The heavy glass door to the greenhouse closed behind Neville with a
solid, satisfying "thunk!". His heavy boots landed loudly on the worn
and ancient stone stairs. When he reached the first landing, he
paused to readjust his bag on his shoulder. The strap was digging in
deeply, and he knew he'd wind up with a blister if he didn't fix it
now.

Below him, a door opened and loud, rowdy voices echoed up the
stairwell. The list of people whose company Neville could tolerate at
the moment was very short indeed. And he knew for a fact that all of
them were currently sitting in the great hall having dinner. He paused
for a moment so see if he could identify the voices before finding an
alternate route down to the Great Hall.

"…can't believe it's been like that all summer! My father says that…"

It was Malfoy. And that meant the other two voices undoubtedly belong
to Crabbe and Goyle, the great oafs. He certainly didn't want to run
into them. Since the incident at the Ministry of Magic, that trio of
troublemakers took every available opportunity to hex, curse, taunt
and harass anyone they thought ran in the same circles as Harry
Potter. Neville, of course, was on their hit list.

He quietly slipped through the door to his right, found himself at the
very end of a long, dark, narrow corridor barely wide enough for the
door to swing all the way open. He slowly closed the door behind him
and was pleased when it silently slid into place. With Filch on his
usual crusade even the slightest transgressions, Neville didn't think
it would be wise to wander the corridors. Unsure of where this
particular one led, Neville decided the best thing to do was to stay
put until Malfoy and his gang passed, and then quietly make his way
down the stairs. The doors in the stairwell were made of thick oak
and didn't make eavesdropping very easy. Fortunately, the Slytherins
were not big on stealth and subtlety.

Over the summer, he'd spent a great deal of time at Grimmauld place,
at Dumbledore's request. Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and
Neville had all taken Defense Against The Dark Arts lessons from
Lupin. When they weren't in "class", they were to practice under
Harry's guidance. In the little spare time they had, they were to
help the Order by cleaning the many, many rooms of the Black house and
to run errands for the members of the order. They were kept busy and
safe. The summer flew by faster than any of them wished. 12
Grimmauld Place was comfortable and secure. Being surrounded by so
many people they knew they should trust was a welcome change.

Not to mention the fact that being so busy made it easier for all of
them to deal with the loss of Sirius. Lupin and Harry took it
particularly hard.

One of the many tricks Neville learned was from Fred and George.
They'd given him a small stash of Extendable Ears, which made it
particularly easy to listen for approaching professors and students.
Neville reached into his bag and started searching for a pair in case
he needed use them to be certain the coast was clear.

Based on the sounds coming from the stairs, it was evident that the
coast was very much not clear. Loud, lumbering footsteps thundered
through the stairwell. Malfoy was still railing against something or
other as they climbed the stairs. It sounded as if they were
approaching the landing just below where Neville had tucked himself
away.

With all the noise from the stairwell, he didn't notice caretaker
Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, until he felt her brush past his leg.
Apparently, she felt he looked suspicious and was intent on letting
him know it. Thinking a little nudge with tip of his boot would
convince her otherwise, he gave her a little push back down the hall.
Apparently, that was all the evidence she needed and with a swish of
her tail, she trotted on off to inform Filch that something untoward
was happening. She let out a loud and defiant meow.

"Silencio!", Neville whispered. Confused, Mrs. Norris kept trying in
vain to meow. Her mouth moved, but not so much as a peep came from
her. Neville sighed in relief. He'd had a bit of trouble with that
charm, he'd struggled with it most of the summer. Hermione was
finally able to help him get the hang of it. Without her meows
echoing through the halls, she would have to go find Filch and lead
him to Neville. She slinked off around the corner, her mouth still
moving. The charm was temporary, and no one on the grounds knew the
school's passageways better than Mrs. Norris and Argus Filch. Neville
had only bought himself a few minutes.

He was debating which was worse, Filch or Malfoy, when he heard Malfoy just outside the door.

"Look, I already explained this to you both. Are you completely
stupid, or just mostly? My father has a plan, on You-Know-Who's
orders. Don't worry about how he's getting messages to me while he's
in Azkaban. Just do what I tell you, alright?" Malfoy paused for a
moment. "Now, wait here while I get these seeds from Sprout's office.
Father said to make sure no one saw, so keep a sharp eye out."

He heard Malfoy climb the last few stairs up to the greenhouse door.
He knew it would be locked. Hopefully, Malfoy would be deterred
enough to simply leave. Then he would simply wait for them to descend
the stairs again, and he'd be home free.

"Shit," he heard Malfoy say.

"Whut?"

"It's locked. Dammit." He heard Malfoy join Crabbe and Goyle just
outside the door. Neville tried to make himself as small as possible,
squashed into the corner just beside the doorway. He had a bad feeling
about this.

"Ew. This stairway smells like Dragon Dung. Let's cut through here."
He held his breath as the door opened and Malfoy stepped through,
followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy was off on his rant again about
Dumbledore before he'd even fully crossed the threshold. Far too
self-absorbed, Malfoy didn't notice Neville standing in the corner.
As for Crabbe and Goyle, they were far too oblivious to notice a
mountain troll, let alone a quiet Gryffindor.

Neville grabbed the door before it could close. As he slipped through
the doorway, he heard Mrs. Norris' blood-curdling yowl, and Filch
yelling for Malfoy and his gang to stay right where they are.

"Running is no use boys! I've already seen who ye are. My my!
Dumbledore will love this!" Flitch sounded positively delighted to
have caught them in the act. Neville wasn't sure what it was they
were in the act of, but he was sure Filch thought it was an offense
worth of expulsion.

The rest of Filch's speech was cut off by the door, and Neville quietly descended the stairs. Never in his wildest dreams did Neville expect to be grateful for Crabbe and Goyle's propensity to be very large, but in this case, it has served him well. There was no way that Filch could have seen Neville's escape with such hulking boys in the way.

Neville rushed across the grounds to the Great Hall, where the rest of his friends were. He had to warn them that Malfoy was up to something.

Revenge is something Neville felt he could, and if fact should, handle on his own. But it was a different matter all together if Lucius Malfoy was using his rat-fink son to carry out You-Know-Who's plans within the walls of Hogwarts.

He was certain that Hermione and Harry would know what to do.