"Lizzie?" Neville's quiet voice called after her along the charms corridor. It was Friday and she'd just finished her final lesson of the day.
"Hey Neville, everything okay?" she said, gesturing for the other first year Hufflepuffs to keep walking back to the common room.
"Could we have a study session in the library, like, soon?" He was fidgeting, his hands wouldn't stop moving. Lizzie could tell he was obviously incredibly nervous and upset about something.
She adjusted her bag strap to stop it from digging into her shoulder. "Of course, when do you want to? I can do tomorrow if you'd like or-"
"Is tonight okay?" he said, rushing his words, as though scared he wouldn't be able to.
"Um," the urgency had taken her by surprise, "of course, do you want to go straight there now or after dinner?"
"Straight there please."
"Neville, what's wrong?"
"I just had potions, and Professor Snape was just…" he trailed off.
"Oh, I'm sorry Neville, what do you want to go over?"
"Potions, please."
Lizzie surpressed an eye roll, knowing it wouldn't help him right now. "Okay, but which part?"
"All of it," he murmured.
"Okay, I don't know how helpful I'm going to be, but okay."
"You'll be brilliant, I know you will. Please help me."
"Neville, I will, don't worry," she gave him a smile in an attempt to cheer him up. It didn't really work.
"Thank you."
"It's fine, I just need to go and dump my bag in my dormitory first, but then I'll come straight to the library."
"Okay," his voice was so small that Lizzie nearly missed what he said.
"I'll see you there soon, yeah?"
"Thank you, Lizzie," and he walked away, stumbling somewhat down the corridor in the direction of the library.
Lizzie watched him walk away, feeling incredibly worried about him. She'd heard from Draco that Snape gave Neville a hard time. Well, Draco described it as a "hard time"; to Lizzie it sounded more like bullying.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lizzie headed for the Hufflepuff common room so she could drop her bag off. She wasn't sure whether to bother finding her potions notes, maybe some of the earlier ones she made. Yes, that's what she would do.
By the time she got down to her common room, the other first years were all in a little group spread over two sofas: Justin, Susan, and Zacharias on one; Hannah and Ernie on the other.
"What did Neville want?" Zacharias asked the second she was within hearing distance.
"He asked me to help him with potions in the library."
"Why you? Hermione Granger's in his class?"
"No idea, but I said I would. I think Snape gave him a really hard time today," Lizzie said, settling herself down for a minute beside her brother.
"Snape is awful isn't he," Susan said, a frown crossing her face.
"Yep, anyway, I need to go and drop my books off."
"You're going up now?" Ernie asked, sounding completely shocked.
"He asked me to."
"And if he asked you to jump off of a cliff, would you?"
"Ernie, stop trying to parent me, I don't mind helping out a friend."
"You'll be back in time for dinner?"
She rolled her eyes at his attitude, "yes, I will be back in time for dinner, mother."
He scowled at her and she nudged him with her shoulder, "I'm teasing you, brother dearest, I'll see you later." She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she stood up and he smiled again.
"Have fun, you lot," she called over her shoulder as she headed off to her dormitory to grab her notes and dump her books.
"Sorry, Ernie decided to be a protective parent," Lizzie said, sitting herself down opposite Neville at the table he had picked out for them.
"It's okay, thank you for being willing to go through stuff with me."
"It's fine," Lizzie smiled across at him. "But I have to ask, why me? Hermione Granger's in your class."
"I didn't want to bother her and we worked so well together on the Herbology project."
Lizzie nodded in understanding, "okay, what do you want to go over first?"
For the next 20 minutes Lizzie answered all the questions Neville threw at her, gradually beginning to help him understand some of the basics of potions. It acted as a good refresh for her as well though, which was rather lucky (it turned out she had forgotten some things and had to look through her notes a few times).
"You're brilliant, you know that?" Neville said, gaping at Lizzie over the books and sheets of parchment spread across the table.
A slightly flush coloured her cheeks in embarrassment. "Oh, well, I don't know about that."
"Except you are. Thank you for helping me."
"It's fine, I honestly don't mind."
"Neville, are you feeling better?" a new voice came around the corner. Both Neville and Lizzie looked around to greet whoever it was.
"Oh, thank you, Hermione, I am."
So this was Hermione Granger. Lizzie recognised her of course from lessons and such forth, but she'd never properly been introduced to her.
"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger," she said, holding out her hand to Lizzie.
Lizzie shook it, "Lizzie Macmillan."
"Thank you for helping Neville, Snape has a tendency to bully him somewhat."
Lizzie frowned, "I'd heard, how does he manage to get away with it?"
"No idea, but somehow he does."
Hermione sat down at their table. "You don't mind do you? I have some work I need to do."
Lizzie looked to Neville for his judgement on the subject, and he shook himself back to reality. "What? Oh, no of course not."
"Thank you," and she opened a book to begin working.
Lizzie looked over at Neville, "is there anything more you wanted to go over?"
"I don't think so, not right now anyway."
"Okay," she began to gather her notes together, "I'm going to head back to my common room then, but I'll see you later?"
Neville nodded, "see you later."
"And it was nice to meet you, Hermione."
She looked up from her book, "likewise."
Lizzie wandered back to the common room, thinking over Neville and Snape's treatment of him. It wasn't fair, that much was obvious, but could anything really be done about it? Even if someone complained all Snape had to do was deny it; he was a teacher so he would be believed. Plus the Slytherin's wouldn't back the story up, and whilst Gryffindors were supposed to be brave it didn't seem like any of them were doing anything about this fact.
Someone grabbing her hand pulled her back to reality.
"Hey, I've been calling after you for ages, you off in your own little world?" It was Cedric, and he looked slightly worried about the fact that she hadn't heard him.
"Sorry, was just thinking."
He frowned at her, "everything okay?"
"Worried about a friend."
His frown grew slightly, "do you want to talk about it? I was just heading back to the common room anyway, it won't be a problem."
Lizzie considered; Cedric would probably have a better idea of what to do about it all. She found herself nodding before she'd properly finished deciding about what to do and he grinned at her.
"Want to go back to the common room or walk around?"
"Common room, please, Ernie will worry if he thinks I'm not going to be back in time to go to dinner with everyone."
Cedric rolled his eyes, "your brother's definitely a special one."
She smiled, "that he is."
After signalling to Ernie that she was back but going to speak to Cedric, she followed him into a corner of the common room and they sat down on a sofa, facing one another.
"Okay, so which friend are you worried about and why?" he asked, becoming somewhat business like in his tone.
"Neville Longbottom? He's a Gryffindor in my year. We were put together for a Herbology project."
Cedric shook his head, "I don't know him."
"Didn't think you would," she smiled, "basically as far as I can tell he's being bullied by Professor Snape."
"What?" Cedric seemed shocked, "Snape's awful but bullying?"
"Draco laughs about it quite a bit," she pulled a face at this, "and then today Neville asked me for help understanding the basics of potions."
"You?" he scoffed and she scowled at him.
"Yes me, anyway, I thought he was going to cry, he seemed so upset about the lesson he'd just had."
"Okay…" Cedric didn't seem convinced.
"I didn't want to assume too much, but then Hermione Granger," at the look of confusion on Cedric's face Lizzie had to explain "Gryffindor, my year, joined us and thanked me for helping him because Snape bullies him."
Cedric frowned again, "I wouldn't put it past Snape to bully a student, I know he's not the nicest of teachers."
"What should I do? I can't understand why the Gryffindors haven't done anything."
"Who's he close to in Gryffindor?"
"Oh, I don't actually know that," she thought for a few seconds, "he's never really mentioned anyone."
"That might be why then."
"Why what?"
"Why the Gryffindors haven't done anything. If he's not close to anyone then they probably wouldn't think about it like you have."
"But that's horrible!"
Cedric gave her a sympathetic look but it did nothing to calm Lizzie's anger at the fact that the Gryffindors may just be letting it go over their heads. She simmered in silence for a few minutes before Cedric gently touched her arm.
"We'll talk to Professor Sprout about it next time she's in the common room, okay? She'll know what to do."
Lizzie nodded, "okay, thank you."
"Anytime," Cedric smiled at her. "You should probably get back to Ernie now, or he'll panic that I've kidnapped you or something."
She rolled her eyes, "you joke but I wouldn't be surprised," and with that she stood and walked back over to the first years, feeling considerably less worried.
As it turned out, Professor Sprout came into the common room to check on the students and bring a new plant (leaping toadstools) for them all to have a look at.
Ernie got slightly distracted by this fact and spent a good 10 minutes asking Professor Sprout questions about them so it was quite a while before Cedric could get a word in edgeways to ask if he and Lizzie could talk to her.
"That's fine, I need to check on a few of the first years, but I suppose I'll be able to speak to Lizzie when I talk to you…" she trailed off, thinking about it, "I'll be with you both shortly."
After being fundamentally dismissed, Cedric and Lizzie went to sit at one of the tables in the alcoves along the side of the common room.
"I'm feeling nervous about this. Why am I feeling nervous about this?" Lizzie muttered, wringing her hands under the table.
"I honestly have no idea," Cedric laughed, "do you want me to do all the talking?"
She nodded, "I feel like I'll squeak instead of talking."
He laughed at her again and she glared across the table at him.
"I will fight you with all 6 spells I know."
"Sure, Lizzie, sure."
She glared at him again, "shut up."
He grinned at her, "how's life?"
"Plodding along, yours?"
"Busy," he huffed. "seen Malfoy recently?"
Lizzie pondered over the question for a moment, "no more than usual."
Cedric frowned at her, "why not?"
She shrugged, "no idea, we just haven't."
He frowned again, "everything okay?"
She smiled at him, "yes, it is, don't worry."
"Good," Cedric grinned.
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows at him, "any special people in your life?"
"So you admit you and Malfoy are a thing?"
She glared, "I didn't say that, and I most certainly didn't mean to imply that."
Cedric held up his hands in mock surrender, "okay, okay," he smiled at her. "But no, there isn't."
Lizzie huffed, "how dull."
It was at that point that Professor Sprout came over, "okay, so what did you want to speak about, my dears?"
They exchanged a look, Lizzie really hoping that Cedric would take the hint and she wouldn't have to explain it given that she had no idea what to say.
It seemed he had taken the hint since he began to explain the situation with Neville to Professor Sprout. She listened attentively for the few minutes it took for him to tell her what had happened earlier that day and how Lizzie was feeling rather concerned about it.
When Cedric finished speaking, Professor Sprout sat quietly for a short while, a frown gracing her face as she pondered over what to say.
"It's definitely a difficult situation," she paused again, apparently thinking some more. "I'm glad you brought this up with me, thank you, Cedric, Lizzie."
"I just hate the idea of him not being okay," Lizzie explained, wringing her hands together.
Professor Sprout gently patted her knew, "I know, and I'll speak to Professor McGonagall about your concerns tomorrow. As Neville's head of house she may be the best person to find out what is really going on."
"You mean you don't believe Lizzie?" Cedric asked, sounding slightly indignant on her behalf.
Their head of house shook her head, "it's not that, don't worry, it's just that we can't really do anything about it unless we hear it from the student themselves."
"Not even from witnesses?" Lizzie asked, confused by this notion.
"Unfortunately not," Professor Sprout did look genuinely upset by this fact, and Lizzie felt slightly appeased by this fact, as bad as it was.
"But you'll do all you can?" Cedric questioned.
"Definitely," Professor Sprout nodded, "I'll speak with Professor McGonagall at dinner. Now, Lizzie, how is work going?"
Their conversation was relatively short, Lizzie had explained that she was understanding everything a lot quicker and Cedric backed her up, telling Professor Sprout how he didn't need to go over much with her anymore. Professor Sprout had smiled and moved on to talking to some of the other Hufflepuffs, primarily the fifth years by the looks of it.
Lizzie wandered back over to the other first years to catch them up on everything that had happened before dinner, and Cedric went back to his friends.
Susan took a similar view to her, that something needed to be done and it wasn't fair on Neville for Snape to continue treating him like he was. It wasn't that the others disagreed, but they could see it from Professor Sprout's side (not that Lizzie and Susan couldn't, they were just slightly more passionate with their rage).
The topic was thoroughly exhausted by the time it came to them all being hungry and ready to go to dinner. Ernie kept insisting how it was for the best since they probably shouldn't be slating Snape to the extent that they were whilst around all of the teachers, but Justin just kept telling him to shut up every time he did. By the time they were at the dinner table nobody was talking about Snape's bullying ways anymore.
Dinner was uneventful; Ernie was told to shut up a few more times for trying to teach them about some concept he'd read about. It was after dinner on their way out of the hall that something interesting happened.
"Lizzie?" a quiet voice spoke up behind the group.
Lizzie turned around to see Hermione Granger nervously moving from one foot to the other. She could understand why, it must have been quite intimidating to want to speak to one person and have to go up to them when they're in a group of people you didn't really know.
"I'll meet you guys back at the common room," Lizzie said, essentially dismissing the other Hufflepuffs.
They all nodded, saying their goodbyes to her and wandered off towards the stairs that led to the basement corridor and where they slept.
"Everything alright?" Lizzie asked, glad to see that Hermione had relaxed somewhat.
"I was wondering if you'd want to study together in the library tomorrow?" she said, all in a rush, so much so that Lizzie was slightly taken aback.
"Ummmm, what?" Lizzie replied, confused at the onslaught of words which had suddenly hit her.
"Would you want to study together in the library tomorrow?" Hermione asked, much more calmly this time around.
Lizzie considered her for a moment. She'd only officially met Hermione earlier that day, but she knew her reputation as the know it all of the year and so was still confused as to why she would want to study with her.
"You want to study with me?" Lizzie knew her tone conveyed this confusion and unfortunately may come across as slightly rude, but she was incredibly confused by it all.
"Why wouldn't I?"
It was a fair enough question.
"Because you're really smart and I'm not…"
"I disagree with you, Neville says you're smart and incredibly helpful to him when studying."
Lizzie flushed at that, "I don't think I'm that helpful."
Hermione smiled at her, "well he does and that's good enough for me. Ron and Harry are pretty useless when it comes to study partners and I need someone who'll help push me."
"So you want me?" The confusion wasn't exactly lessening.
"Of course," Hermione smiled again, "Neville said he thought we'd work well together, if you need anymore reassurance."
Lizzie considered, "I guess it could be fun, what time were you thinking?"
Hermione grinned at her, "would after lunch at around 2 be good?"
"Sounds great," Lizzie finally smiled back, confusion all gone and she was beginning to feel very at ease around Hermione.
Hermione gave her one final smile and waved goodbye, before disappearing up the stairs in the entrance hall.
Lizzie smiled to herself and went back to the common room, undoubtedly where her brother was waiting to find out what Hermione had wanted and when they had begun speaking.
