A Maid in the Devil's Manor

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 24 ~ Neville Comes to the Manor


On Wednesday night, a nervous Neville Longbottom apparated to Snape Manor. His eyes went wide at the opulence of the Professor’s home. He had heard Professor Snape was rich, but he never realized how rich. He walked down the portico and knocked on the door. He waited nervously, shifting from foot to foot. After a minute or two, the door opened. Neville looked about and didn’t see anyone.

“You is the plant wizard?” a squeaky voice piped suddenly, making the nervous wizard jump. He looked down. A small house-elf was looking up at him. It wasn’t smiling or cringing.

“Yes. Neville Longbottom,” he said holding out his work order. The elf didn’t take it.

“Come in,” the elf said shortly, opening the door wider. Neville entered, craning his next as he looked at the great hall.

Eli looked up at Neville, his small arms crossed against his chest. He was scowling.

“You must takes a Wizard Oath not to divulge anything you sees here,” the elf said with an edge to its squeaky voice.

Neville vowed not to divulge anything he saw at Snape Manor. There was a swirl of magic as the oath took hold. Eli nodded. He started walking up the hall, beckoning Neville with a long index finger.

“Follows me,” Eli said shortly.

Neville followed the strange house elf. Most elves were very polite, saying ‘please’ and addressing guests as ‘sir’ or ‘miss’. This house elf had not addressed him in the prescribed manner at all. Not that he minded. It was just…well…strange.

The elf walked up to a suit of armor, and raised its right arm. The wall fell back and slid to the right, revealing a long staircase. Neville followed the house elf in. Instead of taking the stair, the elf turned to the right and pressed a number of stones. A door slid open. It was a lift. The elf walked in. Neville followed. The doors slid closed behind him. There was a button in the wall facing him.

“Down we goes,” said Eli, giving Neville a wicked little grin and pressing the button.

Neville lurched, his stomach flipping over and his heart flying to his throat as they dropped at an alarming speed. Eli stood beside him calmly, grinning evilly at the wizard’s discomfiture, his claws clasped lightly behind his back as they descended. Finally the lift came to a halt and the doors opened. Eli and a very disheveled Neville emerged. The wizard leaned against the wall, waiting for his heart to slow. Eli stood by impatiently. As he drew long breaths, Neville noticed a white hallway in front of him, with doors lining both sides.

“Is you ready to continue to the Miss?” Eli said, his mouth turned down in disapproval.

Hermione. Thank gods.

“Yes,” Neville said, nodding enthusiastically.

The house elf led him down the hall and through a door. It was a huge white room, rather humid, with a large pile of earth in one corner, and Hermione standing in the center of the room, her hand on her chin, looking thoughtful.

“Hermione!” Neville cried, rushing into the room. Eli slyly flicked a finger at the wizard and Neville tripped, falling to the floor and sliding several feet. The house elf looked up at the ceiling innocently.

“Neville!” Hermione screamed in horror, rushing to the side of the stunned wizard and helping him to his feet. She grasped Neville by the shoulders and looked up worriedly into his face.

“Are you all right?” she asked him.

Neville brushed at his robes and felt himself all over. He looked down at Hermione with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Must have tripped over my robes or something,” he said. Eli chuckled.

Hermione gave the wizard a hug. Eli flicked an ear in disgust.

“It’s so good to see you, Neville. I owe you a lot,” she looked at him, her brow furrowed.

“Did you take your Oath yet?” she asked him.

Neville nodded. “The house elf got me the minute I came in the door,” he said, looking over at the elf, who stared at him stonily, his arms crossed.

“Come on, I’ve got to show you this!” she said excitedly, taking Neville’s arm and dragging him out of the room and into another. Eli followed and stood silently in the doorway observing them.

Neville looked around. This room was painted all white also, and completely empty except for several pitcher plants that were sitting in pots on the floor. They were in pretty good shape.

“Nice,” Neville said, walking over to the plants and inspecting them.

“That’s not what I want to show you. Come over here and stand by me,” Hermione said, drawing her wand from her back pocket.

Neville obediently walked over to Hermione’s side. He was standing quite close to her, and could smell the jasmine scent of her hair. He closed his eyes leaned in and sniffed appreciatively, before pulling back a little guiltily. Eli scowled at him blackly.

Hermione made a series of intricate passes with her wand. The room became close and tight.

“What did you do, Hermione?” Neville asked her, loosening his collar slightly.

“Put a containment spell around the room,” she said, pulling up her shirtsleeves.

“Wow,” Neville commented. He didn’t know containment spells could be so large.

He watched as Hermione’s eyes narrowed, her face screwing up and brows furrowing blackly. She looked ready to kill.

“Hey…” Neville began, alarmed.

“Avada Kedavra!” Hermione snarled, casting an Unforgivable on the closest plant.

Neville staggered back, landing against the wall as the terrifying green blast covered the plant. Hermione held the spell for over a minute, Neville shading his eyes against the undulating green light. Panting, Hermione ended the spell.

Neville’s eyes went round as he gazed on the uninjured pitcher plant.

“Holy Mother of Merlin,” he breathed, pushing himself off the wall and walking toward the plant slowly, as if it would explode any moment. He knelt and fingered the curled leaves gently.

“It didn’t die,” he whispered in amazement. He turned to Hermione.

“Why didn’t it die?” he asked her, his brown eyes wide.

“That’s what I’m going to find out, Neville. That’s what I’m doing here. I’m trying to break the Killing curse. This plant is the key to ending its evil forever,” she said, her eyes shining down at the kneeling wizard.

Neville turned back to the plant.

“You’ll be famous, Hermione,” he intoned, “You’ll be remembered forever. Imagine after all the centuries of suffering, the curse can finally be stopped.”

He rose and turned to her soberly.

“Thank you,” he said in a low voice, “Thank you for letting me be part of this.”

“It was you who gave me the plants, Neville. You are part of this,” she said, “Now come on, let’s talk about the terrarium lab.”

She took Neville’s arm and led him out of the room. The wizard walked as if he were in a daze. This was the most memorable moment of his entire life.

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Neville spent several hours listening to Hermione’s needs, scratching down dimensions of the room and dividing it into cross sections, making initial sketches of an irrigation system that would provide the necessary moisture to maintain the pitcher plants swampy environment. He asked Hermione to show him the climate control area, and he jotted down some notes.

“We’ll have to get bugs, Hermione. Maybe some other small swamp life. Set up as natural an ecosystem as we can. The lighting will have to mimic nature, with a day and a night cycle, sunshine and moonlight. We can divide this space into sections and I can enhance or retard the growth of different sections so you can work with the plants at different stages in their life cycles.

Neville pointed to the large pile of soil in the corner.

“We can’t use that. We’ll have to import the proper soil from North America. A lot of it. I’ll handle those details. Do you have any Ph meters?” he asked her.

“Saturday I will. Tomorrow I will give you a list of what I’ve acquired and you can tell me if I need anything else,” she said to the preoccupied wizard.

“Fine,” Neville said a little absently as he jotted more notes, and looked around the space as if envisioning it at its completion. Finally he closed his notepad.

“Hermione, I will design you the best eco-lab I can. This is too important for half-measures,” Neville said soberly. He began walking toward the door, his brow furrowed. He was in his element.

“I’m going to go, Hermione. I need to look up some things in my catalogs. I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said nodding to her and heading toward the lift. Eli had to run to keep up with him. The elf opened the lift door, and Neville walked on, still preoccupied. The doors closed and he was gone.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and looked at the huge pile of earth in the corner. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the dirt.

“Scourgify,” she said, hoping the Professor didn’t pay too much for it.

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A/N: lol Eli was something else, wasn’t he? Seems he knew Neville has a crush on Hermione. I thought the elf acted rather Snapish. :::g::: Well, Neville seems to know what he is about as far as setting up the Ecolab. I don’t think he’ll try to put any moves on Hermione. Please review.