The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 49: Bludgers

September 28th, 1996

"You three need to hurry with your eating," Hermione exclaimed, "Tryouts start soon and, Dawn, you're not even dressed yet!"

"Well, Harry is conducting tryouts, so if he's not in a hurry, then I'm not in a hurry." I assured before shoving a piece of toast in my mouth.

Quidditch tryouts were being held today, and I decided to try out for the team. I was interested in  trying out for Beater, even though the position was usually for broader guys. It used to belong to the twins, but they have given me tons of reassurance that I was the best for the position. Harry and Ginny were sure of it too.

"Well, I'm waiting for Ginny. She's supposed to be conducting tryouts with me." Harry sighed.

"Why Ginny?" Ron scoffed, "Why not me? Ginny wasn't even on the team last year!"

"Well... Katie Bell doesn't want me to be biased, so she suggested that Ginny would oversee tryouts with me," Harry hesitated.

"Biased? BIASED?" Ron exclaimed, "THAT'S RUBBISH! I'M A GOOD KEEPER! RIGHT, 'MIONE?"

Hermione shrugged, shooting nervous glances between Harry and Ron, "I mean, I watched you all summer, and I think you've gotten better... but what do I really know about Quidditch..."

"WELL, WHAT ABOUT YOU, DAWN?" Ron asked frantically.

"You're going to do great, Ron," I assured, "Speaking of Gin, where is she?"

Harry gestured towards the end of the table, "She's over there..."

I looked over and saw Ginny sitting with Dean, Seamus, and Neville. I didn't bother looking at the other three, my eyes went directly to Neville. We haven't spoken in three weeks and avoided each other in all of our classes. The first two weeks, Neville looked rather upset all of the time, but this past week... he looked happy. The thought of him moving on haunted me because, I for one, haven't.

I was able to hide my feelings in public, but I spent an obnoxious amount of time crying about him to the trio. Ron panicked the one time I cried to him, and ended up leaving me alone. Hermione was just as bad as Ron; she was obviously getting tired of my crying. Harry was surprisingly the most comforting out of all them. And after a while, I ended up talking to him the most. He was probably the best to talk to because he was able to relate to me, unlike Ron and Hermione.

"It looks like she's leaving..." Ron chuckled.

Ginny walked over to us and sat down, "Hi guys, are you ready to head to tryouts?"

I ignored her question, continuing to stare at Neville. Dean and Seamus were teasing him about something, causing Neville to bury his head in his arms as he turned bright red. I didn't know what they were teasing him about, but it caused my heart to sink a bit.

"What are they so happy about..." I seethed quietly to Ginny, who was sitting next to me.

Ginny looked over her shoulder at the boys laughing amongst each other. She turned around, forcing a smile, "It's nothing to worry about, Dawn. You have to remember that they're teenage boys. They probably made an inappropriate joke of some sort..."

"How can you be so sure?" I sighed, breaking eye contact with the end of the table, "Is he over me? Because I'm not over him."

"Dawn, I... It's nothing to worry about, alright?" Ginny assured, "Let's just focus on Quidditch today!"

I rolled my eyes, turning away from Ginny to face Harry, who was currently lost in Ginny's eyes to pay attention to anything else going on. I dug back into my breakfast as the conversations on my side of the table picked up again. They were soon interrupted by owls, who flew in to drop off this morning's stack of letters and newspapers.