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Neville was trying to fall asleep for the last three hours now, drifting from almost unconscious to wide awake not knowing the reason for it. After so many attempts he felt like this was finally it when a shattering sound startled him and he sat up looking around in confusion trying to make out the source of it. Neville quickly figured out that it didn’t come out of his dorm room and decided that he would go investigate to see if anyone was hurt.
He swung his legs carefully over the edge, not caring to put his slippers on and stood up. A yawn escaped him as he tiptoed towards the door over the cool floor boards. When Neville stepped into the hallway he heard what resembled soft whimpering coming from downstairs which made a wave of concern wash over him. Did someone get hurt?
As he quietly made his way down the steps the whimpering turned louder and soon into audible sobs. Neville furrowed his brows while falling into a train of thoughts, what should he do when he reached the common room? Who was there crying and would they even want anyone seeing them crying?
His thoughts came to a stop when he reached the bottom of the staircase and stepped into his familiar common room adorned with the red and golden colours of his house. Thanks to it being so late into the night the room was completely empty besides that one lonely figure sitting by the fireplace, their legs tucked close to their chest and arms wrapped around them. They were clearly shaking and trying to keep their sobs in, and as to not startle them too much Neville cleared his throat as softly as possible which went not quite as he hoped.
The person whipped their head around and Neville locked eyes with a familiar person. It was (Y/N), a friend of Ginny’s who she introduced him to at the beginning of last year. They became quick friends and something inside him started to sting at the sight of her. He clearly saw a dullness in her eyes and the puffed up cheeks even with the dim light coming from the almost burned out fire. She quickly rubbed over her face but went over her cheeks a bit more before clearing her throat as well.
“Oh Neville, hey, why are you still up so late?” (Y/N) tried to muster up a smile but the pain in her eyes and voice was obvious enough. It hurted Neville to see her like that but he plaid along for now.
“Hey (Y/N), I had trouble falling asleep and then I heard something shatter and came to investigate. Are you okay?” Seeing her dull eyes and the lack of sparkle they usually held made Neville a bit uneasy and he shifted from one feet to the other.
“Yeah I’m fine and I didn’t hear anything. Your ears are probably playing tricks on you from the lack of sleep. It must have been the wind.”
She still kept a smile on her face and Neville thought about a second if he should leave it by that. He could always tell if people didn’t want to talk about particular problems and he could see it here too. He gave her a small nod.
“You must be right, it is pretty windy outside.” Neville turned around and walked up a few steps before turning around again to face the girl sitting on the chair. “Goodnight (Y/N). See you tomorrow at breakfast.”
“Alright, goodnight Neville.”
With that Neville continued to ascend the steps back to his dormitory thinking about the encounter. He didn’t want to leave her downstairs all by herself but he knew better than to stay when someone visibly wanted to be alone. Still Neville thought about something he could do to help and show that he was there for her when she needed him.
As he reached the top Neville sat down on the steps and leaned against the cold brick wall. He didn’t care about that in the moment nor that he wasn’t exactly the best singer when he started to sing a little muggle song you showed him not too long ago. It was called Lean on me and Neville thought it was quite fitting for this situation. He sang quiet enough not to wake anybody else up but still loud enough for her to hear downstairs.
And down in the common room a real meant smile made its way on the girls lips and a small spark came back into her eyes. She knew he did it for her and suddenly she didn’t feel so alone. (Y/N) knew that she found not only a friend but someone very special in Neville and that leaning on him for support was an offer he would always hold out for her.
And maybe… just maybe… she would consider taking him up on the offer someday…