*The characters within are not my own creation.
Chapter 2: United at The Order
The old house was just as ominous as it had always been, despite it being home to the largest association of good wizards in the world. Neville hurried through the halls, careful not to disturb the painting of Sirius' mother. As he entered the kitchen, Neville was yet again surprised at what he saw. Everything was absolutely normal; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Seamus were just about to sit down to eat dinner. It was as if there was no reason for Neville to be there at all. This caused him to be slightly disappointed because it had been a very long time since he had been needed by someone other than his wife and child. He had been buried in paperwork at Gringott's ever since the last time he was called into duty for The Order, and he had hoped that this would be another chance to escape the monotony of life. Every wizard's life had become routine in the past five years' ever since The Order celebrated its greatest victory of defeating the Dark Lord Voldemort. But now that he glanced around the place, Neville sensed no urgency, no real need for him to have been called into duty.
"Hey, Neville. What are you doing here so late at night?" Hermione asked.
"I just received a letter from Hedwig saying that The Order needed me. It seemed pretty urgent, so I came over here as soon as I could," Neville explained to them all. As he said this, he noticed that his four friends just looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Neville, I haven't sent you anything tonight, and Hedwig has been in the house the whole night," Harry said. "Did anyone else send Neville the letter?"
They all said no. Neville wondered if he should mention the fact that the letter was written in his own handwriting and not that of one of the other senior members of The Order who usually wrote the messages. As if he were reading Neville's mind, Harry asked if he could see the letter that Neville had received. Neville handed the paper to Harry and watched his eyes as they scanned it. After reviewing it for about a minute, Harry slowly looked up at Neville. Harry started to pass the paper around the little group so the others could see. His expression told Neville that this was probably more serious than they had thought.
"Neville, how did you say you got this?" asked Seamus after reading what was clearly Neville's handwriting.
"Hedwig brought it to me when I was about to enter my house. I had been with my parents, but they were sleeping so I decided to go home."
"You realize this is Neville's handwriting, right Harry?" Ron questioned.
"Of course he knows its Neville's handwriting. We went to school with him for seven years, and have had to read his handwriting for another ten after that!" Hermione exclaimed. It seemed that she was a little on edge that evening, but that was to be expected since her first child was almost a month overdue.
"Let's try and relax, honey. I just wanted to point it out since no one else had," Ron retorted calmly, knowing that Hermione was already stressed enough without him arguing with her.
"We better look into this, guys," Harry stated. "It may seem that Neville could've written this just so he could come out here and see us –"
"Hey!"
"—but I think that something serious is behind this. How else do you explain Hedwig being involved?"
"Well what can we do about it? Right now all we know is that I got a curious letter, supposedly from myself, and that's it!"
"We could scan your brain to see if you went insane, stole Harry's owl, wrote yourself a letter, then sent it to yourself," Seamus suggested. "Wait, how would he have stolen Hedwig without us hearing, though?"
"See this is serious, Seamus. We aren't dealing with Neville going crazy."
Neville moved to sit down at the large table with the rest of the gang. As he did, a tea cup floated down from the shelf and instantly filled itself with steaming ginseng tea, Neville's favorite. They all sat in silence for about half an hour, all pondering what they should do about the whole situation. A few ideas were thrown out half-heartedly as the speaker realized the idea was terribly flawed. Neville was about to open his mouth to say something when the screaming voice of Sirius' mother echoed throughout every part of the house. All of them shot up from the table and ran out into the corridor, only to smack right into a rain soaked Professor McGonagall. Before she could even speak, screaming of another kind could be heard from upstairs and Harry rushed up as quickly as he could. When he came back down, he was holding a girl of about five and a half years old.
"You woke up Priscilla, Professor, when you startled Sirius' mother," Harry said as he comforted his daughter.
"So sorry. I came as soon as I could," she gasped, apparently out of breath. "Wasn't safe for me to send an owl...could've been intercepted...don't want world to know...not yet," McGonagall continued on between huge breaths.
"What're you talking about, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"I have a feeling this might be connected to my letter," Neville stated with apprehension.
"Harry, Professor Dumbledore's been found dead in his office! It appears he was murdered!" was all McGonagall could get out before she fainted on the ground from exhaustion.
Chapter 2: United at The Order
The old house was just as ominous as it had always been, despite it being home to the largest association of good wizards in the world. Neville hurried through the halls, careful not to disturb the painting of Sirius' mother. As he entered the kitchen, Neville was yet again surprised at what he saw. Everything was absolutely normal; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Seamus were just about to sit down to eat dinner. It was as if there was no reason for Neville to be there at all. This caused him to be slightly disappointed because it had been a very long time since he had been needed by someone other than his wife and child. He had been buried in paperwork at Gringott's ever since the last time he was called into duty for The Order, and he had hoped that this would be another chance to escape the monotony of life. Every wizard's life had become routine in the past five years' ever since The Order celebrated its greatest victory of defeating the Dark Lord Voldemort. But now that he glanced around the place, Neville sensed no urgency, no real need for him to have been called into duty.
"Hey, Neville. What are you doing here so late at night?" Hermione asked.
"I just received a letter from Hedwig saying that The Order needed me. It seemed pretty urgent, so I came over here as soon as I could," Neville explained to them all. As he said this, he noticed that his four friends just looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Neville, I haven't sent you anything tonight, and Hedwig has been in the house the whole night," Harry said. "Did anyone else send Neville the letter?"
They all said no. Neville wondered if he should mention the fact that the letter was written in his own handwriting and not that of one of the other senior members of The Order who usually wrote the messages. As if he were reading Neville's mind, Harry asked if he could see the letter that Neville had received. Neville handed the paper to Harry and watched his eyes as they scanned it. After reviewing it for about a minute, Harry slowly looked up at Neville. Harry started to pass the paper around the little group so the others could see. His expression told Neville that this was probably more serious than they had thought.
"Neville, how did you say you got this?" asked Seamus after reading what was clearly Neville's handwriting.
"Hedwig brought it to me when I was about to enter my house. I had been with my parents, but they were sleeping so I decided to go home."
"You realize this is Neville's handwriting, right Harry?" Ron questioned.
"Of course he knows its Neville's handwriting. We went to school with him for seven years, and have had to read his handwriting for another ten after that!" Hermione exclaimed. It seemed that she was a little on edge that evening, but that was to be expected since her first child was almost a month overdue.
"Let's try and relax, honey. I just wanted to point it out since no one else had," Ron retorted calmly, knowing that Hermione was already stressed enough without him arguing with her.
"We better look into this, guys," Harry stated. "It may seem that Neville could've written this just so he could come out here and see us –"
"Hey!"
"—but I think that something serious is behind this. How else do you explain Hedwig being involved?"
"Well what can we do about it? Right now all we know is that I got a curious letter, supposedly from myself, and that's it!"
"We could scan your brain to see if you went insane, stole Harry's owl, wrote yourself a letter, then sent it to yourself," Seamus suggested. "Wait, how would he have stolen Hedwig without us hearing, though?"
"See this is serious, Seamus. We aren't dealing with Neville going crazy."
Neville moved to sit down at the large table with the rest of the gang. As he did, a tea cup floated down from the shelf and instantly filled itself with steaming ginseng tea, Neville's favorite. They all sat in silence for about half an hour, all pondering what they should do about the whole situation. A few ideas were thrown out half-heartedly as the speaker realized the idea was terribly flawed. Neville was about to open his mouth to say something when the screaming voice of Sirius' mother echoed throughout every part of the house. All of them shot up from the table and ran out into the corridor, only to smack right into a rain soaked Professor McGonagall. Before she could even speak, screaming of another kind could be heard from upstairs and Harry rushed up as quickly as he could. When he came back down, he was holding a girl of about five and a half years old.
"You woke up Priscilla, Professor, when you startled Sirius' mother," Harry said as he comforted his daughter.
"So sorry. I came as soon as I could," she gasped, apparently out of breath. "Wasn't safe for me to send an owl...could've been intercepted...don't want world to know...not yet," McGonagall continued on between huge breaths.
"What're you talking about, Professor?" Hermione asked.
"I have a feeling this might be connected to my letter," Neville stated with apprehension.
"Harry, Professor Dumbledore's been found dead in his office! It appears he was murdered!" was all McGonagall could get out before she fainted on the ground from exhaustion.