The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 63: The Boy Crying in the Common Room

September 4th, 1991

"Dawn, do you want your sandwich because if not, could I have it?" Draco asked. I nodded, handing him the rest of my lunch, "Thanks..."

I couldn't believe it. Me? In Gryffindor... HA! I had yet to receive a howler from mother and father, I expected one any day now. I refused to be associated with them, so I sat at the Slytherin table everyday. Well... except for dinner, where I was required to sit at the Gryffindor table. But even then, I only made conversation with that one ginger boy when necessary... I couldn't remember his name, I didn't need to.

Harry Potter would have been a nice person to converse with, but he and Draco didn't really get off on the right terms, and I didn't want to deal with Draco's attitude. I only associated with the ginger boy in private, I couldn't have let my friends see me interacting with him in public. Imagine how my parents would've reacted... I didn't want to imagine it, it was terrifying.

It was also the fact that I didn't feel welcomed at the Gryffindor table at all. They all treated me like I was some virus, and if that was the case, then they were going to receive the same treatment from me. I preferred my friends in Slytherin anyway; actually, those were my only friends. I had grown up with Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle as friends of mine. Recently, a boy with brown hair, named Theodore Nott, joined our group. I wasn't familiar with Theodore, but Draco was; he told me that his father and him came to the manor a little over a year ago because his mother had died; poor boy.

"Ooh, Dawn, we have class together today!" Pansy beamed, looking at her times-table.

"Charms, isn't it?" I asked, taking a peek at my times-table as well.

"You'll be sitting with us, right?" Draco asked sternly, "Not with those Gryffindors..."

"I still don't understand why you were sorted there," Pansy sighed, "It makes absolutely no sense! The Blacks and Malfoys have been in Slytherin for like... ever!"

"Well... except for Sirius Black..." I hesitated, "Remember? The one in Azkaban? Grandfather told me that he was disowned for being put into Gryffindor..."

"Good thing, grandfather's dead, isn't it?" Draco scoffed, "As long as you don't associate with them, I don't think mother and father will mind... I mean, why would you want to associate with them anyways? Gryffindors are like walking diseases..."

"Well, except for me!" I protested.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Well yeah? I wasn't talking about you, Dawn! I was talking about the others... You see them? The ginger twins? Bloody annoying, the two of them... Weasleys... I can't wait until father gets their dad fired from his Ministry position... Not even a week into the year, and I already have complaints. I wish father would've sent us to Durmstrang like he originally planned, at least there, you wouldn't have been sorted into slimy Gryffindor..."

Father wanted to send us to Durmstrang because they taught dark magic. He thought that the more dark magic a person knew, the more powerful they were. I thought that it would have been useful on the off-chance You-Know-Who came back, but when I mentioned that to father, I got slapped for mentioning the name. I didn't know why it was such a big deal, but I decided to shake it off before I got slapped again. Mother didn't want Draco and I going to Durmstrang anyways. She said that it was too far away; she would've missed us too much.

"I think Harry Potter would make a good friend..." I hesitated, "Ya know... the chosen one?"

Draco narrowed his eyes, "I think not... he's chosen his crowd and you've chosen yours, so stick with it."