Lucky

Fire.

That’s what it felt like in his hand. Neville hadn’t let go of the Liquid Luck since Ellie had dropped it in his hand. He’d run up to the dorm, sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the vial on the chain. Realistically, it was light as a feather, almost as if it could float away from his palm, but right now, it felt like a boulder in his hand.

“Oi, Nev?” Dean said, coming in to sit on the edge of his own bed. “What have you got?” He stretched his neck, trying to peek. Neville closed his hand around the vial.

“N-nothing…” he mumbled, but Dean had already caught a glance of the gold gleam.

“Felix Felicis?” he asked. “Isn’t that Ellie’s…?”

Neville sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah… she, um… she gave it to me…”

Dean chuckled, his arms across his chest. “So, how are you gonna use it?” Neville managed a shrug, followed by a small, unknowing noise. “Really? An entire world of possibilities and you don’t know what you would use it for?” Dean gave him a look, almost a gesturing look.

“What…?” he asked. His friend rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, that little potion could be your chance with Ellie,” he insisted.

“Y-you mean… so Ellie will-”

“Of course,” he interrupted. “Mate, you’ve been in love with the girl for almost three years. You’re miserable without her. I mean, remember 4th year when you we’re too late asking her to the Yule Ball because she’d been asked by Malfoy?”

“Y-yeah… I remember that…” he said quietly. He restrained a shudder; the Yule Ball marked when Ellie had begun a relationship with Malfoy, which lasted a year until he dumped her. Neville could still remember the way she looked with the heartbroken tears in her eyes when she ran into the common room, running to him to confide in her best friend. While the image was sad, he found it beautiful.

“Look, I’m not saying that she’s be falling all over you,” Dean continued, “but… I dunno, maybe it would give you the proper opportunity to tell her how you feel.” A silence fell between them as he heard Ellie giggle downstairs, talking to Ginny. Dean smirked at his reaction, getting up and clapping his friend on the shoulder. “It’s worth a shot. Besides, if it doesn’t work out, you can at least use the effects to make it through the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam.” Neville clenched his eyes shut, flopping back onto his bed, then staring at the ceiling.

“Hell, I forgot that was today…” he groaned. Dean chuckled.

“I imagined you did.”

Neville sighed deeply. For years, all he wanted was for Ellie to know how he felt. He wanted her to understand why he’d been so angry when he first saw her snogging with Malfoy. He wanted her to finally see him the way he saw her. Dean was right. If he wanted to have any chance of finally pouring his heart out to her, he needed to use the potion. “Okay… during lunch.”

Unfortunately for Neville, lunch was a few hours away. He still had three classes before he would see her, and sitting through all of them, thinking nervously about the situation to come was terrifying to him.

Herbology was the worst. Everything he looked at made him think of Ellie. He remembered helping her prepare for her Herbology O.W.L.s. They’d spent so much time together in the greenhouses; while he deeply wanted her to do well and to spend time with her, he could tell that it was the only thing that was getting her past the demise of her relationship. He’d helped her plant a plot of tiger lilies, her favourite flower, in an empty soil plot in the garden. Even among all of the extravagant, incredible bouquets, to Neville, the simple orange flowers were the most beautiful plants he’d ever seen.

After Herbology, Neville slowly, and barely willingly, made his way to the Great Hall, knowing it was lunch time. He leaned by the large open doors, peering down the Gryffindor table. He saw Ellie sitting with her Hufflepuff friend, Piper, who’d come over to share lunch with her. He reached into his pocket, taking out the potion vial. He stared at it for a few moments before unscrewing the top and raising the vial to his lips.

“What’cha doin’, Longbottom?!” he heard Goyle taunt as he passed him, roughly bumping into him and causing the vial to drop out of his hand and hit the floor, glass shattering and the potion splashing onto the floor. Goyle laughed and walked away as Neville stared at the ground in horror as his last chance sank into the cracks of the stone floor. Neville chucked the only think in his hand, the corked cap, in Goyle’s direction, the miserable feeling setting back into his stomach.

“Neville…?” said a soft voice from behind him. He turned and saw Ellie, staring at him worriedly. “Are you okay?” He couldn’t piece together a coherent sentence. He felt so sick and stupid, and Ellie just had to show up at his worst moment. He continued to stare down at the floor. She blinked, then looked down as well, seeing the shattered vial and little flecks of gold. “Is that… the potion? What happened?”

“I-I… I was going t-to… I thought that… if I-I’d used it… you would…” he stammered nervously. Ellie tilted her head, watching as Neville blushed.

“L-like you?” she added. He closed his eyes, feeling even more sick.

“W-well… y-yes…” he said quietly. There was a slight pause, then he heard Ellie giggle. “E-Elspeth… please don’t laugh at me…”

“Neville, I’m not laughing at you to be mean,” she said, stifling another giggle, “I’m laughing because… Neville, I’ve always liked you.”

Neville froze. “Wh-what?”

“You’re my best friend,” she said, taking a step closer to him. “You’re the only boy whose ever been worth my time and I’ve been too stupid to notice.”

He took a deep breath. “Y-you’re lying…”

Ellie smiled. She took another step toward him, standing on tiptoe, and placing her lips on his. Neville froze against Ellie’s lips, completely dumbstruck by what was happening. All too soon, she pulled away, staring up at him.

“Y-you kissed me…”

“Yeah… is… that okay?”

For the first time that day, Neville genuinely smiled as he leaned down for another kiss. “I could get used to this.”