In Harry Potter as Neville Longbottom - Chapter 70: The first rune in Grimoire

Neville was having a very relaxing time on the first day. Surrounded by his friends and no longer pretending to be a dull or silly child, he enjoyed the first period of Professor Sprout. For Professor Sprout and her teachings, Neville was always attentive.

He may not become a herbologist like her in future but the knowledge about plants was very important considering his affinity and charms.

Hermione listened to his advice and made some distance with Harry and Ron. In this way, he was sure that she will not be dragged into their future adventures.

After the Herbology, it was time for the second class of Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall has high expectations this year from the students. After all, these were the students who won the most points last year and brought her the house cup she has been waiting for last seven years.

She gave them the difficult task of transforming beetles into buttons. Harry found this almost impossible but for Ron, this was surely impossible. Ron broke his wand in the accident with the car and used some spellotapes to bind it.

However, every time he used the charm, there were only some sparks, a thick dark fog that smelled like rotten eggs and then some strange results. In the end, he squashed his own beetle and had to borrow another one from Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall ignored Ron and focused her attention on the group of four students. Neville, Hermione, Dean and Seamus.

Neville turned his beetle into a silver button with intricate patterns and it looked novel.

Hermione turned her beetle into a button that had the logo of Hogwarts on its top making it look like a symbol of her school.

Dean also followed their steps and changed his beetle into a golden button with a knight’s helmet design on it making it similar to his Shacklebolt family crest.

Seamus was the most particular one. He was able to finish the task in the last place in this group, but his button turned into a glowing red button that let out some sparks from time to time indicating it can burst at any moment. Thankfully, the sparks disappeared, and Professor’s lips finally loosened.

Neville, Dean and Hermione congratulated Seamus and even Professor McGonagall added 5 points to each of them, making Seamus blush like a little girl. After all, this was the first time he was able to finish his task without any accident and he did it on the first attempt.

Neville and his group of future five had practised a lot of spells during the holidays and hence their achievements were not some random or lucky attempts but the result of hard work.

Harry looked over their group and then looked at Ron who was still irritated by his broken wand.

“Why don’t you write a letter to your family for another one?” Harry asked Ron.

“You know, I have saved some money during the holidays. My brothers and I worked on some candy ideas, and I earned a few galleons. But now it seems I will have to spend all on the wand. Merlin!”

After the class, there was still time for the next one. Their third class was of Double Potions with Slytherin.

Neville hated going to this class but this year, he could not escape the clutches of a dark bat. No matter what, he had managed to climb to the second position of the most hated student after Potter for Professor Snape.

If Neville hated going to this class, then Hermione loved it. Why? Well, it was because this was the only class, she had with Slytherins, and she could partner up with Pansy.

Soon, the students took their seats and stood behind their benches. Professor Snape pushed open the doors of the classroom and entered it his usual swift movements. His dark fluttering robe create a kind of illusion like darkness was spreading in the class.

“Now, it seems you all are here. Especially the famous Harry Potter who managed to arrive at Hogwarts in the most peculiar fashion. Now, this year we have Hair-Raising Potion and Swelling Solution, both of which are the basic level potions.

I expect nothing but perfection. We start with the Hair-Raising potion considering many finds it ‘fun’. Now the steps are clearly written on the board, why are you not writing it down?”

Professor Snape barked loudly at the students of both houses and thankfully his attention was still on Harry Potter. In this way, the torturous class of Potions was over after a long time.

The final class was in the afternoon and there was still time for it. Neville decided to head towards the ROR and meet his favourite Professor, Professor Ravenclaw. He still needed to ask some questions before etching his first rune in the Grimoire.

However, he had to wait for some time alone before Professor Ravenclaw joined him.

“Hello, Neville. It is pleasant to see you back in Hogwarts.” She welcomed him with a slight smile and motioned him to sit in front of her.

Neville took his seat and started asking questions about rune.

“Professor, I already found one empty Grimoire, but I am not sure which runes should I start with? It would be great if you could point in the correct direction.”

“Oh! And what rune do you think is the most suitable and should the first one to be inscribed in the Grimoire?” Professor Ravenclaw asked Neville instead of giving a direct reply.

“Hmm. I think—It should be the rune of gathering the magical energy. The one we found on the outside walls of Hogwarts. In this way, this rune will help boost the power of other runes and will act as the common base for all.”

Neville shared his thoughts and Professor Ravenclaw felt satisfied with his answer.

“Correct. It is often the supplements that are more important than the main runes as they often act as a bridge between them and help in producing varied results we never expected.”

With the advice of Professor Ravenclaw, Neville finally decided to inscribe the first rune in the empty Grimoire. Taking out the references and after practising on some papers, he finally picked the brush, dip it in the sap and blood mixture and started etching at the last page of Grimoire.

This was the stacking method where supplements were always inscribed on the bottom pages while the main runes were on top.

Thankfully the entire process was smooth and there was no mistake. Neville felt immense gratification in writing his own Grimoire. Now, he needs to sort out the main ones and supplement ones and fill the blank pages in future.