The Inadequate Life

Ginny checked the rota, and saw that Susan and Hannah had signed up for an extra session to work on their combative magic. Curious, she flipped back a few days on the parchments and saw that the two Hufflepuff girls had been spending an awful lot of time practicing over the past week. Wondering vaguely if they were letting out some of their anger over Harry not giving them a D.A. assignment, Ginny stepped over to the door to the second practice room and knocked heavily. She might have just gone in, but it wasn’t wise to interrupt people when they were practicing hexes and jinxes and might be a little jumpy.

After a few moments, there was a shuffling on the other side of the door, and then it swung open. Hannah, her loose workout clothes fairly drenched with sweat, peered confusedly at Ginny. “Um, hi,” she said vaguely. “We signed up for the room…”

“I know you did, that’s not why I’m here,” Ginny said. “I need you and Susan to come with me.”

Susan appeared behind Hannah. “But we’re in the middle of our session!” she exclaimed angrily. “Can’t it wait?”

“No,” Ginny said sharply, drawing her wand. “Hold still.”

Before the other girls could react, Ginny shot a charm at the girls that dried their clothes and skin of sweat. “Well, you don’t smell lovely, but it’ll have to do for now,” Ginny stated. “Now come on, it’s your lucky day—you’re getting an assignment to help with the D.A.”

Susan, who’d looked on the verge of yelling when Ginny had cast charms on her and Hannah, brightened instantly. “Finally!” she said, hurrying down the hall behind Ginny and practically dragging Hannah along. “I was wondering whether we were ever going to be given a job…”

“It’s only been a week, you know,” Ginny pointed out sardonically.

“Yes, but we’ve been going stir-crazy,” Hannah admitted. “We need something else to do besides practice spells!”

“Believe me, I understand that,” Ginny said dryly. “So here you are.”

She’d stopped in front of the greenhouse door. Without giving either of the girls time to react, Ginny knocked softly to announce their presence, and then pushed the door open. “Go on,” she ordered when Susan froze.

“Wait a minute—” Susan started.

“No I will not wait a minute!” Ginny snapped. When Susan still didn’t move she growled “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Neville’s not going to hex you! Though I might if you don’t get moving!”

Looking slightly scared, and with gentle prodding from Hannah, Susan stepped into the greenhouse. Hannah was right behind her, and Ginny followed, locking the door with a muttered charm once they were inside. She knew that Susan was still very mixed up and upset that Neville had ended up dating Pansy Parkinson when Susan had had designs on him, but really, she was being ridiculous.

The greenhouse looked a good deal more haphazard than in the past, but that only made sense since Neville was the only one caring for the plants and didn’t have time to waste on making things tidy. Neville wasn’t in sight, but there were some strange noises coming from one of the partitioned areas. “Ginny—” Susan started, her voice heavy with apprehension.

“Neville!” Ginny shouted, cutting off Susan’s protests before they could start. “It’s Ginny! Could you come out here?”

“I’m coming!” Neville’s voice replied, and after a minute Neville himself emerged from behind the partition. He was wearing a protective apron that reached down to his ankles and was covered in dirt, grime and what looked like blood but was probably sap; it also had a few jagged tears straight through the heavy leather. Neville was also wearing a mask to protect his face, and like the apron it had definitely seen better days.

Without looking up at the girls, Neville removed the mask and tossed it on a counter, and swiped his filthy sleeve across his forehead, removing some sweat but leaving behind some of the dirt he’d accumulated. He looked utterly run down; there were shadows under his eyes, and he was slumping with fatigue. “I hope you find some help for me soon, Ginny,” he said, rubbing his eyes roughly with his fingers. “I haven’t slept enough in the last couple of days, and it’s starting to affect my judgment.”

“You’re in luck, Neville,” Ginny said dryly. “I’ve brought you the help you need.”

Neville looked up in surprise, and his eyes widened when he saw who was with Ginny. “Um… hi,” he murmured awkwardly.

Susan scowled and turned her head away, but looked slightly embarrassed when Hannah gave her a reproachful look. “Susan and Hannah are being permanently assigned to help out in the greenhouse,” Ginny said to Neville as though there was no tension at all. “You know that they’re both very adept at Herbology, so things should go much better than they did with Parvati and Lavender.”

Hannah, who’d been making exasperated faces and hand gestures at Susan, noticed Ginny’s tone during her last comment. “Why?” she asked. “What happened with Parvati and Lavender?”

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Neville. “Come to think of it, you didn’t give me all the details earlier. Exactly what did happen?”

Hesitantly, Neville described the frustrating few days he’d spent with Lavender and Parvati “helping” in the greenhouse. Susan’s anger gave way to incredulous shock as she listened, and when Neville mentioned how Parvati had almost walked right into the Last Rites plant without any protection, Susan exclaimed “She didn’t!”

Neville looked startled at the direct question from Susan. “Um, she did,” he told her. “I just managed to grab her arm in time to stop her. And that’s when I—well, when I lost my temper.”

“No wonder!” Hannah said hotly. “She could have died, that would have made me absolutely furious!”

“Go on, Neville,” Ginny urged.

“Um, well, when I—when I yelled at Parvati and Lavender for being careless, they got angry, and left, saying they wouldn’t come back. I figured that they would tell Harry that it just hadn’t worked out, but I guess they didn’t. So I’ve been trying to keep up the greenhouse since then.”

“By yourself?” Hannah turned and gaped at Ginny. “Is that true? Parvati and Lavender didn’t even tell you that Neville was all by himself in here?”

“It’s true,” Ginny confirmed. “We didn’t even hear about it until about an hour ago, when Neville found me and Harry and admitted that he needed help.”

“I cannot believe that those two shirked their responsibilities like that!” Susan growled. “To just—just desert their jobs like that—!”

“We’ve dealt with them already,” Ginny interrupted. “Or rather, we’re still dealing with them. You’re right—just blowing off their responsibilities was a terrible thing to do. And speaking of responsibilities…” She gave the two Hufflepuffs a significant look. “When you two signed on you agreed to accept our decisions—or rather, Harry’s decisions—and follow his orders for the sake of winning the war. Well, his orders are to help Neville in the greenhouse.” Or they will be his orders, once I tell him about all this. “Other than Neville, you two are the best in the D.A. at Herbology. Neville needs competent hands that understand the responsibilities and respect the dangers of working in a greenhouse with magical plants.”

Ginny’s expression hardened. “Neville’s in charge here, and that means that you two follow his directions,” she said sharply to the girls. “The greenhouse is too important to our war plans for us to mess about with. Everything in here has to be running smoothly, so we can’t ignore any problems that arise. Are there going to be any problems?” she asked them all pointedly.

Susan, Hannah and Neville all dropped their heads as if they’d just received a thorough chewing out—which they had, in a backhanded sort of way. “I’m here to do my part,” Neville mumbled. “I won’t let anything interfere with that.”

“Nor will I,” Hannah agreed.

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Susan, who flushed. “Of course there won’t be any problems,” she said softly.

“Good,” Ginny said, satisfied. “Neville, is there anything you need? Any supplies?”

“Um… there’s probably a few things,” Neville said. “But I’ll have to get the greenhouse organized again before I know exactly what.”

“Well, make a list once everything’s set right again and bring it to us,” Ginny told him, opening the door. “See you all later.”

*****

There was silence once Ginny had shut the door. Neville shuffled his feet awkwardly.

Finally, Hannah coughed. “Um, I just noticed that the Lady’s Hope over there looks a bit wilted,” she offered. “Does it need its daily glass of port?”

Neville’s face lit up, most likely because Hannah not only recognized the Lady’s Hope plant, but knew how to tend it. “It does, but it’s not urgent,” he said. “What really needs attention is the screechsnap, I haven’t had time for it and it’s getting pretty noisy…”

“Right,” Hannah said decisively. “Where are the earplugs?”

Neville dug up a pair of earplugs and pointed Hannah to the partition holding the screechsnap; she went off without another word. The sound of the squeaking rose sharply from behind the partition within moments.

Neville turned back to Susan nervously. “Um, Susan—”

“Neville,” Susan interrupted pointedly, “I meant what I said to Ginny. I’ll follow your directions, I’ll do my job here, and I’ll do it as carefully and efficiently as you could ask for. So tell me what you’d like me to work on first.”

Neville sagged dejectedly. Susan clearly meant for the situation between them to simply not be brought up. “Well… I guess now that there’s two of us, we can take on the Snargaluff. It should have been harvested days ago.”

“Fine,” Susan said. “Hand me some protective gear. I’ll hold it off while you go inside.” She seemed to realize what she’d just said, and blushed bright red. “I—I mean—”

“I know what you meant,” Neville said carefully. “Come on, the protective gear is stored over here.”

*****

Harry stepped out of Hermione’s room and pulled the door shut softly behind him. He felt very much as he had the times he’d had run-ins with Voldemort—that is, he felt as though he’d narrowly escaped something terrible. But instead of something as simple as death, Harry had avoided angering and alienating one of his closest friends. Considering how much closer he had grown to Hermione recently, as well as Ron and of course Ginny, Harry wasn’t sure he’d have been able to bear it if Hermione had reacted more unhappily to his confronting her about her increased power. He had been more relieved than he’d let on that Hermione had been more upset about the magic itself than about Harry’s bringing up the subject. Despite the awkwardness and tension of their conversation, Harry thought that he might have managed to get Hermione to accept the situation, or at least on the path to acceptance—if he had, then it had definitely been worth it.

Since Hermione had agreed to at least research Harry’s idea to see if it was possible, Harry felt that it was still a good idea to bring Angelina, Alicia and Katie in on their parts. Checking his watch, Harry discovered that it was almost two in the afternoon—and he hadn’t eaten lunch yet. He’d have to get Dobby to bring some food to the conference room—

“Potter!” Pansy called sharply as she came into view up the stairs. “Hang on a minute!”

Just what I need right now, Harry thought tiredly. “Er, I have a meeting, Pansy—”

“Then I’ll keep my question short,” Pansy interrupted just as she reached Harry. “What do you intend to do with Draco?”

That was the last thing Harry had been expecting to hear. “I—I don’t know,” he admitted, surprised. “I didn’t think you cared any more.”

“Just because I’m through with Draco doesn’t mean that he means nothing to me,” Pansy retorted. “Slytherins know a thing or two about loyalty as well, you know! I may think Draco’s a sad little waste, but he was still a good friend to me for most of my life. I owe him better than to keep silent while he’s locked up in his fancy prison! So what are you going to do with him?”

Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Uh… I honestly don’t know, Pansy,” he said. “I’m just not sure how to handle him. Obviously we can’t just let him go—with everything he’s seen here, the D.A. would be finished the second Voldemort gets his hands on Draco.”

“Thank you for stating the obvious,” Pansy drawled sarcastically.

“Well, what do you expect?” Harry snapped. “The answer isn’t simple, is it?” He gave Pansy an appraising look. “Do you want another go at changing his mind?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Pansy answered hotly. “Draco will never change his mind because of me, Potter—he’ll have convinced himself that if he plays along, he’ll be able to change my mind. I couldn’t accomplish anything with him even if I was inclined to try, which I’m not.”

“Then I don’t know what to do,” Harry admitted. “Do you have any ideas?”

Pansy looked mildly surprised to have been asked. She thought for a moment before reluctantly muttering “No.”

“All right,” Harry sighed, rubbing his forehead. His stomach rumbled—it was definitely past time for lunch. “Think about it, all right? And if you come up with any way to deal with Draco that doesn’t involve freeing him, killing him or keeping him locked up every moment, let me know. I’ll bring it up the next time Ginny, Hermione, Ron and I are all together, and we’ll consider it too. Good enough?”

“It’ll have to be, won’t it?” Pansy grumbled; she turned to the stairs and headed back down without another word.

“You’re welcome,” Harry muttered.