You woke up at 4 am sharp, as you did every morning, before anyone else. You quickly dressed into shorts and a tee shirt and ran out of the Hufflepuff common room within five minutes.

You stopped by the kitchens as usual, to grab something to eat. As you tickled the pear on the portrait and the kitchens were revealed to you, you were greeted by a warm sight.

"Happy birthday, Y/N Y/L/N!" The house elves exclaimed, while bringing forth a platter filled with your favourite foods.

"You remembered?" You questioned, surprised but ecstatic.

"Of course!" Dobby replied, speaking for all of them. "Although we were reminded by someone who came by yesterday to make sure we did something special for you. Although we still would have prepared this, you are so kind to us."

You lift an eyebrow, intrigued. "Who was it that came yesterday?" You didn't really have close friends, at least none of which cared enough about you to inquire about your birthday.

"We swore not to tell," Dobby replied. After trying to weasel it out of the house elves while munching down your scrumptious breakfast, to no avail, you warmly bid them farewell and left the kitchens.

You walked up a few staircases and entered the entrance hall, where you stretched a bit, before walking outside and setting off at a quick pace.

It was your habit to run everyday back home. You were muggle born, and your parents were both fitness coaches, so daily exercise was a must in your family. You tried to maintain the habit at Hogwarts, but it was hard because you had to make a great effort to succeed in school and you had Quidditch practice three times a week what with being the Hufflepuff seeker. So, between homework and studies, Quidditch, and keeping in shape, you didn't have much time for social interaction.

You ran all across the grounds, on all terrain, passing Hagrid's hut, the Quidditch field, and skimming the edge of the Forbidden Forest. After two hours of non-stop running, you decided that had been enough and you made your way back inside to freshen up before class.

As you were walking back to your common room however, you heard some voices coming from down the hall. You curiously listened, hiding in an alcove with a statue of a clubless troll. You weren't strictly speaking supposed to be out this early because people could think you were actually out late at night. Nonetheless, you weren't doing anything wrong, but those people probably were up to something.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" A female voice asked.

"Well, I hope so for Neville's sake. Poor bloke really likes her. What if she doesn't like him?" Another voice, masculine this time, said.

"Well, he'll at least have tried and that's all you can really do, isn't it?" A third voice said, and with that you jumped out from behind the statue to face Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter, your fellow sixth-years that were usually up to something.

"What are you three doing out here so early?" You questioned. They looked completely terrified to see you, which you found odd. You weren't the type to rat them out, so why would seeing you make them nervous?

After exchanging glances, they tried to bring the subject to you. "We could ask you the same question, Y/N. "

"Don't try to make this about me," you said. "I want to know what you were doing down here. And also what you were saying about Neville." You tried to sound casual while saying the last part, but your heart was fluttering and you felt a blush creep to your cheeks, however much you tried to stop it. You had a thing for Neville, but you doubted he even knew you existed. After all, you weren't in the same house, and furthermore, you were a Hufflepuff. No one noticed a Hufflepuff girl, especially if she was quiet and didn't do much. Even being the Seeker didn't help, because unless you played against Slytherin, no one really rooted for you.

Harry stuttered an answer. "We were, uh-"

"Talking to Ernie!"

"Visiting the house elves!"

Ron and Hermione glared at each other, and Harry tried to save the situation. "We went to talk to Ernie, but then Hermione wanted us to go see how the house elves were doing." You stared them down, not buying their story. Harry cleared his throat. "We should, you know, go now." And with that, they quickly shuffled away, nervously glancing at you every few seconds until they turned the corner.

Sighing, you checked your watch. It was 6:40. You went back to your dormitory, freshened up and changed, and studied until it was time to leave for your first class.

The day went by in a blur. You had transfiguration, which you struggled to understand. Charms class, where you succeeded in accidentally muting your partner until Professor Flitwick fixed them, which earned you a death glare from your partner and caused you to blush furiously. You grabbed a sandwich from the great hall and studied your whole lunch period in the library. You then had care for magical creatures. You had decided to take the class, as you liked magical beasts and the outdoors, and the teacher, Hagrid, was nice. You even considered that a career in the domain of fantastic creatures would suit you well, and you were Hagrid's protégée for that.

In today's class, you studied unicorns. Hagrid taught the class about them for the first time, as he had been away when they were first brought in by Professor Grubbly-Plank. So it was a bit of a review, but you didn't mind one bit. Unicorns were so beautiful. You got to be really close to them, and one even came toward you, which caused Hagrid's praise. The class went by all too fast for you.

Finally, you had Herbology. You walked into the greenhouses with a genuine smile from your previous class, but when you saw Neville, it turned into a nervous, self-conscious smile. You realized that your hair was a tangled mess because of the wind and that your robes and hands were covered in dirt from the ground where you had been kneeling while Hagrid spoke.

As class started and Professor Sprout started babbling away about the value of wearing dragon hide gloves while handling snargaluff pods, you noticed that Harry, Ron and Hermione kept whispering to Neville while occasionally glancing at you, which caused him to look at you, which caused you to, of course, like the clumsy idiot you are, spill a watering can. Loudly. Everyone turned to stare at you as you blushed, picked it up,and started cleaning your mess of water.

However, it turns out you hadn't mopped up all of it, because later during the class, your foot slipped on some leftover water while carrying a tray of devious little plants just as Neville was walking behind you.

You shrieked (most gracelessly) and your arms went flailing as the tray went flying. Your head was about to hit the floor when something stopped your fall, and you waited for the crash of the metallic tray on the floor. But it didn't come.

Slowly, you opened one eye, and then the other, to find a pair of green ones staring at you. Very very close. Neville had caught you and you glanced to the side to see that he had, somehow, also caught the tray and none of the plants had fallen off.

Then you noticed that it had been a few seconds and that he was still holding you. Noticing that everyone was staring, even Professor Sprout, you disentangled yourself from him while your face turned tomato red. You saw that a blush had also crept to Neville's face, but thought that it was because he was humiliated to think that people had stared at him like that, as if you and him were a thing. You were just a silly, unimportant girl and he certainly didn't want to have to be that close to you again.

You resumed your work, and slowly, everyone did too. You glanced up to see Ron give the thumbs up to Neville, and although you couldn't hear him say it, you saw him mouth "smooth" to your crush. You blushed yet again and decided that you'd apologize to Neville after class.

When Herbology was over, you went to go talk to him, but he rushed out before anyone else, closely followed by Ron, Harry and Hermione. You sighed. He usually stayed to talk to Professor Sprout. You must have offended him worse than you thought if he left in such a hurry.

You forlornly grabbed your book bag and walked back up to the castle, wallowing in self pity. You decided to go study in the library. As you walked up the great marble staircases, you stopped for a second on the seventh floor to tie your shoe, which had oddly become undone. You then noticed that the corridor was completely empty. People would usually flood through here as class had only just ended. Odd.

You were about to continue on your way when you saw it. A silvery ripple at the end of the corridor. Curious, you went in that direction and when you saw what it was, you gasped. A great majestic lion stood before you, made of silvery light. Amazed, you stood rooted to the spot, watching its brightness light up the walls of the dimly lit hallway.

It started to walk away and you followed it. You had heard of the Patronus charm from the rumours of the band Dumbledore's Army which was active last year during Umbridge's reign of terror. You hadn't been invited to take part as you never talked to anyone, but it certainly wasn't because you didn't approve of resisting that diabolical pink cat woman. She had scarred you, but no one really knew. Or cared.

Still, the DA had become famous after last year and you'd overheard many stories about what had happened during those meetings. You had asked Dobby, but he was never there during the actual sessions, only before and after, and of course the time they got caught. But, from what you had undertood, the Patronus charm was a very difficult to perform spell used to repel Dementors, or send messages.

As you wondered who could possibly be casting this one, you felt a hand grab your wrist and pull you sideways into what was a wall merely seconds ago. Now, however, it was a gigantic room, with shelves, cushions, and a table set for two.

You turned to see your captor and widened your eyes. There stood Neville Longbottom, wringing his hands together and looking up at you every two seconds and then staring down at his shoes. He was no longer wearing school robes, but a nice woolen jumper with jeans, his wand sticking out of his pocket. He looked so precious.

"Hi," he said, nervously running his hand through his hair.

You felt your cheeks redden, and started to stutter. "L-Listen Neville, I'm-Im sorry about... Well, about what, you know, happened in Herbology. I didn't mean to, well-"

He interrupted you. "No, don't apologize. It would have been terrible if you fell and got hurt. Not only because you'd be hurt, but then you couldn't have come here so I could talk to you."

You raised your eyebrows. "You wanted to talk to me? But you don't even know I exist."

He looked confused. "Of course I do. You're Y/N, Hufflepuff seeker, and I think you're beautiful and smart and lovely."

"Really? So this isn't a prank or anything?"

"No. I would never prank you. I know how it feels to be humiliated and I wouldn't want to be the cause of that kind of suffering for you." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I brought you here because well, as I said, I think you're really sweet. And kind. And pretty. So yeah. And, um, I was wondering if you'd like to, well, have dinner with me. Here. Together. Now. Maybe?"

He was so nervous, it was so genuinely adorable. You never thought anyone would be that nervous about you. But here was Neville, your crush, getting all flustered about asking you to have dinner. You smiled warmly. "I'd love to, Neville."

He sighed in relief. "Oh good."

He walked you over to the table, pulled the chair out for you like a perfect gentleman and then sat down in front of you.

You looked at him curiously. You had many questions running through your mind. "Where are we Neville? And how did you get me to come here alone? And how are all my favourite foods on this table?"

He chuckled, a bit shyly perhaps, at your sudden outburst. "Well, I visited the house elves yesterday, because I learned from Fred and George that you went down there every morning. So I went to speak to them about you. And I checked the registers in the library, to learn when your birthday was, because I noticed you seemed rather alone. So I set all this up so you could celebrate your birthday with someone whose company you would appreciate." A sudden look of worry crossed his face. "If you appreciate my company...?"

You blushed and said, "More than you might think. Now keep the explanation going."

"Well, the house elves prepared this meal for us because this room, the Room of Requirement, can provide us with pretty much anything but food. We held DA here last year. And, as to how I got you to come here alone, I got help from Harry, Ron and Hermione. They helped me plan this out. This morning, they went to make sure everything was going well with the house elves. And they're the ones blocking the corridor right now, making sure no one else comes nearby."

"So that's why the three of them were acting oddly around me today," you said. You sit there, slightly shocked. "You went through so much trouble for this."

He shrugs. "It was all worth it because now, I'm spending some time with you. So would you tell me a bit about yourself because I don't know you nearly as much as I'd like to."

You felt the heat rush to your cheeks, and you launched into a summary of your most uninteresting life. But Neville listened attentively, and soon both of you were sharing stories, laughing, and having a good time.

When you finished eating, you still had one question for Neville.

"Neville, that silvery Patronus I saw earlier, the lion, was it yours?"

Neville blushed, but then looked up at you proudly. "Yeah, it was. I really wasn't that good last year, but I worked really hard on it. Harry helped, and the new wand probably did too."

"Wow," you breathed. "I wish I could've been part of Dumbledore's Army last year, I mean, apparently everyone who participated is a DADA expert now..." You hesitated. "Do you- Do you think you could show me?"

Neville looked surprised. "Show you how to cast a Patronus?" You nodded eagerly. "You want ME to teach you?" You nodded again. Neville hesitated. "Id love to, but I'm not sure I'm the best person to do this..."

"Nonsense! Your Patronus is amazing!" You exclaimed.

"Well, alright then, let's get started," Neville said. You both stood up. Instantly, the table vanished along with the chairs.

Neville pulled out his wand and you did the same. "So, do you know what the Patronus charm is used for?"

You nodded and so he started explaining how to conjure the charm. As you listened carefully, you thought it didn't sound too hard. All you had to do was say Expecto Patronum and think of a happy memory.

You raised your wand, thought of the first happy memory that came to you and said the incantation. Nothing happened. You tried again, and again and again, in vain. You sighed, frustrated.

"Don't worry, it would be nearly impossible to get it on your first tries. It took me nearly a year to succeed. But then again, you're much more talented than I am, so you shouldn't take so long. Let me just correct your stance."

He stepped behind you, and wrapped his arm around your arm, raising it higher. He made you widen your feet and square your shoulders. Just as he was about to step back to see you try, he grabbed the wrist of the arm not holding your wand and raised your hand close to his face.

"What's this?" He asked, a frown on his face as he observed the top of your hand. For there, clearly etched into your skin, were the words "I must not speak to those below me"

"It's nothing," you said quickly, removing your hand.

"It's not nothing. Umbridge did this to you last year, didn't she?" His voice, previously concerned, was now slightly tinted with anger. "That evil toad!" His tone softened when he saw your face. "Do you want to tell me what happened? You don't have to."

You were surprised. No one had ever cared enough to ask you what the scars on your hand were from. But Neville had surprised you with his caring many times today, and so you decided to trust him. You took a deep breath.

"It was early one morning. I was going to the kitchens for breakfast as usual, when Umbridge saw me talking with Dobby. She was so mad and started calling Dobby awful names and said it wasn't his place to speak to wizards because he was below us. Of course, I knew she'd punish Dobby and I couldn't let that happen. I told her I was the one who was speaking to him, that he even told me it wasn't his place to talk to me so he wouldn't get in trouble. Umbridge dragged me off to her office and made me sit the whole day, it was Saturday, in her office, writing that sentence over and over in my skin."

Neville looked appalled. He took a look at your wet eyes and quickly pulled you into his arms in a warm hug. His scent overwhelmed you. It was a comforting aroma, the smell of a crackling fire and of something spicy you couldn't quite place.

In that moment, you felt so amazing, so safe, like you belonged in his arms. You stayed like that, holding each other, for you don't know how long. But as you rested against his chest, feeling his heart beat steadily against your ear, you knew one thing for certain.

You now had the perfect memory to conjure your Patronus.