Neville-based special! :D Challenges #026, #048, #045
Title: The Face of The Clock
Rating/Warnings: PG, at worst
Characters/Pairing: Neville and Augusta Longbottom, reference to other Longbottoms.
Summary: Augusta is more excited about Neville's Hogwarts letter than Neville. He reflects on his feelings sulkily.
Word Count: 540
Author's Notes: For Challenge #026 Hogwarts Letters. There's no Augusta Longbottom tag... ;__;
Registered purchases?: Both
"Dear Mr Longbottom, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. It's real, Neville!"
Neville Longbottom looked up in wide-eyed wonder as his grandmother read the envelope that had been addressed to him. She looked more excited about the letter than he did, but that was mostly because he hadn't read it yet.
"Come, Neville!" Augusta commanded. "We need to get your robes and wand now, before the mad rush begins! Ah, I really need to send a reply to the school at once."
"Gran? Can I read the letter, please?" Neville asked hopefully.
"You've got ice-cream on your fingers," she snapped. "Wash your hands and then I'll give it to you."
Neville sighed as he walked to the kitchen; he leaned over the basin and washed his hands. He looked at the clock on the mantlepiece: like most other wizarding clocks it showed something other than the time. In this instance, it showed the mood of people in the Longbottom family. Neville looked at the hand labelled 'Augusta', which stuck proudly in the eleven-o'clock position, reading "EXCITED". Neville's, he noted, was still stuck a little above the four-o'clock point, labelled "UNHAPPY".
He was, he reflected. His family had been so happy to avoid him being a Squib that they all celebrated his first display of accidental magic. He didn't know why it took him so long to tap into it, it just had. And now the letter of acceptance was here, it was set in stone: he was a wizard, and he had the letter to prove it. So why did he feel sad?
He realised it was because his grandmother was more excited about him going away than he was. Neville was ten years old. He wasn't ready to live away from home. He would miss his gran, his great uncles, and his parents...
Neville looked at the clock again. The hands labelled Frank and Alice were still attached to the dial, because Neville's grandmother did not have the heart to take them down. Frank's hand was in the eight o'clock position marked "UNCOMFORTABLE"; Alice was in seven o'clock at "DISTRESSED." They were usually in these positions, and sometimes twitched around slightly. But they would never change. Neville was sure of it.
As he watched the clock, the hand labelled "Algie" span round quickly until it sat above Augusta's on "EXCITED". He became aware of his grandmother's voice from the other room, and she walked into the kitchen, beaming.
"I just told your great-uncle Algie over the Floo Network," she announced. "He was very happy about it. He was talking about getting you a present, actually. How about a nice toad like the one you had when you were little, hmm?"
Neville smiled weakly, but he saw his hand on the clock move from UNHAPPY to UNCOMFORTABLE. He hoped his gran wouldn't notice.
"I wanted to tell great-uncle Algie," Neville said sadly. "He always likes listening to me."
"Nonsense," said the old lady. "It doesn't matter who told him. Stop being silly and put some shoes on. We need to get you fitted for robes at once."
Title: Pursuit
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for some violence allusions
Characters/Pairing: Neville, various students in his year, Sprout, the Carrows.
Summary: Neville's Gran is on the run and she has sent him a warning to get to safety. Will he be able to do it?
Word Count: 857
Author's Notes: For Challenge #048 Missing Scenes, describing Neville's flight to the RoR.
Registered purchases?: Both
Neville had been in a Herbology lesson when he received the call from his Gran.
She had sent a Patronus to him, passing on a hurried message. Professor Sprout stared as the silver wasp flew over to Neville, and spoke in an old lady's voice:
"Aurors attempted to capture me. I am safe, but they will come for you this evening without question. Get yourself to safety, Neville. You are your father's son and I am proud of you."
With that, the wasp Patronus dissipated into thin air. Professor Sprout stared at him, before glancing out of the greenhouse window.
"The Carrows are coming," she said harshly. "Do you need to be excused, Longbottom?"
Neville nodded, grabbing his wand and leaving his schoolbags on the ground. He rushed to the door, but someone slammed it shut.
"You ain't going anywhere, Longbottom," Crabbe smirked.
Neville looked around hopelessly. Pansy Parkinson had taken the other door, and was standing there with her wand outstretched. He looked around hopelessly as the Carrows approached through the mist of the early April dusk. It was like seeing shapes in Professor Moody's sneakoscope. Once the whites of their eyes were here, the game would be up...
"Parkinson, out of the way, please!" Professor Sprout said, moving the girl aside to venture into the grounds toward the Carrows. Neville tried to sneak past her, but Pansy jumped back in place.
"You don't want to break school rules do you, Longbottom?" she simpered. "As Head Girl, I can't let you do that."
Neville steamed at her in anger. He wished his Gran hadn't sent the Patronus in the middle of a N.E.W.T class. And now Pansy Parkinson was telling him about breaking school rules?
Breaking?
Outside, a curse hit Professor Sprout and she was blasted backward; the force of the spell made the greenhouse shake.
Breaking.
Neville rounded his wand at the side of the greenhouse on the opposite side:
"Expulso!"
Every pane of glass shattered and not hesitating, he dived through the hole, tumbling onto his belly. He heard Crabbe yell from behind him, but then a few other voices yelled hexes, but Neville did not listen, he was away-
He ran as fast as he could, knowing the Carrows would be pursuing him; Gran wouldn't have got in touch with him unless she believed the threat to be real, and Gran's instincts had a terrible habit of being right.
He felt his ankles go from beneath him as he was hoisted into the air. Alecto Carrow shrieked with laughter; she had clearly been the one to use Levicorpus on him.
From somewhere nearby, a voice defied her:
"Liberacorpus!"
Neville fell to the ground, and saw the one who had spoken: Seamus Finnegan, who had been paired with him in the Herbology lesson.
"Don't just stand there!" Seamus yelled, trying to duel the witch. "Run!"
From behind, he heard footsteps and several voices yelling curses. Half the Herbology class were involved now, the greenhouse half-demolished, and the teacher unconscious. Neville dared to turn round where he saw Seamus and Lavender Brown duelling Alecto Carrow; Terry Boot and Susan Bones fighting Amycus. Neville paused as he watched the Death Eaters distracted by the students, Neville hesitated, knowing he should help.
"Neville!" a trio of girls screamed. "Keep running! Go!"
"He saw the Patil twins and Hannah Abbott urging him away, but no- Neville couldn't leave the students as they were. He heard an explosion as Seamus Finnegan was hit with a curse like the one that hit Professor Sprout; he slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Go!" They yelled.
Their feet pattered through the corridors of Hogwarts, as though they expected to find a way out. Parvati insisted he go to the Gryffindor common room and pack a bag, but Neville knew instinctively that would be a mistake: Snape would almost certainly be waiting there, hidden in the final shadowy corner.
"Where, then?" Parvati screamed.
"I know," Hannah said suddenly. "Parvati, Padma, go make a distraction, I'll take him."
The twins ran off and Hannah dragged him up flights of stairs; another explosion boomed in the distance.
"You're taking me to the Room of Requirement, aren't you?" Neville said, amazed.
"Yeah, it was a good hideout against Umbridge," Hannah said. "We've got even bigger need for it now."
And as Neville ran along the corridor, he knew he would be safe in there, because it was what he needed. But not just for him, for anybody else who needed to hide. A bathroom, a sink, some beds, clothes, food.... he imagined it all.
"Door!" Hannah yelled. "In!"
She shoved him through roughly and waited.
"We should be fine," she said. "I asked the room to be Unplottable and impossible to access to Death Eater sympathisers."
"Same," Neville asked. "But you have to stay here, too."
"No, they wanted you," she said, looking at him. "They cursed my Head of House. I need to help somehow."
Neville looked at the girl in wonder. They had barely talked in seven years, and suddenly, united in a cause, they were talking like old friends. He smiled.
"Be safe, Hannah."
Title: What Scared Me The Most
Rating/Warnings: PG/PG13. Angst and reflection.
Characters/Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Hannah Abbot.
Summary: As they move into the Leaky Cauldron, Hannah and Neville are forced to confront their fears.
Word Count: 742
Author's Notes: For Challenge #045 Hurt/Comfort.
Registered purchases?: Both
The newlyweds were tidying up the attic studio above the Leaky Cauldron. The Abbott family had been regulars at the Leaky Cauldron for some generations, and when Tom, the landlord, passed away through illness, they had been the first to place a bid on the establishment. Her father knew many of the patrons, and because his daughter was ready to make the next step in her life, it was the absolute least he could do to help.
Neville was working on cleaning the upholstery in the area downstairs while Hannah was clearing upstairs when he heard a shriek of panic. Wailing, she ran downstairs, crying.
"What's wrong?" Neville asked, while his wife sobbed into his chest. "What happened?"
"M-m-m," she stammered before choking on a sob. "I saw, oh Neville, it was awful!"
Neville was alarmed "What's upstairs?"
"D-Death Eater," Hannah whispered, flushing pink. "Greyback. He's -he's upstairs."
Neville's stomach squirmed. How could Fenrir Greyback be upstairs? He was in Azkaban with so many of the other Death Eaters. He had seen the Daily Prophet this morning, there had been no break-out from Azkaban, Greyback had no master to serve, the full moon was weeks away, and the Death Eaters were finished, so how could he possibly be waiting for them?"
"Where was he? Did he say anything?" Neville asked, voice serious. "He must have had a demand."
"No!" Hannah wailed. "I was cleaning out a wardrobe and he jumped out at me!"
Suddenly, Neville relaxed. He suspected he knew what had happened: "Hannah, I think it was a Boggart."
The words didn't help his wife at all; if anything, her wailing increased threefold. He held her in his arms, hushing her with words of comfort.
"I'm sorry, Neville," she moaned, hiccuping weakly. "He killed my mother. He killed her and I saw him at the Hogwarts Battle, he looked at me like he knew me and I ran. I ran and didn't do anything to stop him! I should have fought him, but I was too afraid."
Neville held his wife; it broke his heart that he couldn't ease her pain in any way. She always seemed to carry a huge amount of guilt on her shoulders, even since they were teenagers. It was one of the reasons he noticed her in the first place: they seemed rather similar, after all. And now she had been faced with her greatest fear, he realised that marriage hadn't solved these problems, but instead had covered them up with distractions.
The scars caused by the battle were not made any easier because they were shared by a community.
"Tell you what," Neville said, "I'll come up with you, and we'll defeat the Boggart together, right?"
He held her round her waist until she smiled, and clutching her wand, the two of them walked up the stairs together. "It's the room on the right."
"Okay," Neville said. "Do you have something funny in mind?"
Hannah sniffed. "Diabolo, my cousin's Pygmy Puff."
Neville smiled encouragingly, touching his wife's hip. He thought about Snape in his Grandmother's clothes, and together, they stepped through the door.
Sure enough, Greyback was right in the middle of the room, and he rounded on Hannah with bared teeth. She flinched, and looked over at Neville awkwardly, before pointing her wand:
"Riddikulus!"
Crack. The savage turned pink and fluffy and squeaked on the floor. She sighed a breath of relief. Neville stepped forward, prepared to take on Professor Snape as before....
...which was when he realised he hadn't been afraid of Snape for many, many years.
If not, what did scare him now?
The Boggart rounded on him and Crack!
It grew to human size, wearing awkwardly-dressed robes, eyes watery, chubby cheeks.
Neville Longbottom was looking at himself aged ten, wet hands, Hogwarts letter, round face filled with terror.
"Neville?" Hannah said awkwardly. "Neville, what's...?"
And before he knew what to do, Neville watched his younger self burst into tears. He hated seeing the boy cry, because he knew it was himself, and knew what that felt like, he knew what it was like to be afraid, he knew--"
Neville realised at this point he was afraid of becoming who he once had been. He was scared of losing everything he had achieved in life.
Hannah draped her arms around her husband, and whispered words of comfort back at him.
They left the room, and decided to defeat the Boggart tomorrow.
540+857+742 =2139
2139/30 = 71.3
Rob//Gryffindor//71 points + 30 bous GET!!
Rating/Warnings: PG, at worst
Characters/Pairing: Neville and Augusta Longbottom, reference to other Longbottoms.
Summary: Augusta is more excited about Neville's Hogwarts letter than Neville. He reflects on his feelings sulkily.
Word Count: 540
Author's Notes: For Challenge #026 Hogwarts Letters. There's no Augusta Longbottom tag... ;__;
Registered purchases?: Both
"Dear Mr Longbottom, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. It's real, Neville!"
Neville Longbottom looked up in wide-eyed wonder as his grandmother read the envelope that had been addressed to him. She looked more excited about the letter than he did, but that was mostly because he hadn't read it yet.
"Come, Neville!" Augusta commanded. "We need to get your robes and wand now, before the mad rush begins! Ah, I really need to send a reply to the school at once."
"Gran? Can I read the letter, please?" Neville asked hopefully.
"You've got ice-cream on your fingers," she snapped. "Wash your hands and then I'll give it to you."
Neville sighed as he walked to the kitchen; he leaned over the basin and washed his hands. He looked at the clock on the mantlepiece: like most other wizarding clocks it showed something other than the time. In this instance, it showed the mood of people in the Longbottom family. Neville looked at the hand labelled 'Augusta', which stuck proudly in the eleven-o'clock position, reading "EXCITED". Neville's, he noted, was still stuck a little above the four-o'clock point, labelled "UNHAPPY".
He was, he reflected. His family had been so happy to avoid him being a Squib that they all celebrated his first display of accidental magic. He didn't know why it took him so long to tap into it, it just had. And now the letter of acceptance was here, it was set in stone: he was a wizard, and he had the letter to prove it. So why did he feel sad?
He realised it was because his grandmother was more excited about him going away than he was. Neville was ten years old. He wasn't ready to live away from home. He would miss his gran, his great uncles, and his parents...
Neville looked at the clock again. The hands labelled Frank and Alice were still attached to the dial, because Neville's grandmother did not have the heart to take them down. Frank's hand was in the eight o'clock position marked "UNCOMFORTABLE"; Alice was in seven o'clock at "DISTRESSED." They were usually in these positions, and sometimes twitched around slightly. But they would never change. Neville was sure of it.
As he watched the clock, the hand labelled "Algie" span round quickly until it sat above Augusta's on "EXCITED". He became aware of his grandmother's voice from the other room, and she walked into the kitchen, beaming.
"I just told your great-uncle Algie over the Floo Network," she announced. "He was very happy about it. He was talking about getting you a present, actually. How about a nice toad like the one you had when you were little, hmm?"
Neville smiled weakly, but he saw his hand on the clock move from UNHAPPY to UNCOMFORTABLE. He hoped his gran wouldn't notice.
"I wanted to tell great-uncle Algie," Neville said sadly. "He always likes listening to me."
"Nonsense," said the old lady. "It doesn't matter who told him. Stop being silly and put some shoes on. We need to get you fitted for robes at once."
Title: Pursuit
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for some violence allusions
Characters/Pairing: Neville, various students in his year, Sprout, the Carrows.
Summary: Neville's Gran is on the run and she has sent him a warning to get to safety. Will he be able to do it?
Word Count: 857
Author's Notes: For Challenge #048 Missing Scenes, describing Neville's flight to the RoR.
Registered purchases?: Both
Neville had been in a Herbology lesson when he received the call from his Gran.
She had sent a Patronus to him, passing on a hurried message. Professor Sprout stared as the silver wasp flew over to Neville, and spoke in an old lady's voice:
"Aurors attempted to capture me. I am safe, but they will come for you this evening without question. Get yourself to safety, Neville. You are your father's son and I am proud of you."
With that, the wasp Patronus dissipated into thin air. Professor Sprout stared at him, before glancing out of the greenhouse window.
"The Carrows are coming," she said harshly. "Do you need to be excused, Longbottom?"
Neville nodded, grabbing his wand and leaving his schoolbags on the ground. He rushed to the door, but someone slammed it shut.
"You ain't going anywhere, Longbottom," Crabbe smirked.
Neville looked around hopelessly. Pansy Parkinson had taken the other door, and was standing there with her wand outstretched. He looked around hopelessly as the Carrows approached through the mist of the early April dusk. It was like seeing shapes in Professor Moody's sneakoscope. Once the whites of their eyes were here, the game would be up...
"Parkinson, out of the way, please!" Professor Sprout said, moving the girl aside to venture into the grounds toward the Carrows. Neville tried to sneak past her, but Pansy jumped back in place.
"You don't want to break school rules do you, Longbottom?" she simpered. "As Head Girl, I can't let you do that."
Neville steamed at her in anger. He wished his Gran hadn't sent the Patronus in the middle of a N.E.W.T class. And now Pansy Parkinson was telling him about breaking school rules?
Breaking?
Outside, a curse hit Professor Sprout and she was blasted backward; the force of the spell made the greenhouse shake.
Breaking.
Neville rounded his wand at the side of the greenhouse on the opposite side:
"Expulso!"
Every pane of glass shattered and not hesitating, he dived through the hole, tumbling onto his belly. He heard Crabbe yell from behind him, but then a few other voices yelled hexes, but Neville did not listen, he was away-
He ran as fast as he could, knowing the Carrows would be pursuing him; Gran wouldn't have got in touch with him unless she believed the threat to be real, and Gran's instincts had a terrible habit of being right.
He felt his ankles go from beneath him as he was hoisted into the air. Alecto Carrow shrieked with laughter; she had clearly been the one to use Levicorpus on him.
From somewhere nearby, a voice defied her:
"Liberacorpus!"
Neville fell to the ground, and saw the one who had spoken: Seamus Finnegan, who had been paired with him in the Herbology lesson.
"Don't just stand there!" Seamus yelled, trying to duel the witch. "Run!"
From behind, he heard footsteps and several voices yelling curses. Half the Herbology class were involved now, the greenhouse half-demolished, and the teacher unconscious. Neville dared to turn round where he saw Seamus and Lavender Brown duelling Alecto Carrow; Terry Boot and Susan Bones fighting Amycus. Neville paused as he watched the Death Eaters distracted by the students, Neville hesitated, knowing he should help.
"Neville!" a trio of girls screamed. "Keep running! Go!"
"He saw the Patil twins and Hannah Abbott urging him away, but no- Neville couldn't leave the students as they were. He heard an explosion as Seamus Finnegan was hit with a curse like the one that hit Professor Sprout; he slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Go!" They yelled.
Their feet pattered through the corridors of Hogwarts, as though they expected to find a way out. Parvati insisted he go to the Gryffindor common room and pack a bag, but Neville knew instinctively that would be a mistake: Snape would almost certainly be waiting there, hidden in the final shadowy corner.
"Where, then?" Parvati screamed.
"I know," Hannah said suddenly. "Parvati, Padma, go make a distraction, I'll take him."
The twins ran off and Hannah dragged him up flights of stairs; another explosion boomed in the distance.
"You're taking me to the Room of Requirement, aren't you?" Neville said, amazed.
"Yeah, it was a good hideout against Umbridge," Hannah said. "We've got even bigger need for it now."
And as Neville ran along the corridor, he knew he would be safe in there, because it was what he needed. But not just for him, for anybody else who needed to hide. A bathroom, a sink, some beds, clothes, food.... he imagined it all.
"Door!" Hannah yelled. "In!"
She shoved him through roughly and waited.
"We should be fine," she said. "I asked the room to be Unplottable and impossible to access to Death Eater sympathisers."
"Same," Neville asked. "But you have to stay here, too."
"No, they wanted you," she said, looking at him. "They cursed my Head of House. I need to help somehow."
Neville looked at the girl in wonder. They had barely talked in seven years, and suddenly, united in a cause, they were talking like old friends. He smiled.
"Be safe, Hannah."
Title: What Scared Me The Most
Rating/Warnings: PG/PG13. Angst and reflection.
Characters/Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Hannah Abbot.
Summary: As they move into the Leaky Cauldron, Hannah and Neville are forced to confront their fears.
Word Count: 742
Author's Notes: For Challenge #045 Hurt/Comfort.
Registered purchases?: Both
The newlyweds were tidying up the attic studio above the Leaky Cauldron. The Abbott family had been regulars at the Leaky Cauldron for some generations, and when Tom, the landlord, passed away through illness, they had been the first to place a bid on the establishment. Her father knew many of the patrons, and because his daughter was ready to make the next step in her life, it was the absolute least he could do to help.
Neville was working on cleaning the upholstery in the area downstairs while Hannah was clearing upstairs when he heard a shriek of panic. Wailing, she ran downstairs, crying.
"What's wrong?" Neville asked, while his wife sobbed into his chest. "What happened?"
"M-m-m," she stammered before choking on a sob. "I saw, oh Neville, it was awful!"
Neville was alarmed "What's upstairs?"
"D-Death Eater," Hannah whispered, flushing pink. "Greyback. He's -he's upstairs."
Neville's stomach squirmed. How could Fenrir Greyback be upstairs? He was in Azkaban with so many of the other Death Eaters. He had seen the Daily Prophet this morning, there had been no break-out from Azkaban, Greyback had no master to serve, the full moon was weeks away, and the Death Eaters were finished, so how could he possibly be waiting for them?"
"Where was he? Did he say anything?" Neville asked, voice serious. "He must have had a demand."
"No!" Hannah wailed. "I was cleaning out a wardrobe and he jumped out at me!"
Suddenly, Neville relaxed. He suspected he knew what had happened: "Hannah, I think it was a Boggart."
The words didn't help his wife at all; if anything, her wailing increased threefold. He held her in his arms, hushing her with words of comfort.
"I'm sorry, Neville," she moaned, hiccuping weakly. "He killed my mother. He killed her and I saw him at the Hogwarts Battle, he looked at me like he knew me and I ran. I ran and didn't do anything to stop him! I should have fought him, but I was too afraid."
Neville held his wife; it broke his heart that he couldn't ease her pain in any way. She always seemed to carry a huge amount of guilt on her shoulders, even since they were teenagers. It was one of the reasons he noticed her in the first place: they seemed rather similar, after all. And now she had been faced with her greatest fear, he realised that marriage hadn't solved these problems, but instead had covered them up with distractions.
The scars caused by the battle were not made any easier because they were shared by a community.
"Tell you what," Neville said, "I'll come up with you, and we'll defeat the Boggart together, right?"
He held her round her waist until she smiled, and clutching her wand, the two of them walked up the stairs together. "It's the room on the right."
"Okay," Neville said. "Do you have something funny in mind?"
Hannah sniffed. "Diabolo, my cousin's Pygmy Puff."
Neville smiled encouragingly, touching his wife's hip. He thought about Snape in his Grandmother's clothes, and together, they stepped through the door.
Sure enough, Greyback was right in the middle of the room, and he rounded on Hannah with bared teeth. She flinched, and looked over at Neville awkwardly, before pointing her wand:
"Riddikulus!"
Crack. The savage turned pink and fluffy and squeaked on the floor. She sighed a breath of relief. Neville stepped forward, prepared to take on Professor Snape as before....
...which was when he realised he hadn't been afraid of Snape for many, many years.
If not, what did scare him now?
The Boggart rounded on him and Crack!
It grew to human size, wearing awkwardly-dressed robes, eyes watery, chubby cheeks.
Neville Longbottom was looking at himself aged ten, wet hands, Hogwarts letter, round face filled with terror.
"Neville?" Hannah said awkwardly. "Neville, what's...?"
And before he knew what to do, Neville watched his younger self burst into tears. He hated seeing the boy cry, because he knew it was himself, and knew what that felt like, he knew what it was like to be afraid, he knew--"
Neville realised at this point he was afraid of becoming who he once had been. He was scared of losing everything he had achieved in life.
Hannah draped her arms around her husband, and whispered words of comfort back at him.
They left the room, and decided to defeat the Boggart tomorrow.
540+857+742 =2139
2139/30 = 71.3
Rob//Gryffindor//71 points + 30 bous GET!!