Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Half-Blood Blessing
Chapter Seven: Neville
Draco and I slowed only a few halls away knowing the teachers were unlikely to give chase.
"Well so much for that," I said.
"Yeah," agreed Draco, "they'll have to come up with something spectacular to catch you. I'm not sure Dumbledore could have done something like that."
I shrugged and we walked on since it was Friday and we had already missed Charms our only class that day.
Draco spoke again, "why don't you just make yourself healthy, it seems to me the magic would be simple enough for that. Why waste energy holding a mirage all the time?"
"The magic doesn't work that way," I had tried it but I guess part of me wanted the reminder of Sirius and I was therefore unable to produce such an effect. Perhaps it didn't bother me enough. "The mirage is not so hard to keep up." Draco did not seem satisfied with the answer but I wouldn't allow the subject to continue so he dropped it after a few more attempts.
I heard something as we passed a smaller side corridor.
"This way," I said. "Can you hear that?"
"No," said Draco but he followed immediately anyway.
I wondered momentarily about the acute hearing and then shrugged it off as I did anything abnormal, attributing it to the disorder. "Sounds like… In this room I think."
I turned the knob and opened the door to find Neville. He was standing, holding a piece of paper, by the open window across from the door, cold wind blowing bitingly about the room. His robes were disarrayed, the prefect pin askew.
"Neville?" I said while I pulled my cloak tighter.
"I thought I locked that door," Neville said bitterly.
"You did, I just unlocked it," I explained, "What's upset you?"
Neville waved the paper. "It's this and no one… no one…" he choked on the end of his sentence.
"Neville, it's alright," I said trying to comfort him. Draco held back.
"No one talks to me much anymore," Neville said. I saw when Neville turned fully towards me that he had been crying.
"I'm sorry Neville, I shouldn't have…"
"No, I understand. You especially have an excuse. The media hounds you, the student population wavers in fear and shock, and the teachers are always trying to corner you."
"That's not much of an excuse to forget friends."
"I just expected Ron and Hermione to be there, but they have fallen in love and it seems like that is all the world to them. And Ginny and Luna must spend every spare second in the library studying for OWLs or…" Neville wiped his eyes on his sleeve, "I didn't want to bother anyone."
"Please, bother me," I pleaded.
Neville broke into tears again and held the paper, hand shaking, out to me. I took the letter and passed it to Draco and put a comforting arm around Neville who was shaking. Draco read the letter to me but I put up a barrier so Neville didn't have to hear it again.
"We regret to inform you," Draco began, "your grandmother has not been seen or heard from in the last two weeks. She has not shown herself at two ministry appointments. We believe this is the work of You-Know-Who." Draco didn't finish the letter.
"Close the window," I muttered.
"Neville, I can't say 'it'll be alright in the end' because I don't know that. I know that best of all. Hope is great. So, hope, anything can happen."
Neville stopped crying. He held out a hand to Draco who took it gravely.
"Thanks for finding me."
"Come on let's go back to our room."
Neville joined Draco and me and we continued to switch house tables like we had been for the last month. I tried to explain the disorder to Neville with a little more success than Hermione who was so dependent on words and wand-waving though she was considerably better than Ron. We met in the Room of Requirement where Draco and I kept our rooms preferring it to our dormitories: me, because of the stares and Draco, for the fear of his housemates' wrath. The older Slytherins had grown increasingly hostile and Draco chose to stay out of their way; though their broad shoulders commonly accidentally caught him while we were in the corridors. Few students came within two feet of me and I had little doubt that it was because of fear I had changed too much for them to think of me as the same Harry they had taken classes with, and my open disagreement with the Headmaster; I could only guess how they felt about that.
A week and a half after Neville had joined us, we sat in the Room of Requirement, Neville was editing my Herbology essay, Draco was laboring over an Ancient Runes translation and while waiting for Neville to return my paper, I practiced my Animagus transformation.
'I am a panther.' I could feel the changes; my head became feline and my hands broadened into paws. I grew a tail and fur appeared up my arms and legs. I opened my eyes. The changes were less changes to me now then when I had made my first attempts; they were more a part of me now, a different skin, the same as wearing different clothes. 'Better,' I thought I had improved since last time. My skeleton was somewhere between cat and human, still not quite there. My nose twitched and I tried again. More fur seemed to be as much as I would get.
"Here, Harry, I finished," Neville looked up and fell off his chair. Draco only laughed and reached down to help him up. I morphed back.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you about that."
Neville stuttered, "how long have you been trying?"
"Since, the second or third week of school."
Neville turned to Draco, "you too?"
"Yep."
Draco tried and he shrunk down to about the right size and gained a wing and a beak. Then he became himself again.
"How?"
I explained the idea.
"I've always wanted to be an Animagus. I always thought of myself as a fox or wolf or something."
"Well, try it," Draco urged.
Neville closed his eyes. His hair turned silver, then red, and back to silver.
"Choose one, Neville," I suggested pleased that he had succeeded in doing even that much.
Dog paws developed. Neville opened his eyes and I held a mirror for him. The changes faded.
"What did you pick?"
"I compromised, gray fox and a little bigger than normal."
"Useful," agreed Draco.
I had the transformation before winter break and Neville was not far behind because he devoted more time to it. Draco found himself swamped in essays from his extra classes and refused to drop any when it was suggested. The Prophet reported arrests and disappearings, daily. Apart from that, Voldemort was quiet and I had felt nothing from him, perhaps we had both learned to be careful of the link. The weather turned even colder and I started wearing gloves inside to keep my fingers warm as warming spells seemed to have little effect. Even that only took the bite from the numbing cold. We were sitting at Gryffindor one morning and McGonagall came down the table taking names for those going home over break.
"Neville, I guess you will be staying here?"
Neville started to nod when I broke in, "No, Neville, you're invited to stay with Draco and me.
"Where is that Mr. Potter?" asked McGonagall.
"Not here," I said defensively.
"The headmaster wants you to stay here or headquarters."
"I'm not staying here and I most certainly won't ever set foot in that house again."
McGonagall moved on, marking none of us as students going home. I knew Dumbledore would have a great deal to say on the matter but I didn't really care, there was little he could do about it.
"Where are you going Harry," asked Neville.
"When I was 'missing'," I chuckled at the idea, "I stayed with Remus and he has invited us to join him for the break." I was neglecting to acknowledge the possibility of eavesdroppers.
"Really? Full moon is the day after Christmas though,"
"Hence the Animagus transformation," I said.
Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews and patience. I would like to let you know that as it stands this story is at least sixty chapters long at about 1500 words each. So at this point you've read barely a tenth of the total story arc. That being said I hope you are still enjoying the story. I would as always love to here your opinions about everything from ideas about the characters to critiques of my writing style. All words are encouraging.
Thanks,
Shifted Illusions