this is for a challenge :) yay. it's a fairy tale challenge.. I got "the Little Mermaid" (interestingly, my favorite childhood fairy tale) for Neville and Luna. so I am focusing on the whole star crossed lovers from two different worlds. So this is AU Hogwarts. We'll see how it goes. This one makes me a little nervous.

hannah xx

Neville walked slowly to the edge of the water, plopping at the edge so he could reach out, hand skimming the cool surface. He'd always been different than all the kids at school, never fit in, never had friends. His father and mother had been killed years earlier though no one bothered to tell him by whom or why. He was pretty much alone, living in a grubby cottage by the Sound with no one but a grumpy old man (supposedly his great-great uncle or something like that, but Neville wasn't so sure they bore no resemblance whatsoever but that really didn't matter either, he was still stuck there) for company.

Don't be mistaken, Neville wasn't bitter. He wasn't bitter, but he was sad and his sadness was thusly justified in my opinion. With no mother to care for him, father to praise him, friends to laugh with him... well, I'm sure we'd all be rather sad to live this way. Such a lonely life. That's why I'm here though. To mend this story.

"Neville?" I asked after slipping from the edge of the forest a few feet from where he rested to stand at his side, long black hair dancing to the small of my back in the wind and dark eyes flashing venomously as he looked up.

His firm, developed facial features and innocent eyes turned up to me, suddenly colored with confusion. "H-h-how do you know my name?" Poor Neville, that stutter was constantly getting worse. Probably stress.

My head craned backwards and I cackled into the darkening twilight. "I'm Ursula." I answered simply before tilting my head to the side, beautiful face pulling into an eerie smile. "Would you like to leave, little wizard?"

His lips pulled together, forming the straight line of a confused frown. "Wizard?"

"The question, Neville." I responded, feet digging into the sand with irritation. These wizards were always difficult.

Neville looked over his shoulder at the shabby house that was his own and then back at her. He could practically hear his uncle hammering down beers and tossing the cans onto the ground, crunching them under his feet as he trudged to the pantry to grab more. His eyes cut to me and I smiled at the look on his face. I knew what he'd say before he said a word. A slow grin slipped onto my face."Yes."

I pulled a wand from my pocket and handed it to him. "I'll send you to Hogwarts School, but there's a small catch.."

He frowned. "A catch?"

"I have very limited magic, boy, so you must prove your fate. Make this girl love you in three days and you can stay." I told him, using my own wand to conjure the pretty face of a pale blonde wearing no shoes.

His eyebrows knit together. "L-love me?"

I laughed again, just as menacing as the first. "Yes, make her love you. It's a simple chance, really. Under all that dirt you're really a handsome fellow. It shouldn't be that hard."

"I've never so much as had a girl-" He began, but I swept my hands dramatically.

"Deal or no deal." I asked calmly, but it wasn't really a question.

He looked downward at the sand beneath his feet, studying it and then looking to me again. "And if she doesn't love me?"

My smile grew. "Then you work for me." I told him, regarding his features again: muscular arms, long legs, lean body. What a slave to have.

"W-w-w-work?" The stutter was back, he'd really have to work on that.

I didn't respond to his question, merely reared back on my heels, wrapping my arms around my petite waist. "Deal or no deal."

He appraised the waves crashing on the sand, but when his eyes dusted across the landscape to touch the cabin his face contorted seriously. His eyes snapped to mine. "Deal."

I grinned, dropping my arms to either side of my body, but raising my wand arm to point toward him. "You have three days, Neville Longbottom." Then the boy was gone.

I swear I was writing third person..then this happened. and I kind of like it.

it's like can't I just marry Neville and live happily ever after?

hannahkk xx