A/N: This is the end of the line, folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride! Also, just as an FYI, we're starting with Neville's point of view!
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I stood there, the confidence starting to well up inside me. I walked out of the library with a new stride. I was headed for the Gryffindor common room, figuring that might be a good place to look for Ginny, or at least it would be a start. I walked and walked on, but my courage seemed to be flowing out of me every time I took a step. Sure enough, I stopped mid-corridor and thought that there was still time to go back to the library. Just as I was about to turn back, I heard someone calling my name.
"Neville! Neville!"
It sounded distant, so I turned around and saw Ginny down the corridor that I had just walked down (from the library… had she been there the whole time?)
"Wait, Neville!" she called to me. I was frozen to the spot and couldn't move if I had tried (though I had briefly considered running in the opposite direction).
"I've been looking for you," she said, huffing a little.
"I… I was just going to the common room…" I tried to say, but I couldn't get all the words out.
"I'll walk with you," she said as we headed to the common room.
After we had gotten to the next flight of stairs, I asked tentatively, "you said you were looking for me?"
"Oh. Yes. I was meaning to talk to you."
"Oh… er… I was sort of looking for you… er… too," I said trying to not sound totally stupid.
"Really?" she said, as she looked at me with those big brown eyes. I had always loved Ginny's eyes. They put the courage that I had lost so quickly back inside of me.
"I wanted to tell you something. I was the one that sent you that note, Ginny. I hadn't meant for it to mess things up for you. I'm sorry. I'll understand if you completely hate me."
"Coincidentally, that's exactly what I was going to ask you about," she replied simply.
"You mean… you knew it was me? Who told you?" Panicked, I thought of Hermione, and how she was the only person I had told. Anger and regret burned in the pit of my stomach.
"What? No one told me! Am I not capable of finding things out for myself?"
"No! That's not what I meant at all!" I tried to justify what I had said.
"Sure, and I suppose you didn't mean what you said in that note either!"
"No! No, I—"
"I think I can walk to the common room by myself now! Thanks a lot, Neville," she said with all the harshness she could muster as she stormed off. I stood there, petrified. I had tried so hard to do the right thing, to tell her the truth, and what had happened? It blew up in my face! I couldn't believe it. The girl that I adored thought I was a terrible, horrible person. It was all my fault! Except…
"HERMIONE!"
I stormed into the common room with displeasure written across my face. Everyone who was sitting there either left very quickly or just sat and looked at me with surprised looks.
"Neville, what the—" Ron started to say.
"How could you tell her? I trusted you, and you couldn't even keep quiet!" My face burned with anger.
"Neville, calm down. I didn't tell her, I promise," she looked at me with startled eyes, but eyes that spoke truthfulness.
"Then how did she find out?" I replied bitterly, not willing to accept what she was saying.
"Neville, I didn't tell her!"
"Tell who? What's going on?" Ron said questionably.
"Never you mind, Ron," said Hermione.
"Why? I want to know what all the bloody shouting is about!"
"Ron, leave it alone," Harry injected.
Suddenly, Ginny came down the girl dormitory steps.
"What's with all the shouting?" she said. She looked around the room but stopped quickly as soon as she noticed me.
~*~*~*~*~*~ (A/N: Switch to Ginny!)
I stood there, looking at him. He saw me look at him and he turned his face down towards his shoes. I wanted to turn around and walk back up to my dormitory. But I stayed put.
"Oh, good, Ginny. Maybe you can clear this up for us," said Hermione, who looked relived, but also a little tense. What had just happened?
"What?" I said moodily.
"Well, Neville here thinks that I told you that he sent the note."
"What!?" said Ron incredulously.
"Quiet, Ron!" I said. Neville continued to look at the floor. "I already told him I figured it out on my own!"
"Well, then what's the problem?" asked Hermione, looking flustered. Ron stared, his mouth open in shock.
"I-I didn't believe her," said Neville, who finally looked up at me. "I'm sorry I doubted you." He looked back at his feet, though I could see that his cheeks were turning a light shade of pink.
"Apology accepted," I said simply, but I was still a little mad at him.
Neville slowly began to walk towards the boys' dormitories. He looked so sad, and truly sorry, I felt my anger blow away and a rush of sympathy rushed in. Or was something else? As I watched him go, I remembered what his note had said. I just wanted to let you know that I really like you. You mean so much to me. It was so sweet of him, and, if I knew anything about Neville, it must have taken him a lot of courage to write it. It must have taken ten times that much courage to tell me the truth about it.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still standing there looking at me. Ron's mouth was still hanging wide open.
"You know, Ron, if you hang your mouth open long enough, I think a doxy might make a nest inside it," Hermione said to him, and he closed it quickly.
I stood there for a moment or two, then bolted up the boys' dormitory steps after Neville. I could hear Ron saying something in the background, but I didn't care. I kept going until I reached the door I hoped he would be behind. When I opened it slowly, I saw him, sitting on his four-poster bead, his head hanging.
"Neville, it's my turn for admitting something. I want you to know that I'm grateful for your note. It doesn't matter that Colin was a jerk about it, because he doesn't matter anymore," I said, sitting down on the bed opposite him. He took this as a cue to stand up.
"I feel responsible," he said, looking at me now, instead of the floor.
"Don't. You note wasn't meant to tear people apart, it was meant to bring people together. And it has. You and me."
I stood up. There we were, standing right next to each other, cosmic forces at work. He looked at me, still with a slight look of doubt in his face. We moved closer and closer until finally we embraced and our lips met.
~*THE END*~