1.
Lily Evans goes into early labor and gives birth to a healthy baby boy, whom she names Harry, on July 27th. She has the baby naturally, no magic or medicine involved, and James holds her hand the entire time.
They're in what they think is the middle, or maybe even just the beginning, of a long war, but they still manage to have a small celebration, her and James and Sirius and little Harry. Happiness burns in her chest and she almost feels guilty for this when she looks at Harry.
2.
One year and four days later, Voldemort meets his downfall in little Neville Longbottom after his mother and father die protecting their only child.
3.
Harry Potter eyes the solid-looking border between Platforms 9 and 10 rather nervously, despite his mother's constant reassurances that he'll pass right through and his father and Sirius' whispered goading to just take it head-on.
Ron Weasley, his best friend, thumps him on the shoulder, grinning broadly. "What, are you scared?" He taunts, and that strengthens Harry's resolve.
He sniffs. "Of course not," he counters, and runs straight at the wall, all the while thinking I am going to die, I am going to die, I am going to die –
And then he is sailing straight through and almost straight into a pale, blonde-haired boy he recognizes as Draco Malfoy. He inclines his head in apology and though Malfoy lets his lip curl in a sneer and his eyebrow shoot up, he says nothing, for which Harry is grateful. He thinks he might actually hurl if he opens his mouth.
Harry and Ron share a cabin, swapping Chocolate Frog cards and eating the sandwiches Lily and Molly had made for them when a girl with quite a lot of bushy brown hair bursts through the door and merely stands there, wrinkling her nose at them. Harry and Ron stare at her.
"Hello," she says, looking all around at them and beaming; Harry has the sudden impression of a teacher smiling upon her unruly class. "I'm Hermione Granger. I was just helping Neville find his toad. Have either of you seen it, by any chance?"
"Hold on," Ron says, voice in an awed whisper. "Neville Longbottom is on this train?"
The girl makes a sound in the back of her throat. "Well, yes," she says, eyebrows raised. "He is in our year, after all. Terribly fascinating, isn't it? I read all about him in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
Harry surprises both himself and Hermione Granger with his next words. "It's not fascinating. I-it's horrible, is what it is."
Hermione gives him a long, searching look, with a wisdom far beyond her age. "You're right," she concludes. "That was insensitive of me. Well. If you should happen to see a toad, do give it back." She sweeps out of the compartment, letting the door bang shut behind her.
"Strange girl," Ron says after she's left, wrinkling his nose. "Bossy, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Harry shrugs, then grins. "Actually, she reminds me a bit of your mum, Ron."
Ron makes a strangled noise and rolls his eyes. "Please don't bring up my mum now."
They are later held up right before they enter the Great Hall when Draco Malfoy sticks out his hand for Neville Longbottom who, after a moment's hesitation, takes the proud, proffered hand, sealing a wary kind of neutrality.
4.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville are all sorted into Gryffindor. The applause from the Gryffindor table is extra-loud as Neville makes his way there, tripping slightly on his robe. Harry catches a glimpse of Draco Malfoy's frown all the way at the Slytherin table before Fred Weasley sits down, leaning over to clap Neville heartily on the back.
Professor Snape's face, Harry notices, contorts itself into a very ugly sneer when Harry moves to take his seat after being sorted into Gryffindor and he remembers his father's and Sirius' snorts of derision whenever the name comes up.
That first night, Harry and the rest of his roommates (save Dean, who was Muggleborn) kind of tip-toe around Neville in combined admiration and apprehension before Neville turns to them all, an apologetic smile on his face, and asks if they could help him find his misplaced books.
Neville turns out to be rather nice and jolly, if a little absentminded. He crinkles the corners of his eyes when he laughs and his mouth presses into a thin line when his parents are mentioned. They learn not to mention his parents. Neville lives with his rather strict grandmother and says, very frankly, that he doesn't remember much from the night he received the lightning scar on his forehead. Neville, they learn, likes Herbology and Chocolate Frogs and is, in his own words, "dead clumsy. I'm dreading flying lessons."
Harry turns out to be no good at potions, although this could be accredited more to Snape's obvious dislike more than anything, but absolutely brilliant at flying. He is made the youngest Seeker in a century, thanks to an incident involving Malfoy and Parvati Patil's hand mirror, and his father sends him a new broom the next week along with Harry's usual care package and he sees Draco Malfoy's face twist in something akin to jealousy and fury from across the Great Hall.
Rumor has it that something happens between Neville Longbottom and Professor Quirrell, involving something called the Sorcerer's Stone and the rebirth of the Dark Lord. The only other students involved are Seamus Finnigan and Hermione Granger, who are both unconscious in the Hospital Wing.
Harry sends Neville some Chocolate Frogs.
5.
Gilderoy Lockhart becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in their second year and despite being completely, thoroughly, unapologetically ridiculous, starts a Dueling Club.
Harry, to his dismay, is paired with Draco Malfoy after Snape interjects one of his suggestions and they are soon circling each other, wands out. Harry yells Expelliarmus a second too late when a snake shoots out of the tip of Malfoy's wand, hissing and landing about two feet in front of Harry.
He watches in dumb shock as the snake bares its venom-tipped fangs and he has enough time to think - I'm going to die and screw his eyes shut when Neville pushes him out of the way and – there is no other word for this – starts hissing back at the snake.
Harry stumbles, catching himself before he falls and stares, in wide-eyed wonder, at Neville hissing at the snake, to the snake, looking almost chastised, to Malfoy, scared and apologetic and wary.
That night in the dormitory is not much fun – Ron, Harry, and even Seamus are inclined to give Neville a wide berth, wincing every time Dean calls the Dueling Club episode 'cool.'
"Look, mate," Ron finally points out, cutting off another one of Dean's exclamations. "I get that you didn't grow up like – like this, but you have to know, being able to talk to snakes means Neville's a – a, well, it means he's a Parselmouth."
Dean just looks at Ron, puzzled. "A parcel – whatsit? What's wrong with talking to snakes? I think it's dead cool, I wish I could talk to snakes –"
"Ron, it's okay," Neville says tiredly when Ron opens his mouth to explain. He turns to Dean. "The symbol of Slytherin house is a snake. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. Being able to talk to snakes is a symbol of Dark magic."
Dean frowns. "Okay, so? You're a Gryffindor, aren't you?"
Neville's face twists, as if he is swallowing something very, very bitter. "Dean," he says quietly. "Voldemort was also a Parselmouth. It's one of the things he was known for."
The possibility that Neville may be Slytherin's Heir circulates through the school, especially when a message written in blood is found in one of the school corridors and students start showing up in the Hospital Wing, Stunned or Petrified or something worse.
Neville disappears into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom for a few hours and when he comes back, he is carrying the unconscious body of Ginny Weasley, an old, ink-stained journal with a basilisk's fang through it, the Sorting Hat, Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes, and a beautiful, jewel-encrusted sword.
That night, in the common room, Neville Longbottom is a hero. Ginny Weasley, blushing furiously, hands him a shrilly singing thank-you card, which everyone makes Neville keep shut beneath a column of his books when they sleep.
6.
Peter Pettigrew escapes from Azkaban in Harry's third year to rejoin Voldemort, and Neville collapses on the train when the dementors sweep into their compartment at the beginning of the year. Harry, beyond the images of his grandfather's funeral, his mother crying, dimly notices Neville fall to the floor, clutching at his head as if he could remove the misery by pure force.
Remus Lupin, his father's friend and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, offers them all chocolate but gives Neville something even more than that.
"Professor Lupin's offered to help me with my dementor problem," Neville tells them, beaming. "I should be able to get it under control."
In Harry's third year, he and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team get their own celebration party after they win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in so many years. What they don't talk about is what happens at the match – when the dementors had swept into the stadium, Harry had managed to glimpse at everyone's faces before his senses were drowned in his mother's sobs, his father's shaking shoulders, the knowledge that he will never see his kindly grandfather again. He had seen Malfoy's pale face turn even paler, had seen the tears streaming down George Weasley's face, had seen a look of fear pass over Neville's face before he whipped out his wand, roared Expecto Patronum! and a enormous, beautiful, silver hare bursts out of the tip and charges the dementors down.
7.
When Professor Moody performs the Imperius Curse on all of them, in turn, Harry feels a smug sort of pride well up in him when he and Neville are the only ones who succeed in throwing off the curse. When the Triwizard Tournament is announced, he and Ron joke about entering the contest, but what he doesn't tell Ron is that he actually considers taking the Aging Potion Fred and George offer him.
When Neville's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire as a Triwizard Tournament champion, Harry endures a few minutes of burning jealousy – Neville is always special, always singled out – but then remembers the look on Neville's face, white with fear, and suddenly his guilt threatens to swallow him.
After the first task, which involves getting an egg from a dragon, Harry has shaken off all lingering feelings of jealousy and starts really, honestly fearing for Neville's life. The egg does nothing but wail, much like a banshee, and when the day of the second task dawns, he is woken very, very early in the morning by a house-elf who introduces himself as Dobby, who snaps his fingers and makes Seamus disappear, sweeping down in one last apologetic bow before disappearing himself.
Harry gets detention for a week when he punches Malfoy, who does nothing but flash his "LONGBOTTOM STINKS; SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY – THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION whenever he is within a ten-foot vicinity of Neville. The detention is worth it.
There is no longer envy, but honest-to-God worry for Neville when he emerges from the lake, clutching Seamus' unconscious body.
There is no longer envy, but honest-to-God fear when Neville disappears into the maze that makes up the third task and comes out clutching Cedric Diggory's corpse.
8.
Lily and James snort derisively at the Daily Prophet that summer, making sounds of disgust at the snarky mentions of Neville and Dumbledore. When doubts enter Harry's own head, his father scolds him sternly.
"I believe in Dumbledore," he tells Harry seriously. "If we can't believe Dumbledore, we can't believe anyone. Do you understand what I mean, Harry?"
Harry nods, throat tight, and he can't believe he ever doubted Dumbledore or Neville for a second. "Dumbledore's man," he says, holding up a hand. "Scout's promise."
His father laughs, ruffling his hair, but there are more lines around his eyes, darker circles under Lily's eyes. They begin disappearing for days at times, sometimes accompanied by Sirius or Lupin, sometimes together, sometimes one-by-one. Sometimes they don't come home for days, sometimes they stumble home in the middle of the night, and Harry stares at the dark ceiling of his bedroom, listening to the quiet clink of glasses, his father's strained voice. They tell him nothing, other than the fact that they belong to the Order of the Phoenix, a group doing their best against Voldemort. Harry's quick request to join is flatly refused.
He feels the stirrings of a fear that begins to eat away at his insides, and he wonders if this is what things would be like if Neville's parents hadn't died for their son fifteen years ago.
School is a different story, as Harry comes to realize. What seems to be the entire school exercises ignorance and mistrust, and Harry wonders how they can't believe Neville and Dumbledore, wonders how, if they can't trust that Voldemort is back, they can excuse Cedric Diggory's death as an unfortunate accident, as if the death of the brilliant, handsome boy whom they had been friends with, been classmates with, played Quidditch against was nothing.
Harry is one of the members of the DA that Neville calls to go with him to Ministry of Magic. The team from the Order arrives just in time to provide much need backup against a group of Death Eaters.
Harry watches his godfather Sirius die, killed by a spell from the wand of his own cousin. It is the first time that the gravity of the situation strikes him, and when he numbly watches the casket lowering his godfather into the ground, it is then that he realizes – this is war.
9.
Sixth year, Draco Malfoy makes a snide remark in passing about Sirius, nothing more than his standard fare, but something in Harry snaps and just as Neville almost got himself killed trying to beat up Malfoy for making a crack about his parents, Harry feels his fist collide with Malfoy's jaw before he can stop himself.
Harry gets a black eye and a few bruised ribs before he manages to pin Malfoy to the wall, wand at his throat. "Don't," he hisses. "Don't. There are some things you don't touch, Malfoy." He doesn't hate Malfoy. There might be petty House and Quidditch rivalry between there, but he doesn't hate Malfoy. Even when there is blood in the back of his throat and tears in his eyes, he doesn't hate Malfoy. But Malfoy is right in front of him and vicious and most importantly, not sorry, despite the purple discoloration on his jaw and Harry – Harry is just sixteen and alone and scared and he wants his godfather back.
Malfoy struggles for a second, shoving Harry to the floor and picking up Harry's fallen wand, pointing between Harry's eyes. "You," he pants, "don't know anything." And when Harry takes a closer look, he realizes that Malfoy looks just as alone and scared as he feels, maybe even more. "Shut up, Potter. Just shut up. You are not the only person who has lost someone to this war." He drops Harry's wand and kicks him in the stomach before stumbling away.
10.
When Dumbledore dies, Harry feels like someone just told him God doesn't exist.
"Why couldn't you save him?" He yells at Neville, before he can stop himself, before he can remind himself, for what seems like the hundredth time, that it isn't Neville's fault, that Neville hadn't been the one to turn his wand on Dumbledore and say the curse that would rob the earth of the greatest man that had ever lived. "You're the Chosen One, you're the Boy Who Lived, you're fucking Neville Longbottom and you couldn't save Dumbledore." Here, his voice cracks and the tight grip he had on Neville's collar drops to his arm as his voice drops to a whisper. "Neville…how can we do this without Dumbledore?"
Neville takes Harry's hand. "We go on living," he says simply. "We live, and we fight, and we win. It's what Dumbledore would've wanted."