Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and no money is being made from this.

AN: Thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome. :)

Chapter 4

"Where is Neville?", Hermione asked, looking around the Gryffindor common room. They had just returned from dinner and are starting to work on their homework. Hermione was working on her arithmancy assignment. Next to her was Ron writing his potions essay. Ginny was curled up in her chair, reading her charms book, or at least trying to. But her thoughts keep coming back to Neville, who had been avoiding them for the past week ever since they came back to Hogwarts.

"No, he didn't even come to dinner", replied Ginny.

"He didn't had lunch either", said Ron.

"Is it just me or does it look like something weird with Neville? I mean since the start of the term, he has hardly spoken to anyone. He keep skipping meals. He was even doing bad in Herbology", said Hermione.

"Did he say anything to you Ginny?"

"No", Ginny shook her head.

She has been observing Neville too. He had been acting weird ever since summer. And he was trying to avoid them, avoid her. Ginny felt a little hurt at that. But she was more worried about him. Neville was not exactly the life of the party, but he was a cheerful person, at least when he is with them. But now he is avoiding them like a plague. The last time Ginny saw him smile was on his birthday. They all had gathered at Longbottom manor to celebrate his birthday. He looked happy that day. But the next day, everything changed. He stopped writing to them. He stopped visiting the burrow. And now, the only they ever saw him was at meals. Even then, he just sits silently, barely eating anything.

"You know, he didn't come to the room last night. He has been out the whole night", said Ron.

Yes, something is really wrong with Neville. Ginny just hoped that he will come to them and talk about it. If he doesn't, I will go talk to him myself. With that thought, Ginny went back to her charms book.

Neville Longbottom looked up at the mirror on the wall. He could see the dark circles around his eyes. His face was gaunt and his cheekbones were sticking out. In just over a month, he lost a lot of weight. It has been a month since he slept for more than an hour or two, without being woken up by nightmares.

He was standing in the girl's bathroom i third floor of Hogwarts. Nobody ever comes here because the bathroom was haunted by the ghost of Moaning Myrtle. It has become a haven for Neville in the past week. It is the one place in Hogwarts where he wouldn't be disturbed, where he can get total privacy. Well, except for Myrtle. But it is still better to be around one ghost who hides in toilets than to be around people who keep asking him questions, for which he cannot give answers.

Or people who expect too much from him, Neville thought bitterly.

Until his last month, his life has been happy. Despite all the training exercises, the more than heavy results his grandmother expects from him, despite being constantly targeted by the death eaters, despite all the near death experiences, Neville was happy. He had Ron and Hermione, his two best friends who had always stood by him. He had Ginny, the girl he had a crush on ever since he laid his eyes on her, whom he had been dating for a year. And that had been enough for Neville. But not anymore. He couldn't have them anymore. The dark lord is coming for him. It is just a matter of time. And when he does, everyone around him will be in danger.

No! I will not let that happen. I cannot let him harm his friends. I must get away from them. From all of them.

With that thought, Neville fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands, sobbing.

Travers was one of the first to join Voldemort. He is not one of the inner circle but a high ranked death eater. He has been in Romania for a month, trying to convince the incharge of the dragon reserve to smuggle a dragon for their cause. The dark lord was planning an attack on Hogwarts and was trying to increase his forces. So, Travers was sent to secure the alliance of the dragon reserve. With dragons on their side, Hogwarts will fall. With a triumphant grin, Travers apparated away to report to his master of his success.

As Travers apparated away, a figure stepped out the shadows. He was wearing black robes, black boots and a black hood. Where his face should be, there is only darkness. He has been following Travers for a couple of days. He got the information about Travers from Thorfinn Rowle, ripped it out of Rowle's mind before he went insane. And he has spent the past week studying Travers. From what he learned, Travers is a more powerful wizard than Rowle and a professional duelist. He is also more experienced than Rowle. It would not do to attack him directly. He must be more subtle.

With that, the man stepped back into shadows and disappeared.

The room was shrouded in darkness. Lucius Malfoy could hardly see four feet in front of him. But he could clearly see the red eyes boring into him. Knowing better than to look the dark lord in the eyes, Lucius quickly lowered his eyes and knelt down before Voldemort.

Voldemort looked down at Lucius and leaned forward in his throne.

"Lucius, what news do you have for me?"

"My Lord, Travers has returned from Romania and he says that he has been successful. Three dragons will be delivered to us within a week's notice."

"Good", Voldemort smiled, "See to it that Travers is rewarded".

"Yes my lord".

"What about your task, Lucius?", asked Voldemort.

"My Lord! I am working on it. I have men in almost every department of ministry all trying to get the information. We will have the location of the Flammels soon."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed a bit and Lucius knew what is going to happen. He suppressed the shiver that went down his spine and tried to push down his fear.

"Tell me Lucius. I has been more than three months since I asked you to get me the address of Nicholas Flammel. And yet you stand before me with empty hands."

"My Lord! I...", Lucius began but was cut off by Voldemort.

"Perhaps you need a bit of an incentive Lucius?"

"My Lord! Its Dumbledore. He is keeping anything about the Flammels a secret. But I will..."

"Crucio!"

Lucius fell to the floor, screaming in pain. After a few seconds, Voldemort lifted the curse and Lucius Malfoy slowly crawled to his knees.

"You have one month Lucius. If you fail, I will be most displeased."

Lucius slowly rose to his feet and with a bow, left the room.

Travers walked through the muggle amusement park. He often used to come here, not because he liked the muggle devices, but because it a place where muggle girls often visited. Travers looked around and found a muggle girl of around 16 years, sitting in a restaurant and having lunch.

As Travers looked at her, she raised her head and looked at him. A sly smile formed on her face as she looked at Travers and winked. Travers chuckled at it. These fools make it so easy. Checking that nobody is watching him, he raised his wand and pointed at the girl.

"Imperio!"

As her eyes took a glassy look, the muggle girl rose from her chair and walked up to him. He took her hand and led her to an alley nearby. Once they were alone, he apparated them to his house.

Immediately, he threw the girl on his bed and jumped on her and started kissing her. But suddenly he felt a pain at his right hand as if someone has pinched him. Looking down, he saw a needle sticking out of his hand. Confused, he looked up to see the girl looking at him with a calm face and cold eyes. With a push, she shoved Travers aside and stood up and produced a wand from her pocket. Travers' eyes widened seeing that, but the girl paid him no mind. With a few flicks of her wand, all the glamours and transfiguration spells on her were removed.

Standing in her place was a man, clothed completely in black. He turned his head and looked at Travers. Travers sucked in a breath as he looked at the man's face, or the lack of a face. An empty void was staring back at him. Coming to his senses, Travers tried to reach for his wand but found that he couldn't move his hand.

"Don't sweat yourself", the man spoke in a voice that sounded so dead that it sent chills down Travers body. "That needle was coated in paralysing poison. You are not going anywhere."

The man stepped forward and lifted his wand.

"Legilemens!"

He felt resistance as he entered Travers' mind. He has good occlumency shields. The man retreated from Travers' mind and looked at him. If he could, Travers would have given him a smug smile.

With a flick of his wand, the man sent a bone breaking curse at Travers' leg. Travers face contorted in pain, but he couldn't scream because of the poison. The man slowly started launching multiple bone breakers. Within a minute, Travers was lying in a bloody mess, almost half the bones in his body shattered. As Travers was screaming silently in pain, the man pointed his wand at him again.

"Legilemens!"

This time there was no resistance whatsoever. He ripped through Travers' mind, gathering all the information he can, making a mental list of all the death eater names he came across. But he couldn't find what he wanted. The location of Voldemort. But he did find a way to reach him. An attack on Hogwarts was being planned. He saw the dealings of Travers with the dragon keepers. Now, he knows where Voldemort will be in a month. He pulled out of Travers' mind and looked down at him.

"Travers", the man spoke in his chilling voice, the air around his mouth literally freezing at his words, "You are found guilty of being a death eater. You are hereby condemned to a life of insanity. Crucio!"

AN: So, that's it for today. Hope you guys liked it. Please review.