Watching flames flicker in the marvelous, marble fireplace of the Gryffindor Common Room, Neville thought it best to do a bit of studying before the big Transfiguration exam the day after. Transfiguration had always been a subject Neville had admired and wished he could perform better results in, but his poor memory and the fact that it had nothing to do with herbs and plants of any sort, always made Neville show some of his worst work in it. So basically, that is what lead Neville to the present moment in time: him laying on the couch, straining his eyes in the dim light of the antique lamp on the desk beside him, reading Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration, without leaving a trace of meaning in Neville’s mind.
Flipping through the musty, yellowing pages, Neville heard a noise of mumbling or talking, going on in the room, which just a few moments ago was bare, the only exception being his self and, of course, Trevor, bellowing lowly in his tiny cage. At first, Neville was up for excusing the noise as just his own imagination, but as the seconds flew by, he realized people had to be sitting over at the nearby table conversing.
Looking up from his book and then over the back of the couch, he saw the ruckus had been caused by “the trio“. From left to right, Harry Potter sat, with his best friend Ron Weasley beside him. The two seemed to be gabbing over a fact that they’d bumped into in a book that strongly resembled the one Neville had been looking through.
The whole discussion between the two mates then seemed to have disrupted the bushy-haired girl sitting across from them with a very stern, Professor McGonagall-like look on, who just minutes ago had her nose so close to the book she‘d been reading, that it almost touched the crease between either side of the book‘s pages. Hermione Granger stood up, with her wand drawn out, and used it to point to several different things on the page that seemed to interest the boy with black hair and the red-headed one. Knowing Hermione, she most likely gave them a brief summary of whatever it was to shut them up (as they then did), then proceeded to take her seat and resume her reading.
Neville suppressed a laugh at the group of best friends, who always seemed to be ‘up to something’, before Ginny Weasley walked in through the portrait hole. She noticed Neville, still peaking over the couch, threw him a wink, before continuing toward the table occupied by her brother and his best friends, her beautiful ginger hair waving at Neville as she walked on. Ah, Ginny, Neville thought. She was a sight for sore eyes. She was a true pleasure to have watched transform from some lovesick, nervous first year, into the beautiful and popular Gryffindor she was today. And though Ginny had tons of friends around the school, all different houses, with the exception of Slytherin, she always made time to hang with her true friends, who were obviously, the group she sat with right now.
Hermione closed her book and threw Ginny a look of reluctance and relief, as the ginger squeezed into a seat beside her. As Neville turned his gaze from that group to his book, this time trying to focus, he heard more noise, more like laughter coming from the portrait hole. Quickly looking up, he saw best friend Seamus and Dean, and another pair of best buds, Parvati and Lavender obviously having a good joke about something. Neville gave a smile with his mouth, yet a frown with his eyes as Parvati gave him a wave by twiddling her fingers, then returning to enjoy the joke with the other three. Neville sighed, determined not to look up from the book anymore.
Sometimes Neville wished he could be in the place of someone else, like Ron, or Seamus, or Harry, or Dean, or someone else, just not his own. He was the loner of the Gryffindor house and everyone knew it. Though they all may have done their best to conceal it, it was as radiant as daylight that he just wasn’t sociable. I mean, of course he had friends, practically all the Gryffindors were his friends, but what was it to have friends if you didn’t have a best one? Everyone else had someone by their side at all times: Ron had Harry, Hermione had Ginny, Seamus had Dean, Lavender had Parvati, Fred had George; all these people had the other and vice versa. Why couldn’t Neville have someone like that? Why’d he have to sit here, bathing in the warmth of the fireplace, by himself without a buddy to talk to and help him work out his Transfiguration problem? I mean, he could always go and join one of the two groups of four and try and fit his square into their circle. But then again, what would be the purpose? He would probably just be an inconvenience and a pooper to their party.
Heaving one last sigh, Neville glanced around the room with sad look written on his face, before looking back down at the pages of miniscule print, where a wet dot now appeared, smudging some of the text. Realizing that the tear had been that of his own, Neville wiped his eyes as quick as he could, before someone saw, and attempted to read Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration, one last time.
Halfway through to the next page however, he heard Trevor give another low bellow, as if it were trying to tell Neville something. Neville looked over at the toad’s slimy, moist face and gave the biggest smile he’d given all day and said, “Yeah, I know. I‘ll always have you, Trev.” Closing the book and sitting up, he reached over to unlatched Trevor’s cage, took him out, and held him in his palm. “Trev and Nev, best friends forever.”
Nev and Trev by King_Neville
Chapter Notes: Well, this is my first fan fic, thanks to my buddy for the inspiration, and enjoy people!