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A Single White Rose	By : Pat Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 5838 -:- 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.

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The Wedding Feast

Neville Longbottom stood quietly behind Hermione and Ron, drinking a small glass of punch. He didn't know quite what to say about the upcoming nuptials of Professor Snape and Harry. It had been a tremendous shock, but in a way it was very liberating. Now Neville was aware that he was not the only gay young man in Gryffindor.

It was a relief really. He'd never been able to bring the issue up. He was already considered the oddity of Gryffindor House and he scarcely needed to cement that viewpoint any further.

As he took another sip, someone knocked his arm and punch spilled over his best robes.

"Get out of my way, Longbottom," said Draco Malfoy as he brushed past with his bully boys in tow.

Neville cringed. Draco was approaching Ron and that did not bode well. Ron had quite a temper and Draco was quite capable of stirring it up. He watched anxiously while trying to scrub some of the stains off of his robes with a crumpled napkin.

"Not happy to be celebrating the nuptials?" Draco smirked addressing Ron and Hermione.

"Of course we are," Hermione began with a smile. "Imagine, Slytherin and Gryffindor Houses united in their bonding. It's very romantic, don't you think?"

Draco grimaced and moved off with his two bullyboys shadowing him.

Ron laughed. "Well done, Hermione. Malfoy looked like he'd bit into a lemon."

Hermione giggled softly. "Well Ron, Snape is *his* head of House and well, with Snape's background and power, he is well respected by the rest of the Slytherin families. It must be causing no end of speculation among them, wondering if they've backed the wrong horse," she said sagely.

"Mione, you could have been a Slytherin yourself," Ron said in awe.

Hermione blushed at the compliment.

Ron rolled his eyes. "I just can't believe I didn't know Harry was gay. I feel like a right git."

Blaise Zambini, handsome and rich as well as being one of the more "moderate" Slytherin students, stopped to greet Hermione and Ron.

"Quite a shock, eh? Must have been a while in the planning," he said.

"What,id Rid Ron playing innocent.

"Come off it, Weasley," Blaise was openly smiling now. "It's quite an accomplishment surprising Lucius Malfoy. I'll bet that won't go down well in certain quarters," he said winking.

Neville watched the goings on with fascination. He'd seen Blaise in class, of course, but he'd never spoken to him. He was quite nice really when he made the effort. Neville continued to study the tall, handsome sandy-haired boy closely.

Meanwhile, a conversation behind them was increasing in volume.

"No Gryffindor would voluntarily *align* themselves with a Slytherin. They're all into dark magic, everyone knows that," came in ringing tones from Lavender Brown. She, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were standing a short distance away and making no effort to remain unheard.

"No true Gryffindor would be a pillow-biter either," snorted Dean.

Ron stiffened and started towards Dean. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and hissed at him.

"Ron, no! Not here and not now. Harry will need our support," she said anxiously.

Blaise stepped into volatile situation with great aplomb. He strolled over to the now nervous looking group and looked at them from head to foot in a slow, dismissive manner.

"And I had heard that Gryffindors made the most loyal friends. Listening to you lot I'm happy to have been sorted into Slytherin," and with that strolled off, leaving an embarrassed looking trio of friends.

"I'm gay too, does that make me a bad person as well?" came quietly from Neville, who'd been standing by silently waiting his chance to talk to Hermione and Ron.

Seamus had the good grace to mutter an apology and Lavender pinkened up but Dean just stalked away.

"I'm sorry too," Lavender began. "We just got carried away. We shouldn't have said those things."

"No," Hermione said coldly. "None of you should have. Harry is ready to give his life for you lot, and this is the thanks he receives? You all should be ashamed."

Ron looked at Hermione with great respect. She was a true Gryffindor.

As Seamus and Lavender melted back into the crowd, Neville came shyly forward.

"That was very brave of you, Neville, coming out like that to defend Harry," Hermione said to him warmly.

Neville blushed and looked at his scuffed shoes. "Never really wanted to tell anyone. Would have made a fuss. Well, you see how some people are."

Ron threw his arm around the chubby boy.

"Not with us, Neville, not ever. If anyone gives you trouble, you just come to me. I'll set them to rights."

Neville smiled and Hermione impulsively gave him a kiss. "Neville, we'll always be your friends."

Neville blushed and started to mumble.

"Spilled some punch, I'll just go and sort myself out. I'll be back in a minute," he said bashfully.

As Neville moved away, he saw Blaise Zabini standing just a few feet away observing him. Blaise smiled in his direction and Neville looked in confusion around him, searching for whoever Zabini was looking at.

Blaise laughed gently. The boy standing in front of him looked adorable with his blushing countenance and his flustered expression. He walked over to one of the tables and poured himself a glass of water and proceeded to approach Neville.

Neville froze as Zabini approached. He must have overheard what he'd said about being gay. Oh Merlin.

Blaise took a monogrammed handkerchief out of his robe pocket and dipped it into the glass of water, muttering a small charm at the same time.

"That will stain if you don't take care of it now," Blaise said in a calm voice. He then reached out and gently dabbed at the punch stain on Neville's chest with the handkerchief.

Neville was stunned speechless. He quickly ducked his head and kept his eyes on his shoes. Was Zabini doing this to torture him? Neville sneaked a peek from under his eyelashes at Blaise's expression that seemed to be both mellow and unthreatening.

"There, that should do it, it'll be as good as new," Blaise said as he reached forward to tuck the handkerchief into Neville's limp hand and squeezed his fist shut around it.

Blaise walked away with the glass in his hand, leaving behind a shocked and hopeful Gryffindor. Maybe all the Slytherins weren't like Draco and his bunch, Neville thought. Maybe some of them were alright. He glanced down at the crumpled handkerchief in his hand and carefully folded it before putting it into his robe pocket.

Just then Dumbledore called the crowd to order as Harry and Severus entered the Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Breakfast with Friends and Foes

The next morning Neville was in his usual spot with Hermione and Ron at the breakfast table. After his admission last night, he'd become the focus of some not-so-friendly attention from his housemates, but Ron had threatened the perpetrators with severe consequences if he ever heard anyone bothering Neville again.

That had seemed to settle the matter. No one wanted to raise the ire of Ron Weasley, who'd grown some four inches over the summer.

Besides, the bonding of Harry and Severus pushed most everything else into the background, even Neville's admission about being gay.

The Gryffindor table had been abuzz about it until Ron had sat down. He'd glowered at them and told them in no uncertain terms they weren't to pester Harry with questions about it. Hermione had looked stern and had nodded a lot.

Neville poked at his toast and ran his hand into his robe pocket checking to see if the handkerchief was still there. It was. He wasn't sure why it was so important that he keep it but, perhaps, it was to remind himself that charity did exist outside of Gryffindor.

"Look," hissed Lavender Brown. "Harry's stopped at the Slytherin table." She quickly grabbed her wand and mumbled a spell so she could overhear what was being said. The rest of the Gryffindor table leaned towards her as the voices from the Slytherin Table became crystal clear.

"Malfoy, if I were you, I'd be careful what I said. Snape won't tolerate your insolence towards his bond-mate," drawled Blaise Zabini. The tall, attractive boy with green eyes calmly waved at Harry to get his attention.

Harry looked quickly in Zabini's direction and saw him give Harry a brief smile.

Zabini put a hand out and touched Harry's arm. Harry stopped and looked at Blaise.

"Congratulations, Potter, on your bonding," he said quietly.

Draco Malfoy sat glowering at the other end of the table as one by one the Slytherins with Zabini offered their best wishes.

"Merlin's Beard!" said Seamus. "Did you hear that? Zabini and some of the Slytherins are actually congratulating Harry and being polite! Now I know the world is coming to an end," he spluttered.

"Oh do be quiet, Seamus! We're missing the best parts," Lavender snapped.

"Lave!" !" barked Hermione. "Stop listening in on private conversations," she said sharply.

Lavender blushed and, with a wave of her wand, disabled the spell. The House Mates grew quiet as Harry approached their table.

Neville peeked over cautiously at the Slytherin Table and saw Blaise Zabini staring right back. Neville blushed but didn't drop his eyes. Blaise smiled and raised his hand in a thumbs up position. Neville tentatively smiled back.

Over at the Slytherin table, Blaise continued to watch Neville for some time after Neville had turned back to his friends.

He'd always felt a touch of sympathy for the little Gryffindor. He knew the sad history of Neville's family from the network of Slytherin information gathering that his house normally provided.

He also knew that Neville continued to visit his parents at St. Mungos at every opportunity, despite the fact that it was unlikely they'd ever recover their sanity. That took courage of a rare sort as well as deep family loyalty. A quality highly valued by all Slytherins.

"Scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't we, Zabini?" Draco Malfoy said sourly.

Blaise turned his attention back to the occupants of the table. It wasn't a wise idea to keep one's back turned on any Malfoy for long.

"Surely even your trouser-snake can do better than that odd-fish," Draco said with a snicker.

Blaise smiled coldly. "Malfoy, Malfoy, Malfoy, and here I thought your parents gave you some minimal training in behavior and etiquette," Blaise drawled.

Draco snorted and sneered down the table at Blaise.

Zabini wiped his mouth carefully on his napkin and stood before continuing.

"But, of course, if your parents couldn't teach you some manners, I can," he said withdrawing his wand from his robes.

Draco cursed and started to reach for his wand.

"Stop it both of you!" hissed Pansy Parkinson. "Do you want Snape to come over here?"

Both Slytherins carefully watched the other as the wands were put back.

Several of Blaise's friends rose to join him in leaving the table to prepare for their first class. Draco continued to fume at the end of the table.

"If I were you, Malfoy, I'd concentrate on not making any more foolish mistakes. You've already managed to offend Snape and now you're insulting a friend of mine. Do try to remember that I'm better at dueling than you are," Blaise said, threat evident in every softly spoken word.

Pansy clamped her hand down hard on Draco's arm and used her sharp nails to stop Draco from replying.

Blaise strolled away with his friends without even glancing backward.

tbc
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A Single White Rose