Cynthia Cygnet and the Misplaced Gryffindor

● Chapter 7 ●

"Have you ever seen Neville look so zombified?" Freida asked Cynthia as they sat in the Great Hall for a late breakfast one morning.

 "Not usually this bad," She replied, "Should I ask him?" Freida nodded and Cynthia got up.

 "Neville, you look like you haven't slept properly in weeks" Cynthia said as she sat down at the Gryffindor table at breakfast.

 "I had the worst night of my life" Neville said as he looked blankly at her. His eyes were blank and bloodshot. 

 "You weren't bullied again,were you?" Cynthia said. 

 "Worse" Cynthia turned back at the Hufflepuff table and shot Freida a very concerned look, sending her the mental message to get over here and provide better advice than she would be able to. Almost instantly, Freida stood up and made her way to Gryffindor table and sat next to Neville.

 "What's wrong now?" Freida said to Neville.

 "I forgot the password to the dormitory again and had to sleep outside" Neville started. 

 "That's normal" 

 "That's not all. I had just about fallen asleep outside when Harry, Ron and Hermione woke me up trying to sneak out and I was so...scared I went with them and Filch was chasing us and we ended up on the 3rd floor corridor and there was a DOG" He said this very fast that the two struggled to keep up with him.

 "A dog?" Cynthia repeated. 

 "A three-headed dog" Neville burst out loudly, causing a few quick glances from the remaining Gryffindors on the table. As he told the story of the night before, he had developed a slight tremble, especially in his hands. 

 "What would a deformed dog be doing at Hogwarts?" Freida pondered. "I don't know but it was huge. I never want to see that again" Neville wailed "Hermione thinks it's guarding something"

 "I wouldn't say that out loud, Neville "Cynthia said quietly as she got chills "You don't know who's listening"

The bell rang and they got up. "Listen, Neville, after all that I think we should really teach you how to get into Hufflepuff's dorm" Freida said, wrapping an arm over his shoulder and guiding him downstairs towards the Hufflepuff Common room before they left for the classes. A few minutes late wouldn't be too much of a crime if it meant helping Neville.

 "It's a good thing Helga Hufflepuff was so welcoming, anyone can get in if they know how" Cynthia said.

 Once they were in front of the barrels, the two demonstrated to him just how to get in. It was only knocking to the rhythm to their founder's name which they hoped wouldn't be too hard for Neville to remember. Just for extra measures, Cynthia scribbled down the instructions on a bit of parchment, the last thing she'd ever want was for him to deal with sleeping on the floor and being terrified by the Bloody Baron again. 

 "We'll see you later, we've got Herbology together second period" Freida said and they went their separate ways. Cynthia and Freida shortly joined the rest of their classmates in the Charms classroom.

Not minding of the slight lateness, Professor Flitwick gave them a slight nod as they sat themselves at the back of the classroom and finally began his lesson.