The news that Ginny Weasley had snogged Neville Longbottom at the conclusion of the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, and that they now apparently were going out, spread through Hogwarts like wildfire, and quickly became the number one topic of conversation in the corridors and common rooms of the school. The fact that the Boy-Who-Lived, and a Triwizard Champion to boot, had now acquired a girlfriend all by the age of fourteen aroused a degree of jealousy among some of the older boys, whilst the girls busied themselves wondering exactly who Ginny, who was not very well known outside her year, really was.
Amongst Neville and Ginny’s friends and acquaintances, the overriding reaction was one of surprise; no one had really seen it coming. The Gryffindor common room was full of much muttering and debating as everyone compared recollections and pondered what they knew about the two.
But by far the most surprised and bemused person in the whole of Hogwarts was Neville Longbottom himself. He spent the next few days wandering around in something of a daze, trying to make sense of it all. The idea of him having a girlfriend was something that he had simply never thought about before. Sure, he was aware of the concept of having a girlfriend, but it was something that happened to other boys, not to him. He seemed to have acquired one purely by accident.
Although Ginny was a very attractive young girl, he had never thought of the two of them as anything other than good friends. He was under the vague impression you had to feel something towards your girlfriend, but he had no idea what that feeling was, and he didn’t feel any different than he had the day before the Second Task. He had always felt warmly towards Ginny, though, and he enjoyed spending time with her. Maybe that was just it. And he liked the idea of having a girlfriend; after all, it was a new and exciting experience for him.
His confusion had not been helped by the blazing row he’d had with Ron on the evening of the Second Task. They had not got back to Gryffindor Tower until the evening of that day, having been celebrating Neville’s unexpected and surprising victory in the Task. All day, Ron had been quiet and barely joined in the celebrations, glaring at Ginny and Neville, who had been arm in arm most of the time.
It wasn’t until the five fourth-year Gryffindor boys had returned to their dormitory at last that Ron had rounded on Neville. “Stay away from my sister,” he snapped bluntly.
The atmosphere of conviviality drained out of the room at an instant. “What?” stumbled Neville, taken aback. Everyone else fell silent.
“You heard me. Stay away from my sister.”
“Why? What’s it got to do with you?” Neville was surprised at his own reaction. He had never stood up to Ron before, who was several inches taller than him.
“I’m her older brother. It’s my job to look after her. She’s only thirteen.”
“She’s not a baby, Ron. She can make her own decisions. She kissed me, if you didn’t notice.”
“I didn’t see you complaining.” Ron angrily paced up and down the room, trying to think of something else to throw at Neville. “She-she-she’s too young for you,” he weakly settled on eventually.
“Don’t be such a prat, Ron,” said Seamus unhelpfully. “She’s only a year younger than us.”
Ron turned to stare down Seamus. “Oh, so I’m a prat, am I?” he yelled.
“Yes, you are,” said Harry firmly. “Just calm down, Ron.”
Ron now faced Harry. He looked betrayed by his best friend. “Oh sure, you all take his side, don’t you? Mr Boy-Who-Lived-Champion-Scar-on-his-Head can do no wrong, can he? I should have known.” He sat down on his bed sulking, refusing to look at anyone else. Harry mouthed Sorry in Neville’s direction.
Since that evening, Ron had refused to talk to Neville and had largely ignored him whenever they were together. Neville learned later from Hermione that he had argued with Ginny too, a row which had ended with Ginny hexing pimples onto Ron’s freckles. Ginny had said nothing of the incident to Neville. Fred and George had approached Neville to say they’d heard about what had happened and wanted to apologise for their idiot brother. “Although, if you do upset Ginny in any way, we will have to torture you to death,” Fred had added. “I’m sure you understand.” Neville was almost certain he had been joking.
The whole thing did trouble Neville, though. He had long counted Ron if not exactly one of his closest friends then still a good one. He wondered how long Ron’s anger would last, and if he really was doing the right thing.
“Ron’s just being immature as usual,” was Hermione’s view. “He’s still not talking to me on account of Viktor, you know. He’ll get used to it eventually. But what about you, Neville?” she had asked. “Are you sure about this?”
“What, you don’t think I should go out with Ginny either?” said Neville.
“I didn’t say that. I just wanted to make sure it’s what you really want to do. You know what I told you about Ginny and what happened at the Yule Ball.”
“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” replied Neville honestly. “This is all new to me. But Ginny’s tough. She’s tougher than I am. I don’t think you need to worry about her. Look, we’re just going to see how it goes. Isn’t that what everybody does?”
Hermione smiled. “Not me; I’d probably over-plan and over-think it to death. I guess I worry too much,” she said, reciprocating Neville’s honesty. “Viktor’s always saying I should relax more.” Neville grinned inwardly, thinking that Viktor Krum was one of the least relaxed-looking people he knew.
Neville and Ginny took to meeting up every evening after supper in the Great Hall, if their homework loads permitted it. They would sit in the Gryffindor common room and talk, much as they had done before. At weekends they would take walks in the grounds together. To Neville it seemed that little had changed. They had not done any more kissing since the Task, and Ginny had as yet shown no inclination to change that. But there was a greater closeness between them, he had to admit.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that Neville finally asked Ginny the question he’d been plucking up courage to ask. “Ginny, why did you kiss me at that moment?”
It sounded a ridiculous and embarrassing question now he voiced it, but Ginny just smiled. “Why not?” she replied.
“Hey, that’s what I was thinking at the same time,” said Neville, and they both laughed.
* * *
The changes to his personal life had temporarily driven all thoughts of the Triwizard Tournament from Neville’s mind. However, Professor Moody had far from forgotten about the competition, and there was still one task to go. He permitted Neville only two weeks rest from training before beginning the evening practise sessions once more.
In the first meeting, he asked Neville to give him a full account of the events of the Second Task from start to finish. When Neville got to the part where the mysterious flash of light had scattered the Grindylows as he was escaping, Moody became very anxious and concerned. He made Neville go over the incident time and again, seeing if there was anything further Neville could remember, but without success.
“I don’t like it,” Moody muttered. “This has happened in both tasks so far. Someone is continuing to interfere in this Tournament.”
“But if they are, they’re helping me, so what’s the problem?” asked Neville.
“Yes, but to what end? Unexplained details make me nervous.” Everything makes you nervous, thought Neville. “From what I’ve learnt, you were less attacked by the Grindylows than the others anyway, which is why you won. I’d remind you again, we’re not in this competition to win it.”
“I wasn’t trying to win,” Neville replied. “It just happened that way.”
“Things don’t ‘just happen’,” said Moody sternly. “There’s always a reason.” His magical eye rolled in its socket, as if scanning the room for hidden dangers. “I’m going to talk this over with Dumbledore,” he added eventually. “In the meantime, keep your eyes open for any further suspicious activity. Constant vigilance.”
The next morning at breakfast, Neville saw Moody speaking with Dumbledore at the teachers’ table. Occasionally Moody’s eye would glance in the direction of Neville on the Gryffindor benches. Neville wondered what Dumbledore’s reaction to Moody’s continued paranoia would be.
The morning post owls arrived, and Hermione sitting next to him collected her copy of the Daily Prophet. She had barely opened it up when she gave a strange strangled cry, catching Neville quite by surprise. “Er, Neville, I think you’d better have a look at this,” she said, laying down the newspaper in front of him. The headline emblazoned atop page four read:
ROMANCE AND AMBITION AMID THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
By Rita Skeeter
Neville groaned and reluctantly began to read.
Mystery, intrigue and celebrity have permeated this year’s revival of the ancient Triwizard Tournament since its beginning. Now, in the latest of a series of reports behind the scenes of this prestigious event, I reveal how the arrows of Cupid and the lure of fame have left their mark on recent proceedings.
The competition was thrown wide open two weeks ago by the surprise victory of the tournament’s most famous competitor, Neville Longbottom, in the Second Task. The controversial entrant, whose mental fortitude and magical ability have been called into question, stunned onlookers by emerging first from the Hogwarts lake after a gruelling underwater challenge.
But far greater was their surprise when, immediately following the announcement of his victory, the Boy-Who-Lived engaged in a passionate moment with one Ginny Weasley, a third-year Gryffindor student. The two are rumoured to be very close, according to sources inside Hogwarts.
Longbottom’s choice of girlfriend must be called into question, however. Weasley, of a minor pure-blood family, has developed something of a reputation at Hogwarts as an attention-seeker and lover of the limelight. “She struts about the school like she owns the place,” said one third-year student who chose not to be identified. “And some of the stuff she comes up with is ridiculous. Like that crazy rumour that got put about that she and Longbottom were responsible for saving the school from the Heir of Slytherin two years ago, though everyone knows they had nothing to do with it.” The mysterious series of attacks blamed on the so-called “Heir of Slytherin” briefly threatened to close the school. No culprit was ever charged for the crimes.
Longbottom is known to be an emotionally repressed teenager, and is perhaps seeking female companionship, having lost his mother at such an early age. We can only hope for his sake that Ginny Weasley genuinely likes him and is not merely using him for her own personal advantage.
Meanwhile, Durmstrang champion and Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum has been spotted in the company of another Gryffindor girl…
Neville stopped there; he could not bear to read any more. Hermione however insisted on reading the whole article, though with visibly increasing irritation. When she had finished, she angrily threw the newspaper aside. “Honestly!” she exclaimed. “Where does she get this rubbish? Does she have nothing better to do than poking into people’s lives and making up ridiculous lies about them?”
“How is she getting this stuff anyway?” asked Neville. “She’s wasn’t even at the Second Task and no one’s seen her around in ages.”
“Dumbledore banned her from the grounds after she was annoying the teachers. Maybe she’s sneaking back in somehow, though I don’t know how she hasn’t been seen.” Hermione’s brow furrowed. “Sources inside Hogwarts, unnamed students “ somebody’s feeding her information.” She glanced up across the hall to the Slytherin table. “I wouldn’t put it past them. You know they’ll take any chance they can get to have a go at Gryffindor.”
“Yeah, but why did they have to go pick on Ginny? Oh, she’ll be mad when she finds out.” Neville looked down the table, but Ginny wasn’t there; she had already left.
When they had finished breakfast, Neville and Hermione parted, as they had different lessons. Hermione left for Arithmancy, whilst Neville made his way towards the Muggle Studies classroom. But as he rounded a corner on the first floor, he almost ran into none other than Dumbledore himself, who was standing idly gazing out of a window on the grounds below.
“Ah, Neville, this is most fortuitous. I was hoping to speak with you,” said Dumbledore breezily. Neville had the strangest feeling that Dumbledore had known exactly where he would be and had been waiting for him, but said nothing. Dumbledore continued to look out of the window. “I think we might be in for some rain later, by the look of it.”
“Er, right, sir,” said Neville, confused.
“I have just had a most interesting talk with Professor Moody,” continued Dumbledore, as nonchalantly as if he was still discussing the weather. “He is concerned about you and about certain events, and whilst Professor Moody is sometimes prone to over-excessive worry, in this case I share his concern.” He glanced over his shoulder, apparently checking if the two of them were alone. “If you should experience or learn of anything unusual or out of the ordinary relating to the Tournament, then if it is urgent, I want you to report it to me at once. My door is always open. Figuratively speaking, of course. The current password is Cockroach cluster.”
“Um, thanks,” was all Neville could think to say.
“You’d better get going, Neville. Professor Burbage would not want you to be late.” Dumbledore looked out on the grounds once more as Neville left. “The snowdrops will be out soon,” Neville heard Dumbledore say to himself. “Spring is on its way.” Despite Dumbledore’s attitude, Neville felt nervous. He trusted Dumbledore’s judgement as much, if not more than Moody’s. If both of them thought there was a problem, then there was definitely something to be worried about.
That evening, Neville met up with Ginny as usual outside the Great Hall. Nervously, he asked, “Did you see the Daily Prophet today, Ginny?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Ginny with a smile. “I’ve been getting stick about that all day. It’s all a bit crazy, isn’t it?”
“You’re not angry, then?”
“At that Skeeter woman, of course. But there’s no point getting upset over this stuff. She could have come up with a lot worse, after all.”
Neville smiled. “You know, that’s what I like about you, Ginny. You always surprise me.” Ginny returned Neville’s smile with a beaming one of her own and, arm in arm, they headed up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.
Neville Longbottom and the Goblet of Fire by Sonorus
Chapter Notes: In which Neville tries to come to terms with his new situation, and Rita Skeeter is up to her old tricks again.