1st seed; [Action/Voice]

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[Perhaps the journal picks up the sound of Neville's arrival as he is unceremoniously deposited on the icy southern lake sometime in the dead of night. If not that, then it might catch the dull groaning as he slowly wakes and struggles to pull himself upright. If not that, then certainly the furious squeak from sneakers lacking traction on slippery

Comments

[Voice]

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[Harry just stares at the journal for a moment. He remembered hearing a little bit about Neville and the girls's efforts to try and steal the Sword of Gryffindor, but that still sounds rougher than he would like.]

Neville, is that you?

[Voice]

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[It sounded like Harry. But Harry's voice was famous enough to be easily imitable.]

That depends. [Some more hesitation before he recalls Hermione's method of identification.] In fifth year, I received a plant as a birthday gift. What was it called? [He didn't normally expect people to pay much attention to him when he went off on long plant-rambles, but Harry was his roommate, and they'd gone through the kind of stuff together that changes lives and relationships. Harry, out of all people, would be sure to remember his random self-absorbed trivia.]

[Voice]

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[It's just an illusion! It's actually a Horcrux!]

[...okay that's only partially true.] Mimbulus Mimbletonia. Didn't you get it from your great-uncle? [Harry would love to just be a wallflower, but all that fame gets in the way. But Neville's a good friend of his, and definitely the kind of person whose self-absorbed trivia is worth remembering.]

[Voice]

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[At least Neville isn't troubled with having to know what a Horcrux actually is.]

[The icy terseness melts away from his voice.] Harry! Harry, it's really you! You're alive! I knew you were alive, I kept telling everyone to just wait and see and you'd be back soon enough. Have you been here the whole time, then?

[Voice]

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[Good point. Or even the fact that he dodged a bullet with that one.]

[There's definitely a smile in Harry's voice.] Sorry things have taken so long, Neville. Are you alright? I haven't been here the whole time. It's sort of weird. Nott says he saw me returning to Hogwarts, but I don't think I'd gotten that far ahead in time. You're in a place called Luceti right now, and I don't think time applies here.

[Voice]

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Well of course you haven't been here the whole time -- we've been keeping up with the papers and heard lots about the things you've done -- like the dragon!! But it's been a while since there's been news. I didn't realize you'd been taken -- you'd think they would've wanted to brag about it at least a bit, but [Wait. What was that other bit?] ....Theodore Nott?

[Voice]

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The dragon was sort of a happy accident. [Chuckling a bit.] They're not the ones who got me. It was this place. They probably don't even know I'm gone, unless Voldemort somehow remembered.

...Yeah, Theodore Nott. He's here, though I haven't heard from him in a while. A lot of people are here from our world, including a few surprises. We've got a big house on the southern end of town, right now Hermione, Sirius, Cho, Luna, and I are living there. Malfoy is next door sometimes. I'm not exactly sure where Dumbledore lives, but he's here as well. Tom Riddle was here, but I haven't heard anything from him lately. And that's not it, either. [Holy crap, describing this cast takes forever.]

[Voice]

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Only the kind of accident you'd have, Harry. [He's not fanboying -- it's just being a good friend! Well. Maybe with a little fanboying.] ...I don't follow.

[And though Harry's just said several significant things, again Neville zeroes in on the most important bits.] Malfoy's here -- occasionally next door to you? Malfoy and Nott are together? And you speak with them? Harry, have you gone round the bend? Don't you know what they're capable of doing?

[Voice]

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To be fair, it happened to Ron and Hermione, too. [At least Neville's fanboying doesn't make Harry feel uncomfortable.] It's part of the nature of Luceti to try and take people away from their worlds. We can't get back home, or back to Hogwarts from here.

[Naturally!] One of his mates lives next door - some alien woman who lets him stay over. Nott and Malfoy share an apartment but obviously Malfoy isn't there a lot. He and I are sort of getting along, mostly because Tom Riddle was here. Or rather, sixteen year-old Voldemort. We sort of agreed that he was worse than anything we could manage to do to each other.

[Voice]

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Well, of course! When you three get together, you're pretty unstoppable, aren't you? [There's still a grin in his voice, because it's still so thrilling that you haven't died, Harry.] But what good does that to for anyone?

[He'll take a minute to give his head time to stop exploding.] You-Know-Who was here -- at the same time as Malfoy-- Harry, he must have been spying on you! Has he cursed you?

[Voice]

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Mostly. Voldemort and the Death Eaters make it difficult sometimes. [Harry's amused at this. He's glad that all of them are alive, even if Ron isn't here.] It apparently helps them. It's rubbish for all of us, though.

[Yeah, that one's a bit of a doozy. Harry looks a bit awkward.] No... he didn't curse me and he wasn't spying on me for Voldemort. It was the other way around - at least the spying bit. It's mum who's all into him. Malfoy - he's not really a model Death Eater.

[Voice]

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Well who are the blokes, and what's the point of helping them at all?

...Harry, maybe this is something we ought to discuss face-to-face. [Just to be sure that Malfoy's not feeding answers in Harry's ear at wandpoint or something.]

[Voice]

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There's no point to it, I think. We're just stuck here because we're inside this giant barrier and there's no way to get out.

Yeah, there's a lot to explain. Where are you, anyway?

[Voice]

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Of course there's a way out, Harry! You'll find it sooner or later. [Because solving the unsolveable is what Harry Potter does! It just... takes him a year sometimes.]

I'm near a lake. Hermione's said she'll be here shortly to fetch me.

[Voice]

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I'm working on it! Or at least, trying to. There's not much in the way of leads. [He might be forever on this one. Harry is not so sure sheer force of will and bravado will work on this one.]

Near a lake? [Pause. Oh thank heaven, the lake's frozen.] Oh bloody hell, I hope that's not the lake Malfoy likes to hang out at. Watch out for him, alright? He gets all, well, Malfoy when people from our world show up. [Tugging on that neck chain now. Please be paying attention, Draco.]

[Voice]

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You'll figure it out. [Would some cheerleading help the force of will and bravado any?]

[There is no reason to be thankful for a frozen lake. The frozen just makes it hurt more.] I thought you said you and Malfoy'd truced. Changed your mind already?