A/N: Yeah, I'm going to try to work steadily on this. It's another one of
my chapters with those major point of view switches every few pages. This
will DEFINITELY be a bit longer than my few previous chapters.
HELP A FANFIC AUTHOR OUT! I have another story that I've started on as a side project, simply because the idea wouldn't vacate my head. Please, if you get a chance, read it. It's called In Pursuit of Greatness. Three guesses as to whom the main character is.
-Anna Dearest
Chapter 15
"Master, please! I tried!" Bellatrix shrieked.
"I have no mercy for those who cannot complete such a simple task. You were told to kill them."
"But the Aurors came! They came! They'd heard of a disturbance in one of the wards."
"Well, what news do you have? Other than your failure, that is?"
"They have their memory back," Bellatrix mumbled, barely audible.
"They what?"
There was a crackle of magic in the air as Voldemort snapped those words. His face was contorted with poorly hidden fury and his snakelike nostrils flared dangerously.
"The Longbottoms..somehow while we were torturing them..their memories returned."
"Bring me their son."
**********
"Er.Professor Dumbledore?" Johnathan asked timidly.
"Yes, John?" the aged wizard asked wearily.
"Your pacing is making everyone nervous," Johnathan mumbled, fidgeting with his robes.
Indeed that was true. For the past half-hour, the Headmaster had been pacing the length of his office, while many of the Defense Team members sat in silence.
"I'm terribly sorry," Dumbledore provided, "but Alastor was supposed to be here an hour ago to bring us any news."
"I wouldn't actually be worried ABOUT him, but more so about whatever situation could be keeping him," Tabetha reassured.
"That is what worries me," Dumbledore sighed. "He rarely keeps anyone waiting, as he sees that as a cause for suspicion himself."
"Where was he supposed to be?" Fox asked from her perch on the back of Johnathan's chair.
"In the Auror department, with Kingsley the last I heard."
"I'll check if you need me to do so," Fox stated.
"No, I'll check myself. I fear something's amiss."
After explaining his plan, Dumbledore set off to the Ministry through the Floo network. He arrived in the near-empty Atrium and made his way to the lifts.
It was quite a shock to find every cubicle in the large room of the Auror department to be empty. Checking with one young filing witch, he found that there was a breach of wards at St. Mungo's.
It took only seconds before the aged wizard Apparated into the quiet white halls of the wizarding hospital.
**********
"Frank! Alice! It's been fifteen years!"
Every Auror in the room had their eyes trained on Frank or Alice. Both of them looked deathly pale, and Alice seemed like she'd lose her newly gained sanity in a moment. Alastor Moody's twisted face looked even more grotesque as his mouth hung open after uttering those simple words.
"F-fifteen y-y-years-s?" Frank stuttered.
"It'll be fifteen years exactly tomorrow," Moody whispered.
"How?"
"I believe, Alastor, that after what has just happened here, that you would agree this ward is not a safe conversation point?" a very aged, yet very wise seeming voice said from behind the crowd of Ministry Aurors. The crowd parted, revealing Albus Dumbledore, in all his violet-robed glory, staring with slightly widened eyes at the two former pupils before him.
"Al-bus," Frank choked out. "Tell me this isn't true!"
"I'm afraid so, Frank. However, I feel that, as I have already stated, this is not the best place for such a conversation as I'm sure is about to follow."
"What do we do?" Moody growled out, becoming suspicious and paranoid once more.
"You need to report back to the Ministry. Tell them everything is under control. Meanwhile, I'll be at Hogwarts if I'm needed," the elderly headmaster said. "Frank? Alice? I believe that it is time for our departure."
"To Hogwarts?" Alice asked quietly, speaking for the first time.
"To Hogwarts," Dumbledore nodded.
Frank and Alice took tentative steps towards their former mentor.
When he was halfway across the white walled room, Frank's world began to spin before his eyes. More and more memories continued to choke him as the room became a whirlpool of color in his vision. Feeling his legs begin to give out, Frank made a move for one of the nearest bedposts.
The world went black around him.
**********
"Good evening, young Mr. Longbottom. I trust you slept horribly?" Voldemort sneered coldly.
Neville didn't respond. The young Longbottom stood before the Dark Lord, not stepping down, but not responding either. This only seemed to anger Voldemort more than his current state, and Neville's skin began to burn with an invisible fire as the Cruciatus Curse was placed on his young body once again.
"Longbottom, when I speak to you, you shall answer. If you haven't learned this simple courtesy, I can guarantee you will."
"Master, forgive me," Houghton Wise spoke up, "but what is the use of keeping the boy? Of course, other than his use as a play thing."
"Longbottom here has a purpose that I won't reveal to you, nor anyone, at the moment. I believe I have learned THAT lesson." The Dark Lord greatly emphasized 'that,' casting contemptuous glances at Pettigrew all the while. "In the mean time, you're absolutely correct. This boy's Gryffindor pride makes him quite a good 'play thing,' as you put it."
Voldemort paused here, allowing his speech to sink into the Death Eater's thick skulls. He was, in a very indirect manner, letting them know that Longbottom was free for all of them to torture.
"Longbottom, your parents had the same Gryffindor pride. It's a shame how they ended up. It's also a shame that you should be in this..situation..when they gain some semblance of sanity."
At this, Neville finally chose to look up into the cold red eyes, eyes that were unmerciful, unforgiving. Those were the eyes of a man who had completely turned away from the path of good. They were the eyes of a murderer.
"Yes, Longbottom. Your dear mother and father seem to have slipped away from a select few," he paused to glance the Lestranges' way, "of my trusted Death Eaters. Never fear though, dear boy, for we know where they are. And truth be told, you'll all end up in the same place in the end."
**********
"Should we wake him?"
"What should we do?"
"This is the most sleep he's gotten in years, I don't want to wake him."
"Should we just let him wake up in his own time?"
"I don't know, after all, you're supposed to be the expert!"
"I am no such thing, thank you very little!"
"He'll wake up in his own time I suppose. For now, let's just let him rest."
Voices spun in Frank's very unclear world. He heard them, but only his subconscious seemed to register their meaning. They were talking about him.
"SH! I think he's waking up! Frank, dear, can you hear us?"
'Oh no,' Frank thought bitterly. '..Mum.'
"Um.Mrs. Longbottom?"
"Yes, Ms. Riddle?" the voice of Frank's formidable grandmother asked coolly.
"You may want to back away, I believe your son is about to lose the lunch I'm not quite sure he ever had," the voice replied, not flinching under the woman's tone.
Sure enough, Frank soon found what little contents were in his stomach were coming back up. He felt nauseous, and his head spun terribly. A cold sweat was drenching his brow, and he could vaguely feel someone pressing a cool cloth to his skin.
"Where am I?" Frank asked groggily. He cracked his eyes open, only to shut them again in the bright light. Feeling a bit brave, he opened them slightly a second time. Blurry figures swam around him, at least six of them surrounding the soft thing he was laying on.
"You're in the Hogwarts infirmary, dear," a motherly, yet stern tone told him. It didn't take much to figure out that that voice meant he'd be there for a while.
"Wha-? How? Where's Alice?" he asked, snapping upright.
"In the bed to your left," a voice said that he did not recognize. Turning towards it, he found a girl of about fifteen of sixteen years was eyeing him quite warily.
Frank leaned to the side slightly so that he could see Alice's pale form lying quite peacefully in the bed beside his. He then turned his eyes to the other occupants of the room. It turned out that the one sponging his forehead was the strict nurse, Madam Pomfrey, who he remembered from his own Hogwarts days. Just towards the nurse's left was his mother. Beside her was Frank's former coworker, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Shuffling his feet beside him was Remus Lupin, who gazed intently at him. And right beside him was-
"Black!" Frank shouted, frightening himself out of his dazed state.
Madam Pomfrey hastily shoved Frank down onto the mattress, a little more forcibly than she'd intended. She kept one hand on his shoulder and shot him a glare, as though daring him to try to get up.
"What is he doing here?" Frank hissed, aiming a kick at the murderer.
"He's here because he's on our side," Remus said quietly.
"WHAT?!?!?" Frank shouted. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT, REMUS? YOU OF ALL PEOPLE!"
"Because I know what happened now, Frank," Remus replied sternly.
"Yes, but that story can be saved for later. For now, my patient needs rest!" Madam Pomfrey said, her voice carrying the order to 'clear out.'
"I'm not going anywhere," the elder Mrs. Longbottom said tersely, before settling herself in a chair between the two beds.
"Very well," Pomfrey sighed. "I suppose I can't force you out, but the rest of you.shoo! Go! I'm sure there's something you can do besides rile up my patients."
"Yes ma'am," Remus said hastily, herding the others out of the hospital wing door.
"Drink this," Madam Pomfrey said, handing him a goblet of foul-smelling liquid. He looked at the nurse questioningly, but she just shook her head. "Drink it, Frank. I'm sure it'll help, especially with the headache I'm sure you have."
Pinching his nose, Frank downed the contents of the goblet.
As he drifted off to sleep, one thought ran across his mind:
What had happened to Neville?
**********
"So, Fox," Dumbledore inquired pleasantly, "How was Mr. Longbottom?"
"Confused to say the least," Fox replied. "He seems to have trouble coping with the fact that things have..um, changed."
"I see. What were his reactions to those present?"
"He seemed very calm, and to be taking it quite well until he caught sight of Sirius. You see, he still thinks that he killed all of those people. And according to what he said to Remus, he still believes that he betrayed the Potters."
"Indeed." The Headmaster let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm getting too old for this," he mumbled.
"You're only as old as you feel," Fox replied mock pleasantly.
"In that case, we're both about twice as old as we really are. I even forget about your superb hearing, as you weren't supposed to hear that comment."
"Obviously."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, but it's a question. What will be done? The Longbottoms have missed fifteen years of their life, and now their son is in the hands of Death Eaters. Needless to say, they'll not be happy."
"This is very true."
"Then, what's the plan?"
"I suppose we'll just have to cope, and along the way, we'll have to help Frank and Alice. All of us. However, this is, for the most part, their fight."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did they regain their..selves?"
"You see, the Cruciatus Curse is very powerful magic. It can stir things within the very soul. It just happened that Bellatrix Lestrange stirred memories of a long forgotten life."
"Was it the memory of it happening before that brought it back?"
"It could have been," Dumbledore sighed, "but I suppose that this is one of the mysteries that will never be completely solved."
APOLOGY: I may not be able to update for another two weeks, as I'll be in the hospital off and on. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll try to update whenever I can.
A/N: Please review. I love suggestions from you all. Also, don't hesitate to email questions that you might not want posted in an actual review. Also, if you are up to it, I'll really love it if anyone would read my other story I've started as a side project. Thanks for the reviews so far! -Anna Dearest
HELP A FANFIC AUTHOR OUT! I have another story that I've started on as a side project, simply because the idea wouldn't vacate my head. Please, if you get a chance, read it. It's called In Pursuit of Greatness. Three guesses as to whom the main character is.
-Anna Dearest
Chapter 15
"Master, please! I tried!" Bellatrix shrieked.
"I have no mercy for those who cannot complete such a simple task. You were told to kill them."
"But the Aurors came! They came! They'd heard of a disturbance in one of the wards."
"Well, what news do you have? Other than your failure, that is?"
"They have their memory back," Bellatrix mumbled, barely audible.
"They what?"
There was a crackle of magic in the air as Voldemort snapped those words. His face was contorted with poorly hidden fury and his snakelike nostrils flared dangerously.
"The Longbottoms..somehow while we were torturing them..their memories returned."
"Bring me their son."
**********
"Er.Professor Dumbledore?" Johnathan asked timidly.
"Yes, John?" the aged wizard asked wearily.
"Your pacing is making everyone nervous," Johnathan mumbled, fidgeting with his robes.
Indeed that was true. For the past half-hour, the Headmaster had been pacing the length of his office, while many of the Defense Team members sat in silence.
"I'm terribly sorry," Dumbledore provided, "but Alastor was supposed to be here an hour ago to bring us any news."
"I wouldn't actually be worried ABOUT him, but more so about whatever situation could be keeping him," Tabetha reassured.
"That is what worries me," Dumbledore sighed. "He rarely keeps anyone waiting, as he sees that as a cause for suspicion himself."
"Where was he supposed to be?" Fox asked from her perch on the back of Johnathan's chair.
"In the Auror department, with Kingsley the last I heard."
"I'll check if you need me to do so," Fox stated.
"No, I'll check myself. I fear something's amiss."
After explaining his plan, Dumbledore set off to the Ministry through the Floo network. He arrived in the near-empty Atrium and made his way to the lifts.
It was quite a shock to find every cubicle in the large room of the Auror department to be empty. Checking with one young filing witch, he found that there was a breach of wards at St. Mungo's.
It took only seconds before the aged wizard Apparated into the quiet white halls of the wizarding hospital.
**********
"Frank! Alice! It's been fifteen years!"
Every Auror in the room had their eyes trained on Frank or Alice. Both of them looked deathly pale, and Alice seemed like she'd lose her newly gained sanity in a moment. Alastor Moody's twisted face looked even more grotesque as his mouth hung open after uttering those simple words.
"F-fifteen y-y-years-s?" Frank stuttered.
"It'll be fifteen years exactly tomorrow," Moody whispered.
"How?"
"I believe, Alastor, that after what has just happened here, that you would agree this ward is not a safe conversation point?" a very aged, yet very wise seeming voice said from behind the crowd of Ministry Aurors. The crowd parted, revealing Albus Dumbledore, in all his violet-robed glory, staring with slightly widened eyes at the two former pupils before him.
"Al-bus," Frank choked out. "Tell me this isn't true!"
"I'm afraid so, Frank. However, I feel that, as I have already stated, this is not the best place for such a conversation as I'm sure is about to follow."
"What do we do?" Moody growled out, becoming suspicious and paranoid once more.
"You need to report back to the Ministry. Tell them everything is under control. Meanwhile, I'll be at Hogwarts if I'm needed," the elderly headmaster said. "Frank? Alice? I believe that it is time for our departure."
"To Hogwarts?" Alice asked quietly, speaking for the first time.
"To Hogwarts," Dumbledore nodded.
Frank and Alice took tentative steps towards their former mentor.
When he was halfway across the white walled room, Frank's world began to spin before his eyes. More and more memories continued to choke him as the room became a whirlpool of color in his vision. Feeling his legs begin to give out, Frank made a move for one of the nearest bedposts.
The world went black around him.
**********
"Good evening, young Mr. Longbottom. I trust you slept horribly?" Voldemort sneered coldly.
Neville didn't respond. The young Longbottom stood before the Dark Lord, not stepping down, but not responding either. This only seemed to anger Voldemort more than his current state, and Neville's skin began to burn with an invisible fire as the Cruciatus Curse was placed on his young body once again.
"Longbottom, when I speak to you, you shall answer. If you haven't learned this simple courtesy, I can guarantee you will."
"Master, forgive me," Houghton Wise spoke up, "but what is the use of keeping the boy? Of course, other than his use as a play thing."
"Longbottom here has a purpose that I won't reveal to you, nor anyone, at the moment. I believe I have learned THAT lesson." The Dark Lord greatly emphasized 'that,' casting contemptuous glances at Pettigrew all the while. "In the mean time, you're absolutely correct. This boy's Gryffindor pride makes him quite a good 'play thing,' as you put it."
Voldemort paused here, allowing his speech to sink into the Death Eater's thick skulls. He was, in a very indirect manner, letting them know that Longbottom was free for all of them to torture.
"Longbottom, your parents had the same Gryffindor pride. It's a shame how they ended up. It's also a shame that you should be in this..situation..when they gain some semblance of sanity."
At this, Neville finally chose to look up into the cold red eyes, eyes that were unmerciful, unforgiving. Those were the eyes of a man who had completely turned away from the path of good. They were the eyes of a murderer.
"Yes, Longbottom. Your dear mother and father seem to have slipped away from a select few," he paused to glance the Lestranges' way, "of my trusted Death Eaters. Never fear though, dear boy, for we know where they are. And truth be told, you'll all end up in the same place in the end."
**********
"Should we wake him?"
"What should we do?"
"This is the most sleep he's gotten in years, I don't want to wake him."
"Should we just let him wake up in his own time?"
"I don't know, after all, you're supposed to be the expert!"
"I am no such thing, thank you very little!"
"He'll wake up in his own time I suppose. For now, let's just let him rest."
Voices spun in Frank's very unclear world. He heard them, but only his subconscious seemed to register their meaning. They were talking about him.
"SH! I think he's waking up! Frank, dear, can you hear us?"
'Oh no,' Frank thought bitterly. '..Mum.'
"Um.Mrs. Longbottom?"
"Yes, Ms. Riddle?" the voice of Frank's formidable grandmother asked coolly.
"You may want to back away, I believe your son is about to lose the lunch I'm not quite sure he ever had," the voice replied, not flinching under the woman's tone.
Sure enough, Frank soon found what little contents were in his stomach were coming back up. He felt nauseous, and his head spun terribly. A cold sweat was drenching his brow, and he could vaguely feel someone pressing a cool cloth to his skin.
"Where am I?" Frank asked groggily. He cracked his eyes open, only to shut them again in the bright light. Feeling a bit brave, he opened them slightly a second time. Blurry figures swam around him, at least six of them surrounding the soft thing he was laying on.
"You're in the Hogwarts infirmary, dear," a motherly, yet stern tone told him. It didn't take much to figure out that that voice meant he'd be there for a while.
"Wha-? How? Where's Alice?" he asked, snapping upright.
"In the bed to your left," a voice said that he did not recognize. Turning towards it, he found a girl of about fifteen of sixteen years was eyeing him quite warily.
Frank leaned to the side slightly so that he could see Alice's pale form lying quite peacefully in the bed beside his. He then turned his eyes to the other occupants of the room. It turned out that the one sponging his forehead was the strict nurse, Madam Pomfrey, who he remembered from his own Hogwarts days. Just towards the nurse's left was his mother. Beside her was Frank's former coworker, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Shuffling his feet beside him was Remus Lupin, who gazed intently at him. And right beside him was-
"Black!" Frank shouted, frightening himself out of his dazed state.
Madam Pomfrey hastily shoved Frank down onto the mattress, a little more forcibly than she'd intended. She kept one hand on his shoulder and shot him a glare, as though daring him to try to get up.
"What is he doing here?" Frank hissed, aiming a kick at the murderer.
"He's here because he's on our side," Remus said quietly.
"WHAT?!?!?" Frank shouted. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT, REMUS? YOU OF ALL PEOPLE!"
"Because I know what happened now, Frank," Remus replied sternly.
"Yes, but that story can be saved for later. For now, my patient needs rest!" Madam Pomfrey said, her voice carrying the order to 'clear out.'
"I'm not going anywhere," the elder Mrs. Longbottom said tersely, before settling herself in a chair between the two beds.
"Very well," Pomfrey sighed. "I suppose I can't force you out, but the rest of you.shoo! Go! I'm sure there's something you can do besides rile up my patients."
"Yes ma'am," Remus said hastily, herding the others out of the hospital wing door.
"Drink this," Madam Pomfrey said, handing him a goblet of foul-smelling liquid. He looked at the nurse questioningly, but she just shook her head. "Drink it, Frank. I'm sure it'll help, especially with the headache I'm sure you have."
Pinching his nose, Frank downed the contents of the goblet.
As he drifted off to sleep, one thought ran across his mind:
What had happened to Neville?
**********
"So, Fox," Dumbledore inquired pleasantly, "How was Mr. Longbottom?"
"Confused to say the least," Fox replied. "He seems to have trouble coping with the fact that things have..um, changed."
"I see. What were his reactions to those present?"
"He seemed very calm, and to be taking it quite well until he caught sight of Sirius. You see, he still thinks that he killed all of those people. And according to what he said to Remus, he still believes that he betrayed the Potters."
"Indeed." The Headmaster let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm getting too old for this," he mumbled.
"You're only as old as you feel," Fox replied mock pleasantly.
"In that case, we're both about twice as old as we really are. I even forget about your superb hearing, as you weren't supposed to hear that comment."
"Obviously."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, but it's a question. What will be done? The Longbottoms have missed fifteen years of their life, and now their son is in the hands of Death Eaters. Needless to say, they'll not be happy."
"This is very true."
"Then, what's the plan?"
"I suppose we'll just have to cope, and along the way, we'll have to help Frank and Alice. All of us. However, this is, for the most part, their fight."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did they regain their..selves?"
"You see, the Cruciatus Curse is very powerful magic. It can stir things within the very soul. It just happened that Bellatrix Lestrange stirred memories of a long forgotten life."
"Was it the memory of it happening before that brought it back?"
"It could have been," Dumbledore sighed, "but I suppose that this is one of the mysteries that will never be completely solved."
APOLOGY: I may not be able to update for another two weeks, as I'll be in the hospital off and on. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll try to update whenever I can.
A/N: Please review. I love suggestions from you all. Also, don't hesitate to email questions that you might not want posted in an actual review. Also, if you are up to it, I'll really love it if anyone would read my other story I've started as a side project. Thanks for the reviews so far! -Anna Dearest