Chapter
Two: Holding Hands.
Neville
Longbottom had been sleepless most of the night. He could not believe that
Harry and Ginny had kissed in front of him last night and Neville had gone
straight to bed soon after. Neville had spent all night heartbroken: let down
by Harry's betrayal and saddened by the fact that his suspicions about Ginny's
true feelings had been proved right.
Neville
missed breakfast and wearily staggered into History, sitting in his usual spot,
alone and three desks behind Harry and Hermione. Harry noticed Neville come in
and felt silent as he past.
Neville
spent the lesson staring into the back of Harry's head. Two hours evaporated in
Neville's rage.
As the
bell went, Harry hurried Hermione out of the room. He need not have rushed,
thought Neville, who left the room last which earned him a curious stare from
the ghost of Professor Binns.
Snape
greeted Neville in Potions and Neville sighed, resigned to the fact that
Gryffindor was due to lose a few points just for Neville breathing. As the
lesson progressed, Neville stared at his fingertips; his mind was raging and he
closed his eyes and whispered his private mantra. Over and over, Neville calmed
his nerves with this mantra until confident once more, Neville rejoined the
class.
"Well
Neville?" snapped Snape from the front of the class.
Neville
panicked. "Erm... 13 uses, including that against... erm... Wartynose?
Sir?"
The
class stared at him. Snape seemed livid, but relaxed. "Well done
Longbottom." purred Snape.
Neville
shook his head and smiled. "How on earth do I do that? I wonder what the
question was?" he thought.
The
lesson crawled through the theory and eventually, they reached the practical.
Hermione was forced to join Neville this week; Snape had gotten so used to the
fact that Neville was a disaster area, he ensured a rota had been set up,
whereby a different member from Gryffindor would partner Neville for a week.
Neville had long been the butt of the jokes, and now that the tutors were
joining in too came as no great surprise.
"Are
you ok Neville?" asked Hermione. She quite liked Neville, despite his
clumsiness. Although it was more pity than affection, Hermione realised that
Neville was a kind and honest person who truly cared about other people.
Neville
realised his hands were trembling. The lack of sleep was obviously showing in
his face and it suddenly seemed to catch him up. He smiled at Hermione. "I
am sorry if, you know, I make any mistakes today." he trembled.
Hermione
took his hand and held it until it stopped shaking. "Don't be stupid
Neville. Don't believe anything they say about you. Come on, if I do the
mixing, you can tell me what to do. Okay?"
Neville
smiled and between them, Neville and Hermione got through the lesson unscathed
and only costing Gryffindor five points for the scorch mark on the ceiling.
On
their way to lunch, he stared at his fingers briefly and noticed that they were
no longer shaking. He looked up and there was Harry, walking into him.
"Oh,
hi Neville." smiled Harry weakly. Ron was with him and Hermione joined
Ron.
"Hi."
said Neville. He fixed his stare on Harry and held him in that awkward moment,
pinned and exposed. Neville knew Harry had betrayed him. Harry suspected that
Neville knew.
"Well
done on not blowing up the class Longbottom," sneered Malfoy walking past.
This broke the spell as both Neville and Harry turned to sneer at Malfoy.
When
Neville turned back, the trio had walked on, talking incessantly about Harry
and his Trials.
Neville
sneered once more, closed his eyes and left, hiding his shaking hands in his
robe.