Chapter 6: The Secret's Out

Silence.

Harry stood staring with wide eyes at Neville's arm.

"Neville, what happened?" asked Harry. He felt extremely ill at ease as he stared down at Neville's bandaged arm.

Neville jumped back away from Harry and shook his robes so that the sleeve fell back into place.

And then, more silence.

"Oh, this?" Neville replied chuckling nervously, looking down at his arm. "This is nothing…" he continued, shrugging off his injury, "…you should have seen what that damn Devil's fang did to me when I was in the greenhouse last week…"

'Oh, how could you be so stupid? Harry's not foolish enough to believe that load of crock!'

Neville held his breath and waited.

"Oh, well, you better be more careful with those plants mate…" warned Harry in a low, serious tone.

The way Harry was staring was making Neville uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and started walking towards the doors.

"Right," started Neville awkwardly, turning around to face Harry, "shall we get going then…before I pass out?"

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"I'm telling you Hermione, he was acting really weird…I can't quite put my finger on it but something is definitely not right with him lately."

Over an hour had passed since Harry and Neville returned to the Gryffindor common room from their detention. As soon as they got back Neville went directly to the boys' dormitories to go to bed. Now Harry and Hermione were the only two left in the common room where they had been quietly discussing the day's events.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, trying to make it seem as if she had no idea what was going on. She hoped that the worry in her voice didn't give away that she was already quite aware of something going on with Neville.

"Well, for one, when I first got to the dungeon to serve detention, Neville was already there. He was just standing up against the wall, staring off into space and then when I began talking to him, it's like he was somewhere else. I had to shake him to get him to even notice me."

"Hmmm, that is strange," replied Hermione.

"Yeah, also he was just really quiet and detached the whole time, even more so than usual."

"Did he say anything to you that could indicate what's wrong?"

"Not really," replied Harry with a sigh, "we didn't talk a whole lot."

"I'm kind of worried about him too," started Hermione. "I mean he looks sick. There is obviously something awful going on with him that is eating him up inside."

Harry watched Hermione for a few moments, she seemed unusually stressed. Harry could tell just by looking at her that something was troubling her, her body was just emanating nerves.

He could sense the tension in her muscles from miles away and the concern on her face was evident by the faint worry lines that were embedded in her skin. Harry could tell she was deep in thought because her hands, along with the rest of her, were unmoving. She was gently biting her lip, staring into the fire.

Harry cleared his throat and Hermione looked up. He quickly looked away and brought a hand up, running it through his unruly black hair.

Hermione knew this look very well, it meant that there was something he wanted to tell her but wasn't sure whether he should or not.

"When we were cleaning up…" he began cautiously, observing Hermione to see if he should press on, "he slipped on some wet spots on the floor that we hadn't taken the time to dry properly…and when I went to help him up I saw that his left arm had been bleeding, as if he had just hurt it recently. It was all bandaged up. I asked him what happened and he started acting kind of edgy…told me that it was nothing and that it happened in the greenhouse."

Harry watched as all the color drained from Hermione's face.

"What?" she whispered.

"Yeah…I mean, it makes sense considering how accident-prone he is," Harry continued, "but I'm not sure I believe him…I mean, for one Herbology is his best subject. So if anyone would know how to deal with those plants it's him…"

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt so angry towards Neville right now, how could he break his promise?

"You're right not to believe him Harry," she replied flatly.

"What do you mean?"

Hermione stared impassively into the cackling fire and without so much as a breath she continued.

"What happened to him wasn't an accident," she murmured bleakly, not taking her eyes off of the flames, "he did that to himself."

Harry's stomach dropped.

"What? Hermione, there must be some logical explanation…Neville would never-"

"I've seen him, Harry..." she interrupted, speaking in the same dangerously low, austere tone. "When I left Honeydukes early because I had a headache…I came back here and found him sitting right here on this chair, in front of this fire," Hermione stopped and allowed for a few moments of silence to settle in before she continued.

"He was too busy slicing his arms up with this gigantic dagger to notice me come in," she continued, finally tearing her eyes away from the bright and enchanting flames that danced before her to meet Harry's eyes, which were wide with bewilderment and dismay.

Hermione felt a slight pang of guilt stab at her but she ignored it, just like Neville had ignored everything they talked about on that night, just like he had ignored his promise.

"What did you do?" asked Harry softly.

"I was just in shock. I asked him why…and he said he didn't know. I asked him how long…and he said for awhile. I told him that he should talk to Dumbledore and that he could help him but he didn't want to. I told him that as long as he promised never to do it again that I'd promise never to tell…"

"So…then, you're going to tell Dumbledore now, right?"

Hermione didn't answer, instead she began staring into the fire again, allowing the dancing flames to lure her into a trance.

"Hermione?"

"I don't know, Harry," she replied coolly.

"Do you want me to try and-" Harry stopped mid-sentence and listened. He could have sworn he heard light footsteps descending down the staircase and he was right.

A few moments later Neville appeared at the bottom, clad in his blue and white striped pajamas.

"Oh," he mumbled with a small grin, "I thought everyone was asleep by now."

"What are you doing up?" Harry asked, trying to keep his composure and make it seem as though he and Hermione weren't just having a serious discussion about him.

"I couldn't sleep…I was just going to come down here and relax for a bit, maybe catch up on some reading…or…errr start that essay for Snape…"

Seeing as how Neville didn't have any books with him, Hermione gave Harry a piercing glance.

"But uh, I'm sorry if I interrupted something…I'll just go ahead and go back up to bed…"

"No, you haven't interrupted anything Neville," began Hermione. "Why don't you join us? The more the merrier. Come on and sit down."

Neville walked over and plopped himself down on the couch, since Harry and Hermione were in the armchairs. The first thing Neville noticed was that Harry and Hermione were still in their school clothes, which meant neither of them had been to bed yet.

"Oh, Neville before I forget…I talked to Ginny while you and Harry were in detention and she wanted me to remind you about your study session tomorrow…errr, actually today after lunch…"

Harry felt a pang jealousy begin to rise to the surface again.

Neville slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Argh, I completely forgot. We might have to reschedule because I'm going to be working on the rest of that essay for Snape most of today…I got a little bit of it started though…what about you, Harry?"

"Hmmm? Oh, no…I was actually going to ask if you wanted to work on it together…you know, we could help each other along and maybe get done faster…"

"Alright."

"See, all it takes is teamwork, with that you can do anything." Hermione replied.

"Right…" said Harry.

"It's true! Look at how much you, Ron and I have accomplished over the years…" she began. "If you want…I can assist both of you to help you get those essays finished even faster. Then you know, you could have a few hours to spare before your detention with Snape…"

"Want to help?" began Harry. "Then how about you just write them for us?"

"What good would that do either of you? The best thing to do would be to just do the best you can and write them yourselves…because Snape isn't an idiot, he'd know if either of you didn't write your own essays…"

It was just after two thirty in the morning and none of them showed any signs of being tired yet. Hermione reached down into her knapsack and pulled out a ton of books, blank parchment, ink and quills and set them down on the coffee table.

"I decided I would save both of you the trouble of having to go to the library and locate all of the sources you would need. I checked out every book and article that refers to Veritaserum so everything you need to write your essays is right here. While you are both already sitting down here wide awake you might as well make good use of this time and get started. Even if you don't get halfway finished before breakfast, at least you'll have actually written something down."

It was times like this that Harry truly felt as if he could just grab Hermione and kiss her right on the mouth. She always managed to pull through for him, especially when he was on a tight deadline.

"Wow, thanks Hermione! You've saved us so much time…we probably would have wasted at least an hour trying to locate all of the sources in the library…" said Harry.

"Yeah, thank you Hermione…" Neville chimed in. "This was so considerate of you…"

Hermione wrapped an arm around both Gryffindor boys and smiled.

"Anything for you two and now, you can repay me by not wasting anymore time and getting started writing. I want you both to be able to have plenty of time to relax before Snape runs you down again."

"Hermione, Ron was right. You really are the greatest," replied Harry.

Hermione suddenly grew tightlipped at the mention of Ron.

"Well," she began, standing up and stretching, "I think I'm off to bed…it's rather late. I'll leave you two to work on your essays…if you get tired be sure to take a break. Good night."

And with that Hermione disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

Harry and Neville took Hermione's advice and got started right away. They both worked in silence for the next hour.

"Wow, my hand is really cramping up, how about yours?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it is."

"I guess this would be a good time for a break, eh?"

"Well, actually Harry. I uh- think I might go back up and try to sleep for a couple of hours before breakfast…" mumbled Neville, as if he were talking only to himself, "…it's been a long night."

"Oh," began Harry with disappointment. "I was hoping you could keep me company…but if you are too tired and don't want to I understand."

"Alright…I uh, I guess I could put the sleep off for another time," answered Neville as he stuck a quill inside one of the library books to mark his page.

Harry turned to look at the other boy and suddenly felt guilty for ever harboring any negativity towards him. Neville was such a kind person who would never wish or cause harm to anyone, except maybe Bellatrix Lestrange. He was always so soft-spoken, selfless, polite and loyal. He was always doing nice things for everyone around him and he never expected or even wanted anything in return.

But no matter how hard Harry tried he still could not force away the hostility he felt towards Neville whenever he mentioned Ginny or whenever he saw them together. Whether they were walking down the halls together, sitting near each other during meals or even studying.

He just simply could not stand the thought of either one of them secretly carrying a torch for the other. He couldn't take it and he tried not to think about it but it was rapidly consuming him and he didn't think he'd be able to put on a happy face for much longer. It was just something he couldn't control but for now, it would have to wait. He had more important things he needed to discuss with Neville.

Neville could see that the other boy was deep in thought.

"What's on your mind?" Neville asked.

"Neville, can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure…"

"And be honest with me…okay?"

"Of course, Harry…"

"Earlier…when we were in detention…your arm…did that really happen in the greenhouse?"

Neville's heart stopped and his mind went blank.

"Are you okay? You don't look so well…maybe you should, lie down…"

"No," Neville whispered, "I'm fine…"

"Look, Neville…I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable and I'm not going to push you into talking about anything you don't want to…but I was talking to Hermione before you came down and she told me that what happened to you wasn't an accident…"

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Author's Note: Dun, dun, dun! Another cliffhanger! Once again sorry for the delay…I've been distracted with other things but recently I've had more time on my hands so I decided to update a few things, this being one…:) So anyways let me know what you think, read & review! The more reviews the better :)