Potter Spawn

Chapter 10

"Herbology", Neville answered immediately. 

"I love plants. They've always fascinated me- there are so many different ones, and they all do different kinds of things- some can be used for healing, some are quite the opposite, deadly poisonous- but they all have their advantages and uses if you know how to handle them- it's fascinating. Gran says I got my weird obsession from my mum, my parents' house was always full of plants, and that it's a pity I didn't inherit my father's talent instead." 

He looked a bit downtrodden at the mention of his grandmother's disappointment and his former excitement faded. Harry frowned; he felt horrible for his friend. You should never discourage a child like that, it wasn't right. And Neville appeared to have a mature, useful fascination of an important topic he already knew a great deal about- shouldn't his grandmother encourage this? 

"She shouldn't say that", the boy voiced his thoughts and could feel Padfoot agreeing through the bond. 

"You should never say something like this to a child. Your parents would be proud of you, Neville. Herbology is a good subject to be interested in and if you want to work in that field later on, you could get an amazing job. She ought to encourage you- to me, it sounds as if she wants you to be a copy of your father and doesn't appreciate the person you are. If you've got your mother's interests, so what? Both your parents were- are- incredibly talented wizards." 

The poor Longbottom boy seemed a bit shocked by Harry's outburst. 

"Nobody's ever said anything like that to me", he blurted. 

"I don't think Gran just wants me to be a copy of dad- but she wants me to be like him, you see- at least as good as he was in the subjects he was good in. But I don't think transfiguration is my type of thing and I only showed signs of magic pretty late. They thought I was a squib for such a long time." 

Harry rolled his eyes. 

"Of course you didn't show any early signs of magic, not with the pressure put onto you", Prongslet huffed. 

"Your magic didn't come out because you were afraid- if you had shown signs of magic early on, the pressure would just have grown! There's no way you're almost a squib. What's your wand made of? I heard it says a lot about you and your magic." 

Neville suddenly looked quite a bit embarrassed. 

"Ah- you see", he said. 

"Gran gave me my dad's wand. She said that if it was good enough for him, it's good enough for me." 

Harry was scandalised. 

"But- that's not how it works! Every witch and every wizard is different, everyone's magic is different! Your father's wand can't and won't work for you as well as your own one. Your accomplishments with this one would be very disappointing and well beneath your actual level! You need your own wand, Nev!" 

That woman is crazy, she is! She was already a bad mother to Frank- always telling him off for tripping but showing him off for his talents and expecting him to be one of the best in the subjects she deemed important, but trying to turn her own grandson into a copy of him is just disgusting! 

Absolutely and totally disgusting. 

"You... you think so?", Neville asked timidly.