Disclaimer: this is a non-profit fanfiction that does not attempt to infringe the rights of those who have legal ownership of the franchises: Harry Potter.
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NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
Chapter 1: The new lion cub
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The silhouette of a cat appeared on a low wall in the middle of the night, suddenly the figure of a tall and old man made his appearance in the place, the lights of the lanterns were extinguished and the man approached the cat that magically transformed himself into an old woman.
“Albus," said the woman, "is it true what I heard about the Longbottoms?”
“I am afraid so, Minerva," said the old man with great sorrow, the old woman began to weep and the man proceeded to comfort her.
After a moment they arrived at the door of a mansion.
“How will we tell his grandmother?” McGonagall asked looking at Dumbledore, who had red eyes and was holding a boy with a scar on his forehead, a boy named Neville Longbottom.
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Ten years later....
Neville did not come out of his astonishment, only a couple of days ago he had finally shown that he was not a squib and had demonstrated magical powers by bouncing like a ball instead of crashing into the ground and dying (he had fallen from a high floor), and now he was receiving a letter admitting him to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore fearing that the dead eaters might try something against Neville, asked Hagrid to accompany the boy and his grandmother to do their shopping.
“Do you think it's okay if we go to a vault that Dumbledore asked me to go to first?” Hagrid asked. Neville and her grandmother didn't object.
In the depths of the bank, Neville could see how Hagrid raised a small packet and kept it with zeal in his coat, after that, the shopping passed normally, until they arrived at the "owls' emporium", which was a place where not only owls were sold, but other pets for the magicians.
“Mrs. Longbottom, please, toads went out of fashion more than fifty years ago, if the boy goes with a toad to school, all the boys will laugh at him," said Hagrid, when he saw that the store owner already had a pet reserved for him.
Neville's grandmother, who was a neurotic woman, scolded the poor man and he had to remain silent, he could not convince the woman that the boy should get rid of the toad that the boy's great-uncle gave him.
Hagrid decided not to meddle anymore, but when he found out they weren't going to buy a new wand for Neville either because he would use his father's wand...
“Mrs. Longbottom! The boy will not be able to demonstrate his full potential with an alien wand, no matter how much it belongs to his father. Neville, what do you think?”
Neville, who was rather shy, wanted to agree with him, but his grandmother's stern gaze made him say something very different.
“I want to... use my father's... wand, sir.”
Hagrid received another round of sour criticism from the old lady and finally decided not to comment any of this in front of Dumbledore, the man didn't want the director to feel sad when he saw how his decision to send Neville to his grandmother was not the right thing to do.
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Already on platform 9 and ¾ "Neville said goodbye to his grandmother and all his great uncles who also went to say goodbye to the boy. Neville was red as a tomato because several kids were already taunting him.
Upon entering the train a couple of Ravenclaw boys who saw all those old men saying goodbye to him, decided to abuse him and a girl stood up for Neville, but in that moment the poor boy released his toad which quickly escaped from the place.
“You want me to help you?” asked a girl with fluffy, tangled brown hair and rabbit teeth.
“Eh.... I.... Thank you, yes much," said Neville, who turned red like a tomato.
“You're Neville Longbottom! I am Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you.”
“My name is Neville... Neville Longbottom," said Neville forgetting that it was no longer necessary to say his name.
“It was horrible the way those students treated you, but don't worry, I'll help you find your toad, but first we'll arrange your luggage that is all over the corridor," said the girl with a smile, Neville could only nod with his head.
“Thank you... thank you for defending me against those Ravenclaws.”
“You don't have to be grateful, now let's look for your toad before we get to Hogwarts.”
The two boys, after searching for a long time, gave up and had to hurry to put on their tunics because they were already approaching Hogwarts station.
Hermione grabbed Neville's hand so that he wouldn't be left behind because of the sheer number of students there.
“Hurry Neville we have to go to the boats," said the girl without letting go of his hand.
“Aha...” He just said, never before had a girl held his hand... It felt nice.
Hagrid rushed the freshmen to hurry up. In the end, he and Hermione shared one of the boats with another girl named Parkinson.
The castle was imposing and they arrived at the inner landing of the castle, climbed a few steps and there they were met by professor McGonagall, she proceeded to explain some things to the boys when suddenly out of nowhere, Neville's toad made his untimely appearance.
“Trevor!” Neville shouted and walked up a few stairs grabbing the toad. The teacher looked at him with a gesture of few friends and then ordered them to wait a moment. Poor Neville was dying of shame, everyone laughed at him in his face and to his horror the Parkinson girl laughed at him too.
“So you're the famous Longbottom? my name is Draco, Draco Malfoy," said a boy with beautiful face and blonde hair.
A red-haired boy laughed in disguise and the blonde proceeded to insult him, then he extended his hand to Neville, who by his shyness proceeded to shake.
Professor McGonagall returned and everyone entered the large dining room of the castle, the roof of this one seemed to be made of glass because you could see the sky.
“The ceiling was bewitched so that the sky could be seen, I read it in Hogwarts's Story," Hermione told Pansy Parkinson.
The boys stopped in front of the sorting hat and at McGonagall's command one by one sat on a stool and the hat sent them to the respective house. Hermione went to Griffindor, but Pansy Parkinson, the girl who had caught Neville's attention, went to Slyterin, then it was his turn and everyone sitting on the edge of their seats.
“Ummm, the mind is not very disposed to study, but you have a gentle and noble heart, your sense of loyalty is very strong and you are one of those who strive to the maximum every day... I think I will put you in Hufflepuff.”
“No, please," Neville whispered, "put me on Griffindor.”
“But You'd be better off in Hufflepuff, you would have many friends in the loyal badgers...”
“No, please put me in Gryffindor. My grandmother will be angry with me, my parents belonged to Gryffindor... My grandmother and my great uncles will be angry...”
“You sure?... If you say so, then you will be GRYFFINDOR!”
Neville how relieved he was and fearing that the hat would change his mind rushed to the designated table, forgetting to take off the sorting hat, some students laughed but their laughter was silenced by the shouts of joy of the lions as they saw that the famous boy who lived belonged to Gryffindor. Dumbledore winked at Neville and he looked down because of his shyness.
Dinner was actually a banquet and Neville enjoyed it very much, Hermione was talking to him in a lively way and Neville now answered her more naturally, well not much, but it was something.
Neville tried to look at Slyterin's table to see if he could see Pansy and saw her talking cheerfully with Malfoy. Neville wanted Pansy to be in Gryffindor but his thoughts were interrupted by Percy who spoke to him in a grandiloquent way.
At the end of the banquet Percy led the boys to the Griffindor Tower, and Neville could see that he was sharing a room with a boy with beautiful green eyes and jet-black hair named Harry Potter and another tall boy with red hair like blood, called Ron Weasley, there were also two boys one named Seamus finnigan and the other named Dean Thomas, both very handsome boys.
“Dinner was good, right?” Neville said to them as he tried to make conversation, but Harry gave him a look of contempt.
“What did you think, Ron?” He insisted again.
“Why don't you ask your friends at Slyterin? Go shake hands with them," Ron said.
“He sure thinks he's better than us for being the kid who lived," Seamus told him.
“He's full of himself, he thinks he's so much, don't talk to him," Dean said.
Neville stood like a stone with his eyes wide open, he would have wanted to say something, tell them that it was not his intention to have shook Malfoy's hand, but his damned shyness soldered his jaw and turning around he changed his clothes and lay down on his bed, closing the curtains.
Neville could not sleep that night, he was not a cocky, did not feel superior to others, the fact that he was a squib most of his life had made his self-esteem go down, it did not matter that he was the famous child who lived, no magician family invited him to his children's birthdays because Neville was a squib, never had friends.
Neville was very nervous to think that he would share seven years of his life with those horrible Gryffindor boys, who were probably abusive and would abuse him for sure. It would repeat the same story as when he was in muggle school.
TO BE CONTINUE...
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Author's note: in the books Pansy is ugly but not in the early films, played by Katherine Nicholson and Genevieve Gaunt
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