Neville's grandmother turned to face him. She gave him a hug, and then she looked at him for several seconds.
"Thanks for trying Gran," he said.
"Neville," she said, "I don't like this either, but I don't this there's a way out of this. Besides, you're braver than you think you are. It's in your blood."
He remembered when Jane had pretty much told him the same thing. "Jane once said, that true courage is when you're scared, but you do it anyway."
"She's right. Besides, your father was very brave and heroic. It's in your blood."
"Why would that matter? Before my first year at Hogwarts, you warned me not to tell anyone I had a friend who could talk to snakes because the only people known to have done that were Salazar Slytherin and his descendants."
"Well a likely, but not proven, ancestor from many generations before you isn't the same thing as your parents. Your mother was pretty brave and heroic too."
Neville was impressed by that last line, seeing as she had never liked her daughter-in-law. He did not fully believe his grandmother's words, but he appreciated the fact she was trying to make him feel better.
At the Gryffindor table, during dinner that day, Hermione opened a letter and read it. "Neville," she said, "If it makes you feel any better, Percy believes you, about not putting your name in the cup."
"Oh, well thanks for letting me."
"You're still corresponding with Percy?" Fred asked.
"I thought you were mad at him," George said.
"Well, I mean, I was mad that he thought nothing should be done about the house elves, but I'm not going to stop being friends with him just because of that. He's almost as much fun to debate with as Ron used to be."
A lot of people had been being rather rude to Neville since his name was pulled out of the goblet of fire. Luna told him to just ignore them, but that was easier said than done. At least it was for him. It probably was not for her, seeing as she ignored bullies all the time. He couldn't understand how she did it, but he was admiring that more and more.
Neville's interview with Reeta Skeeter had not gone well. He had repeatedly told her that he had not put his name in the goblet, but she did not seem to believe him. When she brought up his parents, he begged her not to print anything about them.
He cringed when he read her article.
When Neville's parents went insane, it may have affected Neville too. He's basically a reckless idiot, who just entered this tournament for glory. I'm not sure why. It doesn't seem like it would take much to impress his three girlfriends, two of whom are feeble-minded, and younger than him.
Part of the reason he had been worried about her printing something about his parents was that he didn't want other people's pity, but he was also worried that she would say something bad about them. Mentioning that they were insane without at least mentioning why was pretty bad.
The mention of the feeble-minded girls, which obviously referred to Luna and Jane, really bothered him too. They had both been called feebs before, but not very many people heard that. Lots of people probably read this.
Where was she even getting her information?
Twenty-four hours later, she came out with her next article.
I am very sorry, for I have caused some great confusion. Augusta Longbottom has graciously pointed out that her son and daughter-in-law only went insane because they were tortured for information, by death eaters, and wouldn't give in. It has also been pointed out that some of his friends are weird, but apparently they are not feeble.
Neville smiled. He was not sure what his grandmother did, and he doubted that his grandmother had been at all gracious about it, but he was very grateful.