CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Harry and Neville


CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Harry and Neville

Harry had guided the stunned Neville firmly out of the castle and began walking with him toward the Quidditch pitch trying to think how to tell Neville that he knew about his parents. As they walked, Neville seemed to come out of his shock, but his fists remained balled so tightly the skin on his fingers was bone white. Harry didn't know why, exactly, but this alarmed him. Perhaps he ought to just dive in.

"Neville," he began cautiously, "Are you alright? No, I'm sorry that's a dumb question, of course you're not. You can't be, can you? -finding out that the people who did what they did to your parents have escaped..."

Neville whirled, his face white, "You know?"

Harry nodded glumly. "I'm sorry. It must be awful."

Neville snorted derisively and Harry started. He had never seen Neville like this.

"Yes, Harry, it is awful. And it's their fault," he said, his eyes narrowing at the paper still gripped in one fist. His strides grew longer and faster taking him past the field and toward the forest.

"But there isn't really anything you can do about it, is there?" Harry asked jogging to keep up.

"I don't know about that, Harry."

"Neville, you can't be serious!"

"Why not, Harry? You would."

"No, Neville," Harry said quietly, "I would have, before. I know better now."

Neville said nothing.

"Besides, what would you do, exactly? It's not as if you know where they are or anything."

"You haven't really thought about it, have you, Harry?" Neville said harshly, turning to face him.

Harry was bewildered and was about to tell Neville so when he spotted an unpleasantly familiar trio walking toward them. Malfoy and his gorilla-ish henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry braced himself for a confrontation.

"Well, if it isn't Potty and The Longbottom." Malfoy said, his voice dripping contempt. As he saw the paper clutched in Neville's hand a smile curled his lips, "Having a good read, Longbottom? Just awful news, just awful. We're broken up about it, aren't we boys?" Crabbe and Goyle sniggered and glanced back over their shoulders at the forest, sniggering harder.

"Shut it, Malfoy." Harry said threateningly.

"What? Are you and little Longbottom going to make me?"

Harry was thinking, that with Neville in his current mood, they might when Malfoy tossed his head and began to move along. "Enjoy your walk boys and do stay out of the Forest." He said dryly and moved on toward the castle.

Harry shook his head fighting the urge to do something foolish. Neville looked back after them with his eyes narrowed, then turned on his heel and walked in the opposite direction toward the forest. Harry jogged a few steps to catch up, he didn't like the idea of leaving Neville alone in this strange mood. He was just going to suggest to Neville that they turn and head toward Hagrid's cabin when, to his astonishment, Neville walked into the woods.

"Neville!" he called jogging to catch up again, "Have you gone mental? You've been in here. You know why it's forbidden!"

"Harry, I don't really care right now. If you'd like to go back feel free."

Who are you and what have you done with Neville Longbottom? Harry thought.

At Neville's pace they had already come a dangerous distance into the woods very quickly with no signs of stopping. Right now Harry didn't have much faith in Neville's judgement. He'd have to do something. He grabbed Neville's arm and pulled hard to stop his progress.

"Neville, enough! I know you're angry but this is foolish. We're going back!" Neville had whirled as Harry grabbed him and was now scowling up at him. As Harry looked at him, willing him to give in, Neville's expression changed and he got a very odd look on his face.

Harry had a very unpleasant prickling sensation on the back of his neck and he straightened up slowly. Someone was behind him. Before he could turn, however, an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"Not just yet, I think. Neville, is it? And who would your little friend be, Mr. Longbottom?"

Harry turned to face the very haggard, very cold face of a man he did not know. The man looked closely at Harry and his face moved into a hideous smile.

"Ah, see how fortune smiles upon us in these latter days, my darling. I believe we are standing in the presence of the famous Harry Potter."

He was speaking over Harry's shoulder. Harry glanced back to see that a hard-faced woman had moved behind to flank them. The faces looked familiar but Harry did not know who they were.

"You have the advantage of me." Harry said testily.

It was Neville's turn to speak his voice was odd as he said, "The LeStranges."

Of course! Harry had seen them, much younger, in Dumbledore's pensieve the year before. As he looked into the cruel face before him Harry realized that he and Neville were in a great deal of trouble. Somehow, Harry felt it would be better to not show his fear.

"I wish I could say it is a pleasure meeting you," he sneered in his best imitation of Draco Malfoy.

"Tut, Tut, Mr. Potter, such rudeness! Hasn't the Bumble-bore taught you better? Ah, well, no matter. It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter. We've waited quite some time to meet you. In fact, we've undertaken an arduous journey to do just that, haven't we my sweet? You are so important to us, Harry Potter," LeStrange said, leaning so close into Harry's face he could smell his foul breath, "that we came to see you even before returning to our Lord."

Harry repressed a shudder when Mrs. LeStrange spoke from behind him, her breath fetid on his neck, "We thought we'd pick you up and bring you along as a little gift."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Harry said hotly.

"No? Oh Harry, I'm so very disappointed to hear that," Mr. LeStrange said silkily. "What CAN I do to persuade you?" He drew out his wand and, as he did so, Harry felt himself being bound from behind, no doubt by Mrs. LeStrange's wand. Harry looked over to Neville and saw with a thrill of foreboding that he had not been tied. He still stood straight, looking defiantly at Mr. LeStrange. Good for you, Neville, just stay strong, Harry thought.

In the next moment LeStrange had cried "Crucio!" and Neville was writhing on the ground in agony so great he could not even cry out. Harry winced and turned his head to block out the sight, but he felt Mrs. LeStrange's hands forcing his head to turn back. He screwed his eyes shut and Mr. LeStrange laughed, the same kind of cold, mirthless laugh as Voldemort.

Then Neville was whimpering and Harry opened his eyes to see him curled on the ground, breathing hard, no longer under the influence of the Cruciatus Curse.

"Your friend didn't enjoy that, did he Harry Potter? He can tell you that I am prepared to do that do him again and again as often as it takes... his parents would tell you it is not pleasant, if only they could."

"What do you want me to do?" Harry said sourly.

"Ah, that's more like it. Now, see, that's not too hard is it? It really is so much better when you cooperate." Harry glared but said nothing.

"Well, well, Mr. Potter, your appearance here was an unexpected gift, we didn't have much time to prepare for your arrival, although it was certainly considerate of you to save us the trouble of coming to find you. Still, since we cannot apparate off the grounds of this wretched school and as it is still daylight I'm afraid we'll just have to bide our time." With that LeStrange waved his wand lazily and Harry felt something close tightly across his mouth.

Mrs. LeStrange stepped over Neville and stepped to her husband's side.

"Well done, darling, well done. Still, I fear the boy will be missed. How long will it be before those wretched sycophants in Dumbledore's school are out looking for him? We need to conceal ourselves more carefully until nightfall."

"Well thought, dear. And what did you have in mind?"

"As it happens there is a convenient little tunnel under a tree just yards away from the edge of the forest. It leads to a lovely little boarded up hovel on the edge of the town."

"Excellent. Lead on, Lead on!"

Harry felt himself being roughly dragged back up the path toward the edge of the woods. From the noise behind him he guessed Neville was being dragged as well. This is good, he told himself, Someone is bound to see us. We can't all get into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow without anyone noticing. But he was wrong. Harry struggled to avoid being shoved in the tunnel, to attract some attention, but to no avail. No one noticed them being forced into the tunnel any more than they noticed the breeze ruffling the pages of the paper Neville had dropped on the forest floor.



The next thing Harry knew he was waking up on a dusty floor in the Shrieking Shack with a screaming headache. He turned his head on the rough floor and saw Neville lying a short distance away, his eyes rolled back in his head. Harry cringed closing his eyes against the sight. But he forced himself to open them again and look more closely. Yes! He could see Neville's chest rising and falling. He wasn't dead. But he would be soon - and so would Harry - if he didn't think of something.

Harry heard footsteps coming into the room followed by Mrs. LeStrange's voice. "As I suspected, no fireplaces for Floo in this wretched hut. We'll have to wait, since we've discovered we can't apparate with him."

They must have tried after getting here, Harry thought.

"Well, we waited for over a decade, my dear, what are a few hours more?" LeStrange's voice came from behind him. Harry twisted, but couldn't see him.

"Besides," He continued coldly, "We have young Mr. Longbottom for entertainment should we get bored."

Harry shuddered and willed his mind to remain calm. He needed to think, his mind was the only weapon he had right now. Even if he had his wand, which he did not, he certainly couldn't reach it at the moment. Neville wasn't bound, but he was unconscious at best and Harry feared he was badly hurt. Still, Neville was wearing his robes, so he might have his wand. If Neville woke up, he might be their best chance. He must keep watching for even a small sign that Neville was awakening.

While he watched and waited Harry tried to reason out some other options, and it didn't look good. He and Neville had left at breakfast to "go for a walk". It was Sunday, so they weren't due anywhere they would be missed. The first time their absence would be a problem was class in the morning... and that would be much too late.

He didn't know how long it would take Ron and Hermione to notice he and Neville hadn't turned back up. He hoped it would be at lunch, but realistically he wasn't sure it would occur to them there was a problem if they didn't see them then. It was probably more likely that his and Neville's non-appearance at dinner would be noticed by Ron and Hermione. How long would it take them to go to a teacher? Harry winced at this thought. He, Ron, and Hermione didn't have a very good track record of going to teachers when there might be a problem. By the time they did tell a teacher it may well have been dark for quite some time... and probably too late.

Harry began to run through magical solutions in his head. He knew that some skilled witches and wizards could work simple spells with just the incantation - no wand. He also knew that under stress, fear, and anxiety some witches and wizards wound up doing magic by accident without even the incantation. I'm certainly under extreme stress, Harry thought grimly. That might be enough to give an incantation enough power to undo the ropes binding him. The question was, which incantation would do it? He needed to narrow down his options, he didn't expect he could say too many incantations (even from behind the tape over his mouth) without the LeStranges noticing. He also needed to think through what he would do once he was free. He wouldn't have much time. He could go to Neville and grab his wand... if he had one. No, he would need to disarm the LeStranges and use their wands against them. Now he had to figure out how to get untied.