Briar and Neville were in the greenhouse that afternoon to look at his mimbulus mimbletonia. It had grown substantially over the holiday, but Briar wouldn't have thought to look if not for Neville. She was distracted as he rambled about it excitedly, slightly rolling back and forth on his feet as he discussed how tall his plant could get eventually. Briar was drawn in to him, and she donned a small grin as her eyes contentedly drifted over his beaming face.

Neville's eyes were bright and shining when he looked down at the mimbulus mimbletonia and gushed, "Can you believe it?"

Briar distractedly nodded as she kept scanning his face.

His cheeks were flushed from excitement and from his lack of air after how rapidly he had been talking. Briar felt warm inside as she noticed how comfortable he seemed around her. She knew first hand that this was huge, especially for a shy boy like him.

Neville's nose was adorably scrunched as he ranted about obscure facts about his plant before looking to Briar with round eyes to wonder, "Did you know that?"

Every time he did that, she politely shook her head and sent a soft grin his way.

As he kept talking rapidly, knowing more than Briar realized there was to know about a single plant, her eyes trailed down to his lips. They were pink and probably soft, and a thought began to leak to the forefront of her mind that made her really want to know if her suspicions were correct.

Briar didn't realize that she was still staring at his lips until Neville twisted his face to look at her. His words died in his throat when he realized that she wasn't looking at his mimbulus mimbletonia or his eyes. Pink splattered across his cheeks, and not from talking too fast this time.

He realized that Briar was staring at his mouth.

Briar noticed his reaction, and the reality of what she had been doing caused her to stumble back a few steps. She felt a shame slowly washing over her like a thick veil, and it was all she could do to grab her bag from the floor and sprint out of the greenhouse.

Neville didn't call for her. He couldn't. He was absolutely speechless, but Briar assumed that he was horrified.

Why would an angel like him ever fancy a girl as broken as her?

-

Briar crashed into her dorm room like a bull in a China shop, making all three of her roommates jolt at the rough way their raven haired roommate had entered the space. They all glanced at one another curiously when Briar dumped her bag on the floor and flopped face first onto her mattress. They had never seen her do that before.

Pansy scrambled to her feet and hurried over to Briar to ask, "Are you okay?"

Without lifting her face from her duvet, Briar loudly groaned, "No."

Daphne padded over to Briar's bedside and nervously played with her blonde hair. She questioned, "Did Malfoy do something again?"

Millicent piped up, "If so, we weren't part of it!"

Pansy vehemently nodded and confirmed, "Yeah, we wouldn't ever join in that foolish git's cruel jokes on you."

Briar just groaned into her bed and grumbled, "It wasn't him...for once."

Pansy cautiously lowered herself onto the mattress beside Briar and wondered, "Then what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Briar pouted into her blankets, feeling like she was about to feel the shame all over again.

Somehow her words seemed to trigger something in the other girls. Daphne realized, "Weren't you just with Longbottom?"

"Yeah, she was!" Millicent agreed with an amused giggle.

Pansy nudged Briar's side with her elbow and sang, "So? Did you snog him next to his nimblelus or whatever it's called?"

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," Briar grumbled into the thick covers that muffled her pronunciation.

"You didn't deny it," Daphne realized with a loud gasp.

Briar whipped around and pointed an accusatory finger at Daphne. She threateningly drawled, "We didn't kiss."

Millicent put a hand over her mouth and pushed out through a giggle, "But you wanted to I bet!"

Briar loudly groaned and fell backward onto her bed.

Pansy leaned forward excitedly and questioned, "Is it true? So it's true then? You're finally admitting you fancy the boy? You wanted to snog him today?"

Briar pulled her pillow over her face and whined, "Just leave me alone, won't you?"

The other three girls in the room all squealed, feeling excited that their roommate was at least not denying her feelings anymore. It had been painfully obvious that she fancied him when they watched Neville and Briar interacting over the years, especially lately.

She rolled over onto her stomach again and let out a long string of undistinguishable grumbles, and the other three girls noticed with giggling. Pansy chuckled to Daphne, "I bet he'd be a bad kisser. Probably never kissed a girl before."

Daphne gushed, "Aw, she'd be his first!"

"Shut up!" Briar yelled into her pillow.

After a moment of giggling, Millicent wondered, "What happened that's made you feel so embarrassed?"

"He caught me staring."

Daphne drew nearer and clarified, "Staring at what?"

When Briar remained silent except for a loud whining noise, Pansy snickered, "She was staring at his lips."

Briar threw her spare pillow in Pansy's direction as forcefully as she could. She felt satisfied when she heard Pansy let out a yelp.

Daphne prodded, "Come on, Briar, don't be embarrassed. I'm sure he was thinking the same thing. You're beautiful, truly."

"Thanks."

Millicent plopped onto Briar's bed and pleaded, "Can you tell us about it?"

"About what led up to it and what happened after?" Pansy cooed as she climbed onto the bed as well.

Daphne jumped onto the bed finally and chirped, "Yeah! It's fun to chitter about it with your mates."

Briar let out a throaty groan and grunted, "No."

"Come on, please? We'd love to hear about it. You're so cute with Neville, love."

"Yeah, we won't tease you. We love to talk about this stuff."

"We talk about it all the time-"

"-all day long really."

"Professor Snape had to take away house points once because we wouldn't stop chattering about how Malfoy looked in his quidditch uniform."

"And you know how Snape feels about Slytherin house points."

Briar just wanted their pestering to stop, so she sat up in her bed and grumbled, "Fine. Scoot over, you're all making me feel cramped on this little bed."

They all looked at her expectantly, and she stared over at the deep green lake water lapping up against the side of the window. It made her feel calmer somehow, but it also gave her an excuse to avoid her roommates' curious eye contact. After a few moments of silence, Briar admitted, "I don't really know how to do this."

"Gossip about boys? Well, just treat it like you're telling a story," Daphne helpfully commanded her with a reassuring smile. She reached out to give Briar's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Pansy gave her a bright smile and offered, "Start with what happened when you first got there."

Briar crinkled her nose in discomfort but nodded slowly and began to tell them what had happened that afternoon. The girls were all squealing at certain comments, and they all cooed over "how cute" Neville and Briar were. They all looked at each other with proud smiles when Briar finally admitted to them that she thought she fancied the boy. Her cheeks had never gotten more pink than the moment when she admitted this to them, and she honestly couldn't believe that she was admitting it to them. The way they responded with such excitement and giddiness made her feel better about sharing this secret, like maybe it didn't have to be a secret or a horrible nightmare come to fruition.

Maybe it was just normal, whatever that was supposed to mean.

When Briar looked at them all with a hint of fear afterwards, they agreed to keep her secret safe, but Briar felt that this was probably useless. Her crush on Neville Longbottom seemed to be common knowledge amongst her peers, even in different houses and different years.

She just hoped her father never found out.

———