A Small Misdirection

An introverted person on a big, loud party is not going to have fun, except when ... ?

The majority of Gryffindors was outgoing and really extroverted. Neville often felt out of place since he was not. Nonetheless Neville's sorting had been correct. Not only because he had stood up for himself against the Sorting Hat - for which one obviously needs a lot of courage in the first place. He had also profited from his housemates in the long run. He had overcome his shyness by watching everyone lacking it. There were still times when he felt misplaced. On huge parties he often wished to be elsewhere. Some of them were obligatory though. All around him Gryffindors were chatting animatedly, screaming and dancing.

Neville took notice that there was someone else who was neither jumping around like a rubber ball or having a blast in any other way. Someone whose smile was forced and who twitched uncomfortably, when someone tried to scream something at her over the loud music.

At least he did not need to be alone in this situation. Shy, first year Neville would not have dared to impose his presence on the witch. But the experienced seventh year version dared to. He made his way over to said individual. A task witch would have been impossible for him years prior. But as he was now one of the most grown wizards here and relatively buff he only had to watch out to manhandle the partying crowd not to roughly.

Neville gave a push to a stubborn wizard so he would have room to pass him. But instead of allowing a passage he turned around fuming: "Oi! Watch out were you... are ..." The voice faded away. A respectful tone replaced the previous aggressiveness. "Sorry, Neville, I have not seen you there!"

And that was the perk of killing Nagini at the Battle of Hogwarts at Halloween. How nobody of them had died in that confrontation was still beyond him.

Neville made his way through the crowd. Once he reached his destination, he cast a privacy charm around the two of them. Ironically she had taught this spell to him. Another positive side effect of the spell was that the music got magically muted to a bearable volume. This act was considered to be impolite. But what the heck? He was a Gryffindor. A lot of his peers interpreted rudeness as a facet of bravery.

Neville started their conversation: "We won the Quidditch Cup."

"A real surprise." Hermione commented dryly.

"You are supposed to be enthusiastic over it." Neville reprimanded the witch softly.

"You are right. I have to maintain the image of the stereotypical Gryffindor!" Hermione lifted her hands at shoulder height and said quietly: "Yeah, we won!"

"So, you are only here because you have to?" Neville probed.

"I don't have to." The witch said with a frown. Neville instantly knew that he had pulled the wrong string. Hermione was more than strong minded and the words have-to set her on a crusade. "I want to. It is basically Harry's party. He has won the Cup single handedly. And it is still kind of a Victory Party over Voldemort."

"You are also responsible for beating Voldemort." Neville said. Before Hermione could play her part down and claim that Harry had done way more than her, he beat her to it with: "As have I. At least partially."

Hermione hesitated. She knew he was right. And while it was okay to understate her part, it would be immensely rude to do the same to him. And Hermione would not mess up the definition of any word. Especially bravery. She knew that one first hand. "We had our moments."

Sometime you had to be persistent. Neville made another attempt at talking the witch into leaving: "You don't want to be here. I don't want to be here. Why don't we take our leave?"

"Everyone would be disappointed in us if we leave now." Hermione answered without delay. "They want us to be here and have fun."

"I see." Neville said with a nod. "I have the solution."

"A solution for what?" Hermione frowned.

"For this dilemma." Neville said with a smile. "Everyone wants us to have fun. They also want us to be here, but they..."

Hermione interrupted Neville's little speech: "You want to say: We are allowed to leave, because we don't have fun. But this is also about the others. We would hurt their feelings if we leave now. Therefore at least I will stay. I will survive a few hours of loud music."

"That was not what I wanted to suggest." Neville grinned. "I was going to suggest taking our leave for a project the others here would approve of."

Hermione was visibly intrigued. She turned her head to fully look at Neville. "And what is this mysterious 'project'?"

"I will make everybody assume that I try to win you as my girlfriend." Neville smiled cheekily.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione sounded exasperated.

"We are free to leave this party if everybody thinks we are secretly making out in an empty classroom."

"That would be a lie." Hermione said categorically.

Neville grabbed his chest mock-melodramatically. "You hurt my feelings!"

Hermione's lips formed a thin disapproving line. "It is still a lie."

Neville knew that Hermione was only one sentence away from finishing this conversation. "Staying here and pretending to have fun is a lie as well."

The brightest witch of her age frowned. Neville had no doubt that she could best him with arguments anytime. However he was right: She did not want to be here.

When she gave Neville a nod, he turned in direction of the portrait hole. Once they came closer to the entrance Hermione tapped his shoulder. Neville turned around. After all Hermione was about to make an objection.

"How are we going to give anybody the idea, that we are taking our leave so we can make out?" Hermione asked. "For all they can see, we are just leaving."

"Now comes the tricky part." Neville admitted. "I hope you don't find the thought of kissing me repulsive. If you do, this is not going to work."

Neville leaned down slowly. He offered Hermione the time necessary to retreat. But she stood her ground. When his face came close to hers, her brown eyes fluttered shut. Hermione's skin had managed to flush a rosy red before their lips touched.

Once they kissed Neville's right hand went for her bushy hair. He had always wanted to feel it in between his fingers. His left arm encircled her back and pulled her smaller frame close. Hermione reciprocated by hugging him back.

They took no notice of the loud cheering when they stumbled our of the portrait hole still holding onto each other.

A/N: Just for the record: A plot-bunny forced me to write this.