-1Chapter 3
He woke with a start on the first morning, falling out of the armchair and onto the floor. He picked himself up gingerly, rubbing his head. Luckily, no one was up yet to see him make an ass out of himself. He looked at the watch on his wrist, and discovered the reason why.
"Five o'clock?" he exclaimed rather louder than he intended. No one ever woke up that early on the first day back. Unless they were having nightmare. He rubbed the back of his neck, as he so often did when he was feeling slightly awkward.
He walked up the spiral staircase that led to his dormroom, and carefully opened the door, praying not to wake Seamus up. As it happened, he didn't have to bother. Seamus was sitting bolt upright in bed, fully clothed and staring at the large wardrobe opposite him. Neville looked around the room for the first time. There were three missing beds; Dean's, Ron's and Harry's. The room seemed big and empty without them. Instead there were two beds put sidelong in the room, with a wardrobe each.
"Seamus, mate?" Neville said loudly when his friend didn't acknowledge his entrance "are you okay?"
The Irish boy's head spun around, seeing him for the first time.
"Oh hi Neville. You didn't come to bed last night," he stated "up to something?"
"Nah…just fell asleep on the armchair in the common room," he said. An awkward silence settled on the room.
"I couldn't sleep," Seamus declared "it's too quiet without them all. After so long moaning about it, it looks like I need Ron's snoring to snooze,"
Neville sat down on the bed next to him, making sure to look away. He didn't normally have heart-to-hearts with guys, or anyone for that matter, but he knew it was a general rule of thumb to make as little eye-contact as possible, then talk about manly things for the next couple of days.
"You know he's okay right?" Neville said quietly.
"Yeah…well…no. What if someone catches up with him?" Seamus said quickly.
"Then Dean will send 'em back where they came from. You remember how good he was at duelling? Had the pair of us on our ass most of the time," he said, and they began chuckling at the memories of their mutual friend.
"Well…we should probably get changed before we go down to breakfast. The girls'll notice if we wear the same clothes as we were yesterday," Neville said, getting up and walking over to his trunk.
"Yeah, there could be some awkward questions," Seamus said. Neville raised an eyebrow.
"What?…Oh…yeah, right," he said and burrowed down into the trunk. Seamus shook his head pityingly. A few minutes later, after both boys had dressed in new robes, they went downstairs together.
The great hall was dark this early in the morning, the enchanted ceiling grey and murky. They were the only people in the hall, apart from a few studious Ravenclaw first years who were pouring over their books as they sipped at orange juice. Immediately Professor McGonagall came hurrying over and gave them their timetables for the year. She looked at both boys very seriously.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, the school is going through some changes this year. As seventh years I expect you to look after the younger students and protect them from certain…influences," she said quietly, occasionally glancing up at the staff table, where the Carrows were watching her carefully.
"Yeah, of course Professor," the two boys said, looking at each other. McGonagall had never shown any interest in either of them before now. She was always more focused on Harry and his exploits. He just meandered around in the background until she scolded him for not handing in his transfiguration essay. As the elderly woman turned to return to the staff table, a thought occurred.
"Professor, what's going to happen about prefects? I mean…Ron and Hermione aren't here…" he asked slowly. McGonagall gave a sad smile.
"Unfortunately, our new headmaster has seen it fit to transfer all the prefect positions into Slytherin house," she said, her tone slightly clipped.
"Oh, right then," he said, and looked at his new timetable. He noticed something wrong about it straight away.
"Professor!" he called loudly. She turned round, nostrils flaring.
"Yes Longbottom?"
"There's been a mistake here. I don't take Muggle Studies," he said, a puzzled look on his face.
"It has become a compulsory subject," she said shortly, before returning to the table. Neville turned to look at Seamus.
"That can't be good, right?" he said in a h used tone.
"I'm betting it isn't," his friend said darkly.
Seamus assured him that the Muggle Studies classroom was next to the Arithmancy classroom. However, half an hour after setting off, getting to the wrong side of the castle, and following Sir Cadogan through the wrong secret passage, they arrived outside the classroom, panting heavily. Neville pulled the hair out of his eye as Seamus slowly opened the door, and the pair slinked inside.
The squat little professor that Neville took to be Alecto Carrow was facing the blackboard, tracing a few words on the board with her wand. As Neville and Seamus desperately tried to walk to their desk without attracting the woman's attention, her ears seemed to prick up. She turned around slowly, with a small smile playing across her ugly face.
"Longbottom, Finnigan. 'There a reason why you're late to my lesson?" she asked mildly.
"Er…we couldn't find the room," Neville muttered, to the general amusement of the rest of the class, who seemed to be made up of most of the year.
"How long you been at this school?"
"Seven years miss," he said, going red.
"Are you so thick that you haven't found out where it is before now?"
"No miss,"
"Pathetic. I expected more from a pure blood. Take your seats," she spat, pointing at two desks near the front of the classroom. She turned to the rest of the class.
"I expect a three foot essay on how muggle blood can dirty even the purest of veins," Alecto said, eyeing the classroom, most of whom shuffled uncomfortably.
"What?!" Neville shouted aloud, and immediately going red. There were a few gasps from around the classroom, and all eyes were suddenly upon him. He winced. He obviously didn't know how the rest of the lesson had gone down, but he guessed that most people were either in shock or…slytherin. Still, best to stick with it now.
"What's your problem, Longbottom?" she asked.
"Muggle blood dirtying the purest of veins?" he asked loudly, standing up now.
"Down boy," she giggled, and her wand gave a bang. He was shoved back down into his seat.
"That's mental!" he shouted at her. She was laughing now.
"I think you've just earned a detention now," she giggled "Class dismissed,"
The students stood up hurriedly and rushed out of the room, except Seamus who waited nervously around the door. Neville nodded for him to go. Alecto walked towards him, her mad eyes focusing on him like a large cat stalking its prey.
"Longbottom," she stated plainly.
"Yes?" he asked through gritted teeth, struggling against the invisible bonds that held him in place.
"You need to learn your place in my class," she said, moving her head very close to his.
"Sorry miss?" he asked, leaning his head back in the chair.
"You'll see Longbottom. Now get out of my sight," she spat. Suddenly the bonds holding him down were released, and he stood up quickly and grabbed his bag. Eyeing the Death Eater warily, he backed out of the room.