The Bet

"The Bet--Part Four--Neville Enters the Race"

A fan fiction by: Kaci JaBeth

Up in the Astronomy Tower, Neville was kissing Hermione and had started to take off her robe when he stopped.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Yes," she whispered.

Neville nodded and proceeded to attempt to give her a hickey. Hermione giggled because it tickled her neck. Neville smiled back at her and finally got that darn robe off.

-Scene Change-

And so another day came and went at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, Harry was casting a silencing spell to make them shut up, and Neville had not slept in his bed.

"Where is he?" Dean wondered.

"You don't think he..." Ron started, but then stopped, not believing the suggestion himself.

"Nah. There's no way. 'Mione? Come on, Ron," Seamus laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. There's no way that Hermione would do it with Neville..." Ron said.

And so without much more thought to Neville's whereabouts, four Gryffindor boys headed off to breakfast.

-Scene Change-

"See? There's Hermi right now. I told you Neville wasn't with her. He must've gone to the hospital wing or something," Seamus said as soon as they entered.

The other three boys nodded. Seamus was the first to walk off, heading straight for the Slytherin table. Ron headed to talk to some rather pretty Hufflepuffs. Dean glanced at Harry and then made a break for the Gryffindor table. Harry sighed and went to talk to Cho.

At the Ravenclaw table, Cho was sitting and chatting with some of her friends. Upon seeing Harry she started to frown.

"What's the matter, hon?" Harry asked, kissing her cheek.

"Nothing...can we talk outside? By ourselves?"

Harry nodded and the two Seekers exited the Great Hall for a quick chat.

"So, what's up?" he asked her.

"Well, it's just...this whole...boyfriend/girlfriend thing. I mean...I don't want to feel tied down. I really like you and all, and we can still date, but...I don't want to be...exclusive and all..."

"Let me guess. Someone you like more asked you out, huh?" Harry said blankly. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"Got it. Later," he said as he walked back into the Hall to eat breakfast.

-Scene Change-

Another day of classes came and went without much disturbance. Four Gryffindor boys were awake in their dorm rooms late one evening sharing the stories of their conquests.

"Well, I scored two more." Dean said.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Alisha and Tammy."

Ron dutifully marked Dean's two.

"Well, I had just one today," Ron said sadly and marked it down. "Just Beth."

"Put me down for three," Harry said.

Everyone turned to look at Harry in shock.

"What? Don't act like I can't get a girl. That's how this whole mess started."

"WHO?" Ron asked, eager to know who his best friend had been off shagging during the day.

"Emily, Caitlin, and Belle."

"I thought you were going all...committed with Cho?" Dean said.

"I was. 'Till she dumped me this morning. I got pissed so I decided to use this whole 'scarhead' thing to my advantage."

The other three boys glanced at each other. If Harry started to use his fame against them, he'd leave them all in his dust.

"Well, I got two today," Seamus broke in.

"Just two?"

"Yeah. But believe me. This should count as like, a hundred!"

"You know you can't count the same person twice, Seamus," Ron pointed out.

"I know, but wait till you hear who it was!"

"Fine, who was it?" Dean asked.

"Well, it was Pansy Parkinson..."

Everyone looked up at him in shock.

"But she's a girl! Isn't she?" Ron said, eyeing Seamus.

"Yes, she is."

"And you...you're straight?"

"Nah. I didn't like it that much. But anyway, it was her and Malfoy."

The room went completely silent. Everyone just stared at Seamus aghast.

"MALFOY IS GAY?!?!?!?!?!?!" came the chorus when the other three finally regained their ability to talk.

"No, would you guys just let me finish? I had a threesome with him and Pansy. Apparently, their sex life is getting boring," Seamus started as everyone winced at the thought of Malfoy having any semblance of a sex-life, much less a boring one with Pansy, "and Pansy suggested a threesome. Well, long story short, Malfoy is bi and they decided to get another guy, and that's where I come in."

Seamus finished his story and was grinning from ear to ear.

"I thought we had a rule about NOT SHARING THE DETAILS!" Dean shouted.

"Sorry, but I just thought...come on, that one needed telling!"

"Fine," Ron grumbled. "Still only counts as one."

"What? I slept with TWO people!" Seamus insisted.

"Yes, but just because you go both ways now or whatever, you get to chose from twice as many people. We still only get to chose from the girls. That's not fair. I'll give you Malfoy, but you can't count Pansy."

"Fine," Seamus said in an annoyed tone.

Ron dutifully marked Seamus' one down and tossed the paper beside his bed. "Hey, you guys? You think we should go visit Neville? I'm worried about him."

"Yeah, we'll go in the morning. First thing after breakfast."

However, they didn't have time to wait for breakfast, because at this moment, a very dazed and tired looking Neville stumbled through the door and collapsed on his bed. He shut the curtains immediately and the rustling of robes being changed out of and pajamas being changed into could be heard. Then a voice came from the behind the curtain.

"Hey, Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Put me down for seven."

Everyone's eyes shot wide open. There was no way they could sleep now. They ran over and pulled the curtain back. Neville was sitting on his bed in his PJ's grinning.

"Spill," Dean ordered.

"Well, I went up to the Astronomy Tower last night with Hermione. One! Then she left first. On my way back later, Lavender stopped me. She was really pissed to hear that you're already shagging someone else, you know, Ron. And so she thought the perfect revenge would be to sleep with me, your roommate. Two! Then the same thing kept happening. Next it was Parvati, Dean. Then Katie, then Leslie, Michelle, then Andrew, I turned that one down, though, and then I just got finished with Lorraine."

The other four boys stared at Neville, aghast.

"You're kidding, right?" Ron finally asked.

"Nope!" Neville said smiling.

And so Ron got up and dutifully marked Neville's seven in the barren column on the parchment.

The other three boys were still staring at Neville, their jaws on the floor. Finally, Seamus spoke up.

"That was a bad move, turning down Andrew."

"Why?"

"Trust me. Five minutes with him, and I don't care if you're straight. He'd have made it worth your while to experiment."

With that, Seamus got up and went back to his bed. Neville just stared after him, bewildered.

Without a word, Dean and Harry each got up and went back to their beds. Everyone was completely silent, shocked that Neville had finally entered the race.

"Good night you guys!" Neville said cheerily.

And it was a good night. A very good night.