Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and settings from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling. I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Harry Potter and will not receive any money or other financial profit for presenting the work on this site. The story I tell here as well as certain original characters are my own invention, and are not purported or believed to be part of J.K. Rowling's story canon.

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Chapter 35

Why couldn't things just be easy for him for once? If he only could find the words.. Whatever, screw it. He was a Gryffindor after all.

"Why do you shut me out like this?" Neville asked bluntly, knowing that he was taking a risk. This could turn out two ways, only one of them ending up easing the tension between the two.

"I don't shut you-" Sage began, but was quickly cut off by Neville again.

"-Yes, you do, remarkably so. I thought giving you some space might help but obviously it didn't."

"Giving me space? You mean excluding me wherever possible."

Neville frowned upon her claim, not entirely sure what she was getting at. How had he been excluding her, when it was Sage who would only answer brusquely whenever he tried to get near to her? He was just trying to offer her his support, whilst still respecting her wishes. He even made sure to not drag her into any unnecessary danger, wherever possible.

"What are you talking about? If you are referring to the plans of the DA, I wasn't excluding you, I was pro-"

"-Protecting me? It's not your place to protect me, Neville. Especially when you can hardly protect yourself."

"You think I can't?"

Neville was surprised at how distinctively he felt his chest hurting at her words. Sage had always been one of the few persons who believed in him, unconditionally, just for who he was. She knew all his strengths, as well as all his weaknesses, and had never hesitated to put his trust in her. Until now, that was.

"I know you can't! Snape told me about your little scavenger hunt to his office yesterday. Did you really just waltz in there, no cover, no protection spells, NOTHING, thinking that no one would notice you?" Sage asked, visibly upset at how they had proceeded to go about their plan.

"It was in the middle of the night. Everything would have gone like planned, if Snape hadn't still been up and about the castle," he tried to reassure her.

"You can't know for sure, Neville! You should've planned this better. Why did you even want the sword so badly?"

"It belongs to Harry. Dumbledore left it to him in his will."

"That's all?"

"Well, Snape had no right to-"

"-You put your life on the line because of Dumbledore's last will?! What if the Carrows had caught you? They nearly chopped your head off for much less before! How could you be so reckless?!"

"Sage," he murmured, resting both of his hands on her shoulders, "Calm down. I am fine, we all are fine. You are stressing over things that happened in the past. It's not worth the bother. Not anymore."

"But what if you hadn't been fine? What if.." she stammered in response, until she finally burst into tears. Neville drew her close, stroking the back of her head as she sobbed against his chest.

Despite the obvious grudge she had held against him only moments before, she immediately relaxed at his touch, not protesting against his hug. Though he hated to admit it, Neville had never quite considered how much of a toll the situation took on her. He had been too busy caring for the members of the DA, looking out for the few half-bloods still left at the school and trying to stand his place against the Carrows and the lot.

"Sage.." he began, not quite sure where he was going with his words, "I know this is all rather hard for you. It's understandable, really.. but you can't keep bottling up all your feelings until they force themselves back to the surface like this. You're just hurting yourself even more."

She shifted even closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. They stood like this for quite a while, Neville's thoughts raising through his mind like a flock of angry fireflies. He truly wished he wasn't as awkward all the time, especially with Sage. Not that holding her in his arms was much of a struggle.. No, to him it was the most natural thing. But comforting her with his words? A nearly impossible task, at least in his eyes.

"I really wish you weren't right all the time," she ultimately confessed, drying off the remainder of her tears with the back of her sleeve.

"A sentence I've never expected to hear in my lifetime," he admitted in response, hoping to cheer her up a little.

Sage chuckled, if only ever so slightly, finally looking up to him. Her eyes were red and still somewhat weary, but the faint smile she wore on her face was candid.

"I wonder if you'll ever stop to underestimate yourself all the time."

"Not if I can help it."

Neville was relieved to finally get a proper laugh out of her, as she ever so gently punched the side of his arm to jokingly scold him. He really had to improve on his aplomb, as much he knew, but for now he was just happy to help Sage out of her shell a little.

"I've got two days to come up with a new system for the Carrow regime," Sage suddenly blurted out.

"What?" Neville asked, leaning back a bit to fully meet her gaze.

"Snape wanted to know about the mood among the body of students, and.. I started rambling. Now he wants me to tell them how to win you over," she explained, agony tracing her words.

"Me? Of all people?"

"Though your name wasn't mentioned, it definitely hung in the air. You're a pureblood, Neville. They are exceptionally frustrated with your resistance against their new world order."

"Is it bad that this makes me somewhat proud?"

"Nah, I'm kinda proud too."

They grinned at each other once again, her arms still wrapped around his waist and vice versa. Though they hadn't exactly agreed on anything, Neville felt as if everything was okay again between them. As okay as they could be under the given circumstances, at least. He enjoyed being this near to Sage, more so than he might have liked to admit at the time, but he knew they had to part ways sooner rather than later.

Another minute surely wouldn't hurt anyone though.

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Author's note: Ohhhh, the dramatics!! I'm not quite sure if things will ever be easy between the two.

Thank you for your review and your well-wishes on the last chapter!! Hope this one made up for the shortness of the last one. Wishing you all the best and hope to read some more of your thoughts!! :-)