Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. I am just borrowing her characters for fun!
The Return to Something Familiar and Unknown
September 1st; is a day that's normally full of excitement and cheer. Where the weather is mild and the air has the taste of summer, in London it feels as though summer never came. Students say goodbye to their parents on Platform nine and three quarters and not many have the usual smiles or excitement in their eyes. There was barely any conversation as few students filed into the Hogwarts Express. Neville Longbottom sits in a compartment looking at the last few students pile into the train. It has been a month since the Ministry has been taken over by Voldemort's minions and the death of Rufus Scrigmeour earlier in the summer. Everything changed after Dumbledore was murdered. What Neville really did not understand is why after everything that has happened were they still going to Hogwarts, the place where Dumbledore was killed? Hogwarts now housed a new Headmaster, appointed by Death Eaters themselves and also the murderer of Albus Dumbledore. How had things gone so wrong? Where was Harry? Neville looked at his companions and felt a little sadness. Always reading The Quibbler upside down sat Luna Lovegood and to her right sat a pensive Ginny Weasley. Usually there would be happiness in the compartment. Ronald would be talking about the Chudley Cannons with his mouth full of some sweet from the trolley. Shortly there would be Hermione scolding him on how rude it is to talk with your mouthful. Harry would be sitting laughing at them his eyes full of mirth. Luna would pay little attention but would still have an amused, albeit distant smile on her lips. Really it's never been the same since fifth year. Harry has been living like this for the past seven years and has always somehow tried to have his life has some form of normalcy. It's been a month since anyone has last seen Harry, Ron, or Hermione.
"Ginny, how you are doing?" asked Neville. Ginny looked at Neville with a solemn smile on her face and sighed "As best one could be despite the circumstances. I am always worried for them. After the wedding it's all been a blur and everyday I wonder if they are all right." Neville slightly whispered "Have you heard anything from them at all?" "No, not even an owl, but I really can't expect much with what is going on. They really can't tell us much." Ginny continued" I wish that things were different that last year never happened. Then they would be here with us going to school. Life is never easy, and we always don't get what we want." "We all eventually do get what we want…it's just the way we ask for it is what we don't know." Luna added absently. Neville looked at Luna with a slight frown on his face not understanding the meaning of what she just said. Neville attributed it to the rest of her quirkiness which was a comforting constant despite everything that has happened. The remainder of the trip was rather the same. More students walked through the train with little to no emotion on their faces. Ginny left to go attend a prefect meeting and Luna decided to check the other compartments for signs of infestations from some new creature her and her father discovered.
This left Neville alone to sit in silence and think. He looked out the window and watched the blur of the countryside. Green, some brown splotches a random little cottage but always green. The sky above was a dark slate grey and seemed to be getting darker as time passed by. Neville couldn't help but think if this was an omen of things to come? He still did not understand as to why his Grandmother decided to send him back this year. He had pleaded with Gran to move his parents from St. Mungo's in order for him to return to Hogwarts. Knowing that his parents were in an undisclosed location put him at ease, even if it was for a little while. His thoughts and the changing landscape caused him to fall asleep. When Neville fell into slumber he dreamed and the dreams that came to him seemed normal enough but they always become nightmares. Neville was back in the Department of Mysteries with Bellatrix Lestrange. The black walls that shone in the dark were everywhere. He stood in a corridor and she was in front of him laughing. The evil woman was laughing crazily at him yet still holding her wand trained on him. Neville was just as vigilant with defiance in his eyes. He was ready to fight her, ready to kill her. He looked a mess with blood covering the bottom half of his face from his broken nose. Fatigue was creeping on him from both physical and emotional stress. "Ha! Good thing your parents can't see you now they would say what a pathetic boy you are and would deny even being your parents!" "Boy, I did your parents a justice so they wouldn't see what a spineless whelp you have become". Shud Up! Shud Up!" screamed Neville. Even in his dreams the pain and the horror still seemed real; all the injuries and the sadness and the anger. "I'LL KILL YOU!" With an anguished cry Neville threw curse after curse at Bellatrix screaming at the top of his lungs and crying at the same time as well. The heat from the barrage burned his forearms and his face and he did not care. He wanted to rid the world of this woman, this beast who has destroyed his life since the beginning. The one woman who stopped Neville form knowing his parents outside the two catatonic figures lying in those beds at St. Mungo's. Even through all of his spells he could still hear her laughing. When he finally stopped he looked in horror at the prone figures of his friends lying at her feet." Ha! Ha! Neville! You fool! Do you think that you could really make a difference? You still are that bumbling fat idiot who lost his toad. Look at what you've done. You've killed your friends!" Neville's eyes clouded over with tears of pain, loss, and hate. Lying on the floor was Ron's body, his throat slashed open his pale skin stark white against the dark red of his blood. Next to him was Hermione, her normally bushy hair flattened by the blood pouring from an open wound in her skull her face frozen in a grimace of pain. Harry stared at him through lifeless dull emerald eyes that accused him of not doing enough, not being enough. This was when Neville started to cry even harder. He was no longer the sixteen year old boy in the department of mysteries but Neville from first year crying with blood on his face and feeling completely helpless. A hard shove sent him flying to the floor and Bellatrix pounced on him and lowered her once lovely visage into his face. She cackled mirthlessly and Neville could smell the evil emanating from her. He looked into her eyes and saw that there was nothing there but a void of hatred and despair. "I believe it is time to put you out of your misery boy!" She had placed her wand at the bridge of his nose and the wand tips started to spew tendrils of bright green light. The light of the killing curse and if possible the madness in her eyes grew as she was ready to kill Neville, and all he could do was sob while this was happening. His parents appeared by her side with smirks of approval of about what was to happen. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"NEVILLE! NEVILLE!" shouted a voice. Neville opened his eyes to look into pale green ones. "Neville are you all right?" asked the voice. Neville sniffed and quickly tried to compose himself. He had tears all over his face and was suddenly embarrassed to have been caught by anyone. " I-I'm fine. Just a quick nod" Hannah Abbott looked at Neville and saw that he was not fine. His usually cheerful disposition was replaced with this current ashen and somewhat gaunt countenance. "Are you sure?"Hannah Insisted."What are you doing in here?" asked Neville. "What I mean is you are welcome of course to be here.….Thank you for waking me." He grunted out after seeing a flicker of hurt on her face. "I was just passing by from the prefect meeting and heard odd noises. I thought maybe some second years were playing a prank on someone but then I saw you and you looked like you were in pain. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right." "I'm fine thanks again. How are you doing Hannah?" Neville gestured for her to sit and she took the seat next to him which was unexpected. She sat so close that he could smell her hair. It had grown considerably since fifth year. This made him pause in his thoughts for he remembered that Hannah left early last year because her mother was killed by Death Eaters. "I'm sorry Hannah. About your mum…. I never got a chance to tell you. I'm really sorry." Hannah looked away so he could still see the pain that consumed her when her mother was mentioned. "Thanks Neville, that's very kind of you. Things have been a bit difficult since then. I was really nervous about coming back to be honest, with everything that has happened. Now with this mandatory attendance set by the Ministry I had no choice but to return. I begged my father to leave but he said for us to leave would be wrong. We have to stay and fight it is what my mother would have wanted." replied Hannah. The doors to the compartment opened and Ginny walked in shortly followed by Luna thereafter. The conversation that followed was mostly solemn. Once they started with the standard topic starters such as how their summer was. Of course not many people can say that their summer was ideal. The topic turned to feminine things that held no interest to Neville. He noted how different Hannah looked and sounded. She was not the same witch from fifth year. She had a sense of determination that Neville couldn't ignore. He decided to think more on that later .Neville zoned out and was staring into space when he was brought back to reality with "Where's Harry?" from Hannah. Ginny had a solemn look on her face and quietly replied with "We don't know. We don't know where Harry Hermione or Ron is at the moment." Hannah looked at ginny and then to Neville with worry evident on her features. Luna placed a sympathetic arm around Ginny's shoulder and smiled dreamily in no particular direction and replied "It will be all right, you will see. It's always darkest before the dawn." That saying made Neville look outside to see that indeed the sky has become much darker and was wondering how long the dark would be before the dawn.
AN: Yay! My first chapter ever! Please review and tell me what stinks and what doesn't and any suggestions. I'm learning so all opinions are valued! Thanks!