Chapter 173: Chap.170 - Apology

At the table, Harry was still lost in thought. Rigel's words had made him think of the Dursleys, and although he knew Rigel wasn't wrong, and could even identify somewhat with his situation, he still felt a little annoyed.

"Did he know?" Harry couldn't help but ask. He felt betrayed, Rigel knew about it and hadn't told them, instead acting as if he were their friend.

"Of course he knew!" Ron was over the moon, finally, he could unmask that snake pretending to be a lion. He couldn't help but fan the flames. "I told you, he's clearly a Death Eater. He may even have approached you to kill you! He wants to finish the job his parents couldn't!"

Seamus seemed conflicted, he didn't say anything, but he still felt Ron was right. It was Dean, who had the cool head, who spoke. "Hey, let's not jump to conclusions. Rigel is right, he can't choose who his parents are. You can't just say he's a Death Eater because of that, can you?"

"Then why did he approach Harry?!" Ron wrinkled his nose, clearly thinking he was completely right.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Because we're roommates? Besides, Rigel is closer to Neville, not Harry."

"He's clearly trying to fool us, making it seem like he's not interested! And when we least expect it, bam! He'll cut our throats!" Ron said, frowning, annoyed that Dean was defending Rigel.

Seamus was conflicted again, he wasn't in the best frame of mind, but he thought Dean's words were valid too. At the very least, Rigel had always been their friend, there was no reason to doubt him now, right?

"Well, I don't think Rigel is a bad guy." Seamus finally said, though his voice lacked the conviction of Dean's.

Harry was still pensive, his rational side agreed with them, but his emotional side still felt betrayed. In the end, he went back to eating, although he wasn't really hungry now, and ignored the conversation. He could only talk to Rigel later to understand better, he wanted to know why he hadn't said anything.

//-//

On the other side, Rigel found Neville. The boy was hiding in a corner of the library, crying softly. Rigel wasn't surprised, the boy had chosen a comfortable place to stay, and the library was one of those places for Neville, mainly because it was usually where Neville and Rigel went when they didn't have classes. Well, now Hermione had joined them too.

Hermione arrived shortly after Rigel, breathing heavily, clutching her knees, she felt as if she had never run so far and so fast in her life.

"Rigel... I..." She tried to speak while gasping, but Rigel raised his hand to her, it wasn't the time to talk to Hermione. He gestured for her to stay a little further away as he approached Neville.

"Hey, Neville." Rigel said softly.

"Go away!" Neville let out a muffled cry, clearly, even at that moment, he still remembered that this place was the library, so he didn't yell.

Rigel sighed, he didn't leave. Instead, he waved his hand and created a zone of silence around them. He, on the other hand, sat down next to Neville.

Neville continued hugging his legs and crying softly with his head buried in them. Rigel didn't speak at first, but soon replied. "Have you ever wondered why I'm so nice to you?"

Neville froze slightly, but did not answer.

Rigel didn't care, without looking at Neville, he simply stared ahead as he spoke. "I knew from the beginning who you were."

This only made Neville hug his legs tighter, still without answering.

"I researched my parents, what they were, what they did... my grandmother seemed to see honor in it, I only saw two lunatics, followed by even more lunatics, spreading pain everywhere." Rigel began, only hearing the sniffling sound of Neville, but since the boy didn't run away, it was a good start.

"I knew they caused pain to many people, and when I heard your last name, I knew you were the son of yet another of their victims." Rigel knew that not everything he was saying was entirely true, but he genuinely valued Neville's friendship, so although he felt somewhat guilty about how he was manipulating the facts to his advantage, the fact was that he truly disliked his parents and genuinely considered Neville a friend. Although he has to admit that his current attitude cannot be considered very 'friendly'. Thus, he could only mentally apologize as he continued to speak.

"When I found out who you were, I felt I could be different, different from my parents. I knew you might not forgive me for this, but I wanted to at least try to redeem myself for what they did." Rigel explained. "If they were people who could cause so much pain, I wanted to bring a little happiness, maybe that way I would feel a little better."

Rigel shifted slightly from his position and continued speaking. "After that, nothing was truly false. I genuinely enjoy being your friend. It wasn't just me trying to redeem myself anymore, but I thought we could really be friends. I never told you because I was afraid of what you would think, and... never mind."

Rigel suddenly stood up and looked at Neville. The boy was already looking at him, his eyes red and swollen, but he no longer saw the hatred in them. He knew Neville had believed him. He felt a little bad again for manipulating him like that, but if he didn't do this, Neville would hardly forgive him. He needed to make his reasons clear, and also the fact that their friendship wasn't a lie.

Although the motives were indeed a lie, the friendship wasn't, at least not for Rigel. Of course, if the boy still didn't want to be his friend anymore, he could only leave it at that, he wouldn't force it.

"I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore. I know there are no excuses I can give that will improve the situation, but even so, I'm sorry for not telling you." Rigel smiled slightly and said. "I just want you to know that you're my best friend."

After saying that, Rigel turned and started to walk away. Deep down, he was thinking: 'Man, that's so cringe!'

His second thought was: 'Damn, I am a bad person.'

Rigel hadn't felt this disgusted with himself even when he killed in the world of Pirates of the Caribbean, but now? He felt like a terrible human being.

This was manipulation from start to finish. Even if he didn't really want to cause Neville harm, using manipulation to get Neville to forgive him was a very low blow. Even so, he didn't stop, he had already gone so far, he could only make it up to Neville later.

Just as he expected, he heard Neville's voice. "Wait!"

Rigel stopped, feigning a little surprise as he looked back. Neville had already stood up, he looked at Rigel with a mixture of hurt and affection, but in the end, affection won out.

"I-I know it's not your fault, I shouldn't have acted like that, I just... well, it was very unexpected, and... well, I believe you, I should be the one apologizing, I shouldn't have judged you because of your parents..." Neville said, searching for words, somewhat embarrassed, but Neville never lacked courage when he believed he was doing the right thing.

Rigel smiled. "Really?"

Neville smiled too, sniffing and rubbing his eyes with the hem of his shirt, he nodded. "Seriously, sorry."

"No, I'm the one who should apologize." Rigel shook his head.

"No, it's not your fault, I'm the one who should apologize." Neville, in a rare moment, showed an air of someone who wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No, I should have told you, it's my fault." Rigel continued.

"No, you were just trying to help me, it's my fault." Neville also refused to accept that.

"No..."

"Oh, shut up, you two!" Hermione almost shouted, she couldn't take it anymore, approaching with a look that was somewhere between irritation and exasperation. "It's nobody's fault!"

Rigel and Neville looked at Hermione in surprise, then exchanged glances and began to laugh. Hermione was initially annoyed by this, but soon she was smiling too, laughing with them. although she stopped quickly, for fear of attracting Madam Pince.

Rigel didn't avoid Hermione when he activated the sound concealment spell, he felt the little girl could be useful, so he let her listen. This could also deal with the bad mood she was displaying.

The result was good, at the very least, Hermione seemed to have returned to normal.

As they left the library, about to return to the Great Hall to retrieve their things they had left in their haste, Neville spoke suddenly, his cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. "Rigel... I... you know..."

Rigel felt a chill down his spine. This guy wasn't going to confess to him, was he? He really didn't 'swing' like that!

[A/N: I don't know if the translation managed to capture the meaning of this slang term, but I think it can be understood from the context.]

Thankfully, Neville finally managed to say. "Y-you... are also my best friend!"

He almost shouted at the end, summoning courage from the depths of his throat, Rigel almost laughed, he smiled and patted Neville on the shoulder. Deep down, he couldn't help but think: 'This is getting more and more cringe.'

Hermione rolled her eyes at them, finding the whole situation very melodramatic. Of course, that was because she didn't know the whole story well, if she knew what Neville's parents had gone through, she might have already started crying at some point.

However, neither Rigel nor Neville wanted to talk about it anymore, Hermione respected that, and the three quickly returned to the Great Hall.

Rigel still had things to sort out with Harry, but compared to Neville, Harry wasn't as close to him, so he took it easy.

As for the matter of Neville, he could only silently promise to help Neville's parents when the time was right, he didn't know if the God's Blood potion could cure them, since the potion did not affect memory, making the chances slim.

However, just because he couldn't do it now didn't mean it couldn't be done in the future, with any luck, he would eventually come across something that could help.