Neville Longbottom never took the view from the staff table for granted. Even after fifteen years of teaching Herbology at Hogwarts and twenty-five years since he stood waiting to be Sorted, he never forgot the feeling of pure terror he felt.
As the first years entered the Great Hall lead by Professor Flitwick, he looked for the one boy who he knew would be among them. He spotted the mess of unruly black hair, so much like his father’s and grinned as he noticed he didn’t seem as self-confident as he normally did.
Neville clapped louder than any of the staff when James Sirius Potter was sorted into Gryffindor. He felt Hagrid nudge him in the side.
“Just like his father,” said Neville smiling answering Hagrid’s unspoken words.
Hagrid laughed loudly. “A bit more like the originals, if ya ask me,” he answered smiling. “I think we’ll ‘ave our ‘ands full for the next seven years with that one.”
“Yes, and I am betting it won’t take long for the trouble to start,” answered Neville solemnly.
“Won’t be long and we’ll ‘ave the lot of them ‘ere,” said Hagrid. “Teddy just left, but there is still Victoire, Dominque, Molly, Fred, Lucy, and Roxanne. We still ‘ave Albus, Rose, Lily and Hugo to come.” Hagrid shook his head.
“Yes, but by the time Lily and Hugo get here, Victoire will be gone. Still leaves a whole mess of Weasley offspring though, doesn’t it?” asked Neville.
“Sure does,” said Hagrid solemnly. “But, I think we can handle it.”
Neville smiled and nodded. “As long as they don’t all end up in one House, we should survive,” he said and laughed. “Victoire and Lucy are in Ravenclaw, but the rest being in my house...” Neville shuddered.
He already had Molly, Fred, Roxanne and now James in Gryffindor. He wondered what he would do if the rest of the children yet to start ended up in Gryffindor. Well, he would worry about that when it happened.
*****
Three weeks later, Neville was hoping that the rest of the Weasley and Potter children were sorted into different houses. With just the four he had, he was already pulling his hair out. It hadn’t taken more than two days before the trouble began. It seemed that not only did Fred and James take after their namesakes, but Molly and Roxanne were as much trouble as Fred and George were when they had gone to Hogwarts.
Pranks were a part of every day. Even Peeves who never passed up an opportunity to harass the students seemed to be on the side of the students causing the problems. Just this morning, Neville had been leaving the Great Hall when he saw Peeves peering over one of the upper railings of a staircase. When Peeves spotted him, he pulled back and Neville heard him whisper to someone there was a teacher coming.
Neville was glad it was the weekend, but knew idle time gave them more time to plan and execute pranks on the unsuspecting. At the knock on the door of his office, Neville sighed. Knocks at eight in the morning never meant good news.
Opening the door, he was handed a note from a first year Hufflepuff. Thanking the boy, he opened it quickly. It was from Headmistress Sinistra asking him to come to her office at his convenience. He let out another sigh, and left his office to go see the Headmistress.
*****
He knocked on the door, and receiving no response, opened the door. The room was empty as he walked in. Neville realised he should have checked the Great Hall for the Headmistress before coming up here. As he turned to go, he heard a voice from behind him.
“The Headmistress will be back shortly,” Albus Dumbledore said. “It seems Peeves was involved in a minor altercation with some unsuspecting Slytherin first years.” He chuckled a bit at the thought.
“No doubt the Weasley and Potter child were to blame,” came a snide voice.
“Now, Severus,” began Albus only to be cut off by Severus Snape.
“Perhaps Longbottom should learn to control the students in his house,” Snape said coldly. “Never did understand why he was made Head of House.”
Neville, who had often wondered himself why he was made Head of Gryffindor House, snapped. For the past fifteen years he had put up with the snide and often insulting comments from Professor Snape whenever he happened to be in the Headmistress’ Office and she wasn’t there.
He approached the painting, his eyes never wavering from Snape’s face and his steps didn’t falter. He looked directly at Snape when he spoke.
“For the past twenty-five years, you have had one issue or another with me,” he began. “I think it is time you tell me just why you hate me so much.”
“Hate you? Hating you would imply I have feelings one way or another for you,” answered Snape. “I can assure you, boy, I don’t care enough to hate you.”
“I think I am beyond being called boy by you,” said Neville angrily. “I am only two years younger than you were when you died.” Neville took a deep breath. “I faced more than you ever did by the time I was seventeen. And some of it, from your own hand,” he said.
“You have no idea what I faced in my life...boy,” jeered Snape. “You have no idea...” Snape’s voice trailed off.
“Oh, I have a pretty good idea,” said Neville. “Let’s see...you joined the Death Eaters right out of school, or did you join while you were in school?” taunted Neville. “Not that it matters much when, the result was the same, wasn’t it? You were the reason Harry grew up without his parents. Something which makes me wonder why he pushed so hard to have your portrait in this room.”
“That reason would be between Potter and myself, now wouldn’t it?” asked Snape, the anger in his voice clear.
“I know the reasons, everyone does. He told me what he had seen in the Pensieve not long after the Battle of Hogwarts. It still doesn’t excuse what you did to him, to his parents.”
“You know nothing, nothing,” said Snape.
“I know you loved Lily Potter but yet gave information to Voldemort that would result in her death,” said Neville. “Or were you hoping he would only kill James and then you could play hero and have Lily for yourself?” asked Neville cruelly.
“I had no idea the Dark Lord would target Lily, no idea,” said Snape quietly. “If I had known...”
“What? What would you have done? Not told him? No, you still would have told him. Don’t lie to me and don’t lie to yourself. You knew you were going to be the cause of someone’s death, you just didn’t expect it to be the Potters. You begged Voldemort to spare Lily.” Seeing the look of pain on Snape’s face, Neville smiled inwardly.
“Bet it was quite a shock to you when you found out he had killed her,” said Neville. “And then to have to agree to protect her son, the son who would grow up to look just like his father...except-”
“He has Lily’s eyes,” snapped Snape, cutting Neville off. “I had to look into her eyes for six years, everyday. Lily’s eyes in James’ face. So, much like his father, but yet...”
Neville waited for Snape to continue. He could see Snape was struggling with his emotions. This was strange for Neville to watch. He had never thought of him as anything other than a cruel and sadistic teacher. Neville had never thought of Snape as a human being with any feelings other than anger and hatred.
“His kindness and heart are so much like Lily. He is his father’s son, he should have been...” This time when Snape stopped speaking he turned his head away. “How could I not hate him?” he asked.
“That is all well and good, but the question is what did I ever do to you? You still treat me, even after all this time, like you did when I was in school. What did I do?” asked Neville. He had to know. He understood the deal with Harry, but he also felt there was something more to Snape’s hatred of him.
Snape’s head whipped around to look at him again. “Don’t ask a question that you may not want the answer to,” he said coldly.
“I do want an answer. I deserve an answer,” Neville said as he moved closer to the portrait.
Snape looked down at Neville. Neville stared directly back at him unwavering. “I hate you because you weren’t the one.”
“Excuse me?” said Neville confused.
“You and your parents, it should have been you the Dark Lord went after. Then Lily wouldn’t be dead. If you were the one...”
It was like a light going off in Neville’s head. He finally understood. Because Voldemort decided that Harry was the threat and went after him, Lily had died. Had Voldemort chosen to come after him, his parents would be dead and Lily and James Potter would have lived. Snape blamed Neville for not being the Chosen One.
“You never expected he would think a child of a Muggleborn would be a threat to him, did you?” Neville asked. Not waiting for an answer, he went on, “You never thought he would feel more threatened by a half-blood than a pure-blood.” Neville shook his head. “Did it ever occur to you that being a half-blood himself, he knew there could possibly be a threat from Harry?”
Snape shook his head. His face showed remorse and regret. Neville began to feel bad about what he was saying, but he couldn’t stop himself from continuing.
“You didn’t know that at the time, did you? His precious Death Eaters didn’t know he was a half-blood. I bet he hid that secret from you for as long as he could. But you need to think about this, I don’t for one second think had he killed me he would have stopped. He still would have gone after Harry. And Lily Potter still would have died to save her son.” Neville turned and began to walk away from Snape. When he was halfway across the room, he stopped and turned.
“I have hated you for most of my life. I realise now, it isn’t hate I should feel, it’s pity. Pity over the fact you choose to align yourself with a murderer. But, I guess in the end, you got what you deserved, or did you? Perhaps, you should have lived; lived a long life knowing what you did and the heartbreak you caused.”
Neville turned again and walked out the door without looking back. He did feel pity and strangely, he felt much better having gotten not only twenty-five years of anger off his chest, but also the answer. He knew now why Snape hated him and it all made sense.
*****
“It is about time you told him why you hated him for all these years,” said Albus as the door closed behind Neville.
“I didn’t do it for him,” said Snape.
“Then why, Severus? Why did you finally admit to him the truth?” asked Albus.
“For myself,” answered Snape.
The Truth Behind the Hatred by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: I would like to thank my beta, Alyssa (harry4lif).
Anything you recognise belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am just thankful to be able to play in her world for a little while.