Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Single White Rose	By : Pat Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 5839 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Mother Knows Best
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Gryffindor dorms had just started to stir as Neville came back from taking his shower. He hadn't slept well, thinking about the events of last night, the least of which was Malfoy's venomous spiel directed at him.

He'd tried not to think about it, to let it poison his pleasure at sharing the previous evening with Blaise, but it seemed to linger at the back of his mind.

Ron was already chattering away about visiting Harry and Neville guiltily looked over at his friend. He really ought to be dismissing Malfoy from his thoughts and, instead, thinking about how Harry and Professor Snape were getting on.

Neville was still in shock, along with the rest of Gryffindor House, in learning that Professor Trelawney had been the culprit in the attack. The word of mouth maintained that she'd finally lost her mind, and was not capable of standing trial for her acts.

"Come on, Neville, stop dawdling, we're starving," whined Seamus.

Neville, finally shaken out of his reverie, threw on his robes, ran a brush through his tangled locks and then trailed the rest of the boys down into the Common Room and out into the corridor.

As they clattered down the stairs, they continued to discuss the shocking events of the night before that would forever mark the first Halloween Ball.

"I told you it was unlucky to have a Ball on All Hallows Eve," said Colin Creevy as he joined them on the stairs.

"Bollocks!" snorted Ron.

Ginny Weasley looked over at her brother with an anxious look on her face. It had been a very upsetting time for all of them.

Neville noticed Ginny's anxiety and patted her hand in a comforting fashion.

Ginny leaned towards him and said in a soft voice, "It's just that I've always thought Hogwarts should be the one safe place from all the bad stuff," Ginny said.

Neville felt older than his years after the events of the past few weeks.

"Ginny, there's no hiding place in the world that can keep out all the bad stuff, but when we stand together we can overcome it, like we did last night. Everyone is safe and you-know-who didn't succeed," Neville explained patiently.

Ginny slipped her hand into Neville's and gave it a gentle squeeze.

As he felt her small hand in his, Neville gave himself a mental kick. Faith and hope were two of their most potent weapons against Voldemort and his ilk. Maybe Neville should take a bit of his own advice and trust in Blaise's feelings for him.

Neville was silent the rest of the way to the Great Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Neville sat between Ginny and Colin, playing with his now solidifying porridge.

The House tables were abuzz with the gossip from the Ball and were noisier than usual, but Neville didn't enter into any of the discussions or speculation.

Over at the Slytherin Table there were only a few hardy souls evident, and Blaise wasn't among them.

Neville glanced over at the Staff Table but only Hagrid and Madam Hooch were seated there. The Headmaster and Snape were absent, as was Harry.

Neville was certain that the gossip wasn't idle about the Aurors having arrived earlier this morning. He suspected that they were meeting with Dumbledore even as breakfast was progressing.

Neville's experience with the Ministry Aurors didn't bring back many pleasant memories. His parents. Voldemort. St. Mungos.

"Nevvy, are you feeling alright? You look rather pale," said Lavender in a kindly fashion, reaching for the butter.

"Yes, fine, just a bit worried about Harry and Professor Snape," he mumbled.

"Ron told us they're fine, and he and Hermione will be checking on him later after they finish with the Headmaster and the Aurors," she replied as Ron had already bolted down his food and headed back to the dorms.

The graceful sight of owls flowing into the Great Hall distracted the small group of Gryffindors at the table. The mail was in and each student looked eagerly to see if they'd received a letter or package from home.

A beautiful snowy owl dropped to the table in front of Neville, settling its wings. It swiveled its head at him, and stuck out his leg for Neville to take the parchment.

Neville was curious, as he didn't recognize the owl; his grandmother used a barn owl for all her communiqués. Neville fed the snow-white owl some of his bacon, and then gently removed the parchment from its leg.

The owl departed with an almost silent flapping of wings as soon as it had finished with the tidbit. Apparently, it wasn't to wait for an immediate reply.

Ginny Weasley leaned over and touched the heavy cream-colored parchment envelope.

"Neville, it looks like some kind of invitation, is it?" Ginny said bouncing around on her seat, hoping for some good news for a change.

Neville didn't reply but slowly and carefully broke a wax seal with his knife to open the envelope.

He drew out the piece of parchment and started to read.

Master Neville Longbottom
Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Gryffindor House

Dear Neville,

I do hope you will forgive my presumption in using your given name, but I feel as if I know you quite well from my son's letters and notes.

He tells me that you and he have become the best of friends and I am particularly anxious to get to know both you and your grandmother.

To that end, I am hoping you will honor my family by visiting with us over the Christmas break at our home located in the Lake District.

I have written your grandmother as well, of course, extending the invitation to her and asking her if I might call on her, at her convenience, before the break so that we might have a cozy visit.

I do hope and pray that you and Longbottom will able to attend. Please feel free to discuss this with your grandmother and let us know what your decision is.

Both my husband and family look forward to meeting you both.

Best Regards,
Fiorenza Zabini

Neville, flabbergasted, sat in his chair as he continued to clutch the letter in his hand. He'd never been invited anywhere, let alone to the home of a rich and powerful Slytherin family.

"Well?" Ginny said. "What's it say, Nevvy?" her curiosity well and truly peaked now.

Neville continued to be silent and Lavender finally reached over and grabbed the letter.

"Lavender! You give that back. Neville hasn't given you permission to read his mail," said Ginny, holding her temper with difficulty.

Lavender had the grace to look slightly shame-faced.

"I'm sorry, Neville, here," Lavender said as she offered it back to Neville.

Neville came out of his stupor.

"That's alright, you can read it. I just don't know what to make of it," Neville said, taking a quick sip of his pumpkin juice.

Ginny shoved Lavender over and sat down beside her on the chair as their eyes scanned the contents.

"Neville! This is brilliant. You've been invited to stay with the Zabinis. You lucky thing," Lavender said in an excited voice.

"Imagine our Neville going to visit his perspective in-laws," teased Ginny.

Neville flushed brick red.

"They're no such thing, Ginny," scolded Neville, embarrassed and wishing he'd never let them see the letter. "They're only being kind," he said, taking the letter back and carefully folding it again to put back in the envelope.

Lavender caught Ginny's eye over Neville's bowed head and winked at her. Ginny rolled her eyes. Men. She'd never understand them. Any woman knew what Mrs. Zambini was up to. She was checking out Blaise's significant other.

Neville looked up and saw the two girls looking at him with sympathetic looks. He suddenly felt very nervous.

"Please don't tell anyone else about this for the moment, will you?" said Neville in a pleading tone. "I don't even know if my granny will be able to go," he said.

Ginny patted Neville's shoulder.

"Of course not, Neville, but I'm sure your granny will say yes," she said with conviction. Lavender nodded her head.

Neville was confused by the girl's certainty in the matter, but decided not to think about it for the moment, as he needed to send off an owl today to his granny.

He stood up and carefully put away the letter back into his robe pocket.

"Don't you want to finish your breakfast before you go, Neville?" asked Seamus, looking up from his breakfast.

"No, no, I'm not really hungry. I've got some things to do before class," said Neville, his mind pre-occupied.

Neville absently waved to his friends and then walked off in the direction of the owlery.

Seamus finally lifted his head completely from his meal.

"What's wrong with Neville?" he asked.

"Oh, honestly Seamus," said Lavender, shaking her head in exasperation.

Seamus frowned. "Did I miss something?"

Ginny and Lavender refused to even dignify that question with an answer. Seamus would catch up eventually.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Blaise was furious. The sixth year girl he'd assigned to keep an eye on Neville had just reported on last night's confrontation between Neville and Malfoy at the refreshment tables.

He'd given the girl her galleon and dismissed her and contemplated his next action.

Blaise had wondered why Neville had seemed a little tentative and distant when he'd given him his goodnight kiss in front of the portrait at the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Neville had been distressed, probably badly, by Malfoy's poisonous attack.

Blaise ran his hand through his sandy hair and sighed. One of the things he loved best about Neville was the one area that any Slytherin would exploit easily---his sensitivity.

Blaise looked around the empty Slytherin Common Room and growled when he saw Draco's shoes under the sofa.

Slytherin politics were complex as well as subtle and often lent themselves to acts of sedition, even violence in rare cases, but rarely directly and almost never with personal attacks.

Malfoy continued to cross the lines of both good politics and taste. The time for games was past when Draco declared open season on his lover.

Blaise decided that he'd pay a little visit to his Head of House before he went off to his first class of the day.

He'd catch up with Neville later, after their charms class together. Then he would have a little discussion with him about what had happened last night. With a little gentle prodding, he was sure he'd be able to get to the root of Neville's feelings about what had happened.

He shook his head fondly. His brave little Gryffindor didn't need to internalize any more troubles. He now had Blaise to share them with. A shared load was a lighter one.

Blaise grabbed a quill and stuffed it into his bag as he left the Common Room, headed for Snape's office.

TBC
- 7
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Single White Rose