Lumos

The only good thing to come of Felicity’s nighttime disaster was that Sebastian was finally leaving her alone. It proved, once and for all, that he didn’t care enough about Felicity to openly accept her and that was all she needed to know.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville were pariahs. The general outrage at their having lost a total of one-hundred-and-fifty House points was universal. Even the other Houses shunned them – excluding Slytherins, of course, who openly congratulated Harry when they passed him in the hall.

“Thanks for giving us the House Cup, Potter!”

Felicity, ashamed of herself, spent all her time outside classes quietly studying and avoiding everyone. Logically, if she spent every moment studying, she couldn’t cause trouble or hurt any more of her friends. She avoided them all, arriving late to classes so she couldn’t sit with them, skipping meals to avoid the Great Hall, and often picking unusual locations to study, such as the owlery, the bathroom, or various nooks and crannies in distant corridors.

It was in one of these hidden alcoves that Felicity was dutifully writing out the ingredients for a potion to cure boils, when the tapestry was suddenly drawn back and Ulric squeezed into the small space with her.

“Ulric!” Felicity gasped. “What are you doing in here? How’d you even find me?”

“It’s bloody cramped in here,” was his reply. He slid to the floor, stretching his legs out as much as he could and giving Felicity a flat stare. “Where’ve you been?”

“Keeping busy.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

Ulric sighed. “I talked to Neville.”

“How is he?” Felicity asked, unable to stop herself.

“Miserable. Practically no one will talk to him. But I thought he might know why you’re acting so strange, since you starting doing this right after they lost those House points.”

Felicity stared intently down at her homework, refusing to meet Ulric’s gaze. “He was just trying to warn them.”

“I know.”

“You do?” she asked incredulously finally looking up.

While he wasn’t exactly happy, Ulric didn’t look angry or upset. Rolling his eyes, he replied, “Yes, I do. And I know you were there, too. What I don’t know is how you got off without punishment.”

“Sebastian,” Felicity huffed. “When McGonagall was around the corner, he pulled me out of sight and she didn’t see me.”

Ulric’s eyebrows shot up. “Awfully nice of him.”

“He was just trying to make me forgive him. Uncle Markus must be pressuring him to make nice, but I just can’t have him always acting one way around me and a completely different way around everyone else.”

“Yeah,” Ulric agreed. “Besides, he’s a Slytherin. All they care about is looking important and winning the House Cup.”

“And the Quidditch Cup,” Felicity added. She ignored the way Ulric’s eyes momentarily darkened, as they always did when Quidditch was mentioned. “So…you’re not mad at me?”

“I’m a little disappointed – that would’ve been two-hundred points if you’d gotten caught! – but, no, I’m not mad. Like you and Neville said, you were just trying to stop Harry and Hermione from getting in trouble.”

“Did…did he tell you why they were sneaking around at night?”

“Not exactly.”

Felicity sighed and filled Ulric in on everything she had learned, holding nothing back. His expression went from stunned, to irritated, and landed finally on thoughtful. Rubbing his chin, Ulric said slowly, “So…a three-headed dog is guarding a Sorcerer’s Stone in the third floor corridor and Snape is trying to steal it for himself. Hagrid got his hands on an illegal dragon and, instead of telling Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione helped Hagrid send it away and got caught in the process, despite having a cloak that can make them invisible?”

“You’ve got it,” Felicity confirmed.

Ulric was quiet for a long minute, then burst out, “Bloody hell, Felicity, I thought we were friends! Why would you keep so much from me?”

“Well…well…” Felicity struggled for an explanation, caught off-guard by the intensity of Ulric’s outburst. “I mean, you’ve been so focused on exams and I- I didn’t want to distract you. And, well, I didn’t exactly have any proof of all this, did I? So there really wasn’t much point and…I’m sorry, Ulric. I’ve been a terrible friend.”

“It’s alright,” said Ulric. “I suppose I have been a little uptight about exams. I might’ve noticed how distracted you’ve been if I’d just paid a little more attention.”

Felicity sighed, relieved. “Let’s be honest with each other from now on. About everything.”

“Agreed,” said Ulric. “And, now, you should really talk to Neville.”

“I’ve tried,” Felicity said miserably. “He acts like I’m not even there.”

“Keep trying,” Ulric insisted. “He’ll come around.”


Despite Ulric’s encouragement, Neville wasn’t coming around. Whenever Felicity attempted to talk to him, he would gather up his things and hurry away. If she followed him, he would simply pretend the chair she occupied was empty.

In fact, it wasn’t until the morning after he, Harry, and Hermione served their detention that he spoke to her at all.

The morning of the detention, Felicity had seen the letters arrive informing the three of when and where their detention would be. Neville visibly paled when he read (as Felicity learned from Hermione) that their detention would be at eleven o’clock that night and that Filch would be involved.

All day, Felicity had worried about what Neville would be doing, to the point of nearly sneaking out after him to offer support. Ulric, however, convinced her that the risk wouldn’t be worth the possible benefits and suggested maybe Neville’s punishment wouldn’t be so bad and he’d forgive her after it was over…?

The hours crept by. Felicity forced herself to stay awake, trying to tackle a last-minute Astronomy chart and listening to George (or was it Fred?) talk to her about an idea for…honestly, she wasn’t paying enough attention to actually know what his idea was. After thirty minutes or so, the red-haired twin gave up trying to keep Felicity’s attention and returned to his identical counterpart across the room.

Slowly, the common room emptied. Ron, recently returned from the Hospital Wing, was the only person who remained – he had fallen asleep on one of his open textbooks. Sleep attempted to claim Felicity, too. It took a great deal of focus to force her eyes open whenever they started to drift closed. Midnight came and went. Finally, Felicity gathered up her things and climbed the stairs to her dormitory, thinking she’d get up when Hermione returned from detention.

She must’ve been more exhausted than she realized, however, for it was well past sunrise when she woke the next morning. Irritated with herself, Felicity quickly dressed and hurried down to the common room. It was nearly empty – there were a couple of third years chatting by the fire and a group of seventh years at one of the tables, studying for the N.E.W.T. exams.

Just as Felicity was about to head down to the Great Hall and search, Ulric entered the common room, a half-eaten piece of toast in his hand. When he spotted her, Ulric grinned and said, “Alright, Felicity? Want to kip under the big tree by the lake? It’s a beautiful day out.”

“Not right now,” said Felicity quickly. “Have you seen Neville?”

“No,” answered Ulric, looking disappointed. “I don’t think he’s left the dormitory, in fact. He definitely wasn’t at breakfast. Are you sure you don’t want to go? We could trade off – I’ll help you with Transfiguration, you help me with Herbology.”

“Maybe later. I really need to talk to Neville.”

“Okay. I’ll be by the lake if you need me, then.”

Felicity turned and stared at the steps leading up to the boys’ dormitory. It was almost certainly against the rules for girls to enter the boys’ dormitory, but Felicity decided to take the risk. Checking that no one was paying attention, she slipped up the stairs and cracked the door open, peering inside.

The boys’ room was a mirror image of the girls, but slightly messier. The circle of four-poster beds were all unmade and random belongings were strewn about the room. The farthest bed from the door was the only one occupied – a telltale lump was beneath the red blanket, quivering and sniffling. A frog was croaking softly from somewhere – Trevor, most likely.

“Neville?” Felicity called softly.

“Go away,” came Neville’s muffled voice from beneath the blanket.

“Neville…” Easing the door open a little more, Felicity slid into the room and shut the door behind her. After letting her eyes adjust to the semi-dark, Felicity crossed to Neville’s bed and gingerly perched on the edge. “Neville, are you alright?”

Another sniffle, followed by, “What do you care?”

Biting her lip, Felicity said, “It’s my fault. I should’ve gotten into trouble, too, and I should’ve been with you last night. They probably made you do something awful.”

“We had to go into the forest,” muttered Neville. “With Malfoy.”

Felicity hadn’t heard that Malfoy had been caught. The joy at this news wasn’t enough to break through the haze of guilt that consumed her. “I’m so sorry, Neville. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

Neville was silent. Fighting back tears, Felicity said, “I’ll go to McGonagall, if you’d like. Tell her what happened.”

“Then we’d just lose more House Points.”

“I could spend a night in the forest.”

Neville’s face appeared halfway from beneath the blankets. With watery eyes, he looked at Felicity for the first time in days. “You’d do that?”

“I’d deserve it. I shouldn’t have left you to get in trouble alone. I’m really, really sorry, Neville, I swear.”

Finally, Neville sat up. He looked a mess. His eyes were red from crying and he’d missed a button on his pyjama top. Felicity felt a swell of guilt and pity, prompting her to say, “I really want to make it up to you. Is there anything I can do?”

Sniffling, Neville said, “If…if you could hex Malfoy, that’d be nice.”

Felicity laughed. “I can do that. Or Ulric, since he knows better spells. Maybe he knows that Curse of the Bogies.”

“I really just want people to stop hating me,” said Neville. “No one talks to me but you.”

“And Ulric. Harry, Ron, and Hermione.”

“They don’t like me, though.”

More guilt. Felicity often wondering if she liked Neville all that much – they had an occasional chat, but mostly they just did homework, Felicity contributing quite a bit more in most cases. But she did enjoy his company and, considering this, said, “I like you, Neville.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’re friends.”

“You’re not just saying that?”

“Of course not.”

To Felicity’s horror, Neville’s eyes filled with tears. Before she quite knew what was happening, Neville’s head had landed on her shoulder and he was crying against her neck. Uncomfortable and not quite sure how to react to this strange turn of events, Felicity awkwardly patted Neville’s back until he regained control of himself.

“Sorry,” Neville sniffled. “It’s just…I’m so bad at everything. And the last week has been horrible. And last night, Malfoy was a nightmare and the forest was terrifying.”

“I’m sorry,” Felicity replied, not sure what else to say.

Neville, however, seemed to have recovered. Wiping his face with his sleeves, he said in an almost-cheery voice, “Want to get some breakfast? I haven’t eaten since yesterday’s…”

“Sure. Meet you downstairs?”

“Alright.”

With that, Felicity left the boys’ dormitory and back down the stairs, trying to look innocent. Her plan was foiled, however, when she bumped into Harry, on his way up. He looked confused when he saw who he’d bumped into – rightly so, Felicity thought.

“Sorry, just, erm…had to talk to Neville,” explained Felicity blushingly.

“Okay,” said Harry.

Sensing Harry’s gloom, Felicity worked her face into what she hoped was an encouraging smile and said, “I don’t blame you, by the way. You had your reasons for being out.”

Then Felicity stepped around Harry, leaving him gawking at her as she vanished down the stairs, feeling a hundred times lighter than she had all week.