Neville doesn't know how to deal with his anxiety (same)
Neville pov
Neville was actually having a bit of a nice time (as much as you could with a war happening) until the owl showed up.
Luna, Ginny, and Neville were talking about the most random stuff ever, trying not to think about what happened last year. And it was working a little.
He furrowed his eyebrows as the three owls landed, each with an identical letter for all three of them. Even if Luna and Ginny hadn't gotten any, Neville still would've been confused. He never got mail. His family never owled, probably because he wasn't good at magic, although he'd gotten better after our DA meetings last year. Man, Neville wished Harry decided to continue that.
They all glanced at each other before opening the letters.
Dear Mister Longbottom, his read, I would like to speak with you and a few of your peers after your classes have finished on Friday.
Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore
Ps. I like Acid Pops
Neville's eyes widened. Oh no. He was in trouble wasn't he? Was it for the DA meetings? Was he in trouble for hexing a teacher and other students before they went to the Ministry? Is it what happened in the Ministry? Because he was NOT talking about what happened in the Ministry. Was he just that lousy at magic?
Neville kept panicking to himself until Ginny brought him back to reality by speaking. "What do you think this is about?" She waved her letter around.
"D-did we get the same one?" Neville asked nervously.
"Mine was from Dumbledore. He wanted to see me and some other people on Friday," Luna smiled.
Neville sagged with relief. If they all got the same letter, it couldn't have been about grades. For one thing, they were smarter than him, and they were a year younger than him, so they hadn't taken their OWLs yet. Unfortunately, his mind started making up even more terrifying possibilities. How fun.
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Why? Why did Friday have to get here so fast? Honestly, Neville had no idea which would be worse: waiting for what feels like a year for this meeting, or waiting for what felt like two hours. Why did Dumbledore have to be so mysterious, dammit! His gran's probably gonna be really pissed if she finds out he got in trouble. Again.
After our classes finished, Ginny and Neville walked down to the Ravenclaw common room, where they met up with Luna and headed to Dumbledore's office. Couldn't they walk any slower? He didn't want to walk slower because the girls weren't walking slow and they would've been confused and asked him questions and all this shit he didn't want to deal with.
"Acid Pops is probably the password," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice. Neville kind of admired her. Not in a crush way, but more of a oh-my-shit-how-do-you-not-care-about-what-anyone-else-thinks-girl-you-are-a-queen-I-could-never-here-you-dropped-your-crown kind of way.
Ginny nodded in agreement.
Neville kept clenching and unclenching his shaking hands. It'll be fine, Neville, he tried telling himself, it can't possibly be that bad. That didn't work. He felt even worse than before, if that was possible.
Oh, and it was that bad.
"Acid Pops," Ginny said confidently when we reached his office. Well, Neville thought it was his office. She said it to a big stone gargoyle.
She must have been right, because the gargoyle stepped aside to reveal a stone staircase. Neville was about to walk up it before it, like any other staircase in the building, moved. He should've seen that one coming. Luna and Ginny are judging you now. Good job, Neville. We reached a huge door and Ginny pushed it open, head held high.
Neville trudged behind Ginny and Luna, and they saw Dumbledore with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasley twins. Well, that was weird. Weren't they running a joke shop? They did look pretty grumpy due to the fact that they were here and not working in said joke shop.
"Ah," Dumbledore looked up, "now that we're all here, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."
Neville wanted to nod, but no one else did, so he'd just look like an idiot. Well, more of an idiot. He just shifted from foot to foot nervously.
"I have found some people who can help us against Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore said. At this point, Neville had stopped flinching at his name. After what happened at the Ministry, it was harder to be scared now; plus spending so much time around Harry makes you more reckless.
"These people live in America, and live near New York, in a place called Camp Half-Blood. Now, I am sure you have all heard of the Greek Gods?"
They all were confused at that. He wasn't seriously about to say that those guys existed, was he?
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at them, seeming to read their minds. "Would you like for me to provide proof?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Very well," Dumbledore sighed. He picked up a large gold coin—it's definitely wasn't a Galleon—and threw it into the mist of a fountain—had that always been there?
"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Perseus Jackson at Camp Half-Blood," Dumbledore said. Neville started wondering of the old man really was crazy. Well, until the coin fucking vanished.
I'm going crazy, Neville thought, before he looked around and saw everybody else's faces. They were all shocked (except Luna's), so he must not have been the only one to see that.
The image of a teenage guy who couldn't have been much older than them appeared in the mist. He turned to face us and yelped. "Who're you guys?!" He demanded. He must not have been surprised to see the actual image.
Before anyone was able to answer, he saw Dumbledore. "You again?" He grumbled. "I told you, we aren't helping you with your stupid war. I'm not endangering my friends again."
"That is not why is called, Perseus," Dumbledore told him.
"I also told you not to call me Perseus. It's Percy," the guy muttered. Neville was already a little nervous. The guy seemed rude, and probably out wouldn't like Neville.
"I am not calling you to ask for your help," Dumbledore informed him. "I am calling because I want you and your friends to train some students of mine."
"What, so they can ask us to help?" The guy, "Percy," growled. He hesitated, before nodding. "We'll train them, nothing else." With that, he waved his hand and disappeared.
Dumbledore turned to them. "Do you believe in them now?"
"Not really, no," Ron muttered before slapping a hand over his mouth.
"Well, I suppose you'll have to find out for sure when you get there," Dumbledore smiled.
"Now, why don't you all go and pack?" Dumbledore asked, but it was clear he wasn't giving them another option. "You should pack as much as possible. I suspect you may be there the whole year."
With that, he dismissed them, and they all walked back to their dorms to get ready for the next day.