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Hermione banged her head against the table. Working together, the two had managed to put Harry in Ron’s bed without waking anyone up. (His pyjamas had shrunk with him, which was a relief.) Thankfully it was the weekend, so they didn’t have to make excuses about why he wasn’t in class. Maybe a random Hufflepuff or Slytherin would go unnoticed, but Harry Potter? Definitely not.
Ron looked over at her. “Do we have to keep it a secret? Can’t we tell Madam Pomphrey or something?”
She picked up her head and glared at him. He shrunk a bit in his seat. “No. You know things get around at Hogwarts. No matter how hard we tried to keep it secret, someone would find out, and then the whole school would know. Harry’s been through enough already, and we don’t even know if he’ll remember this if- when we fix it.”
She caught herself, but Ron had heard the if. “But this spell was made up, wasn’t it? How do you know we can find one to reverse it?” Hermione gave him another look, this one more tired than angry, though with a hint of exasperation.
“I don’t. But we have to try. Meanwhile, who can we trust to help?”
Ron thought. “Ginny?” Hermione nodded her approval. “Neville too. And Luna.” The redhead made a face at this suggestion and began to say something, but was quickly quieted by another look.
“She may be strange, but she can keep a secret, and she’s very kind. She’s just different. Neville can be trusted as well, and obviously Ginny. That’s five of us. A bit bigger than I’d like, but not too big, and they can all help.”
Ron nodded. “Dean and Seamus are asleep now, but how do we hide that a four-year-old Harry Potter is sleeping in the dorm when they wake up?” Hermione paused at this. “If we tell Neville now, do you think he could help you hide Harry in the morning?”
“Probably.”
“Then go get him!”
Neville sat, thinking. He had taken the news considerably well, in Hermione’s opinion. “So, he used a spell on himself trying to… bring back his ‘childhood innocence?”
Hermione nodded. “I think he feels almost, well, responsible for Cedric, Sirius, and everyone else who’s died, even the people he doesn’t know.”
The boy shook his head. “That sounds like Harry. You know, he’s always been there for me, even when everyone else wasn’t.” He paused. “He pulled me back when Malfoy made a jab at the people in St. Mungo’s, before you all saw us there. It was like- he knew.”
“He did,” Ron murmured.
Neville blinked. “He did? How?”
Hermione shrugged. “After you left the ward that day, we all looked at each other, said we hadn’t known, couldn’t have guessed. Except for Harry. He wouldn’t explain how, exactly, just telling us he had known since fourth year but had kept the secret for you. Said he hadn’t planned to tell you until you were ready to tell him.”
Neville shook his head. “Just more proof of how caring he is. Of course I’ll help.” He turned to Ron. “We can tell Dean and Seamus that he’s off planning new tactics for the team to use and asked not to be disturbed. They’ll probably sleep in anyway, so we might not even have to use that excuse.”
Hermione smiled. “Good idea.” It faded a bit. “We don’t know what time he got up when he was that age, though, so we’ll have to be prepared. Petunia could have woken him up at 5 am, for all we know.”
Neville creased his brow, obviously concerned. “Isn’t that his aunt?”
The two glanced at each other. “Yes,” Hermione answered, a bit hesitant. Neville tilted his head. “I always figured something was going on at his house. He’s never mentioned anything, but the way he acts whenever you three get into your yearly fight, it’s like he’s used to being ignored or yelled at, yet it hurts him more that you two would do it to him or each other.”
The other two stared at him. “Yearly fight?” asked Ron at the same time Hermione said, “It hurts him that much?”
Neville shook his head. “You are obviously not good at reading people. Yes, Ron, yearly fight. You basically hated Hermione the first half of first year, second year- well, I don’t think anything really happened that year, besides the whole chamber thing, third year you were mad at Hermione because of your rat and Harry was mad at her because of the broom thing, fourth year you didn’t believe Harry and ignored him for a month or two, last year Hermione kept getting on Harry about Occlumency, which was very difficult for him and tired him out, and you were always on Hermione about S.P.E.W, which,” he added, glancing towards Hermione, “is a good idea, you’re just going about it wrong.
“Not to mention this year,” he continued before Hermione could interrupt, “you and Ron ignored each other because Ron was stupid and got with Lavender, which was very hard on Harry, by the way, trying to continue being friends with both of you. I expect next year will be the most dramatic fight of all.”
Ron took all this information in as Neville turned to Hermione. “Yes, it hurts him that much. You two may be his best friends, but,” he smiled a bit, “I believe I may have accidentally nominated myself as the therapist friend. People know I can listen, keep a secret, and I won’t judge them. So, yes, your fighting is hard on Harry. Plus the fact that he’s witnessed so much loss now, you not being there for him, not fully, hurts. I’m honestly not surprised that he tried to cast that spell. I don’t think he knew what it would do, exactly, but he just wanted to go back to when he had two good friends and hadn’t lost anyone, besides his parents.”
Hermione shook her head. “I never- never knew. I know that Sirius and Cedric’s deaths had been hard on him, and I knew that our fighting didn’t make him- well, didn’t make him, happy, obviously, but… still.”
Ron looked up. “How have we never heard of you being a therapist?”
Neville thought. “I think it started in my second year with Patty, a little 11-year-old Hufflepuff. She- well, she was going through some things, and needed someone to listen to her talk. After that, I was only recommended to those that really needed someone to listen and sometimes give advice. I suppose they just didn’t want someone to find out about me and my, well,” he chuckled, “my therapy sessions, and pressure or bully me to stop.”
He nodded. “That… makes sense. We uh, we should probably head up to the dorms now.
Hermione glanced at the clock, startled. “Oh, good plan.” She got up and absentmindedly gave the two a smile as she went up the stairs of the girl’s dormitories, though she was obviously worried.
The redhead turned to his friend and hesitated. He couldn’t believe that he had never known all these things about Neville.
Then again, he had never asked.
“Shall we?”
The latter nodded and went up the stairs with him, both of them not at all prepared for the events that were preparing to come.