*******
Two days had passed since Voldemort attacked and invaded Hogwarts. The Room of Requirement remained filled with the Fifth year students of Hogwarts. The two days were spent with the students lying idly about. Since Harry's speech, the atmosphere was generally more amenable towards the Slytherins. Though they still remained quartered off from the other students, there were no attempts to provoke or anger them in any way. On the second day, Harry started to toss targets into the air and stun them in mid-air. It proved an entertaining and stimulating exercise to break the boredom.
The Room seemed to have provided the students with permanent shelter. On a lesser note, there seemed to be no indication that there was any attempt of rescue. Harry and Neville had gone out again with a little scouting party and found the situation unchanged. There were still Death Eater patrols and no sign of Dumbledore or any of the other Professors. On a better note, Ron twice spotted Auror robes in the distance from the Astronomy tower. Unfortunately, Hermione could only open and create entrances in certain, select hallways. The Astronomy tower was at least a five minute run to the nearest Room of Requirement entrance and thus, did not allow the group to send sparks in the air for rescue. They needed another way to make contact with the outside world.
"What about the portraits?" Harry asked.
"No go," Ron shook his head, "I tried to talk to Sir Cadogan and even he wouldn't talk. You-Know-Who must have done something to the portraits."
"How is he doing all of this?" Neville wondered.
"Hogwarts: A History," Harry and Hermione simultaneously replied.
"You're joking," Ron's face was serious as he looked at both of them with utter disgust.
"It's true," Harry shrugged, "It doesn't go into detail in the book, but in the Headmaster's office, there's something that helps control the wards and defenses of Hogwarts. I guess You-Know-Who - sorry - is tapping into it."
"So we have to go to the Headmaster's office?" Ron asked.
"That's where Voldemort will be," Hermione grimly concluded, "He has to stay close to whatever is up ther, right?"
"I agree," said Harry.
"Well if we can't break into the office, we have to get all the way to Hogsmeade to warn them," reasoned Neville.
"That's near suicidal," Hermione shook her head, her bushy hair flying about, "The Death Eaters will be watching the road to Hogwarts. We would never get across."
"The Willow!" Harry snapped his fingers excitedly, "Remember? I followed you guys in there and it took you to the Shrieking Shack. It's perfect!"
"It's not. Death Eaters have been watching it, especially Peter," Neville frowned.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I just do," Neville replied uncomfortably.
"Yeah, but how?"
"It makes sense, Harry," Hermione exchanged a glance with Neville, "Peter knows about the Willow more than anyone else. They have to have at least one person guarding it."
"We can take on one person," Harry argued.
"There's more than one," Neville informed him.
"You can't possibly know that," their pessimism was starting to irritate Harry.
"Fine, come here," Neville motioned for him to lean close as he pulled that old parchment out of his bag. Neville produced what he called the "Marauder's Map" and explained to Harry how it worked and it's origins.
"Padfoot…" Harry trailed off as he traced the names, "Moony must be Professor Lupin. Wormtail has to be Peter. Which leaves Prongs as…"
"Your dad," Hermione finished with a nod.
"He never told me about this," Harry frowned as he opened and inspected the map. The Trio exchanged glances that Harry did not miss.
"Wait. Did you guys know?"
The guilty looks on their faces could not be hidden. Harry bit his thumb, a bad habit he picked up when he was nervous or anxious.
"How did you guys know?" he asked, the betrayal in his voice evident.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione spoke up after Neville and Ron refused to say anything, "We stayed at Grimmauld over the summer and your dad would drop by for Order business every now and then. He told us a couple of stories."
"I see," Harry gulped as he ducked his chin to his chest, not wanting them to see the hurt in his green eyes. Taking his glasses off, Harry rubbed his eyes for a few seconds before placing the spectacles back on the bridge of his nose.
How many things did his father tell them exactly? Did he not trust his own son enough to impart him with stories of his childhood? Harry did never quite hear everything about his father's friendships with Sirius and Peter, which made sense at the time. It still did not stop the hurt from creeping into his heart when he thought of his father bonding with his friends instead of his own son.
"So - uh - why don't we just use the map all the time to avoid the Death Eaters?" Harry asked, eager to change the subject.
Neville looked at him weirdly before responding, "It's not that easy to keep the parchment out and your wand trained at the same time. You also have to stop every time you check it; it slows the group down. It's easier when there's less people."
"I wish someone would invent the magic version of the walkie talkie. So there's a lot of people guarding the Willow then?"
"At least three at all times," Hermione was still staring at him oddly, apologizing with her eyes. Harry avoided them for now, not wanting her to see the pain he felt.
"I've got it," Ron clapped his hands together, gazing around himself as if there were an invisible pantheon.
"What is it, Ron?" Hermione asked impatiently after Ron sat still, basking in his own genius.
"Give me a second, these moments are rare for me."
"What moments?" Neville asked.
"When I have a better idea than both of you."
"Ron…" Hermione warned.
"We fly!" Ron flapped his arms to imitate a bird.
"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard."
"Not if there's only one person flying," Ron held up his index finger to make his point, "Hermione, can a good flyer get across the lake if he leaves from the Astronomy tower? The Death Eaters will get caught off guard and the lake's not that big! How big is the lake?"
"About a half a mile in diameter," she murmured, trying to calculate the odds in her head.
"That's just a whole mile all the way to Hogsmeade! We just need one person to get across the lake and get help. The Death Eaters can't give chase after that because of all the Aurors outside. It's perfect!" Ron grew more and more excited as he explained his plan.
"What's the good in that though, Ron? If they could have broke into Hogwarts, the Aurors would have gotten it by now. What's the point of one person escaping? In case you haven't noticed, there's forty-one of us in here," Hermione rebutted stubbornly.
"There's the trick. Once whoever's flying takes off, they'll be so busy they won't notice the rest of us getting down to the Willow and escaping. We just need whoever's flying to distract them long enough for us to get away! We can use the Map while the flyer is distracting the Death Eaters," Ron smiled smugly.
"It's risky, that's a lot of people…" Hermione trailed off.
"But it can work," Neville smiled, "We can get out of here."
Hermione stared at the two boys, biting her lip and scrunching her face in a matter Harry knew quite well. She was contemplating the decision in front of her, weighing the possible risk versus gain and the potential loss. Since they were facing Death Eaters, the potential loss was always very high. With the aid of the Map and the distraction, however, the chances of the plan increased tenfold.
"It's plausible," Hermione said after a few moments.
Ron and Neville whooped and hollered high fives as they finally found a plan Hermione was amenable to. Hermione did not respond as she continued to calculate and formulate the different scenarios in her head. There were plenty of negatives for the plan, but honestly, they did not know when they would ever be rescued and had little to no means of contacting the outside world. If they were to escape, it would best if the Death Eaters were caught off guard and for all of the students to leave at one time.
"Who's going to do the flying?" Hermione wondered.
"I will," Harry nodded.
"Wait a second, Harry," Ron approached him, "This is my plan. I should fly it; I can get to Hogsmeade."
"I'm the better flier and you know it, Ron. Plus, I have the Firebolt. There's nothing that can get across the lake faster than the Firebolt."
"I can fly the Firebolt too!" Ron argued, his face turning red.
"Ron, there's a reason I'm the Seeker. It has to be me," Harry tried to reason with the taller boy.
Ron looked at Neville for support but found the boy was looking back at his best friend hesitantly. Hermione also had a discomforted look on her face, her hands twisting the ends of her robes awkwardly.
"Both of you as well? You think Harry should fly it?" Ron asked incredulously.
"It's not that he's better on the broom than you are, Ron. It's just - we've all seen him fly and if anyone can do it and distract the Death Eaters long enough, it's Harry," Neville said hastily.
"I mean - he is the Seeker," Hermione mumbled in a barely audible squeak.
"You're just trying to take my plan away from me," the tips of Ron's ears were burning red at this point.
"It's a good plan, Ron. It really is! We won't be able to do it without you," Hermione said earnestly.
Ron still looked furious as he crossed his arms and glared at the other three plotters with avid animosity. He sighed and kicked his foot on the ground in an impatient manner as he spoke, "Fine. Harry can fly it; but let it be known this was my idea."
"All your idea, Ron," Harry said dryly.
"Fine."
"Good."
"Brilliant."
"So what next?" Neville asked, veering off the possible confrontation between Harry and Ron.
"My broom's in the dorm," Harry remembered with a sigh.
"Not like it's the toughest place to get into or anything. If I was Death Eater, I'd never look inside the common rooms for stray, wandering students," Ron commented facetiously.
"Got a better idea?" Hermione rhetorically asked, the menace in her voice clear.
"No, I already contributed my part."
"Well," Harry sent an annoyed look to Ron, "If all else fails, I can get my mirror."
"Mirror?" Neville asked, clearly confused.
"Now's not the time for vanity, Harry."
"The mirror, Ron-" Harry drawled out his name, "-can be used to contact your sister. She has a matching one that I gave to her for Christmas."
"You gave Ginny a mirror you can contact her with for Christmas?" Hermione asked in surprise, fidgeting slightly.
"You know; for the war stuff," Harry shrugged.
"Oh, of course," Hermione continued to fold and unfold the corner of her robes, not meeting Harry's eyes.
"We can get both," Neville interrupted the slight interlude, "We go from the Sixth floor up since they still have people stationed out front of where the Room of Requirement door would usually be. We climb up to the Seventh floor, grab the Firebolt and the mirror and go back to the Room of Requirement."
"That's a lot of exposed areas," Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"It'll have to be a bigger group than usual. We just have to hope You-Know-Who doesn't catch wind of it enough to show up," Harry stated, looking at the rest of the students as he started to isolate the students needed to pull off this job.
"Guess we have to assemble a team then," Hermione brought out a parchment and started making a list.
Harry looked at her thoughtfully, a bemused smile on his face. Hermione caught the look and stared back at him quizzically. Harry laughed and shook his head.
"I think I saw something like this in a Muggle movie over the summer."
"Well that's unlikely. Muggles can't get into Hogwarts," Ron stated the obvious, completely missing Harry's reference.
"No, you idiot," Hermione threw a balled up parchment at Ron, "What movie, Harry?"
Harry shrugged and smiled slightly, "I forget. I remember something with a red light and a green light and a stick of gum but that's about it."
********
A group of seven people were gathered in one huddle in the Room of Requirement. Seven was the appropriate number for most superstitious Pureblood wizards and even for the Muggle-born wizards as well. The group was well rounded: Neville would take point and lead the group to the Gryffindor tower. Ron slotted in right behind him to back him up and read the Marauder's Map. Terry and Padma were the usual suspects in this case as they had already been on a couple of patrols beforehand. Harry and Neville compromised on the last two slots; Seamus was selected over Michael and Su Li mostly because he knew his way around Gryffindor tower and also because Ron did not get along with Michael on account of the fact that the Ravenclaw boy dated his sister. Neville selected Anthony Goldstein for reasons Harry did not know. Harry would be the rear guard of the group.
Harry was not satisfied with the current seven, however, and wanted to draft one more person. Striding over to the Slytherins, Harry tapped on the flap of their makeshift tent and waited patiently for an answer. Harry could understand paranoia but for the Slytherins to erect their own tent was just silly. Pansy Parkinson opened the flap of the tent and regarded Harry with slight surprise before she replaced the expression with her usual sour regard.
"Potter?"
"Pansy. Can you get Nott for me?"
"What for?" her eyes narrowed.
"That's between me and him," Harry coolly replied, not knowing whether or not he could trust all the Slytherins quite yet.
"Hmph. Fine. Theo!"
Harry bit back a laugh at the nickname and waited a moment before coming face to face with the new Slytherin leader. Ever since the events proceeding Godric's Hallow, the Slytherins seemed to have shunned Malfoy, though you could hardly tell from the boy, and appointed Nott their new leader. Nott looked down at Harry before speaking.
"Potter? What's this about?"
Harry quickly explained the situation to him and extended a proverbial carrot stick to the Slytherin, "I'd like you to join the group. I've seen you fight; it would sure help to have you out there."
Nott paused as he considered his answer, "No."
"Why not?"
"It's one thing to hide yourself from the Death Eaters, Potter. It's another thing to actively resist and engage them. We might not be selling you out but we're not going to go out of our way to make that lot mad."
"You're really just going to wait it out and pick the sides later?" Harry said, slightly caught aback by the Slytherin response.
"It's the Slytherin way," Nott shrugged, "Do everything you can survive at the expense of everyone else."
"How quaint."
"Quite," Nott said unsmilingly, "We'll be here when you get back, Potter."
Harry nodded, sighing at his failed mission. It would have gone a long way to soothe tensions if Nott joined the group and helped retrieve a key part in the plan to escape Hogwarts. Unfortunately for Harry, the Slytherins seem to have taken their snub from the rest of the Houses personally. Though he was glad they were not ratting out their fellow students, he could not help but feel slightly disappointed that they were not going to actively pursue either course. You win some, you lose some as they say.
"All set, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah…Nott's not coming."
"I'm sorry," she patted him on the arm sympathetically, "It was a long shot anyways. I'm glad you're trying to do something about it."
"Some people," her eyes narrowed at Ron, "are a little too narrow-minded to think like that."
Harry shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing, "I learned over the hols that it doesn't matter what House you're in. They'll attack you anyways."
Harry glanced over at Malfoy. The boy was still fiddling around with his wand by himself, not bothering to remove his stare from his own hand. Hermione followed Harry's gaze and nodded her head in understanding.
"Live together, die alone?" she asked.
"You know it," Harry sent her a lop-sided grin which caused Hermione to grin back.
"Everything set?" Neville asked, casting a suspicious look at their close proximity. Hermione looked at Neville and then went out of her way to squeeze Harry's hand while Neville was staring at them.
"I'll go get everyone else," Hermione said as she smiled at Harry. Neville did not quite glare at Harry, but the look was definitely not friendly.
"Interesting," Harry murmured to himself as he watched Hermione gather around the troops.
*********
The plan seemed simple enough. Hermione would create a door on the Sixth floor for the group of seven to exit the Room of Requirement. Upon exiting the Room, they would re-form on Neville as Ron checked the Marauder's Map. Once establishing a firm sense of cover and direction, they would leap frog by pairs across the hallway until they reached the staircase, with Ron inspecting the Map the whole while to make sure there were no Death Eaters around. Since the staircase was incredibly exposed, they would simply have to time the Death Eater patrols so that all seven could sprint to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
Neville reached the portrait first and yanked it open, not bothering to give any sort of password since the portraits seemed to be frozen, "Quick, everyone inside!"
The group stumbled slightly as they entered the empty Common Room. Once they were all inside, Harry muttered an effective Colloportus at the portrait in hopes of keeping the Death Eaters out should they stumble into the room. Harry threw Neville a thumbs-up, indicating the perimeter was secure.
"Alright, Harry. Seamus. Upstairs and get the stuff. Two minutes tops!" Neville ordered, "I'll be on the stairs to relay any messages, everyone else assemble and defend the portrait should anything occur."
Harry nodded and leapt up the stairs two at a time, Seamus close behind him. He turned the appropriate corners to reach the Fifth-year dorms and wrenched the door open. He immediately went for his trunk as he started to toss random school materials into the air to dig out his Firebolt.
"Seamus, it's a hand mirror and it should be on my desk," Harry told the other boy as he spotted his Firebolt at the bottom of his magical trunk.
"Harry," Seamus said after a few seconds, "I can't find it."
"What?" Harry picked up the Firebolt in his hand as he looked around his bed.
"It's around here somewhere. Here, take the broom."
Harry tossed Seamus the Firebolt as he started to sprint around his bed to find the mirror. If Ron's plan failed, Harry really needed the mirror to contact Ginny and get some sort of help from the outside world. It was not underneath his bed nor was it on his desk.
"Harry! Seamus! We need to go! Death Eaters are closing!" Neville yelled from his spot on the staircase.
"One second! The mirror!" Seamus yelled back, "Harry, hurry up!"
"I need to find it," Harry muttered, throwing all of his belongings around as he attempted to recover the mirror.
Where is it? Where is it? Think, Harry. Last time you used it?
"I was talking to Ginny," Harry moved to the spot on the bed where he sat while he was talking to Ginny, "She had to go. I put it down…underneath my bag."
Harry threw the bag off the ground and found the mirror safely beneath it. At that moment, Neville stormed into the room, his eyes ablaze as he looked at the messy state of the dorm room.
"Now!"
"Got it!" Harry lifted the mirror triumphantly in the air.
The three Gryffindors ambled down the stairs to the Common Room. Just as Neville was about to yell an order, Ron stood up and held a finger to his lips, motioning for Neville to silence himself. Ron pointed at the map, then back out the portrait. On the other side of the portrait, Harry could hear distinct footsteps approaching the door. He held his breath, wishing for the Death Eaters to pass them.
As before, a haze fell over his head, distracting him for a moment. It felt as if something was probing his head, asking it questions. Harry fell to the ground on one knee, trying desperately to clear his mind. Looking around, Harry found that Neville was motioning for him to stand up.
"Harry, snap out of it. They've passed us, we have to get moving," Neville said, offering his hand to help Harry stand up. Harry looked up at him dumbly for a moment before regaining his senses and accepting the proffered hand of help.
"They've passed us but there's two more making their way around and if we don't catch up quick, they're going to find the door on the Sixth floor!" Ron said desperately, checking and re-checking the Map.
"We have to sprint for it," Neville ordered.
"Five minutes, guys," Padma pointed at her watch, indicating Hermione would close the door and re-open it somewhere else if they did not return quickly enough.
"Five minutes it is," Neville muttered as he opened the portrait.
The situation had turned decidedly more difficult. They needed to sprint down the open, winding staircases to the Sixth floor. Once they reached the Sixth floor, they were not going to be able to leap frog their way across the hallways but instead go for a dead sprint in order to meet the deadline.
"Alright. Dead sprint for the Room. Watch each other's backs, it's going to get hectic for a moment," Neville ordered.
"Go."
The group sprinted down the staircase, careful not to trip along the way. Harry was last out of the portrait, forming the rear guard of the group. Their footsteps were loud and clattering as they could not afford the comfort of time. Harry could distinctly hear the voices of the Death Eaters echoing through the hallways of Hogwarts as if they were using their voices as sonar in much the same way bats use noises to find their targets.
They encountered their first bit of resistance once they reached the Fifth floor. A masked Death Eater turned the corner the same moment Neville rounded an adjacent bend. They were both frozen, a bit surprised to find each other. The Death Eater acted first, hardened by years of experience.
"Down!" Neville yelled as a boom echoed behind him, exploding fragments of stone surrounding all around the group.
They quickly exchanged fire as the group fanned out in the hallway, surrounding the lone Death Eater. The Death Eater was surprisingly amateur, focusing most of his attention at Neville. Twice, the Death Eater almost hit Neville with two different spells. The second spell was a tell-tale Stunner that Neville managed to somehow bend around him once again. As Harry hit the Death Eater with a well connected Stunner, he turned to Neville as the group resumed their run.
"You have to teach me that one day," Harry said between gasps.
"Teach you what?"
"How you make those spells bend around you."
"Bend?" Neville looked at him curiously, "They don't bend, the Death Eaters just keep missing.
Harry looked at him confusedly but could not dwell on the words as another Death Eater turned the corner. Harry hit the adjacent wall with a Reducto, showering the Death Eater in rubble and momentarily distracting him. He aimed another well placed Severing charm on the rope holding the wooden chandelier above the Death Eater. The structure collapsed on the Death Eater, knocking him or her out.
"Good one, Harry!" Ron yelled.
"One minute!" Padma yelled as she looked at her watch again.
"Definitely not going to make it," Seamus muttered, still hauling the Firebolt.
"Hermione will keep it open a little longer," Harry assured them as they resumed their run, trusting Hermione enough to give them some leeway.
As they turned into one of the larger atriums of the Fifth floor, Harry felt a decidedly chilly presence surround him. Apparently, everyone else felt it as well as they slowed their run momentarily to defend themselves from oncoming spells. To Harry's horror, two red slits rounded another corner.
"Longbottom," You-Know-Who hissed.
Neville froze, entranced by You-Know-Who in some manner. This time, Harry snapped out of his stupor faster than anyone else as he nudged Neville's shoulder. You-Know-Who was still all the way down the hallway and they could reach the Room faster than the Death Eaters could.
"Neville, go!" Harry whispered to him as he spotted two more Death Eaters turn the corner behind Voldemort.
Neville suddenly collapsed, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Harry caught him before he hit the marble floor and looked at the boy in confusion. Everyone else looked at Neville in shock.
"Ron! Keep MOVING!" Harry yelled as he dragged Neville as best he could, "Anthony! Pick up Neville's feet and help me carry him!"
Later, Harry would recall that a simple levitating charm would have carried Neville back to the Room much quicker than two people trying to carry him. Under the pressure though, Harry made this slight mistake as the group started to run back to the Room of Requirement. Spell fire erupted in the hallway behind them as the group fell into an immediate retreat, blindly firing spells over their back as they did not dare contend with You-Know-Who.
"Protego Maxima!"
Harry yelled as he dropped Neville when he felt Dark Magic whiz over his shoulder. A disturbingly strong spell hit his shield and ricocheted in multiple directions, destroying the walls around him.
"Terry! Take Neville. I'll hold it off!" Harry ordered as he deflected yet another spell.
Harry felt movement behind him but could not spare a glance; the concentration needed to maintain the shield was sapping him of any other thought. Another spell collided with his shield, making Harry buck his knees at its strength. Harry barely avoided the Killing curse as the Death Eaters grew restless with this strangely potent student of Hogwarts.
"Harry, come on! Everyone's in!" Padma yelled from behind him. Harry pointed a well placed Reducto at the ceiling above the Death Eaters, obscuring their view long enough for Harry to escape.
Harry never saw the Death Eater from behind him.
The Death Eater grabbed Harry around the neck, unable to hit him with a spell as Harry fell into the Room of Requirement. Harry struggled to throw the attacker off of himself. The Death Eater had his hands around Harry's throat, choking him slightly as he hauled the younger boy to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry thankfully spotted Hermione closing the door behind her, shutting out You-Know-Who and the rest of the Death Eaters. Harry felt the Death Eater point his wand to the back of his own neck.
"Everyone put your wands down!" The Death Eater barked, careful to place Harry as a shield in front of him.
Ron and Seamus immediately lowered their pointed wands, not trusting themselves to hit the Death Eater with a spell that would also not harm Harry. Harry grunted as he struggled to move from the other man's ironclad grip. His heart beat a thousand beats per minute as he struggled to reach for his wand. Groaning, Harry spotted his wand on the ground as he must have lost it in the scuffle leading to this hostage situation.
If I could just somehow loosen his grip.
"Now -" the Death Eater started but could not finish as the Death Eater felt a spark on his hand that was holding Harry.
The Death Eater released his grip slightly, wincing at the pain. Harry took the split second moment to shove him away. Almost thirty Stunners hit the Death Eater, knocking him clear off his feet and smashing him against an offending wall. Rubbing his hands around his throat, Harry croaked out a response.
"Thanks."
Outside, Voldemort watched as the door disappeared the moment it was closed from within. He whispered to himself, "Interesting."
*****************
"What do we do with him?"
The collective question was asked as the students stared at the stunned Death Eater. He was properly incapacitated and his wand removed, but that still did not provide an answer for the students. Neville remained unconscious quite a ways away from him, being taken care of by Hermione. In the meanwhile, a debate was being held as to what exactly needed to be done.
"I say we just keep him Stunned," Ron shrugged.
"What if he wakes up at some point in the night when everyone's asleep?" Padma countered.
"We'll just take turns watching him, I guess," Seamus agreed with his fellow Gryffindor.
"We should just kill him," Nott spoke up amidst the squabbling.
"You'll never hear me say this again but for once, I agree with Nott," Ernie nodded his head at the Slytherin.
"We can't just kill him," Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.
"Why not Potter?" Nott argued, "He was going to kill you just a little while ago. If I was him - you can trust me on this because we're both Slytherins - I'd find any way I could to escape and then kill everyone in the room. It's only a matter of time before whoever's watching over him makes a mistake."
"Agreed again," Ernie nodded.
"We're not killing anyone," Harry said, the tone of his voice making his decision final. Nott shrugged and looked pointedly at the Death Eater, "It's only a matter of time."
"Listen, we're going to keep him Stunned. Padma, start a rotation and make sure there's two people on him. Nott, don't take this too personally, but let's try to keep the pairs so there's no two Slytherins one rotation," Harry ordered around.
"None taken," Nott shrugged placidly, "I'm not saying any one of us would kill him. I'm just saying someone should kill him."
"Dully noted," Harry said tiredly, "Give me the list when you're done Padma."
Harry rubbed his forehead as the group behind him squabbled yet again. It was hard work ordering around the rest of the group. Everyone had different opinions on the subject and Harry had to somehow placate everyone while making sure that the job was completed. He sat down next to Hermione and watched Neville's unconscious form.
"How's he doing?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Hermione frowned, "He wasn't hit by any spells. I think he just collapsed."
Hermione intoned the last statement in more of a question than an objective statement.
"You-Know-Who was there," Harry paused as he shivered slightly, "He caught Neville's eye and Neville just fell."
"That's not good," Hermione muttered darkly.
"Does it have something to do with…" Harry pointed at his forehead, indicating he meant Neville's scar.
"Possibly," Hermione ran her hand over Neville's scar. A flare of jealousy erupted within Harry but was quickly calmed. Now was certainly not the time to have bouts of jealousy.
"Hey! He's waking up!" Hermione yelled, attracting the attention of his friends.
Neville's eyes fluttered for a moment before snapping open. Harry and Hermione gasped as they took in the sight of Neville's glowing, red eyes. Harry saw Neville's eyes flicker towards his wand but he reacted quickly enough to stop the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry immediately hit him with an Incarcerous and wrapped the boy up in ropes. Thankfully, this version of Neville seemed incapable of wandless magic.
"Harry, what are you doing!" Hermione shrieked as she approached Neville.
"Trust me. You don't want Neville near his wand right now," Harry remembered the other incident when Neville had similar, red eyes.
Neville struggled to escape from the ropes, twisting and turning while all the while roaring gibberish. When he finally deemed the ropes incapable of being broken, he turned his red eyes to Harry.
"You stupid little half-blood," Neville said in a voice that was not his own.
"What? Surprised?" Neville snarled at Harry's shocked expression, "Think everyone's going to feel sorry for you because your mother separated your father? That filthy little Mudblood shouldn't be allowed to separate herself from a real wizard. Ten Galleons says she got him with a Love Potion. Wanna take that bet, Potter?"
Harry stood there, dumfounded and shocked that Neville would say such a thing.
"Poor, little, unnoticed Harry Potter. Do you remember when everyone saw your boggart? Poor Harry Potter! The worse thing in his life is that your parents are separated. Wah, wah, wah!" Neville mockingly changed the pitch of his voice so he sounded like a child.
"And you," Neville turned to Hermione as best as he could from his prone position on the ground.
"You - I - trusted you," Neville's pleaded, his expression almost truthful had he not had red eyes.
"You can trust me!" there were tears in Hermione's eyes as she slowly approached Neville with an outstretched hand.
"No," Neville said viciously, "Not now, Mudblood. Never again with your pathetic insecurities. You think anybody actually likes you? Ron and I just use you for your homework. That's all, Her-mio-ne. Every time you walk away, we make fun of you. Every time you answer a question in class, we laugh behind your back at your need to prove yourself. Your need to be noticed."
"That's not true!" Ron yelled, his body shaking in fury.
"Don't get me started on you, blood traitor. Your poor worthy existence of a family serves as a back drop of your failure. There's nothing special about you, Ronald. All of your brothers have something important. All of your brothers serve a purpose in this world. What do you do? Oh. You're a Keeper," Neville sneered, tearing apart Ron's heart with his mincing words.
He turned to Harry and Hermione, his eyes flashing menacingly, "Why don't you two just fuck and get it over with? I see all of your little glances; your little touches. Don't tell me you don't notice him, Mudblood. Don't tell me you don't notice how he follows you around like a little lap dog, his tongue hanging out of his mouth at your every word. Go ahead, Potter! I bet she likes taking it with her legs spread open. I bet she likes being dominated. Show her who's the bitch."
"STUPEFY!"
Harry roared the spell and hit Neville, finally shutting him up. The crowd that gathered around Neville looked stunned at his outburst, not quite believing their ears. Hermione was crying profusely, her head in her hands as she refused to look at her friend. Ron stood there, his mouth hanging open as he looked at Neville's unconscious form.
"That wasn't Neville," Harry said in a shaky voice as he ushered everyone away from the Boy-Who-Lived.
*********
"Up, MacMillan. I have the next rotation."
"Really?" Ernie rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking up at the voice with suspicion, "Who's with you?"
"Potter."
Ernie narrowed his eyes at the other boy but eventually shrugged, "Alright. Anthony, wake up, we're off duty."
Ernie stood up and dusted his robes off, tired of watching the Death Eater in his stunned form. He bowed sarcastically the supposed next rotation, "He's all yours."
The quiet boy nodded and waited until Ernie and Anthony disappeared into their respective tents. He cast a Silencing charm around the area and kneeled down so he could look straight into his eyes when he opened them.
"Rennervate."
The Death Eater woke and struggled against his bonds for a moment before realizing there were several ropes tied around him by different casters. He was not going to escape for quite some time. It was only after a moment did he realize that someone was standing over him.
"Do you know who I am?" said the boy.
"Of course," the Death Eater snarled.
"I'm going to do everyone a favor and kill you."
The Death Eater sneered as he kept on struggling with the ropes, "You can't kill me. You don't have the guts to do anything, you weak-willed son of a Death Eater."
"Do you really think that?" the boy responded calmly.
"You can't kill me. Not like we killed your whore of a mother. Bates is here to finish the job, you son of a -"
The Death Eater could not continue as the boy performed a Silencio on him. The Death Eater's mouth moved soundlessly, unable to communicate the rest of his taunts. The boy cocked his head, looking at him oddly before casting a Severing charm focused on the Death Eater's jugular vein. The boy watched as the Death Eater struggled to breathe, his mouth flapping open and close. His face was contorted in a pained expression as the blood seeped from his throat. It did not take very long for him to die.
The boy walked away and heard a scream nearly an hour later when the next patrol found the Death Eater.