"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, lowering her voice as she put down her book, giving Harry her full attention.
"I was right outside his office when I heard their voices," Harry added.
"No way, you heard wrong," Ron responded, shaking his head.
"Ron-"
"No, there was no bloody way my little sister was off skipping in the castle with that slimy git," Ron finalized, his face growing red, as his voice rose.
"Ron, we don't know if Harry even-"
"Hermione I know what I heard, I saw his face as he was leaving, they were friends" Harry said finally.
The three of them sat in silence crowded on the small burgundy couch by the fire in the common room, all lost in thought.
"Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean? It's not like Ginny is just off hiding somewhere in the castle or at the Burrow," Ron responded.
"That's not what I meant Ronald," Hermione responded rolling her eyes, "I meant we were looking for a connection with Sirius, or your father-"she added glancing at Harry. "What if she wanted to help us, what if she hung out with Snape to get closer to other Slytherin's?"
"So we what, ask Snape?" Ron asked apprehensively.
"I don't know," Hermione responded.
"So we're back to not knowing anything," Harry finished exasperated.
"I think I might be able to help," a voice cut into their whispers, from behind the couch.
The trio all turned surprised to see Neville standing behind them, nervously fiddling with the hem of his robes.
"Neville I don't know what you heard-"
"The school is filled with rumors about why Ginny didn't come back," Neville started cutting Harry off.
"My parents thought it was better if they sent her to-" Ron started on the well-rehearsed story the trio had been spreading.
Neville continued on, determined to say his piece.
"But my gran let me visit my parents over Christmas," he said not meeting their gaze as they all fell silent, remembering how Neville's parents were tortured into madness by Bellatrix Lestrange.
"I never thought anything of it before, but my parents they kept talking about a Ginevra. They kept saying to make sure she was safe, that they were keeping her safe," Neville finished looking at the trio with a yearning in his eye, as if he had been holding on to hope, and he gazed at them completely bare as he handed his secret to them.