That Thursday during breakfast, Briar was eating sullenly and still worrying about what her father had said. The rumors about Voldemort's army forming continued to circulate around the school, keeping all of her concerns from the summer at the forefront of her thoughts. Briar couldn't escape the talk of the looming war at home or at school, and all of it felt exhausting.

The worst part was the whispering. People began to whisper constantly, and some were whispering about the Malfoy's.

Briar knew it wouldn't be long until they'd be talking about her family too.

These thoughts were weighing down on Briar, and all of her fellow Slytherins recognized the need to just leave her alone that breakfast. No one had addressed her, but she likely wouldn't have noticed if they had. The dark bags under her eyes were the indication that she had been hardly sleeping, and they knew better than to mess with Briar when she was tired, and yet, some of her fellow Slytherins seemed to find ways to push her buttons without even trying.

Just as Briar had swallowed a mouthful of porridge that morning, she noticed Malfoy and Blaise's stares following something moving behind her. Their lips curled into cruel smiles, and they looked at Briar out of the corners of their eyes. She noticed and scowled. Were Crabbe and Goyle about to sneak up behind her and try to scare her? She wasn't in the mood.

She flipped around in her seat quickly and bumped into someone who had been walking right behind her in the narrow aisle between the tables. Briar gasped as something wet and cold drenched her arm and down the side of her robes.

Briar shook off the pumpkin juice that she was unfortunately now wearing as she heard Neville's soft voice spluttering, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, Briar! I didn't mean to! I swear!"

From a spot behind her, Crabbe gulped, "He's dead."

Her fellow Slytherins all painfully recalled the time during their 2nd year when Malfoy had gotten into an argument with Briar and then purposefully drenched her with his water in his anger. Malfoy couldn't run fast enough that day, and they all assumed she would treat this situation the same way.

Shocking all of her housemates, Briar actually smiled at Neville and shook her head. She looked at the darkened cloth of her robes and chuckled, "It's alright. I'll just run back to the dorms before class. I have a spare robe in my room."

Briar stood up and grabbed her bag from the seat beside her, offering a gentle smile to Neville when she straightened. She glanced back down at her nearly full bowl of porridge and wished she had gotten to finish her breakfast, but she just brushed it off. She would be fine.

Millicent gaped at Briar's gentle demeanor and protested, "But Briar, you'll be late to potions!" Everyone grew tense with this comment, expecting the black-haired Slytherin would immediately rage with this realization. Their table falling nearly silent as they all waited for her reaction.

Briar just shrugged and retorted, "Do I look like I care?"

All the Slytherins stared at Briar as if she'd grown another head while Neville had wide eyes and his hands in his hair. Briar tried to give Neville her most reassuring smile before she hurried off.

She began to speed-walk back to the dorms when she heard footsteps pattering behind her. Briar casted a glance over her shoulder and saw Neville hurrying to catch up to her, but he reached her rather quickly with his long strides.

He had grown tremendously over the summer, and Briar immediately noticed this when he stepped up beside her. He was tall now, and something about this made a flutter start in her chest. She frowned at that, but Neville saw and assumed she was upset. He rambled, "I'm so sorry, Briar! I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I'll uh, uh, I'll clean your robes myself! Once you change, just give them to me, and I'll make sure they're good as new. My nan taught me how to remove any stains. Oh my god, I hope it doesn't stain your robes! I'm such an idiot..."

Briar immediately came to a full stop and stared at Neville. She insisted, "No, no! Neville, I promise that I'm fine. I'm not upset. Not one bit."

His eyes were round and worried as he looked down at her. His bottom lip seemed to stick out a little as he whispered, "Are you sure?"

She fiercely nodded to try to convince him of the truth in her statement. She couldn't care less about him spilling his drink on her, but his concern that he had upset her made her believe that she could never be mad at him for anything. How could such a perfect human being exist? She thought to herself.

Neville bit his bottom lip for a few beats before he perked up and decided, "Well, I'll walk back to the dorms with you, so that you aren't late alone."

"No, no, you don't need to do that. Snape might take away points from Gryffindor," Briar argued, not wanting the boy to get into any trouble on her behalf.

Neville shifted his weight between his two feet and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his robes. He confessed, "It's okay. I'd like to go with you...unless you, uh, don't want me to, of course." His cheeks became a bright shade of pink, and he stared at the ground with wide eyes.

Briar nodded as a wide smile took over her face without her being able to stop it. She chuckled, "Yeah, come on then. Slytherin dorms are this way."

The pair fell into a comfortable silence as Neville's tall frame shuffled along beside Briar's. After a few moments, Neville wrung his hands out in front of him and stammered, "So, um, I was just wondering if you wanted any more help in Herbology this year? I know you're really smart and probably don't need my help, but I thought I'd offer because it was nice to do it last year, but I understand if you'd rather not spend more time with me-"

Briar put a hand on Neville's arm to stop his downward spiral of self doubt. She assured him, "I'd love that, Neville. Are you free this weekend?"

Neville's mouth clamped shut as he looked down at Briar's arm with surprise spelled across his face. Briar noticed what she had done and pulled her arm away quickly, feeling heat rise to her cheeks.

Neville swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat, as he nodded. He offered, "If the weather's nice this weekend, we could go to the lake, and I could show you some of the incredible aquatic plants we have here."

"Yeah. I'd like that," Briar grinned. The smile almost felt unnatural on her face. She wasn't used to smiling this much, but it was like she couldn't help it when talking to Neville. His goodness just seemed to rub off on her.

Neville beamed at her response and fell into a silence again as they both finished their journey to the Slytherin dorms. A few Slytherins passed them and exchanged horrified glances. Many of them had never seen Briar smile like that before, and without her knowledge, people began to whisper about her, but not in the way she had been expecting.

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