𝐉𝐈𝐆𝐒𝐀𝐖

Chapter 16

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Chapter Sixteen:

Samhain Night

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Most of October was a blur to Harry. He woke up, he ate, he went to class, he ate, he went to class, he ate again, did some homework, avoided any conversations with his friends that might take more than five minutes, showered, and then went to bed. Rinse, wash, and repeat the next day.

He felt sort of numb. Numb from the shock that there was a point where he genuinely thought Draco liked him back. Numb from the fact that his appreciation for Draco's good looks had blossomed into an appreciation of Draco himself. And he constantly wondered why. Sometimes he came up with an answer or an excuse, other times he'd randomly bang his head on a nearby wall.

Ron and Hermione were worried about him, but Harry didn't care. Neville watched him sadly, but Harry didn't care. Ginny and Dean kept trying to raise his spirits, but Harry didn't care. Snape was still trying to get him expelled, but Harry didn't care. Morpheus was rumored to be dating half the Hogwarts staff, but Harry didn't care. Hagrid kept trying to find out what was wrong, but Harry didn't care. Lupin seemed distracted with some problem of his own, but Harry didn't care.

Draco was ignoring his existence, and that Harry did care about.

It was Halloween evening, right after dinner, and they would begin to brew Sirius's potion. Snape and Contessa were supposed to already begun most of it. Harry was standing in the hallways stared numbly at the class marks for the Defense Against the Dark Arts quarterly exam, hardly able to think of anything else. He had gotten the best mark, of course, but underneath his name where Hermione usually was, she wasn't. The second best mark in the class was officially awarded to Neville Longbottom. He had scored one point higher than Hermione Granger, who was number three.

"I don't believe it," Hermione said, looking a little taken aback. "I studied the whole week. I was reading the book in the toilet."

"You beat him on the essay, but he beat you on the practical. The practical was worth more points," Ron said.

"I note you're comfortably settled in the middle of the class, like you always are," Hermione said, glowering at him.

Ron shrugged. "I totally flubbed the essay. I drew a giant blank. All I could think on the question of, 'What was Morgan Le Fay most well known for?', was for being a pervert," he sighed.

"Neville! Congratulations, mate! You topped Hermione!" Ron said, grinning as Neville came up and gaped at the scores.

"You must have practiced very hard," Hermione said, smiling gently at him. The smile looked only partially forced.

Neville flashed them all a grin. Harry noticed that while he was still the same chubby, brown-haired boy he'd always been, he walked with more confidence than he ever had before. "Wait until I tell her! She'll be so excited!" he said and then paused. "Well, not excited, but chuffed, I would think. I don't think she does excited."

"Who are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing! We better get going. We have to get to the evening Astronomy lesson on time!" Neville said rather quickly and clutched his books, running off. His face was rather pink.

Harry blinked. "Ike, we'd better get going," he said quickly, dashing off after Neville with Hermione and Ron just behind him.

Harry got there just in time, sliding next to Dean Thomas as Ron and Hermione sat together next to them. Dean flashed him a broad grin. "Congrats on your Defense scores, mate," he said.