Harry Potter and the Galator
Chapter 22
Neville's discovery
Neville had a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd accidentally stumbled into the secret room that Harry, Hermione, Lavender, Ron and Ginny had been using to plan strategies on how they'd deal with the fake Sirius. There were drawings on a piece of parchment that almost looked like a strategic football plan with all the Xs and Os. Neville stared at them with his eyes suspiciously narrowed into slits.
"Hi," he stammered nervously as he looked at their faces obviously irritated by the interruption.
"Hi Neville," Harry broke the tension first.
"I was leaning next to one of the portraits and reading a passage from my book out loud and it suddenly opened. I didn't mean to intrude," he said hurriedly as if expecting them to hex him for accidentally intruding on them.
"What kind of book are you reading?" Ron blurted out. Neville flushed as if embarrassed to reveal exactly what he was reading. Hermione briefly glanced at the book and understood why he was embarrassed. He was reading a romance type novel she'd seen before at the library.
"Er…"
"It's all right Neville, what can we do for you?" asked Hermione mildly. She knew how easily afraid Neville can become when he felt intimidated. Although, he hadn't shown any of the fear he was known for last term while battling the many death eaters, he had a way of reverting back to the old under confident Neville from time to time.
"Oh, nothing I suppose. I just stumbled in here and was curious, is all." He looked at what looked like a beautiful green amulet glowing in the middle of the table. Harry had removed it and settled it in the middle since it was the object that Voldemort was craving for. His eyes grew wide and he was bubbling with excitement. "Wow, I didn't think it existed. Gran always told me stories about it, but I thought they were all just some kind of folklore."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked him, but he already knew what Neville was feeling. He could feel the excitement and he felt the initial fear he was feeling when he first entered the room. Neville was becoming braver every year, he thought. He was finally coming out of his shell.
"The galator, of course," he told them as he pointed to the object on the middle of the table. The five of them looked at Neville with shocked expression. They didn't think anyone else would know about an object that certainly lacked proven history. As legends go, it didn't have much substantial evidence of its existence.
"Neville, you've heard about it?" asked a dumbfounded Ron who didn't have the wits to try to deny it. The others didn't much care about lying to Neville as well since they knew he could be trusted with anything. He'd proven his worth during their bout with the death eaters while they were at the Minister of Magic office along with Luna Lovegood, the only person who was missing at that moment.
"Yeah, like I said. My gran had loads of stories to tell me about it. Wait till she hears that someone at Hogwarts actually owns it."
"No," they all practically screamed all at the same time.
"You mean to tell me, no one else knows about it. Not even Dumbledore?" he asked astonished at the obvious truth of the matter. Then something dawned on him like a light bulb lit up in his head. "Wait a minute, my gran also said that only Merlin's ancestors can possess and own the galator." His eyes grew wide again and stared at the five others looking at his confusion, shock and questions painted on his face as he tried to figure out who it was that owned the galator.
If it weren't such a serious matter, Harry would have laughed out loud at the feelings Neville was going through. He felt all of his emotions and he felt the sensation of nearly urinating in his pants. Neville was a good friend and he didn't want to hurt his feelings by laughing out loud, so he kept his laughter in check.
"Harry?" he asked him as if asking him to confirm that it was he who owned the galator and was indeed Merlin's descendant. All of them nodded in response and Neville fainted where he stood.
"Alright, Neville?" Harry asked when he came to after a few minutes. They took that time to put away all the parchments lying around and for Harry to put the galator back on his person. They decided to tell Neville the truth when he was conscious again if he remembers.
"H-Harry?" he asked still a little disoriented. "Where am I?"
"You're in one of Hogwarts many secret rooms. You feel okay?"
He noticed that he and Harry weren't the only people in the room. Then everything came rushing back to him and he scrambled up to a standing position. He looked at their faces sketched with concern for him.
"Okay. I'm okay," he stammered. "But, could you please just tell me I wasn't dreaming? Please!"
"Neville, if we wanted you to think you were dreaming or anything else we would have brought you back to the common room or erased your memory," answered Harry.
"Sorry. It's just that the galator, you, Merlin…"
"It's okay Neville. It's true. We are only telling you because we trust you wholeheartedly. No one else knows, besides maybe Dumbledore, but we didn't actually tell him. He just has a way of knowing things even when you don't tell him anyway. So, what do you want to know first?"
"You're a descendant of Merlin?"
"Yes,"
"Wow" was all Neville could say. He was flabbergasted. He had a friend that was related to Merlin. Then he turned sad because no one will believe him and even more sad because no one will ever know, not even his gran.
Harry of course felt everything that Neville was feeling. Again he felt the urge to laugh, but was too much of a good friend to do that to his face. He knew how sensitive Neville could be. He decided to just humor him with answering his questions and try his best to lock out his empath powers towards Neville. He knew he was harmless but he had to tune his powers to the surrounding beings as a type of an alarm.
"So, Neville. Are you feeling okay now? Do you want to go to the common room now?" asked Ginny gently.
"Why don't we all go and finish our homework?" suggested Hermione and heard a groan from Harry and Ron. Hermione and Lavender both patted their boyfriends' arm. Ron and Harry looked at each other and laughed. Harry checked if the coast was clear and led the rest of them out into the common room. They weren't worried about Neville remembering the password because he probably didn't know what words he was reading when the passage opened for him. They were also not worried that he would blab everything to anyone.
Neville was honored to have Harry's confidence. He knew Harry and he didn't really spend time together nor were they best of friends, but he felt a kinship with Harry that he didn't feel with anyone else. It might be because they had the same birthday, they both lost their parents to Voldemort (one set dead and the other crazy) or because Harry always treated him fairly. He didn't know and didn't care much as long as they were friends. Neville was thankful for that alone. He also knew that Ginny and Hermione were his friends and Ron too when he didn't put his foot in his mouth with his comments. Lavender to him was just a friend by association, but she had always been decent with him.
They all pulled out their books and parchments and started their homework soon after they found a table where they could all sit. Nothing more was discussed about their strategy and nothing more was discussed about the galator. They acted normal even when in their heads the plans they just went over was still whirring around. They were all nervous. They knew it was dangerous, but they also knew that there is a war going on and if they didn't do their part, they might not have any future.
Lavender was new to all the adventures, but she was tougher that anyone thought. She played the dumb blonde to discourage people who were not really interested in friendship with her. She wanted people to know the real Lavender and only those who could see past the act were worthy of her friendship like Parvati, then Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and now Neville. She felt good being able to help even when no one else besides her friends would know the effort she would put into the war that is raging within the Wizarding world.
Ginny on the other hand loved that she is able to help and she had no qualms about being in danger. She knew that she would do anything to protect those she loved and care about and her future as well. She had an investment in their quest, which is what she sees it as. She knew she couldn't really tell Draco, but she tried to spend as much time with him as her schedule allows and told him each time how much she loved him.
Ron had always supported and helped Harry during his confrontations with the Dark Lord even when he was afraid out of his mind. But everything was becoming cleared to him. If he expected a future with Lavender or of the Wizarding world, as he knew it when Voldemort and his supporters were not running rampant, he would do all he can to help Harry with the quest to right any wrong.
Hermione was loyal to death. She knew that a future without Harry is no future at all. She would do anything to help him especially fight beside him. He was her life and she knew that she was his. Exposing the fake Sirius would be dangerous, but his memory would be at peace and so would Harry. She knew that Voldemort had something to do with it and whenever he was involved, she knew it could only mean death and danger.
Harry felt the weight of the responsibility for his family (the Weasleys and Hermione), his friends, the wizarding world as well as the muggle world on his shoulder. Because of the prophecy there was only one-way to secure a future for the people he loved and cared about, he would either kill or be killed. He had no other choice. Though he didn't want his friends involved with the plan to expose the impostor, he also knew that they would join him anyway and might become seriously hurt. So, he qualified that if there were a plan, he would be able to execute the plan and keep tabs on them to keep them out of danger.
The plan to expose the fake serious was only a small portion of the war, but he knew that by doing so, he could clear his conscience by somehow avenging his godfather's death even when he felt him in his heart as being alive. He also knew that he would have to take precautions since it involved Voldemort and always had alternative plans for surprises. He was doing his best to hone his new skills. He didn't want a repeat of last term where Voldemort easily manipulated him into going after a lie. He knew what he had to do. He was going to find away to confront the impostor alone.
A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I do notice that the number of hits in my chapter statistics are not reflected in the number of reviews. Just so you know you can always send me a personal email with your comments at rhiaofdruma@yahoo.com. I am always happy to hear from you whether in the form of a review on the site or just an email. Thanks again.