Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I merely write Harry Potter fanfiction for enjoyment.

The Stars Outside

Neville gingerly stepped out of the carriage and looked around at the dark expanse of Hogwarts territory surrounding him. It was home: large, green, and misty. After staring for a while at the still beauty, he finally took a step forward and walked in the direction of the giant glowing castle that seemed to be waiting for just him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Neville glanced to his right, just barely suppressing a jump. Corkscrew earrings, strange pulsing flowers in her long blonde hair – it could only be Luna. She smiled at him, barely focusing on his face.

"Yeah. I'm so happy to be back," said Neville. His mouth grew into a smile. He could feel himself becoming more at ease the closer he got to Hogwarts, as if all his troubles were melting away. Hopefully sixth year would go well.

Luna nodded and looked up towards the castle, which was surrounded by beautiful twinkling stars.

"The stars remind me of Dumbledore," she laughed.

Neville looked up at the large black sky dotted with bright, twinkling lights and nodded in agreement. Luna could always make him see unexpected things.

They entered the Great Hall and suddenly Neville was overcome with the excitement buzzing through the air. Warmth spread through him the farther in he got, and he waved to Luna as they separated to their respective House tables.

Neville pushed and elbowed as lightly as he could through the crowd. His friend Ginny was sitting about halfway down the long red and gold table, which was covered in large, empty gold plates. His stomach growled as if crying for attention, and Neville held back a smile of excitement. He would soon be eating wonderful food off those shining gold plates.

Ginny stood up and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Neville reached her. "We thought we lost you!" she exclaimed.

Hermione and Ron were sitting across from Ginny. Their mouths were drawn tightly over their faces, and Ron kept touching his face and hair as if distracted. Neville immediately took a place at the table, and Ginny sat down next to him as she bit her lip.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked.

"We don't know where Harry is," said Hermione fervently.

"What? Wasn't he with you?"

Hermione shook her head. Her eyebrows were knit fiercely together, and she twitched anxiously. "No, we were busy with Prefect duties!"

Ron grunted awkwardly, and his arm jerked, almost as if thinking about patting Hermione on the back. He quickly stuffed his arm under the table, though, and thought better of it.

Neville would have smiled to himself at this event, but he was too focused on Harry.

"Could something really be wrong already? I thought the train would be safe!"

Ginny shook her head, and turned her body to glance around the room. She froze, and her eyes flashed, causing Neville to turn around. She was glaring at Draco across the Great Hall. He was whispering harshly in Blaise Zabini's direction - his hair askew from its normal slicked-back style. It almost looked as if he was out of breath and very angry.

Neville went to stand up, but Ginny stopped him with a hand on his arm. As he sat back down he said, "You don't think he did anything, do you?"

But before Ginny could answer, McGonagall let the Great Hall doors bang open and began leading in the first years. There were a small number of them this year, and Neville couldn't help but feel the whole Hall tense as they noticed this fact. Voldemort had everyone scared.

Neville looked at his three friends in earnest, watching as Hermione fidgeted and Ron glanced repeatedly to the Great Hall doors, which were closed once again. Ginny was even worse off than Ron, and kept biting her thumbnail and jiggling her legs. Although, Neville shouldn't have been so surprised – she did have a crush on Harry.

The Sorting was atrociously long. Neville was no longer thinking about food, and could only keep glancing down the table in the fruitless hope of finding Harry at the other end. It was all to no avail, though, and as McGonagall took away the stool and sorting hat, Neville found his hope waning.

With a creak, the Great Hall doors were opened again. The whole Hall swiveled around in their benches and stared with large eyes at the doors. It was Harry covered in spatters of blood down his front, and holding some cloth to his nose. Neville could hear Ginny and Hermione make the slightest squeaks of worry and relief. Why did he look like that?

With his head ducked down, he immediately made his way towards Ron and Hermione, who had saved him a spot just in case he came in late.

"What happened?" Hermione whispered.

"Later," said Harry under his breath. He was staring intently at Dumbledore, who had risen and made his way to the podium, despite Harry's intrusion.

Neville couldn't believe his eyes. Dumbledore seemed much different than he had a few months before. As he stared at the old wizened man, who had never quite looked wizened before, Neville could feel a chill pass over the whole Hall. There was something incredibly wrong.

Neville looked over at the Ravenclaw table, feeling eyes on his back. Luna was staring at him intensely. Her eyes quivered, and she blinked repetitively as if she was trying to hold back tears.

He had never seen her so scared in his life. And that was when he realized – Dumbledore's eyes looked nothing like the stars.

A-N: So it has been about a year and two months since I've left Fanfiction, and I think I might be coming back. This is the first piece I've written since before I left, and I think it' s a lot better than my old stuff. I hope you like it, but if not, that's fine as well. Please review – I'd like to know how much I've changed/grown in my writing and what I could do to improve it!