Written for the Fanfiction Perfumers Competition; for the Pick a Card, Any Card Challenge.
Neville thought it would be the most influential day of his life: the day he got a wand.
No, actually, he soon discovered. Sure, it gave him the brilliant power of real magic, not the diminished quality of his father's hand-me-down, and he began to succeed. It can't have been the confidence he gained agter fighting at the Ministry, though that surely helped; it was the wand that allowed him to reach his full potential. And his Gran was proud, and he was proud - more than he could explain.
Nevertheless, that was the limit of the pride that was expressed to him. His dormmates didn't notice his improvements, and nor did his closer friends in other houses. Not even Hermione or Professor McGonagall saw how well he was doing; they pitied him still, thought of of him still as a stupid, clumsy buffoon. It was as if everyone did, and if someone didn't they were in a different universe.
He thought they would love him, but now he knows: he will forever be stuck exactly as everyone always thought of him.
What a waste of life.