Summary: In a world where this is no prophecy, the Dark Lord's power continues to grow unchecked. The future looks bleak. Except, there is this brown-haired kid with a grudge…

A Longbottom Story
The Sage

Chapter One
Warm June Days

"Neville!" Alice Longbottom called. "Are you up? It's almost noon!"

Alice waited patiently at the foot of the stairs, tapping her foot. After a few seconds, she sighed. Her son was incredibly lazy… she wasn't entirely sure where he got it from, truth to be told. Her husband, Neville's father, was one of the most hardworking people she knew. Frank Longbottom was the posterboy of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He showed up to work before anyone , and left hours after his shift. Every moment not spent at work was either with the Order of the Phoenix or training.

Alice knew she wasn't a slouch herself. She was a healer, and in dark times like these, healers were overworked, underpaid, and expected to not complain. She did all those things proudly, and could confidently declare that she was one of the best healers in St. Mungos.

Her son, on the other hand…

"Neville!" Alice yelled. "If you're not down here in the next ten seconds, I swear to Merlin, no breakfast!"

"No!" a panicked voice yelled. Alice smiled - that always did the trick. "I'm sorry, Mum! I'll be down in a sec. Please don't take away breakfast!"

True to his word, in the next few seconds, a half-dressed blur sprinted down the stairs, stumbling and almost tripping over his pajamas. The ten-years old, chubby, brown-haired boy was named Neville Longbottom, and he was not what one would expect to come out of the proud Longbottom household. Incredibly lazy and a tad selfish, Neville did not exhibit the qualities of either of his parents.

Despite that, he was Alice's sunshine.

"Hello, darling," Alice cooed, kissing Neville on the forehead. "You look handsome today. You'd look even better with your shirt on the right way."

Neville glanced down and blushed, noticing the tag sticking out of his tee. He quickly shrugged out of his shirt and reversed it.

The two walked over to the breakfast table, chatting and laughing, as mother and child do. Frank Longbottom sat at the head of the table, sipping a cup of tea and reading the newspaper - the perfect image of middle-aged father. Indeed, the whole family was an ideal picture of how a family should look.

Unfortunately, this only served to make the events of the day that much more horrible.

"Mum!" Neville screamed. His vocal cords were raw, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered right now except his parents. Where were they? Where were they? "Dad! Where are you?!"

He glanced down at his hands, shuddering at the sight of them. They were cut up and bleeding heavily from when he was knocked to the ground by the explosion. Looking around at the collapsed buildings, he could hardly believe that this was the same bright, friendly location he had just been in an hour ago.

To his right, he heard screams and laughing. The air was musky and made it hard for Neville to breathe. Combined with the rubble on the floor from the collapsed buildings, and the out of shape young boy was breathing heavily within moments. Sweat beaded down his forehead.

What do I do? Neville thought numbly.

He could hardly see a foot in front of him, but he saw jets of light being thrown around. Some were red, some a putrid yellow, but the famous emerald green stood out like a beacon in the nearly destroyed alley.

"-ville!" a familar voice called out, and Neville turned around so quickly he almost hurt himself.

"Mum!" he cried happily, launching himself at Alice. Alice stared at her boy, his face marked with ash and blood. He didn't even seem to notice the grime that covered his body.

"Frank!" Alice yelled. "I found Neville, let's get out of -"

A jet of light hit the ground where Alice and Neville had been standing a moment ago, and it was only through reflexes built through years of dodging hexes from the Marauders and Slytherins that she was able to not be hit.

Alice heard a familiar cackle and her body began to shudder. She knew that voice. She knew it so well. She hated it with every fiber of her being, and she did not want to hear it right now.

"Bellatrix," Alice hissed between her teeth. She kept one hand on Neville's back and another on her wand. She slowly began walking, but her eyes flit back and forth. The cackle seemed to come from everywhere and she didn't see her. "Bellatrix, show yourself."

"Gladly!" a voice shrieked, and Alice wasn't able to react as a blaster hit the ground below her. She was tossed into the air like a ragdoll, flailing helplessly. She hit the ground with a sick crunch. Ribs broken for sure, but that was the least of her worries right now. Her eyes quickly scanned the battlefield, looking for Neville. She found him a few feet away, moaning and holding his arm in pain. He looked almost delirious.

Smoke and smog covered the entire field, and when Bellatrix cut through it with her hand, she painted a terrifying sight. Her jet black hair and bared teeth reminded Alice of a wolf. Alice came to her feet slowly, feeling excruciating pain in her stomach.

"Let us go, Bellatrix," Alice grounded out. "Don't do this."

Alice would usually be much more confident in her ability to fight Bellatrix, but with broken ribs and her son lying nearly unconscious a few feet away, she did not want to risk a fight that could end badly.

"The Aurors are already on the way." Alice continued, slowly walking towards Neville. She attempted to make her path seem natural, since it seemed like Bellatrix hadn't seen Neville yet. If she could get to him and grab him, she could probably Apparate them to safety. "Just let us go."

Bellatrix didn't respond for a few seconds, and Alice almost allowed herself to feel a faint twinge of hope that she was sufficiently cowed, before streaks of light came at her. They were, of course, accompanied by a laugh that held the sound of madness in it.

She managed to find a piece of rubble that she hid herself behind, but felt the stone start crumbling as Bellatrix threw spell after spell into it. It would only last a few more seconds at best, and then she would really be screwed. Grasping her wand tightly, the stunning spell was already on her lips when she heard an 'oomph' and then a violent crash. Quickly getting up to assess the situation, she felt her heart soar when she saw Frank standing over Bellatrix.

"It's over, Bellatrix!" Frank crowed. "Lay down your wand and come peacefully."

The sound of battle in the distance was still going strong, and Alice began to fear that the Aurors were not coming. Had anyone sounded the alarm? They were in Diagon Alley for Merlin's sake, someone should know that it had been attacked…

"M-mum… Dad…" a voice whispered so quietly that Alice barely heard it. She quickly ran over to where Neville had been lying. His face was caked in grime and blood.

"You're okay, baby," she whispered, pulling his head into her chest. She glanced back at Frank and Bellatrix to see they were arguing furiously. Frank was still standing over her, but her wand was in her hand and it was easy to see they were at a standoff. Frank needed her help. "Give me one second Neville, okay? Let me help your daddy and -"

Before she could finish her sentence, she was thrown off her feet and into a pillar. The back of her head was in excruciating pain and when she touched it, she felt liquid. Not good. Looking for the assailant, her heart clenched painfully when she saw Rodolphus Lestrange standing over Neville's body.

"No." She felt herself say.

"Who's this?" Rodolphus laughed. Frank couldn't look away from Bellatrix as they were still in their previous position, but Bellatrix cackled gleefully when she heard her husband's voice. Rodolphus eyed Neville, and Alice tried to herself to move. Her body felt so weak, but she forced herself to start moving. Incredibly slowly and painfully, she brought herself to stand up straight. Rodolphus was pointing his wand at Neville and laughing.

"Let him go!" she screamed. "Don't touch him! Don't you dare touch him!"

Rodolphus looked away from Neville. Neville's eyes were fully open now, and Alice saw the terror in his eyes.

"You want me to let him go?" Rodolphus's mouth twisted into an ugly smile. "Come here. You and your husband. Both of you, get on your knees. Leave your wands."

Alice hesitated, but she had no choice. Rodolphus's wand was pointed at Neville's head, and she knew without a doubt that he had no qualms about killing children. She slowly dragged herself to where Rodolphus stood, and kneeled. She heard Frank shuffle over as well until they both kneeled in front of him.

"Look at them!" Rodolphus laughed. He kissed Bellatrix deeply on the mouth, and then pointed his wand at Frank. "I'll get this one. You get the bitch."

Neville laid a few feet away, his eyes wide open. He tried to yell, to scream - but he couldn't. There was no air in his lungs. He tried to move to help his parents, but there was no strength in his body. He could only watch, tears forming in his eyes, as Bellatrix and Rodolphus simultaneously cried out their signature spell.

"Crucio!"

Albus Dumbledore was too old. At this point in life, he should have been merely been the eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts, guiding young children to their paths in life. To be fair, he still held that position - but with the dangerous climate that Lord Voldemort brought to the world, he had to be much more than that. He was the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, the secret organization that opposed Voldemort vehemently. He was constantly in the Ministry, sniffing out corruption and placing protective legal measures wherever he could to help Muggle-borns go to school.

He had, at many points in his life, thought about flying away to some distant country and hoping no one would find him ever again.

Albus Dumbledore felt the strongest he ever did about this thought on June 3rd, 1991, after the infamous Attack on the Alley.

"Neville," Albus said gently, kneeling down to place a hand on the young boy. His eyes were staring off in the distance. His teeth were chattering despite it being a warm June day. "Neville, can you hear me?"

Behind him, Albus could hear voices whispering.

"Look at him, the poor boy…"

"Watched the entire thing…"

"...parents are mad, they say…"

"Neville, listen to me," Albus began, but became silent when Neville's eyes looked at him. Albus did not dare use Legilimens to find out what the boy was thinking. In such an emotional state, he might break the boy - if he hadn't already been.

"Professor Dumbledore," the boy whispered in a cold voice, and Albus inadvertently shivered. "Who did this to my parents?"

Albus took a second to respond, reminding himself that he was talking to a ten-year old boy and should respond accordingly. He almost began a speech on how Evil had done this, and how only Good could combat it, but a look into Neville's eyes stopped him. They were ice, and they told him that if Albus patronized him here, there would be no love lost between the two for the rest of their lives.

"Voldemort," Albus finally said. "Voldemort did this to your parents. Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus Lestrange did the deed, but it was Voldemort who moved the pieces. I am so sorry, Neville."

"I will kill Voldemort," Neville said softly.

And Albus believed him.