This story is slightly AU as in the Order trusts Snape enough that he can return to Hogwarts and continue in their ranks. Also many, many other little things, and a few big ones. Specific enough?

Planning to update every Monday and Wednesday for at least six weeks, then we'll see what my schedule is like. Oh, and guess what? The first twelve chapters are already written, while the rest of the story is outlined. HAH! I defy the god of procrastination. (Tomorrow.)

So let's get this party started, shall we?

Chapter One- A Mystery and A Forgotten Visitor

Neville walked dazedly away from the raised dais which no longer held Dumbledore's body, not paying any attention to the route his feet were taking and depending on the crowd's flow to bring him to the castle. The clouds rumbled and shifted uncomfortably, unsure of where to go next or why. Neville's thoughts wandered more than usual and he wished Dumbledore had left him with some sort of mission like the Three Musketeers, or at least an encouraging message of sorts.

"Longbottom. Longbottom!"

Neville's head snapped up suddenly, startled to see the Minister of Magic in front of him with his hand raised, looking as though he was about to shake Neville to get his attention.

Lowering his arm, Scrimgeour cleared his throat. "Ahem. Dumbledore left you something in his last will and testament. We had to perform the standard spells to make sure no Dark Magic was involved with it, but it's perfectly harmless. No hidden traps. No secret messages. Nothing." The Minister of Magic's voice strained at the last word and he looked even more frustrated than usual.

"Here," he said, letting out a deep breath as he took a clear glass ball out of his pocket.

Seeing that Neville was too startled to react in any way other than just to stand there and gape, he reached out, grabbed Neville's arm and shoved the Remembrall into his palm.

Neville picked up his hand and stared, mesmerized, at the globe's reflective surface as the Minister of Magic also gazed eagerly at it, hoping something would finally happen. He had walked around all day finding these witless students and delivering Dumbledore's possessions in the hopes any secret weapons or tidbits of information would show up.

After standing there awkwardly for a few seconds, he walked away muttering to himself, "Honestly, the lot Dumbledore left his possessions to! You'd think he would leave everything to McGonagall, or even Hagrid, but instead he goes bestowing trinkets upon every student that ever walked through his door. Kids who have no appreciation for being remembered in the last will and testament of the only Supreme Mugwump to ever receive a First Class Order of Merlin AND his own chocolate frog card! What rubbish..."

Hm, thought Neville. So Dumbledore had left him something. It was probably a hidden message of some sort, or there was a code to crack… He glanced over at Hermione; she was always the expert at solving these kinds of riddles. In fact, she was the best at solving any kind of riddle, really. He saw her standing with Ron off to the side, eyes red and puffy, and immediately felt a pang of sadness dissipate his hopes. He slipped the sphere into his pocket and headed for the castle chin a bit higher, knowing he had a whole summer ahead to spend on solving the mystery.

Neville lay spread-eagle on his bed, exhausted from the train ride back from Hogwarts. His gran had made him some caffeinated tea, which helped a bit, but didn't push away the persistent headache he'd had ever since receiving the Remembrall. Neville frowned. Isn't that how Ginny had felt when she had Tom Riddle's diary? What if Dumbledore really had accidentally left him a Dark Object, like Scrimgeour had suggested? But no, the Minister of Magic hadn't suggested it was Dark, he had said they had performed spells to check if it was Dark, which all came out negative. He snorted, entertained at the thought that he was now relying on the Ministry to have actually been reliable in making sure children didn't get their hands on dangerous objects unsuitable for anyone from ages 9-99.

It was starting to seem likely after a few hours of trying to trick the glass globe into revealing whatever Dumbledore had hidden in its depths that it was nothing more than a copy of the one his Gran gave him, which he'd left at home this year.

He started playing with the Remembrall, tossing it up and grabbing it out of the air, pretending he was Harry making the game-winning play in Quidditch. He had done his only three times when his bedroom door slammed open and a tall, tan man strode confidently in, almost making Neville drop his sphere in surprise.

"Great-Uncle Algie!" he gasped, sitting up as his uncle walked over to the bed, picked him up and gave him a hug even bears would wince at.

"You didn't forget I was coming, did you?" boomed Algie, mussing his hair. "No wonder there weren't any flowers for old uncle Algernon downstairs, like usual."

"I guess I did forget," admitted Neville glumly, staring at his empty Remembrall. Uncle Algie was the person responsible for bringing out his magic and often acted towards him as a father- Neville hated disappointing him, but with so much going on this year he had forgotten the yearly ritual of bringing back flowers from the Hogwarts greenhouse (with Sprout's permission, of course).

"That's alright lad," said his great-uncle, sighing. "I figured that once you got older you would be too busy with the lasses to give the man who risked his life getting you a Mimbulus Mimbletonia for your birthday the time of day. I'm certain you don't even have it anymore; you probably gave it to one of your many female admirers," he concluded, wiping away a fake tear.

"The Mimbulus is in our backyard right now, and that's not why I forgot!" said Neville hotly. "I don't have any of that going on, I forgot because-" here he paused, repeating wonderingly "I forgot."

"Yes," said Algie impatiently. "We already got to that part of your fragmented sentence."

"No you don't understand, I FORGOT!" said Neville, laughing as he hugged his great-uncle, who was starting to look nervous. "I forgot, I forgot, I forgot!"

"Indeed, that is quite the accomplishment," said Uncle Algie, patting Neville on the head as if he was a five-year old.

Neville looked up at his uncle, deciding whether to confide in him. His uncle's eyes, the color of earth, reminded him who he was thinking about: the most steadfast, loyal friend he had (besides Gran) who had been a Hufflepuff at Hogwarts. His grin grew broader as he reached a decision.

"My Remembrall's broken," said Neville simply.

"Well, we can always get you a new one," replied Algie, relieved. "Although I never didunderstand the point of those things. All they do is rub in your face that you've forgotten something, with no specifications at all. Rather obnoxious, if you ask me."

"That's not the issue!" said Neville excitedly, feeling his tiredness fall away as he got up and practically threw the clear sphere in his uncle's face. "Dumbledore left me this Remembrall! He must have put a secret message in it or something, somehow! That's why it won't work! They already checked, it doesn't have any Dark Magic on it, but that doesn't mean they missed some Light Magic done on it. Dumbledore was a genius, he must have figured out some trick to make sure only I would or maybe even couldopen it."

Algie was opening his mouth, about to reply that maybe the spells the Ministry performed to detect Dark Magic accidentally removed the magic already on the ball when he saw the shining light in Neville's eyes and thought better of it.

"You're saying that he sealed something in there that only you could get to, right?"

Neville nodded eagerly, practically smothering his great-uncle in trust and expectations.

"Well," said Algie, standing up and stretching. "I guess it's time for round two then."

"Round two of what?" asked Neville as his uncle started casting unintelligible spells on Neville, unsure if the glint in his uncle's eyes was a good thing. Strike that- he decided he was sure the glint was a bad thing as Algie picked him up and started walking. That was the same glint he had when he almost got Neville killed…

…by dropping him out the window.

For a moment, Neville enjoyed the view. "I should probably look out my window more often, it really is a breathtaking garden when seen from above," he mused. But then, of course, all that came out was a terrified "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Floomp.

Neville hit the grass suddenly, but instead of crunching into it with all the force of a speeding bullet he sank into it softly for a few seconds, the impact dispersed so it was no more than jumping off a meter-high wall. His face less than two centimeters away from his Mimbulus, he picked up his head and spat out some torn-up grass.

"Once wasn't enough? I am going to killyou Uncle Algie!" He shouted at the man staring detachedly out his window, causing his great-uncle to smile.

"Nice to see you finally got some backbone, kid," called back Algie. "But don't you think you should check on that Remembrall of yours? Or should I say- your box?"

Neville turned himself over and sat up, surprised to find his Remembrall replaced by an ordinary wooden box with a medium-sized, perfectly round keyhole and no other opening. He turned it over, looking for an inscription, and on the bottom found

Not always is the treasure found in gold

Nor wisdom found solely with the old,

Some keys aren't fluffy and pink,

Some locks open only with stink.

Please solve this riddle with all haste,

But make sure you are safely spaced!

~APWBD

Algie also jumped out of the window, having apparently also done the protection spells on himself since he landed lightly next to Neville and read the message silently.

"Well it seems that-" he started, but Neville cut him off.

"Oh come on, even I can solve this," said Neville exasperatedly. "The first half is just Dumbledore's nonsense and the plant he's talking about was right in front of my face two minutes ago. Move back please."

Algie merely raised a brow in reply, but obediently walked to stand behind a tree as Neville balanced the box precariously on top of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia so one of its boils was poised to squirt directly into it should the plant suddenly come into any danger. He smiled; his great-nephew was getting less clumsy by the day. Neville joined him behind the tree, and then cast his spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

A small branch broke off the tree and floated towards the Mimbulus, then poked one of its boils gingerly. And the world exploded into a canvas of black.

"Wicked!" said Neville, as fascinated by explosions as any other teenage boy (although he usually caused them by accident). He picked his way through the grass back to the box hurriedly, his great-uncle right on his heels, and lifted the now-black box up carefully.

All at once he felt the cool tip of a wand held against the back of his neck and heard his uncle's voice, now menacing, say, "Under orders of the Minister of Magic, I hereby claim possession of this unregistered box and its contents."

Please review, if possible! A great 'thank you' to NevemTeve for the constructive criticism! Much appreciated.