The Bet

"The Bet--Part Six--Neville Takes the Lead"

A week had passed. Four Gryffindor boys had seen their numbers drop, and one had saw his numbers skyrocket.

The morning dawned, and students shuffled down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Upon sitting down next to Hermione, Neville fell asleep, and his face fell down into his bowl of oatmeal.

Hermione gasped at the sight. "Neville, come on! Wake up! Are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." He said, sitting up. Hermione did a quick spell to clean his face off and he kissed her good morning.

"Neville, you've been acting really strange lately. You keep skipping class, you're always tired, and you hardly want anything to do with me anymore."

"That's because I'm cheating on you," he thought. He couldn't tell her that, though. So he told her, "I'm sorry."

"I think you need to go to Madam Pomfrey's."

"No! I mean, uh, my Gran sent me this uh, family remedy. I think I'll try it first."

"Okay," Hermione said, "if you're sure."

"I am."

Hermione sighed, stood up, and left to go get her books. As Neville stood to follow her, Lavender walked by him and whispered, "Astronomy Tower. Katie, Leslie, Sheila, and Laila are waiting for you."

Neville groaned. What did these girls think he was? A machine? He needed his rest, damn it.

-Scene Change-

In potions class, Hermione sat alone, worrying about Neville.

"Five points from Gryffindor for Miss Granger's lack of attention to the matter at hand," Snape said. Hermione snapped out of her trance and looked up at him. A smile played on his lips. He knew who she was worried about. Hermione sneered at him.

-Scene Change-

That night, Neville was in the common room, whispering with Lavender. Hermione slipped into a dark corner and cast a charm so she could hear what they were saying.

"I'm too damn tired, Lavender. Can't we just tone it down a little?"

"No. Those bastards can not win! We won't allow it."

"Lavender, you're getting a bit obsessive about this."

"SO WHAT IF I AM? THOSE BASTARDS SLEPT WITH US, AND BROKE OUR HEARTS!"

"Which is why I don't want to sleep with said broken-hearted girls just to win a bet. I feel awful, cheating on Hermione like this."

"It's a necessary sacrifice," Lavender shrugged.

"Well, it's one that I'm not willing to make."

"Neville, you will help us with this."

"And if I don't?"

"Then we'll permanently tattoo "Property of Severus Snape" on your head."

"So? I'll just cast a charm to get it off."

"We'll do the tattoo the Muggle way and no amount of charms can get rid of it. Only expensive laser surgery can."

Neville looked frightened. "No, not a laser! I'm allergic to lasers!"

"Exactly. So, will you help us?"

"Yes," he grumbled.

"Good."

Lavender got up and headed to her room, while Neville wandered off to his room. He was already late for their meeting. Neither one of them noticed a silently crying Hermione in the corner.

-Scene Change-

Neville entered his dorm room to find Dean, Seamus, Ron, and Harry looking very grumpy.

"Well, there he is. Mr. The-Only-One-Around-Here-Who's-Still-Gettin'-Laid," Dean said sarcastically.

Neville sighed and sat down on his bed.

"Now, where were we? Oh yeah, Dean. Your turn," Ron said.

"You know what my score is, Ron. It's the same as yours and Harry's. NONE."

Ron nodded and looked at Seamus.

"One."

Ron wrote the number down as Seamus laid his frustrated head down and tried to go to sleep.

"Well, sex machine? How many?" Ron said sarcastically.

"Eight," Neville said.

Ron sighed and marked it.

"This is fucking impossible," he mumbled.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Neville's in the lead," Ron whispered.

There was a collective gasp and everyone started to shout over top each other "That's not possible!" "You're adding wrong!" "There's no way that little wanker is beating me!" and other phrases of disbelief.

After everyone had checked to insure that Ron's adding was correct, they discovered that yes, indeed, Neville had taken the lead.

They all lay down and tried to go to sleep, but only Neville did. The other four lay there with one thought on their minds. "How the hell is Neville in the lead?????