Disclaimer: All characters with the exception of Mr. McCammons and Mr. Jackoby are the property of J. K. Rowling.
Author's Note: In the process of writing this story it has become obvious that the main character, Harry Potter, does not appear as often as he is supposed to. This is because I don't really enjoy writing from his point of view, my favourite characters are Ron and Hermione, which is why this story seems to be centered around them.
I am not prepared to change the story, I have already gotten the main events set out in mind, because of this, I feel even though it's a fifth year fic, it does not deserve the title, Harry Potter and The Body Snatcher. The term "Body Snatcher" also sounds a bit corny, so on posting of the next chapter, the fic shall simply be known as "The Harvest of Souls".
I'm informing you of this to prevent any inconvenience on your part. If there's anyone who thinks otherwise, please feel free to leave your comments in a review or by a direct letter.
Another thing, I've been so busy with Hermione and Ron that I've left out some other key characters, so this chapter is supposed to make up for that. So on with it!
The Harvest of Souls; Chapter 7:
The sweat glittered on Neville's bare chest as he took a long swing of his bottle. Twenty miles in ten minutes, not bad. He began to jog up the hill to his home, and blushed slightly as eyes inspected him and gave their approval. He didn't want to admit it, but the summer had been good to him, his torso showed firmer lines where there used to be nothing, his features were more chiseled and his voice had deepened. He ran faster.
The back door of the old Victorian style house was the appointed entrance into the house after his daily run, Granny didn't want sweat slopping all over her rugs. Before he showered, he visited the green house. Convincing Granny to get it had been a war, but fierce determination prevailed, plus good Herbology marks.
"How waa my wittle poopies dowing?" he cooed, "Did you miss me? Huh? Did you miss daddy?" If only his friends could hear him now, he flushed slightly at the thought. "Neville?" He turned around and saw his grandmother, flanked by two men, they looked like ministry officials. "Neville, I'ld like you to meet Mr. McCammmons and Jackoby." The men raised their pointed hats as their names were called.
Martha Longbottoms eyes were red and swollen, She's been crying, he realised with surprise. "Gran? Gran, what's wrong?" "Mr. Longbottom," one of the men begun, "We're hear to express our-" "No." the old lady cut in, "I should be the one to tell him. Thank you for coming." They bowed and disapparated.
Something was very very wrong. "Gran," Neville said, "Please tell me what's happened." The old lady took short breaths trying to study herself, "Neville, it's Frank and Lisa (I'm not sure if Neville's mother's name is actually Lisa, please drop me a review and tell me if it is)." At the mention of his parents, Neville realised the obvious truth, but he battled against it.
"Why? What about mum and dad?" "Their dead, Neville! Some mad man broke into their room and tore them to pieces!" She hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but she just had to release all the pain and anger she had kept bottled up for so long. Ever since he was old enough to understand what had been done to his parents, Neville had dreaded this day. But somehow, he knew it was inevitable, it had to happen one day.
But still he had always imagined that once he heard the news, he would wail and go around trashing things and all in all give them a fitting going away show, but Neville just stood, and stared. He had done his crying a long time ago. The old lady managed to get a grip on herself, "This is what's left of them." She shakingly lifted up a miniature metal box containing the ashes of Frank and Elizabeth Longbottom, trying-and failing to maintain the cool-never flinching-tough as nails attitude Martha Longbottom was known to have, without warning she hurled the box at the glass shielding the enclosure, it gave way. "Damn you Frank! Damn you!" she screamed, and ran out of the greenhouse.
The glass cracked into even tinnier pieces as he made his way over to where the box had landed. The setting sun lined his grim face and made his impressive features stand out even more. His parents had met their end before their lives had even began. They had been destroyed for the sake of good. Neville sat on the grass, raised his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms around them, rocking back and forth.
Voldemort was going to pay.
Madame Maxime and Hagrid continued to stare at the giantess Fridwulfa. "Son?" she rasped again. "Beg your pardon?" was all Hagrid could get out.
"AWWW!" bellowed Fridwulfa and sailed clear across the room to grab Hagrid in a death-grip hug, "AWWW HAGRID! I'VE WAITED SO SO LONG FOR THIS DAY!" The half-giant remained silent, partly because of the shock(hey, it's not everyday a full grown giant claims you as her long lost son) and also because he was gradually getting the life crushed out of him.
"I…can'd….. breeeeeeed!" "Oh, sorry about that." She dropped Hagrid and Madame Maxime rushed to his side. Twenty minutes later, Hagrid could breathe normally enough and his face had stopped turning different shades of red and purple.
He sat across the cave floor and stared at Friwulfa, who looked back with wet pouting lips and eyes fogged with delight. "Well, won't you come and give mommy a hug?" Hagrid winced at his aching sides, "No thanks." A long period of uneasy silence prevailed for some time, "So," Hagrid begun, "Yer me long lost mum." "Oh yes, sugar plum! And mommy's gonna hold you and love you and you're gonna love me back and-"
"Love you?" His voice was surprisingly sharp, "I hate you!" Fridwulfa blinked in surprise, "But-" "But nothin'! Yer left Pa and I to fend for ourselves, yer left us and yer didn't even bother to write, or call. Yer waited for me to come all the way up here, and yer actually expect me to feel anything for yer? Well yer've got another thing comin'!"
Hagrid jumped up and barreled past his mother into the hole leading deeper into the cave. "Darling come back!" she screamed and went after him, leaving Madame Maxime to ask herself what had just happened.
"Master," a death-eater bowed low before Voldemort, we got something in one of the traps, should I bring it in?" The Dark Lord nodded and a large glass sphere was carried into his chamber. The death-eaters set it on a pedestal in front of Voldemort. Inside the sphere a dark shade writhed in rage. It pushed against its glass prison and shrieked with fury when It was assaulted by rays of scalding light.
"Please don't bother," Voldemort grinned in amusement, "You know as well as I do that you can't get out." The creature snarled at him, but became relatively less active. "How did I get hear? Why am I hear?" It's voice was hoarse and throaty, like it hadn't spoken for quite some time. "I instructed my followers to set detectors in prime locations, detectors that would alert me of any intruders with enough magic to cause any…disturbances…for me."
He sat for a moment and looked at the creature, this was no shade, shades couldn't communicate with such ease, it was just too painful. "Who, or what are you and what are you capable of?" Surprisingly, the creature grinned, or at least he thought he saw the shapeless black mass grin, "Release me in your dungeon, I can tell you are not exactly the most law abiding person. Release me into the mass of the sick and the useless, then I can show you." Voldemort thought for a whole and nodded to one of his death-eaters.
An hour later…
The "shade" was now floating lazily in its enclosure, radiating pure bliss and content. In assorted corners, death-eaters were depositing the contents of their stomachs. Voldemort stared at the crystal ball detachedly, a plan forming, "Tell me," he finally whispered, "How would you like to stay around for a while?"
The darkness grinned.
A/N: I want to thank all my readers for tolerating me to this time, I want to assure you that this is where the story really takes off, so in about a chapter or two you can expect some real action. My arms are stiff from typing this chapter, so please make it worthwhile by dropping a review? Please? Thanks!