Disclaimer: The regular disclaimer still stays in place, I owe nothing but the AU and OC. The rest belongs to JKR.(np)


Chapter 21

Neville had just cleaned the dishes and cleared the kitchen when the fireplace had chimed. He had turned to the closed bedroom door and had sent both a silencing spell and a locking spell for extra security. He had flicked his wand at the fireplace, and soon the flames had turned green to reveal the face of Blaise Zabini.

"Neville."

"Blaise. Do step in."

It was surprising how the two had come to talk on a first-name basis. Perhaps the subtle change in their nonexisting relation had begun the moment Blaise had decided to finally pick a side, had stepped out of the forbidden forest. He had then secretly started following the returning students of Hogwarts, through the underground tunnels. The very ones returning with food and supplies from the Hogsmeade Inn. It was in dark dismal leaking passages he had had his brush with death. Greyback had been making his way back and Blaise had just happened to be in his way. The angry werewolf must have had his mind somewhere else, or maybe he thought Blaise to be too close to the all-powerful Malfoy family. The brute had just flung the student across the passageway and had got out of the tunnel.

By the time, he had been discovered by the party led by Seamus Finnigan who had heard the later scream, the werewolf had disapparated from the grounds. He was brought back into the Room of Requirement, where Neville had healed his wounds. Throughout the Hogwarts years, neither of them had paid much heed to the other, other than laughing at each other expense. But that act of compassion shown by Longbottom had made Blaise a loyal compatriot of Dumbledore's Army.

After sitting on one of four chairs around the diner table, Blaise had truly looked at Neville. " I am sorry to have interrupted you."

Chuckling humourlessly, "So you have heard."

"How is she?"

"Hysteric, confused, struggling, underweight."

"I did get a chance to speak to Snape."

"I saw him, I hope Hermione will be safe."

"Believe me, Longbottom, no one messes with Severus Snape, unless they have a death wish."

When the latter had offered him a glass of Firewhiskey, the former Slytherin had truly been grateful. Sipping into his drink, he had stared intently into the burning fire. Neville had patiently waited for the other to complete rearranging his thoughts.

"I could manage a couple of minutes of uninterrupted meeting with the Headmaster. He was held in the same holding house where earlier Draco had been shoved into. With Harry potter disappearing, Snape had also gone underground. But you knew that… Since Hogwarts still recognized him as its headmaster, the castle had allowed him to access his personal chambers and through them he had succeeded in entering the secret lab, that he himself had managed to build up during the last few weeks before the battle. All this while, the potion master had been hiding there, testing your potions on one of the captured werewolves, from the Parkinson attack."

Neville had sat up straight his eyes glistening with expectations. "And, what did he find?"

"Though the werewolf had died, the test had borne satisfactory results. He is still to decide on the manner the potion will need to be administered…The only drawback happened to be if he had applied the thick bubbly crème over one inflicted part of the skin, the other scars would aggravate. And this had led to a small accident. The unbearable pain had made the wolf and nearly attack the potion master. He had lunged for the potion still brewing in the corner intending to destroy it. But perhaps he had miscalculated his moments and had bumped at the edge of the table, making the cauldron filled potion fly in the air, and finally covering it through and through. Since the crème was still hot and the wolf been far to close to dying, it had expired due to the burns."

"I see…"

"Thus, Snape is apprehensive of how you are going to achieve the unachievable."

Neville had tipped his drink, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he had proposed, "I have come up with a suggestion. Based on what you just said, we can safely say, the crème should be applied all at once, over the entire surface of the person scarred or bitten by the werewolf. And the most possible way to do it will be to spray the lotion on the person, of dipping him or her in it. Since tomorrow night would be full Moon, both Pansy and Lavender would need to undergo the trial procedure as early as possible. This was just one step towards healing them of the lycanthropy tendencies."

Blaise had pointed out, "I marvel at your Gryffindor sense of optimism, but tell me how are you going to achieve it?"

Neville had smirked and had said, "Soap cake, or gel. It can mimic the same crème consistency. And soap lather has the capacity to reach anywhere and everywhere." Getting up from his chair, he had brought out a case from the nearby cupboard. Inside The glass box, Blaise could see round cakes shining like a full moon."

"Umm, are you suggesting bubble bath, this sounds ridiculous…though, this can work if you can keep the consistency of the crème absolute."

"You can have my guaranty on it…"

Shrugging his shoulders, after snapping the box shut, Neville had tipped his fingers on it lost in thought.

After a length of time, he had added, "If nothing else, it will fail and will not harm Pansy with side effects. "

"And you know this how?"

"I might have switched professor Lupin's toiletries at Grimmauld Place one day, and even Bill Weasley had been heard question his wife, why did his soap smelt like a bunched of Pansies."

Blaise had laughed out loud. To think the stammering boy could be up to such mischief!

"And? What was the outcome?"

"Professor Lupin and Bill both looked less grumpy and merrier, though I was not around them when the Full Moon night approached."

"We will still have to brace ourselves."

"Yes."

Blaise had then done something quite unexpected from him. He had caught hold of Neville's hand and had shaken it a couple of times, "Thanks Neville for taking such drastic steps. Thank you for doing this for Lavender. We know Lavender will not heal but, maybe if the potion works on reducing the scars over Pansy, it might take away the ghastliness from those inflicted upon Lavender."

Neville had insisted, "Blaise would you stay back?"

Blaise had mentioned, "I am to wed Lavender at dawn, I think I can manage some hours. Won't you have to complete your binding ceremony?"

"I need to, I am planning to kill two birds with one stone, I mean to carry on the experiment and also seal the bond with Pansy all at once. Umm, I would like to ask a favor from you?"

"Mate, I am not going to warm up things for you, if that is what you are asking?" pointing at the bedroom door, the Italian had smirked, "In there you got to be the king of the jungle, no second helping, I don't partake in second hands."

Slapping his head, Neville had closed his eyes tight and had opened them to plead genuinely, "Urgh! All I am saying will you have a talk with her, just to convince her that I mean no harm to her?"

Blaise had stared at him. and he had understood that the Slytherin was trying to read his true intentions.

Neville had shrugged and mused aloud, "I know people find it very strange with the way I am behaving presently. But the one thing I have come to understand is that someone has to keep the show running. I have seen how Harry had been working to bring down Voldemort. But the present scenario is not asking for Harry to sacrifice himself. I think this whole thing is his destiny, for I too am the boy who is born at the end of July. And if I could be instrumental in saving people, then there is nothing like that."

Blaise had tried to understand this new side of Neville. He too had made the mistake of asking him, "Are you doing it for fame? Well let me remind you, you have killed a vicious snake"

Neville had gagged at first and then had laughed.

"Snake slayer, there is a funny ring to that. No Zabini, I am doing all this for my family, pointing at the bedroom door. I am doing it for my late gran, for my mum and dad, though they are still to recognize me. Bellatrix has taken away everything from me, this battle has taken away almost everything from Pansy. I will at least make sure, someday she grabs on to the choice to living life once again, free from blood prejudices and the constraints of this magical world."

Blaise still pokes fun at him, "Are Gryffindors always this sentimental?"

"I am not Ron, try a different tactic on some other day, Zabini, if me being sentimental has just saved your friends life, and in turn will perhaps save the very woman you have come to love so fiercely, will you still continue to poke fun at me."

Zabini had sighed, and had nodded, "You are a new game, Longbottom."

"This is a new world, Zabini, we must change accordingly."