Snakeslayer

I watched Oliver shoulder his burden and walk away. As he left, a tidal wave of grief engulfed me, and I almost drowned.

Fatigue and anguish combined forces with my overwhelming sorrow and tried to defeat me. I forced myself to fight back, to ignore my feelings. I needed to remain focussed. I had been doing it all year; standing up to the bullies and trying to give the others hope. It was becoming second nature to me. With Harry missing, someone had to do it. I wondered if Harry had the same doubts and worries I did.

It was not easy. There were already so many dead, and Oliver was carrying Colin; another one of ours, another fallen member of Dumbledore's Army. Fred Weasley was gone too, and no one was sure if Lavender would make it.

I was sweating and shaking, but I needed to be strong for the others, so I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and went back out into the Hogwarts grounds. Ginny was out there somewhere, I'd seen Terry and Luna too. They were looking for survivors; I had volunteered to collect the dead.

It did not take me long to find another body. There seemed to be innumerable corpses. I looked down at a stranger, a middle aged man in dress robes. He should be going to a ball, or a party, yet here he was, dead in the grounds of Hogwarts Castle. I had no idea who he was, or even whose side he had been fighting on. A piece of card was sticking from the pocket of his robes, so I pulled it out. It was an invitation to the Puddlemere Alhambra and it was dated the previous evening. If the invitation was his, then I was looking at the corpse of Michael Mackinnon, Treasurer of the Puddlemere United Supports Club. I wondered if he had a family, and why he was here.

It was almost four in the morning and Colin's death had affected me more than I cared to admit. I was beginning to wonder if any of us would see the dawn. I was tired, and dark thoughts were assailing me. What would happen if Voldemort won? How many more people would die if that happened? Did Harry really know what he was doing?

"It's always darkest before the dawn," that's what Gran would tell me. I hope that she is right. I stared at the cadaver, trying to decide whether I could lift him unaided.

I was deep in thought when Harry called my name. He startled me. His voice was close by, but I'd been keeping one eye on my surroundings, and I knew that there was no one near me. When I jumped up and turned towards the sound, he was pulling off his invisibility cloak.

'Blimey Harry, you nearly gave me heart failure!' I said. I looked around, but there was no sign of Ron or Hermione and that instantly made me suspicious.

'Where are you going, alone?' I asked.

He told me that he had a plan and assured me that he knew what he was doing. He was speaking with a desperate urgency. It was obviously very important for him to tell me something, so I listened carefully as he quickly explained exactly what he wanted me to do.

'Kill the snake?' I asked as he finished.

He confirmed his instructions again. He told me that Ron and Hermione already knew what needed to be done. As he spoke he looked tense, more nervous than ever.

I was the back up, I realised, just in case the unthinkable happened. He'd chosen me, Neville Longbottom. He had entrusted this task to me. I should have been honoured, but I was simply too tired to do more than acknowledge and accept this additional duty.

Subconsciously, I knew where he was going. Somewhere deep inside I knew that, despite his assurances, he was going to face Voldemort. I recognised his lie, but I did not want to admit that awful truth. Besides, what could I have done? Stopped him? How?

Despite what the Slytherins always used to say, I had discovered that I was not useless. I could fight. I did fight, and I could even be a leader when necessary. The year before the Battle proved that. But there was no way I could have stopped Harry. When he decided to do something, he did it. The rest of us were left with a simple choice; follow him, or get out of his way. I learned that lesson in my first year. Sometimes, Harry could be almost as frightening as Gran. I did the only thing I could.

I reassured him. I promised that we would keep on fighting. He struggled to reply.

'Yeah, I –' he began, but he didn't finish. He lapsed into silence, pulled on his cloak and was gone. He was close to tears, closer to breaking than I'd ever seen him. But he wasn't crying for himself; he was crying for us, and for the dead. He cared too much, and the victims of this battle were an almost unbearable burden on him. I tried to take comfort from the fact that he was at least as weighed down by the horrors of this battle as I was. The dead were a burden on us all. But we had to keep fighting, we had no choice. Fight and die, or surrender and die. We had made too many enemies to survive if we failed.

Should I follow Harry? Could I follow him? I looked down at Michael Mackinnon, the wizard in dress robes, and wondered what to do.

The answer to my questioning thoughts came in Harry's words, "Kill the snake". Harry had given me a job, and he'd said that it was important. I couldn't stop him, and I couldn't follow him, but I would do my best to fulfil the mission he had given me.

Why? Why was Voldemort's snake important? I did not know, and I did not need to know. All I needed to know was that Harry wanted it dead, and he'd entrusted the job to me.

How? I did not think that I could use the Killing Curse. I was not certain that it would work; you needed to mean it, according to Professor Moody. It wasn't really Professor Moody who'd told us that, it was a Death Eater, and he would know. Perhaps a knife, or a cleaver, I would ask the house-elves to find one for me.

My musings were interrupted by a hesitant shout.

'Hello?'

It was Ginny! I left poor Michael Mackinnon and ran towards the sound of her voice. When I arrived, panting, at her side she smiled gratefully and my heart missed a beat, the way it does when Ginny smiles at me. She was kneeling next to a badly bleeding body. She had done her best, but the girl was in a bad way.

'Once again, Nev rushes to the rescue. I don't know what I'd do without you, mate,' she said.

Ginny was the first to start calling me Nev. Now, a lot of people do. I examined the girl Ginny was with, and tried to remember her name. She was in my year, and in Ravenclaw, but I didn't really know any of the Ravenclaw girls except Padma, and Luna, of course, but everyone knows Luna.

'We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey, and quickly,' Ginny told me, and she was right.

'Mandy Brocklehurst,' I said dredging her name from somewhere. 'Can you Transfigure something into a stretcher? I'll help you carry her inside.'

Ginny frowned, but did as I asked. I've been giving orders for a year, but Ginny was never very good at following them. She would always question orders, unless they were from Harry.

'I only got an Acceptable in my Transfiguration OWL, Ginny, you're a NEWT level student,' I reminded her.

We struggled inside with our unconscious burden and took her, as quickly as we could, through the school and up to the hospital wing. We passed several of the wounded; they were lying in hastily conjured beds in the corridor. A burly young woman in dress robes was watching our approach. She had one leg missing, recently, by the look of her bloodstained robes and she was leaning on a crutch. She took one look at Mandy and ordered, 'Take her in.'

We walked past four lightly injured students waiting patiently outside the door. Wayne Hopkins greeted us as we entered. He cleaned his bloodstained hands with his wand and looked down at Mandy.

'That bed,' he pointed to one of only two vacant beds. We carried her over and lowered her down as gently as we could.

'Poppy, we've another victim of Sectumsempra,' Wayne called. The school nurse hurried over and we stepped back.

'Lavender,' whispered Ginny in horror.

I looked at the next bed, and there she was. Lavender Brown was lying on bloodstained sheets, blood still seeping through the bandages swathing her abdomen. Colin was dead, Fred was dead, and here was Lavender, pale and bleeding. I'd been told that Lavender was in a bad shape, but I had not seen the full extent of her injuries.

How many more?

I looked at Ginny worriedly; she was obviously thinking the same thing.

'Have you … have you seen Harry?' asked Ginny.

I nodded. 'He was heading out into the grounds just before you shouted. He told me that he had something to do.'

'Alone?' she whispered. Her face was suddenly pale and frightened. I nodded again, and she slapped me! Hard!

'You bloody idiot! You let him go?' she screamed. I have never seen her so angry. For a second, I thought that she was going to hit me again, but a noise from behind me distracted her. It was a snort of laughter hastily turned into a cough. I turned in time to see Draco Malfoy's expression somersault from snide amusement to absolute terror. I have no idea why he was in the Hospital Wing. Hiding, I suppose.

'Don't hit me, I'm on your side,' begged Draco. 'I haven't got a wand.'

He backed hurriedly against the wall as Ginny approached him. She raised her hand and he cowered in fear from her. While he gazed fearfully at her raised hand she kneed him in the groin. Her knee connected with enough force to lift his feet from the ground. My scrotum tightened and my eyes watered simply from seeing the strength of the strike. Draco collapsed onto the ground, whimpering and groaning.

'Well, who'd have thought it, you do have balls after all!' Ginny snapped. 'Come on, Nev, let's try to find more survivors.'

She turned and strode determinedly from the ward but I caught the sheen of unshed tears in her eyes, tears for Harry.

I followed silently. There was no point in talking. No excuse would be good enough. I had let Harry leave. My only hope was that he would come back to her, if he didn't she would never forgive me.

We went back into the grounds and were immediately hailed by Luna and Terry. They were looking for help.

'We've found someone trapped under the rubble,' Luna said. Terry silently nodded his agreement. I swear I've only heard him speak a dozen words this year.

They led us back into the grounds towards a crumbled corner of the castle, past two dead giants and the remains of two or three trolls. I looked carefully and decided that it had been three. While there were only two torsos, there were five arms.

As Luna led us through the battlefield another figure came cautiously out of the darkness towards us, her wand raised. Her golden blonde hair was no longer in pigtails, it was loose, and glowing in the wand light, and she was absolutely gorgeous. She smiled at me, and my heart began beating faster. I had not seen her since she left school when her mother was killed. That was at the beginning of our sixth year. She hadn't come back, not even this year. I'd heard from Ernie and Susan that she was working for Tom in the Leaky Cauldron.

'Hello, Hannah,' I said. Then Justin stepped out of the darkness alongside her and took her hand proprietarily. Hannah and I simply looked at each other in silence.

'This way!' Luna ordered.

We followed her to a huge slab of masonry on which someone had roughly carved PP UNDER.

There can't be anyone alive under there,' I said.

'There is,' Luna sounded certain, 'I used the Homenum Revelio spell; it only locates living people.'

Working together, we carefully levitated the slabs of broken stonework to one side and placed them on the ground. Underneath, barely alive, we found a bizarrely dressed Muggle. Justin swore.

'She's an Auror, Polly Protheroe. Colin and I met her on the way here. That reminds me, has anyone seen little Col, recently?' Justin asked.

'He's dead, Justin,' I told him flatly. My voice was harsher than I intended, more callous than I'd intended.

"Hard times make hard people," Gran once told me. To my amazement, Justin began to cry. Hannah looked reproachfully at me and hugged him. I was uncertain what to do, what to say, but before I could decide, Luna spoke.

'It is very sad about Colin,' she said. 'But this lady is still alive and we should try to make sure that she stays that way.

'Nice boots,' she added inconsequentially as we carefully lifted the woman from the ground and took her back inside.

We were walking back down from the hospital wing, having filled the last bed in the ward when Ginny pulled me to a halt.

'I'm sorry about the slap, before, Nev. Harry was simply being Harry, wasn't he?'

I nodded. She reached up and gently rubbed my cheek. She turned away, smiling sadly and side by side we walked back down into the entrance hall. Then Voldemort spoke again.

'Harry Potter is dead…'

I saw Ginny slump for a second, then saw the fire in her eyes.

She would follow Harry anywhere, I realised in horror.

"Kill the snake, kill the snake." Harry's voice echoed around my head, but he was whispering, too.

"Keep Ginny safe." That was the other message. He had not given that order, but I knew that even if Harry really was dead, even if Lord Liar was telling the truth for once, then Harry had died for Ginny, for all of us. He wanted us alive, he wanted Ginny to live.

I followed the crowds outside and saw Harry's limp and lifeless body in Hagrid's arms. I could hear Ron, Hermione and Ginny crying out his name. I could see their horror. Even Professor McGonagall was overwrought, I forced myself to ignore the cries and I tried to remain calm. Voldemort was taunting us, I reminded myself, he was using Harry's death to weaken and confuse us.

"Kill the snake, kill the snake." Harry's voice was still in my head, reminding me. In their grief, Ron and Hermione seemed to have forgotten.

And then Voldemort was talking again, lying again.

'He was killed trying to sneak out of the castle grounds,' said Voldemort duplicitously.

I had looked Harry in the face when he gave me my mission, and the instant Voldemort said those words I knew that he was lying. Harry's eyes had not been the eyes of a frightened coward on the run; they were the eyes of a man who was going to do what had to be done. It seemed that he had failed.

Now it was my turn.

"Kill the snake," Harry reminded me again. Ron shouted something, but I wasn't listening. I had intended to find a cleaver, a weapon, but I'd been so busy. How could I kill the snake?

I drew my wand and charged.

It was a stupid move. He disarmed me in an instant, taunted me. He had no idea who I was until Bellatrix told him.

For the first time I was face to face with the man whose followers had tortured my parents, and what did he do? He asked me if I was a Pureblood!

He stood there, the hateful madwoman, Bellatrix, alongside him, and asked me to join him, to become a Death Eater. It was obvious that he did not understand me. I wondered if he understood anyone. It seemed that he knew nothing about people. He did not look human and he seemed to have no humanity within him.

'I'll join you when hell freezes over,' I told him. Ignoring his threats and ramblings I looked around for my wand. I would never reach it, it was too far away. I had failed Harry, I had failed Ginny and I had failed my parents.

Voldemort put me into a Full Body-Bind and forced the Sorting Hat onto my head. He was talking again, rambling again, lying again. But no one was listening to his lies. There were shouts and screams and curses from the crowds. I was not paying any attention to his words; I was busily listening to the voice in my head and also to the voice on my head. Then Voldemort set fire to the hat.

"Kill the snake," Harry reminded me again as the Hat spoke, too.

'Ah, Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor, I knew that I'd made the correct decision. You were not so sure, were you? You are brave, honest and loyal to your friends to the very end, the essence of a true Gryffindor. You will need this, I think,' the Hat told me. I winced in pain as something hard and heavy hit me on the top of my skull.

I could move. For some reason Voldemort's Full Body-Bind was not holding me. Shaking off the spell I pulled off the hat and withdrew the sword of Godric Gryffindor from it.

One swing, one slice and the snake's severed head was flying. I had carried out my mission. I still had the sword, and there was Voldemort. The invincible Dark Lord stood, angry and astonished, right in front of me. I saw my death in his eyes. He would almost certainly raise his wand before I could close and strike him, but I had nothing to lose. I began to move forwards.

His spell never came, my death never came. Instead, there was a shield spell between us. I rolled across the ground and grabbed my wand in my left hand. Someone screamed, because Harry's body had vanished, and suddenly, there was pandemonium.

The melee moved rapidly. Centaur's arrows fell on the Death Eaters and a flock of Hippogriffs swooped down, plucking others from the ground. The tide had turned unexpectedly and instantly, it was almost as if the death of the snake were a signal. Reinforcements had arrived for our side. They were running over the hill towards us and suddenly, miraculously, we outnumbered Voldemort's followers.

I found myself back inside the castle, alongside Ron. He looked more grim and fierce than I'd ever seen him; he was a soot-blackened and tear-stained berserker. In front of us stood Fenrir Greyback; Lavender's attacker. It was not a full moon night, but even in his human form he appeared bestial. He leapt at me, his hands outstretched and curled like claws and I forgot my wand. Instead of a spell, Gryffindor's sword swung and lopped off his right hand. He stopped, aghast, and Ron and I both shouted 'Stupefy!' He was slammed back against the wall, down and out and bleeding.

Then Ron's mum was pushing Ginny, Hermione and Luna aside and fighting Bellatrix, killing her with nothing more than a silent stunning spell. Stun the heart and stop the body, I discovered later. And finally, like a miracle, there was Harry, and then it was all over.

'You are so brave,' Romilda told me later. She wasn't the only one. I am surrounded by dozens of people, most of whom I don't really know. They all want to be my friend. I have no idea how Harry copes with this.

They are calling me Snakeslayer.