harry potter imagines ✔️

01 --- the yule ball ( n. longbottom )

let me know how you feel about the whole updating thing ✨ also the dress below was from Pinterest and what you, (y/n), is wearing to the ball. i always thought these types of dresses looked so magical and reminded me of modern plant witches stuff so yeah. also it's kinda hinted that the reader is Hufflepuff? oops.
edit: fixed the issue with the picture & added my ideal suit version!
word count: 893
warnings: neville being a sweetheart?

There was nothing (y/n) hated more than school.

Hogwarts in itself was amazing: she did well enough in the classes, she had a wonderful group of friends, and her muggle parents were extremely supportive. She did not, however, enjoy the social hierarchy forced upon the students, herself included. The idea that pure bloods were greater than everyone else — Slytherin pure bloods more specifically — appalled her deeply.

Aside from the unfair support given to said students from their house professor, she did good in Snape's class and that was enough for her. Several other students — certain Gryffindor students — often took the heat of Snape's wrath.

One of those students was Neville Longbottom, her closest friend. The two always helped each other through everything: homework, bullies, and even crushes. She could not explain, though, why he had distanced himself for the past few days after she had told him that she was determined to ask Tomas Wilbert to the ball. She wasn't sure why he had acted like so, but she questioned if he could have possibly been jealous, since she had promised to go as friends when they'd first heard of the ball.

She had figured that Neville would understand, because she had always fancied Tomas. And if Neville had wanted to ask her to the yule ball, as more than friends, she would had been fine with that. But her friend never showed any sign of interest to her, so she was stuck in the standard position of loving her best friend.

She was different than the countless 'hopeless romantic' characters in all the books she's ever read. She wasn't going to wait around for Neville to one day notice her. She would move on, whether she wanted to or not. (y/n) had always made fun of those types of characters who fall in love with their best friend so quickly, but she now understood how easy it was to fall for someone so kind-hearted and caring.

That didn't matter anymore. She was going to ask Tomas to be her date and that was the end of it. In her head, it seemed almost pathetically forced to ask him.

After tomorrow's classes, she reasoned, it'll be easier to catch him alone.

The night dragged on, as she spent the most of it practicing what she would say. At breakfast, she could barely eat her food, too nervous to focus. Neville was seated a little bit further away, talking with Ginny and Dean. They were whispering and glancing around mostly at the owls flying in for the daily post. It had startled her in first year to see the creatures so casually fluttering in the air, dropping parcels and letters.

Lunch had most definitely tried her patience, as Tomas was sitting so close to her at their house table, but as he was surrounded but his friends, she figured it wouldn't be the best time to approach him.

She felt like an eternity had passed before finally, finally, everyone was dismissed for dinner. She spotted Tomas's light hair moving towards the Hufflepuff dormitory. She strayed a bit behind him, not in a stalkerish way of course. She saw him turn the corner, heard him greeting a person. She pretended to fiddle with her bag as she overheard them speaking.

She glanced up quickly to see Tomas speaking with a Ravenclaw girl. Her giggles echoed through the hall and she nodded to him quickly. They exchanged a kiss before parting and going on their separate ways.

(y/n) was stunned. She had not expected that at all. A lump formed in her throat and she forced herself to swallow. Her earlier excitement faded, leaving her drained. She made her way in the same direction as Tomas.

Well that went lovely.

✧✧✧

She found herself sitting on the sidelines during the yule ball, watching Tomas dance with the Ravenclaw girl and Neville dance with Ginny. The room was decorated beautifully, looking as though winter had touched the school. It was a shame she couldn't enjoy it.

"(y/n)?" A voice interrupted her glum thoughts, "Are you alright?"

She didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"I thought you were with Ginny," she said, turning to look at her friend. Neville scratched the back of his head awkwardly and took the seat next to her.

"What happened with you and Tomas?"

Her eyes flickered to the dancing couple, "I had a change of heart. I realized that maybe he wasn't worth it."

Neville caught her fleeting glance and winced, "I'm sorry about that, I know how much you fancied him."

"Yeah, I'm — I'll be fine. Just a crush."

Suddenly, Neville stood and extended his hand to you.

"Would you like to dance, m'lady?"

You laughed at his overly posh accent. You looked at him innocent smile and accepted his hand, "Of course, good gentleman."