Chapter Eleven

Neville's promise

Monday at breakfast time an inconspicuous barn owl dropped a piece of what appeared to be plain parchment in front of one Neville Longbottom. He immediately detected the use of secrecy spells so pocketed the parchment to read later. Despite appearances he was not so stupid as to read special information at his house's table.

Neville was used to hiding who he truly was. Even though he hated every second he had to pretend to know nothing. His family had allowed him to excel in Herbology that was it. Now he was stuck in the minds of everyone around him to be a clumsy almost squid but relatively harmless.

It was most people's impression that his sorting took so long because the hat was trying to put him in Hufflepuff. The truth was he was arguing with the hat to put him in Hufflepuff. It had wanted him in Ravenclaw. That didn't fit in with his families plans at all. The hat compromised and put him in Gryffindor where his parents had been.

He finished his food quickly and left the table mumbling to his friends that he had forgotten his defense book. Instead of heading back to the tower though he headed for a secluded spot to read the letter.

Dear Neville Longbottom

I am contacting you about a mission we have for you.

My father and I have been in contact with your family we

Know you have agreed to ally yourself with us to rid the

World of the white bumblebee. I need to meet with you

Face to face before I disclose anymore information.

To make sure this letter is from who is says it is

Please feel free to case any revealing or truth spells

I assure you this is real. If you agree to meet, please

Come down to Professor Snape's office at midnight tonight.

Destroy this letter after you read it.

See you there

That was it the letter wasn't signed or anything. He flipped it over and a crest had appeared on the back of it. It was a dagger with a snake wrapped around it. After casting every spell he knew to detect mistrust or forgeries on the letter he destroyed it satisfied that it was what it claimed to be.

He heard the bell ring signaling he was now late for defense. He rushed to the class and through a hurried excuse to Dumbledore's newest incompetent teachers. In that for once he answered questions wrong out of pure distraction instead of intent. If he had been paying more attention to his surroundings he would have noticed he wasn't the only one not paying attention to the teacher. Blade had been observing him throughout the lesson and knew the Gryffindor was thinking about what he would be asked to do.

Blade continued his observation of Neville throughout the day. He was very discreet of course so no one picked up on it. He also had the Wild Magick to thank for shielding certain precious things from Dumbledore's own magic. He was lucky the Magick liked him or it would be possible for the Gryffindor descended Dumbledore to sense his pregnancy.

At that thought the heat within him intensified a touch almost like the babe was reassuring him that it was alright. He placed a hand over his abdomen for a moment to sense his child then moved it before anyone could notice the small action. They were now in history so he could relax and think without being interrupted. It was the last class of the day before dinner. He was anxious to get the classroom stuff out of the way so he could be that much closer to talking to Neville.

Thankfully the bell rang a few minutes later and he stalked gracefully from the room. He was glad he wouldn't get too big with the baby. People had gotten used to his graceful movements a concealment charm could conceal his expanding stomach but it couldn't hide the way a person walked.

He spent the hours between dinner and midnight playing chess with Draco. The other Slytherin had agreed to come with Darren to help explain things to Neville. Plus he wanted to apologize to the Gryffindor for his past actions. Now that he knew it was all an act he actually respected the other boy greatly. It took a lot of skill to hold an act for that long on a continual basis. Even the Slytherins, masters with masks, could drop their acts in the common room, Neville didn't even have that luxury.

Finally it was midnight and three students set out for Snape's office. Blade was in the middle of a rather enthusiastic greeting with his bonded when Neville walked in. he took one look at the scene noting Draco's quiet presence and coughed discretely to announce his presence.

When the two people turned towards him he was surprised to see the new transfer student Blade Evans standing a little winded next to an equally out of breath Snape. He decided to drop pretenses and start the conversation he knew how to Obliviate someone if it came to that.

"Who was the one that invited me here?" He said in a stronger voice then anyone had ever heard Neville use.

"I was," Blade answered in an equally official voice. He even rolled back his sleeves to show Neville his Basilisk tattoo.

Neville had been told to watch for then so he immediately knew who he was dealing with. "So you are the Dark Prince. I had wondered who it would turn out to be." Neville answered the unasked question.

"My full name is Darren Blade Riddle, Blade is obviously my middle name my last name was my diseased mothers. "I am the right hand and son of Lord Voldemort. What I have to discuss with you cannot go past this room. If you choose not to help us you will be Obliviated." Darren explained. "Do you still want to hear what I have to say?"

"From your note I gather you are making an attempt to remove Dumbledore. Yes I want to hear you out." Neville explained.

"Alright, to start off you probably should know exactly who you are helping. Let me give you a few hints. You knew me before this year. My past self is assumed to be dead. Oh, and I used to share a dorm with you." Darren said.

"Harry?" Neville inquired curiously.

"Yes I was originally Harry Potter, but through luck and time I found out about my true father and he has helped unweave the lies. Now I mentioned in my note to you that I have a task for you. Well we have developed a plan for getting Dumbledore to incriminate himself. We ran into a problem when we were planning how to execute the plan. At the Yule ball we are going to put a truth serum in Dumbledore's drink and then ask him a few questions. The only problem is that we know he won't drink anything given to him by a Slytherin especially myself or Severus. That is where you come in we need you to give the spiked drink to Dumbledore. We have to do this right. We are under a bit of a time restraint, the sooner we are rid of Dumbledore the better." Darren pressed the seriousness of the situation.

"I can do that. I made a promise to my family to go after Dumbledore if I ever got the chance. Thank you Darren for giving me that chance. Um can I ask a question?" Neville said the question part of that with some of his old nervousness.

"Yes, you are allowed to ask what you want." Darren asked serious as to what Neville would want.

"Why was the former Harry Potter kissing Snape when I walked in?" Neville asked with a blush.

"Because he is my soul mate Neville. You should probably know that the reason we are so pressed for time is because I am carrying a child. I am about 8 weeks along hiding I from Dumbledore for two more months could be difficult enough. Let alone any longer. He is an Heir as well the Old Magick will only block his sensing for so long. I just can't let him get to our child." Darren explained with a happy glow to his eyes that faded to determination with the last few words. "Now I believe Draco has something he wanted to say?"

"Yes I did, Neville I just wanted to say that well I am sorry. I treated you horribly it was a grave error. I do hope that when this is over we can have a long discussion and maybe start over." Draco said extending his hand.

Neville deliberated with himself about it before taking the hand.

A/N yeah three or four more chapters and an epilogue to go.