willow! → george weasley ✓

[4] the darkest of times

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"NOW WHO CAN TELL ME why Mandrakes are so important?" asked Neville Longbottom, looking out at his class of second-year Gryffindors. Five hands shot up rather quickly, but many students groaned.
"I know, I know, we've been through this, but after we review, I'll let you all pack up a little early, all right?" Everyone seemed much more satisfied with this. He looked around, then pointed to a confident-looking girl with a blonde ponytail.

"When stewed, they are the primary ingredient in a draft that can return anyone who's been petrified or transfigured back to their original state," she recited, and Neville beamed at her. Eloise watched all of this from the door to Greenhouse 3, smiling to herself.

It was the third week of September, and the weather was warm and sunny for the fourth day in a row—uncharacteristically nice, not that anyone was complaining. Eloise had decided to go visit her brother for the first time since before the start of term, and had no issue with watching him work. It made her happy to see him doing what he loved, and the nostalgia that came with watching part of a class was certainly a bonus.

"Very good." He congratulated the blonde, then addressed the class as a whole, only pausing momentarily to glance at his watch.
"It looks like we have three minutes before break begins, which gives you that long to pack up. Great work today, every one of you." The greenhouse erupted in quiet chatter, and Eloise stepped inside, finally allowing her presence to be known.

"Mandrakes, huh?" she said, getting the attention of her brother. Conversations ceased all around them, but she paid it no mind.
"That was second year, I believe?"

"These are my second years," said Neville, smiling at her. Eloise looked to the Gryffindors, all of whom now had their attention on her.

"You're all lucky, having my brother as your head of house. Best there is." Neville too turned to his class, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"In case you all weren't aware, this is my sister Eloise. She loves to come bother me whilst I'm teaching." He got some laughs for that, and as everyone began talking to one another again, he turned back to face Eloise.

"You've got a pretty smart crew here. The one who answered your question reminds me of Hermione."

"Me too." His eyes briefly scanned his class before he looked back to her; the conversations were more hushed than they had been before she entered the classroom, and people kept looking back to her.
"You know they're all talking about you, right?" he asked her in a hushed voice.

"I know. Reckoned they'd be used to seeing people from the war by now."

"Yeah, but it isn't every day they have a war hero who doesn't work at Hogwarts popping into their Herbology class," said Neville pointedly, and it wasn't lost on him that she winced at the term "war hero".
"We're all war heroes whether you like it or not, Lulu."

"Just wish there was a better term for it," she sighed.
"Makes it sound like I did something...well, heroic."

"That's because you did." At that, they could hear the chimes from the castle signaling the end of the period, and students began to file out. On their way, Eloise heard the blonde talking to her friend.

"She's a war hero too, you know, I read about it in The First and Second Wizarding Wars: the Fight Against Lord Voldemort..." The girl's voice trailed off as she and her friend walked out of the greenhouse and out of earshot, and Neville gave Eloise a pointed look.