Chapter 47: The Headmaster is Taken

How had this group of people ended up here? On this Tower? On this night?

Neville wasn't entirely sure himself as he found himself in a tense tableau on the top of the Astronomy Tower in the middle of this humid, June night.

Upon arriving back to the school with Dumbledore, one of the Horcruxes recovered, mentor and student had heard footsteps rapidly approaching up the steps. Dumbledore had ordered Neville to hide in a darkly-lit alcove about halfway down the Astronomy Tower steps. Despite fearing for his Headmaster, Neville did, barely getting there and slipping into the shadows before a figure in a dark cloak had come up the stairs in the other direction.

A figure with a familiar crop of lotioned blonde hair….

Neville had listened helplessly as Draco had yelled, "Expelliarmus!" disarming one of the greatest sorcerers in the world without a fight. There had been no sounds of a duel from above, so Neville of course had to presume that Dumbledore had ceded the bout to Draco, for whatever reason.

Blips of conversation percolated down to him. Neville couldn't hear a word of what Dumbledore was saying, as the older man spoke quietly, but Draco's voice and volume allowed him, Neville, to detect every third or fourth phrase.

Phrases such as this one: "Don't you understand, old man?! I have to do this! He'll kill me if I don't!"

Neville found it intriguing and disturbing to hear such emotion in Draco Malfoy's voice. Like the scion of a lineage as pureblood as his own was actually afraid of anything, as much as the sod might profess to the contrary. It was just another moment in a bizarre pattern of behavior Draco had been displaying all year.

It had started last summer, when Neville had noticed Malfoy going into a strange shop in Knockturn Alley, near Diagon Alley. Convincing Ron and Hermione to tail him, they had discovered that Draco had placed a hold-for-purchase order on a strange, foreboding-looking cabinet, one of a matching set. Then, later this year at school, Neville had discovered what looked to be an identical cabinet sitting amidst other odds and ends inside the Room of Requirement. And then there had been those whispered conversations between Malfoy and Snape in the corridors….

Everything had come to a head when he had tried to confront Draco about it in a bathroom. The Slytherin had drawn a wand on him unawares, and though it hadn't been much of a duel, Neville had managed to yell out a spell he had learned, scribbled in the margins of his Potions textbook. Unfortunately, the spell had missed Draco completely.

Now, as Neville watched, more figures in dark robes marched up the steps of the Astronomy Tower, passing right by where he crouched in the dark. More voices drifted down to him – the voices of Bellatrix Lestrange, and her husband, Rodolphus.

…. Snape's voice….

Neville finally caught Dumbledore speak one thing. It sounded like: "Severus… please."

Please? Please what? What was Dumbledore asking of Severus?

For a beat, there was silence as Severus seemed to hesitate. Finally:

"Incarcerous!"

There was a sound like a whip, followed by a pronounced THUMP, before Snape hissed: "Out of here, quickly!"

Footsteps on the stair as Draco, Snape and their comrades who had somehow infiltrated Hogwarts herself, now thundered down the steps. As Neville watched in horror, a few of the cloaked figures were triumphantly carrying a limp body between them, bound and gagged in ropes.

That was when it all came together in Neville's head: somehow, Draco, perhaps with Snape's help, had managed to let Death Eaters into the school. The cabinet, one in the Room of Requirement and the other in that shop Borgin and Burkes…. It wasn't just a set of cabinets. Together, they formed a passage.

A passage the Death Eaters might use again as they abducted the Headmaster. Made off with Dumbledore like a trophy!

"NOOO!" Neville hollered and he charged down the steps in the wake of Snape and his accomplices. "HELP! THE HEADMASTER IS BEING KIDNAPPED! STOP THEM! DON'T LET THEM GET OUT!"

Even as he dueled Death Eaters on the stairway and called for help, Neville managed to thumb the DA coin in his pocket and blare out the warning through it. Despite being at least five against one, he managed to slow the group of fleeing Death Eaters just enough that, by the time they emerged from the base of the Tower, Ron, Hermione, Luna and others were charging forward to engage in battle, defending their castle. Defending their Headmaster, taken prisoner.

Suddenly, more Death Eaters appeared, and a full-scale brawl was raging. Neville didn't allow himself to be distracted, however, as he watched Snape hustling Malfoy not in the direction of the Room of Requirement, but instead brazenly out the castle's front door, towards the Grounds.

"NOOOO! HEADMASTER!" Neville pelted forward and gave chase, pursuing the traitor Snape and his men out into the Grounds, nearly to the front lawn of Hagrid's hut. Someone yelled out, "INCENDIO!" and the grass around the cabin, and then the roof of the cabin itself, erupted in flames.

"Sectumsempra!" Neville growled out in rage, aiming for Snape with the spell he had tried to use on Draco, back in that bathroom weeks ago. He saw a flash of purple indicating Protego had blocked it. Frustrated, he bellowed:

"FIGHT BACK! YOU COWARD!"

"Coward, did you call me, Longbottom?" Snape was suddenly materializing through the rising smoke of this blaze, like some sort of ghost or demonic spirit. The former Potions master had his teeth clenched with rage, and he wordlessly fired off a well-aimed Petrificus Totalus that made Neville sprawl into the dirt, his limbs locking up. Unable to do anything but watch, Neville observed Snape bend down and sneer at him.

"I don't care if you live or die, Longbottom. I never have. The only reason I care to show loyalty to anyone or any side is because of….!" But he didn't finish the thought. "Though I damn well do care how you would dare to use my own spells against me!" At Neville's look of dawning comprehension, Snape merely chuckled. "Yes….. I am….. the Half-Blood Prince!"

The Petrificus Totalus spell wore off, but Snape merely Disarmed Neville before the boy could attack him again. Neville turned to watch his wand spinning off and away into the darkness… and as he did so, he saw, through the haze, a strikingly beautiful woman standing in the doorway of a Hogwarts Castle now under siege. Glancing between her and a Snape who was backing away, Neville deduced that she seemed to be staring, almost in disappointment, at the Death Eater, with her hazel eyes….

Harry's eyes….

Harry's mother…

Snape turned and ran off into the night, leaving Neville to stand there and let him go, while all around him, the Grounds burned….

A few days later, Neville found himself by the shore of the Black Lake, lost in and alone with his own thoughts. Somewhere on this part of the Grounds, the part that hadn't had its grasses charred by the flames of attacking Death Eaters, Ron and Hermione were off alone together, having a picnic. They had made a full-court press in getting Neville to join them, but he had waved them off, figuring they needed some time to be alone as a couple.

He envied his friends their happiness. Yet he also wished them well. He hadn't wanted to risk joining in on a picnic that would have no doubt turned conversation towards Dumbledore's abduction. Towards conversation of what Neville was going to do next with the information Dumbledore had been drilling into his mind during their private strategy sessions all year.

Neville understood the final mission Dumbledore had left him. It was time. Time for this mission to be one he took on alone. Ron and Hermione both would have a fit, if they knew this, but it was better if he slipped off by himself to complete this, his destiny.

Perhaps he could slip off now, despite the pain of not having a chance to say goodbye. He couldn't – he would tip them off and then he would never be able to leave.

"You never have been able to get those Wrackspurts out of your head."

The dreamy voice made Neville turn about, and he wasn't sure whether to sigh or chuckle. His own damn fault, he supposed, that he had forgotten: there was one other person whom he could never hide from.

Luna glided through the tall grasses towards him, coming to rest at his side and dipping her bare toes into the damp sand marking the edge of the lake's waters. For what seemed like several, sunlit days, the Ravenclaw without a care in the world and the Gryffindor who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders simply stared out at the view.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Luna breathed out in a sigh.

Neville finally managed a smile for the first time in what seemed like forever, though it was grim. "Lovely. Just lovely." Though he found himself gazing at Luna when he said this.

She turned to smile at him, study him, and he was startled when he saw a kind of sad resignation in her eyes. With that, he understood: she knew what he meant to do. How was it possible that this entrancing young lady knew him better, perhaps just as well as Ron and Hermione knew him if not more so? How could it be, Neville wondered, that she was the one who knew him better than he knew himself?

"You don't have to tell me. You don't want to. I can see it." Luna seemed accepting of this, supportive even if she, like Ron and Hermione before her, ended up getting hurt. "All I'll say is…. whatever it is your doing…. If this is what you have to do… I hope you find what you're looking for."

Dumbstruck by her, Neville nodded silently. A giggle that somehow sounded mournful bubbled up from Luna's full lips.

"What, so taciturn all of a sudden? Those Wrackspurts in your mind are worse than I thought!"

Quietly, Neville reached out and dared to slip his hand into hers, the gesture seeming quite intimate, though this shift remained unspoken.

"Do you remember…." He murmured low. "… the start of this term? On the train?"

Luna's grin of amusement was dazzling. "How could I forget?"

FLASHBACK

Neville heard the footsteps approaching while he lay immobilized under his own Invisibility Cloak in the middle of the Hogwarts Express corridor. Probably the conductor doing final checks, and once the train began moving back on its return trip to Kings' Cross, he'd well and truly be fucked.

The door to this compartment slid open, and in walked a blonde-haired girl wearing rose-colored glasses. Neville tried to make a sound, but the Petrificus Totalus from Draco was still in effect.

Help….

"Enite!"

He felt a rustling as a gust of air lifted the Invisibility Cloak he had borrowed from Harry for a bit of spying. Almost at the exact same moment, the Body Bind wore off.

His rescuer merely lifted the glasses from her face, stating quite mildly, "Hello, Neville."

"Luna! How'd you know where I was?"

"Wrackspurts. Your head's full of them!"

He didn't bother anymore to try and decipher what she meant by that. In the past few years, he had come to learn that was just Luna's way.

They managed to disembark the train just before it started moving. But all the boats for the first-years and threstral carriages were gone, so the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw had no choice but to walk to the castle on foot. Neville and Luna paused as they reached the castle gates.

"Sorry I made you miss the carriages by the way, Luna."

"That's all right. It was like being with a friend."

"Well… I am your friend, Luna!" Neville pointed out. But even as he said it, that didn't feel like nearly strong enough a descriptor. Nor did it seem like he would be…. satisfied…. with just that. His stomach was a jumble of knots; he tried to brush it off.

"That's nice…" They swayed to a halt just before the gates to find Draco and his goons doing what looked like a pawing through luggage. Draco lifted his head and sneered. "Nice face, Longbottom!" Before he and his clowns scampered away.

Neville didn't even bother with a retort. At his side, Luna pulled out her wand.

"Would you like me to fix it for you?" she crooned.

His finger drummed along his nose; there was blood in one nostril and it felt painful to the touch. Draco had to have broken on it when he stomped on him.

"Personally, I think you look a bit more… devil-may-care this way, but it's up to you." Wait: was this Luna's attempt at flirting with him? Neville felt himself turn pink down to his chest.

"Um… have you ever fixed a nose before?"

"No, but I've done several toes and…. how different are they, really?"

He nickered out a chuckle. "Um…. OK, yeah. Give it a go."

Luna pointed her wand at him. "Episkey!"

There was a CRACK as his shattered deviated septum snapped back into place, and he cried out.

"How do I look?"

"Exceptionally ordinary," Luna stated with a satisfied smile.

"Brilliant."

She stepped into him suddenly in that moment and pressed a kiss to his nose. Drawing away, pausing for a moment, Luna grinned to herself. "Muggles say kissing away injuries helps with the healing process," she stated. Then she turned and all but glided toward the lights of the castle.

END OF FLASHBACK

Neville and Luna stood in silent companionship as the memory washed over them, sharing a small, bittersweet smile and gazing into each other's eyes. With his free hand, Neville started to lift it towards her blonde, sunlight-catching strands he had always secretly wondered about, but then something stopped him. Was it just his imagination, or had Luna, seeing his intention, started to sway forward, lean in to meet the touch expectantly?

"Will…. will you promise me that you'll be all right?" he whispered.

Luna regarded him, and Godric, how could someone with a smile like that appear so mournful just the same? "I don't make promises I can't keep…. But, for you, I will promise anyway."

Never, at any other time before this, had Neville been more tempted to close the gap and kiss her pretty little mouth so he could learn how soft it was. But before he could gather a bit of Gryffindor nerve, Luna suddenly moved for the both of them. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly.

"Be careful!" He had never heard such plaintiveness, such imploring, in her voice.

"I will," he rumbled into her sweet-smelling curls. "You too." They both stepped back out of the embrace, and in that moment, Neville almost did it. But Luna was turning away, wiping at something near her eyes and to his astonishment, he realized it was tears. Moisture that now flew behind Luna in her wake as she pelted across the grounds, seeming to fly away from him, making for the silhouette of the castle in the distance.