Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to J. K. Rowling. Note: Some of this part contains what I think Neville hears ever time the dementors come near him. Poor Neville.



Chapter Five- The Dementors in the Classroom



By the next day, the news of the dementors and Fudge staying at the school was known throughout Hogwarts. But that wasn't the half of what shocked everybody. What shocked them was that Fudge was allowing the dementors to stay inside the building as much as they pleased!



Perhaps it was because of this reason that Hermione, Ron, and sometimes Ginny would stick close to Harry a lot. There was no telling when a dementor would pop out of nowhere. Although this was kind of embarrassing for Harry sometimes, it was nice to know that his friends were there for him. Besides, he wasn't the only one he saw that was affected by the dementors. Every time he saw Neville in the same place as a dementor, he turned white, his shoulder shook, and he ran away in the other direction.



Of course, Neville was afraid of a lot of things, but Harry and the others were still concerned.



What Harry was most curious about was what would happen when he had Defense Against the Dark Arts. It wouldn't be about what they were taught, however. It was Professor Clark everyone was interested about. They all wondered how she would handle the class, what she'd be like, and most importantly, would she turn out like most of the other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers?



Finally, on Friday, their long wait was over. The sixth year Gryffindors headed over to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Professor Clark was waiting for them patiently. As soon as they were all sitting down, she took roll call, and looked up at them all. Harry knew what she was going to do: all the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers gave the class an introduction speech on their first class.



"All right," she began. "As you all know, I'm Professor Clark, your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year. Now, the only rule in my class is that I expect you show me, and each other, the same respect that I'll show you, despite the circumstances. Is that clear?"



Everybody nodded.



"Good," said Professor Clark brightly. "We can begin then! Now during this term, we will cover most defense techniques to be used when dealing with..."



But before she could finish her sentence, Harry felt a sudden chill in the air. It felt so familiar... and from the looks of the faces of the Gryffindors in the room, they felt it too.



"What's going on?" asked Professor Clark in alarm. Obviously, she felt the chill too, although it didn't seem to be affecting her.



The door to the room burst open and a group of dementors glided in. The cold was cutting Harry's insides, and inside his head, he could hear the familiar dying screams of his mother...



He tried to reach for his wand, but he was already falling in the familiar white mist... he could barely see Professor Clark reaching for something in her robes... something in her hand was glowing with a pale light... and the dementors suddenly left.



The white mist disappeared, and Harry suddenly found himself down on his knees. He pulled himself back up and looked around. Half of the class was looking terrified; Neville was cowering under his desk, white as a ghost, shaking as though he was about to throw up. Professor Clark, tucking whatever it was that scared the dementors in her robes, seemed to be fine, although she looked livid.



"Demons," she muttered under her breath. Then she said aloud, "Is everyone okay?"



Everybody nodded rather shakily. Professor Clark coaxed Neville out of his hiding spot under his desk, and then said to everyone, "Well, in a way, this helped introduce what we are going to be doing this year: we're going to study techniques against dementors. Can anyone tell me one of them?"



Immediately, Hermione's hand was raised. "The Patronus," she said.



"Yes, that's very good, Hermione," said Professor Clark. "But let's think? What kind of thoughts cause the Patronus to appear? Positive thinking. And I know some other techniques against dementors that involve positive thinking..."



By the end of class, everybody seemed to like Professor Clark. Especially Neville, who was usually nervous around teachers (especially Snape).



"She kind of reminds me of Professor Lupin," he said thoughtfully to Harry, Ron, and Hermione the next morning, while walking back from breakfast in the Great Hall. "Except for the whole werewolf thing."



"Not to mention she's a babe," commented Ron. Then he yelped as Hermione stepped on his toe (on purpose).



"You shouldn't her on her looks," snapped Hermione. "But I do like her. She must be smart to know other kinds of techniques on the dementors..."



"How did she chase away the dementors the other day?" asked Harry. "I've never seen anyone do something like that before."



"To tell you the truth, I don't either," said Hermione. "When the dementors came in, she didn't seem very affected by them. You were about faint when she pulled out something on a black cord 'round her neck. We couldn't see what it was, but it conducted sort of a pale light. It shot at the dementors... and they left... It's all very peculiar."



Ron turned to Neville. "Why were you so scared when the dementors came?"



Neville didn't say anything, but he went sort of red.



"Longbottom is afraid of everything, Weasley, it's as simple as that."



Draco Malfoy, followed by his two minions, Crabbe and Goyle had walked up to them while Ron was talking to Neville. Neville's face went redder.



"Go away," Harry yawned. Hermione fingered her prefect badge in a threatening sort of way, as though saying to Malfoy, "Go ahead, break some rules by starting a fight. I'll just take some points off of Slytherin."



Malfoy went on as though he hadn't heard Harry. "At this rate, he'll probably end up just like his loony parents."



Harry saw that Neville backed away, shaking. "No," Neville whispered. "Please don't tell them..."



"What're you talking about?" Ron demanded.



"You mean none of you know about Longbottom's parents?" leered Malfoy.



"Malfoy," Neville pleaded in a trembling voice. "Don't tell them... I'm begging you..."



Malfoy advanced on them, a foul smile on his pointed face. "Father told me that his parents were tortured by one of the Unforgivable Curses after the Dark Lord disappeared. Do you know where they are now? St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They're insane."



Ron and Hermione stared at him in horror. "You're lying," Ron snarled.



"Ask Longbottom then," said Malfoy, a smug look on his face. "Ask him, if you think I'm lying."



Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to Neville. "Is this true, Neville?" Hermione asked in a quiet, gentle tone.



Neville didn't have to answer her. The look on his face said everything. Looking as though he was about to cry, he bolted from the ball. Shooting dirty looks at Malfoy, Ron and Harry, ran after him. Hermione followed seconds later, too worried about Neville to take points off of Slytherin.



Harry had discovered this information about Neville's parents in his fourth year, but didn't tell Ron and Hermione because he thought Neville should tell him when he was ready. Since Malfoy's parents were Dark wizards, Malfoy must have found out about Neville's parents about him. Harry was furious. Malfoy seemed to sink to a lower level every year, and this was about as low as it gets.



By the time the three entered the Gryffindor common room, there could be sobs heard from the boy's dormitory. They entered the dormitory ( even though Hermione wasn't allowed to) and found Neville lying on his bed, sobbing hysterically.



"So it's true," Ron said incredulously. "Neville, why didn't you tell us about this? We're your friends. We would have understood."



"Ron!" Hermione admonished him. "It's Neville's business, and if he didn't want to tell us, then he didn't have to!"



Neville looked up at them. "I-I was going to tell you," he choked. "b-but I wasn't ready t-to. Y-You know, I visit them during the holidays... but they don't even recognize me... no matter how much I talk to them..."



"Oh, Neville," murmured Hermione sympathetically.



Neville gulped. "Do you know what I hear every time I run into a dementor? I... I c-c-can hear..." It seemed as though he couldn't bring themselves to say it. Finally he burst out, "I can hear those... those *people* torturing my parents. I can hear them screaming until the Ministry captures the D-Death Eaters... and then my parents mutter crazy talk... I'm not sure that's what really happened because I wasn't there... but that's how my Gran described it to me.... and it's so horrible..." He trailed off.



"Neville, I'm so sorry," said Ron. Harry and Hermione nodded.



Neville buried his face in his pillows. "Please just leave me alone," he sobbed.



For about a half hour, Hermione did her best to comfort Neville, but he just kept on crying. Finally, Harry muttered to her, "We should go." And slowly, reluctantly, they left the dormitory, leaving Neville to his woes.



To be continued...



Okay, before you all flame me to kingdom come, I felt that since Harry lost his innocence in book 3 after finding out the gruesome details of his parents' deaths (and discovering who betrayed him, even though he thought it was Sirius), I thought maybe Neville should lose some of his innocence as well. Once again, poor Neville. Up next: Professor Clark's concern about Neville leads to a confrontation with Snape (since he's the one who gives Neville the most crap), and we see a little appearance of Neville's guardian angel... Stay tuned!