August

August 22nd 1998

Me and Neville sat down at the eighth year table, talking quietly about the work we had to catch up on and finish.

"So Neville, how are you?"

"Yeah, I'm good Harry. Yeah. Good. Yeah."

"Neville? What's going on?"

"Oh. It's just there's this girl. And I really like her. She's fantastic, amazing. So pretty."

I laughed, patting him on the shoulder. I knew the position that he was in, and felt his pain. Crushes were quite the burden at times, but if they paid off you could be on top of the world.

"Come on mate, who is it?"

His cheeks tinged a bright red, a familiar red.

"Oh god. It's...er...Hannah. Hannah Abbot."

He paused slightly, as though waiting for a response. I grinned at him, showing my full support and encouragement.

"She's just amazing though. Incredible. Very cute- if I'm being honest. We were talking a couple of days ago and I just noticed. That's she pretty.

"It wasn't that she wasn't before, I just happened to notice then. She's so kind though, understanding, hardworking and she's beautiful. Inside and out. Ugh."

I gave him a half hug, as I attempted to shovel a forkful of food into my mouth. Once I swallowed, I began to speak again.

"Neville, I'm pretty sure she likes you too. Why wouldn't she? You are brave, smart, kind and everything she could want." 

He thanked me and we continued to talk, devising a slight plan to see about Hannah. Hermione eventually joined us and gave her input into the situation.

Eventually, Neville left to go find Luna- and I was guessing also trying to find Hannah. Me and Hermione talked for a while longer, before she decided to bribe me into coming to the library. I gave in after a while, and followed her, knowing I had some work to finish.

I slung my books down onto a table in the library- surrounding by the musky, yet comforting, smell of books old and new. Hermione was already scouting the shelves for a book- it was the last few days we had to hand in our assignments. Hermione was obviously done and I just had my Charms essay to finish, she certainly wasn't going to sit around if I had still had to work to complete- Hermione was going to hover around me until I got it finished. It was only like a paragraph left anyway.

She heaved an extremely disproportionate amount of books onto the table top- given the amount of work I had planned to go into a final paragraph and conclusion. Hermione plopped herself down into the chair opposite, and opened the top book from the stack.

"Hermione, isn't that a bit too many books? You know, for the end of my essay?"

She sighed deeply, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"God Harry, you self-centred prat. There are some here for me. For a bit of light reading really. Honestly."

I choked, not quite sure if it was on my crumbling ego, her level of sass, air or a combination of all three. I humphed under my breath- before choosing a book and getting my eagle feather quill.