Neville Longbottom and the Philosopher's Stone

Part 9

"I-I don't know," said Neville, shaking. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Well, rescuing you, to start with," said Harry. "But actually we came to give you this back." He took something out of his pocket and handed it to Neville. It was his Remembrall. "It fell out of your pocket when you had the accident," Harry said.

"You should have seen what Harry did with it," said Ron. "You see, Malfoy tried to nick it, but..."

"Time for that later," said Harry. "First we should get out of here before Filch shows up." Neville followed them out onto the staircases again. "What were you doing on the third-floor corridor anyway?" asked Harry. "You know it's out of bounds. Don't you remember Dumbledore telling us at the start of term?"

"Um, no," admitted Neville. "I, er, got lost. I didn't even know I was on the third floor. How did you know where to find me anyway?"

"Oh, that's, er, a secret. Can't tell you," said Harry. "We came looking for you when you didn't return from the hospital wing. Where have you been?" Neville didn't answer.

"What are they doing putting a thing like that in the castle anyway?" said Ron. "Still, it was wicked cool, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. We should get out more," said Harry. "There must be all sorts of exciting things hidden round Hogwarts." Neville said nothing, but boggled at the idea of anyone wanting to go looking for something like that. At last they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. "Caput Draconis," said Harry. Neville slapped his forehead in annoyance.

They entered the Gryffindor common room, where they were confronted with Hermione with a mean look on her face. "Where have you been?" she demanded. Ron and Harry explained what had happened, with only occasional sheepish nods from Neville. They embellished the story somewhat, and were far too enthusiastic about the whole thing. Hermione's face just got angrier and angrier. "What do you think you were all doing?" she snapped at the three of them. "You could have got hurt. For goodness sake, you could have got into trouble. I don't know." She sighed and shook her head. Harry and Ron just stared at her as if she was from another planet or something then slouched off towards their dormitory.

Neville took a seat by the fire and Hermione joined him. "Are you OK?" she asked. Neville nodded. He was still a bit shook up. "I warned you about those two. They're always trouble. Did you know that after you left the Flying lesson Potter was messing about with Malfoy? Got hauled off by McGonagall, then comes back at supper and says he's got a tryout for the Quidditch team. How he gets away with it, I don't know."

"Hey, they saved my life," said Neville. "They're alright. I couldn't cope with days like this everyday, though."

"Well then it's best to steer clear of them," replied Hermione. "I'm off to bed now. See you in the morning." She got up and left for her dorm. Neville stared at the fire for a while then went up to his room. Ron and Harry were enthusiastically telling their tale to Seamus and Dean, and cheered Neville's entry, but Neville just curled up in bed and very quickly went to sleep.

As it turned out, Neville was quite grateful that the next few weeks passed in something of a blur and quietly, without incident. He had begun to develop a general routine for the day-to-day grind of life at Hogwarts. This mainly consisted of keeping his head down, relying on Hermione getting him through lessons and spending evenings alone in his dorm, trying to read or looking after Trevor. Occasionally he'd go down to the common room to sit and listen to what was going on, though he never tried to talk to anyone.

He'd noticed that the attention he'd had from the other students at the beginning of term had now largely subsided. He guessed that his undeserved fame meant that everybody was expecting him to do something spectacular and surprising at any moment, and as time had gone on that enthusiasm had ebbed away. Now although he still got sideways glances, most people left him alone.

There were still exceptions to that, however. The Slytherins in Snape's Potions class, particularly the supercilious Draco Malfoy, had taken him up as their object of ridicule, especially in light of the broomstick incident. Neville now dreaded the approach of each Friday morning. Snape's lessons had become an almost unbearable torture, with his incompetence and general ignorance laid bare. It seemed to Neville that Snape actually delighted in humiliating and belittling him and he wondered what he'd done to deserve it.

Among the Gryffindors, Ron and Harry seemed to now be regarding him as some sort of good luck charm and kept pestering him and asking him if he'd run into any other ferocious beasts lately. This put him right in the centre of an uncomfortable situation, as the antagonism between the pair and Hermione was if anything getting worse. Several times he'd overheard the two boys making fun of her behind her back, or making snide comments about her behaviour. Hermione herself generally kept quiet, except those times when she took the opportunity to unload her problems rather vocally onto Neville. Neville would listen politely but it wasn't like he could do anything.