Chapter Text
Neville stepped out of the front doors still feeling a bit rattled after his encounter with boggart-Snape. He hoped to find some calm by spending the time remaining until dinner in one of the greenhouses, because for all that Hogwarts was a wonderful, magical castle, Neville was most comfortable in the company of plants.
He made his way along the castle, shivering in the chilly autumn air. It was still light, but every day nightfall came earlier and soon it would be too dark just before dinner to go to the greenhouses. Neville was therefore determined to go as often as possible, for as long as he could.
Greenhouse one came into view and Neville noticed that professor Sprout was working inside. Normally he would’ve been happy to assist her with something, but today he’d rather be on his own.
When he rounded the corner to go to greenhouse 3 there was a sudden noise and he startled, only just keeping himself from falling face first on the ground. When he’d refound his balance, Neville looked around fort he source of the sound. It had been a soft growling, coming from just behind the barrels of dragon dung fertilizer stacked next to the greenhouse.
Neville carefully approached. If the sound had in any way been threathening, he would’ve run, but it had sounded more pathetic than anything.
He whispered: “Lumos”, glad he’d mastered at least that spell, and peered behind the barrels. Illuminated in the soft light coming from his wand Neville saw a big, black dog.
‘A grim!’ flashed through his mind and he stumbled back. At that moment the dog whined sadly and rested his head defeated on the ground, and Neville stopped. Taking a second look at the dog, he noticed he could count the dog’s ribs and his fur was tangled and dirty. This couldn’t be a grim after all.
“Hey there, good boy”, Neville said. “Are you someone’s pet? But wait, students are not allowed to have dogs here. Um, maybe you came here from Hogsmeade?”
He crouched down next tot he dog and cautiously reached out his hand. When the dog made no movement he carefully petted him.
“You look like your hungry, dog.”
At this the dog pushed his wet nose against Neville’s hand and wagged his tail. Neville felt around in his bag and after some searching found a sandwich he’d taken at lunch and forgotten about.
“There you go, this is all I have for now.”
The dog sniffed carefully at the offered sandwich and after deeming it edible, he swallowed it in one bite.
“Careful, you don’t want to choke”, said Neville, only after that wondering why he was talking like the dog would understand him. He sat down next to the dog and scratch his ears. Deciding that it didn’t matter if the dog understood him or not, he started to tell him about what happened that day. At least the dog would listen without judgement.
~~~~~
“…and then boggart-Snape was wearing my gran’s clothes, vulture hat and all! Can you imagine? Well, you probably can’t, you’re a dog, but it was really funny.”
Neville smiled thinking back on it, when a sudden thought struck him: Snape would definitely hear about it too, and he would not be amused. That sobered him quickly and he sighted deep. The dog, sensing his sudden mood shift, pushed against him and licked his face.
“Ew, stop that! That’s gross, dog.”
But it was successful in cheering Neville up a little bit. Looking around he noticed that it was almost dark. Dinner probably started some time ago. Only if he was quick now might he arrive in time to get something other than dessert.
“Sorry dog, I have to go to dinner. But I’ll see if I can get some more food for you tomorrow. If you’re still here of course.”
Neville stood and started making his way back to the front doors, but after a few steps he turned around and looked back. The dog was almost invisible in the dark.
“Don’t go into the greenhouse, okay, dog? The plants in there might eat you.”
Then he continued to the castle entrance.
When he laid in his bed later that evening, he wondered if he would ever see the dog again.