"Oh my God," Ginny whispered to herself when she discovered that the kid that they faced was indeed Neville Longbottom. She had never seen him like this before. His face was red and blotchy and hopelessly wrinkled with lines of intense stress. You could only barely see his eyes through the puffiness of his hot face. It was strange. They had walked in on Neville crying his eyes out, but Neville didn't seem ashamed at all. It seemed as though a simple worry about such a meaningless thing like what your peers think about you was not important at all compared to this other pain Neville was feeling inside himself that made his heart twinge.

"Neville," Ginny gently placed her arm around his shoulders, and sat on the floor next to him, "Was your heart broken at the dance? Who hurt you? Neville, tell me. It's okay Neville."

Neville glared at her, and scooted away from her, removing himself from the comfort of her arms.

"Neville, it's really all right. Was it Lavender? Parvati? Who, Neville?" Harry also tried to help. His attempt was unsuccessful, and he received no response except to cold fierce stare from Neville, who couldn't say anything. He looked for words, he searched deeply for the right thing to say about this terrible tragedy, but found hardly anything. Finally, he spoke.

"You are - you think that I am this upset over a -," Neville sniffed. His throat was tense and every word hurt so bad to say. His voice was on the verge of breaking... he was on the verge of breaking, "a girl? A silly little relationship that would last, like a day? Your think that these - emotions were provoked by Lavender or Parvati? Oh, no, no, no. NO!"

A single tear glittered on Neville' cheek. It was silent for a minute or so. Neville's eyes were on Ginny and Harry, but he was not looking at them. He was remembering something else, trying as hard as he could to bring back memories of how things were, of how lucky he was, of what he took for granted.

"He took it all away. My parents loved me so much. They still do, but it's not the same. They were brilliant - the best. Then, it happened and they became insane - people mock me for it all the time. The only emotion they feel is love. Not anger, sadness, just love. For me. Did you see how happ..." Neville let out a large, fast breath, and buried his face in his hands. He started shaking slightly, and his back pulsed as he let out deep, depressing sobs.

"Did you see how happy they were because they could give me a GUM wrapper. I mean, they just want to make me happy. They don't know ANYthing except how much they love me. They knew so much more before...so much!"

These words were half sobbed, and upon hearing them, Ginny flung her arms around him once more, and cried into his slumping shoulders.

"They were taken away from me. Do you have ANY idea how that feels? Then, When you finally learn to love someone else with the same undying strength, and you create such a bond with that someone else - "

Neville's expression of anger melted into a sadness that punched Harry and Ginny harder than any curse could. He was cut deeply by what he was saying.

"Grandma" he whispered, as his eyes wrinkled shut, and he rubbed his forehead with his hands. After a few moments, he sniffed, and continued making his point.

"Do you know how that feels - to have the most important people in your life taken away, then you finally find someone who is exactly what you need to recover - someone you love so much - so much, and then that same force takes them away from you - forever? Do you have ANY idea?"

Neville's depression was cutting deep into his veins, and it bled all over the others in the room.

"Neville," Harry croaked, his voice halfway cracked, "Yes. I know exactly how that feels."