"You've been practicing Legilimency?" Professor Dumbledore asked sharply.
Harry looked that the Headmaster defiantly. "Yes, sir. We have."
"Why?" Professor Dumbledore asked simply.
Neville looked at Harry curiously. He had been practicing with Harry for five months now, and he still wasn't sure of Harry's reasons for learning.
"Because I want to feel like I'm in control, sir," Harry told him.
"I see," the professor said, staring at his hands. "Do you feel like you are in control?"
Harry stayed silent for a moment. "I feel like I'm more in control. I haven't been having as many nightmares lately. That's something."
"He hasn't, sir," Neville said.
Professor Dumbledore continued to stare at his hands. "Harry, have you told Neville about the prophecy?"
Harry looked at Neville and blinked quickly. "I told him about the parts he need to know, sir."
Neville looked at Harry feeling confused. There was more to the prophecy than Harry told him? What did he leave out?
Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Harry, I cannot stop you from teaching yourself Legilimency. Nor, can I stop Neville from being willing to help you. You should be glad that Mister Longbottom is willing to assist like he has."
"I am, sir," Harry said quickly.
"And your vision helped us a great deal. We knew where some of the attacks were that night, but not all of them. You provided the last pieces of the puzzle," Professor Dumbledore admitted.
"If you plan on continuing your practice sessions, I would ask that you do so in a controlled environment. I would ask that Professor Snape monitor your progress," the Headmaster stated.
Harry slumped his shoulders. "We're doing fine on our own," he protested.
"Harry, since helping you with Occlumency, Professor Snape's Legilimency has improved a great deal. I believe that he can help you learn faster," Professor Dumbledore said.
"So now I have to have Occlumency and Legilimency lessons with him?" Harry asked mutinously.
"Yes," Professor Dumbledore said.
Harry threw up his hands. "Fine," he muttered under his breath.
Neville was suddenly nervous about practicing with Professor Snape. Even though his potions work had been much better this year, thanks to the Reluctum Potion, the Professor still made him nervous.
Professor Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "Professor Snape has been, shall we say, preoccupied lately. But I know he will find time for the lessons. Let us say Tuesday night at six o'clock to start."
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"Show yourself!" Frank Longbottom's voice said confidently, wand at the ready.
Five Death Eaters appeared in front of Frank and Alice Longbottom, masks on and wands out. "Seize him!" A high-pitched voice cried.
"Stupefy!" A deeper voice yelled. The spell hit Alice Longbottom and started falling to the floor, but two Death Eaters caught her.
"Where is our Master? You know where he is!" Rodolphus Lestrange yelled.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix Lestrange shouted, pointing her wand at Alice Longbottom. Alice fell to the floor, twitching. Her husband Frank struggled with the Death Eaters restraining him.
"Please! Leave her alone. We don't know anything!" Frank Longbottom cried.
"Where is our Lord?" Rodolphus screamed. Alice was still shaking on the floor.
"Stop this!" Frank yelled.
"Enough, place the curse on him," Barty Crouch, Jr. said.
Rodolphus raised his want to Frank and screamed "Crucio!" Frank fell to the ground, next to his wife. Together they screamed. Bellatrix and Rodolphus yelled "Crucio!" again, and the twitching became more violent.
Another Death Eater grabbed Bellatrix by the arm. "If you don't stop now, they will not be able to give us any information."
Bellatrix laughed, "I don't think they have anything for us…"
The Death Eaters watched for over ten minutes. "They are now in no shape to talk," the Death Eater said, looking at the bodies of the two Aurors.
Suddenly, all the Death Eaters stopped. They had heard a baby cry…
"Kill the child!" Bellatrix screamed.
"You're not killing a baby," a Death Eater said, picking the baby, who looked about fifteen months old. The baby had a round face and wouldn't stop crying.
"Yes I am!" Bellatrix roared, pointing her wand at the baby.
The Death Eater raised his hand. "You will not," he said firmly.
The Death Eater told the child, "You should not have had to witness that." He pointed his wand at the child and whispered "Oblivate." The child started crying louder. The Death Eater concentrated, and tried to wipe the memory from the child's mind.
Bellatrix laughed loudly, "Oh wonderful idea!" She pointed her wand at the baby and screamed, "Oblivate!" before anyone could stop her. There was a flash of light and suddenly the child stopped crying. He had a blank look in his eyes.
The Death Eater looked at her. "Now he'll never remember anything," she said gleefully.
The four other Death Eaters left the room laughing. The remaining Death Eater took off his hood and looked at the child.
The Death Eater was Severus Snape.
"Neville, wake up!" someone cried, shaking him.
"No!" Neville screamed, finally waking up. He was panting and beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead. He looked up. Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus all were surrounding his bed.
"Are you allright, mate?" Dean asked quietly.
"A dream," Neville said weakly, sitting up. "It was just a dream." He repeated the words, more to reassure him more than anything else.
Harry looked at him worriedly. "You're okay?" he asked.
Neville nodded. "I'm fine. I'm going to be fine."
Slowly, the other boys all went to bed. Neville closed the drapes around his bed. He thought about the dream he had had. He recognized the first part. That was a reoccurring one. But that last part was new. And it scared him. Why was Professor Snape in his dream? Neville didn't believe him to be a Death Eater. Professor Dumbledore would never allow him to teach here.
The baby had obviously been Neville. He recognized himself easily from pictures. But why did he see himself in the dream?
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The next morning Neville could be seen looking wildly through his trunk.
"Lose something?" Ron asked with a smile on his face.
"Go figure, right?" Neville joked. "I lost my damn Rememberall again. Second one in six years."
"I'm sure you'll find it," Ron said. "When's the last time you saw it?"
"No idea," Neville admitted. "Ah well. Maybe Gran can get me a new one for my birthday."
Neville went down quickly to the Great Hall for breakfast. He saw Luna waiting for him at the entrance. Her face lit up when she saw him. For a moment, Neville thought about telling her about his dream, but decided today wouldn't be the right time. She had too much going on.
They ate breakfast easily at the Ravenclaw table. When the morning mail came through, Luna looked up eagerly. "I wrote Daddy yesterday. Maybe he wrote back," she said excitedly, her eyes growing wide in anticipation.
Sure enough, an official St. Mungos' owl dropped a roll of parchment in Luna's lap. Her eyes scanned the parchment quickly. She smiled contentedly when she was done reading.
"Daddy's feeling better," she said happily. "He's already dictating the story he'll be writing about the attacks. He's hoping to be released tomorrow or the next day."
"Good," Neville said, stroking her hand. He wondered when and how he would be able to tell her how he felt about her. Part of him wanted to shout it out right now. But he knew he should wait for a better time.
The morning classes went quickly, which was surprising, considering the class was The History of Magic. Neville's tutor had given him an idea, which had helped a great job. He told Neville to realize that the events and the people in the textbooks actually existed. It was more exciting if you could but the ideas in context.
Finally it was Charms, which Neville and everyone else had been looking forward to. Today the class was going to start learning about Memory charms. There was an exciting undercurrent when Neville entered the classroom.
"Today we start our work on Memory charms," Professor Flitwick squeaked. The moment he started talking, the entire class became silent.
Professor Flitwick climbed a pile of books so that he could be seen by the entire class. "This will be extremely dangerous work. I won't accept any fooling around," Professor Flitwick warned.
Neville could see a few students looking around at each other. Professor Flitwick was considered one of the more easy going teachers at Hogwarts. If he was warning them not to fool around, then he must mean business.
"There are several different types of Memory charms that we will be learning. First, is Oblivate, which erases a memory. There are memory-modifying charms that can modify a specific memory.
"If you find that you are particularly gifted with Memory charms, there are a variety of jobs at the Ministry of Magic that would be available to you," the professor told the class.
Neville breathed in sharply, hearing the words 'Oblivate.' The dream he had last night came rushing back to him.
"Many things can go wrong with the Memory Charms," Professor Flitwick said gravely. "If you concentrate to long on the memory, you can permanently damage the person's memory. These people will have a hard time remembering anything, even memories acquired after the charm is performed."
"Miss Granger, would you be willing to participate in a demonstration?" Professor Flitwick asked.
Hermione grinned and bounded towards the front of the class. She sat down on a stool that was at the front.
"Miss Granger. My favorite drink is cherry soda. I love the color purple. When I was young, I wanted to be an explorer," Professor Flitwick said quickly. Hermione nodded.
"Please go to your seat now," Professor Flitwick asked nicely. Hermione complied and Professor Flitwick followed her.
He took out his wand, which was one of the shortest wands Neville had ever seen. Pointing at Hermione's forehead, he cried out, "Oblivate!"
There was a flash of light. Everyone in the class turned and looked at Hermione. She had a blank look in her eyes. Professor Flitwick said nothing, and suddenly Hermione showed signs of life.
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "Did you perform the spell yet?" she asked curiously.
Professor Flitwick smiled. "What is my favorite color?"
Hermione froze. Neville realized that she probably had never been asked a question that she didn't have the answer too. "I don't know," she admitted.
The rest of the class started laughing softly. Hermione put her hands to her cheeks. "I should know the answer, shouldn't I?"
"Don't worry, Miss Granger, you helped me demonstrate the charm perfectly. Five points to Gryffindor," Professor Flitwick said cheerfully.
"Would anyone else like to try?" Professor Flitwick asked the class.
Surprising even himself, Neville raised his hand. He wanted to find out what the charm felt like for himself.
Professor Flitwick pointed to the stool. "Please sit down, Mister Longbottom."
Neville timidly sat down on the stool. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he wanted someone in his mind erasing memories. He already seemed to lose enough on his own. "I'm very skilled at these, Neville," Professor Flitwick said softly, so only that Neville could hear. "Please don't be nervous."
"O-Okay," Neville said nervously.
"I was born in Nineteen thirty two. I have three nieces and two nephews," Professor Flitwick told him. Neville stood up and sat in his seat.
Professor Flitwick pointed his wand at him and said "Oblivate!"
Everything went black for a moment. He was a flash of light and then slowly everything came back into focus.
"How many nieces do I have?" Professor Flitwick asked nicely.
Neville looked at the tiny Professor like he had never seen him before. As of a sudden he was gasping for air. His head was pounding.
"Neville?" Professor Flitwick asked nervously.
Neville stood up wildly. He had to get out of the room. It was suffocating him. Without a word, Neville ran out of the classroom at full speed. He ran down towards the dungeons, heading towards the boys' bathroom.
Entering the bathroom, he turned on the faucet and splashed some water on his face. He put his hands on the sink and looked at himself at the mirror. His eyes didn't have the blank look that Hermione's had had.
But something was wrong. Very wrong. When Professor Flitwick placed the spell on him, he knew. That same spell had been placed on him before, many years ago. He now knew the truth. All these years, having to deal with memory problems and the answer was right in front of him.
The dream was real.
Neville had witnessed his parent's torture.
