Chapter nine: An Awkward Attempt at Romance
“And remember the truth that once was spoken. To love another person is to see the face of G-d!”
Eponine, Fantine, and Valjean; Les Misérables
~ ~ ~
Finally, the suspension was over. Neville wandered into the Great Hall the morning two weeks after had had fought Rabastan, and the room went dead silent. A rather brave first year leaned over to his friend, and Neville heard a very clear, “It’s him, you know, the sixth year who attacked Professor Proditirus.” Murmurs exploded through the Great Hall, and Neville turned a light pink, before sitting down at the Gryffindor table.
He tried as hard as he could to ignore the distracting murmurs, but was having trouble. Finally settling to humming a loud tune, he crunched loudly on his cereal. Students began to file out of the Great Hall, and Neville stood up shortly after he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione leave. He hadn’t seen Ginny; he supposed she was just avoiding him. He watched Ron and Hermione bid goodbye and Harry and turn the corner.
“Hey, Harry!” Neville shouted, finally getting the courage to confront him.
Harry turned and raised his eyebrows when he saw Neville. “Yeah?” he said in an almost impatient voice.
“I-I just got back,” Neville said awkwardly, now not as sure if he wanted to talk to Harry anymore.
“I noticed.”
“And I-I was just wondering, if… I mean”I talked to Dumbledore.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah… And he told me about “ about the prophecy.”
Harry didn’t respond.
“I-I-well… I just thought… Well, I don’t know. I suppose I just maybe wanted you to know that I know about it. And-”
“And you’re glad that you weren’t the one Voldemort chose?”
“No “ well, yes, kind of. But that’s not what I meant. I meant-”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Harry said suddenly. And without another word, turned on his heel and trotted out of the hallway.
“Well, that was productive…” Neville muttered sarcastically to himself. He turned around and leaned against the wall with a sigh. “What class to I have next…?” he wondered out loud. It had been a while since he had been at the school and could hardly remember his schedule.
“I think you have Herbology,” a dreamy voice said. Luna walked over to him and leaned against the wall right next to him.
“Thanks…” Neville said. He paused for a moment, and then asked “How did you know that?”
“I was talking to Ginny while you were gone, and she told me about her first day.”
“Oh…” Neville looked down at his lap and shrugged to himself. “So I--”
“What are you doing this summer?” Luna suddenly asked, turning to him and looking much more interested than she had before. “My dad and I are going looking for the Beluæmot monster. Would you like to come? It should be an amazing trip.”
Neville couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. “No “ no, sorry, I’m er “ busy. Some family friends I need to go visit,” he lied quickly.
“I thought not,” Luna said with a dreamy smile. A few more minutes passed and Neville let out a sigh as Luna asked, “So what happened with Professor Proditirus?”
“Oh,” Neville muttered, actually a little taken aback by the question. “Er “ nothing. I just “ thought something that wasn’t “ true. That’s all. Just a mistake that turned wrong.”
“I know what you mean,” Luna said with a would-be-understanding nod if she had absolutely any idea what he had gone through. “So this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. It should be beautiful, you know. It always is at this time of year. Would you like to come with me?”
“I would,” Neville began, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, “but I’m not allowed to “ you know what?” An ambitious grin split on his face. “Yes… I do think I’ll be able to go.”
Luna smiled and clapped her hands together. “Great!” she said as enthusiastically as her dreamy personality would allow. “Can I meet you at Honeydukes at eleven?”
“Alright,” Neville confirmed. “I’ll be there.”
With a small smile, Luna turned on her heel and walked in the other direction, muttering something to herself. Neville was about to open his mouth to ask her where she was going, but something pushed him over, and, startled for a moment, he let out a sort of confused yell. But before he could try to apologize for getting in the way, he vaguely saw red hair at the other end of the hall and called out, “GINNY!”
Ginny turned around slowly to face him; her eyes were a deep shade of pink, and her nose was running just a little bit. “What?” she asked slowly.
Neville didn’t even notice. He walked over to her and asked, “Do you know how to get into Honeydukes through a secret passage?”
Ginny let out a short sigh and looked down to the ground for no more than a second. “The statue,” she finally muttered. “The humped back witch on the third floor. You tap it with your wand and say ‘Dissendium’.”
“How do you know all of these things?” Neville asked, laughing nervously.
“I grew up with Fred and George, Neville. Honestly, what do you think?” Ginny snapped more sharply than Neville had ever heard her talk.
“This is great,” Neville began, his face splitting into a grin. “I’ll finally be able to talk to Luna alone. You know, I’ve always had a bit of a thing for her.” He was lying, of course, but didn’t want to sound stupid in front of Ginny.
“Great,” Ginny said with a sarcastic smile. “Now you two can live happily ever after.” With that she turned on her heel and ran out of the corridor; Neville never heard her crying.
~ ~ ~
That Saturday found Neville in the third corridor, trying to act as casual as possible. He spotted the statue of the humped back witch, and ran over to it. Once he made sure that nobody was watching, he tapped it with his wand and muttered, “Dissendium!”
Neville watched, wide eyed as the statue shifted into a passageway. Before anybody could notice him, he slipped through the passageway and ran down it. He prayed that nobody found out he was here. Once he reached the end of the corridor, he saw a trap door and pushed it open. “Ah!” he whispered, when he saw crates with different candy names hastily scribbled across them. “I’m in the cellar!” he concluded.
Quickly, he scrambled out of the passageway and made it to the main store, trying to blend in with the crowds of people pushing their way to the counter. Thankfully, nobody noticed that he was there. It wasn’t something new to him; he was used to being pushed to the side, but this was the first time it ever worked in his advantage.
He spotted Luna examining a sale on cockroach clusters. “Oi! Luna!” he shouted, walking over to her.
She turned around and smiled; Neville was a little bit taken aback at first. She had obviously tried to dress up for the occasion. She was wearing robes that matched the shocking blue color of her eyes perfectly, with details in a color that could only be described as the color of what somebody would scrape off the bottom of your shoe if he had a run in with a rather large pile of dog mess. She had also attempted makeup, something Neville decided she should never try again. She was wearing a sort of vibrant violet lipstick, and eye shadow that matched. But still, he felt bad. She had dressed up and put effort into what she was going to wear, while he was wearing a simple navy blue robe and a scarf his grandmother knitted him.
“Hello,” she said in an odd tone; Neville decided that she was trying to be romantic, but her dreamy voice made it sound like she had something stuck on the roof of her mouth, and was trying to scrape it off with her tongue.
“Er”hi,” Neville said awkwardly. “So… um, where do you want to go?”
“I was thinking,” she began, completely still attempting romance, “that we head over to Madam Puddifoot’s.”
“Alright,” Neville agreed with a shrug.
As they walked to Madam Puddifoot’s, Neville kept his eyes open for any teachers that may have been passing. Thankfully, he didn’t see anybody but students. It was the beginning of March, and still rather cold, so many of the students were so bundled up that they were almost unrecognizable. Finally, they reached the cozy pub, and Neville held the door open for Luna. Once they had settled at a small table in the corner and had ordered their drinks, Luna leaned in and said, “So…”
“So…” Neville repeated, kicking his left foot against the leg of the table nervously. The table shook with the force of his kicks and a jar of sugar cubes fell off. Quickly, he dove to catch it, and swayed on his spot as the jar landed in his palm. As he placed it back on the table, Luna looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Sorry…” he muttered sheepishly, and put his elbows on the table.
The tea came just in time, letting Neville take a moment to himself while he added some milk and sugar cubes to it. He took a sip and smiled; tea had always been his favorite drink. He watched with amazement as Luna counted out eight sugar cubes and placed them in her cup. They sat for a few minutes in complete silence except for the occasional slurp from a nearby table.
“Did you know,” she said out of no where, “that certain types of tea leaves are eaten by the Shaline Mice?”
“Oh?” Neville asked, trying to appear interested.
“Yes,” Luna answered with a distant sort of smile. “They are the primary prey of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.”
“Oh,” Neville repeated, a little bit disappointed. He knew that strange creatures that most likely did not exist was one of her favorite subjects, but thought, by the beginning of the statement, that this would be a little more realistic.
After possibly the longest awkward silence he had endured, Luna finally said, “It’s getting late.”
“Er”yeah,” Neville agreed, although the sun was just beginning to set.
“I have to finish homework,” she continued and attempted to look regretful. “Can I talk to you later?”
“Yeah…” Neville shuffled his feet awkwardly, glancing down at his lap. When he looked up, Luna had gone. He let out a long sigh and got up himself, leaving with a quick glance at the man who had been sitting at a table near them slurping loudly.
The sun began to set, and Neville wandered through Hogsmeade Village. He was slowly heading towards Hogwarts, but would take his time while getting there. Glancing to the right, he saw the Three Broomsticks filled with cheery customers. Slowly, he walked towards it, to see if there was anybody he knew there.
There were, in fact, quite a few people he knew. Bright red hair in the window told him that Ginny sat by the window. He wandered a little closer, and saw that she was talking to Hermione. He could only see the back of her head, but Hermione looked quite concerned. As though she read his thoughts, Ginny turned her head and looked out the window. Neville dashed out of eyesight, but made sure he could still see her. His gaze softened when she saw that she was crying.
He turned around, feeling as though somebody had just tied his insides in a knot and was about to walk away when somebody walked past him, and stopped. It was Professor McGonagall.
“Mr. Longbottom?” she said sharply.
“Er-” Neville scratched the back of his head nervously.
“What are you doing here, Mr. Longbottom?”
“I-I-”
Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes. “Mr. Longbottom come with me up to the school if you do not want to suffer serious consequences.”
Neville’s mouth went dry as he followed her up the path to the school.
~ ~ ~
“Mr. Longbottom, did I not tell you that you were not allowed to go into Hogsmeade this year?”
Neville sat again in Professor McGonagall’s office, staring at his lap. “Yes,” he answered dully.
“And you did not listen to me?”
“Yes,” Neville repeated more emphatically.
“We are not trying to ruin whatever social life you might be struggling with,” she said in a recited tone of voice. “However, with the recent … circumstances… with Bellatrix Lestrange on the loose, you--”
“I should be on my guard and stay away from Hogsmeade,” Neville interrupted.
“Longbottom, I don’t want have to take away more points than I am going to right now.” McGonagall pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Longbottom. I hope you are aware of how generous I am being right now. Professor Dumbledore will know about this; though I would be surprised if he does not already.” She glanced out the window at the darkening sky. “Get back to the common room, Longbottom.”
~ ~ ~
Weeks passed, and nothing very interesting happened. Surprisingly, nobody found out about Neville sneaking out. No rumors sprouted up and Hogwarts seemed to get duller with each passing day. The weeks grudgingly turned into months, and all of the fatigued students found themselves in mid May. Neville did not have any more dates with Luna. Neither of them talked about it anymore; a silent pact let them both blissfully ignore it.
One thing that had been nagging Neville since his date was that he had not talked to Ginny, either. Every time he tried to talk to her, she just pushed him away. He honestly had no idea what he had done, and was very concerned that he had lost his best friend.
The library was filled with students, primarily frantic fifth years and hysterical seventh years. But occasionally, if you searched through the herds of fifth and seventh years, you would find more students.
Neville leaned against a rather uncomfortable bookshelf, sucking on the back of his quill. Earlier, he had a great table where he could spread out, and was close to three shelves packed with books from many of his classes, but a pack of seventh years demanded that he move because they had more use for it. So, without another table, he now sat on the ground.
“Neville?” Ginny appeared from behind a bookshelf.
Neville looked up and smiled. Without a word, he stood up.
“I-I’m sorry I haven’t-haven’t been talking to you lately… It’s just I “ I … Well, I mean… you must’ve figured this out already, right?”
Neville looked at her quizzically. “No,” he answered blankly. “I “ I’ve been wondering … why myself.”
Ginny dug her toe into the ground nervously. “Are you serious? I mean “ you- you haven’t noticed anything?”
“No,” Neville repeated.
With a huge sigh, Ginny tried to put words in her mouth. “I-I really like you Neville… more than friends,” she finally said; once she had, she seemed rather deflated, as though waiting for him to laugh at her.
Rather than laughing, Neville’s face just split into a grin. “I-I do too,” he stuttered, amazed that she felt the same way.
Almost tearfully, Ginny asked, “B-b-but what about Luna? I thought you said that you had always had a bit of a thing for her…”
“I lied,” Neville said, shrugging. “I just didn’t want to look stupid…” He shifted anxiously back and forth. “Hey, it’s a beautiful day,” he said suddenly, glancing out the window. “What do you say we go out by the lake?”
“Okay,” Ginny responded timidly, blushing a light pink.