"Oh, hi Ginny," Neville muttered, as he emerged through the portrait hole with a slightly crest fallen look on his face.
"Hullo, Neville," Ginny brightly replied looking up at him, "something the matter?"
"No, not really," Neville sighed, "well, if you don't count being turned down by three girls for the Yule Ball today."
"Oh," Ginny responded, biting her lower lip, "who did you ask?"
"Uh," Neville hesitantly replied," I asked Hannah Abbot, but she said that she was going with Terry Boot, and...I asked Susan Bones, but she was going with someone else as well."
"Who was the third girl?" Ginny inquired, gently urging Neville to continue to speak.
"Oh, well, I asked, well, I asked...Hermione," Neville finished, as a pink tinge rose to his cheeks, "but, she said that someone else had already asked her and told me she was really sorry, but I'm not sure she would've actually wanted to go with me, anyway."
"Don't say such a thing, Neville," Ginny told him, with a wave of her hand, "You're a really nice boy. Still, I can't believe she agreed to go with my prat of a brother. Don't take it to hard, I can't imagine why someone would say no to you."
"You really think so?" Neville asked curiously.
"I certainly do," Ginny confirmed, hiding a smile.
"Well, that's very nice of you," Neville said, nodding his head, "but I still need to find a partner for the ball..."
"Right, well I'm going to bed now. But if you need me, feel free to give me a shout," Ginny confidently said, with a smile, as she turned to go.
"Yeah," Neville muttered, thinking over whom to ask next. It was only after a few seconds that realisation actually dawned on him. "Hey Ginny!" he exclaimed, calling after her, "would you like to go with me?"
"You look very pretty tonight, Ginny," Neville commented as he lead Ginny to the dance floor.
"Thank you, Neville," she replied, her face glowing with a bright intensity, "your dress robes suit you very nicely too."
"Thanks," Neville muttered, staring at the floor self-consciously, as they started to dance.
"The music is really inducing, don't you think?" he continued after a while, trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah," Ginny absent-mindedly agreed, her gaze fixed towards the centre of the dance floor.
"I just love the way he dances," she suddenly said dreamily.
"Sorry, what?" Neville asked bewildered, as Ginny jerked back into reality.
"Nothing," she muttered in a high voice, but it didn't take long for Neville to trace her original gaze back to the fourth champion.
What she found in his pathetic dancing, he couldn't understand.
"It's strange don't you think," Ginny mentioned to Neville one night after a tiring meeting of the DA, "how only the three of them get to truly know everything."
"Well," Neville solemnly replied, "after I think about it, it actually seems perfectly natural."
"Yes?" Ginny asked, astonished.
"You see," Neville thoughtfully told her, "Ron and Hermione are obviously the only two people, who Harry completely trusts and can confide in. It's probably better for him that he tells just the two of them, so that rumours have a lower chance of spreading. I'm quite sure he doesn't even tell Cho, and she's his girlfriend."
Ginny laughed in a hysterically mocking manner. "As if the rumours are at a stand still right now, Neville" she scoffed, "with the Umbridge toad around, nothing will stop anything from spreading. As for that Chang girl, I can understand why Harry wouldn't want to tell her anything. I'd be surprised if he would."
Neville narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Don't get me wrong, Ginny," he said, "but tell me, do you still, deep inside long for his affections."
Ginny sighed in defeat. "Yes, Neville," she softly said, "I do."
"Oh, Neville, I miss him so much," Ginny sighed, gazing out of the window at the Hogwarts Lake, as she felt a hand lightly touch her shoulder, "I miss his bravery, I miss his valiance, I miss his nobleness, I miss his stupidity, I miss his comments, I miss...him."
Neville took a deep breath. "I know Ginny," he consoled, "I miss him too. Nothing seems right here, without their presence, Hogwarts doesn't feel the same."
"I remember the time we were sitting there together," Ginny went on, ignoring Neville as she pointed toward the Hogwarts Lake, "we talked, we laughed, we had such a good time. And now...everything's just gone. Only the memories remain."
A sad silence hung about the air for a while after which Ginny soon continued, "I don't know how I'll go on like this, Neville. How can I possibly manage in such a state?"
Neville lowered his face wearily, "You know Ginny," he said, "in three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. There is nothing that slows it down. Life waits for no one. You must understand that, Ginny. You will manage. We will all manage."
Ginny nodded her head, "Thanks, Neville," she responded and together they silently watched the sun slowly dip into the horizon, darkness slowly spreading across the sky as the Hogwarts Lake started to shimmer, like diamonds are a dark, desolate cave.
"Neville!" Ginny cried as she rushed towards the portrait hole, to support Neville as he stumbled through the portrait hole.
"Ginny, you've got to come quick," Neville urgently told her, "the Carrows will be here any minute. Get the others, we can't wait. Just hurry."
"What's happening, Neville?" Ginny anxiously asked she gathered up a group of Gryffindors, "Your face is scarred is scarred so badly and your arm is bleeding."
"I'll tell you later," Neville promised, "just don't worry. They may have used more than the cruciatus curse on me, but I'm strong, and I'm not going to give way easily. Now follow me."
Ginny meekly nodded, as they discreetly led the group of Gryffindors through the castle's many unused secret passageways an underground chambers. It seemed like almost an hour, after they clambered out of a large hole, concealed in a broom cupboard- the last passage- and finally stopped at an unfamiliar area.
"Where are we, Neville?" Ginny exhaustedly asked, as her companion pushed open a wooden door, to his right.
"Welcome, everybody," Neville proudly said, as everyone carefully filed in through the large oak doors, "to the Room of Requirement."