"Hi," Neville said and Harry looked at him. "Sorry if I'm disturbing you." 
                              
Harry shook his head indifferently and looked back at the fire. 
                              
"You know we've all been worried about you. You came back all beat up and thin. You don't sleep and you have dreams about.... You talk in your sleep sometimes, you know," he said quietly. 
                              
Harry's throat seized up, but Neville continued, "I know you haven't talked to Ron and Hermione about what happened. Last time they asked you, you stopped hanging around them... again. Harry, there was nothing you could have done. I was there. If they hadn't come, we'd both be dead, or worse...." 
                              
Harry looked at him. Both Neville's parents were tortured until they were insane. They did not even recognize their own son. It was something that Harry was sure had tormented Neville his whole life. It was easier to talk to Neville. He knew what the loss meant. He grew up without his parents.
                              
"No one would have been killed if I didn't go there," Harry said, quietly.
                              
"Voldemort doesn't wait till it's convenient to kill people," Neville said, clearly.
                              
Harry looked at him. He had never dreamed he would hear Neville say Voldemort. 
                              
Neville sighed, "My whole life everyone has always had to help me. I-I used to think that my parents just wouldn't tell... them... what they knew... that they did it to protect me or be some kind of heroes. I hated them for that. I didn't understand then that it didn't matter if they knew or not. The Death Eaters are evil and they like to cause pain and suffering... and they are winning, Harry. You are letting them win. He wants you to suffer." 
                              
Harry stared silently into the flames, trying to understand exactly what Neville was saying.
                              
"When I first came here, I didn't really want to do magic. I didn't want to be like my parents, but then I met you. I liked it here, but I still was bad at doing magic. I never really was motivated to do better. Then he came back and I wanted to fight him like my parents did and you showed me how. You don't know how much you have done for me," he paused for a second and looked at Harry. "You were going to give them the prophecy, weren't you?" 
                              
Harry nodded, slowly. 
                              
Neville looked into the fire, lost in his own thoughts, "I guess I found out what the Cruciatus Curse feels like... I wonder how long they did it...."
                              
Harry broke his silence out of sympathy, "Neville, you shouldn't think about that...."
                              
"Why?" he said, looking back up at Harry. "It's what you are doing. I never told anyone about my parents, and the people that know don't bring it up... so that I would be ok... so that it wouldn't hurt? I've had to keep it inside me since I can remember. Harry, you have to talk to someone, don't hold it in. Believe me, I know...." 
                              
Tears were forming around his eyes, and without another word, he got up and walked out the portrait hole. Harry just stared at the exit. Everyone was worried about him and he had been ignoring them the whole time. He had already thought about it before, but the threat of the prophecy had overcome it. When the time comes, Hermione would bring it up soon....
                              
* * * * *
                              
It was almost the holidays, when Harry noticed something peculiar. It might have been because he started to spend more time in the Great Hall, or maybe from Gryffindors' performance in the last Quidditch match, or possibly, because Harry cursed those two Slytherin boys, but the fact remained that the animosity between Gryffindor and Slytherin had reached a new pinnacle. Many students from both Houses were sent to the hospital wing after several altercations.