READ. THIS. FIRST.
Disclaimer: I'm not Jo.
Serious disclaimer in case a lawyer sees this: I am not Joan Kathleen Rowling. I do not own the Harry Potter universe. I do not in any way make profit from this story. Mkay?
In this story, Neville kills Bellatrix Lestrange. For real. The first chapter is just the prologue. There will be a full story, ending at the battle of Hogwarts. I wrote it because I always wanted him to get to avenge his parents. As for plausibility... well, you'll just have to read and see for yourself.
Bella seems to act terribly OOC at the beginning. Don't freak out. It gets explained.
The woman was at his mercy. She was lying on the floor before him, disarmed and helpless. Her face was pale, her hair disheveled; a thin stream of blood was running from her lips. Her eyes had lost their fire. All her taunting was over; all her defiance was lost, along with her will to fight; not only had she lost, her spirit was completely broken. Neville felt a sense of triumph coming over him. As he approached her, wand raised, he saw that she was trying to say something. He looked straight into her eyes as one looks at a broken foe. Her lips moved. Her voice was weak.
-Mercy, she croaked.
He could hardly believe his ears.
-What?
-Mercy, she repeated.
He felt the blood rush into his brain.
-Did you show mercy to my parents? he roared. Did you feel a bit of compassion when they were screaming with pain? Did you ever consider stopping when my mother begged you to stop?
He raised his wand.
-And when afterwards you thought of their baby, did you for a moment feel a bit of remorse?
He pointed his wand at her.
-Crucio!
She screamed. Her body danced to the movements of his wand, completely limp and helpless.
-Crucio! he repeated, like a madman. The image of a woman in a nightgown, offering him a piece of gum wrapper as a token of her love, was filling his brain.
-Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!
Screams shattered the night. Neville opened his eyes. He was sitting on his bed, dressed in his pyjamas, breathing heavily.
Seamus spoke to him from the next bed.
-Mate, what's wrong with you?
Neville took some moments to compose his voice.
-Nothing. It was nothing. It was just a dream. Just a dream, he repeated, trying to convince himself more than Seamus.
Seamus groaned and lied back to bed. Neville hesitated a little, and then decided to ask:
-Seamus- did I say anything?
-The weirdest things. Something about babies, and then it sounded as if you were cruciating someone. Or someone was cruciating you, couldn't tell which. Your nerves are in a horrible state, mate.
There was a short silence.
-Can't say I blame you, though, continued Seamus. Death Eaters running the school, a war going on. Just yesterday, a first-year was tortured…
-Did I say anything else? Neville interrupted him.
-Well, I think you did. Why, yes. Now that I think of it- in your dream, I think, someone was asking for mercy.
Neville looked away.
-Neville- who was it? asked Seamus in a lower voice, after a few moments.
Neville hesitated a little, and then decided to reply:
-Bellatrix Lestrange.
Seamus whistled.
-Dude, he said. No way. She makes people plead, she doesn't do it herself. Never. This is Bellatrix Lestrange we're talking about. She'd rather drink poison, or let herself be buried alive…
-I know, Neville interrupted him. It was just a stupid dream, Seamus.
He rubbed his forehead; he was feeling a headache coming.
-Well, you'd better go back to sleep, mate, Seamus told him. Try to forget about it.
-I guess so. Thanks. You go back to sleep, and I'll do so as well- in a minute.
Seamus followed his advice. Neville waited until he was fast asleep. Then he took a photograph from his drawer. He looked at it for some minutes in silence.
-She's the woman who tortured you, mum, he finally said. I'm not like her. I'm not like her, he repeated, but this time his voice cracked.
Sometimes, the inner workings of his own mind scared him. He had phantasies, dreams. The roles reversed, his parents' torturer screaming in his feet for mercy. For the first time, a sense of absolute power. A sort of twisted pleasure and an endless replay of the scene, trapped in his own hartred, never finding relief, never being able to stop.
He put the photo back in the drawer. Then he remained wide awake in the same position until the sky was grey with the arrival of the following morning.
Meh. I thought more people wanted Neville to avenge his parents.
Anyway, many thanks to jhuikmn08 for reviewing, and I'll keep this going anyway, I think.