Finally after years of nothing I am uploading a new story. I hope you like it, and if you do please review!
I own nothing as usual. Rated T for later chapters.
Summary:
Neville is tired of being the left behind forgotten hero of the war so he decides to take matters into his own hands. After all if your intentions are good then nothing bad will happen, right?
And just if its a little confusing,
Italics are thoughts, Bold Italic are thoughts by the voice,
They say it's not who you are, it's who you become. That's easy for them to say, they become the famous golden trio. Harry goes on to live a happily ever life with Ginny, he evens gets his picture on a chocolate frog card. Hermione and Ron finally admit their feelings and begin populating the world with their redheaded children. But what happens to the rest of us? Those who fought just as valiantly? Okay so we didn't have a huge target on our backs, nor posters with our name and faces on them calling us undesirable. But still we did a lot of work. At least enough to get some kind of recognition, and by that I mean more than a few house points.
Yes, I admit I never hunted horcruxes or slayed a basilisk or freed a house-elf but I would of…had I been invited. But no, I was left petrified on the floor of our dormitory for six long hours, it was cold, I couldn't move and I really had to use the bathroom.
They always left me out of everything, with their pitying faces and their exasperated sighs of "Oh, Neville". But not this time. Now I'm in control. And this time I'm going to end up on top.
Grabbing an object from the bottom of the drawer, Neville began to count backwards as his surroundings begin to melt away around him.
A large rush of air hit the boy's face as people pushed and shoved around him. Next to him an elderly woman was stuffing items into his bag and lecturing about something. I-, it worked. I'm back. Taking a look around the boy recognized the familiar scene playing out before him. The smoky air, the yelling and shoving, the occasional inappropriate gropes—this was it King's Cross. Looking at his watch, he knew he had only a few seconds before history would begin to repeat itself. Grabbing his stuff from his grandmother, Neville raced to the brick column between the platforms and looked around for the sea of red that was the Weasleys.
Around the corner came Percy, followed by the twins, Ron and finally Mrs. Weasley with the young Ginny. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the forlorn Harry Potter watching the new family with interest.
A wave of guilt rushed over the young boy before shrugging it off as he ran over to Harry.
"Hi, sorry I couldn't help but notice you looked a little lost."
Harry smiled and nodded before helplessly shrugging towards the column in which the Weasley's just disappeared through.
"You're trying to get to Platform 9 ¾ huh? No problem, just follow me!"
As he took a running start towards the column, he turned his head slightly and called back, "I'm Neville by the way."
The train was as crowded as always but this time Neville confidently boarded into an empty compartment with Harry.
"So Harry how do you like the wizarding world so far?"
Neville watched the boy's eyes light up as Harry began to express his delight in everything. Tuning him out Neville's eyes scanned the outside hallway for any sign of something that would ruin his plan.
"-and living with Dudley was never fun anyway so that day-"
Neville smiled and nodded as he saw a familiar red head bob closer to the door.
"-Uh hi," Ron said, a smudge of dirt across his freckled face, "all the other compartments are full so-"
"Sure come on in," Neville invited as Ron took a seat next to him.
"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley." The redhead said turning towards Neville and then Harry.
"Neville Longbottom."
"Harry Potter."
Ron smiled and nodded before gasping and glancing back to Harry. "Potter? As in the Harry Potter? You know, the one with the scar?"
Nodding Harry lifted his bangs to reveal the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
"Wicked." Ron and Neville said at the same time, causing the boys to break out in grins.
Taking a paper bag from his pocket, Neville dumped some chocolate frog containers out. "Help yourself," he offered, "I only really care about the cards anyway."
Grabbing one Ron explained the chocolate frog magic to harry, "Neville's right, people only really care about the card. See?" He said, holding up a picture of Dumbledore, "I've already got a ton of him, but it's a good place to start your collection."
The compartment door sliding open startled the three boys as they were meet with a panicked look of a young girl.
"Have you seen a toad around? A girl name Patel lost hers. It's very important we find it before—why aren't you in your robes? We will be arriving shortly and the rules specifically say we must wear our robes. Did you not read the letter Dumbledore sent? Even if you read Hogwarts a History you would know something as simple as that."
Shaking their heads the girl turned to go before pausing, "You've got a smudge there, on your nose. Did you know?"
Furiously wiping at his nose, Ron and the others watched the girl go.
"She seems-"Harry started.
"Crazy?" Neville offered, as the boys began to laugh.
Standing outside the great hall, Neville felt the comforts of his home away from home surround him. He watched the young faces look around in awe at the magic of the castle, and he too looked astonished at the ghosts floating through the walls.
"So is it true? Harry Potter has finally come to Hogwarts?" A voice called out from beside the banister. Taking a step forward in front of the small group of students, a pale boy offered his hand to the dark haired boy.
"I'm Draco Malfoy, of the Malfoys."
Hearing a snort of laughter Draco turned his cold gray eyes to the redhead. "Think my names funny do you? Let me see if I can guess yours. Red hair, vacant expression, hand me down clothes-you must be a Weasley." Turning back to Harry, Draco continued, "You'll soon learn that some wizarding families are better than others."
"I'm sure he'll learn that on his own Malfoy," Neville said stepping towards the pale blonde boy.
"Longbottom-"
"Children, please line up its time for the sorting hat," called McGonagall, shooing Draco away from the front of the line.
"You know him?" whispered Harry as they made their way through the great hall.
"Wizarding families tend to all know each other; my gran knows the Malfoy's very well." Neville whispered back before shooting a glance over his shoulder at the blonde.
As Neville took his seat next to Percy at the Gryffindor table he watched in surprise as the sorting hat began to resort students. Hermione, who in his time had been a Gryffindor, had been sent off to Ravenclaw, while Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw, had been sorted into Slytherin. Maybe this was a mistake, who knows what could happen next. Harry could be sorted into Slytherin for all I know. Neville let out a sigh of relief as both Ron and Harry made their way towards the red and gold covered table. Obviously the sorting hat agrees with me that history needs to be changed. Neville convinced himself.
The next few months went by in a rush as Neville, Ron and Harry began to adjust to their classes.
For their first flying lesson Ron had wowed Professor McGonagall when she spotted him flying and caught a rememberall that Malfoy had stolen off of a Hufflepuff earlier that day. He had been the youngest Gryffindor to make the team, and his parents had owled him congratulations on his success and even bought him a slightly used broom. Neville surprised the class with his knowledge in defense against the dark arts that even professor Quirrell had managed to stutter out astonishment. Rumors flew around Hogwarts than Hermione Granger was one of the smartest girls of their year, but after an incident with some older Slytherins in which they had bewitched her Ravenclaw badge to read "know it all" she kept to herself and apparently spent all her time crying in the bathroom.
As October rolled around Ron, Harry and Neville had finally found their niche within Hogwarts. Neville had never had this many friends before and everywhere he turned people would recognize him. It's like I've always imagined, he thought to himself one afternoon as he, Harry and Ron lounged around the abandon corridors of the 2nd floor. Pulling out a journal from his robes he scanned through the yellowed pages, being sure to watch Ron and Harry out of the corner of his eye.
Wouldn't want them to find this, huh?A voice in the back of his mind hissed at him.
Shaking his head, Neville inwardly growled. Since the time travel he had been hearing a voice in his head. It stated as quiet whispers at first begging him to not change the future. When the voice realized Neville refused to listen it got louder. Begging changed to demanding which changed to guilt trip when the voice discovered guilt trips were the only way to get through to him.
Shut up, Neville hissed back at the voice, I'm doing this for the greater good—
You mean the greater good which involves you standing center stage…poor Hermione. You know she locks herself in the girls bathroom everyday crying her eyes out because she has no friends, and it's all your fault. You have stifled her from who she was meant to be because of your selfish—
"Neville, you okay mate?" Ron asked, hopping into the windowsill where Neville was curled up.
"Just a headache," he mumbled, stuffing the journal back into his robes.
Nodding his head Harry took a seat next to Neville, "Well guys, it's almost Halloween. What are we going to do?"
"I heard some 3rd years have been hoarding butterbeer in the common room for a party. We could go to that," Ron offered.
Neville could feel the journal burning through his robes, Why don't you tell them? Tell them what's going to happen on Halloween, or do you just want to be a hero?
As Professor Flitwick mumbled on Neville found his mind wandering to the journal hidden under some clothes in his truck. Closing his eyes he found himself back in his own time.
"God, I'm so sick of reading about the golden trio. Even now after graduation they are still the stars. Aren't you sick of it?" A figure asked, throwing a newspaper towards a man lying in a hospital bed. A picture of smiling waving redheads looked up at him, while a scarred man stood behind them holding a newborn. Despite the silence, the figure continued "I mean out of the two of us, you should feel the most cheated. Ha! Don't you remember after the final battle how even though you had stood up to Him, less than 30 minutes later he was up stealing your spotlight and everyone forgot about poor old Longbottom."
The man in the bed groaned and rolled his brown eyes towards the figure in front of him.
"But I told you, I'm here to help. You aren't the only one who has vested interest in this plan. You going back will change everyone's lives. And I want to be a part of this. You owe me that, after all look where you are. I saved you. I pulled you from—"
"Okay," Neville croaked out, "I get it. We have a deal. But still there is so much to be done, I need to research, I need time."
"Time," the figure hissed, "is the least of our worries. I've done the research Longbottom. Take this, and be careful."
"What-"
"My god Longbottom, are you really that dense? If it wasn't for our…connection I wouldn't even be dealing with you." Glaring viciously the figure held the book above his head. "This is a journal with all the important dates. From my limited knowledge about the trio's affairs I've been able to piece together a timeline of things you need to change." Noticing the blank stare the figure continued, "For example," he continued through gritted teeth, "the first entry starts with the boarding of the train, the exact time Potter and Weasley met. With this information you will know exactly when to go back and where to be. You can prevent that future meeting. It follows their lives up until graduation. I may have left out some parts but I wasn't exactly in their inner circle so I don't know all the details. But generally I've filled it in, the troll our first year, the snake, the goblet, and everything else. I know you think I'm selfish and I only saved you to better myself—and yes that's true. But I also have a deeper reason. All those years I left something behind—someone rather. I need to get that back, and I will this time, with your help. Don't make me ask again."
"Let's do this," Neville replied looking into the figures eyes.
The figure nodded and looked down to his lap before placing his hands on the edge of the chair he was bound too. "When you have healed we can get started, in my current condition I cannot get all the items we will need. I'll need you in top condition."
Neville nodded and watched sadly as the figure wheeled his chair out of the room. Taking the book into his hands, for the first time in a very long time, Neville smiled.
Shaking himself from the image before him, Neville watched as his fellow classmates began to pack up their belongings. Tonight is the night, he thought, there's no going back now.
Sitting in the great hall an anxious Neville tried to pay attention to the smiling faces and lighthearted conversation around him. The table before him was bountiful in every dish he could have ever imagined and yet he couldn't bring himself to eat anything. Glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, he noticed a missing bushy haired student, although he assumed he was the only one to notice. The watch on his wrist clicked slowly by as he counted down in his head.
Suddenly the door bust opened and in came Professor Quirrell stammering about a troll, "Just thought you should know-"he said before collapsing to the ground.
Just as Neville remembered the Great Hall erupted with screams and panic. Food was thrown from tables and students were trampled to the ground. Drowning out Dumbledore's speech he filed out of the great hall with Ron and Harry in tow. 1 step, turn the corner, get to the stairs, then go to the girls bathroom, he thought trying to remember the order of the journal. Are you sure? What if that isn't the way it happened? If you show up too late she could be dead. You show up to soon and you could die and then where does that leave you? Don't be a hero; go tell someone where she is. If you don't then her blood is on your hands.
Shrugging off the voice Neville turned the corner quickly leading Harry and Ron to the restricted corridor.
"Neville why are we here?"
"That Ravenclaw Hermione, she wasn't at dinner. You know she spends all her time crying in the bathroom—I think she might be in trouble."
"I don't know about this," Ron started. "We don't know anything about trolls and I'm sure she's smart enough to hide-"
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by an earth shattering scream.
"Hermione-," Neville called out. Running into the bathroom Neville felt a rush of nausea sweep over him. He wasn't here the first time and now his wand was shaking in his hand.
The image before him made him almost wish he hadn't started this. The troll had cornered a bleeding Hermione into a corner under the sink. His massive club was raised above the sink and within seconds the sink would be destroyed.
"Guys, remember our Quidditch game the other day. The attack plan we worked on?"
"Ron this isn't the time," Harry hissed
"No this is perfect. On the count of three," Neville squeaked out.
"Three!"
The troll turned just in time to see three bodies rushing at him. The three divided as one rushed to his left and the other to his right, turning slightly he missed as the third boy launched himself directly at the troll. Staggering backwards the other two sent spells his way, which caused his club to fly up in the air.
"Move Ron," Neville screamed, as the club fell directly onto the troll's head.
Neville closed his eyes as the room vibrated with the troll's body hitting the ground.
"That was wicked," screamed Ron, who was currently fist pumping the air.
Throwing herself at the redhead Hermione cried out, "How did you know I was here?"
Before they could explain a swish of robes alerted the four students that they were no longer alone.
"Mr. Longbottom, Weasley, Potter and Ms. Granger, what are you doing here? I hope you did not seek out this troll," a stern faced Professor McGonagall said as Professor Snape walked around her and over to the troll.
"I thought now would be a good time to see what a girl's bathroom looked like," Harry started
"I saw a ghost and I wanted to make sure he would be okay," Neville gulped out.
"Pixies carried my wand and I had to get it back," Ron croaked.
"No it was my fault," Hermione said much to the shock of all in the room. "I had read about trolls and I wanted to see one in real life. I thought I could handle it on my own but I couldn't. If it hadn't been for them, I would be…I would be dead."
"Fifty points from Ravenclaw, now on to bed with all of you. You all should be lucky that I don't points from all of you. Now go," Professor McGonagall sighed.
As the four students walked away from the "danger zone", as Ron was now calling it, Neville couldn't help but smile. It worked. I changed history and nothing bad happened. Nothing bad yet. You still have seven years of this left, and knowing your past behavior you will screw up somewhere.