Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or settings or anything else. Also, i don't care if Ron and Lavender should be getting together. I'm editing the booko to fit my story.
Overlooked
Story by StormDancer
Chapter 4
It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
"You forgave him!" Neville blurted out.
"Of course," Sophia responded, "He was drunk. It wasn't Derek's fault that Parkinson is a whore."
Neville sputtered for a moment. After she told him about the ball and the mysterious, 'Neron', she had ended with telling how she had just got a letter from Derek. She was so innocent! How could she forgive a guy who was cheating on her? She needed protection; she needed someone to keep her safe.
Sophia stared at the boy for a moment, holding back laughter.
"It's okay, Nevie. You'll understand it when you're older and have found someone for you," she teased, leaving the library.
Neville stared after her. 'I'm far ahead of you in finding someone for me,' he thought wistfully.
o0O0o0O0o
"Mate, whats up?" Ron asked as Neville collapsed in a chair next to him.
"Unrequited love. What's wrong with you?" Neville responded sadly.
"'Bout the same."
"No luck with Hermione?"
"Knew it was me before I could say a word."
"That sucks"
"Yeah"
They both sat in silence for a while, staring into the fire.
"Ron, is it possible to have visions in the fire?" Neville asked.
Ron stared at him. "Are you going to turn into Trelawney? I have no idea. You pay more attention in divination then I do. Why?"
"No Reason,' Neville shrugged.
"Want to see a picture of your lady-love in the fire?"
Ron's words were so close to what he had seen that Neville started. Ron grinned, misunderstanding his surprise.
'I knew it! Neville's got a girl-"
Neville put a hand over Ron's mouth.
"If you say that again, I will tell the world that you like Hermione. Do you understand?"
Ron nodded quickly. Neville lifted his hand.
"Not going so well?" Ron asked.
Neville shook his head glumly. It wasn't. So Sophia might have liked 'Neron'. That just made it harder to keep away from her when he was Neville.
Ron put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Look at it this way. It must be going better than mine."
They looked at each other, than burst out laughing, both of them releasing their tension.
"God, I needed that," Neville said, wiping streaming eyes.
"So did I," Ron began, but at that moment Hermione walked in. His eyes looked on her. "I'm going to go over there now, okay?"
Neville hid a grin.
"Go get 'em, tiger."
Ron mock punched Neville on the arm before getting up and walking to where Hermione was standing.
Neville too got up, wandering out of the common room down to the lake.
o0O0o0O0o
"Hey, Soph, you ok?" Neville asked, surprised.
Sophia ran through the hallways from her Ravenclaw dormitory to the entrance hall. Clutching a piece of parchment, she dashed weeping out into the grounds, not paying attention to anybody she ran into. She collapsed on the edge of the lake, staring into the water intently despite the cold rain trickling down her back.
She flung her face into the grass and cried, beating her hands against the grass.
"Why do I always have to fall for the bastards?" she wailed.
"How could he?" she asked the uncaring sky, "He has no right to call me that! He was cheating on me, not the other way around! I should have broken up with him, not the other way around!"
"Amen to that," came a quiet voice from behind her. She looked up and saw a masked figure stepping out of the shadows. Sophia scrambled to her feet, holding out her wand with shaking fingers.
"Stop right there!" she stammered, terrified.
"I'm not going to hurt you, princess of the fey. You needed me, and I came."
Sophia lowered her wand as she recognized the voice and the mask.
"Neron?" she said hesitantly.
"In the flesh," he grinned. She attempted to smile back, but failed. He walked over to her and hugged her gently.
"What happened?" he asked concernedly.
She held out the parchment in a trembling hand.
Neron read it quickly, than clenched his fists. Sophia could barely see his eyes, but from what she could make out through the mask their calm brown had turned fiery. He got up and began to pace angrily.
"Bastard!" he muttered through clenched teeth, "What a way to treat a girl. He obviously has no decency whatsoever. To break up with a girl and call her a sl-"
He stopped abruptly in front of her, than knelt.
"Princess, it would be my pleasure to enact any revenge schemes, including things such as murder, causing insanity, or any other torture that your sweet mind would think of."
Sophia flushed. "No, you don't have to do that. It's his loss, anyway"
Neron grinned, still kneeling.
"I'll say it is," he muttered. She blushed redder.
"Well, milady, if it is not your wish to indulge in horrible revenge fantasies," he said, rising. Sophia giggled. He continued, "Than may I invite you on a short flight?"
Sophia looked up at the sky. The rain had escalated, and in the distance she could hear a rumble of thunder.
"Neron, There's a storm."
"But of course, my lady. When better to fly?"
Sophia stared at him like he was insane.
"We'll be killed! Or electrocuted! Or dashed to pieces when we fall! Or-" she was cut off by Neron grabbing her around the waist. He put her on the broom, than mounted it in front of her.
Sophia shrieked when he took off. She clutched at his waist, holding on for dear life as Neron flew calmly up into the sky.
"Calm down, Sophia." He murmured, "You'll be fine."
He guided the broom into the clouds, and Sophia gasped in terror and awe as he evaded lightning and winds with unnatural ease.
"Relax," he yelled over the thunder, "Just feel the power. This is what humans aspire to. The power to get what we want."
He flew them back to the ground. She leaped off the broom, glad to be back on solid ground. Neron dismounted more sedately.
"Now, wasn't that fun?" he asked.
Sophia gulped.
"If that's fun to you, I'm getting a bit scared," she said, only half joking.
Neron crossed the distance between them and hugged her tightly.
"You'll always be safe with me," he whispered into her ear.
He let go of her, and took a step back, preparing to disappear once more. Sophia grabbed his arm to stop him.
"You said up there you admired the storm because it took what it wanted. What do you want?" she asked, gazing up at him with big grey eyes. Neron looked down at her for a moment, a curiously blank expression on as much of his face as the mask did not obscure.
"Oh, hell," he muttered to himself. He leaned down and before she could react, he kissed her. She stiffened at first, than passionately kissed him back. He was the first to pull back.
"You," he muttered hoarsely as he disappeared into the shadows. Sophia stared after him, holding a finger to her throbbing lips.
o0O0o0O0o
Neville slipped into his dorm from the window, struggling out of his wet robes and mask. He was so preoccupied with what he had just done he didn't notice Ron lying on his bed.
"A mask?" Ron asked, surprised.
Neville jumped and spun, looking wildly at his friend, a beast caught in a trap.
"And wet robes? What were you doing out there? Going to meet your girlfriend?"
Neville scowled.
"I'm right! You do have a girlfriend! And you said your love life wasn't going very well!"
"I don't have a girlfriend!" Neville yelled, "My alter ego has a sort of-kinda-almost girlfriend!"
He gasped. He had not meant to blurt that out.
Ron gaped at him.
"You have an alter-ego?"
Neville nodded curtly.
"Since when?"
"The ball"
"And that's a bad thing?"
"It is when the girl you like likes your alter ego and is your friend and you can't tell her without getting her angry at the alter ego."
Ron nodded sagely, "I can see where that would be a problem. Hey, now I can help! I'll ask Hermione to ask for gossip about that girl, and then you know what your alter-ego needs to do! Why didn't I try that?"
Neville grinned at Ron's enthusiasm.
"You did. It failed."
Ron's ears reddened. "Oh. Right."
Neville grinned, than lay down on his bed, still feeling Sophia's lips on his.
o0O0o0O0o
Sophia stared out the window into the storm raging outside. That, she felt, was the essence of Neron. He was as powerful and mysterious as a storm. Yet, whenever he held her, she felt inexplicably safe in a way she hadn't felt when any of her other boyfriends had held her. And when he had kissed her today, she felt fireworks go through her body just thinking about it! But the thing she liked most about him was the way he could comfort her. The way he just showed up when she needed him. She felt like he knew her better than anyone. Except, perhaps, Neville. The connection she felt to Neron was very similar to the one she felt to Neville. Maybe too similar.
Sophia sighed. Neville. Her best friend. And yet, whenever she tried to really learn something about him, he closed up. She had never heard him talk about his home life, or his family, except for his grandmother. She hardly even knew his other friends, although of course she knew of them. Her heart had almost burst with pride when she saw Neville had gone with Harry Potter to the Department of Wizardry. She never knew what really happened there, though. Neville had never told her. She didn't even know what motivated him. She could tell he hated Voldemort, you weren't friends with someone for 5 years without being able to read them, but she had no idea why. Maybe, someday, Neville would tell her. Maybe someday Neville would actually tell her who he really was.