Nevilles' alarm went off the same as it did every morning. That meant yet another day of fifth year classes to get through. He sighed and slowly rolled over in bed to pull the handle of his bedside drawer. He reached his hand in with his eyes still closed, assuming it would be where it always is. He kept reaching further back until he had to sit up. He opened his eyes, annoyed and slightly concerned. He sat up on the edge of the bed and pulled the drawer all the way out. His eyes widened and he cursed himself. It was gone. There was no way he could have lost it. He always puts it back in the same place. He started frantically throwing things out of the drawer all over the room.
"Everything alright?" Ron sits up in his bed and yawns.
"Not really...I lost it...my mums teacup..I use it every morning, and I, I lost it.." Neville says, his voice shaking as he decidedly yanks the drawer out and dumps all of its contents on the bed.
"Your mums? Hell, Neville I'm sorry. I'll get dressed and help you look. I'll be back in just a bit." Ron looked sad and concerned. He got out of bed and headed to washroom to get dressed. As hungry as he was, he knew this was more about Nevilles mum than the teacup, so breakfast would have to wait.
"What does it look like?" Ron said as he was coming back into the room, buttoning his shirt the rest of the way.
"It's white with small pink roses around the rim. It's small but not tiny." Neville said loudly so Ron could still hear him while he was bent over with his head under the bed. "Ahh!" He shouted while bumping his head on the bed trying to get up. "I can't believe this!" He rubbed his head and got a sharp pain on his scar. He shrugged it off as part of the head injury.
"It'll be alright, Neville. Just stay calm mate, we'll find it." Ron assured as he started looking around the room with him.
They were looking around for a few minutes when Harry burst into the room.
"You slug eaters coming to breakfast?!" He laughed and shoved Ron a little.
Once Ron regained his balance he rolled his eyes and sighed. "We'll be down in a bit mate, we're looking for something. Don't suppose you'd like to help?" He askes Harry sarcastically, already knowing the answer.
"Sorry mate, but I can't. Gotta get my protein for tonights match. I'll see you guys there alright?" He smiles and slapped Nevilles back as he headed back out of the room. Ever since he made Seeker for Gryffindor, Harry became impossible to interact with. Regardless of the actual topic of conversation, he would find a way to make it about him.
They searched the room for a few minutes more before they had to leave if they were going to have time to eat before class. Ron was never one to miss a meal and Neville decided it was a good chance to ask one of the prefects if they might have seen someone in the dormitories. He decided to ask Percy as he was the most vigilant when it came to people coming and going from the dorms.
"I'm sorry Neville, I've not seen any suspicious activity around the boys dorms. I'll be sure to keep an eye out though." Percy answered him almost nervously. His eyes were red and his voice sounded shaky. He apologized to Neville again, and left the table quickly after, leaving behind the rest of his breakfast. Neville looked concerned with his response.
"Don't mind him Neville, Percy's always been an odd one." Ron said with his mouth full of Percys leftover toast.
Neville sighed feeling like he was no further ahead than when he started. He put his head in his hands realizing that the ache in his scar was persisting and that worried him as well. He decided he would go back to his room throughout the day when he had time to search. He considered alerting a professor on the possibility that it was stolen, but then thought against it because of how embarrassing it would be if it was just lost.
His classes went particularly bad throughout the day. He already was not the most coordinated wizard, and being upset and preoccupied made it that much worse. It also didn't help that he kept running back and forth from the dorm making him late to some of the classes as well. So he was particularly surprised when he came stumbling into transfigurations and Mcgonagall barely noticed him.
"Mister Longbottom, we are on page 396." She said with her back to him, tracing some shape on the blackboard with her wand. She seemed distant and almost distracted.
Neville was shocked she didn't have any other quip or comment. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he had a sharp pain hit his scar. He put his head in his hands. He could swear out of the corner of his eye he saw Mcgonagall quickly look at him, and then turn back when she saw his head raise up. He tried his best to ignore it and pay attention to his lesson but he was pretty sure Mcgonagall was onto him.
Once class was over, he tried to slip out unnoticed. As he was headed out the door he almost literally ran into Mcgonagall.
"Ugh..I'm sorry professor..I was just.."
"I do not need an explanation for your behavior mister Longbottom. It is not acceptable to be late to my class regardless of circumstance." She looked around, pulled him aside and lowered her voice. "I see your scar is troubling you today. I advise you to take the upmost precautions, do not go looking for excess trouble. Now, you should go before your late to another class."
He headed to his next class slightly afraid and still very upset that he still has no clue what happened to his mothers cup. It was the only thing of his mothers that his grandmother allowed him to bring to Hogwarts. He tried to sneak some other things with him, but she caught, and punished him soundly for it. She wasn't very happy about him bringing the cup at first either for fear that he would break it or lose it. Which he is pretty certain he's done at this point.
At the end of the day he sat down by himself in a corner of the common room. He sighed. At this point he had searched everywhere possible and theres no way someone would have stolen it. He was dreading having to tell his grandmother it was gone. He was about to get up to just go to bed early, when Ron came up to him.
"Had any luck?" he asked having a feeling he already knew the answer.
"None." He lowers his voice and motioned Ron to come in closer. "And my scar has been flaring up all day. Professor Mcgonagall was acting funny, something is wrong, I just don't know what." He leaned back in his chair and sighed again.
"Come on." he helped Neville off the chair and they started walking into the dorms. They got in the room and Ron closed the door.
"Hermione says she has a plan. I told her what was going on, and she said she thought Mcgonagall was acting off too. So of course, she came up with a plan." He laughed a little trying to lighten the mood. He reached under Nevilles pillow and pulled out the Marauders Map waiving it triumphantly.
"Hows that going to help? It only sees what's happening right now, and, for that matter, who in their bloody right mind would steal a teacup?!" Neville exclaimed trying very hard to keep his voice down. He trusted Hermione well enough, but this just wasn't making any sense.
"I personally have no clue. Hermione told me to grab you, and the map and meet her in the library. I don't suppose you have any better ideas?" He asked but didn't wait for a response before he started heading out.
Neville caught up to him and they made it to the library. Hermione was there and she seemed an odd mix of sad and excited. She closed the distance to them and gave Neville a hug.
"I'm so sorry about your mothers cup Neville." she whispers. "But I'm sure I have a way that can help us get it back." She stands up and straightens her sweater, then pulls out her timeturner.
"The plan is this. So at this point its clear that you didn't lose it. So for whatever reason, someone stole it. I'm going to use the timeturner to take us back to last night. Then we can find a hiding spot and watch the map, to see who did it, then when we get back to the present, we can confront them and get it back."
For the first time all day Neville felt some hope. He should have known Hermione would think of something. It was nice of Ron to let her in on what was going on. He did dread confronting this person whoever it was. After thinking about it, he was almost sure it was some elaborate prank by Malfoy. Neville decided if that was the case, one he had the cup back he would slug him right in his smug gob.
Hermione made the necessary turns on the timeturner and they found their places. Hermione would hide in the library with the map to keep an eye on everything. Neville and Ron found separate hiding places in the common room so they could see anyone coming or going. They were instructed to, if caught, use a memory removal charm on whoever saw them. They were to meet back up at the library at 4am to report anything.
They were waiting for what felt like days, but was really only a couple of hours. All the students had already been asleep for a while now. Ron had almost dozed off a few times just from his cozy spot and the heat of the fire. The sound of the common room door jolted him awake. Rons and Nevilles eyes were glued to the door.
It opened only by a crack. No person came in, but a silver cat with black stripes slipped in quickly before the door closed again. They didn't try to follow the cat, but they did look to see where it was going. It didn't make sense to them that a cat would be the thief unless it was charmed somehow. Ron almost rolled his eyes, and Neville was about to just leave, feeling like this was all for nothing.
The cat emerged all of a sudden from the dorm, with the handle of a teacup in its mouth. It rushed out of the common room as quickly as possible. Neville almost couldn't believe it. Ron had to cover his mouth to stop himself laughing.
They gave it a couple of minutes after the cat left to ensure it was gone, then they ducked out of the common room to head back to the library. Neville thought it was funny that it was a cat, but now he had to figure out who owns a silver cat. Hopefully the owner was waiting somewhere and Hermione saw them.
They made it almost to the library when Hermione literally bumped into Ron.
"What are you doing? How did she not catch you?!" she said, clearly out of breath.
"Who? We didn't see anyone, just some stupid cat, that must have been charmed by someone! We have to find its owner!" Ron looked at her clearly very confused.
"You idiot!" She laughed and shoved him. "It was Mcgonagall! She must have been in her cat form! I thought for sure she caught you..but..what would she want with the teacup?.. No matter. We will have to go back to the present and find out what's happened. She wouldn't just take it without a reason."
They went back to the present and headed for Mcgonagalls office. They at first didn't think they should just tell her they saw her, or they would be admitting to using the map and being up after hours. Neville originally agreed because he didn't want to get in trouble, but with this happening and his scar acting up so badly, it was worth it to find out what was actually happening.
Neville decided to go in alone. If they were in trouble he didn't want his friends taking the blame for his problem. He approached her desk as she was sorting through some parchment.
"Mister Longbottom, was there something I could help you with?" She sat down the stack of parchment and looked up at him.
"Yes, Professor, I had a teacup.. it belonged to my mother..I..I..use it every day..but its missing...would, would you by chance happen to know what happened to it?" He swallowed nervously and exhaled slowly.
She looked around the room, and closed the door with a wave of her wand. She stood up and quickly went around to him.
"We knew you would be upset, I knew we would have to tell you eventually..Come with me please." She whispered and then took his arm and apparated.
As soon as they landed he heard her whisper an incantation and the room they were in lit up. It appeared to be underground somewhere but Neville was not familiar with what room this was, or if they were even still on castle grounds. The room was bare save for a small wooden table and two chairs. She asked him to sit. He was almost frightened and a little curious.
She pulled a letter out of her robes. It was addressed to Neville from Dumbledore. She explained that Dumbledore couldn't be there, but he wanted to explain everything himself.
Dearest Neville,
My sincerest apologies regarding your mothers teacup. I know how much it means to you. The reason I had Professor Mcgonagall take it, is because a few weeks ago we learned that somehow (other than your scar) Lord Voldemort was keeping tabs on you and plotting an invasion into Hogwarts to reach you. Of course, we could not allow this. After extensive research, we discovered he was using a very well hidden enchantment he placed on the cup. We are still not sure how or when this was done. By now the cup has been destroyed and all enchantments with it. I am again very very sorry. If there was any other way, trust we would have done it.. With this Lord Voldemort has become rather enraged, so you may be feeling some pain due to this, but it is well worth it to foil his plot don't you think? Also, we are having a duplicate cup made for you (Your gran will never be able to tell the difference) in case you were wondering. I hope you understand and are not too upset. All my best wishes,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
Neville looked up in shock with his eyes wet with tears. He couldn't believe that it was truly gone forever. Other than the one photo of his parents, this was his only real link to his mother. Logically he understood it had to be done, but in his heart it felt like he was grieving her all over again. He broke down in deep heavy sobs with his face hidden in his hands. Minerva destroyed the letter with a quick flick of her wand and placed her hand on Nevilles shoulder.
" Neville, I understand what this means to you, and I am deeply sorry this had to be done. I know you feel as if you've lost her all over again, but you need to know, both of your parents loved you more than you could ever know, and their deaths will never be in vain. I know that if they could see the steps your taking against Voldemort they would be immensely proud. Your mothers sacrifice, and her legacy, live on in you. Never ever forget that." She squeezed his shoulder as she shed a tear and quickly wiped it away.
Authors Note:
Story Title/Link: (use link tool in the menu bar to make your story link workâfor submission posts)
School: Mahoutokoro
Theme: Neville is BWL AU
Prompt: Teacup