Mimbulus Mimbletonia
There was still a bit more of a way to go before we reached Hogwarts. The compartment went from being lit with sunlight to becoming dim from passing a large set of gray clouds.
Not much time had passed before conversation between the three started again. I tried not to pay attention. Trying to make myself forget about the boy who is sitting right across from me.
“Guess what I got for my birthday?” I heard Neville say.
“Another Remembrall?” Harry responded.
I fought not to look up when I heard Harry's voice. How pathetic, Luna. Do you have a crush? Oh my goodness, you do?! We’ve never experienced this before! What do we do? was all my inner thoughts would say.
It was true though. I’ve never felt this way before. Especially towards a boy. I don’t know what to do in this situation but ignore. And ignore was what I did, until I couldn’t.
“No, I lost mine a while back. Wait until you look at this…” Neville said, ruffling through his bag.
I couldn’t resist acting uninterested in what was happening. I lowered my magazine to see Neville pull out what looked like a small, gray cactus in a plant pot. But instead of spikes, they were replaced with what appeared to be boils.
“ Mimbulus mimbletonia !” Neville said proudly.
Everyone stared curiously at the rather peculiar looking plant. It seemed to be pulsating, making me a bit uneasy.
“It's really rare!” Neville beamed. “I’m not sure if Hogwarts has one in their greenhouse. I can’t wait to show Professor Sprout. I want to ask her if it’s possible to breed from it.”
Neville talked to us while we all were still processing what was in front of us. Harry broke the silence.
“What does it – um – do?” Harry asked Neville.
“So much!” Neville said, rather proudly. “Here, hold Trevor for me…It’s really great for self-defense…”
After dumping his toad, Trevor, onto Harry’s lap, Neville took out a quill from his book bag, and held up the mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes. You could see him plotting something. Finally, choosing a spot, he made a sharp jab into the plant using the tip of his quill.
No one had time to react. Liquid squirted from every boil, hitting the ceiling, window, and my magazine. The stench similar to manure made me grateful I wasn’t Neville or Harry who got the worst of the hit.
“Sorry, sorry…I never tried that before…I never expected that to happen…Stinksap isn’t poisonous so, no need to worry…” Neville said with a tremble in his voice from the shock of the mess made.
Harry was drenched from the head down. It was a funny sight. Taking it in, I felt a smile forming, which was quickly interrupted by the opening of our compartment door.
It was a girl. A pretty girl. I recognized her pretty quickly. She was in my house. Cho…Cho Chang was her name. What was she doing here? I thought.
“Oh…Hi Harry,” Cho said, looking a bit nervous. “Bad time?”
Harry rapidly cleaned the Stinksap off his lenses. “Oh…hi,” Harry said.
“Um…I thought I’d come by and say hello…well…bye now,” Cho said, closing the door not a second after.
Looks like Harry has a crush… I thought. For some reason the thought really bummed me out.
Harry sunk into the back of his seat and groaned.
“Don’t worry Harry. We can get rid of this mess, easy!” Ginny said, a bit sympathetically. “ Scourgify! ”
And like that, the Stinksap disappeared, like it was never there.
“Sorry,” Neville let out in a small voice.