Author's Note: Hi there! This is (evidently) the first fic I've ever fully committed to publishing on here, so it may be a little bit rough and I'm hoping it gets better as I continue and I hope you can enjoy it nonetheless or at least leave me some thoughts on how I can improve :)

Ginny and Neville are two characters I positively adore. I've always kind of loved the idea of exploring their friendship and its development, so this is going to be a series of oneshots exploring that. Right now, I plan to write a total of 5, but that's subject to change. Thank you thank you thank you for reading!


New Beginnings

Ginny wandered up and down the corridor of the train looking for a compartment that was either remotely empty or at least had a familiar face in it. Ron had already kicked her out and she was growing increasingly frustrated. Last year she made Fred and George let her sit with them and Lee Jordan despite their reluctance, but at least they'd understood that she had been nervous. Now she had no idea where the twins were and she knew Percy was up in the prefect's car, likely trying to find some time to snog Penelope.

She passed Dean Thomas sitting with Seamus Finnigan and the Padma twins, but she really didn't know them well enough to intrude.

Ginny had been hoping Ron would let her join him, Hermione, and Harry. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt increasingly anxious at the thought of going back to Hogwarts. She didn't share the same excitement of returning as the rest of them did. She worried about dark corridors and strange voices and stumbling across dark magic. She worried about the looks people would give her and the whispers she'd hear behind her back as she walked by herself and struggled to get caught up with her classes. She missed so much last year that she knew she was behind. She spent too much time pouring herself into an untrustworthy friend to make any others.

She spotted a head of sandy hair and knocked on the door as she slid it open. "Neville?" Ginny asked, and the boy turned his head from the window with a welcoming smile. She felt a small bit of relief. "You mind if I sit here?"

Neville shook his head a motioned to the seat across from him. "Help yourself. Have a good summer?"

Ginny smiled back at him and shrugged as she took her seat, letting the door slide close behind her. "We went to Egypt to visit Bill. He's a Cursebreaker. So that was pretty cool, I guess."

"You guess? I spent my whole summer with Gram. I think the most exciting thing I did was go to Diagon Alley to get my books for this year," he laughed, and Ginny did too.

They engaged in only polite small talk for a while, but Ginny felt grateful for it. It kept her mind off of things, and more importantly she felt appreciative that he didn't treat her like a broken child. He didn't talk down to her, nor did he seem slightly hesitant around her in the way most of her other classmates had been since they found out about the Chamber of Secrets. He spoke to her like a normal person, just as he would anyone else. She didn't know him very well, but he had been one of the few people who talked to her own occasion last year. If she was sitting alone in the common room, he'd come by and sit with her just for a little while to give her someone to talk to. Early on she learned that he wasn't the type most people wanted to be caught hanging out with, but she didn't see why not. Sure, he was a little pudgy, a bit of a klutz, and maybe magic didn't come as easily to him as it did some, but he had always been perfectly kind to her, and the more she talked to him she learned that he was funny too.

Soon they both fell quiet, watching the landscape pass them as they stared out the window. Ginny's thoughts drifted back to Hogwarts. Unlike Neville, she knew most people were going to treat her differently. Making friends would be even harder now, surely. She imagined scenarios of Tom somehow finding her by other means, even though Dumbledore had told her that Harry had destroyed that piece of him, and that it couldn't hurt her now. Maybe he'd be there as some sort of ghost that only she could see, taking control of her in the middle of the night and-

"You alright, Ginny?" Neville was looking at her, his expression gentle and she just now realized she her knees had pulled up into her chest and her teeth had chewed the nail of her thumb to a nub.

"Yes," she answered easily, quickly straightening herself back out and feeling a light warmth come to her cheeks. When she glanced back at him, she hesitated. She could see he didn't buy her lie. "I'm nervous," she admitted after a moment, her voice quiet as she stared at the floor.

"Of course you are," he said simply, and Ginny looked up at him in surprise, feeling mildly offended. Neville looked back at her steadily, a reassuring smile on his lips. "That's normal, Ginny. I'd be shocked if you weren't." She blinked at him and he leaned forward. "You're not weak for feeling this way. A horrible thing happened to you last year. I'd be scared out of my wits if I were in your place. But this year will be better, and you know that."

She certainly hoped so. Ginny mulled this over, paying special to attention to her hands in her lap. His words did somehow lessen the dread she was feeling. He made her feelings sound validated, instead of weak like she'd been all last year. She hated being weak.

"And don't worry about the others, alright? Soon enough they'll get over it, and then they'll see you for how great you are. I know I'm not exactly cool or anything, but if it means anything to you, I think you're pretty awesome. It won't take long for everyone else to see that too."

It did mean something to her, and she wished her words could express that more. "Thank you, Neville." She lifted her focus with a smile that stretched across her cheeks.

"I mean it. You're going to do great this year."

They fell quiet once more, Ginny returning her attention to her window as Neville closed his eyes to catch a last minute nap before they arrived in Hogsmeade.

"Hey Neville?"

"Hm?"

"If it means anything to you, I think you're pretty awesome too."

His smile told her it did.