Chapter 25

In the coming weeks, the dining room table at Grimmauld place became a mess. Maps and plans were laid out. Neville had returned with an old friend, George Weasley. He had moved in not long after Ron's death. News came in the muggle post about a mass death at the top of London tower. Hundreds of muggles laid fell from the height into the river. The muggles had no clue what happened, but Draco could see the tension in Severus's neck. It was the Dark Lord beginning his attack. That was the first attack. The second one hit Harrods, the shopping mall. The Dark Lord was becoming more bold. They barely managed to stop the attack on Buckingham Palace. The attacks were sporadic designed to separate the Order so they could not accumulate power in one place. It was becoming more difficult to hide the wizarding world from the muggles. People were afraid, and they should be.

The day after the attack on Buckingham Palace, a parcel arrived on the door of Grimmauld place. It was curious because owls were not supposed to locate Grimmauld Place unless they were sent by an Order member. They opened the parcel to discover a necklace which had been destroyed. Severus's eyes widened when he saw it. A small note was attached to the broken necklace. There was a number four written on it in the most recognizable writing, "Harry"

The owl disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Severus finally understood what Harry was doing, but the problem was on their side, they were running out of people. Neville and Mad-Eye were constantly in long debates. This was mostly because it was difficult for Mad-Eye to relinquish control over to someone so young as Neville, but the younger man was proving himself to be a strong leader and strategist. Severus had began trusting the younger generation long before.

"Out of all the members of the Order, how many of them played quidditch in school?" Neville asked Draco.

"Marcus, Wood, Charlie, George, I did, Ginny… a lot" Draco started counting off in his head, "Why"

"We are going to form an assault team lead by which do you prefer, Oliver Wood or Marcus Flint?" Neville asked Draco.

"Oliver Wood" Marcus said from behind, "He's better at it"

Neville pulled a coin out of his pocket and waved his wand around until it glowed, "He should be here shortly."

"Why do we need an assault team?" Draco asked, but knew the answer as he was asking.

"There will be more attacks on innocent people, if have a team that leads from the air and a team that leads from the ground, its possible that we will have less casualties."

"That makes sense." Draco answered, "Who will be on the ground team?"

"I'm still working that out. It will most likely be Severus leading the ground team. He has the most experience with infiltration. George will be here tomorrow with new equipment. We may not know where the attacks will be, but we will be more prepared to defend them."

"Everyone will have to learn to work together. This means that there will be no more last names. Everyone will now go by first names. Our lives are in each other's hands." Mad-Eye spoke, "I will stay behind to give orders."

"Harry is doing his part, and we need to do ours if we are to be there when he needs us. Too many people have died so far, and we will lose a lot more if we don't trust each other." Draco spoke.

"You certainly sound like Harry" Marcus commented again. The next day George and Oliver wood walked in through the door. Oliver brought with him eleven Firebolt brooms with him. Their division was set. Severus and Neville would lead two teams on the ground. Oliver and Marcus would coordinate teams in the air. Anyone who was too young was sent to France, where Arthur and Molly Weasley watched over them.

They were not prepared for the first attack. It was a Saturday and the British museum was full of people. Ginny came up with the idea to imperio the muggle police officers to coordinate an evacuation before the fighting began. She, Draco, and George, disillusioned themselves evacuate the muggles. The Death Eaters were wearing their dark robes and masks. Severus walked up to them as if he was alone, and then the attacking began. Neville moved quickly to move Severus out of the way before he was killed. The chased them back into a room filled with Devil's Snare. Neville could hear the screaming.

"They certainly didn't pay attention in school." Draco commented as the next wave of Death Eaters came at them. Draco pulled out something that Severus had given them before, "Cover your mouth and nose."

Neville and Draco used their cloaks to keep them from breathing as Draco threw the potion the Death Eaters. The love potion mad them turn on their own side, "We gotta go, Draco"

Ginny had a hand full tied up with the ropes that Gregory had. It seemed as if they were winning, but they were only using tricks. This gave the Death Eaters the advantage. If they weren't going to really fight, they would lose. Neville was hit first by the Cruciatus curse. Neville froze and wouldn't even dodge it before he was writhing on the ground in pain.

" Avada Kadavra" The Death Eater fell quickly. Draco glared at the rest of them with his wand drawn, "I don't care what it does to me. I will kill each and every one of you if you come near him."

The Death Eater's quickly backed off. Severus had finished fighting off the ones on his end. Draco helped Neville up while Ginny restored the museum to its original state. Neville was shaking when the returned. Draco tried to help him, but Neville brushed him off before going to the bathroom and closing the door. He could hear Neville vomiting into the toilet. Mad Eye waited for the report.

"This is not going to end well. We barely got through that." Severus said, "They weren't ready for a real fight."

"How did you win?" Mad-Eye asked.

"They learned that they aren't in school anymore." It was all Severus was going to say. George was never so relieved to see his sister. Her hands were shaking from watching Draco kill someone.

Draco knocked on the door after he heard the noises stop, "Neville, are you okay?"

There was no answer. Draco used the unlocking spell and opened the door. Neville was passed out on the floor of the bathroom covered in vomit. Draco cleaned up the mess quickly and helped Neville up. Finally, he gave up at trying to help him stand, so Draco picked Neville up and leaned his head against Draco's shoulder. It was a little awkward because Ron had been much stronger than Draco and Neville were tall. Despite the awkwardness, Draco carried Neville to one of the empty rooms.

Neville woke up that night with a nightmare. He was screaming in his bed. Draco ran in to see if he was hurt. Shaking his shoulders, a bit, Draco woke Neville up. Neville shot up out of bed with is wand pointed at Draco. The blond-haired man held up his hands to show that they were empty, "Neville, its me."

"Oh" Neville let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly suspicious, Neville asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Get back into bed. You'll catch cold like that, and then I'll answer." Draco turned away a little.

Neville looked down at his body to find that he was in fact naked. His face colored slightly and then he took a pillow off the bed to cover himself, "I'm covered. Why are you here?"

"You were having a nightmare. You were screaming." Draco explained.

"Well, I'm fine now. You can leave." Neville said coldly, "I meant what I said before. We aren't friends."

"Neville, I'm sorry that I was horrible to you in school. I really am. I know there isn't a lot that I can say to make you forgive me, but I do intend on being your friend." Draco said firmly.

Neville sighed and gave up. He walked back to his bed and climbed under the covers, "It's fine."

"Do you want to talk about your nightmares? It might help." Draco suggested.

"Not really, no. You can go. I'm okay." Neville said laying down and drawing the covers over his shoulders. Draco turned to walk out the door, "Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you" Neville paused, "For saving my life and carrying up to this room."

"Anytime" Draco left with a smile.

In the morning, Neville tried to avoid Draco. It was hard to be seen in that moment of weakness by someone he had considered up until recently an enemy, but Draco had saved his life and then took care of the aftermath. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he couldn't hate him anymore. Neville had grown in the past few years. His skills had surpassed many of the previous generation. He was smart and a strategist. He was actually much better Herbologist than Professor Sprout, but aside form Harry and Ron, he rarely trusted people. The kid who everyone bullied was now the adult who there would be a lot more deaths if he weren't there. Still he had his own weaknesses. One of them was showing weakness. He had never found it easy to work in a team which is why he was terrible at sports, but now he had to be mindful of others. Marcus Flint, Gregory Goyle, and now Draco Malfoy were on the list of Slytherins who he couldn't hate anymore. This made him question about his judgement. He just had to focus. Harry was out there somewhere finding a way to beat this monster. His two best friends were gone, but right now they all just needed to focus.