Late Bloomers

New Arrival

“We haven’t seen him, sorry Neville,” this time it was Terry Boot shutting the compartment door. That had to be at least the tenth one they had tried, and Sinead could see that Neville was becoming discouraged. She bit her lower lip tucking a stray curl behind her right ear. She wasn’t quite sure whether she should say something comforting or nothing at all.

“It’s okay, Neville. I’m sure we’ll find him,” she reassured, reaching out her hand to pat his shoulder, but thinking better of it and letting her hand drop back to her side. Neville fixed her with a look of utter hopelessness.

“He’s done this for five years. Maybe this is just the time that he gets away from me for good,” his sentence ended in a mumble and he shuffled his feet. Sinead looked around them at the empty corridor, as though hoping to see Trevor the toad or a helpful face suddenly appear. However, no such thing happened and Sinead was at a loss for words. Once more she lifted her hand, hesitating halfway between their bodies before making contact with Neville’s shoulder. The sudden touch made Neville snap his eyes up to Sinead and his expression was one full of surprise. Warmth seemed to radiate from the spot where Neville could feel the soft pressure of her hand on him and his cheeks flushed pink. “Erm, thanks,” he smiled nervously and hesitantly patted Sinead’s hand.

Sinead nodded, and let go of Neville after he patted her hand. His hand was rougher than she had expected, but not unpleasant. She started twisting the ends of her hair again, dropping her gaze nervously to the floor. “I, um, I should go back to my compartment. Nearly to school, still need to change,” she explained, gesturing vaguely to herself.

Neville nodded and glanced at Sinead’s street clothes as she gestured to them. “Right, yeah. I should too,” he smiled at her again, causing a light to shine in his eyes, “maybe…maybe I’ll see you at school. What house are you in?” he asked, trying to keep the hopefulness out of his voice. He knew it was unlikely she was a Gryffindor as he’d never seen her before, but being in the same house would mean that he’d have a better chance at seeing her again.

“Ravenclaw,” she replied, noting how Neville’s smile wavered slightly, “what about you?” she responded, already knowing that he must not be a Ravenclaw. She had never seen him before.

“Gryffindor,”

“Oh. Well…maybe we’ll have some classes together. I should really go. Aoife’s probably waiting for me. Um…I’ll see you around?” Sinead had meant it as a statement, but was unsure whether Neville would want to see her again.

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely.” He was still having a hard time believing that Sinead was actually giving him the time of day, but didn’t voice that thought. He didn’t want her to think he was completely pathetic.

“Great,” Sinead grinned, and it seemed light up the whole room. Neville was dazzled. “See you later then,” having used the last of her courage, Sinead hurried to get back to her compartment. As soon as she slid open the door, Aoife pounced. She pulled Sinead inside quickly and shut the door with such force that it made an audible noise.

“Who was that boy? When did you meet him? What were you doing with him and when in the hell were you going to tell me about it?!” Aoife fumed, though her face was eager and her eyes bright.

Sinead laughed and shook her head, her dark curls bouncing on her shoulders, “Aoife you’re getting ahead of yourself. It was nothing, I was just trying to help him find his pet,” Aoife furrowed her brows and Sinead sighed, an amused look upon her pale face, “his name’s Neville. He said he lost his toad on the train. I was just trying to help him find it,” Sinead explained nonchalantly, though a girlishly coy smile threatened to form on her lips.