A Gift of Strength
Summary: Set during DH. In the midst of standing up to the Carrows, Neville passes out. When he enters a strange wood and talks to a strange boy about things such as bravery and change, he gets encouragement during the middle of a dark time. HP/Narnia crossover.
Disclaimer: Neville, the Carrows, Hogwarts, etc. all belongs to J.K. Rowling. The wood between the worlds and Eustace belongs to C.S. Lewis.
Author's Note: Inspired by a dream that got into my head and refused to leave until I wrote this.
For Neville Longbottom, the world was spinning in swirls of color. He could see Pansy Parkinson's laughing face, and Luna Lovegood's concerned stare, but mostly he saw nothing but undefined shapes.
He felt himself being carried to what he expected was Madam Pomfrey's, but he couldn't tell. It hurt to think. The remains of the cruciatus curse lingered in his mind and on his skin. The pain, though now dull, was still present. He felt very stiff and yet hollow, as if he was looking at himself from outside his body.
Someone laid him down on the bed and he heard Madam Pomfrey's distant clucking.
"Did you do something brave and foolish again?" She asked, though Neville doubted she expected an answer. As she leaned over to check him, he felt the world slip away, everything growing distant and blurry.
---
When Neville came-to, he was surprised to find himself laying face-down in a very quiet, green forest. He stood up slowly, shaking excess leaves off his robe. He looked around, hoping to see something familiar. He knew, instantly, he wasn't in the forbidden forest. It was much too light and serene to be the area students were always ushered away from. It was so peaceful. . . Neville suddenly found himself with a very strange urge to sit beneath one of the towering oak trees and take a very long nap.
He would have done just that, except he heard something to his right. It sounded like whispered voices talking, and it made him jump suddenly. He should have been on his guard.
Slowly, and as quietly as possible (Neville found he was much more graceful in this place than he normally was), he peered around the large tree he had been leaning against.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw. A small boy with a round face and a frightful look on his face turned around and spotted him. Neville jumped back, now thoroughly more confused than ever. He had just seen himself. Or, at least, a younger-looking self.
Neville started moving hesitantly toward his younger self. He seemed to be about eleven or twelve, and with a shudder Neville remembered those days. It had taken him several years to become who he was- just two years ago he had been the laughingstock of the entire school- and now that he had changed he didn't like to reflect very much on how he had been.
He was now about four feet away from himself, and he found another surprised- his eleven-year-old past had been talking to another boy. The boy waved off younger Neville and beckoned modern-day Neville closer.
For some reason Neville could not quite grasp, he had the feeling this boy meant no harm and was more of an ally than an enemy, so he casually strolled up to him. On closer inspection, Neville realized the boy was probably a year or two older than he was and was wearing very out-dated muggle clothing. The boy had the faint traces of a smile on his face and his expression was not unkind, but also wasn't exactly warm and inviting. He stared without shame as Neville approached, and Neville had the feeling the boy was trying to figure him out.
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence and then the boy extended his hand, "I'm Edmund Pevensie."
Neville shook Eustace's hand and replied with more confidence than he felt, "Neville Longbottom."
Edmund looked around with interest at the forest. He seemed much more comfortable with the entire situation than Neville did, and Neville wondered if it was a place he'd been before.
"What is this place?" Neville asked, hoping Edmund would have some form of an answer.
"The wood between the worlds," Edmund replied simply.
Neville had to fight very hard to keep a very sarcastic, "well that clears that up," from slipping through his mouth. Neville was now confused more than he had been before. Why was he here? What exactly was the wood between the worlds? And most importantly, what was a younger version of him doing here?
"You're quite different," Edmund commented, breaking Neville out of his reverie as he sat beneath one of the shady trees and motioned Neville to do the same.
"What do you mean?" Neville asked as he kneeled down opposing Edmund.
"From the younger Neville. I was talking to him earlier."
Neville rolled his tongue around his mouth, trying to choose his words carefully. He wasn't sure why he was telling this strange boy everything without hesitation, but he supposed if this really was just happening in his head like he believed it was, it wouldn't matter.
"I've changed a bit." Neville finally settled on an answer. He had expected Edmund to ask him in what ways or why, but all he did was nodded.
"That's something I know a bit about." And for the first time, Edmund gave a genuine smile. Neville looked into the boy's dark eyes and realized suddenly that somehow, they had become friends.
"How?" He asked curiously. He wasn't use to asking so many questions and he had to admit it was a bit freeing to let whatever wanted to slip out of his mouth do so.
Neville had been expecting a long story, but instead Edmund turned to him and asked a question of his own.
"Will you believe me?" He asked, quite seriously.
Neville looked at him with an expression not far removed from shock. He was here, in this forest, wasn't he? A place called the wood between the worlds with no explanation at all. And he had yet to say, "I don't believe this." Neville found he was a bit offended.
"Yes." He replied, just as grave. Neville felt as if they were talking about someone dying.
"Well," Edmund mused, "I once was of your world."
"My world? The wizarding world?"
Edmund shook his head, "No. In fact, I didn't even know wizards on earth exist. But that is where I'm from- England. And then me and my siblings- all four of us- were taken into another world, another universe. Not the kind you can travel to. We learned of a prophecy about how we were to be the country's rulers, as dictated by Aslan- the supreme being of the world, who loves us so- and we became King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Susan, and Queen Lucy."
"What of change?" Neville asked.
Edmund smiled. "Ah. You see, before that, I betrayed my entire family. To Jadis, the White Witch, who currently had the land locked into a hundred years of winter."
"And you became King?" Neville was rather incredulous.
Edmund's true smile now showed forth. "Aye. That's the thing about Aslan- he can change traitors to the Just. Or cowards to heroes- like you."
Neville sputtered. "I'm not a hero!" Indeed, he did not feel like one. True, he was a bit braver than he had been at twelve, but he had only done what he considered necessary. Someone had to stand up to the enemy, and if he was the only one who would start that than there was no way around it.
Edmund's smile did not waver. "Yes, you are. Let this encourage you, because when you wake up things in your world are going to be even bleaker than they were before. Darkest before the dawn that may be slow in coming."
Neville opened his mouth to ask another question, but before the words were out he felt himself slipping away, as if he was being dragged underwater by a powerful source. The comforting greens and browns of the forest swirled around him before disappearing all together, and he found himself in his hospital bed. As he woke he found himself reliving the events that had happened in the Wood between the Worlds. For some reason, the idea of doubting the reality of the entire thing never crossed his mind.
"Darkest before the dawn that may be slow in coming." The words repeated in Neville's mind. They didn't sound very encouraging. Neville knew there was a large battle to be fought ahead.
Perhaps the boy had been right, Neville mused, because all of the sudden he felt much braver than ever before, as if he had the strength of a lion, a true Gryffindor.