Understanding (Neville Longbottom)

7

"Have you come here for a snogging session, Longbottom?" she laughed, her voice full of poison. Neville ground his teeth, angry.

"She's too cute for you" she continued enjoying every second of it "...but then again she's a half blood, so you've traded down!"

"What do you want?" I growled

"No one's talking to you, half breed" she snorted with disgust at my face

"Shut up Parkinson!" spat Neville, getting worked up

"Or what?" she smiled sweetly. Then she turned to me again "You!" She pointed at my letter "Let me read that"

Neville came forward, wand in his hand but I stepped in front of him and calmly handed it to her

"It's no use denying her, if she doesn't read it now her daddy will tell her what it says later"

Pansy's eyes flashed with surprise and anger "You're quick Vance" she said while ripping the letter from my hand "If you and your uncle use that brain of yours, you might survive this war!"

I could feel how tense Neville was; he was standing just behind me, wand still in his hand. I gripped mine too.

Pansy finished reading and then yawned and began tearing the parchment "Bla bla bla..."

Her friends chuckled behind her.
"That was the most boring thing I ever read. You went on and on about a book! Who does that?"

"Not you, I'm sure" I retorted. I could see Pansy's anger growing at my comment "Now you can fuck off"

"Why" she fluttered her lashes at me "would I want to do that?"

"Because" I put as much sugar in my voice as I could, to mimic hers "I'm pretty sure Neville and I could take care of the three of you, before anyone could come to help"

Even though the smile was still plastered on her face, her eyes were burning with fury. I knew I won however: everybody knew how Neville had fought in the Ministry of magic and last year in the brief battle before Dumbledore's death; and I was one of the most skilled witches of my year.
Pansy knew full well they didn't have a chance.

"Whatever!" she said finally "You should enjoy yourselves while you still can... you know Vance, I would be careful if I were you"

"Is that a threat?" Neville voice seemed calm even if it was slightly louder than usual

"More like a friendly advice. You have enemies in the castle and if you don't behave like a good girl... someone might get hurt"

With that the three of them left.
I crouched and gathered all the pieces of the letter froma the straw covered stone floor

"Here, let me" Neville touched the little scraps of parchment in my hand with the tip of his wand and those flew back together gluing my letter in its original form

I rolled it and went for one of the owls that seemed most rested and quietly began to tie it to its leg.
Pansy had mentioned my uncle and that worried me.
The owl pecked me on the finder and then took off, disappearing almost immediately in the cloudy sky.

When I turned around, Neville was still looking at me

"Sorry" he murmured, his cheeck getting slightly pinker "That was unpleasant"

"Yeah" I nodded with a half smile too

"What was she talking about? You know, the enemy part."

"I don't know"

"You shouldn't have shown her your mail. She shouldn't have that much power over you." He looked me straight in the eye as he was saying this

"I wish she didn't" I answered truthfully  "But she does. Her father is a Death Eater and she's the Carrows' pet student" I explained calmly
"At least inside the school, she does have power over me."

"That's-" Neville was totally surprised by what I had just said
"That's totally..."
I watched him struggle a little bit and then he managed to get out a flustered "..You can't let them win like that! Are you not going to fight back?!"

That hit an open nerve

"Excuse me if I was trying to stop you from attacking them and getting detention! Which" I added getting worked up "was what she wanted by the way!"

"And I would have taken it!" he answered in kind "Better to be punished for standing up for myself  than let them treat me like a piece of garbage!"

"For yourself?" I half laughed "That's rich! You keep getting yourself in terrible situations for others"

"So what?" he raised his voice "At least I'm going against them!"

"Getting hurt like that" I gesticulated towards his now healed eye "is just playing their game!"

We were now in a full heated argument which, I think, surprised us both

"You have to stop putting others before yourself for futile things! Or you won't be really fighting anything, you'll just get hurt!"

"And I assume the same thing wasn't true for you when you helped that Hufflepuff guy!" he retorted.

I stopped the answer coming to my lips and took a deep breath.
We weren't really angry at each other, we were frustrated and confused; both trying to find our way to do something

"You're right. And I'm sorry" I breathed out "I didn't mean to judge you, I just think you should be more careful."

Neville looked at me for a moment, then he nodded "And I shouldn't have said those things"

"Friends?" I put up my hand for him to shake and he chuckled and shook it

"Friends" he let go a big sigh "I hate Parkinson!"

"Hey, I hear you!" I smiled, thinking back on what had happened "...did you see them with a letter?"

"What" Neville raised a brow confused by my sudden change of subject, but I was onto something.

"They didn't have a letter" I repeated "Why come to the owlery? How long have you been here for before I came up?"

"I don't know... 20 minutes. I was feeding my grandmother's owl" he pointed to a brownish barn owl now sleeping

"They must have followed me, then" I reasoned

"But why?"

I looked at him, very confused "...I guess to read my letter"

"Why would she want to read your letter?"

"I have no idea! But for what other reason could she have followed me up here?"

Neville shrugged, visibly sceptic. Maybe I really was reaching too far, but why on earth should one do all the stairs to get to the owlery if not for sending a letter? For some reason, she didn't strike me as an animal loving type of gal; if she wanted to enjoy the view she could have more easily reached the Astronomy Tower which was closer to Slytherin's common room.
I shaked my head, trying to get Pansy out of my brain and followed Neville to the door.
We began to get down the stairs slowly, each one lost in our own heads.

"You know" I said at last "I actually admire how you've been trying to defend others... even though it's kinda stupid and dangerous"

"Pff!" He chuckled "Thanks, I guess"

"I wish we could do some actual damage, you know?" I asked, looking at his profile against the grey sky "I mean I wouldn't mind getting hurt if it meant changing something for real"

Neville was quiet until we reached the end of the stairs and passed through the stone archway that took us back inside the castle; then he turned to look at me and said "I'll get back to you"

I smiled, suspicious "You will?"

"Yeah" he smiled to himself, beginning to walk backwards "I have an idea. Bye Jocelyn!" he turned and trotted away

"It's Jo!" I yelled after him.

I liked that guy.