Yes, its me again. I am aware that I am making miserable progress with my other stories, but this idea had been bouncing around in my head FOREVER, and I just couldn't ignore it any longer.

To give a basic summary of, well, the summary, Voldemort chose Neville, instead of Harry, as his equal on that fateful Halloween night. This story deals with the coming-of-age of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and basically follows canon. However, there will be a few changes in the plot line, as you will see later.

Also, this will eventually become a HarryxHermione.

I do not own Harry Potter, and I never will.

Enjoy.

~conorlover~

The Chosen One

Chapter 1

Disappearance

The good part of being alone in a dorm room was that he could think.

Thinking was an important activity. The brain used up nearly 25% of the total energy generated by cellular respiration. While most of this went into controlling his motor neurons, as well as his various other involuntary functions, his medulla, and his cerebellum, a small portion of it was concentrated in that part of his brain that learnt how to make decisions and coordinate his life from a very early age.

Thinking was necessary. He knew, in purely scientific terms, that it was necessary for the basic needs in life, but right now, he meant it in the purely philosophical sense. He needed to think just to decipher last night's events.

He had woken up to complete chaos in the middle of the night. Lurching out of bed, while catching his foot in the hangings and tripping in the process, he saw Seamus thrashing about near his bed, caught in nearly the same position as himself, Dean flying out of the dorm and down the stairs, Ron hovering near Neville's bed, and Neville himself thrashing like a mad animal, screaming something about Ron's father and 'Him'.

Then Professor McGonagall had appeared, and they had been whisked away. Neville, Ron, and all the other Weasleys in the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione, surprisingly, had been left behind. He had been slightly shocked by this – she was a part of the Trio, and the Trio was always together, no matter what.

Then, this morning, all of them were missing. Neville, Ron, Ginny, and the twins. Only Hermione was present, eyes rather red and looking like she had not been able to sleep for the entire night. Harry knew what she felt like – he, too, had spent half the night up, wondering what that had been about. He knew that Neville had some odd episodes now and then, but what had happened last night had been completely unprecedented. Neville had looked out of control, thrashing like that, and he had said something about Ron's father. And now Ron was missing.

He had wondered if he should ask Hermione, and had almost gathered up the courage to do it, when he had been beaten to the punch by Dean. Sounding almost like one of those overly inquisitive Hufflepuffs, Dean had promptly practically interrogated Hermione with his inquiries about Neville and Ron, until Lavender had sent him a 'look', whilst putting an arm around Hermione. Hermione herself seemed completely lost to the world, not even noticing that she was in the middle of the Great Hall, her plate and fork completely untouched. Her mind seemed to be wandering somewhere else, and, knowing her, it was either actively engrossed in studies, or was firmly set on her two best friends. Judging by yesterday's events, he deduced that it was probably fixated on her two companions.

Harry wondered why she had not gone with them. She was Hermione Granger, a part of the Trio. The Trio always stood up together, always fell together. They were an intrinsic part of each other, like parts of the same, functioning, breathing organism. They were inseparable, and to see them apart was just about as rare as seeing a Crumple-Horned Snorcack, no matter what Loony Lovegood said.

Even more surprising was the complete and absolute absence of all the Weasleys and Longbottoms from the school. Neville was often to be found in the Hospital Wing, recuperating from some or the other mysterious injury, to which neither he, nor Ron and Hermione seemed to give any explanation for, but never had he so completely disappeared from the school entirely. The absence of all the Weasleys, on the other hand, was even more unprecedented. Ron sometimes ended up alongside Neville, but today, he and his siblings were gone, their trunks gone with them. The Toad seemed just as nonplussed as the rest of the student body, and rumour was that she had demanded an explanation for the missing students, and an interrogation of all the students in Gryffindor, of McGonagall. Fortunately, Dumbledore had come to the rescue, and had forbidden her from even coming near any of the students of Gryffindor. She still seemed to be intent on confronting Hermione, however, seemingly sure that the one remaining part of the Trio held all the answers in her considerable brain.

Hermione herself was nowhere to be found. She had disappeared after breakfast, or whatever parody of breakfast there was – she hadn't taken a single bite. Since she was known to utilize the time before classes for studying, her yearmates had paid little attention to her movements, far more interested in discussing the heated conversation between Umbridge and McGonagall that had taken place, and had apparently been witnessed by Dennis Creevey. Little Dennis had become quite the hero, until Parvati discovered that Hermione was missing.

When they had found her absent from classes, a cardinal sin for the person who refused to be even late for classes, then the Fifth-years finally started to worry a little. Hermione, of all people, was never absent from classes. This was the last thing she would do, to be quite truthful. Hell, the girl had asked for assignments when she was sick in bed in the middle of their second year.

Her trunk was also in its usual place in the dorms, alleviating all fears of another disappearance, and her books were on their place on her bedside, indicating that she wasn't somewhere studying. Her other favorite haunt – the Library – too, was bereft of her.

It wasn't unusual for the Trio to disappear suddenly, but this was beyond all bounds. Harry had watched them mysteriously vanish and reappear from various situations since their very first year, always sporting many injuries on their return. But none of the occasions had ever been anything like this. Neville had never woken up screaming like that before. Ron and all his siblings had never disappeared like that before. And Hermione had definitely never pulled a disappearing act alone before.

More importantly, Umbridge had never been here before. The Toad seemed fixated on making Neville's life hell particularly. She had always seemed to have it in for the Boy Who Lived, even more than the other students. She was hostile in general to the entire student body, but Neville seemed to have a special place in her little black book of 'People to hurt'. The amount of detentions she had given him was simply colossal – people said that he had broken even Fred and George's record by now. Ron and Hermione weren't particular favorites of her either. Their unexplained absence would definitely lead to a serious punishment. It was fortunate that they had chosen to do it right before Christmas Break, but Harry knew that Umbridge wasn't the type to forget things over a cup or two of eggnog.

The canopy of his bed above him was a deep, dark red. He remembered staring up at it last night, after Neville and Ron had left, and Seamus had insisted that he, Dean, and Harry stop speculating on their whereabouts and try and get a little sleep. Harry had been far too worried for his two friends to do much more than stare up at the canopy in a zombie-like haze, and, from the lack of snores, he knew that Dean and Seamus were having trouble sleeping too, even though they had been awake for most of the night. All three of them sported deep circles under their eyes today, but he was sure that none of hem regretted it – two of their closest friends were missing, after all.

Neville's absence was particularly worrying, especially after the ridiculous campaigns that the Ministry and the Daily Prophet had started against him. They had alienated many a former friend of his, including Seamus himself. The two of them had had a showdown earlier in the year, with Dean surprisingly taking Neville's side instead of his best mate's. Harry himself thought of these accusations as completely and utterly ridiculous, encouraged by the fact that his own parents were very outspoken against this clear blasphemy. Neither Neville nor Dumbledore were mad, and the Ministry were just trying to disguise the fact that they were an incompetent bunch of fools. This last thought was not Harry's own, but rather that he had heard from Hermione as she was lecturing Ron and Neville.

Although Harry believed in his parents and Dumbledore, the rational part of him insisted that there was no way that You-Know-Who could be back. He had heard of the horror stories from all the adults he knew, and, although he had not even been two years old when You-Know-Who had been defeated, his inborn survival instinct insisted that the return of You-Know-Who was impossible. How exactly was a person reborn, anyway? How could he resurrect himself? Harry's own parents insisted that he was back, yet Harry could not help but think sometimes that maybe this was all a mistake, maybe You-Know-Who wasn't really alive again, maybe it was just someone else pretending to be him.

The Ministry certainly seemed to think alongside Harry, even if they clung to a different thread of hope. The Ministry insisted that Neville and Dumbledore were both lunatics, one who was frustrated from being too old, and had apparently turned senile, the other an attention freak, who was also known for several Dark characteristics, like speaking Parseltongue.

Maybe it was Seamus who was right, and Neville was wrong. Neville certainly didn't seem insane, and seemed pretty convinced about what he was saying, but it was true that he did seem to tangle with trouble a little more than seemed logically possible. The affair with Quirrell in the first year, the petrification problem in the second year, something about Sirius Black in the third year, and the Goblet of Fire last year. Already, he seemed geared up for a big showdown with Umbridge, and Harry was uncertain as to whether it was rationally possible for a single person to be so attracted to murder and mayhem.

Also, his supporters were easy to disbelieve. Luna Lovegood was a complete and utter loony who that that Flibbering Hummingdingers lived inside your nose and made houses out of all the phlegm. Ernie Macmillan wasn't too believable either, always too eager to play the hero, besides being a loyal Hufflepuff. Dean was Muggleborn, and didn't understand the full implications of You-Know-Who, let alone what it meant to live under his rule. He had simply heard of someone who seemed like a bad guy, inclined to spread chaos, and far too fond of Dark magic. He hadn't lived under You-Know-Who's tyranny, and he certainly hadn't heard the horror stories or seen the terrified expressions on his parent's faces.

Hermione was Muggle-born too, and besides, she was one of Neville's best friends. She was honour bound to listen to him, even if what he was saying were just the insane ravings of someone under a lot of pressure. Ron, though, was pureblood, and he certainly did know about You-Know-Who – but then again, he, too, was one of Neville's best friends. If he didn't stand by Neville, then who would?

Harry was far too aware that his own parents were firm believers in Neville and Professor Dumbledore, and had instructed him to believe in them, but he could not help it. Ever since the very beginning, Lily and James Potter had raised their son to be strong and independent, to question what he was told and come up with his own answers. He was their only son, and they were very proud of him, but they both wanted him to be raised to be a strong individual, and both of them agreed that this would never be achieved by following blindly instead of working to find out the truth. While Harry respected and loved his parents, and heeded their advice, the rationalist in him argued that if You-Know-Who really was dead, then there was no way to bring him back. Wizards had tried for centuries to be able to bring the dead back to life, and the only thing they had achieved so far had been Inferi. If You-Know-Who had been 'brought back to life', then it was not as a sentient creature, but as a rotting corpse manipulated by some other wizard.

Which seemed impossible, as His body was still inside the Ministry, and hadn't been touched. He was a dangerous enough criminal for the Ministry to insist on keeping his body under the strictest surveillance even now instead of revealing it to the public.

Besides, despite their recent spiteful behaviour, and Umbridge, the Ministry hadn't really done anything to be called all the names that the Trio called it. Sure, Umbridge was an abomination of the highest order, but Fudge, of all people, hadn't done anything except spread some bad publicity about Dumbledore. What they had done after the Triwizard tournament had been completely understandable, considering the fact that Cedric Diggory was still in St. Mungo's on life support, and it was unknown as to whether he would survive or not.

Harry did not know Cedric very well, only interacting with him on the Quidditch pitch. Harry was the Seeker for Gryffindor, and Cedric was the Seeker for Hufflepuff. They had a fair amounts of tussles until last year, when Quidditch had been cancelled due to the Triwizard tournament. Harry had expected to be clashing against him this year as well, being that it was Cedric's last year in Hogwarts, but instead, Diggory was lying half-dead on a hospital bed in St. Mungo's because of injuries received during the Final Task.

It was even more dubious that Neville was right simply because of the fact that Cedric's parents had yet to speak out in his support. Surely, if the Diggorys believed that their son had been attacked by the Death Eaters, they would had said something about it?

He was interrupted from his reflections by Dean entering the dorm. Dean looked somber today, his usually wild demeanor hidden behind a cloak of seriousness. "Everyone's looking for you, mate," he said to Harry, the dark shadows beneath his eyes looking even worse than Harry's. "We don't want any more unexpected disappearances today, you know? We're spooked enough as it is."

Harry nodded, understanding what he was talking about. The disappearance of five people mysteriously had left the entire house rather shaky. "I'll be down in a minute," he told Dean.

Instead of leaving, Dean surprised Harry by walking over to his own bed and fairly collapsing on the covers. Voice muffled by the pillow, he said "It's just so tiring, you know? Trying to figure everything out, deal with the youngsters, fend of Ginny's aggressive friends – God, they can be such bitches! – telling Angelina about Fred disappearing, and everything else. God, I'm so tired of this happening every time those three go off on their own! Can't they do this part themselves?"

Harry nodded again, watching two birds flit outside his window. There were times when he was envious of the Trio, wishing he could have something that exclusive. There were times when he admired them for their courage, just running off to fight like that without a second thought.

But mostly, when the Trio disappeared, what really troubled him was the fact that it was their, Neville and Ron's dormmates, responsibility to explain everything a hundred times over to every single man, woman, and child.

The Trio could be quite troublesome if they chose.

I would really like to hear your responses to this chapter. Please review, because it is you who inspire me most.

If you have any questions, please PM or review. They will be answered promptly.

Thank you.

~conorlover~