Summary: This is Neville’s story about what happened after the final battle. Harry is making a new life for himself and steadily climbing the wizarding world ladder. Some say he’s the next minister of Magic. But is this what he wanted? Is this what he now wants? What has changed for Harry Potter? Neville and his wife Luna need to answer these questions before it’s too late. And to add to all these problems, Bellatrix is still out there, still a huge threat to wizard kind.
Categories: Post-Hogwarts Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 5
Completed: Yes
Word count: 6716
Read: 13764
Published: 04/15/06
Updated: 11/25/06
1. Chapter 1: A big day for the Owls by hufflepuffgal
2. Chapter 2: A mission by hufflepuffgal
3. Chapter 3: The Reunion by hufflepuffgal
4. Chapter 4: Boys in the Ladies Room by hufflepuffgal
5. Neville's Triumph by hufflepuffgal
Chapter 1: A big day for the Owls by hufflepuffgal
Author's Notes:
Please review! I'd love to get feedback!
A chilling laugh echoed all around him. Anger and hatred had possessed him. He wanted to scream but nothing came out. He couldn’t take it anymore! He couldn’t handle the pain for any longer. Not again………not again…....
Neville woke up soaking with a cold sweat. His heart was racing and he was breathing rapidly. It took him a second to realize where he was and for the reality to set in. It was just a dream, just another terrible nightmare. The sight of his wife, Luna, sleeping peacefully beside him calmed him down a little. A little, but not enough.
This was not uncommon. Neville had nightmares like this often. He dreamt of Bellatrix torturing his parents to insanity, and then of her coming back and delivering the same gruesome fate to him. During the day he could keep these awful thoughts out of his mind, but at night they slipped in to haunt him.
Neville, now as calm as he could possibly be (that is, a nervous wreck), looked over at the clock on his bed stand. It was five a.m. exactly. He’d have to get up in an hour anyway, and considering how unlikely it was for him to fall back asleep, he decided to wake up now.
He crawled out of bed quietly, so not to wake Luna, and headed downstairs toward the kitchen. He started to brew two cups of coffee. He looked out the window. One good thing about waking up early was that he got to see the sun rise and shine light over all the beautiful plants. Plants, Neville’s natural talent, his area of expertise. He also got to see his owl fly in carrying the newspapers, the Daily Prophet, the Quibbler, and the Scribbler, the newspaper Luna founded, edited, and wrote for.
As his owl, Peppercorn, flew into view he seemed excited. And the closer he got the more excited he seemed. Why is Peppercorn so happy, thought Neville, I’ve never seen him like this before.
Peppercorn flew in the window and as soon as he put down the newspapers he knew exactly what the excitement was about. The headline of the daily prophet read:
“He who must not be named silenced forever.”
Neville’s heart literally skipped a beat, maybe even two. He could not believe his eyes, finally the day had come when people could finally sleep easy, not worrying about who would be dead when they woke up the next morning. They wouldn’t have to obsess over everything that had to do with their safety. He and Luna could go on the honeymoon they never had because they were to afraid to travel. Life could finally return to normal, whatever that was.
Neville read the article that went along with the headline:
“Yesterday evening, at Godrics Hollow a life-changing battle happened. It was one on one between Harry Potter and You Know Who. No others were there, but we have gathered accurate information by use of charms and spells. We have come to the find out miraculous news: Harry Potter has killed Voldemort! The most evil wizard of all time is dead!”
On the top of the paper Neville saw “In tomorrow’s issue: An interview with Harry Potter, by Rita Skeeter.” It somewhat surprised Neville that Harry was already giving interviews, actually it surprised him he was going to give interviews at all. This seemed a little different than the Harry he knew.
After he finished reading he looked up and was surprised to see another owl headed toward the window. When it got there he detached a letter which read:
You are cordially invited back to Hogwart for your five year class reunion.
Day: July 17th
Time: 4 pm to 12 pm
Where: the Great Hall, Hogwarts
Please circle one of the following and send this part of the form back to Hogwarts with the owl that brought it. Sincerely, Professor McGonagall, headmistress
Yes I will be attending
Yes I will be attending with my spouse/fiancé (that wasn’t in my year at Hogwarts)
No I will not be attending
Wow, Neville thought, this is a lot of information for one day. He then circled ‘Yes I will be attending with my spouse/fiancé (that wasn’t in my year at Hogwarts)’ attached it to the owl’s claw and watched it fly away into the horizon. Then he went upstairs to wake Luna and tell her all the good news.
When he got up there it was only 5:45. Luna could be grumpy in the morning, but he decided it was worth it to wake her up.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” he said.
“What time is it,” she answered sleepily.
“Uh…. Guess what?” Neville replied trying to change the subject. “Read this!”
She read it as Neville watched her. Her jaw started to drop and as she neared the end of the article her eyes lit up
“This is great! This is amazing! This calls for a celebration! We should call in and take today off work! Now we can take our belated honeymoon! You know what else! I should interview Harry for the Scribbler!”
“Honey…. It says right here that there’s going to be an interview in the Daily Prophet tomorrow,” he said.
“That’s fine. There can be interviews in more than one news- wait a sec. Harry’s already giving interviews! He never seemed like one who loved publicity to me! The only times he gave interviews was when he was forced or when it was absolutely necessary! And Rita Skeeter is writing it! What is Harry thinking?” Luna was almost yelling by now.
“I don’t know, but you can ask him at the reunion,” Neville answered and then went on to explain more about it.
They kept talking for a while. Luna agreed that the reunion would be a good time to talk to Harry about the interview. Neville was about to Apparate to work and ask for the day off when a horrible thought struck him. What happened to the Death Eaters, the ones that are not locked up in Azkaban? Are they still out there? Where is Bellatrix?
Chapter 2: A mission by hufflepuffgal
Maybe I shouldn’t wait until the reunion to talk to Harry, or someone who knows something, thought Neville. He was starting to get a panicky. Breathe in, and then out, he kept telling himself.
“Luna!” he called, since she had just left the room to go eat breakfast.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she called back.
He heard footsteps as she ran up the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” she repeated.
He then went into explaining his horrible thought. She listened attentively. Then she left the room, headed toward the closet in the hallway. She came back a second later with a large bulletin board. On it were so many newspaper articles that they hid the original black color of the board. One article read “Malfoy caught and jailed” another “Avery sent to Azkaban” and yet another read “Five Death Eaters sent to Azkaban after Thursdays trail”. These were all articles about captured or killed Death Eaters. Not one was about Bellatrix.
Then Luna turned the bulletin board around. That side was all about Bellatrix. “Bellitrix still out there” “No new information on Lestrange” and “Bellatrix Lestrange: The only Death Eater they can’t find” were some of the headlines.
Luna had been keeping note of everything, as Neville just then found out.
“Bellatrix is the only one still out there,” Luna said softly.
Sadly, that didn’t make Neville feel to much better.
“It’s ok, honey. The reunion is in a week and then we can talk to Harry and the others,” Luna said reassuringly.
Neville was still on edge. He decided he may as well just go to work today and see what he found out. He worked at the Misuse of Magical Plants office at the Ministry. He told Luna what he was going to do and with a sharp crack Apparated to the Ministry.
He reappeared at the Ministry Apparation station. Everyday when he came to work he was reminded of that night in the fifth year. The night of the prophecy. To this day he still didn’t know what the prophecy was about, though he knew it had to do with Harry and Voldemort. Everyone knew that, though.
As he headed for his office he noticed a difference in people. They didn’t seem so uptight… so twitchy……. so…. scared. They weren’t looking over their shoulders every two seconds to make sure nothing was looming over them with a wand at their throat. They seemed happy. People were talking to each other higher than a whisper. Life seemed normal. To them. Not to Neville.
He walked into the office he shared with another Misuse of Magical Plants employee named Willis Creevy. Willis was the cousin of the Creevy brothers at Hogwarts. He looked like them, he acted like them, and he talked like them. It was very obvious they were related. So, as soon as Neville entered the room, Willis started talking excitedly.
“Did you read the Daily Prophet? Did you hear about him? Didn’t you say you knew Harry Potter? Could you get me………,” Willis went on and on, seemingly without taking a breath.
“Yes, yes, yes, and no I cannot get you his autograph!” What was it with the Creevys and autographs?
“So…..have you heard anymore new news?” Neville inquired.
“Sorry, mate. I haven’t heard anything new about Bellatrix. You could go down to the Aurors office…” Willis’ voice trailed off.
“They get annoyed if a go down there to often. They don’t understand,” Neville said. No one understands, he thought.
For the rest of the day Neville focused all of his brain power on his work so he didn’t have to think about Bellatrix. It seemed like no one else in the entire Ministry was working besides him, but he didn’t care. He kept reading reports of misused magical plants that got into the hands of Muggles and then Apparating to go fix them. There was an instance where some gilly weed got mixed in with some of the herbs at a restaurant and were cooked into some grilled chicken. The man to whom the chicken was served developed a different mutation than if he had eaten the plant raw. He had gills form on his neck, but he could still breathe. Neville had to get the man rushed to St. Mungo’s, place a memory charm on the other customers and staff so they wouldn’t remember anything, and make sure there was no more gilly weed remaining at the restaurant. All in a days work. The gilly weed incident took most of the day to sort out, so by the time he was finished with it he could go home.
Instead of going strait home he decided to go to St. Mungo’s to visit his parents. When he saw them they didn’t recognize him. Even though he visited them at least once a week they still didn’t know who he was. After being tortured they couldn’t remember anything for more than a few minutes. Nonetheless he went up to them, said hello, and told them the news, leaving out the part about Bellatrix. After a while his mother fell asleep and he decided to go home.
He left with his mind full. I need to find Bellatrix, he thought, now filled with an anger and hatred he only felt after visiting his parents. I need to find her and get back at her for ruining my parents lives and the lives of so many others. For ruining my life! For stealing my parents from me! I need to kill Bellatrix!
Chapter 3: The Reunion by hufflepuffgal
The week seemed to crawl by slowly, like a dying snail, but finally the day of the reunion arrived. It was Saturday, so Neville didn’t have to go to work. At around noon Neville started to get ready. After putting on his nice black dress robes he was ready to leave. Luna came down the stairs wearing a long turquoise dress with her long blonde hair pulled up into an elegant French twist. They left with a pop.
Since you cannot Apparate within Hogwarts grounds, Luna and Neville had to Apparate to Hogsmede and walk the rest of the way. It was a nice summer evening, not to hot and not to cold. As Neville and Luna made there way up the hill that leads to the school they heard two familiar voices.
“Hurry up, Ron; do you want to be late?”
“I’m hurrying. I’m hurrying. It’s not like we ever used to be on time to the Welcome Back Feast while we actually went to Hogwarts so I don’t know why you care so much!”
“I just can’t wait to see everyone! Hey look! There’s Neville and Luna! Neville Luna, wait up!”
As they stopped and turned around Ron and Hermione came into view.
“Hello! How’ve you been?” Hermione asked politely.
“Great. You?” Luna replied.
“Magnificent.” Hermione answered. “Did you know that we are engaged?”
“Congratulations!” Neville said.
‘Thanks,” said Ron.
They kept up the conversation as they walked the rest of the way to the school. The wedding was set for October 29th and Neville and Luna said they’d be there. They reached Hogwarts and headed for the Great Hall. It was set up with many small round tables each set for six. The four of them sat down at one of the tables in the middle of the room.
After a few minutes of talking Luna excused herself. As she headed toward the bathroom she heard yelling coming from around the corner. The reporter in her set out to investigate. As she got closer she thought the voices sounded familiar and when she peered around the corner she saw that her hypothesis was correct. Harry and Ginny were fighting. And it didn’t just seem like a little argument, either. Their loud, harsh words seemed to be filled with loathing. These people didn’t seem like the Ginny and Harry that Luna knew at school. This wasn’t the same seemingly lighthearted, yet heartbroken young girl from Hogwarts. Harry didn’t seem like the same good guy, who hid deep down the truth of a terribly depressing past. What was different?
Luna sat there for ten minutes listening. She heard, “I thought you loved me!”, “What’s wrong with you?” and “Why do you seem so different? I miss the old you!” from Ginny. Harry’s replies of “That was a long time ago”, “There’s nothing wrong with me. What’s wrong with you?”, and “Maybe I’ve just grown up…. You should too!” would make anyone sad for the people involved. But for Luna, who actually knew them both, this was just too unreal. She couldn’t believe this was happening!
After they stopped talking Harry stormed out of the corridor, passing Luna, but not acknowledging her presence. She wasn’t sure if he’d even seen her. As soon as Luna thought Harry was out of earshot she headed around the corner toward Ginny. She didn’t know what to do or what to say but she knew she had to do something.
As Luna approached, she saw that Ginny was sitting on the floor sobbing into her hands. She didn’t see Luna coming, so she jumped about a mile in the air when Luna spoke.
“Hello, I thought you might want some company,” Luna said.
“Oh, He-hello Luna. You sc-scared m-me for a second there,” said Ginny.
“Sorry. Erm…. I heard you and Harry… and, um, I was wondering if you were, well, if you were ok,” Luna said uncertainly.
“Oh… I wish you ha-hadn’t heard that! D-do you think anyone else d-did? I
w-w-wouldn’t want everyone h-here knowing ab-b-bout a li-little fight that me and Harry had,” Ginny stammered through sobs.
“I don’t think anyone else heard, and that didn’t seem like a little fight to me!” Luna replied bluntly.
“I d-don’t know…” Ginny trailed off.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Luna asked.
“I gu-guess,” Ginny decided.
Ginny then explained everything to Luna. She told her about how at the end of her fifth year when Harry broke up with her “for her safety” she thought that if and when he defeated You Know Who that he would want to go out with her again. So she waited for six long years, until nine days ago, on the night before the final battle. That night Harry told her, knowing that the battle was soon to arrive, that if he survived he wanted to marry her, and if he didn’t he wanted her to move on with her life. She had felt so many emotions at that moment, fear for Harry’s life, happiness about this news, and excitement at the thought of marrying her true love. When she heard the news about the battle she was beside herself with relief and happiness. But when Harry didn’t come to see her she wondered what was wrong. She hadn’t been able to see him until just a few minutes ago. They got into a huge fight because Harry no longer wanted to marry her. She now felt confused, hurt, and like her heart had been torn into a million tiny pieces. She didn’t understand what had happened, and just wanted to know why Harry had changed his mind.
Luna listened through the whole sad, confusing story. She felt extremely sorry for Ginny, but she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t think of anything comforting to say so she remained silent, letting Ginny keep on crying, hoping that her tears would somehow make everything better. After a few minutes of sitting in silence listening to Ginny sob and hearing the happy roar of talking from the Great Hall she decided she had to do something.
“Ginny… I don’t know what to say,” she said. After a pause she continued. “I don’t want to sound insensitive, but do you want something to eat? We could go into the Great Hall.”
“NO!” Ginny quickly exclaimed. “I don’t want Harry to see me like this. I don’t want anyone else to see me like this.”
“Ok then, I’ll go in there and get us something,” Luna said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Luna didn’t think that Ginny was going to eat, though. Honestly, she wasn’t very hungry either. The real reason for her going to get food was to go get Hermione. She needed help.
When she went back to her table in the Great Hall she saw that Ron, Neville, and Hermione were eating. She also saw a fourth plate of food sitting there untouched.
“Luna! Your back! We were beginning to worry!” Neville said.
“Sorry…there was a bit of a problem…don’t worry… it’s just, well, Ginny…” Luna trailed off.
“What about Ginny? Harry said that she wasn’t feeling well. He was here… but he went to ‘mingle’,” Ron looked concerned.
“She’s not sick. Heartsick maybe, but any Healer would say she perfectly fine. I just came to get her some food,” Luna explained, and started to fill two plates with food. “Um… Hermione, do you think you could come with me?”
“Sure, of course!” Hermione said.
“Wait… I’m confused. Should I come? She’s my sister!” Ron asked.
“No, honey, just stay here and enjoy the party!” Hermione said.
“Ok… but if Harry did anything I’m gonna wring his neck!” Ron spat angrily.
With that, Luna and Hermione left, food in hand. As they walked down the hallway Luna explained everything to Hermione, who looked furious by the end of the explanation.
“I can’t believe this! What is wrong with Harry?” Hermione yelled.
“I don’t know, but try to stay calm in front of Ginny, she really worked up,” Luna said.
“I would be too!” Hermione sniffed. After that she tried to be calmer because they had arrived were Ginny was sitting.
They sat next to Ginny one on each side of her. They gave her a plate of food, but she wouldn’t even pick up her fork. Then they tried to start a conversation.
“Luna, uh, told me what happened,” Hermione said.
“I d-don’t want t-to t-talk ab-b-bout it.” Ginny said, still crying, trying to stop the conversation before it started.
“Why not?” Hermione asked.
After a long pause Ginny spoke. “You- you’re one off H-harry’s best friends… you won’t believe m-me.”
“Of course I’d believe you. I do believe you! And you know what else? Even before I heard about your fight I thought something seemed different… weird about Harry. When he came into the Great Hall he worked his way over to our table and told us that you weren’t feeling well, but that you might come later. Then he went to talk to people. He talked to lots of people, Slytherins, too. And guess what? I heard him talking to someone from the Ministry, who asked him if he ever thought of being the next Minister on Magic. And he said YES! He said that that might be a career idea for him. But Harry never wanted to be in the Ministry. He was dead set against it. I just don’t know what has gotten into him!” Hermione whispered. Then she said, a little too loudly “Let’s go over here!” and signaled toward the girl’s bathroom. After they got in there she explained. “Sorry, I felt like someone was eavesdropping.”
Then the door to the bathroom swung open. “Avada…” a male voice yelled.
But Luna was too quick for him. “Petrifcus Totalus!” she yelled and pointed her wand at the man. He fell, paralyzed by the spell. Hermione then ran over to get his wand, but then she realized, it was Harry!
Chapter 4: Boys in the Ladies Room by hufflepuffgal
Author's Notes:
I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter onto the site! I hope you enjoy! Please review!
Hermione couldn’t believe her eyes. “This can’t be happening!” she whispered.
Luna and Ginny ran over to get a better look at the would-be-murderer and were shocked as they came to the same conclusion as Hermione. She hadn’t been seeing things. It really was Harry.
After the initial shock wore off they all panicked. None of them knew what to do. Then they heard voices from outside the bathroom.
“I wonder where they went,” Neville said.
“Yeah,” Ron added. “And I wonder what’s wrong with my little sister.”
Luna wanted to yell to them for help but she couldn’t get words to come out. Surprisingly, the one who did yell was Ginny.
“Ron, Neville, in here, HELP!” she yelled. She was no longer crying and seemed more put together than before.
From the hallway they heard “D’ you hear that? It sounded like Ginny’s voice coming from the ladies room. Do you think we can go in there?”
“Get in here NOW!" Ginny yelled again leaving no doubt.
Neville and Ron walked in cautiously, afraid of what they’d find, and gasped.
“What happened to Harry?” Neville asked.
“What’s going on?” Ron questioned.
“Harry…. Harry… tried to kill Ginny!” Luna said.
“WHAT?” Neville and Ron questioned loudly in unison.
“Do you need me to repeat myself?”
“Did you just say… no… you couldn’t of…” Neville thought out loud.
“You’re joking . . . my baby sister. . . the git. . . you’re joking, right?” Ron said.
“Yeah, because we’d totally just make this up so we could hex Harry for no good reason,” Ginny sarcastically spat.
“That’s a no, in case you were wondering,” Hermione said.
“Let me explain,” Luna started off. “I was headed to the restroom when I heard yelling coming from this corridor. I came over, to, uh, check things out, and I saw that it was Harry and Ginny. Naturally I thought this was peculiar, so I kept listening. You see, they were having this huge row--”
Ginny cut her off. “We were having this huge row because of this problem. See, Harry. . . Harry. . . Back in the fifth year. . . Back in the fifth year Harry broke up with me ‘for my safety’. Well. . . I kinda, sorta thought that after he defeated V-V- You Know Who, that he’d want to get back together. I must sound like such a child, but that’s what I thought. I waited for him. I waited. . . and waited until finally last week he came by to talk. He said that he knew that the final battle was nearing and that if he survived he wanted to marry me! I was ecstatic! I had been waiting six whole years for that moment. But I was also worried, anxious, and more scared than I’d ever been in my entire life. More scared than in the Chamber of Secrets, than at the Ministry. . . than anything. I was so scared for his safety.” She paused. “The next day I heard about his victory. I was so happy I felt like I was in heaven. But then. . . he didn’t come to visit. . . I didn’t see him until, well, just now, and we got into that row. He. . . he said he didn’t want to marry me anymore. . . he didn’t love me anymore. . . But why? I don’t understand it.” By the time she finished tears were streaming down her face.
“What a GIT!” Ron exclaimed.
“That doesn’t seem like Harry,” Neville said.
“That’s what I said!”
“Something’s definitely fishy,” Luna added.
“Wait. . . so, what did you say about him trying to. . . trying to. . . trying to. . .” Ron started.
“K-kill her,” Neville finished.
“I came with Luna after she came into the Great Hall to get food. While I was talking to Ginny I just felt like I was being… watched. So I said we should go into the bathroom. Then, quicker than lightning a man came in and started to yell the killing curse. Luna was to fast for him, though. She paralyzed him. And that’s when we found out it was Harry. And now you’re here…” Hermione finished the explanation.
“What do we do?” Neville asked. His mind was blank; he couldn’t think in pressured situations. That’s why he wasn’t an Auror, even though his Gram wanted him to be. She wanted him to be like his parents. He was never good enough.
“Harry’s got some explaining to do,” Ron said through gritted teeth.
“I think that first Hermione should go to the potions office and see if they have any truth potions. Second… Ginny, I think you should go somewhere else, since you were the one he was… you are the victim,” Luna said matter-of-factly.
“No! No! No! I’m not getting brought out of the action again!” Ginny screamed.
“Yes, yes, yes you will!” Ron said protectively.
“NO!”
“YES!”
“NO!”
“YES!”
“NO!”
“STOP!” Neville yelled.
“YES!”
“Calm down!” Luna said. “Ok, Ginny, you can help, you can go with Hermione.”
“NO!”
“Fine, I’ll go with Hermione,” Ginny sighed.
“Now, as I was saying, Hermione and Ginny will go get the truth potion. Ron and Neville. . . move Harry, tie him up or something. And get his wand. When Hermione gets back we’ll pour the truth potion into Harry mouth and then undo the curse. Of course all our wands will be pointed at him, just incase he wants to try anything sneaky. I’ll go outside of the bathroom door and make sure no one comes in here or gets suspicious. When they get back we’ll question him. Does everyone understand what to do?” Luna asked . . . as if she did this every day.
Neville added, “So you don’t think we should go get help, then? You know… a professor or someone?” He was worried. A million “What If” questions filled his head. What if something goes wrong? What if Harry kills someone? What if…
“No,” Hermione insisted “if anyone found out . . . they’d think we were insane . . . they’d never believe that the Harry Potter would turn on his friends.” She shook her head. Her mind seemed to be made up. “No . . . we can’t tell, not right now at least.”
With that Hermione and Ginny left, headed for the potion masters office. As they walked down the empty corridors to the dungeon they heard the happy chatter coming from the Great Hall. Why? thought Hermione, Why do such happy occasions get so unhappy so quickly? At the same time Ginny was thinking Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? How did my life get so strange so quickly? Then they arrived outside the office.
“I remember so many things about this spot,” Hermione said. “In the second year Harry . . . and Ron and I stole ingredients to brew Polyjuice Potion. It didn’t turn out so well for me . . . I’ve already told you this story, haven’t I? Anyway . . . also in the sixth year Luna and I waited here the night of . . . the night of Dumbledore’s death, for Snape. We were supposed to be watching him. We let him through. We didn’t know . . .” she trailed off.
“You don’t still feel guilty about that, do you?” Ginny asked “There was no way for you to know what Snape was going to do. You were never a Seer.” Ginny and Hermione both giggled, thinking about the one class Hermione was bad at.
“Yeah, I guess, I just wish we had stopped him, but we didn’t. We could have saved a life. Who knows, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out like this . . . taken this turn for the worst . . .”
“You can’t blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done. You could have died. Think of how that would have changed what happened. You helped fill so many of the cells in Azkaban . . . you and Ron. You guys are, like the dream team, the dream team of Aurors.”
“I don’t know . . .”
“Honestly I can’t believe you’re not married yet . . .” Ginny continued. “You’ve been working together for the longest time and you’ve known each other since, like, your first day at Hogwarts. I mean really!”
Hermione didn’t respond to that. She took out her wand and without muttering a word opened the locked door. The girls walked in, quickly beginning their search.
“Aha! Here it is! There’s not much left, but I think it’ll be enough,” Hermione said.
With that they left. They went up the stairs and the coast was clear. Then when they rounded the corner and jumped about a mile in the air when they saw Filch there. He looked much older than when they had been at Hogwarts. Hermione was surprised he was still alive.
“What’re you doing out here?” he growled. “Yer supposed to be in the Great Hall.”
“We’re just headed to the bathroom . . .” Ginny explained truthfully.
“There seems to be some problem in the Ladies Room. There’s a blonde girl standing out there saying that a hippogriff broke in. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder in this school . . . weirder and weirder . . .” With that he walked away.
“Uh-oh,” Hermione said. “Maybe we should have told Luna not to make up too crazy of a story!”
They ran (to the best of their ability, considering they were wearing heels) the rest of the way to the restroom. When they got there they saw that, luckily, Luna hadn’t created a huge scene. Filch had been the only person who had passed by since they were gone.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Luna said.
“Shouldn’t someone watch the door?” Neville asked when the three of them came in.
“I think everyone should be here,’ Ginny said resentfully. “Then if anything goes wrong…”
“I agree,” Hermione stated.
With that they started with their plan. First they poured every last drop of the truth potion into Harry’s mouth. Then, carefully Luna lifted the curse.
“What was that for?” Harry asked.
“Listen carefully; I’m only going to ask you this once: DID YOU TRY TO KILL MY SISTER?”
“No. Why would I do that? Where am I?”
“Don’t try that with me, I’m not stupid, I’m an Auror!” Ron yelled.
“No really! The last thing I remember is that I was at Godric's Hollow . . . Voldemort was there. It was, I thought it was the Final Battle. I’ve destroyed all the Horcruxes, did I tell you that? Yeah . . . he was there, I was there, and I was ready to kill him, once and for all. Spells were shot back and forth. I kept missing him! Then I remember hearing ‘Imperio!’ and feeling forced, not knowing what I was doing. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t. That’s the last thing I remember. And now I’m here. What’s going on?” Harry asked.
I don’t know Neville thought. . What is going on? From the looks on everyone else’s faces Neville guessed they were wondering the exact same thing.
“So . . . you were being controlled by V-Voldemort the whole time? How do we know that you’re telling the truth?” Ron shot at Harry.
“He’s on a truth potion, remember?” Hermione reminded. Ron was usually better at interrogating people; it’s just that when he let his emotions get he better of him he tended to forget things, and go a little crazy.
“Oh, so that’s that foul taste in my mouth!’ Harry said.
“What do we do now?’ Neville asked.
“So does that mean . . . everything you said before . . . you didn’t say it… he did?” Ginny wondered aloud.
“What’d I say?” Harry asked.
Hermione spoke up. “We’ll explain later . . . right now you . . . you have to go kill Voldemort.”
Neville's Triumph by hufflepuffgal
Author's Notes:
I hope you enjoy this final chapter to the story. I want to thank everyone who helped me and encoraged me in the productin of Neville's Triumph. And to my readers: I hope you enjoy!
Something flickered inside Harry’s eyes; and for one short moment an evil glare filled them. “K-Kill Voldemort, no I can’t I’m too inexperienced. I could die! I don’t want to die!” he said, sounding slightly insincere, and like a completely different person than just a few moments ago.
Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Luna stood there, flabbergasted. Only Neville saw what was going on.
“Maybe Harry’s right,” he said, to the surprise of everyone in the room. “It could be dangerous, and, as you said, you could die.”
“What are you talking about? Are you absurd? Harry needs”" Hermione was cut off by Neville.
“To relax!” Neville almost shouted. “Why don’t we all go back to the reunion, we can sort this out tomorrow.”
“But tomorrow might--” Ginny started
“Be too soon, he might need more than one night to relax, we will figure out when to sort this out, but now we are missing the feast,” Neville finished.
“Yeah,” Harry said ostentatiously. “I do need some time to relax, I deserve it.” He smiled.
Neville bit his lip, and then said, “Yes, you do deserve it.”
Everyone in the room, except Harry, looked at Neville as if he had just told them he was in love with a dementor. The conversation had been strange from the get go, but this was too weird. Everyone had expected Neville to tell Harry that he had to kill Voldemort and that he could. They were not anticipating him to tell Harry he deserved a vacation from saving the world.
On the way back to the Great Hall Neville looked at Luna and winked. Suddenly, as if she had knows all along, she realized what was going on.
When they got back to the hall they took their seats. Desserts appeared before them. People were up, walking around, visiting with old friends, reminiscing telling about their jobs and who they married and their kids until McGonagall stood up to ask them to all take heir seats. Neville quietly excused himself from the table and headed out of the Great Hall. Ginny and Hermione glanced at each other, both knowing that something was going on, but neither knowing what. Ron just sat there, obliviously drinking some pumpkin juice.
McGonagall stood up again, and said “Welcome back, Hogwarts alumni and friends. Tonight the Hogwarts professors wanted to honor some of our past students.
“Greatness is made even more apparent during difficult times. We’d like to honor those that could not be with us tonight, due to terrible fates. Since graduation, 22 of your classmates gave their live fighting against the Dark Lord and his followers. Let us have a moment of silence for those brave souls.” A silence, so painful that it could have made a dementor cry, filled the Great Hall. After a moment McGonagall continued. “Times like these bring out the best and the worst in people. All I can say is that I hope that this all ends soon.” She sat down, as a tear trickled down her wrinkled cheek.
Harry abruptly stood up and walked to the front of the Great Hall. He started to speak. “McGonagall, is it ok is f I say a few words?”
“Of course, Mr. Potter,” she answered.
“Hello fellow witches and wizards, friends and foes alike,” he started. “It has been a long time. When I left Hogwarts I had but one goal: To defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort. I searched and sought his Horcruxes until I found and destroyed every last one. Then I went to find the source of all this pain and misery. I sought Voldemort. But when I found him, and was about to kill him I realized something. I could not kill him! I was too weak. I realized that the only way to stay safe, to protect the lives of my friends, was to join his force. And tonight I am here to tell you to do the same! Become a Death Eater! Follow Voldemort, or DIE!” The light left his eyes and he collapsed onto the floor.
Then, from behind the faculty table, a snake like man appeared. Wand drawn, he shouted, in a chilling voice “You see, not even your great Harry Potter could kill not me! I was controlling your great Harry Potter! Not even your “chosen one” is strong enough to kill me! Don’t you see? You must join with me of suffer a death like your beloved Harry Potter. For now I must make the prophecy come true! I must kill Harry Potter!”
The Great Hall doors opened. “Avada Kedavra!” a man’s voice yelled.
The prophecy came true.
“THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES. . . BORN TO THOSE WHO HAD THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . . AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE A POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT. . . AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES. . . THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . .”
Neville triumphed. The Dark Lord died.
"Watch out Bella," he thought. "Your next."
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