Hermione shuffled out of charms class. Malfoy knocked past her purposely, resulting in Hermione tripping and dropping her books. They ran off laughing, making a big L for loser, directing it at her.

"Just ignore them. They're just being stupid and idiotic," Harry comforted her, while they reached down to collect the books. Suddenly, an extra pair of hands appeared picking things up. She looked up to see who the hands belonged to, and found the face of Neville Longbottom. He looked quite flustered and breathy and Hermione, Ron and Harry couldn't help notice the blood on his hand.

"Oh, um, hi Neville," she mumbled. "Are you alright? What happened to your hand?" Neville handed the last books that were on the ground on top of her pile. He looked at her.

"I'm fine. Just tripped."

"Why were you in such a rush to pick her things up?" Ron questioned him.

"Sure, act like I'm not here…" Hermione muttered under her breath. "I do have a name you know, Ron," she added.

"I just… thought you might need a hand, Hermione," Neville said, turning to her, all the boys totally ignoring what she just said. "Those dirt bags over there. I honestly hate them for doing that. I'm so annoyed by them. How dare they do that to my friend?" Neville was extremely angry by now and very red in the face.

"Well… um… thanks for… eh… looking out for me Neville. Uh… and em… picking up my books." Neville gave her a short, quick nod. Hermione swayed awkwardly from side to side waiting for someone to say something, anything. Luckily, Professor McGonagall came from behind them.

"Granger, Potter, Weasly and Longbottom it's well past the beginning of lunch, so I would suggest you go to the great hall now?" she told them firmly but added a little smile.

"Absolutely, Professor McGonnagall," Hermione replied sweetly, gesturing the others to follow her to the hall.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table. Hermione read a book on enemy spells ; she wanted to be ready in case she ever had to defend herself. Harry tapped her shoulder and cocked his head towards the other end of the table. She looked in the general direction, and spotted Neville, gazing into space with a dreamy look on his face. He was leaning on his hand and his elbow was starting to slide down the edge of the table. Suddenly, there was a huge SPLASH and a CRASH as the pumpkin juice bowl spilled and fell on the floor. Some people shrieked, some people laughed. As for Crabbe – well he was furious.

"UGH, NEVILLE! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CLUMSY?" he shouted at him. Neville just looked shocked. Clearly he had no idea that he was about to knock over the bowl.

"Um, I will fix it … uh look!" Neville tries to cast a cleaning spell, which just creates a cloud with rain pouring out over Crabbe's head. Crabbe started shrieking.

How on Earth can you mix up a simple cleaning spell? Hermione wondered. She felt a pang of guilt. Neville was in trouble and all she was doing was criticizing him. Remember how he helped you? she thought. Well… friends are friends…

"Hey, Crabbe? Back off." She waved her wand and caused him to fly up and plummet down to the floor with a huge bang. Guess those enemy spells came in handy quicker than she thought. "Haha, don't worry the pain will wear off by the end of the day." She smiled and heard the applause from behind her.

"HERMIONE GRANGER!" screamed Professor Snape from behind her.

Oh no…