The Chosen One [#Wattys2016]

THE DARK MARK

Blame it on the endless amounts of homework, but Neville was surprised when Halloween came. All in all, it hadn't been a spectacular first two months for him.

He had fallen down and injured himself during their very first flying lesson. Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. He had no inclination to learn to fly when he had a good number of accidents with both feet on the ground. The lesson, albeit a disaster for Neville, had boosted Harry's popularity. He had even been selected as the youngest seeker for Gryffindor, a rumour that had been doing rounds in the tower. This incident had also made him lose the Remembral his Gran had sent, the only correspondence between them since September first.

He had, also, been locked out of the Gryffindor tower and had to follow Harry and Ron to a midnight duel with Malfoy, something which he had regretted. They had almost been caught by Filch and Mrs. Norris but Harry had saved them by hiding under an invisibility cloak (Neville had been shocked to learn that he had nicked it from his father's closet).

At first, everyone had treated him with respect and awe bordering on reverence but then, the charm had worn off so that now Neville was either ignored or bullied. It didn't help that only Avaline, and occasionally Hermione, were his companions. Nothing gave Crabbe and Goyle greater pleasure than to push or shove him at least five times a day and sneer, "Watch where you're going, Longbottom!"

On one such incident in the Great Hall, Avaline Snape, who had been quite friendly with the Slytherins compared to the other Gryffindors, had snapped, "How eyeronic!" and went back to eating porridge, leaving the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws on the neighbouring table chortling with laughter. Crabbe and Goyle glowered at her threateningly, despite the fact that they hadn't comprehended her pun. Also, if you were paying attention, you would see Draco Malfoy suppressing a smile at the Slytherin table.

"Eye see what you did there, Snape," Fred Weasley replied, winking at her approvingly. Avaline and the other first years burst into laughter.

"Eye think that was a good one," George Weasley added.

"Eye know, right?" Harry Potter said, joining them at the Gryffindor table.

"I feel we're going to have a splendid day today," Ronald Weasley grumbled while pilling his plate with bacon, hash browns and sausages.

"It's not our fault if you can't think of puns, Ickle Ronnikins. Eye mean –"George said.

"I swear –"Ron threatened, pointing his fork at them.

"You mean, Eye swear? Eye don't know how many people can handle these puns, after all," Fred said.

Ron had speared a piece of sausage with the fork and brandished it with unwonted severity, so much so that it had flown out of his fork and hit a passing student, resulting in Professor McGonagall's descent from the High Table. The Gryffindors watched with bated breath while she crossed the hall to reach their table. She stood next to Neville, who seemed frozen in surprise at the witticism. She peered at them seriously and said –

"Eye think that's quite enough for today," and left the table in the same swift manner.

"At least we trEYEd," Fred said, before picking up a piece of toast and following his twin out.

"Come Neville, sit with us," Hermione said kindly, patting on the seat next to her. She shifted a little to let Neville sit between her and Avaline.

"Thank You," Neville said under his breath.

"Don't mention it, Longbottom," Avaline replied, scrunching her nose and laughing softly.

The united stand of the Gryffindors hadn't deterred Crabbe and Goyle by any means though, who could still be found bullying Neville the next day whenever they felt like having a laugh. Neville, however, had no room in his head to worry about anything except that he had failed Professor McGonagall's switching spells class and had to practice them again, in addition to finishing his foot-long essay. That night in the common room, he fell asleep over his unfinished essay. Neville's sleep was broken when the common room started bustling with activity the next morning, leading him to curse under his breath and run to the library to finish it. It took him longer than expected so that he had had to run to make it to the first class of the day.