"Harry?" Neville whispered, trying to wake up the dark haired boy that was asleep on his chest. The two were still in the Gryffindor common room, lounging together on the couch. Harry whimpered and buried his head into Neville's bright red sweater. Neville gave a small smile at Harry's actions and put his arm, the one that wasn't underneath the rest of Harry's body, around Harry's back.
"Mm…Blaise…" Harry murmured, so softly Neville barely heard. But Neville did hear.
His lips pursed into an uneasy frown, and he looked away from the warm body on him. He looked thoughtfully at the back of the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Harry," he said again, more persistent and a little louder this time.
Harry's eyes opened slowly. "Nev?" he yawned lazily. He blinked away the sleep in his eyes. "Wait-what am I doing? Why am I…where's…oh," Harry finished, realization dawning.
Neville's eyes flickered into Harry's and then away again. "D'you think…do you think you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me, next month, that is?" he asked. His gaze returned to Harry.
Now it was Harry's turn to look away. He hoisted himself up off of Neville and sat on the other end of the couch. Neville straightened up as well. Harry looked at his hands, interlocking his fingers. "I don't know, Neville," Harry told him.
Neville laughed. "You either want to go or you don't, Harry, it's not brain surgery," he replied.
"It's not that I don't want to go to Hogsmeade with you…" Harry began, but was interrupted by Neville.
"But you don't want to go with me. So it is that," Neville said coldly.
"It's just that…it's too soon," Harry said, a pleading tone in his voice.
Neville laughed again, though this time it was cold and angry. "Even after the bastard cheats on you, you still have feelings for the snake. What does he have to do to make himself unappealing to you? What can I do to make you like me?"
"I don't know," Harry said in a small voice. He brought his knees to his chest and held them there with his arms.
Neville stood up and stood in front of him. "Merlin, Harry, I don't understand what I have to do to get through to you! It's not like I ever cheated on you. I admitted that I was wrong for lying to you, and even then that wasn't such a big deal. How could you possibly still like him?" he ranted.
Harry buried his head in the crevice between his chest and his knees. Neville stopped when he saw how upset Harry was.
"I'm sorry," Neville told him sincerely. He sat beside Harry and put his arm over his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. Harry didn't unlock himself from his stance. "I'm such a jerk." Neville pressed his lips above Harry's ear.
Harry, unbeknownst to Neville, was quietly crying into his legs. He didn't answer.
Neville felt a painful pang shoot through his chest. "I'm really sorry, Har," Neville told him quietly.
Harry still didn't answer.
"Har? I-I…I have to tell you something," Neville said again. He bit his lower lip nervously.
Harry tilted his head to the side to watch Neville. Neville saw this and gulped visibly before speaking. "Please don't hate me, Harry. All I ever wanted…and still want, that is…is for you to love me back. I swear. Everything I do is for you…but I know I messed up this time," Neville began.
"What is it?" Harry asked curiously. He lifted his head up the full way and loosened his grip on his legs.
Neville sighed. "Promise to me that you won't be too mad at me," he asked softly.
Harry recoiled. "I can't do that. Not until I know what you did," Harry replied.
"I guess that's reasonably," Neville told himself glumly. "Well, you see, Blaise didn't cheat on you. Well, I guess he did cheat on you. But not willingly."
"What?"
"You see, Draco approached me a week or so ago, and he told me that…well it doesn't matter. All that matters is that Pansy seduced Blaise with a love potion. He didn't mean to hurt you," Neville came clean.
"A love potion?" Harry repeated. He looked at Neville, hurt tinging his green eyes.
"It wasn't very strong. It should only have lasted for an hour after it was administered," Neville explained.
"What did I do to Pansy to make her want to do this to me? What did I do to you, for that matter?" Harry asked angrily, "Sure, I broke up with you. But because you lied to me. And I found someone else. Who I was perfectly happy with. How could you possibly not see that I was happy with Blaise?"
"I did see that," Neville said mournfully.
"Then how could you possibly expect me not to be mad at you? If you truly love me, then wouldn't you want me to be happy? Why would you do this?" Harry asked more calmly. He held Neville's hand with his own. Neville looked up at him in surprise. "Thank you for telling me what the three of you did," Harry continued, "I really do appreciate that."
Neville replied uncertainly, "I thought that you would be angry at me."
"Of course I'm angry at you, idiot," Harry said fondly, "but you told me the truth. And I think that as long as you don't try to get in Blaise and my relationship's way again, we can be friends."
"Yeah, okay," Neville uttered quietly.
"That means no trying to break us up anymore, okay?" Harry restated.
"I promise I won't," Neville told him.
"Alright," Harry said. His tone had turned morose. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to take care of."
"You evil, conniving little bitch," Daphne grinned at Pansy Parkinson, a mix of amusement and awe. Pansy had her arms clenched at her side and a frown on her face. "You really thought you could get away with breaking up the two of them," Daphne continued. Pansy didn't reply. "And you nearly did. I applaud you."
"Let. Me. Go!" Pansy said through gritted teeth. She couldn't move out of her position, on account of the body binding curse cast on her by Daphne.
"Ah, ah, ah," Daphne crooned sweetly. She walked over to the girl, and cupped the side of Pansy's face with her hand. "Not yet, sweetheart," she told her. She removed her hand and tapped her on the nose. "You really could be quite beautiful," Daphne told her, admiring her black locks. "Well, that is if you weren't such a horrible person and didn't have crooked teeth."
Pansy clamped her mouth shut frown the feral snarl it had been in. "That's right, pretty, you close that awful mouth of yours," Daphne told her coldly. She made to turn away, causing Pansy to relax, but at the last moment brought herself back in front of Pansy and backhanded her across the face. Pansy let out a cry.
"You will never, never come anywhere near Blaise again, you understand?" Daphne asked, eyes shining with furious unshed tears. Pansy grimaced, her head still turned down where she had been slapped.
"Do you understand?" Daphne asked more loudly, grabbing onto Pansy's shoulder and shaking her.
"Yes," Pansy spat, "now will you let me go?"
Daphne growled low in her throat.
Pansy winced in anticipation of a blow that never came. "Please?" she added quietly.
"Finite incantatem," Daphne drawled. "Now get out."
Pansy scampered towards the door.
"And next time whore around someone else's man," she called after her.
Daphne yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "All in a day's work," she told herself.
"Hey Nev," Ron greeted as he and Hermione entered the common room. They had been previously studying in the library—Hermione's never-ending quest to make Ron's grades the best they could be.
"Hi, guys," Neville replied miserably. His head hung low and tears were at the corners of his eyes, but he knew that he had done the right thing.
"What's wrong, Neville?" Hermione asked kindly, rushing over to his side.
Neville just shook his head and leaned into his hands, his arms resting on the tops of his thighs.
"Hung up over Harry?" Ron surmised.
Neville nodded glumly.
"Oh, Neville," Hermione told him gently, hugging him with one arm, "It'll be okay. Harry's just not for you. You'll find your match someday, don't worry."
Ron nodded and then screwed up his face. "So stop being such a prat, okay?" Ron added.
Hermione turned and glared at the brawny boy. "Ronald!"
Took a quote from Silverone3. Hope you don't mind, doll; I was rereading reviews and saw that one. I laughed out loud and knew that I had to add that one in. So thanks for the inspiration.
And thanks to everyone else too. Your words of kindness mean a lot to me.