An Unexpected Friendship: Draco & Neville

Chapter 3: Draco's POV

I followed along behind Longbottom as he led the way to the infirmary. I had half a mind to turn on my heels and bolt the other way, but stayed to show I could be trusted, and that I was serious about our alliance. I wasn't used to being taken care of or being the centre of attention, so when Longbottom noticed my hand and made a scene, demanding I be taken down and patched up, it rubbed me the wrong way. I was surprised when he didn't back down, even after I snapped at him. Two years, or even one year ago, the sound of my voice being raised would have sent Longbottom packing, snivelling fearfully like a small child. A lot seemed to have changed, for the both of us, since then. My mind was still reeling from the conversation at the library, how Longbottom had so easily stripped me of my defences and just bore down to the painful truth that I had worked so hard to suppress. It amazed me how he'd been so willing to help me, to go out of his way to support me and help me change. It also made me wonder whether he was relating to me on some level, who had been there for him when he felt so helplessly alone? I had never really seen Neville with friends. Potter, Weasle and the Granger girl seemed only to care for him when it was convenient to them. Or when they weren't galivanting around Hogwarts like an army of blubbering idiots, accusing staff and students alike of being up to no good, whilst getting up to no good themselves. Granger was probably the smartest of the three, she was the only student to actually give me some kind of competition when it came to academics and spells. This impressed me, even to this day, and helped me to unravel the brainwashing my parents had instilled in me since being a small child. According to them, Mudbloods were inferior, stupid and disgusting and should not be spoken to or interacted with. They were on the same level as house elves, maybe even below and it was a great travesty that Hogwarts even allowed them on the threshold, let alone allow them to study and sit in the same room as Purebloods. For a long time, I also held this belief, but Granger challenged every single one of those cruel, outdated and blasphemous ideas and without even knowing, helped me to tear them all apart and make my own judgements of people.

"Hey, Draco? You in there?" Longbottom said, suddenly breaking me from my musings. He'd stopped walking and was looking at me with a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine, Longbottom, just deep in thought."

"You had your brow all scrunched and your fist clenched, what were you thinking about?"

I didn't know that I'd displayed physical signs when I thought deeply, I guess no one had noted that before. "I was thinking about Granger actually."

"Hermione? Do you like her?"

"She's my only competition at this school."

"That sounds oddly threatening. Should I be worried?" Longbottom said, brow furrowed.

Realising how that sounded to someone else, I gave a short laugh. "Salazar, no. I don't mean Granger any harm, it's just she is living proof that my parent's beliefs about Mudbloods are false, pretentious and horrid. She helped me understand that without even meaning to and I look forward to unravelling more false beliefs and replacing them with my own. I want to try and not judge people so much."

Longbottom stood looking at me with his mouth slightly agape, I was concerned he'd been petrified until he suddenly raised both arms in the air and gave a little jump.

"Great googly-moogly! The Prince of darkness repents and sees the truth!" He proclaimed loudly and I couldn't help but snort at his antics.

"Are you quite done?" I asked him with amusement, watching him jump up and down on the spot.

Longbottom laughed. "Sorry, it's just I never thought I'd see the day that you stopped being such an ass and caring about people's blood more than their personalities. You've always been so focused on that, that a rumour went around you were a vampire for a little bit. I'm still not utterly convinced you aren't." Longbottom chuckled.