Founding Members

Roughly twenty-four hours passed and George was now waiting outside the Library whilst doodling on a folded-up piece of paper. He was using a mixture of highlighters to enhance his drawings. George was interrupted from his masterpiece as the voice he'd been waiting for called out from behind him.

"George. W-what are you doing here?", Neville asked in surprise.

George put the lid back on his green highlighter and folded up his paper before facing Neville. There was apparent anxiety on the young boy's face which was abnormal considering the run-of-the-mill circumstances. Neville shimmied backwards slightly and lowered his head like he was a turtle trying to hide inside of its shell. George put on a big jolly smile and pretended to not have noticed Neville's clear panic.

"What am I doing here, you ask? Well, I thought it would be obvious. I was waiting for you", George said whimsically whilst pocketing the markers.

Neville took a big gulp before nervously saying, "but, how did you know I would be here? Were you following me?"

George chortled, "following you, you've got to be kidding me. What do you think I am, some sort of stalker?"

Neville's eyes dilated left and right and sweat started to form on his brow.

"Relax, it was a joke. The truth is that you're simply too predictable. You've been coming to this Library alone at the same time every single Saturday for the past six weeks. Let me guess, you're going to look for a book about the South African Spider plant", George said reassuringly.

Neville looked like he was about to ask another question, but George cut him off, "I know what you want to ask and what you don't want to ask, but don't worry, I'll tell you anyway. Firstly, everything's fine with Hermione now, water under the bridge. You can probably already tell that Ron and Harry have been forgiven so you're in the clear by extension, there's no need for any sort of fancy apology after all.

Secondly, any rumours you've been hearing about the troll and I are true, well... for the most part. I did deliberately attack the troll, in self-defence may I add, and accidentally killed the troll along with destroying the girl's bathroom. It's all gravy though, I've had a word with Professor Dumbledore and now I'm getting private lessons so there will be no more massive explosions.

Last but not least, the reason why I have come to bother you on your weekend is to propose a venture you may be interested in. If all goes well, you might not need to look up any more plants in the future."

Neville appeared to be somewhat overwhelmed by all of the information George had unloaded. He looked like he had a million and one questions to ask but didn't know how to phrase them, George patiently waited whilst maintaining his carefree smile.

Then Neville looked up at George with unusual intensity, "is everything really ok?"

"Really really. Everything's back to normal, or as normal as things can be at Hogwarts", George said cheerily.

The wariness Neville had been showing him instantly fizzled away. He straightened up and looked relieved as if George had lifted a heavy weight off his back. George felt this was the right time to put the pressure back on a little with his 'venture'.

"Drum roll please", George said whilst unfolding the paper and holding it out in Neville's direction.

In big bold green letters along the top of the parchment read 'Herbology Club'. Just below the title was slightly smaller green writing that read 'All Houses Welcome. Meetings are held on Wednesday at 5:30 (Subject to Change). The meeting point is Greenhouse 1'. The whole paper was adorned with drawings of various magical plants scattered around to fill every gap such as Mandrakes, the Whomping Willow and Venomous Tentacula.

Clearly, George had succeeded in making his poster eye-catching since Neville's attention had immediately been encapsulated by it. The boy's eyes were scanning the entire page from top to bottom and a faint giddy smile appeared on his face, his initial reaction looked very promising. Unfortunately, Neville's enthusiastic expression waned as he looked back at George with a mixture of confusion and doubt.

"This doesn't make any sense. I've already checked and there isn't a Herbology Club, there hasn't been one for years", Neville asked.

Georgi's grin widened, "correction, there 'wasn't' a Herbology Club. Now there is."

Neville's eyes went wide, "you've started a new Herbology Club."

"Bang on Neville, that's exactly what I've done. As of this morning, we are the founding members of this brand new and highly prestigious botanical Club", George declared.

"We, as in you and I? How can I be a founding member, I didn't even know the club existed a few seconds ago?", Neville stated in a mixture of excitement and panic.

George nonchalantly waved his hand, "I have already talked to Professor Sprout and I 'may' have mentioned your name in the process of starting the club. She was really into the idea of starting another Herbology club since the last one had apparently lasted less than a year. One thing led to another and we became the founding members, it's an easy mistake to make when you think about it."

Neville looked like he was on the fence between being annoyed at George and being pleasantly surprised for being trusted with such an important responsibility. George had been quite productive this morning whilst talking to Sprout to ensure this club could be founded. He followed her out of the Great Hall after breakfast until she was about to enter one of the greenhouses. That was when he 'accidentally' ran into her.

What George didn't tell Neville was he used his meeting with Dumbledore as his main excuse to start the Herbology Club. George rehearsed the accident to Sprout and emphasize how his magic endangered the lives of his friends. He made it out as if it had put the fear of God in him and he had no desire to continue pursuing destructive magic. His personal experiences with the Hogwarts gardens were used to justify the need for a Herbology Club, he kind of pitched the club like PTSD therapy.

Of course, the fact there hadn't been a successful Herbology Club in the past helped win Sprout over, but there were a few caveats George had to overcome. She initially only allowed the club members access to Greenhouses One and Two. George wasn't willing to let this issue slide as he needed access to at least Greenhouses Three and Four. There was quite a bit of back and forth between the two of them before they settled on a compromise.

"If we're the founders, then who's that?", Neville asked whilst pointing at the bottom of the poster.

George looked down and saw the final bit of text written in the smallest black handwriting, 'Herbology Club President: Prefect Gemma Farley'. He had written it that small and hid it beside the colourful drawings on purpose so no one saw it unless they were looking for it, like the bad side-effects description on a pill bottle.

Gemma was the compromise, she was the only way the club could exist the way George intended. Sprout had been very obstinate about younger students being unsupervised so George offered her an ultimatum. He proposed the club would only have access to the other greenhouses when there was a Prefect present, that way their safety could be ensured without the need for a professor.

George proceeded to point at the name at the bottom of the paper, "that is our soon-to-be president Gemma. You haven't met her but she's really nice, you're gonna love her."

Neville looked a little confused, "why does the club have a fifth-year Prefect as president? Does she like Herbology too?"

"She's not as passionate as we are, but that doesn't matter. The important thing is that she provides us with a means to have access to every single greenhouse", George excitedly spouted.

Neville shrank back after hearing his suggestion, "I don't know if that's a good idea, maybe there's a reason the professors don't want us to go to those greenhouses. I'm sure that if it's just the two of us then it would be just as good. I don't think we need a Prefect, you could be president instead."

"We could start a club by ourselves, but it would end in disaster. Think about it Neville, who's going to take two first-years starting a new club seriously? We need a student with years of experience and social power to allow our club to flourish and prosper. I happened to be friends with a Prefect already, so that's why I made the executive decision to anoint Gemma as our club's president", George said passionately.

Neville bit his lip and looked to be in deep thought as he weighed up everything George had just said.

"Ok, I think I understand, but is it all worth it? I mean, it doesn't sound fun if we're just going to get picked on. Wouldn't it be for the best if we keep it to ourselves and not start a club in the first place", Neville suggested timidly.

George let out an exhausted sigh, "maybe you're right. Why make life harder than it needs to be? Perhaps it's for the best that we just keep things the way they are…".

During that critical moment in the conversation, three boys started walking down the corridor with loud footsteps. An air of prestige and confidence emanated from their body language as if the boys were walking around their own homes. George looked over Neville's shoulder and immediately recognised Draco and his goons walking down the corridor. Draco's face seemed to light up as he noticed George staring at him, his pace increased as he changed direction to walk directly towards George and Neville.

With a malicious smile, Draco said, "If it isn't the infamous Linweed. What a surprise it is seeing you loitering in the corridors. I would have thought you would have been expelled by now."

Although Draco was asking for a punch in the teeth, George wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of tasting his wrath.

George returned the smile and said pleasantly, "I was just as surprised as you are, Malfoy. Professor Dumbledore was remarkably lenient with his punishments. It seems that they'll let you get away with murder around here... figuratively of course."

George's expression may have been welcoming, but his eyes remained cold and dispassionate. There was a subtle hesitation from Draco after hearing George's response, but his attention was stolen by Neville turning around. Neville clearly recognised the voice and his facial expression once again returned to fear, his reaction seemed almost instinctual.

Any fleeting hesitancy left Draco, "Longbottom, I should have guessed that someone like you would be friends with this filth."

Draco looked down at the poster George was holding and scoffed derisively, "ha, starting a Herbology club, are we? You must be overwhelmed with applicants, can we join as well?"

Draco then started laughing condescendingly, Crabbe and Goyle took a few seconds to realise they were meant to be laughing along as well. The obvious and deliberate sarcasm wasn't nearly enough to elicit a reaction from George, but Neville didn't look comfortable in the slightest. An idea started to bloom in George's head and he realised that Draco's random encounter might work in his favour.

George stepped in front of Neville and confidently said, "sure you guys can join, the more the merrier."

Draco stopped sniggering and looked at George with a mixture of confusion and repulsion, "what did you just say to me?"

George maintained his carefree smile and gestured toward all three of them, "you are all welcome to join our brand new club. We welcome students from all houses. Our first meeting is on Wednesday at half past five, I'll look forward to seeing you there."

George looked a little giddy as he shouted, "oh, I can't wait to tell everyone that the famous Draco Malfoy is joining our club, it's bound to get us lots of attention."

The look of pure disgust on Draco's face made him look like he was about to be sick.

"You would never catch me stepping foot in your pathetic club, you filthy mudblood", Draco spat out before turning around and walking away.

His two gormless goons followed after him with confusion written across their chubby faces. George gingerly waved them goodbye as they rounded the corner, Draco didn't turn back to look at him even once. Then George turned around and saw Neville frowning whilst looking at the ground, he kept the same happy expression on his face to Neville's bewilderment.

"You shouldn't be happy, he called you a very bad name. Grandma told me to never call anyone that, no matter what", Neville said miserably.

"I'm not surprised", said George, "narrow-minded people tend to resort to name-calling when they've lost an argument."

Neville looked up at George, "what do you mean?"

George's smile faded slightly as he explained, "Draco wanted to belittle our club and make us feel embarrassed for starting it. I imagine he was hoping to make us give it up, he probably hates the idea of us having a little fun. By the looks of it, he was having the desired effect on you. Instead, I turned his criticism on its head and used it against him. That's why he insulted me and ran away, he simply couldn't think of a retort."

"But, how did you know that would work? Couldn't winding him up have made it a lot worse? Shouldn't you have let him finish and then he would have gone away anyway?", Neville asked.

George looked left and right suspiciously before stepping forward and putting his arm around Neville. In response, the feeble little boy shivered. George walked into the Library with Neville in his grasp and stood in a shaded alcove. It was surrounded by randomly assorted textbooks that nobody had shown any attention to for at least a decade. George let go of Neville and turned to face him with a very serious look.

"Now listen Neville because this is some of the most important advice a friend could ever give you. People like Draco are going to be around your entire life, they're always going to be trying to make your life harder. These bullies are usually suffering themselves and only feel better by dragging those around them down so their life doesn't seem so bad in comparison. They take your weaknesses and twist them against you until you start to hate yourself."

"If you choose to roll over and accept this treatment from these sick people, then one day you'll never feel happy again. That's unfortunately how the world works. I feel that deep down you know you want to be a part of this club, but you're scared of people like Draco and his friends ruining it for you. Maybe you think the bullying would only get worse. I imagine that they have already started bothering you, how else did they know you could be here?", George suggested.

"Well, actually I… erh I… It's not..", Neville weakly protested.

"Look, Neville. I'm not trying to say how you should deal with bullies, that's your decision to make. Hell, I wouldn't be opposed to you knocking Draco's teeth out, but the professors probably wouldn't approve. What I am offering is a good solution, the Herbology Club. What Draco saw as a weakness can be turned into a weapon if used correctly. I mean, we haven't even started yet and I've already managed to use the poster to scare Draco off."

"Imagine the leverage you'll have once we have more members, the bullies wouldn't dare come anywhere near you. Plus, you would have more like-minded friends to discuss Herbology with other than me. Therefore, I'm going to continue this club with or without you as a founder. But don't feel bad if you don't want to join. Just know that there will always be a reserved spot for you if you ever change your mind", George said with a hint of sadness before turning around to leave the dusty compartment.

Just as George stepped back into the light of one of the Library's many chandeliers, he heard a quiet voice from behind.

"I'll do it", Neville said with as much confidence as he could muster.

George turned around suddenly, startling Neville yet again, and ran back to him, "great, you had me worried there. It would have been a real pain to organise this club all by myself, I'm pretty much making it up as I go along. Now, all we have to do is tell Gemma the good news."

"Ok. Wait, what?", Neville responded whilst looking a bit disorientated.

George clicked his fingers together in realisation, "oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I haven't technically told Gemma she's president yet. It was kind of meant to be a surprise. It's a good thing that you joined, it'll make it a lot easier to convince her. She's in a bit of a 'mood' with me at the moment so it's probably for the best if we say that this club was your whole idea. Does that sound alright with you?"

"Erhhh, I don't know if", Neville mumbled incoherently.

"Fantastic, I knew you would be on the same page as me. She should be in the Library right now so we might as well go and see her. Just remember, it was all your idea. Oh, and if she sounds weirdly hostile, just ignore it. That's just Gemma being Gemma", George said before turning around and heading deeper into the Library.

Neville was forced to follow him or be at risk of being left behind in the dark and scary compartment.