Always knew it was you

January

I walked downstairs to see Dean and Seamus whispering to each other.

"What happened? ", I asked, slipping beside Seamus.

"You think we should tell him? ", Dean asked.

"He has a right to know", Seamus said.

"What are you two talking about? ", I asked.

Dean pushed Euan's copy of the Daily Prophet towards me. I read the headline twice or thrice to make sure I read it properly.

"Are you okay? ", Dean asked.

"Yeah I'm fine", I lied.

"Don't worry, Neville. You're safe here. They aren't stupid enough to do something under Dumbledore's eye", Seamus said.

"Neville, did you read it? ", Ginny asked.

"Yeah", I said.

"Be strong, Neville. I'm sure you are an equal match to them. You are the best in the D.A", she said.

"Thanks", I said.

"Did you all know? Dolohov murdered my uncles. My mother's brothers .I never knew them", she said pointing to a guy.

"I'm so sorry, Gin", I said.

"It's okay. Does anyone of the hufflepuffs subscribe to the Daily Prophet?", she asked.

"Yeah why? ", I asked. Megan had subscribed to the Daily Prophet.

"Because then they would find out about your parents", she said.

I cursed.

"Language, Neville", she said.

"We can't do anything about it now. They are going to be angry with you. All the best ", Ginny said and the three of us left to our classes.

"Neville, meet us near the lake as soon as classes get over", Hannah said, during lunch. She looked upset, angry and sympathetic, all at the same time.

"Hannah, I..", I started.

"In the evening", she said, threateningly and disappeared out of view.

In the evening, I reluctantly walked to the Black Lake. Dean and Seamus stayed back in the common room to complete their homework.

"Hi", I said only to be greeted with cold stares from Hannah, Ernie, Susan and Justin.

"Why didn't you tell us? ", Hannah asked.

"About what? ", I asked, acting as though I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Your parents", she said.

"I didn't want you all to know", I said.

"We're your friends", Susan said.

"I didn't want your pity", I said.

"Mate, you didn't tell something this important to us", Ernie said.

"I didn't want anyone to know", I said.

"We would have told you", Justin said.

"Everyone shut up, okay? You all won't know how this feels. Your own parents looking at you and not knowing you're their child. I don't want anyone to think I want their pity . I don't want your stupid condolences. I don't care either. I don't want to talk about it. I'm like this. I won't volunteer my past to everyone I meet. If you all don't like that, go to hell. I don't give a damn", I shouted and walked back to my common room, ignoring the surprised look on their faces. A few people were staring at me like I was going mad but I honestly couldn't care any less.

Dean and Seamus had already gone to bed. It was only seven.

"Are they both mad? ", I thought.

I tried waking them up but they didn't budge. So, I wrote some homework and went to bed without eating anything.

It turned out that Dean and Seamus had a huge fight the previous day and were not talking with each other. They wouldn't tell me what they were fighting about to my annoyance. They spent most of the time glaring daggers at each other.

Dean told me that if Seamus hanged out with me, he wouldn't talk to me again. Seamus told me the same thing. So, Seamus started hanging out with Lavender and Parvati all the time and Dean hanged out with me. I asked them what happened between them a million times but they wouldn't tell me. I was also ignoring the hufflepuffs after I shouted at them.

Hagrid was on probation, so Ginny and I went to meet him and console him. The cuts and scratches on Hagrid's face kept increasing instead of decreasing. When Ginny and I confronted him, he lied that it was because of the Skrewts.

"Do you have any idea why the cuts and bruises keep increasing? ", Ginny asked, on our way back.

"I don't know", I said.

"When are you planning to talk to the Puffs? ", she asked.

"I don't know", I said.

"Do whatever you want", she said.

Lee had landed himself a detention for mouthing off to Umbridge. Umbridge now was present at each and every Divination and Care of Magical Creatures class which was very annoying. Trelawney and Hagrid were cracking under the pressure. Both of them seemed to have lost their confidence in the subject.

Dean seemed to miss Seamus very much but didn't talk with him. Things were not same with Seamus not around. Seamus too seemed to miss Dean very much but he was with Lavender and Parvati all the time.

The only thing I looked forward to was the meetings. I rarely talked to anyone but I worked hard on every single spell.

Soon, January passed by and still Dean and Seamus weren't speaking with each other. I wasn't talking with the Hufflepuffs. Dean and I weren't talking much. Ginny was the only person I was talking to beside Luna.

Luna was a bit weird but it was okay. She was very wise for her age. Not intelligent but wise. She was brutally honest and didn't mince words. She was incredibly strong. She didn't care about anyone else and she was happy even when she was all alone. She talked for most of the time and I listened.

All of the hufflepuffs stopped me after the last meeting.

"I want to talk to you", Ernie said, grabbing my wrist.

"I don't want to", I said, trying to slip out of his grasp.

"We don't care if your parents are at St.Mungo's and we don't care if you hid it from us", Susan said.

"If you still keep ignoring us. I swear I'll hex you", Hannah said.

"Tell us it's okay. Tell us we're friends again", Justin said.

"Okay", I said.

"What okay?", Ernie asked.

"It's okay. Let's all go back to being friends again", I said.

All of them slapped me and then hugged me.

"Neville, I swear, if you don't speak to us again ,I'll murder you", Hannah said.

"Guys, it's getting late and unless you want to receive detention from Umbridge, we should leave", Justin said.

"Promise us, you'll come to our common room tomorrow", Susan said.

"Yeah, okay. I promise", I said and all of us left to our common rooms.