Beware of the Fat Muggle In Love

------------------Beware of the fat Muggle in love part 9. " The two Animagi"----------------------

It was just one week until the first trip to Hogsmeade took place.

Neville was getting more comfortable with the idea of being bisexual and found his eyes wandering after guys more and more often.

"No! I'm quite sure! Will you just lay off, it's been weeks!!" Neville had once again given Ron a negative answer to his most frequently asked question; was Malfoy a flaming queer or not?

"Oh come on! Look at the way he swings his hips in a totally sexy way!" Ron exclaimed. Two Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin heard him and looked at him, shocked.

Neville buried his face in his hands and rubbed his temples.

"I've told you a million times. He's NOT GAY!! Drop it!!"

Ron looked miffed but didn't say anything. They started walking towards the North Tower so they would be in time for Divination; they had already been late four times since the year started and they were running out of cover stories.

Since their talk in the dormitory the night after the Halloween party, Ron and Neville had become really good friends and found themselves doing all kinds of mischief, not unlike the twins did before they graduated.

Ron had helped Neville get better in Potions and Neville had done the same for Ron in Herbology.

"But you have to admit..." Ron started saying but was cut off by Neville.

"Stop it! He's not gay even in the slightest! I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were hot for him," Ron gaped at Neville's comment.

"I...I'm NOT!" He said.

Neville snickered.

"Seems like it. Why else won't you accept that he's not gay?" Neville said looking smug.

He loved teasing Ron like this because he knew that Ron wasn't as sure about himself as he let on and a well-placed comment could get a really funny expression out of him.

"Ok! I won't bring it up again," Ron said.

"Then your sex life really would be even more boring than it already is," Neville giggled. Ron scowled.

"As if my sex life wasn't as dead as a doornail! Not one girl has made a pass at me since the Halloween party. The only sexual encounter all year was that Hufflepuff that wanted me to owl him for a date, and that is completely out of the question!" Ron crossed his arms and looked very grumpy as Neville climbed the stairs up to the Divination classroom.

The class was just as boring as usual; the only exciting thing that happened was when Harry fell asleep and accidentally spoke a colour-changing charm when Trelawney walked by, making her turn deep purple from top to bottom.

Harry, of course, got detention and five points taken from Gryffindor.

Later when Ron, Neville and Harry were sitting in the Great Hall, eating lunch, Neville had decided to come out to Harry, Seamus, Dean and Lee.

He was of course nervous, but his mind was set and nothing could really change it.

"Erh, guys? Remember that time when Malfoy asked me that question during Potions a while back?" he began.

They all nodded, looking curious. Ron knew what he was doing and he gave him a supporting smile.

"Well, it seems that he was almost right." Their eyebrows went flying up to their foreheads in shock; all except Harry's, who seemed to be everything but surprised. Neville noticed and made a mental note to ask him about that later. And there still was the question about who that Hufflepuff was.

"You're...a homo?!?" exclaimed Seamus in his Irish accent. Ginny and Parvati heard him and was now looking very curiously in their direction.

"No. I'm bisexual," Neville whispered. "...and would you please shut up! I don't want this to be common knowledge yet," he continued.

They nodded yet again, but looked a bit shaken still. This was hardly what they expected to hear during lunch, when they got out of bed that morning.

"So, are you...like, shagging someone?" Dean asked, slightly embarrassed.

"No. And I wont go with you to Hogsmeade, no matter how much you beg," Neville said lowly with a wicked smile.

Dean looked abhorred, but started to laugh when all the others did so, loudly.

"What's so funny?" Hermione had just sat down next to Ron, when they'd all started laughing.

"Neville will have to fill that one. But as long as we're on the subject; will you go with me to Hogsmeade this Saturday?" Ron asked her without thinking.

She was completely surprised and gave a stuttering 'I guess so' as an answer.

Ron positively radiated and hugged her tightly, kissing her on the cheek.

"Ok, now that's enough, you hear? No more surprises like that for today," Lee said sharply.

"What? What other surprises have I missed?" Hermione asked confused.

"I'll tell her later after class," Neville said to the others looking at his wristwatch. He'd bought it in a Muggle shop, when he'd been to visit Harry over the summer. "Speaking of which, Herbology starts in ten minutes! We should get a move on!" he continued.

They all rose and practically ran out from the Great Hall towards the greenhouses.

When they had finished Herbology, Potions and History of Magic, they were all tired beyond wits and went to the common room and just dove into the couches, doing nothing.

Harry, being the new captain of the Quidditch team, had to haul off to the Pitch together with Ron for training; He'd been chosen to be the new Keeper to fill Oliver Wood's place on the team.

"Neville?" Hermione woke him from a light sleep.

"Whu?" he responded.

"Those surprises Lee was talking about. What were they?"

Neville sat up and rubbed his eyes, still not fully awake.

"Well, nothing much," he said, trying to sound casual.

"Just me being bisexual and that I won't be taking Dean to Hogsmeade," Hermione gaped.

"You? And Dean, too?" she asked.

"No, no. Just me," he said laughing, finally fully awake.

"Oh. So what Malfoy said..."

"Was true, in a sense, yes!" She thought about it, first frowning, then smiling.

"Well, now I finally have someone to discuss girl things with!" she laughed.

Neville laughed too. Then he remembered what Harry had told him the day after the Halloween party. About her being an Animagus.

"Isn't it time you told me a secret too?" he asked.

"What? A secret? I don't know what you..." she stopped when she saw that he already knew her secret.

"Oh, all right! I've been training to become an Animagus together with Harry since the year started," she said.

Neville frowned. Harry was becoming an Animagus too? He had said that it was just Hermione that was in training.

"Harry too?" he asked confused.

"Well yes. I thought you knew, judging from the look on your face," she said.

"I knew that YOU were in training, Harry told me, but he didn't say..."

"Harry told you? When did he do that?" she started to look a bit dangerous, Neville thought.

"He told me the day after the Halloween party. But I was on to him anyway so I guess he didn't want to risk my friendship by not telling me,"

"Uh huh?" she said, waiting for him to tell her more.

"And he said that you were pretending to be a couple so people wouldn't ask questions about where you went every night, assuming you were off snogging. But Harry didn't say that he was in training, he said that HE was off snogging," Neville said, afraid of getting it beaten out of him unless he didn't tell her.

"He was doing what?" Hermione exclaimed rather loud.

"Snogging."

"I heard that. Did he say with whom?"

"It was two girls," Neville began to say.

"TWO!?!" Hermione gasped, eyes wide in shock. She couldn't believe that this was Harry they were talking about.

"Yeah, The first one was Cho Chang," Neville said, voice shaking a bit.

"And the second?"

"He didn't say. We were interrupted. But he did say it was a Hufflepuff, though,"

Hermione looked like she was planning revenge on someone evil.

"Oh, I'll get him for this!" she said.

"Why? You're not together and he IS free to snog anyone he wants, really," Neville pointed out.

She looked like she was about to argue that point, but couldn't come to think of anything.

"Yeah...But I'll get him for telling about me being an Animagus. We were going to tell everyone after Christmas. McGonagall says we'll be finished training by then," she said, still a bit evil but more proud of herself than pissed off.

"Cool, I know you're a black panther, but what is Harry's shape?" Neville asked.

"I don't want to reveal that right now, really. That way you too will be surprised, even though not as much as the rest of the Gryffindors," she said.

"By the way, you haven't told Ron about us, have you?"

"No." He answered flatly.

"Good! Well, we'd better get some sleep if we are to get up in time for Defense against the Dark Arts tomorrow," she said and got up from the couch, stretching her arms.

"You're right, I guess," Neville answered and got up too.

Just as he was about to walk off towards the boys' dormitory, Hermione gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"For having the guts to tell everyone about your orientation," she said.

He merely smiled.

"That's no biggey," he said.

"AND for being honest with me about Harry. Thanks. Well, Good night!" She skipped over to the girls' dormitory and just as she was about to open the door, Neville called to her.

"Wet dreams!" She looked shocked for a minute and then gave him the finger in a teasing way.

"Just go, will you?" she said and went out the door.

Neville giggled as he went to bed. Harry and Ron was still not back from the training as they'd had the last training time of the day and would probably not be back for another half an hour.

As he lay in his bed, Neville started thinking about Dudley again, still not finding any flaws except him being a Slytherin.

And that, he thought, wasn't enough to reject him. But what else is there to do?

"Harry!?! Wake up!!" Professor Lupin had shouted to Harry several times before Harry lifted his head, with a piece of parchment stuck to his forehead, from the desk.

"I'm glad you decided to join us for class this morning, Harry. Now, could you tell me what you should do if you were being attacked by a eight-headed Hydra?" Lupin continued.

Harry frowned, but tried to look like he was thinking, obviously still trying not to fall asleep again.

Neville and Hermione guessed he'd been out all night snogging; Hermione looking especially displeased.

"I...I'd probably try to cut it's heads off, one by one, until it died of either blood loss or asphyxiation. Which ever comes first," Harry answered, thinking it was a correct answer and that he'd be left alone for a minute so he could wake up properly.

Lupin just shook his head and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"That was a bold answer, Harry, as I should have expected from you." He smiled at him. Then he walked through the classroom with his hairy hands behind his back.

"But I'm afraid that solution would not have worked in the long run," he continued. Harry looked more than a bit flattened.

"Does anybody else know how to come to grips with such a foe, without being eaten?" Lupin asked the class.

Hermione's hand flew up in the air, but Lupin took no notice of her, as he wanted someone else to give it a try.

Then Ron slowly raised his left hand, with a questioning look.

"Yes, Mr Weasley?"

"Erh... I don't know if it's correct but I'd probably put a blinding curse on it and stab it in the heart."

Lupin looked very strict and Ron thought for sure that his answer also was completely off.

But then Lupin smiled and nodded his head, causing his hair to fall into his eyes. Neville could hear how Padma and Parvati sighed longingly when Lupin did so.

"That is very much correct, Mr Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor!" Lupin said and gave Ron a little clap on the shoulder.

Ron smiled widely. He turned to look at Hermione, only to find her smiling even more so, but turning her head away as soon as their eyes met.

That made Ron smile even more. He liked it when he would make Hermione proud of him.

Professor Lupin sat down behind his desk and threw his feet up, looking at the big clock on the wall near the door.

"Well, then. Class is almost over so I might as well go through your homework for next week."

Everyone sighed.

"As you know, next weeks classes will be cancelled due to my...situation. So you will have extra time with this assignment, and I want it done thoroughly!"

The class nodded, knowing perfectly well why classes would be cancelled, as he said the words.

"The assignment is the following: You will pair up and find a somewhat dangerous creature on the school grounds and capture it. It can be anything from a Boggart to a BlastEnded Screwt, just as long as it is even remotely capable of injuring a human. You will get further instructions from Professor Snape, as this assignment has to do with both Potions and Defense against the Dark Arts."

Everyone, even Harry, looked positively curious about this little project or what you could call it.

"Now. Class dismissed!" Lupin said and everyone got up and walked towards the door.

"Erh...Harry? Could I talk to you for a minute?" he said just as Harry was about to walk through the door.

"Well...Ok."

Harry sat down on the front side of the desk; Lupin was still sitting with his feet on the short desk.

"If it's about sleeping in class, I'm very sorr..." Harry started saying, but was cut off by Lupin.

"It's about that, yes. I want you to know that I regard you as one of the top five students in this class,"

Harry smiled, blushing slightly.

"But lately your grades have been slipping. Other teachers have said that your grades in their classes have slipped as well," Harry now looked very uncomfortable.

Lupin leaned forward and looked Harry in the eye.

"I know why you've been sleeping in class," he said.

"Oh yeah?" Harry said, thinking it would be impossible for Remus Lupin to know what he'd been up to during the latest months.

"What have I been doing, then? Do you think," he added.

"You've been out all night snogging Cho Chang and..." He sniffed at Harry's arm quickly. Harry looked very confused.

"...and after you were done with her, you've been shagging that..."

"Stop! I...I...How the hell did you know about that?" Harry asked defeated.

Remus tapped his nose.

"Part of the werewolf thing. Sharpened senses. I can smell it, as you haven't had a chance to shower after yesterdays adventure in..." he sniffed Harry again."..the Astronomy Tower! Classic spot, that is," Remus laughed. "I've had a few lovers there myself when I was you're age!"

Harry was shocked at the statement, but he saw a little chance to get out of detention, if he was getting any.

"So...Then you know how it is. For someone my age, I can't just..." He was cut off once again.

"Oh no, you don't! I pulled that one myself when I was caught by McGonagall in sixth year," Remus waved his index finger at him.

"You're not getting detention. Or points taken from you're house. I just want you to slow down a bit. Don't let you're private life affect your grades like this; it won't be good for you when you graduate, believe me! This is an important part of your life and you should do your best. You'll have lots of time for shagging both men and women when you finish school. I know all about that! I had a whole network of 'admirers' when I got out of school. I want you to be the best wizard you can be and thinking about your enemies you really should try as hard as you can to reach that goal. So can you promise me that you will take it easy in the future?"

Harry sighed and nodded. Remus Lupin was definitely one of his favorite teachers and he'd understood every word he'd said.

"Good!" Remus stood up and walked towards the door, closely followed by Harry. Then the werewolf turned around and eyed Harry again.

"Do your friends know?" he asked.

"What? About Cho?"

"Yes. And about...You know," Remus smiled a mischievous smile.

"Heh! No, not really," Harry stared at the floor, blushing furiously.

"Tell them. They are better off knowing, and you won't have to sneak around anymore either,"

"But if I tell them, Cho will know about..." Remus cut him off once more. Harry started to really hate it when he did so.

"She already knows. I've asked her about it and she's fine with it." Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"She actually said that she'd like it if you met, all three of you, and had 'a good time'. I was SO shocked to hear her say something like that, really!" Remus said and waved his hand in a, to Harry, very queer manor.

"Cho said that?"

"Yeah! Cross my heart and hope to be petrified by a Basilisk!"

Harry was overwhelmed with emotions; He didn't know whether he should kiss Cho or...

Potions! He was running late. He quickly thanked Remus for the talk and shot off towards the dungeons, his head still in complete disarray.

He really had quite the nut to crack now!

Dudley and Malfoy snickered loudly as Snape gave Harry quite an ear-full and smugly took ten points from Gryffindor because he'd been exactly one minute late for class.

Harry tried to tell Snape that he'd had a talk with Lupin, but it was all in vain as Snape pretended not to notice Harry's presence.

Looking very murderous, Harry sat down next to Hermione and glared at Snape who smiled at Dudley and Malfoy when he heard their snickering.

"There's someone I'd like to kill off using a cheese cutter!" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"Harry! You can't kill a teacher like that!" she said, looking abhorred that he'd even suggested such a thing.

"You'll have to wait until you quit school or it'll affect your grades. You can't be so thoughtless," she grinned evilly.

Harry smiled at her and forgot to be angry with Snape.

She hadn't talked to him about telling Neville about her being an Animagus; she'd planned on talking to him that very evening and she'd even memorized a few nasty hexes to throw at him before even starting the conversation.

Malfoy looked positively radiant as Dudley taught him how to shoot spitballs through a straw he'd conjured.

Needless to say, the targets were Neville and Ron, who were sitting in an appropriate distance. Malfoy would have liked to spit some at Harry, but he and Hermione were too far away in the far side of the dungeon.

"What the hell is this?" Ron asked as quietly as he could while he wiped off a particularly wet spitball from his neck.

"I have no idea. It seems to be wet parchment, but where does it come from?" Neville asked without really expecting an answer.

Dudley and Malfoy were fighting the urge to laugh out loud as they sent two balls flying through the air, Malfoy's hitting Ron's neck and Dudley's landing square inside Neville's ear, causing him to stand up and shriek in discomfort, trying to get it out with his finger.

"What the hell are you doing, Longbottom? Sit down and behave like a normal person!!" Snape shouted to Neville.

"There's something in my ear!!" Neville screamed in horror, not knowing what the spitball really was.

"It's probably your brain trying to escape," Malfoy said loudly. Hermione looked at him and saw the straw clinched in his hand, immediately knowing what had happened.

She rose and moved very fast towards Neville. She took out her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she exclaimed and sent Neville in a backwards dive into the floor.

She sat down next to him and pointed her wand at his ear.

"Accio!" she said, making the spitball fly out of Neville's ear. But just as it was about to fly into her hand, she moved, and it went flying straight into Dudley's nose, making him snort and trying to pick it out.

"What the hell is this? Does anyone care to explain? You! Granger, talk!" Snape commanded.

"It seems that Malfoy here has been sending spitballs towards Neville and one got stuck in his ear. I got rid of it but it unfortunately got stuck up Dudley's nose," she said very scientific and factual pointing her wand at the person being named, as they were being named, like evidence in a murder trial labelled with 'a', 'b' and 'c'.

"Spitballs? Are you serious? I've never heard of such a thing!!" Snape bellowed.

"Well, you've never been to a Muggle school either, and it is a very common thing. I suspect that Dudley here showed Malfoy how to do it," Hermione said as Snape looked more and more pissed at not being able to take points from her for even a remote reason.

"Very well! Get back to your seat, Granger!" he hissed. Hermione looked miffed but did as she was ordered.

"Longbottom! You are to go to the hospital wing and make sure there's not more of that thing in your ear. Not that it'll affect your intelligence in any way," he continued. Dudley and Malfoy giggled.

"And you, Dursley! You will escort him. I'm sure that being in his complete brainless company for the walk to Madame Pomfrey is punishment enough for putting that thing in there in the first place." All the Gryffindors gaped at the incredibly soft reprimand Dudley had gotten and at how completely unfair Snape was being. But that wasn't really any news, was it?

Before Neville had the chance to protest having Dudley being his escort, the two boys were already on their way up the staircase leading out of the dungeons.

"Nice going, you dick!" Neville said while rubbing his ear.

"It wasn't my fault! It wasn't supposed to actually enter your ear, honestly!" Dudley said trying to redeem himself.

"What ever! That is really immature any way, what you and Malfoy are always doing. Picking on people without any reason."

"It's not like they don't deserve it!" Neville stopped walking and glared at Dudley.

"So I, the guy I KNOW you're having a crush on, deserve getting a piece of wet parchment stuck in my ear?"

"I...I'm not having a crush on you," Dudley said, unconvincingly.

"Oh really? That's what you said on the night of September first," Neville said and leaned against the wall, looking at his fingernails in a nonchalant way.

"Well...Well...Erh..." Dudley had no idea how to deny that; Neville HAD been there and heard it, so he couldn't very well lie and say that he never said it.

"Yeah. You're right. I AM in love with you," Dudley said lowly. Neville looked at him. He seemed very sad and for once, since he'd been friends with Malfoy, he looked like himself again.

Unsure of himself and secretly lost, Neville suddenly felt that electric feeling again, but this time it was a bit different. It felt warm and cosy. Comfortable.

"And I have been ever since you came to visit us at Privet Drive. I couldn't bear to not see you for at least a whole year; that's why I snuck onboard the train. To be with you," he continued, staring at the floor.

"When the hat sorted me into Slytherin, I was really disappointed. I wanted to be in your house, be your friend,"

"You really care for me?" Neville whispered, but Dudley didn't hear him.

"I wanted to be your..." Dudley raised his head and looked Neville in the eye. "...your lover."

Neville walked up to him slowly. He searched Dudley's face for anything that would imply that this was just another joke staged by Malfoy. He couldn't find any trace of the rude glare Dudley had had during the past months. Dudley wasn't acting; it was for real.

"But I guess it'll never happen. I'm gay and you're not, and that's that. End of story, I guess," Dudley said with a tear rolling down his round cheek and lowered his head, looking at the floor again.

Neville lifted his face and smiled at Dudley.

All of the past doubts Neville had had about his sexual orientation was completely washed away.

Then Neville kissed him.

-------To be continued in chapter 10: "A crowded Astronomy Tower"------