CHAPTER 25: THE WRATH OF NEVILLE
"Have you lost every shred of common sense God gave you?!"
Rose swallowed, her eyes darting around to her family, the windows, the numerous plants decorating the office. But no matter how hard she tried not to look at him, her gaze inevitably returned to Professor Longbottom. His face turned every shade of red imaginable. Anger lines dug into his forehead. And his eyes. She'd never seen her normally affable Herbology teacher look so menacing.
"Did it occur to you that you could have been seriously hurt? Or killed? Did any thoughts at all enter your bloody heads?"
Rose couldn't look Professor Longbottom in the eye. None of them could. Hugo, Albus, Leonis and Millicent especially seemed focused on something very interesting on the floor.
"Your parents entrust me, and all the other teachers at this school, with your safety. Your parents, most of whom I've known since the first day I set foot in Hogwarts. Do you think I want to be the one to inform them something terrible has happened to their son or daughter? Do you!?"
"No, Sir," Cynthia said in a meek voice. Robert and Lily gave barely perceptible shakes of the head.
"Then you should have come to me immediately after Miss Bloom was taken over by that cartoon creature."
"B-But, Professor," James piped up. "We didn't have any proof who was behind it."
"You're job isn't to find proof! You're not aurors, you're students!"
"But my father . . ."
Rose winced when she saw Professor Longbottom's face tighten. His head trembled. Normally she'd feel bad for James, knowing the fury Professor Longbottom was about to unleash on him. But after what her cousin had said about Uncle Charlie, she found it hard to have any sympathy for him.
"Don't even try to throw that in my face." Professor Longbottom spoke each word deliberately. "Your father did not go out of his way to find trouble. In fact, your father would have been perfectly content to have spent seven quiet, uneventful years at Hogwarts. But he didn't have that luxury. None of us did during that time. And I know one thing. Your father would be absolutely furious if he found out what you've been doing. Not just endangering yourself, but the rest of your family as well."
James shifted from one foot to the other. "You're . . . You're not going to tell my dad about this, are you?"
"Of course I'm going to tell him!" The very air shook with Professor Longbottom's roar. "I'm going to tell all your parents! They have a right to know when their children have been behaving recklessly."
Rose's chest clenched. A heavy sense of dread filled her body. If Professor Longbottom was this mad, what would Mum and Dad be like?
"All of you have detention every day for the next month."
"Aww," Leonis moaned.
"I don't want to hear any grumbling about it!"
The little round-faced Second Year withered under Professor Longbottom's gaze.
"Now as for you, James . . ." The teacher's harsh gaze shifted to James Potter. "You're a prefect. You know the responsibility that comes with that position. Not only that, but your brother, sister and cousins have looked to you for leadership since you were a First Year. But one of the main responsibilities of a prefect and a leader is the well-being of your fellow students, and in your case your family. You failed at that. Not only did you fail, you intentionally put your family in harm's way. I cannot, and will not, tolerate that sort of behavior from a prefect. Turn in your badge."
James' jaw fell open. He took a step back, gazing at Professor Longbottom with wide eyes. "Wh-What?"
"You heard me. Turn in your badge."
James just stood there frozen. Rose also felt herself go numb. She should feel bad for her cousin, the boy who helped her get better at Quidditch, who'd helped her with Defense Against the Dark Arts homework so many times. The boy who possessed a bottomless well of confidence, a well she wished she had.
After looking back on the past forty-eight hours, she wondered if James truly cared about any of them, or if he viewed them as pawns to boost his ego and reputation. She couldn't believe she actually thought that about one of her cousins. One would be hard pressed to find a more tight-knit family than the Weasley/Potter clan. But after what he said about Uncle Charlie . . .
Anger flared within her as she stared at the gobsmacked James. She recalled his rescue mission. She had been so elated to see him, Hugo, Robert and the others. Now she began to wonder. Had James led that mission solely out of concern for her, or had he viewed her as simply a means to an end? Was being a bigger hero than his father all that mattered to him?
"James!" Professor Longbottom bellowed. "Your badge! Now!"
"You . . . You can't be serious." James struggled to find some semblance of his voice.
"I am serious! Now put your badge on this desk," Professor Longbottom thumped the wooden surface with his fist, "or you'll be serving detention for another month!"
James continued to stare at the professor. A dark part of Rose's soul rooted for him not to turn in his badge. To serve detention for another month. To face an endless string of punishments.
Slowly, James reached up and unclipped the prefect's badge from his robes. He let it tumble from his hand onto Professor Longbottom's desk. Rose noticed James' eyes glisten. Merlin's beard, was he going to cry? She hoped he did. She hoped it embarrassed him to the point he couldn't show his face to the rest of the family ever again.
I can't believe I'm thinking this about my own cousin.
That burst of empathy vanished when she thought of how James' risked all their lives to satiate his hero complex.
"And as for you, Miss Weasley." Professor Longbottom's head whipped in her direction.
Rose nearly jumped. Her heart raced out of control. Was Professor Longbottom going to ask for her prefect's badge? Tremors rippled through her. She thought of her parents. Her eyes stung with moisture. She could clearly picture the shame in their eyes. The daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, stripped of her prefect's badge barely two months after receiving it. Would they even be able to look at her again?
"I did consider relieving you of your badge as well," Professor Longbottom continued. "As a prefect, you should have realized that the situation your family was getting into was extremely dangerous and should have been brought to my attention. But given what you went through with your kidnapping, and your relative inexperience as prefect, I've decided to let you keep your badge."
Rose's knees buckled from the shock. Had she heard right? Professor Longbottom would let her keep her badge?
"What?" James stammered. "But how . . ."
Professor Longbottom's glare silenced him.
"Th-Thank you, Sir," Rose practically whispered.
"Don't thank me so quickly, because if you put so much as one toe out of line, your days as a prefect as over. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Good. Now, take me to the Room of Requirement and show me those vid-cards."
The Weasley/Potter Clan quietly filed out of Professor Longbottom's office. They trekked from the greenhouses to the castle. Rose noticed everyone drifting away from James, except Kayla Pomosa. She clutched his hand tight, staring at him with tear-filled eyes.
Rose thought back to the trip on the Hogwarts Express when Albus had said Kayla was an airhead. She thought he'd said it out of jealousy, since James had a girlfriend and Albus didn't. Now that she looked at the pair, she reconsidered. How could Kayla stick by him after everything that had happened, after what he said about his own uncle?
Well, she isn't a blood relative.
Neither was Robert, but he had been appalled by James' statement about Uncle Charlie.
Not Kayla, however. Rose began to wonder about their whole relationship. Did they really love one another? Did Kayla date James because of who his father was? Did James date Kayla simply because of her looks? Or maybe because of her blind devotion? Didn't all heroes need a beautiful, loyal girlfriend?
A hand gently clasped her shoulder. She turned and noticed Robert next to her, a weak smile on his lips.
"You okay?" he asked.
Rose just nodded. Robert slid his arm around her back. Rose sighed and pressed herself against him as the group started up the stairs. At least with Robert she knew he genuinely cared about her. She could see it, feel it when he'd found her in the Lizards' headquarters. Her insides quivered when she remembered how tightly he'd held her.
An urge filled her. The urge to be back in the Gryffindor Common Room, away from her family and Professor Longbottom. Just her and Robert, with his arm around her, taking solace in the fact someone here truly cared about her and not about becoming a hero.
An image materialized in her mind. Her and Robert sitting by the fireplace, their arms wrapped around one another, his firm body pressed against hers. She looked up into his green eyes. Merlin's beard, he had beautiful eyes. Their faces drew closer, closer . . .
Rose swallowed, her fantasy world melting away. Did I just . . .
"Um, here we are, Sir," Cynthia announced.
"Yes, I know, Miss Weasley." Professor Longbottom gazed around the corridor, his eyes lingering on the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. "I spent plenty of time here myself."
Any other time Rose would have pestered him for a story about the old days. Now, however, she doubted Professor Longbottom would be in the mood to entertain such a request.
The door suddenly appeared. Professor Longbottom opened it and entered the Room of Requirement. The Weasley/Potter clan followed.
"So, where do you have the vid-cards stashed?" Professor Longbottom had his wand out.
"In the trunk." Rose pointed to it. "But I made it so it could only be opened by one of us. My family, I mean."
Professor Longbottom nodded for Rose to go to the trunk. She did, with the head of her house right behind her. She knelt in front of the trunk and unsnapped the latch. It opened with a loud creak.
Rose's lungs seized. She gripped the lid of the trunk and peered deeper into it.
"No. It can't be."
She blinked repeatedly. It didn't change the fact the trunk was empty.
TO BE CONTINUED