Godfather [harry potter fanfiction]

15 | The Boy who Transformed from Zero to Hero

At this specific moment, the friendly air circling around the walls of the hospital wing was beyond welcoming and empowering, more than Hogwarts had ever witnessed this year.

Just then, the creak of the door fell on their ears, as they were joined by an anxious Neville, shuffling his feet forward.

"Hello, guys," Neville said, his gaze moving in a small circle studying their expressions.

"Hey, Neville," they all chorused in one tone.

"How are you now, Harry?" asked Neville, watering his lips.

"I am fine, thanks," Harry replied, with a small smile, before switching his attention back to Ron and Hermione.

"How are you, Neville?" Remus asked, switching his gaze from Harry -who had always been the center of attention, whether he liked it or not- to Neville, who wasn't as much privileged in being acknowledged.

***
Neville was taken aback by the concern ringing through the voice of his old professor. It wasn't everyday someone would ask him -with genuine care- how he was.

Neville had spent years believing that he wasn't good enough, which made him -what he seemed to be- the clumsy and self-conscious outcast.

His self-worth had always been on the edge, on the verge of crumbling down from the already low hill.

Although Neville came from a pure-blood family, no one thought he had enough magic to be a wizard, let alone a powerful one. His strict grandmother, the closest thing he had for a family, couldn't help but see him as a disappointment.

Throughout his fifteen years of life and up till now, he still couldn't find a best mate, a close friend, who he could pour his heart to... he was just desperate for someone to be his ears and him theirs, but all he had was Trevor, his pet frog, who was more often lost than sticking up with him.

Neville was just a boy who fell victim to bullying, most often ridiculed than praised or even -at the very least- addressed in a civil manner.

The slytherins never ignored the chance to make fun of him, at every possible occasion. But, what stung him even more was a certain professor, with black robes swinging behind him. A chill would dance up Neville's spine whenever he came face-to-face with the sneering hatred that rose on the sharp dead eyes in which he always dreaded.

Despite of all what he came across or perhaps because of all what he'd been through, Neville Longbottom possessed bravery at the dwell of his heart that always empowered him to face his fears, let alone his worst fear, every single day.

All what he had to do, all what was left, was learning how to stand up for himself and to defend what's right.

Up until mid-this-year, he had never felt belonging or fitting in. It wasn't until he joined the DA, did he feel the determination of stopping himself from being a nobody.