Neville Longbottom and the True Rumors

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Summary: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?

A/n: Thanks for the reviews! Heehee… I always wanted to title a chapter "Into the Woods." I'm such a freaking Broadway loser. Just as a heads up I changed some minor things in past chapters upon remembering the Colin Creevy is a muggleborn. My memory for stuff like that is horrendous. My apologies.

I also apologize that this wasn't up sooner. I got uber writer's block, and discovered I'm not good writing Hagrid…

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. If it was Fred Weasley would NOT have died.

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Chapter 10: Into the Woods

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But that good feeling didn't last very long. The next day was pure hell for Neville. The Carrows seemed to be going out of their way to make things worse for Neville, but the kid tried his hardest to simply ignore them and go on with what he was supposed to be doing. He would be trekking deep into the Forbidden Forest that night with Hagrid, and even if that was a bit better than a detention with the Carrows, he was still a bit scared. The Forbidden Forest. Not even Hagrid knew about all the wild beasts and creatures that lived in there.

They were soon down at Hagrid's hut, just waiting for Hagrid to come out. Neville could feel his heart racing. He didn't even know why he was so scared, but he just was. The last time he was in the Forbidden Forest… it didn't turn out well.

He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was with Hagrid, everything would be okay, and it had to be better than the Carrows. Right?

Right?

The door to Hagrid's hut suddenly slammed open. The half-giant looked down at the three of them. "Well why didn'cha knock?" he asked, ushering them into his little house. Neville hadn't thought of that, and obviously neither had Luna or Ginny.

"Sorry…" Neville said as he walked in.

He got no response from Hagrid for a while, but he soon turned around and looked down at them again. "What do yeh think yeh were doin'?" he snapped angrily. "Stealin' from the Headmaster. Yeh wanna be expelled!?"

Neville said nothing.

"That sword is Harry's not Snape's!" Ginny snapped.

"That don' matter! Yeh all are stupid!"

That took Neville by surprise. Hagrid calling them stupid? When did that ever happen before? Never.

Neville stood there and just waited for Hagrid to finish getting everything ready.

"So what are we going to be doing in the forest Hagrid?" Luna asked in that dreamy voice of hers. "Hunting the tracelneg? Their eggs are worth a fortune!"

Neville fought back a smile. Oh leave it to Luna…

"No," Hagrid said simply. "We're collecting unicorn hairs. And yeh're all comin' with me."

Well obviously…

Neville pulled his jacket closer to him as Hagrid grabbed a large lantern. "We'll all be staying together, so no runnin' off!"

The three students nodded vigorously. This hardly seemed like a detention at all. Hanging out with Hagrid all night. Hagrid handed Neville a lantern as well and grabbed Fang and they all went off into the Forbidden Forest.

"It's easier to find them at night… so we'll be out collectin' all nigh' long."

All Neville could do was nod with the other two.

They spent the next few hours searching for unicorn hairs. Neville handed the lantern off to Ginny and kept one hand on his wand at all times. He didn't like the sounds of the forest. He didn't trust this place at all.

Luna was keeping things light. She was constantly commenting about how maybe in the morning they could go searching for the tracelneg in the morning, because her father was pretty sure that there was a large colony of the magical beast living right on the grounds of the school. Neville was sure that she had even started to describe the creature when Hagrid told her to quiet down. He wished Hagrid wouldn't have done that.

Luna was somehow making him feel better. He felt so much more at ease around her. She made him want to laugh. They way she would talk about things that didn't exist while holding a bunch of unicorn hairs in her hand. It almost seemed as if her hair was made of the same matter as the unicorn hair, the way both shimmered in the moonlight.

Walking around the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night with Luna really made Neville see why exactly he was so in love with Luna. Everything about her was just… perfect. Was there anything imperfect about her? Not in Neville's eyes.

There was a loud crack behind him and Neville spun around, lighting his wand and shining it into the woods. There was nothing there.

Fang whimpered loudly, and Neville's heart began racing again.

But they continued on their hair-hunting trek. Neville was starting to get tired as the night wore on. This was harder than he thought it was going to be. A lot harder. He continued going though, he wasn't going to stop. Not now.

Hagrid continued telling them that it was "Just a bit longer…" and "They'd be done soon." And then it seemed as if he forgot that he had students with him and kept searching, leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

Neville felt his eyelids drooping. He was so exhausted. It had to be around three in the morning.

SNAP!

That time the noise seemed closer, and was followed by a loud roar. Neville jumped as did Luna (who was standing right next to him). "What was that?" Neville asked slowly.

"Nuthin'," Hagrid muttered.

But it was more than nothing. Suddenly Neville saw eyes peering at him through the forest. He shook his head, trying to make sure he was actually seeing those eyes and it wasn't a figment of his sleepy imagination.

But they were still there.

"H-h-hagrid…" he said his eyes growing wide as the beast suddenly leapt out of the forest with a loud roar. Neville didn't get much of a chance to look at it.

"RUN!" Hagrid roared and Neville didn't need telling twice. He grabbed Luna's arm and drug her in the opposite direction of the beast.

"Neville," Luna hissed as Neville pulled her haphazardly through the forest. He almost tripped a few times as he ran to get away. "That was the tracelneg!" The girl sounded more fascinated than terrified.

Neville didn't care what it was, just that it was angry at them, and probably was hungry. He ran until he couldn't run anymore and collapsed against a tree. Well that was the smartest thing he could have done. Now he had no idea where he was, he had no idea where they were except in the forest, in the middle of the night. It was dark, and now that they were without Hagrid, he was hearing more and more terrifying things.

Luna slowly sat down next to Neville. As Neville caught his breath, he got a chance to look around at what little the moon lit up. They were in a bit of a clearing. Neville thought about sending sparks up, but that might make the creature come back towards them. He had no idea what to do. He tried to think of what Harry would do in this situation. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"We should stay here," Luna said dreamily as she looked up at the sky. There were so many stars. "Better to let them try and find us then both of us running in circles around each other."

Neville had to agree with her. He nodded slowly as his eyes drifted shut.

Luna slowly scooched closer to Neville, shivering. Neville wasn't even sure if making a fire would be a good idea. Sure it would scare some creatures away, but what other creatures would it attract? Neville didn't want to find out. He had his wand in case something came.

He forced his eyes open as he kept looking around the forest. He could see a good distance into the forest before it faded into darkness. Where were Ginny, Hagrid and Fang? Were they safe? Why did he just run off? He should have fought that thing, but when faced with that creature, Neville didn't know what to do but run.

After a few moments in silence, Luna was right next to Neville. He could tell she was cold, even if she didn't say anything.

He shifted slightly and wrapped his arm around her to maybe share a bit of body heat. Luna sleepily cuddled into his arm and Neville could feel her breathing against him. Even in this horrible situation, he couldn't help but smile.

He felt her breathing even out and his eyes were drifting shut as well. His body needed the sleep. But he couldn't sleep, not while they were in the Forbidden Forest, and alone. He forced himself to stay awake, sometimes his eyes drifting down to Luna. She looked so adorable while she was asleep and Neville had to fight the urge to kiss her forehead as she slept. She'd never know, would she?

About an hour passed of Neville scanning the forest for any signs of movement. Things had quieted down. He kept having to push sleep away. That adrenaline rush of running from that creature had long since worn off and now he was more exhausted than before.

"Goodnight Luna," he sighed gently, even though the younger Ravenclaw had been asleep for a while.

Gently, the seventeen year old planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head, knowing that she'd probably never realize that he had done it. But it felt so right. She shifted slightly, burrowing deeper into Neville.

Neville soon found himself unable to fight sleep anymore and he too drifted off to sleep. There was nothing they could do right now. The sun would be rising soon… and Hagrid knew these forests better than anyone.

Hagrid would find them. He had to.

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A/n:So I was just curious… am I making Neville to wimpy? I mean I am trying to emphasize his major changes throughout the book that leads up to the final battle of Hogwarts, but is he too wimpy?

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