Bright Side
You and she grow up on the bright side of the Burrow, lying shoulder to shoulder in the gold, sun-dappled grass and staring at the clouds. You point out animals in the fleecy white and make all the noises until she laughs so hard she cries, and when night falls you count the constellations and she tells you stories about flying so far up you can touch the stars.
She's your best friend, and her first year, you nearly lose her when she nearly loses herself. And when she's dreaming of ink and drowning in the aftermath, you sit up with her nights, and it's the fire and your stories that keep away her dark until she finally, finally falls to restful sleep on your shoulder.
She builds herself back up on shattered foundations, and though she's got sharper edges now, you realize when you take her to the Yule Ball that her fused fragments are more beautiful than anyone else's unbroken whole. But other people notice too, and in no time she has a boy on her arm and a dozen waiting in the wings. You remember her stories about flying and think wryly that plenty of boys have fallen for Ginny Weasley, but you've definitely hit the ground the hardest.
Soon Harry's figured it out too, and you think that he may be some kind of savior, but he's definitely slow on the uptake, and that makes you want to laugh until you remember that she's always carried a torch for him. And though you kind of wanted to strangle Dean before, now you just feel sorry for him, because he's playing with fire and it's going to hurt when he gets burned.
She's with Harry three months later, and they're the golden couple, and you stumble upon them on the bright side of Hogwarts, lying in the sun-dappled grass and doing more than staring at clouds, and it breaks your heart in a thousand places.
He breaks her heart three weeks later, and that crushes the pieces of yours underfoot.
When the Carrows make the castle a prison, you stay up with her nights again, planning and talking and occasionally laughing. And sometimes when things get bad she curls up in your four-poster, and even though it's not you in her head, it's her in your bed, and that's enough for happiness somehow.
Harry comes back, though, just like you always knew he would. And she goes running back to him, just like you always knew she should. Because the hero always gets the girl, and he's Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived grown Man-Who-Conquered, and you're just ordinary Neville Longbottom, and you've never been anybody's hero.
"Neville?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't know if you remember, but last night, you…well, you saved my life."
…
"What's your name again?"
"Hannah. Hannah Abbott."
Author's Note: The idea for this came out of nowhere, and I wrote it more quickly than I've ever written anything before. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Please leave a review!