Originally Posted: Feb. 25th, 2006
Length/Rating: 100 words, PG, Gen
Pairing/Warnings: none
Summary:  Midnight could-have-beens.

HARRY POTTER is trademark and copyright JK Rowling, her publisher Bloomsbury, and, to some extent, Warner Bros. All rights reserved. No copyright infringement is intended nor implied.

It could have been him.

Neville thought about that sometimes, in the quiet hours of the night when the shadows crept into the castle. If it hadn’t been for that ironic twist of fate, it would have been him. He could be the one living in constant dread of what might lurk in the shadows. Not that Harry ever seemed particularly worried, but Neville knew that couldn’t last. To have to live with knowing… knowing any day, any moment might be your last. He stared into the shadows and clutched his wand a little tighter.

It could have been him.