A/N: So this little nugget came to me as I was writing chapter 6 of Professor Black and I just needed to share it. I own none of the characters or anything, just the plot.
Please R&R!
The Trouble With Gryffindors
Draco made his way down to the forbidden forest after classes were done on Tuesday afternoon. Hermione was off somewhere still grumbling about something that he had yet to figure out and so he had decided to let her stew for a bit before asking her what was going on. She might come to him with it soon anyway, he thought.
He wound through the trees on his way to Hermione's clearing, thinking about all of the ingredients he needed to collect for his latest potions assignment. As he rounded the boulder, he caught a glimpse of another person hunched over a particularly small patch of dittany. He quickly realized that it was Neville, and made his way over to where the Gryffindor was working.
"Hello Neville" he greeted the other young man, "how's the dittany work coming?"
"Oh, hi Draco" Neville replied, wiping his hands on his trousers. "It's coming along well enough. I've tried several combinations with it for different healing poultices, but I can never seem to get the combination quite right. Dittany is amazing on it's own, but if I can just find the right combination of plants, I bet I can double its effectiveness." He crouched back down and started pulling several leaves away from the small stalks.
"Double its effectiveness?" Draco asked surprised, crouching down next to Neville. "But dittany already has such amazing healing powers, what have you tried mixing it with?"
Neville turned and grinned at him, passing him a small piece of parchment before going back to his task. On it was a hand drawn chart with notes written in neat print in many of the boxes. Draco realized he was looking at Neville's attempts at improving the effectiveness of dittany. There were many additional notes all around the outside of the chart, detailing changes that had been made to an original combination and its effects.
"Wow Neville" Draco commented still looking down at the chart. "This is intense. Have you made these combinations into potions, or only into poultices?"
Neville finished what he was doing and stood back up.
"Just poultices so far" he said stretching his arms over his head. Draco caught himself looking as Neville's shirt lifted with his arms and exposed a section of his midriff, which he quickly tore his eyes away from, looking back at the parchment in his hands. "I wanted to try each combination in its raw form before making those kinds of property changes."
Draco thought about that for a moment, scanning down the chart one last time. Keeping each plant in its original form may keep the properties the same, but potions had the added benefits of anchoring ingredients in a medium that may then in turn amplify their effects.
"That's a good place to start" he said honestly to the taller wizard, "but if you wanted any help in amplifying the effects of these combinations even more, I can give you hand with the potions part." He paused for a moment, looking into Neville's face and seeing the excitement there. "I know that potions has never been your best subject, but I have a book I got from my godfather that I think could help you quite a bit."
Neville's eyes widened in excitement.
"Really?" he asked excitedly. "I've always been dreadful at potions. That's the second reason I've stuck to poultices so far in my trials." He took a step closer to Draco and leaned in the point out a particular section of the chart that had been circled. Draco froze as Neville's shoulder brushed against his.
"This particular combination here seemed very promising, but I couldn't get the quantities right." He ran a hand through his hair tiredly, reaching out to take the parchment from Draco. "Maybe sticking to poultices wasn't the best choice."
Draco folded the parchment in half before handing it over. Neville's fingers brushed across the back of his his hand for a brief moment as the parchment changed hands and they both froze at the contact.
Draco looked up into Neville's face and saw the blush that had started to colour his cheeks.
"Sorry" he muttered pulling his hand away. Draco started to answer when he noticed the several cuts in various stages of healing running up Neville's exposed forearm. He reached out and snatched Neville's wrist.
"What are all these?" he demanded seriously, looking back into Neville's face.
Neville grimaced a little sheepishly, grabbed Draco's hand to remove it from his wrist, and pulled his sleeve back down over the exposed skin. Draco's breathing hitched as Neville's hand briefly covered his own.
"How else do you expect me to test the effectiveness of my poultices?" he said quietly. "They won't do anything for healthy skin."
"That's not the point Neville" Draco said, trying to regain his focus. "You can't just cut yourself to ribbons testing dittany every day, that could get dangerous." He reached out to grab Neville's arm again but the Gryffindor pulled away, blushing again as he did so.
"Do you at least have your results from these written down?" he asked quietly.
Neville nodded, not looking up at him.
"Then let me heal them properly" he said earnestly, taking out his wand and holding his hand out. "Please?"
"Okay" Neville replied, pulling his sleeve back up for Draco to be able to see. "I'm not great at healing charms either, that's why I've been so focused on this." His eyes lit up as he spoke, clearly passionate about the research he was conducting. "Dittany is used for things that Episkey isn't enough for, so if I can improve its effectiveness, imagine what it could d-" He broke off as Draco gently took his wrist again and raised his wand.
Draco had to focus his energy on the cuts in front of him, rather than the warm skin under his fingers. He then spoke the incantation, watching as the healing cuts disappeared completely.
"Why didn't the dittany heal these completely?" he wondered aloud as Neville pulled his arm away again. "They're pretty small. My Episkey got rid of them in a snap, but I guess they were already mostly healed."
"Err…" Neville mumbled, looking away again.
Draco realized immediately why Neville was so shy about the cuts and looked back up at him.
"How did you make these?!" he demanded quickly. "Have you been banishing bits of yourself to test your bloody plant concoctions?!" He stepped around and in front of Neville, forcing him to look into his face.
Neville blushed again, looking down at his hands.
"How else was I supposed to test them?" he repeated quietly. "If I had just made regular cuts, plain dittany would have healed them faster than you can blink. My data would have been all skewed."
"Neville!" Draco exclaimed, "that's way too dangerous! What if you had accidentally banished too much?! You would have bled out before anyone could get to you!" His cheeks felt hot all of a sudden and his heart was beating madly. Concern for the tall Gryffindor flared in his chest and he suddenly couldn't control himself. He reached out to grasp Neville's shoulders. "You reckless Gryffindor!"
Neville stepped away from him suddenly, his breathing fast and his face and ears bright red.
"It's not that big a deal" he said quickly, turning to walk away. "I'll be careful. You don't need to worry about me."
Draco didn't respond to him right away, putting his hands in his pockets and taking a calming breath.
"Right, well let me know if you want that book I mentioned and I'll bring it down to the common room for you." He turned to walk in the direction of the asphodel he had originally come into the forest for.
"Yeah, thanks" Neville said from behind him, "I'll see you later."
Draco didn't turn around to watch him leave. He knew that Neville would be striding away, putting as much distance between them as possible. Draco himself was unsure how to interpret what had just happened. When their hands had touched, Draco's heart had skipped a beat and he was sure that the blush on Neville's cheeks had meant that he wasn't the only one.
His reaction to Neville's injuries didn't seem entirely normal either. Concern for the other wizard had caused him to react much more strongly than he usually would have, and he was confused about how intense those feelings of concern were.
He stopped in front of the asphodel and crouched down to find a healthy stalk. As he rummaged between the plants looking for the right one, he thought to himself that it must have just been a one off, an accident that would probably never happen again, nothing to worry about. In fact, he was sure that Neville would never bring it up, and so he had nothing to worry about.
Neville asked him the next morning if he could borrow the book, and Draco was hardly surprised that he didn't look him in the eye once as they spoke. This could get awkward. Draco thought as he ascended the stairs to his room to retrieve the book. Maybe I should talk to him about it so that things can go back to normal. He found the book exactly where he had left it on the bookshelf next to his bed. He slid it from its place and headed back down to the common room.
"Here you go Neville" he said, passing the book to the tall Gryffindor.
"Thanks" Neville replied quietly. "I'll do my best to get this back to you quickly, I'm sorry to be such a bother." He reached out to carefully take the book and Draco noticed how the taller wizard's cheeks flushed again. I guess it is kind of cute, how he blushes, he thought as Neville turned and headed for the portrait hole, thanking him once more.
"Oh dear" he said out loud to himself as the portrait hole closed behind Neville. This might be more than he thought. He turned and headed back upstairs to think, he needed to figure this out.
Over the next few days, Draco and Neville had hardly spoken, even during their usual meal times at the Hufflepuff table with Hermione, Ginny, and Luna. Draco thought he might run into the taller wizard in the clearing after classes, but it seemed that the Gryffindor was avoiding him. As the days passed, Draco thought more and more about what had happened between them beside the dittany patch.
The more he thought about it, the more obvious it became. He found Neville attractive. Whether it was Neville's immense knowledge of magical plants and their properties that attracted him, or the delicate way the Gryffindor blushed when they touched, Draco wasn't sure. What he was sure of, was that Neville's blush and avoidance told Draco everything he needed to know about how their contact had affected him.
His own intense concern for the tall young man made it even more clear that his attraction went more than skin deep. He sat in the eighth year common room one evening thinking about it when Hermione had flopped into the armchair across from him earlier that evening, moaning and groaning about his aunt. Draco knew that she must have something more going on than she was willing to share. A personal something. After she had sped off in search of Ginny, Draco thought about Neville, how awkward things had been, and how he also had a personal something he needed to deal with. As he sat there, staring into the dying flames, an idea came to him and he grinned to himself. Yes, he was a cunning Slytherin, and he had a plan.
Disillusionment charms had never been his strong suit, but in the days leading up to the full moon, Draco had practiced diligently until he could pass through the common room without anyone turning their head in his direction.
When the night of the full moon arrived, Draco waited until it was only himself and Neville left sitting in the common room. He rose to his feet, yawning loudly.
"Well" he stated, "it's pretty late, I guess I'll head off to bed. See you in the morning Neville."
"Good night" Neville said awkwardly, not looking up from his books and chart.
Draco rolled his eyes and made his way to the dormitory staircase. As soon as he was out of sight, he cast his disillusionment and then turned back around. Not a moment after he had re-entered the room, Neville packed up all of his things, banished them away, presumably to his desk, and then turned and headed out the portrait hole. Gryffindors, he thought, were entirely too predictable.
Draco followed as quietly as he could, picking his way carefully over the stone floor with measured steps. He followed Neville all the way down to the main castle doors but was surprised when Neville headed in the opposite direction from the clearing.
He followed Neville down to the black lake and paused in the trees to figure out how he would follow the tall wizard out onto the stone shoreline. As he thought about it, he realized that he could simply follow him along the outside of the lake from the trees, and turned to do so, trying not to lose track of the Gryffindor's progress.
About a third of the way around the lake, Neville moved back into the trees and Draco panicked for a moment, worried that he would be unable to watch where Neville was going. Suddenly, there was the shine of a lit wand between the trees ahead of him and Draco crept forward as quietly as he could, hoping to catch up to Neville.
As he got closer, Draco realized that Neville was standing under a massive tree, shining his light on the ground underneath him. It was Neville's oak tree, that he had mentioned at breakfast a few weeks before. So this was where his stash of fluxweed was hiding, Draco thought to himself. He would have to remember this place for the next time he needed to make any polyjuice potion.
He stopped a good distance away from Neville and watched as he carefully collected the fluxweed that was exposed to the most moonlight. He sighed as Neville stood up and turned to face the moon, his features lit up in its glow. Yes, he was definitely attracted to Neville Longbottom. Now was his chance to make a move.
He took a step towards the tall wizard but had not been paying attention. A twig snapped under his heel and he froze where he was, hoping his disillusionment was good enough.
Neville's wand light immediately went out and Draco knew he'd blown his chance. He stood stock still, waiting for Neville to leave so that he could sulk back up to the castle. As he waited, he realized that he hadn't heard a sound since Neville's wand light had gone out. He strained his ears and turned his head trying to locate the Gryffindor but he couldn't hear a thing.
"Finite" came the whispered word from directly behind him and he gasped as he felt his disillusionment vanish along with a wand tip being pressed into the side of his neck
"Neville?" he questioned quietly, as his heart beat triple time against his rib cage. Who knew those long limbs could move so quietly? And how did Neville know where he was?
"Draco?" came the questioned response as the wand tip was removed from his neck. "What are you doing out here with a disillusionment charm on? Lumos." His wand tip lit up once more and Draco had to shield his eyes.
"Err…" he stuttered lamely. "I was following you. But only because I wanted to talk!" He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "I know you've been avoiding me Neville, and I want to talk about it." He looked up into Neville's face, trying to gauge his reaction.
"If you wanted to talk, why didn't you just come talk to me?" he asked slowly, eyeing Draco suspiciously.
Draco dropped his hands to his sides and he flexed them a couple times to reassure himself.
"Because I knew you'd avoid the topic" he stated simply. "And I think you know why."
Neville dropped his gaze and turned away from the shorter blonde.
"Of course I know why" he said quietly. "I know you saw how I reacted when our hands touched that day, and I wanted to avoid having to hear you say that you didn't want to talk to me anymore." His shoulders slumped and he took a few steps away from Draco. "You didn't have to follow me out into the forest at night to tell me I'm disgusting, I knew that much myself." He turned to look sadly at Draco before turning back around and taking another step. "I'll stop sitting near you at the Hufflepuff table, I don't want to make you more uncomfortable." He started walking away and Draco had to react quickly to catch up and grab him by the wrist.
"Wait Neville" he said hurriedly. "How are you Gryffindors always so self sacrificing, noble, and clueless all at the same time?" he asked quietly. "You're not disgusting, Neville. Please, don't walk away." He pulled on Neville's wrist, silently asking him to turn around.
Neville turned and looked at him with hurt in his eyes.
"I'm sorry" he said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it any more. I'll see you later." He pulled his wrist free of Draco's grasp and strode quickly back through the trees towards the castle.
Draco watched him walk away, cursing the infamous Gryffindor martyrdom. He would have to go about this in a different way if he wanted Neville to see that he was interested in him. He would also have to get Neville to see that there was nothing wrong with liking another wizard. He was helping Hermione with the same issue after all, how hard could it be?
He spent the following Saturday in the library, searching for any books that might give him some leverage with Neville. There were pureblood history books all throughout the library at Malfoy Manor that discussed the topic, surely there would be one at Hogwarts.
As he sat poring over a particularly large book, a misty voice spoke from beside him.
"Hello Draco" Luna said serenely. "What are you researching?"
He turned to look into her big blue eyes and sighed.
"I'm trying to find information on pureblood customs" he told her vaguely. The last thing he needed was Luna going to anyone else about what was going on between himself and Neville.
"Because of your feelings for Neville?" she asked him bluntly. "Or because of Neville's feelings for you?"
Draco spluttered at her, wide eyed.
"How did you-?" he asked her dumbly.
"Oh don't worry" she replied. "I'm quite sure no one else has noticed, but I think it's wonderful." She flipped the pages of the book in front of him to the chapter on marriage. "Neville is scared that liking another wizard makes him broken or defective, which he believes is unacceptable in his grandmother's eyes." She turned to look at him again and he felt as if she was looking straight through him. "He's also a Gryffindor, which means that nothing short of a grand gesture that puts your heart on the line will be enough to convince him, but that's just my two pence. See you later Draco."
She turned and walked towards the magical creatures section and Draco stared after her, entirely thrown off by the Ravenclaw's interruption. A grand gesture was not what he had had in mind, but supposed that made perfect sense when he thought about it. He looked down at his book, getting back to his research. He would have to start planning again.
Neville was sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast on Sunday morning when a large eagle owl flew down and landed directly in front if him. It stood regally and held its leg out for him to remove the roll of parchment that had been tied there.
He reached out to take it and gave the owl a bit of his bacon as thanks. It spread its massive wings and took off back towards the windows at the top of the Great Hall.
He carefully unrolled the parchment and another piece fell out onto his plate. He brushed it off and looked at the contents. In small but beautiful cursive, a single sentence had been written. Meet me in the astronomy tower tonight at 11. He stared at the single line, knowing exactly who it would be from, even if there was no name on the note.
He looked over at the other piece of parchment and started reading it. It contained a list of quotes from several books about wizarding society's views on relationships between wizards. His eyes widened as he read them, another blush creeping up over his cheeks. Cursing his overactive blood vessels, he looked over to the Hufflepuff table but Draco was nowhere to be seen.
He rolled the parchment up and stood to leave. The Slytherin was being surprisingly bold, and Neville was unsure of how to react. He decided that he needed to spend some time in the greenhouses to clear his head, and headed in the direction of the main doors.
The astronomy tower was glowing warmly with the light of the several dozen candles Draco had spent an hour setting up and shuffling around so that they were placed just right. He stood at the centre of them all, hands on hips, wondering whether what he had done would be enough. He had placed a blanket just to his left that had several kinds of fruit on a tray placed carefully on it. There was also a bottle of elvish wine chilling next to the blanket with two glasses sitting beside it.
"This is absolutely not the way a Slytherin would do this" he muttered to himself casting a quick tempus to see how long he had to wait. 10:57. Not long at all.
He was wrong. Twenty minutes later, Neville still hadn't arrived. Draco paced back and forth, growing more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by. Finally, he walked to the railing to look out over the grounds. He pounded his hand against the railing.
"Argh!" he exploded. "I knew this was stupid! I knew he wouldn't come. You're an idiot Draco Malfoy." He turned back to the tower to start clearing things away.
"I almost didn't" Neville said from the top of the stairs. Draco's head snapped around to see him standing there. "What is all this, Draco?" he asked timidly.
"Err, well" he stuttered. "It's a grand gesture?" he offered awkwardly. He stepped into the middle of the tower and looked over everything he had placed around the small space, suddenly embarrassed by everything he had done.
"I don't know what I was thinking" he said slowly. "This was a stupid idea. You don't have to stay." He turned away from Neville to start cleaning up.
His progress was stalled when Neville reached out to take his hands.
"I think it's amazing Draco" he said quietly, not letting go of Draco's hands. "I can't believe you would do all this."
"Yes well, I wanted to show you that I meant what I said." Draco looked up into Neville's eyes and saw the emotions swirling there. "You aren't disgusting Neville, I think you're amazing."
"Draco, what are you sayi-" He was silenced by the blonde's lips crashing into his and he froze for a moment as the feeling of Draco kissing him sank into his shocked brain. His eyes slid shut and he melted into the shorter wizard, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing him back. They kissed for what seemed like forever, finally breaking apart when the need for air called for it.
"Wow" Neville breathed, leaning his forehead into Draco's. "Umm, what does this mean though?" he asked quietly.
"It means I like you too, you clueless Gryffindor." Draco smirked at him, then leaned up to steal another kiss. "So much for talking about it."
Neville hummed in response, holding onto Draco tightly.
Neville leaned away a few moments later, a small crease wrinkling his brow.
"What is it?" Draco asked, turning to face him.
"What are we going to tell people?" Neville asked him. "What will people think? What will your father think?"
Draco looked at him calmly.
"I don't care" he stated. "I care about you, I want to see where this goes, if you do."
Neville took a deep breath.
"Yeah, I do" he replied. "I'm only worried about one thing."
"What's that?" Draco asked him.
"What are we going to tell the girls?"
Draco smiled at him, thinking of Luna.
"I'm not worried about it."