Harry glanced back once he got to the infirmary doors. Danni didn't seem too bad off, considering the fact that she was so scarily close to an actual death eater. Harry sighed, and began hurrying through the hallways to get back to his dorms. He wanted to talk to Hermione. Maybe not about everything, but at least about enough so she would understand how he was feeling.

When he got to the common room, it was empty of everyone except Neville, who was sitting in the armchair next to the fireplace. He glanced up when he heard Harry walk in. "Harry! I'm so glad that you're back. We haven't seen you around in a while, and we were all starting to get worried."

Harry laughed. "There's no need to worry about me, Neville. I can take care of myself."

The boy shrugged. "We were worried, that's all. Where have you been?"

Harry sighed. "With a friend. She's pretty seriously injured, so I've been around the infirmary a lot, recently, to visit her. I know how lonely it can get down there, when you're the only one."

Neville's face filled with concern again. "Who is it? What happened? Is she going to be okay?"

Harry smiled. "Her name is Danni. She's in Ravenclaw, but she's in our year, so you might know her. She… burned her hands, but it's pretty bad." His voice came out a little softer, like whispering would prevent the worst from happening. "I'm not sure whether she'll be okay or not. Dumbledore, Snape, and Moody are all down there, trying to do their best to keep her going. She's already… slipped away once, though they did manage to bring her back." Harry rubbed his hands over his eyes, and let his voice returned to normal volume. "Sorry, I shouldn't have tried to plague you with all of that. It's nothing." Harry glanced around the common room again, as if his peers were hiding from him, and were now ready to pop out. No one popped out. "Where is everyone, anyways?"

Neville frowned. "I think they said something about a mock quidditch match out by the gardens, since the pitch is off limits for the year. I tried to tell them not to go, but they didn't seem interested in listening to me. But you should, Harry, because if you end up getting involved in a rivalry that ends up turning into a fight, you could be kicked out of the tournament."

Harry couldn't help the look of surprise that passed over his face. "Why would you care if I get kicked out? Don't you just think I cheated my way in, or something?"

The other boy shook his head. "Of course not, Harry. I believe in you, so if you say that it wasn't you, then it wasn't you. If Ron can't see that… well… The point is, you didn't put your name in. Which brings us to the question of who did?"

Harry felt the words building up in his mouth. It would be so easy to have someone else to confide in, somebody who wasn't a corrupt old man or an idiot girl lacking common sense. He would finally have someone else looking out for him when he interacted with the fake Moody, and everything would be so nice.

But Harry couldn't do that. He would be forcing Neville to be constantly paranoid, looking over his shoulder, trying not to slip up around the imposter. And in order to explain everything properly, he would have to give away Danni's secret. They may not have their deal in effect anymore, but Harry liked to think that they were friends now, and that he should be able to keep his friends secrets.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. It would be nice to catch whoever did do it, though, right?"

Neville nodded. "Of course, Harry." He smiled. "If you want to avoid any trouble at the match, then you could come with me to the greenhouse. I'm supposed to meet Luna there."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Luna? I don't think I know anyone named Luna."

Neville nodded patiently. "She's more commonly referred to as Looney Lovegood." Harry nodded as he recalled hearing that name around the school a few times. "She's in Ravenclaw, and she's in the year beneath ours."

Harry smiled. "So what are you meeting up with this Luna Lovegood in the greenhouse for?"

Neville laughed. "Well, it turns out that one of the few things I'm actually good at is herbology, and Luna is falling a little bit behind in her class. I volunteered to tutor her until she's caught up."

Harry raised one eyebrow. "And what role, exactly, would I be playing in this situation? My herbology skills are mediocre, at best, and I've never taught anyone anything before."

Neville shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess I figured that you could meet Luna, who's definitely worth meeting, and maybe you could hang out and learn a little bit. Who knows, it could be fun. Or you could stay here all by yourself, and mope, or do boring homework, or whatever else it is that you do up here."

Harry tilted his head for a moment to think. "Neville, are there any plants that are good for healing burns?"

Neville grinned. "I'm sure that we'll be able to find something for your friend. I may need more specifics, though. If Madame Pomfrey wasn't able to heal her right away, then it must have been some kind of spell that went wrong and injured her."

Harry sighed. "Not exactly. It's… I'm not sure that I can really tell you without betraying Danni's trust, and that's the one thing that I can't do. Not after I just seemed to have earned it back."

Neville shrugged. "Well, there are aloes and such that are good for most burns, so they should work for your friend, at least to ease the symptoms a little bit." He laughed. "No offense, but I honestly never thought that I would live to see the day that Harry Potter gets so concerned about someone."

Harry scoffed. "I'm not that concerned…"

Neville stood up, and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Harry. Even you deserve a friend to worry about. Lord knows that your friends worry about you often enough." He grabbed the book that he had set down, and gestured for Harry to follow him. "Come on, let's go."

Harry nodded, and followed closely behind Neville. "I'm going out of my mind with excitement."

Neville smiled. "Well hurry up, then!" And he picked up his pace. Harry followed, an amused expression on his face.