Neville Longbottom

Once the location of NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM's remains is revealed by Rodolphus Lestrange, Frank and Alice Longbottom bring their son home for burial in the Memorial Garden at Moddey Dhoo.

With the assistance of St Mungo's, Frank and Alice establish a memorial fund in Neville's honour for students, magical or muggle, who wish to pursue higher studies in the cultivation and use of medicinal plants. Applicants may be pursuing their Mastery in a number of related fields, including Herbology, Biology, Botany, Medical Research, etc. Regina Wilson-Lee oversees the applications from muggle students, and the current Herbology Professor at Hogwarts evaluates the applications from magical students.

During the annual observance of Remembrance Day on May 16th each year, bells are rung, names are read, and candles are lit. And white flowers -- miles and miles of flowers -- spring up from the ground in St James Park and are left at graves and on memorials, worn as corsages, and displayed in windows.

Neville's grave, in particular, is nearly buried in white flowers every spring, and every Christmas, one of his friends leaves paperwhites in a charmed pot on his grave sometime during the night.

Did my garden notebook end up in your trunk somehow, in that last minute flurry of packing? You were grabbing stuff in a hurry; perhaps you swept that up, too, by mistake? Or maybe I just forgot it and left it in the sealed drawer of my bedside table instead.


Bugger all. I really wanted to show my notes to Mr Snape.

You remember what it looks like, yeah? Black leather, but really worn; the edges are grimy with dirt, and there's Spello-tape on the spine. You won't be able to open it, but I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know if you have it, and I'll come by and pick it up.

I had a melancholy realisation today as I was puttering around Greenhouse 4, finishing putting the last of the fall experimental harvest to bed: for the Herbology NEWT students, now is pretty much the end of our time at Hogwarts, as far as our own research, I mean. I'll help plant seeds and set out flats in the spring, but I won't be here next autumn to take note of which crossbreeds thrived the most through the growing season (good thing, I suppose, because after six and a half years, my garden notebook is so stuffed with sketches and notes that the only thing holding it together is a charm and Spell-O tape.)

I love the greenhouses in the winter, though, even though the season's work is mostly done, and the holiday greens have been taken up to the castle to deck the Great Hall. It's always warm, for one thing, which is nice. But it's quiet, and the colours are more muted (except for the tropical section, of couse). It's not as busy as the library, right before exams, which makes it an excellent place to revise. I've spent so much time here doing chores (watering, turning the compost pile, and recording observations) that Professor Sprout has let me carve out my own niche at one of the rickety tables with cupboards above them at the back of Greenhouse 4, so I don't have to carry my tools back and forth a lot.

Merlin. I have months to go, but already I'm getting nostalgic. But I've learned so much here, so I guess I'm feeling grateful. I've figured out what I want to do with my life: developing plants that'll make better potions. And I'm quite proud of the Memorial Garden. It's nice to think that's something that'll continue to thrive and grow after I leave school.

The Lord Protector Really. Does. Not. Like. Gryffindors.

As soon as he came in, he vanished our House's table and benches, and we weren't allowed to eat. All the Gryffindors had to prostrate ourselves on the floor while he ranted on about Professor McGonagall, and all the other traitorous Gryffindors. Um, Sirius, your name came up.

Harry tried to intervene, but it was like Voldemort didn't even hear him. Professor Dolohov tried using tact to redirect him, but he wasn't listening to anyone.

The students are all right. I mean, none of us were hurt, but everyone's shaken up, and a lot of the younger ones are crying. A few of them spewed, right on the floor, because he...tortured and killed Professor Hooch, right in front of us all. Then he said he was disbanding the Gryffindor Quidditch team(!), and he stormed out.

He was just...raving.

No one's dared touch her body. Merlin, are they just going to leave her there all night?!

I have so many Herbology projects going, although of course I can't talk about some of them openly in NEWTs class. I've been trying to think of a reason we might have to cultivate a bigger bed of aconite openly. I found a catalogue company that offers heirloom varieties of potion ingredients. They offered Monkshood with yellow flowers instead of the usual blue-purple, which might make it less noticeable, tucked here and there in the greenhouse...except that we'd have to keep it away from the younger kids because it's just as poisonous. The catalogue called it, 'Friar Attor.' Have you ever heard of it, Mr Snape? It might not do, though, anyway. It's supposed to be gathered under the midday sun instead of under the full moon, so perhaps that would make it worthless for the Wolfsbane potion.

Maybe it would be safer just to cultivate traditional Wolfsbane at Moddey Dhoo where no one will ask awkward questions. Except there are kids there, too, even younger and more prone to stuffing things in their mouths--including my little brother.

Mum, could you tell Mrs Regina Wilson-Lee that the potatoes she suggested I grow this year look promising. They're quite high in potassium, RL said, which would help muggles who suffer from hypertension and cancer. (I guess that makes sense to her, although I don't understand it, but Madam Pomfrey was very pleased when I told her.)

I wonder whether transfiguring the potatoes to make them look like standard white potatoes would make you lose all their health benefits. Maybe Professor Brutka would know. Anyway, that's the next experiment.

Oh, but the gourd experiment didn't turn out very well. I copied all her notes down wrong, so I spaced the plants wrongly, and they all ended up strangling each other. I had to rip them all out and leave the bed bare.

Pretty stupid

I think it's rather a pity that now that we have a new Potions professor for the first time in seven years, we're getting less time with Professor Gimlet than we ever had with Professor Slughorn. It would have been interesting to compare the two teaching styles, but the one hour lecture we had on Monday last week and today hasn't really been enough to give me much of a strong first impression.

At least there's the long lab session on Tuesdays. In addition to brewing the assigned 7th year potions, I hope I'll have time to experiment with some new concoctions that'll tie to the independent research I've been doing in NEWT Herbology. I think I really have settled on what I want to do when I leave school: to develop new ways of cultivating plants so they'll be more effective in medicinal potions.

It's a little frustrating that the coldest seasons fall during the heart of the school year. I brought back samples of the plants I tended last summer, and I hope I've enough different varieties to make experimentation worthwhile. There are some medicinal potions in the 7th year curriculum, anyway. Hopefully that research'll keep me busy until the spring plants are up and out of the pots again.

I think Defence is going to be quite different, with Professor Desai, but again, it's a little soon to know exactly what that means. I'm afraid I'll be at rather a disadvantage since I haven't been through CCF training, though.

On the whole, though, I'm pretty pleased with how the first week's classes went. Transfiguration and Charms and especially Herbology were brill. As for the second week...we'll see. But I have a good feeling about this year. I liked the Headmaster's speech at the Welcoming Feast, and everyone seems to agree he's added excellent people to the staff to promote Our Lord's purposes here at Hogwarts.

My coming of age birthday was brilliant. For a surprise, Gran and Uncle Algie and Aunt Enid and Evelyn took me to see the incredible gardens at Chatsworth, the Flint family mansion. You could spend days exploring the grounds! Gran's not up for very much walking, so after taking a turn around the South Lawn to see the limes, she sat by the Protector's Fountain, chatting with Uncle Algie and Aunt Enid. Meanwhile Evelyn and I toured the Cottage Garden and had a lot of fun getting lost in the Maze and trying to find our way out again without using the 'Point Me' spell. It took awhile! The Ouroboros Knot at the center of the Maze was really impressive, one of the nicest examples of enchanted topiary I've ever seen.

I sat in one of the greenhouses and just sketched for an hour as Evelyn wandered around, admiring the flowers. I was trying to scribble down all of the ideas I could to bring back to Hogwarts. I wished I had my layering sketchbook; I didn't think to bring it. Wish I were a better artist! Evelyn bought me a beautiful book about the gardens they had for sale in the gift shop, and I'm really glad to have it. It tells a lot about the various species they have planted there.

Evelyn and I ended up with quite bad sunburns, but that's what potions are for. Should be gone by tomorrow.

Then we apparated home, and had a nice family dinner. I opened up the box with my coming of age watch after dinner, and the rest of the presents. Thanks to everyone who sent me something by owl today.

I can't think of a more enjoyable way to celebrate my coming of age.

I received a package by owl today. Thing is, I've no idea who sent it. It 's a really posh robe, the sort for lounging around. I mean, brocaded silk with fur trim. Whoa. There was no note with it.

I know my birthday's coming up this month, but it's a little early, and it doesn't seem quite your style. Or budget. And it seems too new to be something you found scavenging the island.

Any ideas?

You have no idea how lucky you are to get along for the most part with your dormmates. Although who knows; maybe the Protectorate'll try to set you at each other's throats when you're studying for NEWTs, too.

I don't have time for this. I finally blew up at all three of them, saying 'Dammit, you lot, act like civilised beings, would you?' Surprised Seamus and Dean and even Ron, because I'm generally the peacemaker, but the latest skirmish was just the last straw.

So I told them: there will be no more fighting in this dormitory. Period. I looked up a klaxon charm that responds to ANY magic cast in the room aside from Lumos and Nox. I'm the only one who knows the warding and disarming spells. I take it off in the morning when I wake up, so the rest of them can open up their blood-warded trunks and do whatever dressing spells they use. I put it back on when I go to bed at night, so they'd better have what they've needed from their trunks and locked them again by then. I even made Nearly Headless Nick promise to go get Hooch and maybe Milland and the Headmistress, if necessary, as soon as the alarm ward goes off. So there will be NO more ambushes. PERIOD.

(Now I know what you mean when you're always going on about 'Boys.')

All right then, Seamus?

I must say this contest has had an uncomfortable knack of making people meddle in other people's private business.

It should be your right to decide when and with whom to share something so personal.

For what it's worth, I'm sorry.