Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the world of Harry Potter, this fanfic is all I own. No copyright intended!

Author's note 1: A Harry/Fay pairing story, Neville/Hermione secondary pairing. This story will take place in the afternoon before Harry's first ever Quidditch match. Misguided Dumbledore. Ron will be bad for a while and become neutral, but no real bashing. Good Snape. Rated T.

Unexpected Support

fanfic by Brockster550

Chapter One

It was the afternoon of Friday, November 8th. Classes had ended for the weekend, and eleven-year-old Harry was sitting outside, trying to pass the time before dinner. Harry was nervous because tomorrow was going to be his first ever quidditch match. What made him nervous was the fear of performing really badly, despite his natural flying skills that got him his position as the seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While he started getting to know Oliver Wood, the keeper and captain of the team, he didn't really get the chance to meet his other teammates, besides Fred and George Weasley, the beaters on the team. Harry met the Weasley twins on the Hogwarts Express the first day of term, just before the train left King's Cross Station, and Harry's very first day at Hogwarts.

Harry tried telling his best friend, Ron Weasley, about his nervousness, but he was too busy playing wizards chess with fellow Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan. Harry even tried telling his other, and newly formed friend, Hermione Granger, but she was too busy reading and working on her homework. It was on Halloween evening when Harry, and reluctantly, Ron went to help Hermione after a troll found it's way into the school dungeons somehow and began whacking the stalls in the girls bathroom, where Hermione had been, crying her eyes out, due to Ron claiming that she was a nightmare, and claiming that it was no wonder she had no friends. Hermione also lied to Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher, deputy headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble (believing that Harry and Ron were still friends, so she also tried to keep him out of trouble), losing five points as a result, but Harry and Ron's heroic actions in coming to Hermione's rescue got them five points apiece. That also resulted in Harry and Ron befriending Hermione, or so it seemed in Ron's case.

Harry started feeling sick to his stomach, with his nervousness getting a bit worse. Harry also wasn't sure if he could eat any dinner. Harry was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear footsteps approaching him.

"Hello, Harry," said a voice coming from behind him. "Are you alright?"

This made Harry jump as he jolted back to reality. He turned around and saw a brown-haired girl with hazel eyes about his age. She had red trimmings on her robes, which meant that she was a fellow Gryffindor. Harry recognized her somewhat as Fay Dunbar, a Gryffindor in his year.

"Uh, hiiii." said Harry nervously.

"Fay Dunbar!" she said, holding a hand out.

"Nice to meet you, Fay," said Harry as he shook hands with Fay. "Harry Potter!"

Harry knew saying his name was pointless, but he was just being polite. Fay sat down next to Harry, believing that he needed some company.

"How come you're sitting out here, all alone?" asked Fay.

"Just n-n-nervous," Harry admitted. "I'm just afraid to perform very badly at my first ever quidditch match."

"Being nervous is normal, Harry," assured Fay in a soft voice. "But, there's no need to talk badly about yourself like that."

"Being in front of all those people, that's what's making me nervous that I'll screw up!" said Harry.

"I understand," assured Fay. "But, do concentrate on your position as seeker. If you keep thinking about everyone in the stands, you'll just distract yourself."

Harry realized that Fay was right. Though, it was normal for someone to be nervous before their first ever quidditch match, Harry knew that Fay had a good point. As long as he concentrated on keeping an eye out for the golden snitch, he would be fine. Harry felt himself relaxing as Fay's words kept sinking in.

"Thank you for your advice, Fay," said Harry gratefully. "I needed that!"

"You're welcome, Harry," said Fay, smiling at Harry. "If you get nervous again, you can talk to me!"

"Really? You'd be willing to talk to me?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Harry," said Fay. "I'd rather be friends with you for who you are, not for you as the Boy-Who-Lived!"

Fay grabbed a hold of Harry's hand in a comforting manner and smiled at him again, letting Harry know that she meant what she said. Harry was relieved, as it seemed like most people just wouldn't look past the legend (as well as that scar) and actually try to get to know Harry as a person. Harry and Fay talked to each other, so they could get to know each other better. She told Harry that she was a quidditch fan, but she wasn't a fanatic about it, unlike a certain red-haired Gryffindor named Ronald Weasley. Harry and Fay talked for what seemed like years, but it was only around two-and-a-half hours, and this told them that dinner would be ready in about half an hour.

"I didn't realize that we'd been talking longer than expected!" said Harry.

"Me, neither," said Fay. "But, it was worth it!"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Perhaps we should start heading to the Great Hall."

"We might as well," said Fay. "You can sit by me if you want!"

Harry accepted the offer, so the two Gryffindor first year students began walking to the Great Hall. Harry's hunger started coming back, remembering Fay's words to focus on finding the golden snitch, not the crowd. Soon, they arrived in the Great Hall just as the majority of the students started filing in. Harry also came to the conclusion that having fun playing quidditch was more important than desperately trying to get the higher score than the other team, but it was still a good idea to try anyway. Harry and Fay found seats at the end of Gryffindor's table closest to the double doors. Not long after sitting down, they were joined by Neville and Hermione. Ron, however joined Seamus and a girl with curly light-brown hair (who Harry, Fay, Neville and Hermione recognized as Lavender Brown) near the middle of their house table. Ron didn't seem to care that Harry didn't join him, but Harry didn't really care anymore because of the redhead ignoring him and playing chess instead of helping his best friend with his nervousness.

"Ronald is such an insensitive clod!" said Hermione irritably as she sent a glare in Ron's direction. "He never apologized to me for the rude remark of labeling me as a nightmare without any friends!"

"It's not your fault, Hermione," assured Harry. "Ron is just a jealous prat! I don't know why I even befriended him in the first place. At least his brothers have better manners than he does."

"Yeah, that's true," said Neville in a matter-of-fact voice. "Even with Fred and George's pranking nature, they still have decent manners."

"Pretty much." agreed Fay. Then she turned her attention to Hermione. "That Ronald just wouldn't admit that you were trying to help him how to do the levitation charm properly."

"He sure show his appreciation for it!" said Hermione sarcastically. Then she continued on in a normal voice. "He still didn't need to call me a nightmare, and certainly didn't need to assume that nobody needed me as a friend."

"Don't listen to Ron, Hermione," said Neville. "He's just a dunderhead. If he's gonna blame you for anything that goes wrong, that's his problem."

Hermione nodded her head to show that she understood. Harry, Neville, Fay and Hermione continued getting to know one another better as they ate dinner. Up at the staff table, Professor McGonagall was observing them and she had a perplexed look on her face.

'I thought Miss Granger also bonded with Mr. Weasley!' thought the head of Gryffindor House in surprise. 'And Mr. Potter isn't even sitting by him! I wonder what else must've happened! But Mr. Potter and Miss Granger sure seem to be making friends with Mr. Longbottom and Miss Dunbar. I'll ask them to report to my office when dinner is over.'

Ron continued ignoring Harry and Hermione and instead, was befriending Seamus and Lavender. Professor Dumbledore was stunned to see that Harry and Ron have ended their so called friendship. The headmaster thought that Harry and Ron would've been the best of friends, but now it all seemed to be all ironic. Professor Snape also saw that Harry and Ron weren't anywhere near each and he, too was surprised. The rest of dinner passed by uneventfully. Just as Harry, Neville, Fay and Hermione left the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stopped them in the corridors.

"May I speak with you four?" Professor McGonagall asked the quartet.

"Yes, professor!" chorused Harry, Neville, Hermione and Fay simultaneously.

So the four Gryffindors followed their head of house to the transfiguration classroom. Once they were in McGonagall's office, the deputy headmistress locked the door and cast some kind of other spell on it. Harry, Neville, Fay and Hermione sat down on chairs in front of their head of house's desk. Then Professor McGonagall sat down on the chair behind her desk.

"Did we do something wrong, professor?" asked Harry after a minute.

"No, not all, Mr. Potter," assured his head of house. "I just want to find out why you and Miss Granger decided to sit by Mr. Longbottom and Miss Dunbar at dinner."

"Well, Fay offered to let me sit by her," stated Harry. "She was giving me some comfort and advice because of my nerves acting up due to my first ever quidditch match approaching. Not long after Fay and I sat down at the Gryffindor table, Hermione and Neville joined us while Ron joined Seamus and Lavender."

"But I thought you, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger became friends!" said Professor McGonagall in shock.

"Well, it turns out that Ron wasn't the kind of person I'd like to be friends with." stated Harry.

"I was only trying to help Ron with how to do the levitation charm properly in charms class," said Hermione. "But he just rudely told me to do it if I was so clever. So I properly demonstrated it for him, but he got jealous and never bothered to give me a thank you for the help."

"Yeah, he also called Hermione a nightmare and rudely claimed that it was no wonder she didn't have any friends." Neville spoke up. "It was a second after that when Hermione hurriedly passed by, where I caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes."

"I saw them, too," stated Harry. "And yet, Ron didn't care that he made Hermione cry."

"Miss Granger, was that why you weren't seen during the afternoon lessons before the Halloween feast?" asked the deputy headmistress, realizing the real reasons why.

"Yes, professor," Hermione admitted in a nervous tone. "I spent that time in the girls' bathroom crying because I couldn't get that thought out of my mind."

"Then why did you lie about the troll incident being your fault?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I thought Harry and Ron were still friends," stated Hermione. "I thought I was trying to diffuse the situation if I took the blame for both of them. But Ron never gave me a thank you for that, unlike Harry. Ron never even apologized for his rude remarks either."

"While I willingly came to Hermione's rescue," said Harry. "I did force Ron to tag along, but he was reluctant to do so. He never provided comfort to me for my nervousness in preparing for my first ever quidditch match because he was more concerned about playing chess with Seamus."

"I did help Harry out with his problem, professor," stated Fay. "He was really grateful to me for that."

"I see." said Professor McGonagall. Then she turned her attention to Hermione. "Miss Granger, while I won't condone you for skipping class, I do understand why you did. I'll have to give you a detention for doing so, but you'll just be required to do your homework and catch up on the missed assignments."

"Neville and I helped Hermione with that, professor," assured Harry. "We'd let her borrow our notes from the classes she missed. In fact, we even began studying and finishing up our assignments in the library every chance we got."

"Ten points each for helping one another in need." said Professor McGonagall. "It looks like Mr. Ronald Weasley needs a serious scolding for his behaviour and attitude. You four are dismissed and when you make it back to Gryffindor Tower, please inform Mr. Weasley that I wish to speak with him after breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am." chorused Harry, Neville, Hermione and Fay.

So the quartet left their head of house's office and started making a beeline for Gryffindor Tower. Along the way, the four Gryffindors started discussing how proud of themselves they were for sticking up for one another. Fay ended up becoming accepted, since she did help Harry in relaxing and advising him not to concentrate on the crowd during his first ever quidditch match tomorrow. Upon walking into the common room a couple minutes later, the quartet spotted Ron and Seamus playing chess once again.

"Ron, Professor McGonagall insists that you speak with her after breakfast tomorrow." said Harry.

"Yeah, whatever," Ron rudely remarked without even looking Harry in the eye. "You're breaking my concentration you prat, now beat it!"

Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation, as did Neville, Hermione and Fay. They decided not to press the issue, since Ron was going to have to speak with their head of house either way. Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George (and their best friend, Lee Jordan) heard that and grinned at the thought of Ron getting himself in bigger trouble for ignoring what Harry told him. Percy, however was a bit more suspicious and decided that if Ron wasn't going to take responsibility, then he would go to McGonagall in the morning and explain Ron's lack of a good work ethic.

'Mum and dad will also need to know if McGonagall tells me what I think of Ron's behaviour,' thought Percy. 'Certainly they raised Ron better than that! To insult Hermione like that and not appearing to be disturbed by his words and not apologizing? It's time for Ron to suffer the consequences of his actions.'

To be continued!

Author's note 2: Harry/Fay pairing stories seem to be one of the rarest pairings of all, even rarer than Harry/Astoria or Harry/Gabrielle pairings. There were only two other Harry/Fay pairing stories I found.