10 points! He, Neville Longbottom, had actually earned himself TEN POINTS! It was incredible, and unbelieveable, and that fact that it had actually won them the House Cup was just...even more amazing.

"Great job Neville! I knew you had it in ya!" Seamus yelled as he jumped up and down, waving his hat above his head like a mad man.

Numerous other Gryffindors, none of whom he knew by name since they were all a few years older than him, where patting him on the back and cheering their thanks as well. The compliments continued even as he boarded the train, when a Hufflepuff with very familar pigtails pushed her way through the crowd to him.

"See! Told you they'd get over it eventually Neville!"

....

"Neville? NEVILLE!"

Neville jumped, hitting his head on the glass window as he did so. THUNK. Groaning and rubbing his forehead, Seamus and Dean laughed as Neville chucked a chocolate frog wrapper at the two of them.

"You're a deep sleeper, mate...I was trying to wake you for a whole minute! What were you dreaming about anyways? You were smiling," Seamus said with a mischevious grin, raising an eyebrow at him.

Neville rolled his eyes and laughed. "Seamus you prat--it wasn't anything like THAT!" he insisted. Horny little bloke...half the boys in their year still believed girls had cooties, but not Seamus. It was gross. "I was just dreaming about the feast last term, that's all."

"Ahhh," Dean replied with a nodd of understanding. "I still can't get over it...that was WICKED, man! The look on Malfoy's face when we beat Slytherin! I wish I had a camera with me!" he said with a laugh.

Neville grinned. "It really was amazing--a great end to a great first year, yeah?"

Both of his friends nodded in agreement.

"Oi, that reminds me...anyone seen Ron or Harry?" Dean asked, glancing out the compartment as a few Ravenclaw's passed. They hadn't seen their dormmates the entire trip, which was odd since they had seen Hermione up and about earlier. If they weren't all attached at the hip as always, then where were they?

"D'you reckon they didn't come back this year?" Seamus asked, a worried look on his face.

Neville shook his head. "That wouldn't make sense...besides, I saw Fred and George earlier, so if they're here then Ron and Harry are bound to be somewhere, right?"

Seamus and Dean nodded in unison once again. "Yeah, I suppose you're right..." Dean said, trailing off and looking out into the corridor. When he looked back, he was grinning. "Don't go telling Ron or anything, but have you seen his sister? Right HOTTIE that one is," he declared as Seamus threw another piece of candy at him.

After Dean retaliated by smacking Seamus over the head, he turned to Neville. "Red heads aren't your taste though, are they Neville? You fancy the brunette, bushy haired ones, don't you?" he teased. Seamus snorted and began to laugh hysterically next to him.

Ahh, they had returned to their favorite sport. Poking fun at Longbottom. The one activity that Neville didn't particularly enjoy.

He blushed. "I dunno what you're talking about," he said, crossing his arms moodily and staring out the window. This just caused the preteen boys to laugh even more.

"Please Neville, we've all seen the way you look at her--you're like a little puppy dog. It's...well, it's pathetic really," Seamus joked with an evil grin.

"Shut it!" Neville exclaimed, turning and punching Seamus on the forearm. It wasn't very hard and most likely wouldn't stop the teasing. "Why do you always bring that up? Who cares if I somewhat fancy her...I think it's quite obvious that she fancies Harry!"

Really, who could blame her? After all, he was THE Harry Potter. The way they were always together clearly proved that Hermione had feelings for him. Or--maybe feelings for Ron? No, that was completely absurd. After all, Ron and her bickered far too much to ever have a crush on each other. The day that Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger got together was the day that pigs flied.

"What on Earth is going on in here?"

The door to their compartment slid open and in walked Ernie, Hannah, and their friend Justin Finch-Fletchy, whom Neville had never talked to. They had obviously been drawn in by the sound of Seamus and Dean's laughter--and the resulting shouting of Neville.

"Oh, we're just teasing Longbottom about the fact that he fancies Granger," Seamus told them, smirking at Neville who had turned bright red within seconds.

"Do you really?" Hannah asked with interest, raising a blonde brow. "But I thought she fancied Harry."

"She DOES so they shouldn't be bothering me about it," Neville grumbled, glaring at Dean and Seamus, who seemed to still find this situation hilarious.

"Aww, I think that's kind of sweet. Don't give up, Neville," Hannah said, grinning in encouragement.

That was so typical of Hannah. Always trying to convince him not to give up.

"Has anyone even SEEN Potter today?" Ernie asked, bringing up their earlier concern about the well being of their black haired friend. Everyone shook their head.

"Well, that's strange...perhaps we should get going Hannah? Susan wandered off with Terry Bott and you know that boy won't remember what carriage we were in before..." Ernie said with a sigh. Justin nodded in agreement and Hannah grinned.

"Alright--well, good to see you all again!" she said, waving to the three Gryffindor boys as she walked out the corridor.

As she left, Seamus tapped his chin in thought, clearly thinking about something of great importance.

"You know Longbottom, if things don't work out with Granger you could always try and start something up with Hannah--without those pigtails she could be decently cute!" he said.

Ewwww, date Hannah Abbott? What an insanely ludicrous idea! Neville made a gagging noise and threw another frog at Seamus just as Dean took another swipe at his head. He would never EVER consider dating the bubbly, bouncy blonde Hufflepuff girl.

Neville was completely oblivious to the fact that, upon the mentioning of this idea, his face had turned beet red and his ears had gotten extremely hot.


For the first time in almost a year, Hannah and Neville were in the same room, and they hadn't said a single word to each other.

Over the first couple of months of his second year, Hannah and him had started to talk a lot more and had started to become pretty decent friends. As usual, despite his amazing triumph in house points last term, few people were paying attention to him, and as she normally did, Hannah had begun to talk to him out of pity. She always told him that she hated seeing him sitting by himself all the time.

But today, they weren't talking as they frantically worked through their homework in the library. Instead, they were frantically writing their essays on black holes in silence. And he knew exactly why. He had heard what Ernie said to Harry the other day...and he knew, just KNEW, that Hannah believed that horrible lie as well.

Unable to stand the tension any longer, he broke the silence. "Harry isn't behind those attacks, you know," he grumbled.

Hannah looked up at him and frowned. "What are you--?" she began, even though she had turned extremely red.

"I know what everyone is saying Hannah, and it's not true! I know Ernie believes it's true too..."

She cut him off. "But Neville, how can you be sure it isn't him? I mean...you saw what he did at the Duelling Club, right? I mean...Justin is in hiding now because of it! And if being a good friend makes Ernie a bad person then..."

Neville rolled his eyes. "I never said he was a bad person--it's just his judgement is off a bit! And you BELIEVE him, don't you?" he asked, pointing his finger at her accusingly.

They were getting rather loud now, and he was sure in a matter of minutes Madame Pince would come and start shouting at them to get out. Hannah seemed to be thinking along the sames lines. Rather than bite back, she slammed her book shut and began to storm out of the library.

Groaning, Neville grabbed his things as well and followed her. As he had suspected, the moment they were safely in the corridor, she turned and started yelling at him again, hands on her hips and looking bossier than he had ever thought possible.

"Why are you SO certain that Harry isn't doing this, huh? Because he's your HERO over in Gryffindor? There's a lot of evidence against him Neville and I don't think you can really look past it!" she exclaimed.

"Or maybe you're just so GULLIBLE that you'll believe anything Ernie shoves down your throat!" he snapped.

She stopped, mouth open and ready to attack again. Neville could tell immediately that he had hurt her, and his own temper had stunned him. He never would have said that to her in his right mind--something must have gotten into him. Something completely mental.

She bit her lip and he could see the tears forming in her eyes. Oh no, he had made her cry--he had never made a girl cry before! That was just so...wrong! Neville could immediately feel all his anger vanished, and all he cared about right now was making her feel better.

"Hannah, I'm so--"

"You know what? FINE!" Hannah cried, turning on her heel and marching towards the kitchens as tears began to flow down her flushed cheeks. When she got half way down the corridor, she turned to face him, and what she said next echoed down the corridor.

"I hope he attacks your precious little girlfriend Hermione next!" she exclaimed before letting out a sob and hurrying out of sight.