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Neville’s stomach reeled from his nervousness and the side-along-apparition.
“Alright, I’ll be back to pick you up around 5.” His mum straightened his jumper and patted his shoulders. “You’ve got your emergency portkey in case something happens and you need to leave early?”
“Of course, mum.” Neville said.
People had grown wary of public gatherings in the last year with the attacks at the Quidditch World Cup, several muggleborn-associated businesses, and even Dumbledore’s soiree. The most recent attack at the last event of the Triwizard Tournament set people even more on edge as it was not only an almost very successful attack on a stronghold such as Hogwarts, but also revealed that Rigel Black was attending Hogwarts illegally. Which started a manhunt not only for the dark wizard attackers but also for Rigel. Whatever his actual name was, Rigel didn’t deserve that. He was a nice bloke and Neville’s friend, if he’d still have him. Alas, there were no immediate actions he could take to support Rigel, though his parents assured him they were doing what they could. He trusted them. They would help Rigel where they could, and he would do what he is able to. Which Ron keenly felt, felt like a big load of nothing. Without a change to the law no amount of pranks nor public support would keep Rigel safe if he was caught.
Fred and George seemed to be taking that as a personal challenge. During his last visit to the Burrow, Mrs Weasley was only able to pull them out of their room with the reminder that if they didn’t take breaks they’d burn themselves out, and they weren’t worth anything to Rigel like that. Even then they’d only come out for food and dueling practice. And although he felt like he was improving, it was a struggle for Neville to keep up with the Weasleys’ ferocity when they dueled.
In short, what he could do is support the friends he still had access to and continue his education to the best of his abilities. Rigel risked an Azkaban life sentence to learn at Hogwarts. Neville at least owed it to him to not take the learning opportunities he had for granted.
Besides, this was a small gathering for students across the UK to learn more about their local agriculture. Although it was understood that ‘students across the UK’ included those home for summer holiday as well as those who attended schools in the UK, there was nothing explicitly addressing blood purity in the advertisement or anything published by the organization running the event. There was a low chance of an attack happening here. Rigel risked more going to school everyday. Neville could do this.
“You’ll be fine.” Alice reassured. “Learn lots, and maybe make some friends?”
“I’ll try.” Neville said, trying to smile reassuringly back.
“Love you, sweetums.” His mum said, giving him a kiss on the forehead and one last shoulder squeeze.
“Love you, too.” He said as his mum apparated back home.
He headed away from the apparition point following the arrow signs towards the buildings on the property. He noted the greenhouses and sprawling fields of crops. He couldn’t see into the greenhouses well, but the fields looked to consist mostly of grain crops. The event information said there’d be a tour of the property after an introductory talk, and Neville was very much looking forward to getting a better look inside of those greenhouses.
Though, first things first. All he had to do was sit down next to someone and introduce himself. Whether small talk was successful or not, they would soon be learning and touring the grounds and the focus would be on that instead of talking. Easy.
The signs lead to a room set up with rows of tables and seats in front of a chalkboard. Neville signed in with a witch at the door and braced himself to find a seat. As he took in the room, to Neville’s surprise there was only one other student who had arrived and was seated, and he knew him.
Well, so much for making new friends; it’d be rude to sit anywhere else.
“Hi, Matheus.” He said as he sat himself next to the boy with shaggy black hair.
“Neville.” The Brazilian Triwizard Tournament champion greeted with a half grin. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Likewise, I thought you were more interested in the potions side of herbology, and that you’d have gone back home at this point.” Neville said. He had somewhat gotten to know Matheus through his infrequent attendance of their herbology classes and presence around the Hogwarts’ greenhouse.
“They’re covering greenhouse semantics.” Matheus replied. “I saw an advertisement for this while researching. My lease in Hogsmeade lasts until the end of the month. Thought I’d check it out.”
“Are you planning on building a greenhouse?”
Matheus nodded. “I will grow Salvia Divinorum, Betel, Yohimbe, and Ayahuasca among other plants.”
All mind-altering herbs Neville noted. “For personal use or as a business?” He asked.
“Definitely the first one, but I could mix business with pleasure.” Matheus said waggling his eyebrows.
Neville avoided his eyes as his nervousness spiked. “Is agriculture very different here than in Brazil?” He asked, watching other students filter in- none he recognized.
“Yes, we have a higher percentage of perennial crops. Probably because of the obvious climate differences. Our growing season is much longer. The winter is less harsh.”
“Are you looking forward to going back?”
“It will be good to be home.” He says with a wane smile. “Though Catelobruxo will not like to have me back, the United Kingdom and I part least amicably.”
Neville frowned. “I know Fred and George enjoyed your company.”
“They did. Though opinions change.” Matheus said, feinting aloof. “I have not spoken to them in a while. How are they these days?”
Neville leaned forward. “Their opinions don't change that fast. They’re primarily occupied with worry for Rigel at the moment, but I'm sure they would love to hear from you.”
Matheus scoffed. On closer inspection his eyes looked slightly hazy under his dark bangs. “I aided that monstrosity of a task and almost killed Delacour. I could not find them afterwards. One of their housemates said the task had given them ideas for a prank. It was not a friendly warning.”
“You’re not wrong in that it gave them prank ideas, but you’re wrong about the direction of their ire. If they were going to prank you, they would’ve done it already. Their chosen target’s a lot harder to prank.” Neville sighed. “That task was more the organizers’ fault than yours. The whole tournament was a bit much, regardless of your part in it. They wouldn’t-”
The witch who was signing people in at the door stood up and clapped her hands together.
The students’ voices around the room quieted down, and Neville reluctantly turned towards the front of the room and pulled a parchment and quill onto the desk in front him. He hadn’t lost access to Matheus yet; this conversation was paused, not over.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Professor Rhizobia Tilth. Thank you for coming out today to our Wizarding Agriculture Learning Farm.
“I know most of you are familiar with or take a herbology class at school. Herbology is one part of wizarding agriculture focused on the study of magical plants and their phenology.
"Today we’ll be looking at the broader scope of wizarding agriculture and how we incorporate different management practices on site.
“Now the Five F’s of wizarding agriculture are Food, Forage, Fiber, Fuel, and Fortification...”
Neville took notes as Professor Tilth introduced different aspects of wizarding agriculture.
Half of what she was saying was a rehashment of information he already knew from books and Professor Sprout’s lectures, but Neville didn’t mind. It was always nice to get a refresher, and it added context to how what they would be looking at fit into the bigger picture of what he already knew.
Matheus was absentmindedly twirling his quill, staring off into space, but perked up when Professor Tilth started on the next topic.
“Most wizards grow their crops in greenhouses. This is because greenhouses are much easier to climate control and keep pests out. However, there are many challenges to consider when building a greenhouse.
“Many wizards jump to regulating or modifying as much of the environment as they can with magic. However, I would express caution when doing so. One has to consider the humidity, temperature, and ratio of red to far-red light, among other climate factors, all of which every plant requires a different level of at each phase of their growth cycle. Since most wards are made to be permanent and sturdy in their function, obtaining daily or seasonal fluidity in their effects can be difficult. There are some master wardsmiths who have been able to create such wards, and amateur wardsmiths can get by with changing parts of their wards each time they need their climate changed, but over time that can be rather tedious. Therefore, frequently less is more when warding a greenhouse, and automating climate completely through spellwork is not recommended for beginners.
“On our tour later we’ll show you the different climates we have in our 3 greenhouses and what runes we used to achieve each and why.”
Neville hadn’t had to consider any of that when building his first greenhouse, but that was in his mind so many physical realities didn’t apply there.
“Apart from greenhouses, there are also many benefits to growing crops outside. Wizards who grow their crops outside don’t need to source their own pollinators, and it’s easier to include livestock in the crop rotation which provides many benefits. Such as, breaking up pest life cycles through both the inclusion of forage crops temporally putting space between pests’ preferred hosts and the livestock eating and trampling crop residue that pests reside in, and incorporating fertilizer straight from the animals which reduces fertilizer inputs for the crops without the added labor of relocating fertilizer from your pastures.
“Specifically, we always see a decrease in the pest pressure of garden gnomes in our fields right after we rotate our livestock through.
“So, when deciding where and how to grow your crops you need to consider all aspects and variables in your system...”
After Professor Tilth finished her lecture and they stood up to go on the tour, Neville said. “If nothing else, I’d enjoy keeping in touch with you.”
Matheus’s bangs fell in his eyes as he scuffed the toes of his shoe on the ground. “I’ll think about it. What are you looking forward to seeing in the greenhouses?”