It's not easy to explain, but . . .

Chapter 9

"Well spotted, Neville!"  cheered Ron, patting his friend on his back.

"What is going on, Neville?"  His grandmother inquired.

"Well . . .  ah, Hermione . ."  Neville stammered.

"I was just looking over at that plant and thought I might have seen a picture of it in our textbook, but couldn't remember it's name, so I asked Neville if he knew what it was.  Neville's absolutely brilliant in Herbology, you know, Mrs. Longbottom, so, who better to ask?"

"Are you really good in Herbology, Neville dear," asked Gran, a quizzical look on her face.

"Oh, yes, he is," confirmed Harry.  "He's even better than Hermione, and that's saying something!"

Neville was blushing beet red by this time, and he was positively gob-smacked when Ginny came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  Just then, a security guard came through the door, having been called by Healer Strout, who pointed to the plant.

"Who brought this in here? One of you lot?" asked the guard, looking at the group standing there, but Healer Strout cut him off.

"Certainly not!  This was brought up from the lobby on the cart with the rest of the gifts delivered this morning, long before our guests, here, arrived.  Mrs. Longbottom and her grandson are regulars visitors and Mr. Potter and his friends were visiting Gilderoy, a former teacher of theirs at Hogwarts!  No one else has been here today!"

At the mention of Harry's name, the guard spun and looked at him, checking out his scar.  Then, he had the  good grace to look slightly embarrassed at halfway accusing 'The boy who lived' of trying to kill someone with a Christmas gift plant.

"Instead of standing there gawking, might I suggest you remove that plant and try to track down who brought it . . . down in the lobby, perhaps," suggested Mrs. Longbottom, looking down her nose at the red faced guard.

"Yes, Mrs. Longbottom, I'll do that straightaway!" he exclaimed, as he hustled over to grab the potted plant and make his retreat as quickly as he could without actually running.

"Humph!  Incompetent fools, letting something like this into St. Mungo's.  The Board will hear about this from me!"  Mrs. Longbottom said, righteous indignation written all over her face.

"Oh, dear, I'm in trouble, now," muttered Healer Strout.

"You most certainly are not!" replied Hermione. "You're the only one here, taking care of this ward, on Christmas, no less.  And those presents, especially that plant, should have been checked before they were brought up.  You have enough to do without taking on the duties of the security force . . . isn't that right, Mrs. Longbottom?" giving her a look that showed she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You're certainly correct, Miss Granger,"  Gran replied, after a moment's pause.  "Healer Sprout is an excellent Medi-witch and I wouldn't want anyone but her watching over Frank and Alice," she added, patting Healer Sprout on the arm. "Neville and I know they are safe and well cared for with her on duty, and I'll make sure the Board knows that, too."

"Thank you, Mrs. Longbottom," whispered healer Sprout, as Hermione beamed.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Longbottom, may I have a word?"  Harry asked, as he took her elbow and guided her away from the others.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Potter?" she asked, when they were alone.

"Nothing for me, Mrs. Longbottom,"  Harry said, making sure Neville couldn't hear him.  "It's for Neville . . . you see, I know you don't think Neville's a very skilled Wizard, as compared to his Dad but, I also understand he's using your son's wand."

"Yes, yes he is. I thought it would be a good way for him to stay connected with his father; very talented, my Frank."

"Well, that's what I'm trying to say, without insulting you, I mean."  Harry looked up at the foreboding witch in front of him, and then plowed on.  "I was told, by Mr. Ollivander, that the wand chooses the Wizard and using someone else's wand won't work as well.  So, maybe it's not that Neville doesn't have his Dad's talent, it's that he doesn't have his own wand, the right wand for him.  Maybe, as a surprise Christmas present, you could take him to Ollivander's and get Neville a brand new wand, his own wand.  Also, as a reward for saving Mr. Bode's life?"  Harry finished in a rush and then waited for Mrs. Longbottom to reply.

A long moment passed before Mrs. Longbottom drew herself up to her full height, having made up her mind about what Harry had said.

"Out of the mouths of babes," she muttered and then looked at Harry and smiled.  "Mr. Potter, I want to thank you for pointing out a grave, selfish error on my part.  I must let Neville be the Wizard he was meant to be, not try and mold him into a copy of his father.  I've been a foolish old woman."  She waved her hand as Harry opened his mouth to protest.  "No, you are quite right and I will take Neville to Diagon Alley, straightaway!"

Harry smiled and nodded.  "Neville really is a great Wizard, I can see it in little ways, so this will be excellent for his self-confidence, Mrs. Longbottom.  Thank you so much for listening to my suggestion."

"Thank you for having the courage to speak up, Harry.  I hope you don't mind my calling you Harry?"

"No, not at all." Harry smiled.

"I do have a bit of a reputation as an old battle-axe, which I encourage, by the way," she whispered, with a twinkle in her eye.  "Oh, and you may call me Gran, from now on, I insist!"

"Very well, Gran," replied Harry, offering her his arm, as they returned to the others.  Gilderoy was busy tying a blue ribbon around the pile of pictures, which he handed to Ginny.

"Well that about does it!  Come back anytime if you need more!" He grinned at all of them.

"We'll be sure and do that, Professor," acknowledged Hermione, as they all headed for the door, waving goodbye to Professor Lockheart and Healer Sprout as they left the ward.

"Neville, my lad, we are going to Diagon Alley while we're here in London, so come along. I'm going to stop and have a word with the Head Healer before we leave. It was a pleasure meeting all of you."  Mrs. Longbottom waved, as she headed for the stairs.

"Happy Christmas, everyone!," Neville said, as he started after his Gran.  "See you on the Express!"

"Bye, Neville!"  "See 'ya, mate!"  "Bye!"  "Happy Christmas, Neville!"

After Neville and his Gran disappeared through the door of the stairwell, the four looked at each other and grinned.

"We did it!"  "It worked!"  'This is great!"  "Now what?"

"Let's get back downstairs . . .  no wait, we never got to the  Tea Room!" exclaimed Ron.

"Then it's onward and upward!"  proclaimed Harry, pointing to the stairs. "Shall we?"

"Let's!" replied Ginny and Hermione together, which started them all laughing, as they made their way down the hall and up the stairs.

 * * * *

Sirius was sitting, absolutely mesmerized by what he was seeing on the TV, the four watching him with indulgent smiles.  As the segment ended, he sat back and shook his head.

"You Muggles are really amazingly resourceful, coming up with ways to make Magic look real, like you do . . . I'm properly gob-smacked."

"And you haven't seen the bit about me doing the underwater scenes," Dan informed him. "There's no such thing as 'Gillyweed' in our world.  I was in that bloody tank for months, practicing holding my breath and then filming the scenes."

"Months?" asked Sirius, aghast.

"Months!"

"Merlin's baggy knickers!" Sirius exclaimed, setting off a fit of roaring laughter from the rest.