In Harry Potter as Neville Longbottom - Chapter 52: Jinx in the diary - 3

Not only did the previous signs of jinx disappear but also, he never felt so good before physically and mentally. His thoughts were clear, and his mind was working on overdrive. Plus, he felt his physical strength was never better.

“Maybe a side effect of the potion? Need to check how long this fresh feeling lasts.” Thinking about this, he took a look at the clock on the wall to check the timings before taking off his clothes and getting inside his bed.

His body was literally jinxed, and his body is still running high on the effects of Potion. He needs to rest.

Unknown to him, a pair of excited twins were wandering around the manor.

“This is Neville’s room. He is very particular about it. No one enters without knocking and there is a protection charm to keep intruders away when he is not inside.”

Pansy was giving a tour of the Manor to Hermione and told her clearly about Neville’s room. Hermione nodded like a chicken.

But she was thinking of the charms placed in the room that can be activated even when no wizard is around.

“What kind of charms are those? I always thought wizards need to cast magic, especially something like a strong protection spell.” Hermione inquired.

The little Lioness was sometimes more inquisitive than a baby raven but this was the reason Pansy decided to get herself a kitty.

“Why don’t you try going inside? You must experience the magic to understand its rules. I will give you a hint – Runes activated by castle law!” Pansy replied with a sly smile and Hermione felt Pansy made sense.

Without any fear or any other thought, Hermione used the unlocking charm to open the door of Neville’s room and unfortunately Neville was inside. Hence, the magic remains dormant but the door is opened.

Neville who had just fallen asleep heard the slight noise. His brain, still high on the potion, gave him the idea that someone was sneaking around in his manor and had enough guts to check inside his personal room.

Calling his wand to himself (using Accio), he pointed it towards the door and found two little witches falling inside one after another.

He looked at the two stupid girls and just sighed and went back to sleep unaware that his bare chest and half-naked body was strongly imprinted on the young minds of two maidens.

Hermione like a cat caught stealing milk ran the fastest in her life from there and didn’t stop until she reached her own room. She closed the door behind her and kept taking deep breaths. Her partner in crime (if there was any), Pansy Parkinson, first stood like a statue but when Hermione ran from the room, she came to her sense.

Her cheeks went red, and her thought flew directly to her future wedding night. Imagining the sleeping naked prince on the bed as her husband. If one looked closely, they would find, slight smoke coming from her head and her whole face went three shades red.

She closed Nev’s room carefully and then ran towards her room and directly jumped inside her mostly empty wardrobe. Shrieking inside the wardrobe continuously, she emptied all the feelings inside her chest. She could not calm down the whole afternoon because of this.

Neville woke up in the afternoon feeling refreshed and completely back to normal. The slight enhancement of the potion was gone, and his thoughts were back to normal speed.

“Winny!” He called his loyal Elf who directly appeared with a big portion of Lunch. Neville didn’t even have to speak his commands. Eating one delicious item after another, Neville ate the whole thing and thanked his Elf.

“Winny, how is our other potion?” Thinking about the main potion that was still in the cooling stage inside the Potion room, Neville enquired about its current status.

“Master, the potion is quite complex with many conflicting ingredients. It will take time to show the maximum effect. It’s ready but its effect will be better once it undergoes a final physical change after the cooling period.” Winny like a seasoned Potion master explained her thoughts to her master.

“But it’s ready to use right. We just need to use more. Correct?” Neville asked before wearing his clothes (completely forgetting the incident of the witches entering his room).

“Yes, master,” Winny replied and Nev instructed her to bring a bowl of potion to his study. Apparating himself there, he looked at the jinxed diary which was on the floor. After a few minutes, Winny also came there with a bowl of Aqua Benedicta. Nev directly levitated the diary and put it inside the bowl.

“SHHSSS!” It was like water was poured water on a hot oil plan and the diary started making a strange noise while releasing the dark vapours while its pages jumped from one side to another.

Neville had never seen such a strong reaction from any potion on a dark object. He waited and watched until the diary stopped making any noise and after some time, Neville found the diary had changed significantly. That black leather-bound diary cover was more greyish in colour now, while the brown pages he saw flipping frantically were now more creamish white.

It was like the whole thing got those whitening cream effects! Was this the effect of black magic? Literally, turning things black-ish if they are jinxed or hexed or is this another ‘weed’ logic from Rowling?

Taking precaution, Neville first wore the dragon hide gloves and then used magic to check the diary, but the diary had no reaction. Checking the cover, he found the diary was old and contained hardly anything readable

Neville used magic to check the diary again but found nothing significant other than a signature of a Malfoy on the last page. It felt as if the only purpose of the diary was to attack a wizard by the jinx and remind them about the power of the Malfoy family.

“Lucius Fucking Malfoy! It seems as if the whole family wants to die under my hands.” Thinking about the incident and the possible consequences, Neville felt his anger boiling inside him. The very thought that Ginny, an innocent party would have gotten hurt or possibly killed because Malfoy wanted to punish her father made him enraged.

He already decided that the minute he will get an opportunity, he will make sure the world is free from one Malfoy.

Throwing the diary away, Neville calmed his feelings and tried to focus on the good side of it. Necessity is the mother of an invention and thankfully in the moment of crisis, one elf was smart enough to invent a new potion – think about the recipe, the order of ingredients and the quantity. Everything in less than a few minutes.

Yes, she was working on potions for more than a year now, but Neville never expected his Elves to understand the theory behind it and start making their own potions.

Neville checked the potion recipe from Winny and tried to refine it and find something that can replace the dragon blood. Otherwise, there will never be a market for this.