DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling.

title: Not Gryffindor
by: The Rose in Death's Garden
written for: Eye Greater Than Three, for the HPFC Monthly Fic Exchange (July 2017)
pairing: Neville/Luna
prompt: Different House AU, friendship

Eleven year old Neville Longbottom was so nervous he nearly tripped as he made his way up to the stool to try on the Sorting Hat. He was afraid of being put in the wrong house, of being put in a house that wouldn't want to have him in it, of being put somewhere that he wouldn't be able to make any friends. But most of all he was afraid of being sorted into Gryffindor, the house that both of his parents had been in, where he would continue to not live up to anyone's expectations of him because the rest of his family always held him up to the standards of Frank and Alice.

Not Gryffindor, not Gryffindor, Neville begged silently as he lowered the Sorting Hat down onto his head.

Not Gryffindor? the Sorting Hat whispered in the young wizard's mind.

Neville jerked and almost fell off the stool. He knew the Sorting Hat talked but he didn't know it could read his mind and hearing it speak to him telepathically was the most startling thing that had happened to him all day. (And he had fallen in the lake earlier!)

Not Gryffindor, Neville confirmed, since the hat had politely waited for him to get his bearings and answer. Anywhere but there.

Anywhere? the Sorting Hat replied speculatively.

Neville wasn't sure he liked that tone of voice and almost went back on what he'd told the hat, but on second thought he decided to back up what he'd decided and replied with a confidence he did not quite feel, Yeah. Anywhere.

He braced himself to be put in Hufflepuff, to be bullied and rejected by the other houses since that was where the losers who didn't fit any other house ended up as well the true Hufflepuffs. Maybe Slytherin since he was pureblood, but he sincerely doubted that the Sorting Hat would actually put him there.

So he was entirely surprised when the Sorting Hat shouted: "RAVENCLAW!"

Neville turned out to be not your typical Ravenclaw. He neither enjoyed nor excelled at most of the subjects of his classes, although the few that did particularly interest him he excelled at.

Somehow he made it through that first year at Hogwarts and when he came back for his second year, being back at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall felt more like coming home than going back to his grandmother's house for the summer had.

Neville was excited to watch the first years being sorted and see which of the new faces would end up joining his house. And when a certain Luna Lovegood wandered over the table after her sorting, he could tell immediately that she was not going to fit the typical Ravenclaw mold either.

Neville wasn't very good at making friends and wasn't really sure how to go about it. He hadn't made very many in his first year and he wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up with the ones he did get. But one thing was for sure, he had decided that he was going to be this girl's friend.

"Welcome to Ravenclaw," Neville said, scooting over to make room for Luna beside him on the bench. "I'm Neville Longbottom. I hope we can be friends."

Was that how these things worked? He hoped he didn't sound like an idiot...

He was relieved when Luna smiled and said in a dreamy voice, "That sounds lovely."