Harry Potter: The Rise of the Technomancers
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If you believe that I do, please send me all your cash and check yourself into your nearest mental health center, thanks :)
Chapter 13: True Loyalty and a Squib's Retribution
The ride to Hogwarts had not been the nicest for Neville.
As usual, he had been riding by himself on the train, his toad Trevor had run away earlier on the trip and he was using the toad's cage for an arm rest, knowing that the stupid slimy thing would find its way back here, or someone would report it. Though isolated as usual, the peace actually gave him a measure of comfort at the guilt that he had to endure over the summer at the wrongful imprisonment of his friend Harry Potter.
At the trial, he had tried to speak up on Harry's behalf, even when the others said nothing. Luna had strangely been silent as well, but she was not the one that he was angered at. No. Neville had seen the look of contempt in the eyes of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and had been spurred to do something to help Harry because he knew that they would not help their friend. Even so, he had been forcefully removed from the proceedings, having been stunned, and he woke up hours later in his own bed, Harry stripped of his properties, monies, reputation, freedom, and was rotting in a cell guarded by his worst nightmares.
Neville had immediately wanted to go see him. His Gran was adamant that he do as he thought was right, seeing her grandson's loyalty and finding herself being moved at how like Frank Longbottom he was. Neville had spent much of his time trying to get in touch with Harry and the others. Luna wrote back, stating she had seen something that told her it was all preordained and that Harry would have to spend the time in Azkaban if he was to fulfill his destiny. Something odd about Nargles and their influence on the brain. Neville had dismissed it, angry, but accepting that Luna was just that, a Loon.
But his pleas to the Weasleys and Hermione had fallen upon deaf ears. He had been rebuked and told they would file a restraining order against him if they came anywhere near them or sent them another letter. He was enraged by this, but kept his temper, they would get theirs in the end. So all Neville could do was to visit Harry and show his support that way. He should have known they wouldn't help him, the only person in the DA that had helped Neville Longbottom was Harry Potter and Neville, as a Longbottom, would remain Loyal.
When Neville heard of Harry's escape from the Order, he had been thrilled. Finally Harry would be free. He would have time to train and he would return to rebuild the DA and take on Moldyshorts, a nickname that Harry had used to describe Voldemort that Neville had adopted. But Neville never received any letters nor did he see Harry earlier that day on the train. He had asked around, but no one had seen Harry Potter. Even though he was gone, Neville would remain loyal, it was the motto of the Longbottoms, 'Honor, Loyalty, and Bravery as we take our final breath.'
On the train, Neville had been accosted by Malfoy and his two cronies, full of themselves as they had just received nearly all of Harry's properties, money, and family heirlooms. Malfoy had even seen wearing a pendant that looked suspiciously like a Griffin in flight, the symbol of Gryffindor's personal guard, from which the original Perevelle line was descended. So when Neville had been cornered in his cabin by the two thugs and their ferret master he had been raring for a fight.
"So what do we have here?" Malfoy had said, "A squib, all alone. Whatever shall we do?" They laughed as the two thugs cracked their knuckles behind the ferret.
"Bugger off Malfoy, I've got no patience to deal with you today," Neville said, acting completely dismissive and slamming the door in his face.
As he was turning around Neville heard an enraged voice shout "Bombarda!" and watched in fascination as the doors splintered and a wave of air pushed him backwards.
"I'll teach you to dismiss me squib!" said a very pissed Malfoy.
Waving his wand, he levitated Neville and pushed him against the wall and smirked, "See this squib," he said, pulling out the ornate pendant on a golden chain, "This was Potter's. Nice isn't it? The royal guard of Gryffindor himself. Not that a squib like you would know. But its mine now. Along with nearly half of his family's money. Hah. I told that filthy half blood he was messing with the wrong person, and look what all his bravado has earned him. A stint in Azkaban and being tossed on the street where the Dark Lord will pick him off when he's ready to exterminate the cockroaches."
"You son of a bitch!" Neville said, his anger rising. He could feel the magic around him but was not strong enough to break it.
Malfoy smirked at him, "Sure pays to follow Mudbloods doesn't it squib. How's your mommy and daddy? Still drooling in St.-"
He never finished his words as Neville angrier than humanly possible at the jab at his parents released his pent up magic and struck out blindly. Spheres of rolling wild magic solidified around him and shot at the two thugs, bashing their faces in and splattering blood all over the cabin as they slumped down unconscious.
The ferret was shocked at the blood that exploded on to him from two sides, and stared unspeaking at Neville in front of him. Magic seemed to pour from him, anger feeding it as tendrils of white and bluish magic formed into filaments that surrounded him, moving out of him and back in, pulsing with power.
This was the squib!? What the hell happened! The ferret thought to himself as he stepped back from the wild magic surrounding him.
Neville advanced on him, slowly, "You can insult me Malfoy, but once you insult my parents, you're a dead man!" Powered by his magic, he threw out his hands and tendrils of energy shot out and encompassed the boy as it squeezed around him.
The pungent aroma of urine and bowels filled the small carriage as the boy stared in shock at his once ridiculed classmate.
"This," Neville said, ripping the pendant from his neck, "does not belong to an honorless ferret like you. Watch yourself Malfoy, because when Harry returns, you and your scaly master will die!" With the last word, Neville tossed the boy into the wall, shattering the window and scaring Malfoy's face and body with shards of glass.
That had been an hour ago. Luckily Dumbledore had sent some Aurors with the train under invisibility cloaks and one, a large black man with a deep voice, had witnessed the entire thing. The three Slytherins were now in custody, pending attempted assault and murder of a fellow Pureblood. Neville knew that their fathers would use Harry's fortune to get them off without even a slap on the wrist, but now they would think twice about messing with him.
The pendant had been nice as well. He knew he had to get it back to Harry, but how? Every single letter he wrote to his old friend came back unanswered, the owl unable to locate him. He decided to wait and give it back to him personally. Until then, Harry wouldn't mind if he used it. It was very nice and the eyes seemed to glow as if burning deep within.
Just then, there was a knock at the door of his cabin. He couldn't see who it was, but he had a very good idea when he saw a brown and red blur along the frosted glass. And when the door opened, he was proved right.
"What the bloody hell do you want?" he said, not even looking at the pair.
Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley looked at each other in shame. They had not been for sending that letter to Neville, but they had not stopped Ron when he said he was going to do it. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but thanks to what happened during the summer, they weren't sure any more.
"Neville," Hermione started, "We just want to at-"
"I thought you were going to file a restraining order if I didn't stay away from you?" he asked in a scathing voice, enjoying the looks of shame on their faces.
"Neville, we just thought-" Ginny started.
"Well," he said in a drawl, "If the reverse is happening, then maybe I should be the one drafting the restraining order, hmm? What do you think, 50 feet? A hundred?"
He could see Hermione getting mad. He was just waiting for it, the point where she couldn't be sincere anymore and then it happened.
"Neville Longbottom! How dare you-" she stormed.
"How dare you!" Neville shouted, Merlin did that feel good, "How dare you come into my cabin, then accuse me of doing something to you. I did nothing to you. You were the one that cut ties in the first place. You were the one that threw away Harry's friendship as well as mine. You. Not me. You. Now get the bloody hell out of here you Traitorous bints."
They were shocked. How could Neville Longbottom, of all people, be saying things like this? Had he gone dark? That seemed the logical choice. He was aggressive and confident, something that they had never seen in the Longbottom boy. What had made him change so?
"Fine Neville," said Ginny giving him a scowl, "We'll leave. Just remember you are the one that rebuked us." With that the two stupid girls walked away, both red in the face.
Although Neville was not proud of himself, he was satisfied. At least he wouldn't have to hear them make excuses any more. As he stood up to close the door, a familiar face stepped into the cabin.
Susan Bones was an attractive girl. Taller than most girls yet still attractive and feminine, she was usually overlooked because of her personality. Being the niece of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Susan had a single mindedness to detail that most people found rather boring. In the DA last year she had been an essential member, picking up spells well and helping those around her. It was because of Susan that Neville had been able to talk to other people rather than just Harry and his former friends. She talked to him and helped him and he appreciated it.
"Hello Susan," Neville said.
She smiled at him, "Mind if I come in?"
Neville indicated that she could, and she closed the door behind her, sitting down across from him, "So did you hear anything about Harry?"
"Nothing. After he ran away from his relatives' house, I thought he would have contacted me or something, but he didn't," he said.
"So are you going to be attending DA meetings this year?" she asked him, trying to divert Neville from the awkward conversation topic.
He looked at her with an uncertain expression, "But Harry's not here, so there can't be a DA," he said. Unless the traitors were doing what he thought they were doing, he thought to himself, "What did the Weasleys and Granger say?"
"I'm surprised you didn't hear Neville. Earlier, the three were walking into all of the cabins with old DA members trying to recruit. They even got other people to join up this year and were handing out these," she said, fishing into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a fake galleon.
Neville scoffed, "I can't believe they're doing that after what they did to Harry."
She gave him a sympathetic smile, "I understand Neville. Aunty told me what had happened in the court room, but you can't blame them for that Neville. They were scared and were about to lose everything because of a bunch of corrupt politicians. Look what happened to Harry, completely broke, sent to Azkaban, and pretty much the most hated person in the UK."
He was getting very mad. Even though he didn't fault the others for doing what they had done to Harry in the court room, they had still ostracized him and turned traitor, "I bet you don't know what they did after he got out did you?"
"You mean after Azkaban?" Susan said questioningly.
Nodding, he continued, "After he came back from that month in that hell hole, the three traitors sent him a letter. They basically told him that they and their families wanted nothing to do with him, that everything he got was deserved, and that they would file a law suit against him if he tried to contact or come near their families."
Susan was shocked, "Was that the reason why he ran away?"
"It probably wasn't that good for his mental health to have that kind of betrayal after being tortured in Azkaban for a month. You should've seen him in there, it was horrible," Neville offered, "But no one will believe me, and when Harry returns he'll be ostracized yet again. That'll make five out of seven years, pretty nice track record."
Nodding, Susan replied, "Yeah, they probably won't with all the bad publicity that's been flying around all over the place. But I believe you and I think a few others might. I'll start to spread it around. But I still need to go to DA meetings. With all the unknown killings lately, we need to be prepared. You should go too Neville, a little knowledge, even if it came from the Beaver and the Weasel," she said, using their old nicknames, "would help."
Shaking his head, he replied, "Oh I won't be sitting idly. I'm going to be studying on my own. I may have been a flake in the past, but Harry taught me that I need to be aggressive. I can't just sit back anymore. I need to find a way to improve myself, and if that means spending long hours studying by myself, then that's what I'll do. Being alone isn't all that bad Susan. I've been pretty much alone since first year."
"I know Neville," she said sadly. She had been one of the ones that teased him while he was all alone, and felt terrible about if after getting to know him last year.
"But you don't have to be." She said as she got up and left.
AN: There we go. I thought i could use Neville in place of Harry's original friends in this fic. I know the whole cliche, 'coward rises up, blah blah blah', but i thought it would fit nicely. Just look at his parents. The Longbottoms were right up there on Moldyshort's hit list with the Potters, and it would have been Neville who was the Boy whose name must be hyphenated, if Riddle hadn't gotten a hold of Pettigrew, so he's got to have some backbone up his ass right?...REVIEW!!