CPOV

By the time we had arrived at Hogwarts and made our way to the castle I was completely relaxed around Neville and he seemed less nervous around me. When we got to the castle I saw a bunch of first years scurrying to the great hall. "Well I guess I better go with them lot"

He gave me a warm smile. "Fingers crossed for Gryffindor."

That's when it came into my head…what if I am placed in Slytherin and stuck with…urgh…Draco.

Neville saw the worry come across my face and he placed a friendly hand on my arm rubbing it gently. "Hey, you ok?"

I pushed all the doubt out of my mind "Yeah, just a little nervous."

"Well don't be, it's not that bad. When I had to do it I nearly ran off wearing it." I couldn't help but laugh at this, the mental image of a small Neville running around with a giant hat popped into my head.

"Thanks Neville." I slowly started making my way behind the first years, before giving Neville a slight wave. God first years are tiny.

When we arrived in the Hall I could feel all eyes on me, probably because I stuck out like a sore thumb against the incredibly cute first years, maybe I was just being slightly paranoid. One by one the students went up to be sorted; I just looked at the floor. What if I had made a mistake?

"PEART, CATHERINE."

My head shot up and I suddenly got very nervous. Oh bollocks. As I made my way towards the sorting hat I suddenly realised that stool they made you sat on looked exceedingly tiny. As I went to sit down on it I realised how small it actually was before finally landing down with a thud and the hat was placed on my head.

"Hmmmm…Well you are tricky."

Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin.

"Why not? Ah don't want to follow in your mother's footsteps hm? Well, you don't exactly have the heart to be a Slytherin."

That's when my heart started beating again, oh just go on and say it you bloody stupid hat.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

As soon as those words came from his mouth I pretty much jumped from my seat before taking the hat off and running towards the Gryffindor table, I saw Hermione Ron and Neville but no sign Harry, but then I noticed Neville pointing a the empty place next to him which I quickly claimed as my own.

"You don't mind me sitting here do you?" He shook his head "No, no of course not, wouldn't have called you over otherwise. I'm really glad you got into Gryffindor, though it seemed like you took ages up there."

"Yeah felt like it."

When the meal started Neville introduced me to Dean and Seamus before everyone started concentrating on their food. I hadn't seen so much food in one place before; I didn't actually feel all that hungry. As I was finishing my dessert, the only thing I actually ate, I saw Hermione start to beat Ron out of the corner of my eye and started giggling along with Neville.

"Are they always like that?"

"Ron and Hermione?"

We both glanced over before he raised an eyebrow and let out a small sigh. "Yup."

Harry suddenly sat down next to me, Face covered in blood which I gave a worried look to. I looked over at Neville who also had the same expression as me. As we sat there Dumbledore started to speak Introducing the new teachers and welcoming us all back, Suddenly his speech took a sudden turn as he started talking about the return of He must not be named. It still gave me the creeps to even think about his name. As soon as he mentioned it I grabbed Neville's hand squeezing it as hard as I could receiving a concerned look from him. I started to let go while apologizing before he reached back. "It's ok" I smiled back at him while continuing to listen to Dumbledore. After he finished we went back to our common rooms and Hermione offered to show me the way. Once I had sorted my stuff out and got into bed, I couldn't sleep. All I could think about what Dumbledore had said. Dark times are coming.

I also couldn't stop thinking about Neville's Smile.

It was a few days before we had out first potions lesson, thankfully Neville and Hermione had the same class as me. As we listened to Slughorn, Harry and Ron suddenly entered. Ron didn't particularly look or sounded like he wanted to be there but I was happy I knew more people in the class. Slughorn asked us about different potions. Hermione, of course, knew all about them.

Our Class was spent trying to brew living death, which I think everyone found a bit stressful, I didn't think I would even come anywhere close to making it so I just tried to take it as easy as I could. Neville struggled for a large part of the lesson, even Hermione Was and people had told me she was one of the best students in school. To Everyone's shock Harry was the only person to actually make it by the end of the lesson. Hermione looked absolutely frazzled, most people did. When we left the classroom Neville popped up next to me.

His hair was all messed and he looked a bit flustered. It was Actually Adorable.

"So…tough lesson huh Longbottom."

"Heh, I'm not exactly the best at potions. It was a lot worse when Snape taught us though. I think he had a personal vendetta against me." he gave me a long hard look. "How come your hair always stays so perfect?"

"Probably because I don't get to stressed out about things."

He let out a sigh "I wish I could do that."

"Well. I spent most of my summer being stressed so, I guess I am trying to just relax a bit."

"Why? What happened during the summer?"

I froze. Do I tell him? "Actually, can we not talk about it?"

He gave me a sad look "Sure…whatever you want"

NPOV

I couldn't help but be intrigued but didn't want to press it any further.

As we continued walking she kept her distance looking towards the ground, I don't know what came over me. I looked around to see if anyone was around, fortunately everyone had gone on ahead of us. I stepped in front of her and my books dropped out of my arms as I fumbled about. She looked utterly shocked. I thought about bending down to pick up my things instead of making a fool out of myself like I was about to, but I couldn't help myself. I placed my hands on her shoulders looking into my eyes. When did I become this confident around girls? Especially gorgeous ones who made my mouth dry just by standing next to them.

"Listen. I-If you ever need to talk about anything. Anything no matter how stupid you think it is. You can talk to me ok? I will always listen. I know how hard it is to, to talk about...stuff."

For a moment I thought about telling her about my parents, most people knew now anyway but I decided to wait, it would probably be better telling her after she didn't think I was a total loser.

She was suddenly pressed against and I felt her hands gently on my back. I wasn't to sure what to do, so I brought a hand up to her lower back before shooting up thinking in my mind that was far to low.

Even if I did like how nice she felt against me.

"Thank you Neville, that's really nice of you. I don't why but I feel really safe when I'm around you."

I made her feel safe?

She took a step back and I reluctantly let go. Her hands suddenly came up to my hair fixing it for me. As her fingers went through my hair I became really relaxed just enjoying the feel of what she was doing. How could such a simple thing make me feel like that?

"Perfect" she smiled her hands falling to her sides. I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Come on" "If you're late, McGonagall will kill you, or turn you into a toad."