|harry potter oneshots|

Apology

Ship: Neville x Draco
Words: 932
Warnings: none

By now, Neville was tired of constant teasing from his classmates, well just the slytherins, Draco Malfoy to be precise. He knew he wasn't perfect, but he didn't need constant reminding. He was told that he was fat, ugly, dumb, he's heard it all.
  Neville was walking out from Potions with Luna. Snape, yet again had victimised Neville as he failed to get the potion right.
"Just ignore the old bat," Luna said quietly, "at least we weren't with the Slytherins this time."
Just then a certain blond boy came flouncing around the corner.
"Of course I'd run into bloody Malfoy." He muttered.
"Oh, if it isn't Longbottom and Loony Lovegood, off to snog are you? Figures the only girl who'd want you isn't right in the head, Longbottom." Draco sneered, while his cronies sniggered behind him.
Neville fingered the bubblegum wrapper in his pocket. He'd visited his parents and he decided to keep the wrapper, rather than sending it home with the rest. Now, it only served as a painful reminder when he needed it the least; though Malfoy's barbs didn't help.
"Shut up Malfoy," trying to mask the pain but miserably failing.
"Aww, gonna go cry to Mummy now, are you? Go run off and tell her mean old Malfoy insulted you, eh?" Draco taunted, a cruel gleam in his steely eyes.
Neville barely stopped the flinch, but he couldn't hide the wounded look in his eyes. For a second something- surprise?- flitted across Draco's face, but it was gone quick enough that he assumed it was nothing.
Neville breathed in deeply, squaring his shoulders before grabbing Luna's hand.
"Let's go Luna, we need to get to transfiguration."
As they walked away, he could hear the Slytherins sniggering behind him.
------------
"Nice one Draco," Pansy simpered, practically on top of him, "he looked like he was about to cry."
"Especially with that stab at his parents you threw in there. That must have hit him real hard." Blaise added.
"What have his parents got to with this anyway?" Draco inquired, turning to Pansy, confusion written all over his face.
"You don't now." Draco glared at her, "Okay, okay, Salazar. During the war, his parents were aurors. The Dark Lord wasn't happy as they were causing minor problems. He sent the Lestranges after them. Tortured them to insanity. I hear he even sometimes visits them. Ugh. I wouldn't be seen near them if they were my parents."
Draco's paled, though it was hardly noticeable in the dungeon light.
"I'm going to bed if you don't mind," Draco's voice betrayed none of the emotions he could feel swirling around inside him. He knew how most of the pure blooded families felt about mental illness. It was on the same level as mudbloods. While he would always feel contempt for blood traitors and mudbloods, the mentally ill couldn't exactly help it. Blood traitors chose to ally themselves with filth, and mudbloods were the filth. But one couldn't help being sick. Draco made his decision then, and he knew he needed to stick to it.
----------
Neville sat in history of magic, chewing on his quill. He'd given up on note-taking, he couldn't focus. He hadn't been able to for a day now. Ever since that stupid confrontation with Malfoy. He knew that should move on and forget about it. Malfoy was a stupid git who was just trying to get a rise out of him. But what made it worse was that he succeeded. Neville couldn't stop thinking about his parents, of- no. Thinking would lead to crying and he was in the middle of class, even if everyone was sleeping.
Soon enough, the bell rang, and slowly students woke up, and gathered their things. Neville was lethargic in his movements, enough that he was alone in the classroom, his brain was full of thoughts. He adjusted his handful of books, and headed to the Great Hall. The hallway was empty, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor. Neville paused to gather his thoughts, when a hand shot out of an empty classroom, and covered his mouth while pulling him in. Neville looked up and was shocked (and more than a little bit terrified) to see the cold face of Draco Malfoy staring at him.
---------
Draco looked into Neville's terrified face, and for one second regretted all of his life decisions. 'No, pull yourself together. Malfoys don't hesitate.' Before he could get any words out, Neville spoke first.
"What do you want Malfoy?" He asked, his voice betraying his fear.
Draco swallowed the snarky remark that had surfaced. He was here on a mission, and he was going to complete that mission.
"I am here, Longbottom to......apologise," he ground out, the word tasting unfamiliar in his mouth.
Neville's mouth fell open into an 'O' shape, and Draco took that as a sign to continue.
"During a....confrontation yesterday, I insulted your parents. At the time, I was....unaware of their current situation. I have....come to realise that was inappropriate. I....regret the remarks."
Neville's mouth looked like it was going to go through the floor if it dropped any longer.
"Of course, if you inform anyone of this conversation, I will have to curse you with a reducto so powerful, even your great grandchildren will feel it." With those parting words, Draco turned and walked out of the room. Neville stared after him, head tilted, eyes wide, but mouth finally closed. He rubbed the gum wrapper in his pocket. Perhaps there really was a human being underneath all those layers of awful....

I worked on this with fuxklux check out their stories because they're amazing!