Jinx in the diary - 1

Hermione looked for Neville and Pansy in the crowd before she felt a hand on her shoulders.

"Don't worry Hermione. We are here." Neville said to the little lioness and Weasley's found Neville and Pansy suddenly appearing beside them.

"Oh, a good afternoon to you Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Hello, Hagrid!" Neville made the opening remarks.

"Oh! Hello Neville…I mean Lord Longbottom! You are also here for your books?" Arthur Weasley said while fixing his clothes.

"Of course. It was a nice fight though. I mean… no one can say you pack such a mean punch, Mr Weasley!" Neville laughed off the whole incident and Mrs. Weasley felt she should bury her head in a hole somewhere.

Not only did her husband manage to punch a Malfoy, one of the richest families in Wizarding World, but he did it in front of so many wizards. This behaviour, even for her, was too shameful. Even the Longbottom kid who has become a Lord now was behaving better than her husband.

She could only sigh at her situation. A husband who works late nights but earns little money. A job where he will never get a higher salary or even respect. Kids who are excellent in studies but have no interest in pursuing any good career.

The oldest ones have already left Britain to pursue their dreams even after being the best in their classes. And now, her youngest child, the only daughter, had to be dressed in second-hand robes to go to Hogwarts. It was on these occasions she really questioned her life decisions.

Keeping all these depressing thoughts to herself, she just gave a sweet smile to the Longbottom boy and gave a frightening glare to her twin sons lest they make some scene.

Harry was excited to meet Neville and Hermione; Hermione (without asking Neville) invited Harry to come with her to Neville's house.

Thankfully, he wanted to spend his holidays with Weasleys at Burrows. Neville had zero interest in bringing Harry and then the whole Weasleys with him to his Manor. In his eyes, Arthur Weasley might be a loving and caring family man but as a wizard, he was more or less a failure.

A pure-blood wizard with an old family history but wasted his life and talents in some poor ministry job. Plus, he never cared about money management or family management. What the hell he was thinking when he made so many little Weasleys is beyond his understanding. If only he had one or two kids, then he could have easily provided them with a better lifestyle.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Fred and George. Ginny, since this is the first meeting a cute little witch like you, this is a gift from me!" Neville decided to be fair to the little Weasley girl. Giving her a small pouch, Neville managed to 'borrow' the extra book in the cauldron when no one was looking at him.

Putting that book away silently, Neville decided to head back to his manor and said the final greetings to Weasleys and Hagrid. However, suddenly something clicked in his mind when he looked at the friendly half-giant Hagrid.

"Hagrid, tell me are you still working in Hogwarts?" Neville asked with burning curiosity.

"Of course! Though I am taking a little break. One of my friends, Aragog, passed away recently. Plus, all the nasty news in the papers somehow scared Professors so they decided to remove all his descendants from the black forest! They were unjustly punished without committing any crime!" Hagrid spoke with his thunderous voice that somehow turned into a weeping complaint in the end.

"Who is Aragog?" Ron asked innocently and Harry also looked with sympathy at his weeping friend.

"He was my first pet you know. A gentle soul. Never harmed anyone or did anything." Hagrid said in a low voice before taking out a huge handkerchief and blowing his nose.

"I think he is talking about the giant spider in the Forbidden Forest that was mentioned in the Daily Prophet. Eight eyed, eight legs the size of an elephant and some thirty or forty feet leg span. Right Hagrid?" Even though Neville knew who Aragog was, watching the expression of fear on Ron's face was worth it.

"Bullocks! That can't be right." Mr. Weasley simply felt Neville was talking rubbish but then Hagrid spoke "It was not forty or fifty feet. They just said that in papers to scare others you know. He was hardly fifteen feet in leg span."

Ron's face went pale before he tightly gripped the hand of his mother and dragged Ginny with him to move away from Hagrid. This half-giant was simply insane! Even Trolls will run away from an elephant-sized 15-feet leg span spider but this guy feels they are innocent and cute! He wants to keep them a pet!

Today he finally felt the horror of Hagrid! He made a mental note to stay away from this madman in future.

Not just Ron, hearing Hagrid everyone, even adults like Arthur and Molly had a different expression on their face. Coughing and distracting their thoughts, Neville spoke "Hagrid, if I offer you another job, will you be interested in it? You would have to leave Hogwarts for it."

Hagrid was confused at this sudden offer but still decided to enquire about it.

"What kind of job, Neville…I mean Lord Longbottom?" Hagrid tried to speak in a more formal tone.

"Ha…Nothing new just your old job of taking care of animals but this time, they are mainly young. They need more patience and care. I recently bought a new farm for our magical beasts, and they will be soon living there." Neville answered back hoping that Hagrid will seriously think about the job offer. He had been looking for dragon keepers and other animal caretakers for quite some time, but he was never quite comfortable with strangers taking care of his pets.

"Oh! What beasts have you got there on the farm?" Finding a common topic, Hagrid asked with more confidence in his voice.

"A young dragon girl. A Norwegian Ridgeback. I am also finding some other friends for her but for now, she is the only one there. However, she alone needs more than enough care and attention. Interested?" Neville had not even finished but he found himself tightly held by two very powerful and muscular hands.

"What did you say, Neville? A dragon? A living dragon!" Hagrid shook Neville front and back like a doll in his hand and Neville had to cast 'Immobilus' to freeze the giant before saving his life from his hands.

After escaping the hands of Hagrid and cursing the half-giant 1000 times in his head, Neville removed his spell.

"Clam down HAGRID! Yes, it is a dragon. Now, if you are interested, you can come to my manor. We will discuss your terms of employment there." Neville decided to finish this conversation later at his manor, in private, after finding Hagrid had more than enough enthusiasm for this opportunity.

Leaving the shocked Weasleys and a shy little Ginny behind, he bought Hermione and Pansy back with him to his manor.

"Winny?" He said out loud once he reached his manor and his loyal house-elf appeared at once.

"Yes, master."

"This is our new guest, Ms Hermione Granger. Please prepare a room for her and also send Dufus to her room to take a list of all things she needs from her home and then bring it back here. Do so at the earliest." Neville gave the necessary orders to his elf before bringing Hermione to meet his Nan.

No matter what, he must introduce a new guest in their manor to his Nan first. Hermione was so happy to come here finally and had a pleasant meeting with Lady Augusta. Later, Pansy dragged Hermione with her, and they both disappeared into her room.

Neville finding the perfect opportunity went silently to his study room and decided to check out the second Horcrux he found. However, the minute he opened the diary, he was hit by a strong jinx and was thrown several feet high up in the air.