In Harry Potter as Neville Longbottom

Chapter 45: The study in Library

After the hormonic meeting with Ms Skeeter in the morning, Neville wrote a letter to Madam Bones bringing her up to date with the progress of his little scheme.

At the same time, he requested Madam Bones to prepare one portkey linked directly to a place from where Aurors can enter the vaults without alerting anyone and a letter confirming the appointment of Ms Skeeter as an intelligence official.

Secondly, this was a golden opportunity to steal the Horcrux hidden in The Lestrange Vault and he would be a fool to not capitalize on that. So, Neville decided to make use of the portkey linked to his shop in Diagon Alley.

While Neville was making his plans and fixing all the possible variables, one shy but sad snake came outside his study room but couldn't knock on the door.

The sneaky snake had heard what Neville was discussing with his Nan about the Kiss of Death. She was about to enter the garden area when she saw Neville suddenly apparating near Lady Augusta and she hid behind the doors.

Then she heard how Neville was trying to cheer her up by looking at the ancient rituals meant for couples. She was just so giddy.

She felt Neville was no less than the perfect wizard prince. Pureblood, Brave, Rich, Intelligent and above all, so powerful that he even defeated Dark Lord. The gloom that surrounded her after she found out she was abandoned here by her own family was simply replaced with the feelings of butterflies dancing in her tiny stomach.

However, she waited and waited but Neville didn't come to her room. She theorised it must be because it's a girl's room and Neville as a gentleman must be uncomfortable in coming alone.

So, she came down herself to meet him but now she was unable to knock in the study room. Even after standing there for more than 10 minutes, she failed to find the hidden courage inside her.

"Dummy! Fine. I will wait for you. Humph!" Stroking her hair back, Pansy decided to leave the area and check out the rest of the manor. She was fascinated by the practice room where Neville had arranged a dummy to practice the charms.

Also, the books on ancient language and runes interested her. She found many hidden tricks about wand movement written in those. She felt she found the secret to Neville's strength and she decided to work hard to catch up to him and be worthy of him.

Neville in meantime, was thinking, should he steal all the gold in Lestrange Vault or not? He knew there were enough hexes and curses placed on them but going inside the vault of an ancient wizard house and being unable to steal their gold was making him irritable.

Unable to come up with any decent idea on how to tackle those curses, he decided to consult the books in the library.

Neville entered the library deep in his thoughts when he saw a girl trying to kill herself. Or that was how it looked. Pansy (no longer Parkinson) was standing on the edge of a wooden ladder and trying to snatch a book from the top of a rack.

"Have you lost your senses, or you have a death wish or something?" He shouted angrily at Pansy.

"AAHHH!"

Pansy startled lost her balance on the ladder and fell straight down but Neville was already ready. He used the floating charm to make sure she didn't suffer any harm and bought her down safely.

"You can now stop yelling and open your eyes! Also, next time, use your wand and magic as a wizard." Neville flicked her nose before shaking his head and leaving her behind while the snake was going tomato red thinking of the 'intimate' action.

Unable to process her thoughts and say anything, she just grabbed the books that had fallen down with her and followed Neville silently like a house-elf.

Neville was too lost in his own world to notice Pansy behind him. Neville grabbed many books on ancient curses, hexes and rituals to find any possible ideas and then made his way towards the large sitting area in middle.

Pansy followed him like an obedient house elf.

The two sat silently, studying their books. The shy snakes stole several glances and felt the serious Neville was more handsome while Neville even after burning a lot of brain cells failed to find any counter to these hexes.

One had a sweet smile on her face while the other was just feeling the pain of losing so many galleons (which was not his in the first place! Greedy thief!).

This way the silent couple sat together till lunch without noticing the time.

Lady Augusta found that both the kids were missing from the lunch table and called for Winny.

"Winny?!"

"Yes, Mistress?" The elf appeared on the command and asked respectfully.

"Will you find out where the two young kids are hiding during lunchtime?" She gave the order to Winny before looking at his son, Frank who was eating on his own and trying to feed his wife Alice.

She was sure that her son had no memories or even the idea about the relationship between the two, but the bond of souls still existed between them. Maybe one day before she passes away, she will find her whole family again.

"Mistress, Winny saw Lord Longbottom teaching the new guest some charms inside the library. Apparently, the guest lady had no idea about her own elemental affinity and Lord Longbottom is educating her.

Listening to the latest news, Lady Augusta thought, "whole indeed."