Changed (Drarry)

Chapter 8

"Morning Nev." Harry said as Neville entered the dorm, Harry was sitting on his bed, and the others were already sleeping, Neville having been late up and Harry being unable to sleep.

"Harry?" Neville asked with a double take, stepping back slightly and looking at the door, not that there was anything on it to indicate if he was in the right place or not. "What are you doing here?"

"Where else would I be? It's past curfew, I don't always sneak out." Harry said, also feeling confused, glancing around the room quickly, it seemed the house elves had stopped putting out either Seamus or Dean's bed as they seemed to have started sleeping in the same bed.

"But if you're here then you did, and why would you come here to begin with?" Neville asked, looking anxiously at Ron's bed, flinching when Ron rolled over. "We shouldn't talk in here."

Neville quietly marched over to Harry and grabbed his wrist, pulling him out of bed and back down to the common room, pushing him into one of the best seats by the fire that was mostly just glowing embers, although there were a few flickers of flames that didn't have much colour left. Neville took the seat opposite him, looking at Harry intently.

"Nev, what's wrong?" Harry asked, licking between Neville's eyes, they were different colours, his right eye was hazel and almost felt like it had flecks of gold in, and the other was a deep green, still paler than Harry's but green none the less.

"Why are you in the Gryffindor dorms?" Neville asked, leaning forward and looking at Harry intensely.

"Beecause this is my house...?" Harry said, looking confused, and not sure if he should lean in too, or if he should lean back.

Harry couldn't remember what Neville said next, in fact it made his head hurt to just remember that much, and it felt rather fuzzy. Harry just assumed he was tired after the long journey and that he still hadn't fully recovered from the incident on the train, thankfully he hadn't lost his memory of the whole night, just a small part.

"By the way, I heard you were badly affected by the dementors on the train too." Neville said, as they looked back at the red embers together, Harry thought he had seen a shadow from the stairs to the dorm rooms, it was a tall figure, but the figure left pretty quickly, so Harry thought nothing of it. Maybe they were someone who couldn't sleep and wanted to sit in the common room alone, Harry didn't know.

"Oh, yeah, it wasn't nice." Harry mumbled, looking down at his hands, now that he thought about it, had Malfoy announced he had fainted, Harry hadn't remembered it before, but he thought that had happened as he and Ron left, was that where Neville found out?

"I definitely agree with that." Neville said with a firm nod, looking at the embers intensely, and Harry noticed that a couple flames burst to life. "I was also attacked by one, I don't fully know what happened, I was in the compartment alone, and next thing I knew Luna and the new DADA teacher and his dog were in there."

"Oh, I initially sat in the same compartment as the dog and DADA teacher, but Ron said we should sit with Ginny, who was sitting with Luna, but she and Hermione fought so she left." Harry said, looking into the newly formed flames.

"Odd, I thought Hermione and Luna would get along quite well... I guess she may still be taking in the easily confirmed parts of the magical world." Neville said with a small nod, Luna believed in a lot of things that were the equivalent of a muggle believing in magic, so it wasn't unlikely for someone as logic based as Hermione to butt heads with someone like Luna.

"Who knows..." Harry said with a sigh. "By the way, I heard you were friends with the new student from last year, Khadija."

"Yeah, she's really nice, I think you and her would get along well." Neville said with a nod and small smile.

"Is she friends with the Slytherin trio? And if she is then does that mean they're nicer to you now?" Harry asked, he hoped he wasn't going to poke at an open wound, Neville didn't have many friends, so even if Khadija was friends with Malfoy, Parkinson, and Zabini and they did still bully him, Neville was unlikely to cut off the friendship.

Neville paused for a moment, his eyes looking blank as he stared into the fire. Harry cringed internally, hoping Neville wasn't shutting down on him because of making him feel bad, they may not talk much, but he felt oddly comfortable about talking to Neville in a way that he didn't with other people and he didn't want to lose.

"Neville?" Harry asked, hoping he could at least snap him back out of the little trance he seemed to be in. Harry looked at the window and realised how dark it was outside, he didn't think they had been talking for very long either, so it seemed odd.

"Oh, sorry. I think she became friends with them at the end of last year, and I haven't interacted with any Slytherins since then." Neville said with an oddly empty smile. "Have you gone to the Hospital Wing for Mme Pomfrey to have her look over you after the dementor?"

"No, I don't want to either, I'm sure I just need some sleep." Harry said, curling up into himself on the armchair.

"Have you at least had some chocolate?" Neville asked, pulling some chocolate out of his pocket and holding it out to Harry.

"No? Why?" Harry asked, taking the chocolate from Neville.

"It's supposed to make you feel better after the Dementors, and Mme Pomfrey confirmed it's the treatment for a dementor encounter." Neville said, gesturing for Harry to eat it, which he did.

"Thanks." Harry said with a small smile. He did indeed feel better after having the chocolate, but there was still an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, maybe from eating too much.

Harry and Neville went upstairs, neither noticing the same shadowy man Harry had noticed earlier rushing back upstairs to their own dorm. Neither found it odd anymore that Harry was in Gryffindor, and neither thought it odd that there was one too few beds.