AN: Neville is a better friend than Ron, and you can't convince me otherwise.

***DNMCY1***

Shortly after that first week, they found a notice in the common room that they were to have flying lessons on Thursday. Together with Slytherin.

"Good god, who thought that was a good idea?" was Donna's remark when she heard the news. Even with the short exposure to the wizarding world that she'd had, she knew the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was fierce.

She could just imagine Gand... Dumbledore going, "I'm bored. What is the best recipe for fireworks I can think of?"

That Thursday she found herself standing in line, Harry on one side and Hermione on the other, with a broom lying on the ground next to her. She almost let out a giggle – how cliché! She wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop a cackle from escaping once she was actually in the air.

Madam Hooch, their teacher, instructed them to stick out their hand and say 'up'. When Donna did as instructed, the handle of her broom lifted up a bit, but the bristles remained firmly on the ground.

A quick glance around told her that only a few people had their broom in hand, one of them being Harry. Hermione, on the other hand, had only succeeded in rolling hers over.

Donna glared at her broom. She was not going to be bested by a household implement. She stuck out her hand deliberately and glared at it again for good measure. "Listen, you jumped-up piece of kindlewood. I said UP!"

The result this time was more satisfying. Her broom jumped up and slapped into her hand with a thwack. She nodded firmly, and followed madam Hooch's instruction on how to mount it.

And then things went south. Instead of waiting for the signal, Neville kicked off and rapidly rose, holding his broom in a death grip, until he started slipping sideways.

Madam Hooch's demand to come back down was singularly unhelpful. She couldn't arrest his fall, or soften the ground, or something? Anything? Donna refused to believe this was the first accident ever in flying class. Maybe Hooch was new to teaching?

This interpretation seemed even more likely when the woman took Neville to the hospital wing herself, leaving a bunch of 11-year-olds unsupervised in the process. Donna wanted to bash her head against the nearest surface, but she settled for a facepalm. Sending another student and continuing the class was too logical? She could have asked Seamus, he'd had to take Neville to the hospital wing that first Potions lesson, he knew the way.

Her fears soon became reality when Malfoy found something of Neville's, a glass ball that she vaguely remembered him receiving that morning. She hadn't been paying attention, caught up in trying to get Hermione to stop quoting that book, Quidditch through the Ages. Some posturing later, Malfoy flew off with it and taunted Harry to come and get it.

Harry of course took up the challenge, jumping on his broom and chasing Malfoy to where he was hovering. They were too far up to hear what they were saying, but the end result was a Remembrall in freefall and Harry heading on a collision course straight for earth. Donna might have screamed just a little bit, although she would deny it for the rest of her days, but the boy managed to brake about a foot above the ground, and he'd even caught the stupid glass ball.

Had that really been worth the risk to his life? She was about to head over and give him a piece of her mind, but professor McGonagall had apparently seen the whole thing – or the end result anyway – and came out to take Harry away. Donna hoped he wouldn't get expelled. There should be some kind of consequence for that whole risking a broken neck thing, but he'd done it in defense of a classmate, and that ought to count for something. And Malfoy should be punished too, for instigating the whole thing.

After Harry had gone, the students milled around for a bit, until Madam Hooch came back to finish the lesson.

As they found out later during dinner, Harry was not at all punished, and neither was Malfoy. Harry risking his neck had resulted in his getting a place on the Quidditch team, even though first years weren't even supposed to have a broom.

Just after Harry finished telling them his news, Malfoy was standing behind them. What was with that kid? Obsessed with Harry didn't even begin to cover it. And he was issuing a challenge. Wizard's duel at midnight? That kid? She'd eat her hat if he actually showed. He wouldn't risk getting caught outside after curfew, which meant it was a trap.

Hermione piped up to talk about the house points they could lose, but Donna could see Harry and Ron would not be swayed by that argument.

"Who cares about house points," she interrupted before either of the boys could answer. "The question is, why would you walk into such an obvious trap? D'you honestly think little lord Fauntleroy there is going to show his pointy nose? And even if he does, what will you do, light your wand at him? Lumos is the only charm we've learned yet, but I can guarantee you Daddy dearest didn't care one whit about the Trace. You want to beat him, learn something better than sparks first."

Harry looked thoughtful, until Ron spoke up.

"Come on, Harry, it's none of their business! This is your chance to beat Malfoy!"

"No, its not, Red! Didn't you listen? Either he shows up and beats you, because he cheated, or he doesn't and you'll have risked discovery for nothing.

"Look, I get that we're Gryffindors, righteous and brave and all that rot, but the hat said nothing about being stupid about it. You wanna have a pissing contest with Malfoy, fine, be my guest, but not tonight!

This time Harry did look as though her words were getting through to him.

"Maybe you're right," he said to Ron's obvious displeasure.

"I still think you shouldn't duel Malfoy at all," said Hermione.

Donna shrugged. "It's his choice, Hermione. Anyway! I have a better idea. Anyone up for a little exploring this weekend? I mean, this place is HUGE, and I've only seen a very small part of it."

Specifically, she wanted to find out what was in the third floor corridor that warranted such a warning, because her Doctor-sense was tingling, but she didn't think mentioning that little tidbit right now would do her any favours, what with Hermione's regard for the rules. She'd have to ease the other girl into it – or find a different partner in crime if she couldn't.

Harry grinned at her. "I'm game. The castle is amazing, I wouldn't mind seeing something other than classrooms for a change. Ron, you'll come too, right?

The redhead grumbled for a moment, still put out that he had been overruled, but then he relented. "Yeah, 'course I'll come," he answered Harry's question. "Can't let you go alone, can I?"

Donna grinned back. "Great! Hermione, you're in?"

Hermione nodded primly. "Sure, so long as we don't break any rules."

Yeah... that's what she was afraid of. Much easing to be done. Ah well, if she couldn't convince Hermione to check it out, she could always enlist the Weasley twins. With their brand of chaos they must have made plans to sneak a peek at the famous corridor already.

While she finished her pudding, two hands suddenly covered her eyes. "Guess who!" a gleeful voice shouted in her ear.

"Malfoy!" she shouted back just as gleefully. Hannah released her as she collapsed into giggles.

"Really? That peacock? Take care, you, or my father will hear about this!"

She stuck her nose in the air in a passable imitation of the blond boy, despite her bouncing pig tails.

"Oh no, not your father! Spare me!"

They both laughed, while Susan shook her head with an amused smile.

"Listen," she said when Hannah and Donna had calmed down a little, "we feel like we've hardly seen you since school started. Do you want to hang out some time?"

"Yeah, sure! Sorry, this whole House system doesn't really support inter-house friendships, does it? We'll have to put some effort in if we want to stay friends. Actually, I wanted to go see if Neville is alright – he fell off his broomstick earlier today, broke his wrist. Wanna come with?"

Hannah nodded, but when Donna looked at Hermione, the other girl shook her head. "I was hoping to go to the library," she answered. "Tell Neville I said hi?"

"Will do. Harry, Ron?"

Ron was the one to answer. "Why? He'll be fine. He's practically a Squib anyway."

Donna looked steadily at the boy, until he flushed as red as his hair.

"Because he's your classmate, and it's the nice thing to do? I don't know what a Squib is, but it doesn't sound like it has anything to do with checking on someone who ibroke his wrist/i!

Ron stood up angrily. "Whatever, nobody asked you anyway," he said, ignoring the fact that he had. "Come on, Harry, let's go to the common room."

Donna wondered what the kid's problem was, until she remembered that he was an 11-year-old, apparently with a chip on his shoulder. She just hoped he'd grow up a bit in a couple of years.

Harry stood up too, albeit more hesitantly than his friend. It almost looked like he might like to join them. He looked from them to where Ron was stalking towards the exit, apparently convinced that his words had been enough to summon Harry.

"You're allowed to have more than one friend, Harry," she told him softly. Ron would not like her saying that, but she was beyond caring about his feelings. He shouldn't have stormed off then, should he? Harry looked as though he could use all the friends he could make, and Ron would just have to learn how to share.

By now, Ron had noticed Harry wasn't following him, and he'd turned around with clenched fists. "Harry, come on! Let's go!" he practically yelled across the Great Hall. Harry flushed, hunched his shoulders a little bit, and darted his eyes across the Hall to see who might be paying attention to them. Then he frowned a little, looked one more time between the boy who seemed to think he could command him and the girls who were waiting patiently for his decision, and quite deliberately turned his back.

"Yeah, I'll come with," he said to the girls.

Donna stood up and grinned at him. "Brilliant. Ladies, gentleman... Allons-y!"

Together they proceeded out of the Great Hall and towards the infirmary. It seemed that Ron hadn't stuck around after the obvious snub, as he was nowhere to be seen. She hoped he wouldn't take out his anger on Harry too much. Perhaps she ought to recruit some of the Gryffindor boys to help keep an eye on things. Harry was his own person, and was allowed to make his own decisions, but Ron might need a little push to realise that.

"So what's a Squib, anyway?" she asked as they climbed up the stairs. She frowned as Susan explained how some magical parents produced non-magical offspring. That was Ron's excuse for not visiting Neville? Because he had apparently a bit less than average magic?"

"Wizards use the most offensive-sounding words, don't they? I mean, honestly... Squib? Muggle? What is up with that?"

"They're just words, though, Donna," said Hannah. "We have to call them something."

"Ok, but words have power, Hannah. Unless you want to tell me that you won't flinch when you hear the name Voldemort?"

The blonde nicely proved her point. "See? Only in the case of Muggle and Squib, the word doesn't invoke fear – and don't ask me why, it's a ridiculous name – but contempt, like they're less than wizards for not having magic. They're not, believe you me. They're inventing things you wouldn't even dream of, all without magic. Yes, you must call them something, but why not use a neutral term, like... I don't know, mundane? Not perfect either, but loads better than Muggle."

"We're here," Susan interrupted her rant, pointing at the wooden door in front of them. Above the door hung a wood-carved decoration, reading "Hospital Wing" in elegant script. Susan knocked on the door and waited for the medi-witch to open it. When she did, Donna showed her most winning smile.

"Hi! We were wondering if we could visit Neville?"

Madam Pomfrey smiled back and opened the door wider. "You may, come in. Neville will be able to return to Gryffindor tower shortly."

The pudgy boy was sitting in one of the beds, eating his dinner from a tray hovering over his lap. Magic was awesome.

"Hiya, Neville!" She plonked her arse down on the end of his bed, while Hannah and Susan sat down on the bed to his left, and Harry took the chair, sitting on the edge as if he wasn't quite sure of his welcome.

Neville was looking at them as if he had not been expecting anyone to come over – and wasn't that a sad thought all by itself.

"Uhm. Hi... Donna. Wh... what are you doing here?"

Theory confirmed.

"Visiting you, of course. These are Hannah and Susan by the way. I think you know Harry," she said with a wink. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, um, fine." He held up his hand, showing a complete lack of plaster. "Madam Pomfrey fixed it right up, I can come back to Gryffindor after I'm done eating."

"Cool, we'll wait for you then. We can walk back together. Say, you missed all the excitement! After you'd left, Malfoy found your Remembrall..."

Donna explained the whole incident, with some interjections from Harry, to the fascinated boy.

"It was brilliant! I mean, stupid and death-defying, yes, but very impressive to see."

Harry blushed a little at her words, but she noticed he was slowly relaxing in his chair. "I didn't know what else to do," he said. "I didn't really stop to think things through."

Susan snickered. "Gryffindor," she whispered.

"Anyway," Donna continued the story, "what do you know, but McGonagall comes out! She'd seen the whole thing, or at least the infamous dive, because she didn't actually punish Malfoy or anything. But! We just found out what she did when she took Harry with her!" She glanced at her Hufflepuff friends. "Ladies, this does not go beyond these walls, ok? She made him Seeker!"

Harry ducked his head a little, although he could not quite conceal his pleasure at the prospect. The others expressed varying degrees of shock at the idea of a first year on the Quidditch team. Susan was impressed but unruffled, Hannah was bouncing with excitement and apparently about a skip away from jumping up and hugging Harry, and Neville looked as though he was glad that lot had fallen to Harry and not to him. Understandable, considering his experience from today.

Once Neville was discharged, the three girls walked with him, until they came to the stairs where Hannah and Susan had to go down to the Hufflepuff common room. Before they split, they agreed to meet up to study together the next week.

When the two girls had left, Neville glanced at his two companions and cleared his throat. "Listen, uhm... can... can I ask you a question? Why did you come visit me? Not that I don't appreciate it, because I do! I'm just... not sure why."

Donna looked at him for a moment.

"Like I told someone earlier... because you're my classmate, and you were hurt, and it seemed like the decent thing to do. And... I'd like to be your friend. If you want."

The boy directed a shy smile at her.

"I'd like that. Thanks, Donna."

Harry hunched his shoulders a little bit, but he took a deep breath and turned to Neville. "I'll be honest with you, Neville. I almost didn't come. For one thing, I didn't realise this was a thing you could do, visit someone who was hurt. But I also very nearly let someone else make a decision for me. If it wasn't for Donna, I probably would have. So, this is me, making a decision for myself... I want to be your friend too."

The smile on Neville's face was dazzling. He looked like he couldn't quite believe that he'd gained two friends at the same time. She didn't point out to him that once you'd started, very often it was quite easy to keep going. He'd find out for himself.

"We're nearly there," said Harry. "Do you know the password?"

The smile left Neville's face. "Uhm... I seem to have forgotten."

Donna laughed and patted his arm. "Good thing you have us then, eh?"

"Pig snout," Harry told the portrait commonly known as 'the Fat Lady'. Donna thought it a disrespectful name, but she hadn't managed to find out her actual name yet.