Hate myself (Neville Longbottom x reader)

Chapter 10- The Maze

y/n pov:

I met Neville at Hogsmeade. His face lit up when he saw me and gave me a flower again. "I grew that one myself," he told me proudly.

Neville held the door open for me as we entered Madam Pudifoot's for tea and cake. It was sort of a bad idea, however. The shop was cramped and full of couples snogging and making out. It made both me and Neville slightly uncomfortable. I'm guessing he was a little insecure and felt as if he was obligated to do something because he held my hand and didn't let go until I told him to. "Oh s-sorry, "His palms were sweaty and tense-I felt a little bad. We sat down and tried our best to ignore everyone else in there. "So..how-how are you?" he asked awkwardly. I gazed over the menu and answered, "Pretty great. Yesterday was nice." I glanced up and noticed him smiling and red-faced. "Yeah, right," he said bashfully.

"What would this lovely couple here like to order today?" Madam Puddifoot asked us. Neville started slightly freaking out, "Oh, we're not really um-" "Nonsense! Everyone who enters my shop is definitely in love!" I flushed and put my hand on my head, looking down. Why is she so insistent? She definitely noticed both of us were embarrassed and mumbled,"...or not. What would you like to order then?" She seemed annoyed at that point, so I hastily chose off the menu. "Uh, can I get green tea and lemon cake?" Neville ordered the same thing as me.

As soon as she left, I started laughing, "She's crazy." Neville joined in anxiously. After our little laughing session, I examined the room and noticed Cedric in a corner with Cho. They seem so happy  I thought as he hand-fed her some cake. Neville must have seen me looking their way and turned to them as well. After watching for a few seconds, he nervously began rambling, "We can do that- i-if you want, of course, I just saw you looking at them and thought you might want to-" he made sure not to make direct eye contact as he spoke to me. He was practically the shade of a tomato at this point. I turned to him and held his shoulder for a second, "Neville, it's fine. We don't have to do everything everyone else is doing. I'm perfectly happy with how you are." He nodded and seemed much more relaxed.

We ended up not feeding each other the cake because we were both still a little too awkward for that. However, he did buy me a pretty green sweater at Gladrigs Wizardwear. I immediately put it on and asked him how I looked. "Lovely!" he responded hesitantly. Then after going into a few more shops, including Dogweed and Deathcap (a herbology shop which he absolutely loved), we decided to go back in time for dinner. "Cute sweater," Ginny complimented me. "Where'd you get it?" I smiled and looked in Neville's direction. He was talking to his friends and smiled at me when he noticed me look at him. "Dean?!" Ginny asked. "What? No, next to Dean!" She moved her head a little, "Neville?" She grinned from ear to ear as I nodded. "So you two a couple now?" I began filling my plate up with food. Are we a couple? I sipped on some pumpkin juice and thought about it."I'm not sure. Besides, it was only one date. I don't think anything is really official."
...

It was the day of the third task. The Hogwarts March was being played loudly by the Hogwarts band. I sat next to Neville in the podiums, along with Hermione, Ron, Seamus, and Dean. People were wearing Hufflepuff sweaters and carrying banners with Cedric's name on it. A few of them glared at us knowing we were rooting for Harry. Seamus glared back, with "Potter" painted on his forehead. Does it matter at all? It's the same school anyway... Malfoy and his friends were sitting on the other side rooting for Krum. Dumbledore put his wand to his neck to amplify his voice and gave a little speech before the champions were to enter the maze. Cheers erupted from the Hufflepuff crowd when Cedric was mentioned. Gryffindors did the same when Harry was mentioned. The other schools cheered for their champions as well.

The champions entered the maze one by one, and we were left to wait. The band continued to play but eventually got tired and everyone just talked. I was speaking to Neville about the types of plants that could have possibly been put in the maze. "The hedges are likely enchanted. There's no chance of going through them," he affirmed. He began speaking of plants and herbs which I had no clue about, but I kept on smiling and nodding. It seemed to make him happy, so I didn't mind. However, Ron and Seamus very much did. "Bloody hell, y/n, how do you keep listening to him? Do you ever get tired?" Ron whined. Hermione kicked his leg, but Seamus still had more to say, "You're his girlfriend now, aren't you? That would be the only explanation-no one else would be willing to sit and listen about weeds all day." Neville was embarrassed by these comments and stopped talking. Seamus I'm going to kill you. "As a matter of fact, I find what he says quite interesting. If you two were better friends and let him speak for even a second, you would find that the things he talks about aren't just plants." Seamus rolled his eyes and told Dean something, to which they both giggled. I scowled at them and faced Neville again. He turned to look at me and smiled, "Thanks." His hand was in between the two of us so I took my chance and held it. He looked at our hands and blushed. I smiled at him and told him to not let those idiots push him around or say things like that again. I don't think he heard me.

2 hours passed and Krum just forfeited after Fleur. Boos were coming from the Durmstrang students and Malfoy's friend group. However, the Hogwarts students were exploding in cheers. Whether Cedric or Harry won, Hogwarts was going to be the holder of the Triwizard Cup. The tension between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor was pretty bad, however. Suddenly a bright light was shot up into the sky deep in the maze. "One of them got the cup! Hogwarts wins!" I heard Fred yell from a few rows behind us. Before anyone could applaud, Dumbledore silenced him. "We don't know that yet, Mr. Weasley."

After another half an hour, people were getting tired. "Can we leave?" a Slytherin girl asked. A few people had already left, going against the headmaster's rules. (We were told those students would get in deep trouble, so no one really left after.) Just as people were complaining and begging to leave, Harry limped out of the maze with Cedric holding onto him. "He-He did it!" Seamus yelled. Hermione was practically jumping with joy. As we got closer to him, Cedric's body seemed a little lifeless. He fell onto the ground and Harry was weeping over him. "He's back!"Harry sobbed. "Voldemort's back! Cedric, he asked me to bring his body back-I couldn't leave him. Not there!" Amos Diggory was wailing, "That's my son! That's my boy! My boy!" The Hogwarts band stopped playing the march as everyone soon began to realize, Cedric was dead. Cho was whimpering and wiping the tears on her face. I felt myself tearing up as well. I didn't know Cedric well, but his life was still lost. I hugged Neville tightly and cried into his sweater. He stroked my hair and tried assuring me it would be alright, but I could tell he was just as scared. Voldemort was back.

...

"Remember to write to me," I told Neville. It was the last day of school. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs were saying their farewells as well before they headed back to France and Norway, respectively. "I will...Don't forget about me, either," he said nervously. I nodded and cracked a small smile to try and lighten to mood. I noticed Cho standing alone with her bags all packed and ready to go. Her cheeks were wet, obvious she had been crying. I went up to her and rubbed her on the back, "I'm so sorry. I promise you it'll get better soon." She nodded with her wet eyes and sobbed into my shoulder. I hugged her and promised I'd write to her during the summer. I barely knew her, but I was trying to be nice. She smiled slightly and picked up her bags to go. I looked over at Neville, who was walking over to me, attempting to carry both of our things. "Oh no, it's okay Nev, I've got it," I took my things and we walked to the station together. After putting our things in the compartment, I sat with him and Ginny. Most of the ride home was silent, with a few comments here and there. We were all scared of what the future had to hold.

A/n: That was the last chapter of year 4! A bit of an uncertain ending there- I'm going to continue to write into year 5 as well so there's that. ALSO!! I'm going to start school again so chapters might come out a bit slower than usual. Apologies!
(and thank u everyone for all the nice comments they literally make my day 😭💕)

I want to change the name of the story as well-does anyone have any ideas?