Collateral Damage
Written for QLFC Season 9, Round 4
Team: Wimbourne Wasps
Position: Chaser 1
Reserve: No
Prompts: Coven
1) (word) collateral
2) (setting) Forbidden Forest
3) (setting) Dusk
Word Count: 2.503
A/N: I took the prompt in a more literal way and focused on one aspect of the actual series. A good part is devoted to how the Coven is leaderless and needs a new head figure. Every contestant brings a new approach with them in how the Coven should act towards people outside of it, complementary to how the Slytherin students should be treated.
Warning: Implied character death, mention of blood
"You want to do what?!"
Ginny's incredulous voice bounced off the walls of the Room of Requirement.
They had been able to welcome quite a few new members since the terror regime of the Carrows had taken over Hogwarts and although having the potential to increase its size at will, the room was packed with students in black robes, watching the two Gryffindors face off apprehensively in the midst of them.
He could see Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors; none of the members, whether new or old, were Slytherins.
Despite their large number, none of them spoke and Neville could feel their collective gaze on him, making his palms sweat at the unwanted attention. Some of the looks they gave him were confused or stern, others downright hostile.
Neville gulped and focused on the red-haired girl standing in front of him with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"I want to accept Slytherin students into the DA," he repeated his proposition. "The Carrows' antics get worse every day and the sole reason the DA exists is that no one bothered teaching us defensive magic in the past. Most of them can't fend for themselves."
Ginny snorted. "The snakes don't need to; they're complying with the Carrows and their lot." She shook her head vehemently. "We cannot trust them."
"They're not all the same! There are good people in Slytherin as well," he shot back.
Ginny gave him a hard stare. "None that I know of."
Anger flared in Neville's chest. "When it comes to a fight, they could help us! Without anyone teaching them, they're practically defenceless if they're not from the right families."
The unwavering stare Ginny gave him made his skin crawl. "Collateral damage," was all she snarled at him.
Neville's eyes went wide at her coldness. She had turned very harsh and unforgiving ever since her family had been attacked at Bill's wedding and Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone missing. But the cold relentlessness now shining in her brown eyes was new to him.
"I can't believe you're denying them the protection they need," he hissed, furious at her stubbornness. "The Carrows manhandled a second year so badly yesterday, Professor McGonagall had to send him to St. Mungo's for a check."
He could see Ginny's resolve waver, but the flicker of compassion was gone as quickly as it had appeared. However, she didn't meet his eye as she spoke again.
"Why do you even care so much?" she asked. "Of all people, you should know what Slytherins are capable of."
Neville drew himself up to his full height before answering her. "Because I remember how it felt to walk these halls in fear."
The silence following his words was deafening.
Ginny's shoulders tensed as her gaze flickered over his face uncertainly. But still, she shook her head. "We can't trust them, Neville."
She tried to mask it, but Neville knew her too well to not hear the tinge of desperation in her voice; she wanted to protect the DA with everything she had.
"This is not what Harry would want from us, Ginny," he said softly. "The DA always was for everyone."
But his words had an adverse effect and Ginny's eyes narrowed at the mention of Harry's name. "How would you know what Harry wanted from us?" she snarled.
Neville remained composed, however. "Because I know him."
"So do I."
The tension between them was palpable as they were staring at each other in the middle of the circle formed by the other students, when suddenly an airy voice piped up beside them.
"That's the problem, isn't it? We don't have a leader since Harry left," Luna mused while twirling the end of her long silver braid between her fingers. It was tied with something that looked suspiciously like a shoelace.
She stepped in between the glaring Gryffindors, effectively breaking the tension. "I think we should vote," she declared cheerily.
"Fine," Ginny snapped, "Let's see if the others still see reason. Those who want to protect the DA from possible traitors, raise your hand."
Neville's stomach sank at the sight of about half of the attendant members raising their hands.
He didn't want this; he had never wanted to lead the DA. But Ginny's willingness to possibly risk the life of innocent students by not helping them defend themselves left him no choice.
"And those who want to honour the DA's legacy by teaching those in need of defence, raise your hands for me."
He waited with bated breath as Luna silently counted. She herself had raised her hand for him.
She turned around to them and declared, "The count is even."
There was a moment of silence as he and Ginny looked each other in the eye.
"Well," she scoffed at him eventually, "we'll have to decide otherwise who's the better leader then."
It had been Luna's idea to test their abilities on the things Harry had taught them himself.
He and Ginny had competed to see who performed the curses, hexes and defensive charms best. While Ginny had been able to quite literally blast all competition into nothingness with her Reducto charm, Neville's defensive charms were way stronger than hers; she hadn't been able to pierce his Protego shield even once.
It continued in this fashion, Ginny excelling in the more aggressive spells and Neville with superior defensive techniques, until they had to admit that they had reached a draw.
Luna had it taken upon herself to come up with one final task to determine once and for all who would lead the DA in the future. Given her sometimes rather peculiar ideas, Neville wasn't quite sure what to think as he, Luna, and Ginny made their way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Several others had wanted to come, but given the precarious situation in the castle, only a few of the original members accompanied them as they quickly made their way over the grounds and into the cover of the trees.
The sun was already setting, hanging low in the sky; the crimson light that was flooding Hagrid's now abandoned hut and his overgrown pumpkin patches was swallowed by the very twilight that swallowed them as soon as they stepped into the shadows of the ancient trees.
Neville could hear a few birds singing their evening songs, but all the sounds were muffled by the thick carpet of moss on the ground and the stems of the trees.
Dusk seemed to have come early to the Forbidden Forest; it seemed like a place lost in time.
None of them spoke as Luna led them to a clearing a good bit from the edge of the treeline. Neville wondered for a moment if it was a good idea to wander as far with night almost upon them, but right now wasn't the time for questions.
He wanted to settle this dispute once and for all — the sooner the better.
"Why did it have to be at dusk, Luna?" Dean Thomas voiced Neville's thoughts all of a sudden. His voice sounded unnaturally loud as Neville jumped despite himself at the disturbance of silence.
"Don't you think it adds a wonderful flair?" Luna answered dreamily; contrary to Dean's whisper, her floaty voice was drifting through the air as if it belonged here.
They came to a halt at the far end of the clearing and Luna stepped in front of them.
"I thought about what would help you lead our organisation," she explained, "and maybe it'd be quite good if you knew how to act in the face of fear, don't you think?"
She pointed to a natural opening under the roots of one of the larger trees; it was well concealed and if not for Luna, Neville would have probably missed it.
"A boggart lives in there," Luna's eyes were shining with excitement. "He used to stay in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom but moved here some time ago."
Ginny raised one eyebrow at the blonde girl. "How on Earth did you find it then?"
Luna smiled in a detached manner. "It's easy to find things, if you know how to look for them."
With an indignant huff, Ginny rolled up her sleeves and got her wand out. "Well, then let's get this over with; ladies first, right?"
Without waiting for an answer, she walked over to the hole. The DA members that had accompanied them were lining her way; those rooting for her were clapping her shoulder and muttering words of encouragement as she passed. Even if they were their friends, the lane of people in black robes in the rapidly dwindling light of the forest made for an unsettling picture.
She swung herself down in one fluent movement without looking back even once.
All of them waited for her return, but Ginny kept them waiting.
Neville shuffled his feet nervously at the prolonged silence; there was nothing coming from the hole but silence.
They had learned how to fight a boggart a long time ago; surely it wouldn't be a problem for a witch as gifted as Ginny?
"I'd better go check on her," he muttered to Luna. The light was all but gone now and most of the DA members had their wands out to illuminate the scene. "I want to be out of here before the more dangerous creatures come out."
"Oh, don't worry about them, they're all quite nice," she smiled but Neville wasn't listening to her; he quickly jogged over to the base of the tree and lowered himself down into the ground.
His movements were a lot less graceful than Ginny's and he needed a moment to orient himself as soon as his feet hit the ground.
"Lumos!"
His eyes widened in astonishment; the cave was much larger than he had expected from the outside. He could even stand up straight as he carefully edged himself forward to where he could see the light of Ginny's wand shimmering.
Neville stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Ginny kneeling on the ground, her shoulder's heaving from heavy sobs as she clutched something to her chest. No, not something, Neville realised; someone.
Even though he knew it wasn't real, he felt his gut grow cold at the sight of the unruly black hair matted with blood, the pale light of Ginny's discarded wand reflected in the broken glasses as she buried her face in the torn shirt of a lifeless Harry.
The utter desperation as she wailed his name over and over again while rocking back and forth cut through Neville's heart and he had to bite back his tears as he carefully approached her.
"Gin," he addressed her quietly. "You need to calm down, Ginny. It's a boggart, it's not real."
She raised her face towards him, the tears streaming down her freckled cheeks glistening in the magical light. She seemed to look right through him, though; there was no sign of recognition on her grief stricken face.
Neville took hold of her shoulder to pull her away from the ghastly illusion, but at the notion of being separated from her lifeless boyfriend, the fight found its way back into Ginny's body. She struggled against him and cried out for Harry, but as soon as her hand left his body, the boggart started to change.
Ginny gave a strangled cry as Harry's body morphed into someone else and Neville felt his heart stop as he recognised the familiar face of his grandmother staring up at him out of dead, unseeing eyes.
"Hello, Nevvie."
The voice that came sounding out of the darkness had Neville's skin crawl; he would recognise the slow drawl everywhere; it sounded like nails raking over a chalkboard.
His eyes widened as Bellatrix Lestrange emerged from the shadows, carelessly kicking the body of his dead grandmother out of the way as she made his way over to him, her eyes wild with cruelty and madness. She bared her teeth and laughed like a banshee as she raised her gnarly wand in his direction.
Neville collected himself, gripping his own wand with white knuckles as he pointed it directly at her sneering face, yelling "Ridikkulus!".
Bellatrix's advance was stopped immediately as his dead grandmother came to life again, gripping her ankle and dragging herself up against her.
"Don't you dare touch my grandson!" she yelled and started hitting the dark witch with her red handbag.
Neville couldn't help himself and started laughing at the absurd picture, the sound bouncing off the walls of the cave as Ginny's shaky voice joined in as well.
Howling at being ridiculed like that, the boggart fled into the darkness it had come from, followed by the picture of Neville's scolding grandmother.
They had been met with the worried faces of their friends as they had emerged from the darkness. Neither of them spoke of what had happened but Ginny hadn't objected when the present members of the DA had uniformly chosen Neville as the new leader of the DA.
It had been a quick and unceremonious decision but Neville couldn't care less; he was just happy to be done with this.
As the group made their way back to the castle, he trailed behind with the still pale looking Ginny.
"Are you okay?" he asked, making sure none of the others could hear them.
Ginny shook her head. "Thank you for helping me, Nev," she whispered. "I've been so awful to you and I'm sorry." She sniffed as she fought back the tears.
"I just miss Harry so much, you know," she whispered with a constricted voice. "And Ron and Hermione of course. It feels like the DA is all that's left of them at Hogwarts; I just wanted to protect it."
"But you don't by destroying the only reason Harry even founded it," Neville answered softly. "He wanted to give us the means to fight for ourselves, no matter which House we're in."
"I see that now," she conceded. "It's good they chose you to lead us after all. But you have to understand, all I wanted to do is help. My brother is missing, my family has to hide and I can do nothing for any of them."
She kicked at a stone in frustration. "You might as well have left me down there for all that it's worth," she huffed bitterly.
Neville held her back and looked her straight in the face; the look in her eyes was defiant on the surface, but he could see the fear for her loved ones and anger at her own powerlessness simmering underneath.
"How could I've ever left you behind?" he asked her incredulously. "You're my friend, Ginny. You could have gotten hurt."
Her mouth twisted into a sardonic smile. "There are collaterals in every war."
Neville drew his friend into a comforting hug; he could tell she needed it.
"There won't be any collaterals with me," he whispered. "Not if I can help it."