Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling et al. Any characters or locations you recognise are the intellectual property of these individuals and corporations. I make no money from the writing of this story.

This story is written for Round 4 of the Quidditch League Fan Fiction Competition. My challenge for this round was to write a Trio Era fic. I was further challenged by a teammate to write a story with Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood as characters. This story is just a scenario that could have come up in what would have been the trio's seventh year, just before Luna's capture, an interlude if you will. I hope you enjoy it.

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In the Library

"As your erstwhile professor appears to have made himself absent, it will be up to yourselves to prepare for your exams," Headmaster Snape addressed the seventh year NEWT class for Care of Magical Creatures. He knew that Hagrid had disappeared to safety and was not in the least perturbed by it—it was information he had slipped to the half-giant after all that had convinced the gentle man to go into hiding. Classes still needed to be taught though and above all he had a role to continue to play.

"You are all NEWT students in what is commonly thought to be a fairly easy class. Your NEWT will consist of essays and a portion of true or false questions and answers. You should be able to study for this independently. Your class grade will consist of a paper to be presented to me. You will work in pairs and you will choose a single animal detailing its life-cycle from birth to death. This will be due in six weeks. Pairs are as follows…" He continued on to list the pairs of students in the class in alphabetical order. When he reached "Longbottom with Malfoy", the two young men in question turned to look at each other.

'Malfoy! I can't believe he's pairing me with Malfoy!' Neville Longbottom thought in dismay. Draco Malfoy was a notorious Death Eater, responsible for allowing several senior Death Eaters into the castle at the end of the previous school year. This action led to a battle inside the school and ultimately the death of the previous Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Neville studied Malfoy covertly. The blond was nothing like he thought he would be this year. Other Slytherins were strutting around the castle secure in the knowledge that they would face no retribution for any action against another student. Malfoy only seemed to be going through the motions. He only ever cursed someone under the direct instruction of their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. All his fellow Junior Death Eaters would take any excuse they could. There was a vacancy, almost a look of resignation in his eyes these days that Neville was puzzled to see.

"Library, five o'clock," Malfoy said dully to Neville before turning and walking away. Neville was not sure if Malfoy even registered his nod of agreement.

At four-fifty five, Neville was slowly dragging his feet toward the library. 'Why am I even doing this? I must have rocks in my head!' Neville felt that his purpose in the war was to continue stirring trouble in the castle and attempting to subvert the authority that had descended over the castle since Voldemort and his Death Eaters had taken over. When it came to his studies though he felt he should try to do his best—within the limitation of his own conscience of course. He would defend to his dying day his refusal to participate in the cursing of his classmates. Care of Magical Creatures was a subject he enjoyed and it tied in with his love of Herbology as well. It was important to know how a plant fitted into an ecosystem which included knowing what animals and creatures it could attract or benefit. He hoped that Malfoy would consent to working this side of the subject into their joint paper.

At five o'clock on the bell he entered the library. He immediately noticed Malfoy sitting at a table in the centre of the room. Neville almost let out a sigh of relief. He knew he would be able to take Malfoy on if it came down to it, but being out in the open afforded a sort of protection of its own. He dropped his bag on the table and flopped gracelessly into the chair. Malfoy barely spared him a glance before pushing a large tome toward him.

"I have marked the pages of the animals and creatures that interest me. Pick one," he instructed curtly. Neville could find no fault with the order beyond the fact that Malfoy seemed to have taken charge. The Gryffindor flipped open the reference book at the first mark and snorted when he read the heading. 'Typical—dragons,' he scoffed in his mind. 'No… Hinkypunks, no… Kappas, no… Pixies, oh hell no!' he thought, remembering back to the first Defence class back in his second year when he was attacked by pixies and hung from a chandelier by them. Inadvertently he let out a small squeak as he recalled the precarious position he had been left in. A snort emitted from his table companion which was quickly covered by a fake coughing fit. 'Did he just put that there to see if he could get a rise?' Neville wondered. He resolved not to take the bait and instead flipped back to a small bookmark he had missed.

"Merpeople would be alright," he conceded. He had listened raptly to Harry Potter's descriptions of encountering them in the bottom of the Black Lake during the second task of the Tri Wizard Tournament back in their fourth year. On occasion he would see one in the distance when he was examining plants on the shoreline of the lake as well. He thought they would be quite interesting to prepare a study on.

"Merpeople then. I'll do the life-cycle, you do the habitat," Malfoy said, his tone still curt.

"Are you just going to dictate everything then?" Neville asked challengingly.

Malfoy simply stared at him. Neville once more noted the vacant look and hint of resignation about his face. "I want a good grade. With Granger gone this year I finally have a shot at the top spot and that is what I am concentrating on. You do alright at Herbology and the habitat is totally natural so that is your strength. Everyone else will only do the life-cycle because that was all that was asked for. I can research and write up the life-cycle and then we can just join the two together without having to be in each other's company too much. The extra will help us with a better grade. I wouldn't want your Gryffindor germs infecting me in any way."

"The only way you'd be able to get top spot is with Hermione being gone," Neville agreed with a sneer. "I bet you want to know where she is though, hey?" he goaded. Not that Neville would give the blond that sort of information, even if he had it. Everyone knew that wherever Hermione was, so would Harry be. If there was anything that would cement a position in Voldemort's inner circle it would be the provision of the information leading to the capture of Harry Potter.

"I don't give a Niffler's arse where Granger is. She's not here offending my sensibilities with her incessant question answering and smarming up to the teachers and that's all that matters to me," Malfoy answered. "I'm here to go to school, that's all."

Neville was surprised by his words. He would have thought Malfoy would try and pump him for his knowledge on Hermione's whereabouts in order to turn the information over to his Master. Neville was looking forward to being able to tell the other boy where to shove his questions. Perhaps Malfoy really did only want to study.

"Fine, I'll read up on the habitat. Unfortunately I think we will have to make time to be in each other's company so the paper gels together and doesn't just read as though we stuck two papers together. How about we each prepare our parts then meet here again on the first Saturday back for a progress report?" Neville suggested. The school would be closing on the coming Friday for the Easter Holidays.

"If we must," Malfoy replied. "After lunch, one o'clock," he said before he gathered his things and walked out of the library.

Neville watched him leave with narrowed eyes. Once the blond had left the cavernous room, Neville turned back to the book Malfoy had handed him when he sat down. He pulled it closer to read the section on Merpeople, all the while muttering sarcastically under his breath. "After lunch, one o'clock," he mimicked. "Well, Malfoy, I have plans at one o'clock. I have to recruit another ten students for Dumbledore's Army, plus undermine another of Snape's plots to kill an unsuspecting professor all before working out how to get Carrow I to curse Carrow II while believing they are some little first year half-blood Hufflepuff that breathed in the wrong direction."

"Polyjuice should do it." A serene voice startled Neville from his muttering. He whipped his head around to come face to face with Luna Lovegood.

"Luna, you scared me! You shouldn't sneak up on a person like that," he said.

"And you shouldn't be saying things about the Carrows like you were," she responded in an uncharacteristic stern tone. Luna usually came across quite flighty and, well, loony but she was right. These were dangerous times and Neville should be more careful. "Were you just talking to Draco Malfoy?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, we've been paired on a Care of Magical Creatures assignment and we were just working out the details," Neville replied.

"You should study Nargles, they really are quite fascinating. Daddy has many books and articles from Scandinavia on the subject. Can you read Swedish?" she asked.

"No, Luna," Neville said bemusedly. "Gran woefully neglected to teach me Swedish in my younger years."

"Pity, the Nargles are quite prevalent in Draco, he would benefit from learning how to live with them better," she mused.

"I don't think you should say that to him," Neville instructed. He would hate to see Luna in any sort of distress and confusing a Death Eater or annoying him could well cause him to react in a way that would cause the diminutive blonde girl severe harm. Neville had begun to speculate recently that Luna's father would soon become a target given the continued support his news magazine was giving to Harry. By association it also painted a target on Luna's back.

"Oh I would never talk about Nargles with someone so infested by them," Luna said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The Nargles would scramble the sounds and Draco would in fact hear a very different conversation than the one we would be having. No, it's best if he reads about them and forms opinions in his own mind. Does Draco read Swedish?" she asked.

"No," Neville said decisively. For a moment he entertained the idea of asking the witch for a pamphlet or article, just so he could see the look on Malfoy's face when he handed it to him but he quickly quashed that train of thought.

"Oh well. Are you going home for the holidays?" Luna asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, I want to check that Gran's okay and make sure she has everything she needs." Neville looked around to make sure they were alone. He lowered his voice. "I think things will come to a head fairly soon and there are things we need to make sure are taken care of," he said, thinking about making sure his parents would continue to be cared for and that his Grandmother had a safe place to go in the event of their home becoming unsafe.

"That's very smart," Luna said. "Shall we sit together on the train?"

"Of course," Neville agreed with a smile.

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Thanks for reading.