Neville took a gulp of butterbeer and sank back in the chair that he had commandeered an hour before. The Potter alliance tent continued to buzz with chatter and laughter as everyone celebrated the Irish win. The teams themselves had left ages before as had the Ministers who were expected back at the stadium for the official Ministry party. Some of the adults had departed for other places – Simeon and Anna had gone home; the Tonks' had headed to other friends. Many were taking turns to rotate a presence at the Ministry party except for Sirius.
Sirius had refused to move further than a half a tent from Harry and Neville could understand why after the events earlier that week. He hadn't strayed too far from Harry himself once they'd reunited in the box.
Zabini shifted beside him. Neville had made a concerted effort with the Slytherin remembering his comment at the party. Zabini had proven to have a sly sense of humour and a wicked eye for observation. Some of the comments he'd made as they people watched had had Neville and the others in hysterics.
Neville followed Zabini's gaze to where Harry was conversing with Nott and Hermione, along with Jeremy and Michael. It appeared that Jeremy knew Nott quite well and the group seemed animated, discussing something that had Hermione's hands flying in debate and Harry's head cocked to the side with interest.
He frowned. Malfoy had left with his father earlier to the Ministry party; he had gone protesting, claiming he preferred to stay with friends his own age but Lucius Malfoy had been insistent. He wasn't sure why Nott and Zabini had been allowed to stay since the Malfoys were hosting them but as Narcissa remained in the tent, he guessed protocol was satisfied. Neville pursed his lips. He and Ron had both noticed the Slytherins manoeuvring during the discussion of the Quidditch match. Both Nott and Malfoy had clearly decided to build a closer relationship with Harry – presumably not for Harry's benefit but their own.
Protectiveness welled up in Neville.
Harry was far too trusting and forgiving. Neville knew he himself had a problem with wanting to please people – especially his Gran – but his gratitude that some people wanted to be his friend was tempered by his Gran's lessons on the wizarding world and their various alliances. In fact Harry was the only person he believed had no ulterior motive in befriending him beyond wanting a friend himself, and that pleased him enormously.
He certainly knew Nott and Malfoy however would never approach a Longbottom or a Potter without ulterior motive. Harry though hadn't been raised to think of the possible alliance motivations first. Sirius was browbeating it into Harry but there were times during their politics lessons when he would have to question Harry at length before Harry would see how a discussion at a dinner with an ally wasn't just idle chatter but a testing of Harry's agenda.
Neville understood to some degree Harry shying away from viewing every interaction with suspicion, questioning every comment and monitoring himself to the nth degree. It was the core Slytherin behaviours that as Gryffindors they were meant to abhor. But politically it was behaviours they needed as Lords and Heads of Houses. Sirius for all he disliked his family had been raised as a Slytherin and was embracing that in order to protect Harry. Neville understood Harry was going to have to be more Slytherin if he was going to swim in the snake infested waters of the wizarding political world. Neville even thought Harry understood that just…Harry didn't want to act like a Slytherin.
Well, that was OK, Neville mused. He would act like a Slytherin; it didn't bother him. In fact he'd rather enjoyed the politics they'd been immersed in during the Summer. Harry could be Harry and Neville would deal with the politics within their alliance.
Which meant that Neville was going to have to deal with Malfoy and Nott.
He wasn't cowed by the idea as he might have been a few months before, but he wasn't looking forward to it either.
"Theo isn't so bad." Zabini said softly.
Neville's head snapped to him in alarm.
"You've been glaring at him for over a minute." Zabini pointed out as his wand sketched a privacy bubble around them – the underage tracking charm wouldn't be able to tell since they were surrounded by adults. "It wasn't really that hard to work out."
Obviously being Slytherin wasn't just a question of attitude, Neville thought sheepishly. He was being far too Gryffindor in his behaviour and body language.
"It's just…"
"You've realised Nott and Malfoy have understood the power Potter wields now and are repositioning themselves." Zabini supplied. He raised his bottle. "You're worried because Potter is politically naïve. Lord Black is trying to correct that but he cannot undo the years where Potter was kept unaware of his heritage and his position in a single Summer."
"I wouldn't call Harry naïve so much as wanting to think the best of people," Neville said firmly.
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