How It Started

Chapter 20 - Neville LongBottom.

A lot had happened in the past 5 minutes, Harry and Vess were now going to the yule ball together. Hermione was dreadfully angry at Ron and also had a date? Ron had left to invite Fleur, who I'm sure had ben invited already by about 200 Hogwarts kids.

Ginny and I had ended up going as she had been intrigued by the idea of it and wished to come and me being the fine gentleman I am, asked her to come with me. She was also incredibly pretty, which sounds weird of me to say, considering she is one of my best friends younger sisters but oh well.

As I stopped laughing but Harry was still very much laughing, Vess made a small nod towards her brother who smiled back in response. They had been doing that a lot lately, I had also heard hushed whispers in the Gryffindor common room, that sounded like Vesper and a male version of herself.

Not that it was my place to snoop, they were both siblings and had every right to talk and be friends, however I had always assumed Vess hated her brother. I don't know.. It was just a little.. strange?

Harry finally stopped laughing as well and we all recomposed ourselves, my gaze flitted back over to the golden egg, we had failed to open and understand as of yet. He took a deep breath, followed by him standing up.

" Shall we go have a walk around, forget about this silly egg for a moment. " He offered, we both nodded, standing, Harry picked up the golden egg and then walked out, we went outside and began walking down one of the winding hallways.

" Harry! " A voice called out, I was expecting to turn around and see Hermione. However, the familiar smiley face of Cedric Diggory. Harry's body went rigid, they hadn't exactly been on the best of term's after the whole badge incident.

" Have you unlocked the secrets of those eggs yet? " He asked, Harry rolled his eye's, holding the egg forward.

" Does it look like it Cedric? " He asked, eyebrows raised in a mocking way. I hadn't seen Harry so.. tense? Cedric laughed for a short brief moment, his eyebrows furrowing in empathy.

" My apologies. " He said firstly, smiling again, " Oh! I know the perfect spot, to help your thoughts about it come clearer. The prefect bathroom? " He offered, Harry nodded, understanding that this must have some significance.

" Thanks Cedric. " He said, with a singular teaspoon of remorse. Cedric nodded, walking away from us.

" We should all go right now and see what happens. " I suggested, Harry turned to face me, a bashful smile on his face. Vess began laughing.

" It's a bathroom, Nev, where people, you know, bathe? " He said, my eyes widened and I could feel my cheeks go hot. I began waving my hands, before endearing on one of my apologetic rants.

" Oh heavens! I didn't mean it like that.. " This was followed by dramatically shaking my head.
" I meant like, oh.. I thought he meant like use the sinks or something. " I offered, Vess continued laughing, she pet my shoulder.

" It's okay Nev, we know you didn't mean anything weird. " She said, a sympathetic smile on her face.

" Right Harry? " She asked him, turning around so I couldn't see her face. She was however using her motherly tone, so I imagine it wasn't the friendliest of faces. Harry nodded, smiling at me with his joking smile.

" I'll test it out tonight. " He said to us both and with that we began our walk again, I still felt slightly embarrassed over the events that had happened moments ago but the other two didn't seemed to be mad or upset with me, only sort of humoured which suited me just fine.

We had accidentally, or maybe not accidentally made our way to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was sat on the couch, her angry expression not completely still intact, however she still looked mad enough for me to not walk over and start up a conversation.

My eyes moved over the rest of the common room, finally landing on Ron who was sat on a chair and looked to be frozen. Ginny looked a little concerned as she walked around him, I walked over and could hear the other's following,

" Hey Neville. " Ginny said, I was stunned for a short moment, forgetting we were now friends..ish. I waved at her and she smiled then turning her gaze back to a very panicked Ron.

" What's wrong- " Harry begun but his voice was cut off by Hermione's,
" He went and asked Fleur, and then ran away before getting a response. " She explained, Vess's eyes widened before laughing. I couldn't help but laugh too, he had actually asked Fleur to the yule ball?

" Good going Ron. " Harry said, slapping his shoulder. Ron came back to his body and whipped his head around staring at us, his eye's zoned in on Vess, an angry expression replacing his dazed one.

He stood up, pointing a finger in her direction. Instead of looking afraid like I thought she might, she smiled jokingly. He began on a very spluttering angry rant, her smile remained on her face throughout.

" It was your idea! and now I've made a proper fool of myself.. she's probably joking around to her friend's about me! Vess, that was an utterly stupid idea, I don't understand why you even suggested it. I was so blinded by love I did not see the backlash I would receive. " After he finished his lengthy monologue, he slumped back into his chair, his eye's on the ground.

" Ron - I suggested the idea as a joke. " Vess said in response, the smile still clearly defined on her lips. His head snapped up and he eyed her.

" You're kidding. " He fired back, sitting up in the chair again, to face her directly.

" All you Malfoy's are the same, evil, cruel and vile. " He said, I stared at him in shock from this comment. Vess's smile fell immediately.

" Right. " She answered simply, walking away and sitting down on the couch with Hermione. I understand where the comment had come from but I still felt it was a little bit... extra.

" You're scaring away all the girl's Ron, No wonder you don't have a yule ball date. " Ginny said, Ron shot her a glare and she shrugged walking back up the stairs to the first year's room.