A/N: Finals are over, and you know what that means! Some more fanfic! Well, I hope so. This chapter is a long time coming and chapter 3 isn't quite finished yet but I'm posting anyway.

A great big thank-you to my international readers and an apology to anyone named Kieth Falwell. I'm sure you're a lovely person, but he's my Slytherin douche in this story.

Discalimer: I own nothing but the plot and my OCs.

Warning: If you have not read You Look Good in Gray, you'll be mighty confuzzled.

Chapter 2: Don't Fear Them

Neville was just about ready to pass out, face plastered over the 3-foot-long piece of parchment that was supposed to be his Potions essay.

This..is just..wonderful. I go to the common room to avoid Dean and Seamus's banter and all I can get done is about two paragraphs.

Thankfully, the monster Potions essay wasn't due until the end of the week, because that little statement led Neville onto the long and complicated train of thought on how his situation had changed over the past month. Whisking Malfoy off to the hospital wing had more consequences than he'd ever considered. Not that the Gryffindors saw him differently or anything. Most of them eventually accepted Harry's explanation and wrote it off as just a typical thing for someone of their House to do. There was a mixed reaction among Hufflepuffs, even his own friends. Benny'd high-fived him the next day, praising Neville for 'finally bringing the git down to earth'. Mary then butted in to explain to Benny that Neville had just done it to be nice. Arthur was suspicious, but wouldn't explain why. When actually pressed for why he did it, Neville himself wasn't sure. It seemed just to be a spur-of-the-moment thing that had happened all on its own. Despite this, the incident didn't want to leave him alone. It had been playing in the back of his mind, like a tiny music box, for days. What's worse is that it had started affecting him. He'd become less keen on agreeing with his fellow Gryffindors when the subject of nasty Slytherins came up. He found himself fading from a conversation when Harry, Ron and Seamus would excitedly discuss ways to get back at them.

It just isn't in me anymore...

Because even though the likes of Milicent Bulstrode, Kieth Falwell, and Vincent Crabbe still bullied him whenever they could, Neville would always remember the other Slytherins. He'd remember Greg Goyle, standing like a silent brick wall, between him and Cormac McLaggen when the latter decided to corner Neville in the greenhouse again. He'd remember the tiny thank-you note and bit of very expensive candy that Pansy had slipped him in the library a week after. He'd remember Xiao Li and the (kind of creepy) de Lacroix twins, who, when no one was around, had collectively levitated him out of a tree when he'd gotten stuck trying to gather its seeds. They would probably deny ever doing these things if they were asked, but it served to cast doubt onto the widely held belief that the Slytherins were nothing but junior Death Eaters with no conscience.

Now if only I could get one to help me with this stupid essay.

Having sessions with Wind and Luna agreed with Neville a lot more than normal Care of Magical Creatures classes. At the start of the first one, Hagrid led all four of them to a small clearing on the outskirts of the forest to meet the two gryphons, who stopped preening each other at their arrival. Hagrid explained that Wind and Gold were mates and that sort of thing would likely occur often. They had to do a fair bit of arguing with Arthur after Hagrid left, since Arthur was thoroughly terrified of creatures that stood a full head taller than him and, in his words, could 'disembowel and eat him ten seconds flat and leave no evidence'. Neville thought that Arthur was just as scared of being near a Slytherin without teacher supervision as he was scared of the gryphons themselves. Things evened out when they split into two groups and Arthur put the big frightening gryphon squarely between himself and Draco.

Neville and Luna decided to sit directly in front of Wind, who then greeted each by pressing her forehead against theirs. She then turned to Luna and a small half-embrace with her right wing and passed a strangely folded piece of paper to her. Luna, unfolding it, read:

Believe on one side, and

Find on the other, accompanied by a drawing of a green rock that had a see-through section. Luna looked back at Wind and skipped out into the woods to find the thing. The gryphoness watched her leave and when Luna was out of sight, turned back to Neville, seemingly only to stare at him for a while. There was nothing uncomfortable or piercing about the gaze this time, so Neville assumed she was just thinking. He shifted a bit, eyes wandering off to where Gold, Arthur and Draco were sitting. Their lessons looked a lot more 'hands-on'. Arthur and Draco were arguing and Gold was alternately 'kaw'ing at Arthur and pecking Draco on the head with his great beak. Malfoy, clutching the top of his head, looked about ready to storm off. Arthur started to slowly crawl back in Neville's direction, only to be stopped by the gryphon's wing. Gold let out an air-piercing call that silenced both, and then proceeded to talk rapidly in whatever language he spoke in, oblivious to the fact that neither could understand him. He stopped after a while and raised his eyes to the sky, as if to say 'Gods help me with these humans' and passed notes to each of the boys. Neville turned back to Wind, who had stepped closer in the meantime. She encircled him in her wings and placed her chin on top of his head and started to do what must've been the gryphon version of a purr. It wasn't really a sound, because Neville felt it more than heard it, and it wasn't really a purr because he was sure he had done nothing to make her particularly happy. He couldn't see much except for her short reddish fur, and being surrounded from all sides by a potentially deadly animal was starting to elicit a kind of panic attack. After being frozen in limbo between sleepiness and paralyzing fear, Neville realized that the strange purring was actually keeping the panic at bay. It reminded him a little of his grandmother's old cat, who was about as threatening as a pygmy puff.

All there is right now..is..the earth, the grass, and Wind.

With his world consisting of only those three things, Neville decided to focus on the first two. He began to feel how the grass was mushed and tangled beneath his hands, how coarse it was, and how the occasional insect would make its way across a finger to get wherever it was going. Later, the steadiness of the earth itself pushed through the sensations of life on top of it and Neville could feel how it was solid all the way through.

"Cuddling up to the beast while the rest of us get injured, Longbottom?"

"At least I'm not stupid enough to piss them off, Malfoy."

Perhaps it was Draco's turn to be confused.