...

Third times the charm? I've started two oneshots but couldn't finish them. I'm sorry if this seems cliché or something, but it honestly kind of is. I thought about the stereotype of Gryffindors and this oneshot idea came up. Sorry.

...

"All right, put your trowels down and wipe your hands off on the towels!" Professor Sprout called, heading back towards the other side of the greenhouse near the door. "Remember your essay!"

I set my trowel down and picked up the towel that I shared with my friends and dormmates. I rubbed the dirt and such off my fingers before handing the towel over to Parvati, who took it gratefully.

Parvati, when done, tossed the towel to Lavender and started to gather up her belongings. Lavender wiped her hands on the towel and took it to the pile that Professor Sprout always had us make after class ended. Parvati grabbed Lavender's things for her and we headed out to wait for our friend.

The rest of the class started to head up to the castle and we, after Lavender came out, trailed after them. Lavender and Parvati started to chat and I didn't really attempt to pay attention. I honestly didn't really do much with my dormmates since I didn't relate with them as much as others but I did try to spend time with them when we had shared classes. Although, Hermione didn't talk to the three of us a lot either.

"Summers!" I heard someone call and I paused, gesturing that Lavender and Parvati could go on if they wished.

They nodded and told me they'd see me later in Charms before continuing to walk across the lawn towards the castle. I turned and saw someone jogging towards me from the greenhouses. They waved and I slowly waved back, trying to figure out who it was from a distance.

When they got closer, I recognized Neville Longbottom, one of my fellow Gryffindors. His bag swung behind him as he continued to make his way towards me and I started to walk towards him, closing the distance.

He stopped in front of me and smiled, "Hey, Summers."

"Longbottom," I smiled back.

He met my gaze and started, "I was - "

"Summers! There you are!" my smile turned apologetic when I glanced back towards the castle to see who was calling my name.

I waved at Hannah, Susan, and Ernie as they walked towards Longbottom and I. Hannah waved back with a small smile while the three of them closed the distance between Longbottom and I with quick strides and they looked at Longbottom.

"Oh, hello, Longmore or something, right?" Hannah smiled kindly at Longbottom before noticing that he shook his head. Her look turned flustered and she ducked her head.

Susan jumped in, "It's all right, Hannah, it's Longbottom though."

"Oh, sorry, Longbottom," Hannah murmured.

He shrugged, "Uhm, it's fine."

"What's going on?" I asked the three Hufflepuffs curiously. They didn't often approach me so I was dying to know what they wanted to talk about.

"A fight's going on, in one of the hallways that's lesser used," Ernie answered, "Nasty one, I think, three Slytherins and their Hufflepuff friend against a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw."

"Oh, well, I want to check it out," I looked over to Longbottom, "Sorry, talk to me at dinner?"

He nodded and sent I him another apologetic look before following Ernie, Susan, and Hannah back towards the castle. The four of us entered the doors and headed towards the staircase. Since they knew where the fight was happening, I let them lead me through the hallways and staircases.

Others seemed to be heading in the same direction and I almost laughed at it. Fights really were something that fueled students. Soon, I started to catch the din echoing through the halls from the crowd that always gathered around fights.

As expected, when we finally turned the hall that contained the fight, the yelling seemed to explode from the closeness. Members from each house were packed together and watching intensely as jets of light and taunts were thrown back and forth between their fighting peers.

I, in need of seeing the actual fight, left behind my friends and pushed through the crowd. Some of them protested against it but I sent them a glare or simply ignored them and eventually got through the excited crowd.

In the middle of all the chaos there was a circle of clear space containing only six students. If you hadn't seen the fight, you would've thought it was unfair from the numbers but the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were holding their own very well.

One of the Slytherins, who I quickly recognized as Cassius Warrington, raised his wand and shot a stunning spell at the Gryffindor, one I'd seen around the common room but didn't know. The Gryffindor tumbled over and the Ravenclaw quickly sent a disarming spell at Warrington and locked another Slytherin into a full-body bind curse, causing her to tip over into a bystander.

The Hufflepuff, who wore a furious look, flicked his wand and retaliated with a bat-bogey hex to the Ravenclaw while the Gryffindor recovered quickly, brushing her robes off briefly before snatching her wand off the ground again.

The Ravenclaw, who had murmured the counter-spell to the hex, and the Gryffindor moved back to back, both holding their wands and watching the Slytherins like hawks. The Hufflepuff boy shot a spell but it was deflected by the Gryffindor, who twitched her wand as if blocking the jinx was the easiest thing in the world.

The Slytherin who had earlier been hit with a full-body bind curse was carried away by some of the prefects, who were saying that they were taking the cursed girl to the Hospital Wing since putting her back into the fight was against something they could do.

Now it was Warrington, his fellow Slytherin, and the Hufflepuff boy against the Ravenclaw boy and Gryffindor girl. Warrington roared a spell and the Ravenclaw boy's legs snapped together. The leg-locker curse really was handy, unless you were on the receiving end of it.

I looked around and noted that some prefects were hiding out, watching the fight excitedly but pretending they weren't. I wasn't blaming them, I would've done the same if I were a prefect but thank Godric I wasn't.

I returned my attention to the fight and saw that Warrington had been knocked into a wall and seemed to have fallen into unconsciousness. The remaining four were firing spells and murmuring counter-curses so quickly that a lot of the onlookers couldn't figure out what was going on.

The Ravenclaw, who had seemed to have enough, yelled, "Bombarda!"

A loud explosion erupted from the forgotten school bag the spell had been aimed at. It burst outwards and bits of burning paper flew out among the crowd as the Ravenclaw's opponents were forced backwards from the force, landing near Warrington.

The crowd started to cheer or boo louder than before but none of it was really meaningful, the fight had turned into simple entertainment without sides. The boy pretended to scowl at the onlookers as he tucked his wand away and kicked aside one of the burning books and headed towards his Gryffindor friend to help her up.

She had a gash on her shoulder from a nasty diffindo, which shouldn't have happened at all since Hogwarts duelers should know that, when starting a duel, they should use spells specifically made for dueling but I guess whoever had sent the spell didn't know the rule or didn't care enough to acknowledge it.

The prefects started to shout for everyone to move along, acting as though they hadn't been watching the fight themselves, and the crowd started to disperse. I caught the gaze of one of the Weasley twins and he grinned at me with a mischievous glow in his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out the twins had somehow caused the fight, probably by egging Warrington on.

I left the hallway with everyone else and hurried off to my next lesson. Godric, I was late and so were many other students but who in their right mind would miss a duel at Hogwarts?

No one, that's who.

...

"Oi, Summers," I heard someone call my name and I turned, confused. I stopped short when I realized it was Warrington, who had just gotten out of the Hospital Wing earlier that morning.

"What now, Warrington?" I snapped, already knowing what he was probably going to do.

Much to my not surprise, he pulled out his wand and looked at it thoughtfully, "I was thinking you'd join the fight a couple days ago, too bad you didn't. I waited for the Weasleys to tease me and my friends into attacking... too bad it didn't work."

"You know," I started, tucking my hand into my pocket to curl my fingers around my own wand, "I join all fights except ones where the bad side is losing already so I had no need to join the one you started. That Gryffindor and Ravenclaw handled it just fine, you should've chosen different opponents if you had wanted me to engage you in a duel."

"Then I just might do that," he turned and shot a stunning spell at one of the students who were just trying to get to class on time and I recognized the person. It was Longbottom.

The force of the spell knocked him over and I whipped out my wand and cast a quick disarming spell at Warrington as I laughed, "You need to learn something, Cassius," I sent a stunning spell at him and stepped closer, "Never provoke someone more experienced into a duel. Remember, 'draco dormiens nunquam titillandus.'"

I kicked his wand away and turned to check on Longbottom, who had been watching the short interaction in awe. I loosened up and pocketed my wand as I walked over to him. He seemed fine so I offered him a hand to help him up.

He took it, not taking his eyes off me, and I started to feel uncomfortable. In fights, I seemed fine but in social interactions I was not fine. He smiled, "How'd you do that? That was really cool, Summers! D'you think Warrington will need to go to the Hospital Wing again?"

"No, I think he's fine, it was just a stunning spell. Not sure if his pride is fine though," I glanced around the hallway and noted most students had already entered their classrooms, "Oh, Godric, I think we're almost late for Charms. Come on, then!"

I turned and hurried off down the corridor, not really checking to see if Longbottom was following. If he wanted to be late, then so be it. I heard his footsteps rushing after me, though, so I threw a smile over my shoulder as we neared the Charms classroom.

I pushed the door open and held it for Longbottom as he caught up. The two of us split ways to sit with our preferred people but I noticed that Longbottom kept glancing over at me during the class. A few of the times, I would tilt my head questioningly or give him a confused look but he would just turn away and continue to listen to Professor Flitwick.

As the professor started to show us a demonstration of the newest spell we were learning, I scribbled out a note and cast a spell onto it to make it dart over to Longbottom unseen. It hit him on the shoulder until he noticed it and plucked it out of the air, unfolding it as he brought the note under the desk so Professor Flitwick wouldn't notice it.

He read the note with quick precision but didn't send a reply back, instead shoving it into his pocket. I rolled my eyes and turned away, not evening noticing how he had started a conversation with his seatmate next to him.

I jotted down the notes on the board and made little annotations when Professor Flitwick showed us one last time how to perform the spell. He tucked his wand away and instructed us to test out the wand motion a few times before class ended, then practice it for at least ten minutes for homework.

I folded up my parchment and capped my inkwell before placing the supplies into my bag, waiting for class to end. When we were dismissed, I glanced at Longbottom before leaving the classroom. He was chatting with his friend.

I headed down the hall and murmured the incantation for the Charms spell as I dodged around other students. Some of them glared at me, which I didn't mind too much, while others waved. I guess that's what happens when you join fights often.

I descended down some stairs with quick steps and turned to head towards the Great Hall for lunch. Other students were trickling in and the tables were slowly filling as I took a seat at the mostly-empty Gryffindor table.

Lunchtime, for me at least, was just a time to focus on food and nothing else. I was happy to talk to others during breakfast and dinner but lunch was a good time to just eat. I dished some food onto my plate and started to eat when my plate started to bob up and down. I watched it curiously as it rose into the air and, a moment too late, I realized what it was about to do.

It jolted upwards and hit me in the face, sending bits of food flying, and I heard someone laugh as the plate clattered onto the wooden table again. I took my wand out calmly and did a quick scrougify to make the food on my face disappear.

The person who had cast the spell on my plate cast a disarming spell after I'd cleaned my face and I didn't try to keep a hold on my wand as it jerked out of my hand. I watched as it soared away and was snatched out of the air by Warrington, not suprisingly.

"Oh, no, did Summers lose her wand?" he pretended to snap my wand and I shrugged as his face turned more annoyed, "What're you going to do now?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek and stared at him contemplatively, "Well, I could punch you, I guess, but I'm not sure if you'd want that, honestly."

"Try it," he laughed, joined quickly by his friends. He twirled my wand between his fingers before handing it off to the person on his left, a Ravenclaw, who pocketed it.

"Don't feel like it," I stopped chewing my cheek and turned back around on the bench, knowing how Warrington would react.

He scoffed and I heard his footsteps as he came up behind me. He grabbed the back of my robes, and some of my hair, and dragged me off the bench. I tugged myself away from him as soon as he had finished the action and dusted off my robes with an annoyed look at him.

"Aw, what're you going to do now, little Summers?" he asked, mockingly, as his friends and him formed a circle around me as if that would do much.

There were so many different ways to fight without a wand.

I sneered, giving him the reaction he wanted, but, before he could send the spell he was so desperately wanting to, I swiveled around and aimed a kick to the side of the Ravenclaw's head. The Ravenclaw was dazed and knocked back into the bench behind him. I rolled my eyes because, honestly, I hadn't kicked hard.

I reached down and snatched my wand from the person's pocket, where it had half fallen out, and ducked around the others to leave the circle, sending a small wave and wink back at Warrington as I jogged out of the Great Hall. I had lost my appetite anyway.

I turned and ran into someone who, coincidentally, was Longbottom. I reeled back as he stumbled a few steps away from me and dropped the papers he'd been holding. I scrambled to help him collect them but, by accident, I saw the titles on the papers that looked like clippings from the Daily Prophet and other magazines.

I picked up the last one, How to Show your Inner Lion, and handed them back to Longbottom with a questioning look as his own features took on embarrassment, "What're these for, Longbottom?"

"Uhm, research?" he tried but I shook my head.

"Why research?"

"N-no reason," he ducked around me and slipped into the Great Hall as his face started to flush pink from his embarrassment.

I watched him and shrugged to myself before heading off, I had a library book to return and Madam Pince would not be happy if I forgot about it.

...

"Summers?" I looked up from my homework and stopped twirling my quill between my fingers when I heard the call of my name.

"Oh, hey, Longbottom. What's up?"

"I was, uhm," he paused, "Remember those articles I was reading a few days ago?"

I propped my chin into my hand and nodding slightly, "Yeah, what about them?"

"I was wondering if, well, if you have any tips?"

"On being Gryffindor?" I clarified and shifted back when he nodded. What was I supposed to say to that? How did I help someone seem more 'Gryffindor-like'? I thought for a moment and gestured for him to take a seat across from me before answering, "Well, what're you wanting me to do, exactly?"

"How do you stand up for others?"

"I don't let my mind think things like 'others will help' or 'they'll be fine', I guess."

He sighed, "That's all?"

"I mean, yeah? I don't know why I do it, I just... jump in. Maybe don't do that though, I've been in the Hospital Wing multiple times."

"That's true," he seemed to deflate under my eyes and I almost reached over the table to pat him on the shoulder as he continued miserably, "Maybe I just wasn't cut out to be a Gryffindor."

"Cheer up, Longbottom, the Sorting Hat placed you into Gryffindor for a reason," I tapped my quill against the wooden table contemplatively, "If I taught you some dueling spells would that help?"

He perked up, "Maybe!"

"All right then, tomorrow after dinner, okay, Longbottom?" he nodded and I made a shooing motion, "See you then, I have an essay to finish."

He got up with a smile and hurried off, heading towards the boy's dormitory. I shook my head, bemused, and returned to my essay for Defense. Why was homework always way worse than the actual classwork?

...

I swung my legs over the desk as I waited for Longbottom to show up. I had brought a few books, in case Longbottom was someone who needed to read the material, but other than that, I had come with nothing else.

Just when I was beginning to think he'd set me up, no idea why he'd do that though, the door swung open and Longbottom entered the room. I smiled and waved as I hopped off the desk and gestured to the space in the middle of the room I'd cleared before he'd arrived.

"First, take out your wand and move into a stance as if I'm about to attack you," I instructed him, taking out my own wand as I shifted into a dueling stance.

He watched me before doing his best to copy my posture and, when done, he asked, "Is this good?"

"Shift your weight so it's more centered," I corrected him and he did as I told, "Now, I can't teach you to actually get up and go fight but I can teach you how to win your fights, okay?"

"Got it," he replied and, as soon as the words had left his mouth, I sent a disarming spell and his wand jumped out of his hand.

"Always be ready!" I barked as he turned to fetch his wand, "Duels do not wait for you!"

He was about to close his fingers around his wand when I sent a curse that turned his fingers into jelly before he could finish the action. He gasped and I paused for a moment, just long enough for him to pick up his wand with his teeth and work out the counter curse for my spell, before casting locomotor mortis.

Surprisingly, he didn't whine about it at all. He didn't say it was unfair, or stupid, or whatever else I'd been told over the years. Instead, he stood up quickly, despite the spell effecting his legs. He pointed his wand at me and murmured a quick spell that had me slightly dazed.

Before I could recover, he sent another spell, one that I'd asked him to check up on in the library, and I felt even more dazed. What was I doing? Why was I in a cleared classroom? What was Longbottom doing in front of me?

My brain quickly sorted itself out and I retaliated with a well-aimed aqua eructo and, despite the fact it wasn't very violent, it still sent Longbottom stumbling back a few steps as it soaked him through. I grinned as he used a charm to send me into the air.

He really was a good dueler, he just lacked the confidence.

I fell back to the ground after I countered his last spell and shot a stunning spell at him before getting up again. I then sent a bat-bogey hex because why not but followed it with the counter curse and a spell to help move along the process of shaking off the dazed feeling stupefy caused.

"Nice, Longbottom," I called as he sat up.

He grinned a bit nervously, "Really?"

"Of course," I approached him and offered him a hand to help him up, which he gratefully took, "I think your problem is confidence."

He deflated, "Oh."

"That's not a bad thing!" I reassured, "Do you think it's a bad thing?"

He didn't answer but I could see the confession in his eyes as he shrugged.

"Oh, Neville, confidence isn't something everyone needs. Sometimes it's just loyalty that can fuel someone to defend another person."

He nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah, of course."

I sighed, "I can't do anything else, it's up to you to decide whether or not confidence is what you need."

He started towards the door and I fell into step next to him as he questioned, "What if I get myself into a duel and lose?"

"Then I'll come and scold you in the Hospital Wing for disgracing us lions," I glanced at him and saw his confusion before adding, "Sorry, bad joke."

"It's fine," he started up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower with heavy steps, "D'you think I'll get noticed more if I win a duel, in a good way?"

I rounded on him, "Is that what this is all about?"

He nodded slowly.

"Neville! Yes, I know others make fun of you but that doesn't mean you need to impress them!" I scolded.

He deflated again, "Sorry."

"No, no, 'sorry', just... you know what? Never mind. I can't really help you here unless you stop worrying about everyone else's opinions. Duels aren't for popularity, they're to protect the ones who need it, all right?" as we approached the Fat Lady's portrait I hurried up a bit and announced the password.

As soon as she'd swung forward, I climbed through the portrait hole and left Longbottom behind after bidding him a good evening.

...

I didn't think Longbottom would approach me again so soon but, to my great surprise, he came up to me in the library not even four days after I'd told him I couldn't help him more. He slid into the seat next to me and waited for me to finish up the sentence I was reading before starting to speak.

"Summers, I want another lesson... if you're willing," he added the last part quickly with a small, sheepish look.

I studied him, "Of course I'm willing, but are you ready?"

"Yes," he insisted, suddenly taking on a very determined look.

"Really?" I challenged, setting down my bookmark.

His response was more firm than before as he sat up slightly taller, "Yes."

"Then let's get training!" I announced with a wild grin as I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him out of the library, beginning a lecture of just how intense these would be, and ignoring Madam Pince when she shouted after us for disrupting the silence. I didn't learn my spells in a matter of hours, after all.

...

"Come on, Longbottom!" I barked, "Square your shoulders and keep your stance even!"

He nodded without looking away from my sister, who I'd payed into training with Longbottom. She had declined multiple times but, eventually, she agreed since her Quidditch captain had eased up on training for a week or two because of N.E.W.T.s. And because her 'not-boyfriend' was kind of ignoring her.

"Peregrine, actually try," I rolled my eyes at my sister as she scowled at me for using her nickname given to her by Pucey.

She raised her wand and sent stupefy at Longbottom before he could finish the spell he was casting after making a face at me. Longbottom, in retaliation, disarmed her and caught her wand out of the air in a way that seemed accidental. And maybe it was, you never knew with Longbottom.

The two finished the duel, with both trying their best and Longbottom losing barely. I congratulated the both of them and dug around in my pockets before finding five galleons, which I handed off to my sister.

She took them with a smug grin and pulled me into a hug, "See you, little sister."

I rolled my eyes and shoved her away, telling her to put a sock in it. She laughed and patted me on the head, since she loved to point out that I was shorter than her by a lot, before leaving the classroom. I called after her if she was going to see her boyfriend but she snapped that she didn't have one.

Absolutely stupid.

I turned on my heel to see Longbottom sorting through the pile of books I'd brought. He selected a few and stacked the rest back into a neat tower before turning to look at me, holding up the books he'd chosen to study for the few weeks over break.

"Nice pick," I commented, summoning the tower of books to me as he smiled.

"How am I doing?" he asked, following after me as I left the room, extinguishing the candles.

"Great," I sent him a smile over the stack of books that floated between us.

He smiled back and twirled his wand between his fingers, something he didn't used to do, "When do you think I'll be able to win against you in a duel? Or at least hold my own?"

"You'd do pretty well now, I'd say. Peregrine, no matter how much she denies it, is a great duelist. She just prefers Quidditch," I rolled my eyes.

"Huh," he breathed out.

"Why?" I asked as we rounded a corner, entering the hallway that had the library in it.

"J-just wondering?"

"Okay then," I nudged open the slightly ajar library door and set the books on a table before hurrying out, dragging Longbottom with me. When he gave me a confused look I laughed a bit, "I dislike putting the books back, so I often drop them off then run. Madam Pince hates me for it."

"Oh."

I let go of his sleeve and looked at him apologetically, "I told some of my friends I would take a walk outside with them before curfew, I'll see you tomorrow on the train though, all right? We can go over some of the spells in those books."

"Uhm, okay," he nodded.

I grinned and raced off down the hallway, knowing my friends would be waiting in the Entrance Hall for me. My friends in this situation were Parvati and Lavender, who had insisted on chatting with me since I'd been spending more time with my other house friends recently.

I reached the Entrance Hall and joined my friends in front of the great doors. The two of them smiled and linked arms with me as if I didn't see them everyday in the common room. They led me outside and Lavender asked me casually if Longbottom and I were friends, just friends.

"Of course, why wouldn't we be friends?" I defended, having a bad feeling about where the topic was going.

"But," Parvati jumped in, "You spend way more time with him than anyone else, what's going on?"

Lavender poked my shoulder and pried, "Are you in a secret relationship or something?"

"Godric, no," I frowned at the two of them, "Why do you assume these things?"

"It's not our fault, it just seems like... something's going on," Lavender huffed.

Parvati leaned closer to me, "Come on, Summers, we won't tell anyone!"

I pulled away from the two of them, "No, thank you. I'd like to keep my relationships, romantic or other, private."

I turned and walked away, ignoring their complaining calls from behind me. In Hogwarts, your life was never just your life, apparently. I couldn't wait until the next day... actually, scratch that, maybe I could wait because Pucey would be visiting for at least a week over break and I did not want him roaming around our house and asking me stupid questions.

Maybe I could challenge him to a duel, that would lighten up the break. I wondered if he would look good in antlers, since I'd recently perfected anteoculatia.

...

The next morning, I woke earlier than I wanted to because Parvati had lost one of her items and Lavender had gotten up to help. Hermione, who didn't really talk to the rest of us much, was giving suggestions on where the item had gone but the two others were pretty much ignoring her with icy glares.

I slid off my bed and joined Hermione from where she sat on the rug in the middle of the room. Like I said earlier, we didn't chat much since she preferred Potter and Weasley but it was still nice to spend time with her since we were dormmates. And she'd saved me multiple times when I didn't understand classwork.

I leaned towards her and whispered quickly, "Her item was packed yesterday."

Hermione looked at me with an expression I couldn't read but she nodded and went back to the book she held in her lap, studying each line intensely. I let her do her thing as I watched Lavender recheck under the beds while Parvati fretted someone had stolen it.

Eventually, their searching was getting annoying so I schooled my features into one that I hoped looked as if I'd just remembered something, "Oh! Parvati, I think you might've packed it yesterday."

"Oh," she went over to her trunk and popped it open before moving aside some of her scarves and robes. She grinned, "Found it! Thanks, Summers."

"No problem, now can we go down for breakfast?" I whined, since they had insisted the search would only take a couple more minutes and that Hermione and I should wait every time I asked if we could leave.

"Of course," she closed her trunk and linked arms with Lavender before heading out of the dorm, leaving Hermione and I to stand up and trail after them.

As we headed down to the Great Hall, I heard shouting that seemed both supporting and mocking. I froze and my three dormmates paused as well. Before any of them could say anything, I took off down the hallway, running towards the sound.

I turned left and was confronted with a very familiar scene.

A large circle of students of all ages, cheering and jeering. A space left in the middle for whoever was dueling with prefects standing around the cleared circle. I shoved through the crowd since my heart and brain were both telling me I had to see who the duelists were. I broke through the people and froze again.

Longbottom lay on the ground, a cut on his face from some kind of spell, and his wand was clutched in the pale hand of Malfoy. His goons were guffawing as if seeing someone injured was the funniest thing to ever happen to them.

I clenched my teeth and stepped closer into the circle, ignoring the uproar of cheers as another person entered. And not just any person, "Oi, Malfoy!"

He looked up and smirked, "Summers! Come to see the show?"

"Nope, I've come to crash the show. Sorry, but every party needs a party pooper," I raised my wand and shouted stupefy at Goyle then Crabbe, leaving Malfoy standing alone as his two idiots of friends fell over, insanely dazed.

Malfoy frowned and retaliated with a flagrante curse. I hissed at the use of a more violent spell and quickly shielded it, feeling the heat through the shield I'd cast. He laughed and mocked me as I removed the shield spell but oh, was he speaking too soon.

I cast a jinx that made Draco and his dazed companions double over. I'd never used the cascading jinx but it seemed to work well enough. I disarmed the three Slytherins and shouted for the prefects to do something with them as I glanced over to Longbottom.

He was regaining consciousness as I grabbed his wand from Malfoy and approached him. He blinked blearily at me as I tucked his wand into his fingers, which curled around the wood immediately.

"Neville, you idiot," I hissed at him as his eyes gained focus, "What in the name of Godric made you do that?"

"T-they," he paused, thinking, "insulted... you."

"Me? D'you think I care about that?"

He frowned, "I-"

"Shut up. You're injured and I'm worried yet mad at the same time," I took a deep breath and, in that space of time, he jumped in and started to talk.

"I- I did it for you, Summers! I was... I was hoping..." he trailed off and I tilted my head, unable to hear what he'd mumbled.

"What was that?"

He frowned again and his cheeks turned pink beneath his cut's blood as he mumbled, barely loud enough for me to hear, "I was hoping you'd be impressed."

My features softened and I patted his hand, "I am impressed, Neville, you dueled some of the betters duelers in the school... actually, Goyle and Crabbe aren't included so you dueled one of the better duelers in the school."

He smiled, "That's good."

"It is," I agreed but caught the look still lingering in his eyes. He had more to say. I chewed my cheek and clasped his hand between mine, "Anything else, Longbottom?"

Before he could respond, the prefects shouted that everyone should head down to the Great Hall and that Neville should be taken to the Hospital Wing. I immediately offered to take him to see Madam Pomfrey and they nodded, herding off the onlookers that were still hovering around as if Malfoy was about to spring up again and attack.

I helped Neville up and looped his arm over my shoulder before heading towards the Hospital Wing. I knew he still had something to say so I remained silent as we progressed. If I didn't say anything, he would work up the courage to say it. I hoped.

Right before I opened the door to the Hospital Wing was when he worked up the courage to speak and the words couldn't have surprised me more.

"Summers, will you go out with me?" he rushed out and looked away from me as if I was going to hex him for saying it.

I paused and smiled, "Why not?"

He returned his gaze to me and a small smile worked its way across his features, "Really?"

"Really," I confirmed and, after a moment, added, "But I would like to know when this feelings developed."

"O-of course, I'll tell you later?"

I nodded and shoved open the Hospital Wing door, yelling for Madam Pomfrey, who came bustling out, grumbling about idiotic Gryffindors and their stupid pride.

...

Hello again, everyone! I finally posted and I'm so sorry for making you wait so long! I hope you liked this one, even if it's not the best, and I hope it was worth waiting for (even though it's probably not, I had way better ones planned for my comeback but I couldn't write those). It's about 400 words longer than my shortest oneshot so at least it isn't a total disappointment (I'm a harsh critic in these author notes so don't take this seriously). I'll work extra hard to get a Valentine's Day one out soon! Anyways, how're y'all?

...

[Word Count: 5970]