I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 6

The next morning, Devyn woke up with a smile on her face. It was still pretty early, and the sun was just rising. She honestly didn't know why she woke up so early, but it didn't really matter because she felt more than rested.

She lay in her bed for awhile just thinking about things. She thought about how Moony's first class was going to go, and how she would rip Malfoy to shreds if he tried to sabotage it. She thought about Seamus trying to ask her to Hogsmeade and Lavender being nosy about it. She thought about Black and Harry and the anxiety that tightened her chest whenever she thought about the escaped fugitive. She still thought that there was something more to Black's story that no one wanted to tell them, but she couldn't imagine what it was. Clearly it was something important; otherwise they wouldn't be keeping it from them. Devyn doubted that it had anything to do with her…no, it was more than likely that it had to do with Harry, especially because Mr. Weasley had said that Black broke out of Azkaban to come after Harry.

But something inside her was telling her that although Mr. Weasley was right about Black breaking out to come after Harry, it wasn't to kill him. A piece of the puzzle was missing, and it was proving difficult to discover.

After the thoughts of Black and what he may have to do with Harry left her mind, she thought about Neville. Neville, her best friend in the whole world and the boy she "liked". She thought about how upset he seemed when he thought that there was a chance that Devyn would be interested in Seamus.

Why was that? There was more than enough evidence to suggest that Neville liked her that way, but was it true? And if it was, what was she going to do about it? As much confidence as she had in Neville, she didn't think he had the nerve to say anything about how he felt.

She sighed quietly. "Why does this have to be so difficult?" she murmured. "Why can't this be easy?"

"Why can't what be easy?"

Devyn jumped and nearly toppled out of bed when she heard Hermione's voice. She hadn't realized her friend was awake. Devyn turned to look at Hermione and then cast a look over at Lavender and Parvati's sleeping forms. They could be actually sleeping but she wasn't going to take any chances. She crawled out from under her blankets and sat cross-legged on the bed. She looked back over at Hermione and beckoned her over.

Hermione sighed and got out of her bed. She stretched her muscles before joining Devyn on her bed. Devyn cast another look at Parvati and Lavender and Hermione said, "Is this about Neville?"

Devyn looked back at Hermione and nodded. A wide grin formed on Hermione's face and Devyn rolled her eyes.

"Have you finally admitted the truth to yourself?" Hermione whispered. Devyn raised an eyebrow and asked, "What truth is that?"

Hermione rolled her eyes this time and said, "That you like him."

Devyn looked at Hermione with no expression for a couple seconds and then nodded again. Hermione made an extremely inhuman noise and she started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"I knew it! You've liked him since first year!" Hermione said. Devyn held a finger to her lips in an effort to get Hermione to be quiet. The last thing she needed was Parvati and/or Lavender waking up and being nosy again. Parvati wasn't normally that bad, but she didn't think that she could trust her again – not after she blabbed to Lavender about the whole Seamus situation.

Hermione silenced herself and Devyn said, "Yes, I've finally 'admitted the truth' as you say. I mean, I think somewhere inside me I always knew I liked him…but nothing is going to happen."

"What? Why not?" Hermione asked.

"Because…I mean, say we started dating or whatever. We're only thirteen, for one thing. I think we're too young. But anyway, let's say we did start going out. What if things went south? Hmm? What if we break up? There's no way we could be friends then! I don't want to risk our friendship."

Hermione nodded and said, "I see your point. But, seriously, Devyn…if you like him, then you should go for it. I know he likes you too, and you'll always be saying "What if…?" if you don't. You know that."

"I know, but…"

"I get what you're saying. But think about it. If you had said "What if I get hurt?" when we went up against Quirrell, you might not have stopped him and Harry could be dead. If you had said "What if I get all of us killed?" when you went down to the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny would probably be dead. Do you understand what I'm saying? You could stop yourself from doing anything with the 'what if's', and in some situations that's a good thing – but this isn't that kind of situation. If things do go wrong and you and Neville end up not being friends, then so be it. It'll be sad, but at least then you'll know. I know you'd rather have him as a friend then not at all, but when it comes to liking him and sitting in silence while some other girl may snatch him up…"

Devyn thought hard about what Hermione was saying. Just the thought of some random girl getting to be with Neville instead of her hurt, and angered her.

"You know what, Hermione? You're right."

"Of course I am," she replied. Devyn gave her a look and she shrugged.

"Maybe it's time I stop thinking about what could happen and start thinking about what I can make happen. But I think…I think maybe I should wait until the first Hogsmeade trip to do it. Neville and I can go together and I can tell him then!"

Hermione nodded and said, "Good plan. You know what else would be a good plan?"

"What?" Devyn asked. Hermione grinned and said, "Getting ready for our classes. And breakfast. Breakfast sounds good too."

And with those words, Devyn realized that she was hungry. Her stomach growled and she was bidden to obey it.

I know, I know. It's been a while since I updated. Sorry. And I know this chapter is short, but I didn't want to go ahead and get into the classes or anything. This chapter's pretty much filler, but it's sort of a foreshadowing for other events…that may or may not be coming soon.

Well, anyway, it'd be great if you could leave a review and tell me what you liked/disliked. I really do want to know. Thanks, it really means a lot to me.

I don't know when the next chapter will be, but I'll try to make it soon.