Forever it is
Neville
About 10 minutes into us relaxing in silence in our own compartment, a boy who looked around our age opened the door. I looked over to Harry and she was already looking back at me(we are so not ready to deal with new people yet) after a moment of silence we both went to stare at the boy, who was already staring at them. A few moments of silence later the boy came into the compartment, closing the door behind him, and made himself comfortable in the seat across from them.
Ok then, awkward silence for the next few hours it is.
When I looked over I realized Harry was again already staring at me(we do that a lot, pretty sure we’re reading each other's minds at this point) as we made eye contact she gave me a shrug, so we both just went back to relaxing. Pretending the boy wasn’t even there.
The hours actually passed by in relative comfort, up until it was time to change into our uniforms. The boy got up to go change somewhere else, at least that’s what I assume he left for. Which just left Harry and I to get ready, and instead we just stood there staring at each other.
Ok, maybe we’re not ready for this. I mean, an entire school of people we don’t know? I could already feel my heart rate picking up. And neither of us are that good at making friends(we’ve never had to be, we’ve had each other).
Maybe that’s where our panic was coming from. It wasn’t going to be just us anymore, and that was maybe the scariest part of this whole situation. I didn’t know how to handle it(what if everything changes? What if she makes better friends than you?)
I was shaken out of my panic when Harry grabbed my arm, before pulling me into one of the tightest hugs we’d ever had.
In that moment, holding each other tight enough to bruise, I could feel each of us breaking into pieces and reassembling. We were going to be just fine, just like we always have been.
***
“Harry! Come on, that's so not fair.”
She giggled at my whining, throwing the Quaffle in her hands up and down, “It totally is. I made the goal fair and square. You’re just mad that I won, again.” At this she stuck her tongue out at me, giggling again.
At the sight my serious facade broke down and I started giggling too. She always won, and we always had the same conversation afterwards. It’s like a little tradition now.
“Girls! It’s getting late, come inside and wash up for dinner.” Our teasing was interrupted by Harry’s dad yelling out the back door.
“Coming dad!”, she yelled back, before grabbing my hand to pull me inside with her, “Come on, let’s hurry. I’m starving.” Now that she mentioned it, I was too, so I walked faster to keep up with her.
After washing up, the three of us sat at the table ready to eat. It looked delicious.
“Thanks for the food, Professor.” Harry echoed my thanks, then her dad spoke up.
“I told you Neville, you don’t have to call me that. I’m not going to be your professor for another 3 years.” He smiled fondly at me when my only response was a shrug and a grin, motioning for us to dig in. Which we did happily.
After dinner Harry and I cleaned up and got comfortable in her room, her dad had some summer papers to grade so it was just us for a bit. As soon as we got into her room, she grabbed a pillow from her bed and attacked. After a stunned moment I broke into giggles, and grabbed my own pillow to retaliate.
We spent a few minutes laughing and pillow smacking each other, eventually calming down and laying on the bed still laughing. As our laughter slowed to a stop, all you could hear in the room was the two of us trying to regain our breath.
“Hey,” I broke the comfortable silence, rolling onto my side to look at Harry, her doing the same, “what your dad said earlier. About being our professor in a few years. Do you think we’ll still be best friends by then?” I was kind of avoiding eye contact now, a little nervous, I only asked because Harry was my first and only friend. And I was always kind of scared of losing that.
“Are you kidding? We’re going to be friends forever. You are my first friend, and only friend so far. Even if we make other friends at school, neither of us are going anywhere.” She smiled at me, grabbing my hand, before continuing, “Besides. You’re stuck with me forever, and I'm stuck with you. And I’m completely happy with that.”
I gave her a returning smile, laughing when she scrunched her nose at me.
Forever it is.