At dinner, everyone was still indignant on Neville's behalf.
"Why didn't you fight back, Neville?" Hermione said. "If you'd shouted then, someone would have come to help you."
"I..." Neville lowered his head. "I didn't dare."
"Then Malfoy will just keep bullying you!" Hermione's little face was stern. "If you can't put up effective resistance, school bullying will follow you like a shadow. Do you see Malfoy daring to bully Su Er?"
Su Er, busy eating: Meow, meow, meow?
How would a snake dare bully a badger? If pushed too far, a badger could turn a snake into a dish in hundreds of different ways.
For details, see the meddlesome Marcus Flint. That boy had already been molded into a cross-dresser.
Under Hermione's gaze, Su Er swallowed the piece of meat in his mouth and nodded. "That's how it works, Neville."
"But I can't beat him." Neville lowered his head dejectedly. "I still can't even transfigure a needle properly. I'm not as good as you and Hermione."
"I've always felt that I don't belong in Gryffindor."
"Don't say that, Neville." Ron's mouth was bulging and shiny with grease, and he held a chicken drumstick. "Didn't you do really well at that match before the holidays? You didn't even have a wand, but you still dared to charge straight at Malfoy and the others and fight them."
"That proves you do have courage." Su Er nodded. He had been right there and knew what had happened that day. "You just don't have enough confidence in yourself."
"There's nothing that scary about Malfoy."
"You're worth more than a dozen Malfoys!" Harry declared, settling the matter.
For the rest of dinner, Harry and Ron kept offering Neville ideas, such as stuffing Malfoy into a sack and throwing him into the room with the