Predictably, Neville was left partnerless.

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Hullo, this is Neville Longbottom, I think I've done this right.
Erm, you can leave me a voiceletter. If you'd like.

Comments

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I heard about the runes
but I don't really know how to use them or anything

[Neville is starting to feel hopeful for the first time since getting a message with the name Barty Crouch, Jr. attached to it out of the blue.]

I do alright
I've had to visit the libraries here quite a bit because I don't know much about muggle herbology

[doggedly]

yeah i dont know how to use them either but guess what
we're going to learn

[this is a huge inclusion because 1) Sirius admitting he doesn't know something?! and 2) Sirius suggesting research?!? hopefully he won't have to Modify Neville's memories to forget that this ever happened. don't ruin his street cred, and stuff.

although, briefly distracted--]

why are you s
oh yeah you have the plant ability dont you
whats that like

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alright
thanks sirius I mean it

[Your secret is probably safe with Neville, but there's no guarantee there aren't misty-eyed hugs in your future, Sirius. Beware.]

I think it's quite cool
I wish I could have grown plants this fast at home it would have come in handy in class
what have you got?

private; video

[tonsofpun]

Between you and me, I don't think magic had a whole lot to do with it.

[At least not about the badass part. And the blush makes her smile, mostly because she's glad to have told him something good after all this crazy bullshit.]

Now. When d'you wanna meet up?

[doggedly]

[ew no]

tellekinesis
which is like an advanced levitation charm as it turns out so significantly less useful in classes just because itd be redundant

hows the sword by the way

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[And by misty-eyed, I mean full on bawling. Neville is not what you'd call "stoic." Prepare yourself.]

well it has got to be quite useful here
hasn't it?
I was never very good with levitation charms my aim is terrible

the sword is just fine I am trying to learn how to use it properly
I think most things have got more ways of blocking a sword than a snake
especially great ruddy giants on fire

private; video

[adjunct]

Thursday or Friday after your classes? If you'd like.

[He will come armed with library books and quiet nerdy delight.]

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[Neville does a one-shoulder shrug, which is all he can do to keep his head on straight. The idea that Snape ever once said anything without the intention of it hurting is baffling to him.]

He's not going to be particularly bothered, even if it somehow comes as a shock to him later.

[And that lack of regret, for anything as far as Neville can tell - word or action - all the unconvincing excuses that Snape has been sneering at him since Neville first heard the words Albus Dumbledore Academy over the network and reacted (he feels) accordingly... They all just sit in Neville's stomach and curdle there like bad milk. His fingers twist in the ends of his sleeves, and he pushes forward where any other time he might have ducked his head and deflected. Left the words uncertain and unspoken.]

It really doesn't bother you? The things he's done? [Because Harry's mum seems, by all accounts, a perfectly lovely person and not someone that would approve of the sort of things that Snape let happen at Hogwarts, no matter what Harry says.] I mean the things he says don't really matter, do they, in the end. [Not that Neville didn't still let them get to him in the worst way.]

[dilectio]

[ honestly, she's a bit thrown off by the question, simply because- ] Of course it bothers me. It bothers me every time I think about him. [ which makes it sound like she sits around grumping about the way things turned out, but it's not like that. it's disappointment mixed with sadness mixed with anger for not being able to change things, to be there. the idea that her friendship wasn't enough to keep Severus away from that life, from making those choices, is one of her true soft spots, it's a weakness. ]

I'm- I'm not sure what exactly you've heard, but I don't approve of the things he's done, between the time when I knew him back home and the time we've spent here. I do believe he's changed, that he's trying to at least, but I'm certainly not turning a blind eye to what he's done in the past. What I know of it, at least. [ which isn't anything about what kind of professor he was, no. but Neville's body language, his tone, his expression, it all paints a pretty clear picture of the way he treated at least one of his students ] I wasn't apologizing on his behalf, I was apologizing because I know how hurtful he can be.

[doggedly]

[this sounds horrible Neville please we are men]

its all right i guess
it isnt magic is my point

oh come off it thats no way to be
its not just any sword is it its the sword of bloody GRYFFINDOR thats got to count for something especially versus giants and things
fire or no fire
who do you have teaching you

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[tonsofpun]

Friday after classes.

I'm over in Odin, the paid housing place. It's a big building, but I'm in room 108.

Ignore our weird neighbors, and try not to knock on their door by accident, okay?

If anybody waves a gun in your face, tell them Ellie said you were cool. Don't try to pet the dog.

private; video

[adjunct]

[Well this suddenly sounds terrifying. The video goes very wobbly as he dives for something to write the number down with, because he is infamously forgetful.]

I'm not certain what a gun is, but alright.

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[tonsofpun]

[It's less terrifying in practice, Neville. Ellie grins and waits for him, repeating parts of the information as needed.]

-you don't know what a gun is?

Holy shit. Do you guys not have them?

[Except Hermione and Harry and even Snape knew what they were. ... but Voldemort had been surprised by it. Maybe that was what saved her. Ellie shifts, and reaches down to take out her 9-mil, showing it on the screen.]

This one's mine. It's small, but it packs a pretty good punch if I'm close enough.

private; video

[adjunct]

No, I don't think so. It's a weapon?

[All of them were brought up in Muggle (or at least half Muggle) houses, but Neville is a full-on clueless wizard and comes from several consecutive generations of them.]

That... punches people?

[He can't see a fist anywhere on it, Ellie!!]

private; video

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie puffs out her cheeks while she tries not to laugh at him. No, no, stop Ellie, that's mean.]

It's... it's an expression. Here, look.

[With a jerk of her wrists, she ejects the clip, showing him the bullets loaded up into it, pulls one out to hold between her fingers.]

This is called a bullet. You load the clip of them into here, like this-

[She loads up the gun, keeping the safety on, and points out the trigger without touching it.]

Then you aim it, and pull here. The gun fires the bullet into whatever you're pointing at.

[Ellie's expression sobers.]

It's a muggle thing. And they're very dangerous, so if you find one, don't mess around with it.

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[if you want manly dignity you have come to the wrong place, friend]

no I suppose not
I do miss it, magic
I don't miss getting cursed much though, bit of a drag

well it is quite a bit less magical here I would wager, still very shiny though I will give it that
I have been taking lessons at the school and there is another bloke from Sigyn helping me but it is slow going
can you use one?

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[Neville's brow furrows. It certainly doesn't sound like Lily had made an informed character assessment and found Snape a selfless hero worthy of Harry's sudden and bizarre adulation. What had he been playing at? What is even going on here? Neville frowns, trying to put together the puzzle with missing pieces and just growing more and more frustrated for it.

He shifts on his feet, fingers twisting in the hems of his own shirt.]

He made a lot of people think he had changed, I think. Professor Dumbledore, too. [Because Neville outright refuses to believe that Dumbledore would have ordered him to let Death Eaters torture the students, to have the muggleborns thrown into Azkaban when they arrived at the start of the school year. No matter what Harry and Hermione say on the matter. And then, suddenly, it occurs to him how she had phrased that: between when I knew him back home and the time we've spent here.

Mouth dry, he finally manages to look up into her face.] Has no one told you, what he did when he became Headmaster last time?

action

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[Another smile appears and disappears, though he does cast around for the source of the expletive at first.]

I just saw it on a chocolate frog card and quite liked it. [He gives half a shrug, feeling a bit silly. But it's nice, considering no one else had ever been impressed by the name (he'd had to fight an uphill battle against it being renamed a good number of bolder and more wizardly things.) Or the toad, for that matter.] Fawkes is here? That's your phoenix, right? Trevor would like that, I think. He could always use some company.

[And now that they're closer, Neville tugs on the proffered gloves automatically, wearing the distinct look of someone thoroughly harassed by the circumstances. He trails off to stare a bit, agape, at the rather rude toad inching its way closer.]

I- yes, of course. Has someone enchanted them? I thought we couldn't do that sort of thing here.

[It seems quite a Weasley Twins thing to do, now that he thinks about it.]

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[adjunct]

But it's so small.

[Neville seems a tad in awe. He can hardly wrap his mind around the idea that something like this - the tiny bullets pinched between her fingers - killed Lord Voldemort, now that he can actually see it.

He nods, quickly.]

I'll leave it be, if I ever do.

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[tonsofpun]

So's a wand.

[Yes, she's seen wands. She gives him a brief smile, though it's a very serious thing.]

Seriously, though, if anybody ever points one of these at you, get out of the way. Even if it doesn't catch you anywhere lethal, it hurts like a motherfucker.

[doggedly]

[god dammit]

and yet youre quite cavalier about it
were you cursed often enough that this is a talking point

[Actually, perhaps he doesn't want the answer to that. The war, et al. It says something about his age and experience that--though their own version of the war is on at home, the thought of students getting cursed at Hogwarts is still somehow unthinkable. Dumbledore's protection goes a long way, even with the rise of Voldemort's power and influence.]

are you joking i dont know a thing about swords
wish i did
especially that one
are you seriously taking lessons at snapes school

[adjunct]

well yeah during detentions
got quite a lot of those in the end
and just anywhere they felt like it really

[What's that? You don't want heartwarming tales about the year of Hell? Well tough nuggets, because Neville can get quite cavalier about it when the mood strikes him.]

yes.
Harry and Hermione aren't taking it seriously but I was there when he ran Hogwarts
and I'm not letting what he did there happen again
I'm keeping an eye on it, I don't care what they say

action

[palebee]

Ah, so there's history to it, too! I daresay that even the amphibians among us can benefit from a bit of cultural legacy, though perhaps the sweets themselves are better reserved for human mouths.

[ Albus stoops to scoop out a bucketful of thick greenish water, heaving it onto the grass with a small huff of effort. Straightening up, he stares down to the toad, which has stopped dead-still in the slick grass. It keeps up a constant low, peeping stream of tot-hunting tallywags (what?) -- cut off abruptly as Albus dives down, snatching it up in tight grip.

He looks exceptionally pleased with himself for a man with pond scum in his beard. ]

There we are! The bucket, please, Mr. Longbottom -- then the lid -- aha, right. Now, I'm very glad that you asked that question, because it's precisely the one that interests me in our friends.

There seem to have always been toads in Asgard, and many continue not to speak. But these toads specifically appeared some months ago, and took up residence among the others. Either they are enchanted native toads, then, or foreign; I'll place my galleons squarely upon the latter. Constructs can be fashioned by those who draw life, but it takes a great deal of energy for a small, amusing prank. And I doubt it could be accomplished solely through runework.

Given the vast traffic of beings in and out of this world, it does not seem unlikely that a few wartier residents might have tagged along. If we accept them for strangers to Asgard, the question becomes whether their speech is an inborn form of mimicry -- or whether they were augmented magically before arrival. While their vocabularies are prodigious, they remain topically limited to the invective...suggesting a degree of linguistic discernment beyond the reasoning capability of your standard toad. The strict confines of a spell, however -- now! That is a different story, indeed.

So, if we carry our assumptions through: We have before us a veritable battalion of batrachians, who have managed to hold on to a probable enchantment, although the gods actively removed our magic upon arriving here.

A curious set of circumstance. What might we extrapolate from it?

[ A leading nudge of a question, the pause in a lecture to check whether everyone's keeping up. The smile that he grants is kindly, but expectant. ]

[doggedly]

[The thing is, Sirius hates Snape. Hates him, and nothing here has done a thing to improve his feelings toward him. He's on our side now, everyone's said, and certainly he's done things to seem that way. And he is, probably. Sirius doesn't think too much about it because he can't stand to think much of Snape at all.

Detentions with curses, those were under Snape's time as headmaster. He's a bastard, but that seems cruel. Or does it? He was a bastard with hexes when he was a kid. Could have grown to be the same.]

so what youre saying is


youre a spy

[How serious is the threat of Snape? No idea. But Sirius can't disapprove of someone spying on him. It feels somehow... right.]

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[Not just any curses, either. The Unforgivibles.]

I suppose you could look at it like that
but it's not exactly likely he'll be fooled why I'm there
he's been trying to shut me up since I got here hasn't he
one of his teachers let me in though, behind his back I'm almost certain