Starlight |Neville Longbottom|

~Chapter Ten~

Once Neville and I had arrived at Hogsmeade students quickly flooded the streets of the village. Excitement loomed in the air from the majority of students, but the select few who were planning to attend the secret meeting seemed closed off and nervous. Still, Neville seemed to be determined to have a good day. 

"So you said you love Chocolate Frogs," Neville asked, breaking the silence between us that spawned as soon as we ran out of jokes, "Do you collect the cards?" 

"Sometimes I do," I answered. 

"I have almost all of the cards," he explained, "Well not with me of course. I keep them at my gran's."

"I'm not sure where mine are. I couldn't take them to my aunt and uncle's house in Liverpool since they are muggles and all," I replied, "I think they have been lost for a while."

"Well then we need to start your collection again. I can give you some of my repeats," Neville declared. 

"Oh, you don't have to," I remarked. 

"I have no use for them, they're repeats," he said, "I would rather make somebody else happy than throw them all away."

"How are you so kind all of the time?" I asked as more of a rhetorical question. 

"You are kind too Starla," he stated quickly, "Don't sell yourself short." 

"You barely know me," I retorted.

"Woah okay," Neville nervously chuckled. I silently cursed myself for ruining the happy banter we previously had. 

"Sorry I didn't mean it that way," I apologized, "It's just I don't always have the best control of my emotions." 

"That's okay," Neville said, "I understand what that's like." 

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"Well growing up at my gran's hasn't always been perfect. I mean I love her but it was just different," he explained.

"Yeah, the last year of my life was far from normal."

"Hey," Neville exclaimed trying to change the subject, "How about we go buy some sweets! We could get a jump start on restarting your chocolate frog card collection!" 

"Yeah that sounds awesome," I smiled. Chocolate did sound much better than remembering my parents.

Once we reached Honeydukes the smell of sweets consumed me and I suddenly realized I was far more hungry than I thought. The two of us quietly browsed until Neville grabbed two Chocolate frogs. I followed in suit to grab one but he told me not to worry about it and paid for both of our chocolates. 

I glanced up at a street clock to check the time  and then looked to Neville who nodded at me. I hooked my arm around his elbow and we made our way to Hogshead.

The atmosphere of Hogshead made me feel like I had entered a completely different world. Most of Hogsmeade village was a bright and cheerful place where students could relax and have fun with their friends, but Hogshead was cold, musty, and honestly a little dirty. You could tell that this was the second most popular bar in the village. 

Luckily for me though I recognized some familiar faces. Sitting at one large table was a medium sized group of people which included Stephen, Ginny, Hannah, Tracie, and Jada. I waved at them all before sitting down next to Neville and letting go of his arm. 

I saw Jada smile to herself before I turned my attention back to Neville, who was handing me a chocolate frog. I unwrapped the sweet and ate it quickly before it could hop away from me. I then pulled out the card which was a picture of Artemisia Lufkin. Neville quietly scooted his card in my direction since the group had begun to talk. 

Quickly people began with the same claims we have heard all year. People were accusing Harry of being crazy, discrediting what he saw, and telling him their parents opinion. But eventually Harry was able to get everybody's attention, with the help of some threats by the Weasley Twins, and the meeting was garnering success. 

Near the end of the meeting Hermione Granger started to pass an enchanted piece of parchment around to sign if you were interested. The paper was passed around starting with Harry, then Ron, then Hermione, then to Ginny, Stephen, Hannah, Tracie, Jada, Luna Lovegood, Neville, and finally me. I grasped the quill and signed my name in big loopy letters before handing the parchment to the Hufflepuff boy sitting next to me. 

After the parchment made its way around to everybody, people started to slowly leave. Neville and I decided we were going to walk around and chat since there wasn't really anything we wanted or needed to buy. 

We walked for a few minutes until we found an empty bench near the Hogsmeade Post Office and decided to sit down. 

"Hey do you remember that time you got detention from Snape for yelling at him," Neville chuckled. 

"That detention was miserable!" I exclaimed, "Snape made me reorganize his supply cupboard."

"I was thinking about that during the meeting. You said earlier that you didn't think you were a kind person, but I think you standing up for me was a nice thing to do."

"Snape just got me so angry!" I confessed, "I used to be his target before I left."

"Why?" Neville asked with a shocked tone to his voice, "You're brilliant at positions."

"I forgot to do a big assignment for his class once during first year and he marked me as a 'lazy student' from then on," I summarized, "I wanted to prove him wrong so badly that I studied extra hard."

"I don't think you are a lazy student," he comforted, "I think Snape is just a jerk!" 

"I know. I just hate it when people try to tell me what I am or what I am like," I said, "I want to decide for myself."

"I like that about you," he smiled. 

"Yeah, Stephen says I am too stubborn," I giggled while rolling my eyes.

"I wouldn't say stubborn," Neville complemented , "I think you are headstrong."

"Thank you Neville!" I responded while rewrapping my cloak around me.

"I mean it Starla," Neville confirmed as he motioned me to stand up and walk since he noticed I was getting cold.

I took his signal and said,"I know I apologized yesterday but I wanted to say sorry for how I was treating you. I was trying to be guarded but I had no reason to be rude." 

"Starla, I told you yesterday that it's okay. I definitely came off too strong as well," Neville sighed.

"Okay," I smiled. 

"So can we be friends from now on?" the brown haired boy asked. 

"Yeah, we can be friends!" I confirmed. 

In that moment, I realized three things. Number one, Jada's plans always work for everybody's benefit. Number two, Neville Longbottom and that dorky smile of his are good company and number three, Jada, Stephen, Ginny, Hannah, and Tracie were all watching and clapping for us.