Because Sometimes Opposites Attract - Draco Malfoy Fanfic

Chapter 4

I was lucky returning to the Ravenclaw common room because someone had just opened the door from the inside. I quickly got Poppy, then met Neville by the Great Hall again. He hadn't said a word since his encounter with Malfoy earlier. But he led me to the tower I could leave Poppy in. When we came back down, I turned to him and we stopped. "You wanna go outside?" Neville asked and his voice was husky and still a little shaky. I nodded and we took a walk out of the castle, settling down by the lake. The view was beautiful. Neville leant his back against a tree and I sat cross-legged in the grass opposite him.

"What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?" I asked carefully, moving a little closer to him. Neville closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. "I don't really tell people about this very often." "You can trust me. But it's fine if you don't want to tell me, I'd understand, we've known each other since yesterday." "I know but ... I feel like I can tell you. Can you promise me you'll keep it to yourself?" I nodded. "Of course, I promise" I said genuinely. Neville pressed his lips together. "My parents used to be aurors and ... a few years ago ... when you-know-who was still powerful and all ... they were tortured, by a group of death eaters led by Bellatrix Lestrange, maybe you've heard of her. And she's ... well, she's Malfoy's aunt. She's in Azkaban now but that's how Malfoy knows about it and it just kills me." He sobbed and I couldn't believe how Malfoy had the nerve to bring this up to Neville. I put my arm around him and pulled his face into my shoulder. "What about your parents now?" I asked. "They're permanently incapacitated and they're at the hospital. They have been ever since. And when I go to visit them with my grandma, who raised me, they don't remember me. They ... Sam, they've got no idea who I am. And I can't bear it, I mean, it's ... why did that bitch have to do that to them?!" He started crying again and I stroked his hair for comfort. "Neville, I'm so sorry" I whispered. He looked up at me and I wiped his tears away with my sleeve. "Sorry, I don't want to bother you with my sob story." "Hey, I asked! And I'm always here for you, okay?" He smiled, still sobbing though. "Thank you."

After a while, we made our way back to the castle because we both had potions class. "Alright, Sam, I should probably warn you about Professor Snape. Don't let him get to you" Neville said as we walked downstairs. "Is that the potions teacher?" I asked. "Yes and he ... to be honest, he scares the hell out of me. I mean, everyone kind of does ... but anyway, he usually dislikes Gryffindors the most so maybe you've got a bit of a chance." I laughed. "Doesn't he sound lovely, judging people by their house" I said sarcastically. "He's Slytherin's house teacher." I rolled my eyes. "Great. Where are we going anyway?" "His classroom is down in the dungeons" Neville explained. I was happy that he was with me because otherwise I would've been desperately lost because of the moving staircases. This school was so damn confusing.

We reached the dungeons, it was all dark and scary down there and I followed Neville until we met some people already standing outside the classroom. I recognized Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Hi, guys" Ron said. I hadn't talked to him before but he seemed nice. "Don't let Professor Snape intimidate you" Hermione said with a smile. "I warned her already" Neville smirked. "Good, everyone should be warned" Ron said, looking slightly scared as well. Now I was really getting curious about this teacher because he seemed to terrify everyone. Suddenly, we heard someone rush down the stairs and a man with a long black cloak and long black hair walked past us into the classroom. We followed him and all found seats. I had to admit, he didn't really scare me. I sat down next to Neville who already seemed pretty afraid.

"I see we have a new student" Professor Snape said with a surprisingly calm voice that I had not expected from him. It also sounded dangerous though. I knew he was looking at me so I looked up and stared back. "Stand up, introduce yourself" he said. Okay, now I hated him. He wanted to make me the center of attention again and I didn't appreciate that very much. And he must've seen that on my face but still insisted. So I gulped and stood up. "My name is Samantha Baker and I'm a Ravenclaw" I said, stared him back dead in the eye. His facial impression didn't change. He looked exactly like when he had gotten into the classroom. "How good were you at potions at your old school? I bet the class there was a joke, here we study to seriously learn something." His voice being so calm and yet so dangerous-sounding made it sound like he was threatening me. "I see you already know Longbottom, I should already take some points from you for that." Neville looked down at his table. "Try to participate a little this year, Longbottom" Professor Snape said and I couldn't believe he was saying something like this but I didn't dare to stand up and say something because now I knew what he was capable of, humiliating one in front of the whole class. I was pretty sure this class was not going to be my favourite, now that I understood what everyone had been talking about.

When we left the dungeons, I was happy to see some more light again, Snape's classroom had been depressing. I hated it already. "Screwed up yet another potion, Longbottom?" a voice next to us said. I recognized Malfoy. Now that I knew what had happened to Neville's parents, he disgusted me even more. How could he do this to Neville? How could he remind him of what was the worst for him? But I didn't know how to defend Neville or what to say to Malfoy because it didn't seem like anything could offend him.

"Leave him alone" I just said and put my arm around Neville's shoulder, pulling him away from Malfoy and his friends. But he followed us to the Great Hall. "Damn, you again?" he asked. "What's your name anyway?" "None of your business." "Right! You were sorted in yesterday, Baker, right?" I didn't reply and we sat down at a table, joining Luna. She smiled. "I think you'd be much happier if you wouldn't make fun of other people anymore, Draco" she said and stared Malfoy dead in the eye with her intense look. "Oh, this is none of your business, still waiting for you to get some mental help" Malfoy said. So his first name was Draco, what a strange name. But it seemed like everyone was a huge fan of last names here anyway since he had also recalled my last name only. "So, don't get to attached to Longbottom here, Baker. He might just be too scared of you. Because you must have noticed by now that he's scared of basically everything." "Go away, Malfoy" Luna said, a little louder this time. Neville didn't defend himself. He just sat there, letting Malfoy talk. Had Malfoy been doing this to me for years, I would have already punched him in the face. "You're such cute friends everyone" Malfoy said with a sarcastic smirk that looked devlish. Then he sat down at the other end of the Great Hall. "Neville, you can't let him do that to you all the time" I said and Luna nodded. "If I say something, he'll just keep going so I just ignore it." But I knew he didn't ignore it all, otherwise he wouldn't have cried before.