Neville Longbottom cursed inwardly as his potion blew up in his face. The explosion attracted attention, including Snape's. Slytherins sniggered, but the rest could be heard sighing. Another potion screwed up by Longbottom, the poor excuse for a wizard. It was becoming part of everyone's daily life, really. During Potions Class Neville would screw up the Potion at least once, and Gryffindor would lose points, thirty maybe, or fifty, depending on Snape's mood.

"Longbottom," Snape said maliciously. "Detention tonight. Go to my office immediately after dinner. As for now, thirty points from Gryffindor." All the Gryffindors groaned and glared at Snape, and a few glared at Neville. Another day in the life of Neville Longbottom, the loser whose only good subject was Herbology, something almost everyone thought was easy.

But his gran always told him to ignore the mean things other people said about him. His gran. No one listened to their grannies anymore, except him of course. Not because he was a ninny, like everyone said, but because his gran was the only person he had. But no one understood that. So he had learned to pretend everything was okay, when in fact, his life was a complete and utter shitheap. But hey, it was alright, or that was what he continuously told himself.

Potions ended soon enough. It was the last subject for the week, and dinner would be served in about an hour, so he had free time on his hands. He decided to spend that one hour in his dorm, writing in his diary. It was the only way he could express his feelings, express the depression he felt.

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Pansy Parkinson walked out of the Slytherin common room angrily. She was so sick of everything. She hated Draco Malfoy, she hated Blaise Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle...all the guys of Slytherin. Why did they always have to taunt her? Have you had a good fuck lately, Pansy? Nice ass, Pansy! I'll pay you a galleon to hump Potter!

Everyone was such an asshole, and she had had enough. She was so fucking tired of all the catcalls and the gossip, she hated everything. She was sick of being known as the whore, the slut of the school. She was going to change, and she was going to give everyone who had teased her a taste of his own medicine. She smirked at the thought. Yes…but what could she do?

She sighed. It would be impossible to get back at the whole male seventh year population. Maybe she would do something to prove that she wasn't a slut. Something impressive, like getting a high grade. Or 100 in something, anything. What was the easiest subject in school? Maybe she could aim to get 100 in that. That would show them…Herbology. Who was good at Herbology? Longbottom. Her lip curled in disgust. Longbottom. She couldn't stand the bugger. He was a wimp, and she was surprised he hadn't landed in Hufflepuff.

Oh well. No time to worry about that now. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? She needed Longbottom's help. But he was reasonably smart, wasn't he? He knew better than to associate with people like her. Aside from being known as the slut, she was considered as the most dangerous, cunning girl in the school. How would she get him to help her? She contemplated this for a while. Maybe she could strike up a deal! A deal. Perfect. But did she have something he wanted? What did a loser like Longbottom want? She also thought about this. But she came up with an answer. She smirked. She knew what she could offer, something she had too much of, something that he couldn't resist.

Popularity.

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Neville made his way out of the Potion's classroom. Detention was over. All he needed to do was clean cauldrons without magic. Nothing new. He yawned, he was really tired. He stopped in front of the Fat Lady, and was about to say the password, when he heard someone calling his name.

"Neville…oh, Neville………"

A little creeped out, he replied. "Who's there?"

"Neville….follow….me…."

"How the hell am I supposed to follow you when I can't see you-"

Then, a cloaked figure emerged, and started to walk briskly. Neville had to run to keep it in sight. Why the hell was he following it anyway? It might be a trap of some sort. But curiosity got the better of him, and he followed it into the library, though he was very hesitant. What if Filch or Mrs. Norris caught him? How would he defend himself? "Oh, sorry sir, I was just following some cloaked figure at midnight into the library for fun!" He would sound mad.

The cloaked figure led him to the far end of the library, where another cloaked figure sat. It was a trap! Neville started to run. "Longbottom! Come back here! We need to come up with a deal!" Neville stopped dead and turned around to see the figure sat down remove the cloak to reveal Pansy Parkinson, and the figure who led him here was Milicent Bullstrode. Neville made his way back towards the table, confusion evident on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Pansy dismissed Milicent with a flick of her hand. "Well, Longbottom. You made it. Have a seat." She motioned to a chair across from her. Neville sat.

"Why am I here?"

"As I said, Longbottom, I want to strike up a deal."

"A deal? With me? Why? I'm useless, I'm not good at anything-"

"Shut up and let me finish."

Neville nodded.

"Good boy. Now. You are good at Herbology, yes?"

He nodded.

"Well, I'm not. I want you to tutor me in secret, in the library, Monday to Friday, midnight, at this very table."

"But-"

"What do you get in exchange? Well, Longbottom, I promise you popularity."

Neville's eyes widened. "What? How the hell are you going to do that?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Longbottom, I am the most popular girl Hogwarts has ever seen. I have the greatest connections with the greatest people. I am rich, I am beautiful-"

Neville snorted.

Pansy's eyes narrowed, but she continued. "In short, I can promote you, and soon, people will actually know you exist, and think of you as the smartest boy in Hogwarts, the hottest boy in Hogwarts-"

"Doesn't that position already belong to Draco Malfoy?"

"It does. For now. But he will become second to you. With my help. So Longbottom, do we have a deal?"

Neville still didn't understand how the hell this was happening. Did he want this? Did he want to risk everything for popularity? Surely there were consequences. Surely this was a hoax. But Neville thought of what Pansy said. People would know he would exist, their opinions of him would be high. Higher than ever.

Neville nodded. "Yes. We have a deal."

Pansy smirked. "Good. You are free to go. Remember, tutorials start Monday."

"Yeah."

He got up, and walked out of the library. Only then did he realize what he had just agreed to, and who he had agreed to work with. He was a gullible fool! Why the hell did he agree to it? He was so bloody stupid! Shit! Shit! Now he couldn't get out of it. Shit on popularity! He didn't want it if he would have to tutor PANSY! Dammit!

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Pansy smirked. She had gotten him to agree! He was so stupid. Neville? Popular? Second to Draco Malfoy? HA! Yeah right! No way! He was so dimwitted to trust her. He should have suspected something! She laughed and went to bed. She would get revenge, and Neville would be left with nothing, absolutely nothing.

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A/N: Yeah, kind of short, but it's just the beginning! REVIEW!