A/N: Ok, and now we have a chapter I was looking forward to! Neville Longbottom and our favorite Slytherin ferret!

I know this chapter is pathetically short, but I have to leave to go to a play soon, and so I didn't have much time to finish this.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. No matter how much I want to.

Crack…

Neville flinched as his foot splintered a twig in half. He looked around nervously into the dark forest, checking for any signs of movement.

"Quit making so much noise, Longbottom!" Malfoy hissed. "You're going to lure a werewolf right to our area!"

"Sorry…" Neville whimpered back.

The two walked in silence, leaves crunching under their feet. The occasional rustle of a bush would startle them every now and then, but nothing too big happened.

"You know, it's your own fault that you're out here, Longbottom," Malfoy sneered. Long bottom blinked. That was… kind of random.

"W-what?" he stuttered. Malfoy just scoffed.

"Well, you just had to go find Potter and Granger to warn them. I can feel you glaring at me like this is somehow my fault. Don't blame me, Longbottom, for your own idiocy."

Neville remembered what Ron had told him. Stand up to others. Don't let them walk all over you.

Drawing himself up to his full height (which wasn't very much), Neville shot back, "I did what a Gryffindor would do, Malfoy!"

Malfoy just laughed. "A Gryffindor? Longbottom, who are you to say what a Gryffindor would do? You couldn't even act like one if you tried."

"But the Sorting Hat-"

"Probably made a mistake. You are no Gryffindor. You are hardly more than a spineless wimp."

"I was Gryffindor enough to get out of bed to warn them!" Neville managed to summon a bit more resolve, but, once again, Malfoy killed that too.

"Stupid enough, more like it. Just face it, Longbottom. All you'll be in life is a cowardly, moronic wimp. Not much has to change, though."

Despite knowing that Malfoy was just trying to put him down, Neville couldn't help but feel horrible. He had thought the same things to himself so many times. Why was he a Gryffindor? He wasn't brave like Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. Dean and Seamus had so many more stories to tell than him. Fred and George were way more laid-back and popular than him. How did he, a nervous mess, end up with such people? He stared down the path, keeping up his pace. Neville could hear Fang's paws patting against the forest floor at an even rate.

He was so caught up in his musings that he didn't even notice that Malfoy had disappeared. When he finally did notice, an icy terror gripped his heart.

Oh, Merlin! he thought, panicked. Where did Malfoy go? Did he get eaten by a giant? Or kidnapped by acromantulas? Or what if he was bitten by a werewolf!

At that moment, a bony hand landed on Neville's shoulder. Screaming in shock, he panicked and shouted to the sky.

"PERICULUM!" A stream of red sparks trailed from his wand and shot up into the air. Suddenly, he heard snickering behind him.

Neville whirled around to find Malfoy with a hand over his mouth, stifling laughs. That didn't last long, though, for as soon as Malfoy caught sight of Neville's pale and terror-stricken face, he immediately keeled over in a fit of mirth.

"Hahaha! I can't believe you fell for that! Hahaha! Merlin, how much of a scardy-cat are you?" he managed between laughs.

Neville felt his white face slowly turn red. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. Why couldn't Malfoy just leave him alone?

Rough and heavy footsteps sounded at an alarmingly quick rate behind them. Malfoy paused in his laughter, looking up at the figure who just arrived. Hagrid.

The half-giant took one look between the scared Gryffindor and the sniggering Slytherin and sighed.

"I can't trust ye at all, can I?"

A/N: Yeah, I know. Not as good as I'd hoped.

But, anyway. Please review (but no flames!)

I'm way too tired to even try to say much here, so I'm just gonna go...

- Hogwarts914