and nice. �Maybe I should teach you how to cook, then work our way to potions.�

�Maybe you should. Then I�d only melt ovens.�

�And, of course, most cooking ingredients aren�t liable to blow up.�

�You�d be surprised.� He rejoined quickly. She grinned and closed her book.

�Meet me here tomorrow night. We�ll try something different.�

TBC~~~
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Neville's Redeption