A/N May 20, 2005: Well, here goes another chapter I've been working on since January. I hope you like it!
Also, remember that "Bivorio" means "The Boy-Who-Lived". Oh, and the story is no longer going to be stuck in the center of the page. I'm working on revising and redoing the earlier chapters. I've fiddled with chapters 1-3 already, so go ahead and take a look!
This chapter is in the Vision Realm, as will be the next one. We'll see just how good Neville is at lying!
DarkLordLongbottom: Reviewer's response in my profile page.
Turning Your Time Around
By: Cheelalaucha
Chapter dedicated to: The Velvet Ghost, whose 3rd story in the "Harry Potter and the Phoenix's Flight" series will be coming out! You've got to read it if you have read the first two!
Chapter 18: "Seeing Green"
Again the black. Neville was really getting tired of going to the Vision Realm. Every time he traveled here, he'd see bad things. Well, not all of the things he saw were bad - he had seen his dad propose to his mother - but there were also images of people getting cursed by Death Eaters.
Nothing had appeared yet, and not being able to see anything was starting to make him nervous. Neville swayed on his feet, and tried to think of... happy things. That was hard to do, but he did manage to find something. He mentally ran through every magical plant he knew of and told himself its properties. That was a small bit comforting, but he still was sensing something coming. Neville was just about to repeat the color, size, location etc. of the Toxim Tree when, suddenly, the black started to fade into dark green, and then to light green.
That had never happened before, and now Neville's mind was screaming at him to turn and run somewhere - anywhere, but he didn't move a muscle. On the plus side, Neville comforted himself, he could see around where he was. Being able to see around him wasn't of much use to him though since there was nothing to be seen. His surroundings were just that of never-ending green. That color was beginning to remind him of a certain curse.. an Unforgivable Curse.
This can't be good. Green is never good...
Neville got a curious look upon his face as he remembered something.
But wait.. Lily's eyes are green too, and Harry's... Should I be scared or not? Geez, now even this is getting confusing!
Neville waited for a few more seconds in anticipation, wondering what to expect. An image faded in before him, and Neville jumped in surprise at seeing who it was. With wide eyes, he took his great calming breaths. This wasn't going to end well, he knew that for sure. The Vision Realm had a nasty habit of showing him depressing and frightening images. He could only hope that he wasn't going to see that night when there had become a Bivorio. Neville gulped and tried his best to keep the calming breaths coming one after the other.
There was Lily Evans. But, this wasn't the Lily that Neville had seen the past few days. This Lily was older and had a bundle in her arms. For a moment Neville wondered what it was, but soon realized when tiny fingers moved around in the blanket. That small hand belonged to her son Harry. The smile on her face was wide and her green eyes beamed with the happiness she was feeling. It nearly made Neville jump at the picture when her expression changed to a horror-filled one.
A man, undoubtedly James, ran into the room. Lily lept up from the chair she was sitting in, still clutching her child in her arms.
She was talking quickly to James, but, as it had always been, Neville couldn't hear a word. The terror that was passing through Neville seemed to be equal in the Potters. Something was going to happen, and Neville did not want to see it. Sometimes, when younger Lily had been in classes, he'd wish he could change her fate. But, even though Neville knew how, and had the means to make his dreams come true, he would not. It would not due to have the entire world destroyed by Voldemort, as he was sure it would had he been the Bivorio. Neville had come to the conclusion that no matter how much he wanted to stop it, he had to let the green light pass through their bodies and do nothing to prevent the life being drawn from them. Sometimes, more often than not, what was morally right was the most difficult. Was he a quitter? No. Was he going to let the world fall apart because of him, the weak little Longbottom? Not a chance on earth. So there he had it, every reason to not interfere with the future. It all made perfect sense! But... he would never forgive himself for just letting it happen, no matter how right it was. Years from now, he'd regret it all and want nothing more than to go back and change the one event that depended on his - and the world's - dismal existence.
In front of him, the two were standing in the corner of a baby boy's bedroom with wands drawn. James had one arm around Lily, who in turn had one around her son. They were speaking to eachother hurriedly. James was probably comforting Lily, telling her everything would be all right. Lily would say he loved her husband, and James would reply the same. Neville stood there watching their last moments alive right in front of his eyes. Very few would ever get to see this, and even less would want to. The suspense was building, but still nothing apart from talking, crying, and waiting was going on. How long did they have to stand there!
Just get it over with! Neville found himself thinking, but not out of cruelty, out of worry for the two. He could only imagine how they must be feeling, but Neville was sure he was about to have a heart attack from just waiting for the inevitable to happen. After another minute of nothing but watching, he could stand it no longer. Neville ran forward at the image and tried desperately to brake it by pounding through with his fists, the fury in him growing.
He looked rather silly to say the least, but he cared nothing of how he looked. Right then, a puff of green smoke came from the "floor" that he was standing on and obscured his vision of the Potter family. When it cleared, he sighed with relief. The image of them was gone.
"Neville. Neville."
Neville looked around at the empty green, panting.
"Who are you and what-do-you-want?" He yelled out. Only silence followed his words. "Show yourself!... Or ar- are you t- too scared?" Neville added the last sentence with uneasiness. He may have gained some confidence, but he was still Neville and he really didn't want to end up fighting anything- or anyone. He was too convinced he'd lose if he ever needed to fight, despite the night of the DoM where he'd helped his friends fight off Death Eaters. Right now, even a tiny bug had more confidence then Neville did.
"Neville, use your mind. Don't let it control you," the calm voice rang out.
Before Neville could respond to him, he found himself falling. He hated this part...
-
In a few seconds, he was standing in the middle of a field of tiny purple flowers.
When he looked around for the others, he saw Snape eyeing the surroundings with disgust. Neville's appearance brought Snape's attention to him, and he looked up from the flowers with his normal angry expression. His eyes caught Neville off guard, he could feel the already low level of confidence he had decreasing under Snape's overpowering glare. Neville turned his head away from the Potions Master and searched for Ron. But, he knew Snape was still watching him.
Ron's voice came from behind him. "That git! That absolute git!"
Ron was shaking his head and looking furious. For a moment, Neville thought Snape was going to say something about Ron's language, but surprisingly he didn't seem to notice. Or, perhaps, he chose not to.
Ron walked up to Neville and Snape, but he still was shaking his head slightly.
"What's wrong?" Neville asked him, hoping his own anger was not showing through his tone.
Ron sighed looked up at him. "Nothing. It's just.. the things this place makes you see. I hate it."
"Huh." Neville looked down. "I know exactly what you mean." It was Neville's turn to sigh, but he didn't lighten up his face like Ron had after letting a long breath out. If anything, he looked angrier.
"What did you see?" Ron asked curiously.
Neville's face turned from anger to sadness as he said, "I don't want to talk about it."
Ron lowered his eyebrows slightly in concern and looked up at Snape. The professor though, was looking at Neville. He too had some curiosity lingering in his eyes, but quickly regained his menacing tone and spoke.
"Mister Longbottom, do try and contain your sorrows. You're depressing to watch."
Ron felt like punching Snape in the face, but the appearance of Merlin brought everyone's attention elsewhere. Merlin didn't even notice the hard glares he was getting from the other three.
"Hello. How'd you like my choice of location?" Merlin glanced over at Snape and gave a tiny smile, then looked over at Neville. "Longbottom number two, how's you're task coming along?"
Neville gave a small huff. No matter what he suspected of the man, he had to act calm and pretend he knew nothing of the fact that this guy was the enemy.
"Badly. She won't even look at him. Heck, she won't look at me either." Neville didn't have to specify the person, Merlin knew exactly who the 'she' was.
"Who?" Ron asked, looking from Neville to Merlin.
Neville glanced at Merlin who shook his head once. "Just.. someone..."
Ron looked slightly put-out. He'd figured that Neville would tell him no matter what. Weren't they friends? His head snapped up when Merlin spoke to him.
"How about you?" Merlin asked in the 'half caring voice' they'd all become accustomed to from the last meeting.
"Kimpson says he's bored and he can't go to classes or come to meals. He needs something to do," Ron replied casually, wondering in his mind if the lie was convincing enough.
"Hum." Merlin paused to make it seem he was thinking. He grinned and looked at the Potions master. "Well, why not help Snape?"
Ron and Neville both looked over to Professor Snape. He was giving Merlin his death glare. It was no secret that Merlin didn't like Snape, and they knew how much he loved to make him angry.
"The boy would only get in my way," Snape growled.
Merlin raised an eyebrow and strode over to the professor. "Do you only think of yourself? He is going to help you, no matter what either of you think. Got it? Well?"
Severus could not let on anything that would make Merlin suspect him. If he did, who knows what might happen. Now, where had he done this before? "Fine." Snape's lip curled in the all-too-familiar way.
"Good. Now, let's use this time for some relaxing," Merlin said in more of a demand than a question.
He raised his staff and four giant pillows (one red, one purple, one dark blue, and another green) appeared on the ground, arranged in a large circle.
When nobody moved, Merlin yelled for them to sit. The all did, surprisingly, considering how irritated Snape looked.
Neville made sure he wasn't anywhere near the green. Professor Snape took that one, and Ron took the red. Merlin, of course, sat upon the purple one. He always seemed to chose purple for everything. Odd.
Out of nowhere, three goblets appeared, floating before them in mid air.
"Well?" Merlin began. "Drink up!" the famous wizard ordered them.
They each grabbed one, and Snape (unnoticed by Merlin) gave the contents a quick sniff. He knew immediately that the liquid had been tampered with. There was a faint sent of ingredients one would put in a Forgetfulness Potion. So maybe Merlin did suspect them too.
Severus cleared his throat and said, "This reminds me of something that useless Weasley mother made at a dinner party." He hoped the young Weasley had heard him.
Ron stopped with the goblet an inch from his lips, as did Neville who had wide eyes from shock.
"What did you just say?" Ron inquired in a deadly tone. He'd taken the bait Severus had laid out without even thinking, though he didn't know he was purposely being tricked into getting angry. But, Ron was more than angry now.
Both Ron and Neville dropped their goblets; Ron because he'd launched himself at Snape, and Neville because he'd tried to hold him back. Ron struggled against Neville, and even tried to elbow him, but Neville had gotten out of the way just in time.
Neville glanced over at Merlin for a second to see if he was even going to break up the whole thing, and he saw a touch of a smile and a strange glitter in his eyes. Neville turned his head back quickly, hoping Merlin had not seen him looking at him. After dodging another elbow, Neville whispered into Ron's ear.
"He messed with the drinks."
Ron instantly stopped struggling and turned around in surprise and curiosity. Had he just heard what he'd thought he'd heard?
"What did you say?" Ron asked, this time to Neville.
Neville would not dare repeat his words now that he had the attention of them all. So, he replied calmly, "You heard me."
"No, please Neville," Merlin interrupted. "What did you say?"
Neville wasn't sure if Merlin had heard him before, so he took a chance and lied. "I said 'Harry wouldn't want you getting expelled'."
Merlin looked over at Ron, as if he was asking for confirmation. Ron put on a glum face and nodded. "I'm sorry," Ron mumbled to Snape, not meaning a word of it.
"I will let it go this time, but don't think this will happen again. Consider yourself lucky," Snape replied warningly, following along with their story.
"Yes sir." Ron took another look at Neville, and wondered if he was aware of Merlin's deceit. But, he had enough sense not to ask out right that question.
Meanwhile, Neville was giving himself a mental pat on the back. He'd just lied successfully for the first time in his life! Oh yes, he was getting better at lying, now he might be able to join Harry's little group of friends. It was the thought of how pathetic he sounded that kept him from smiling in joy. He was happy to have just lied because he wanted friends? Who was he, and where had they taken the normal Neville?
"Well, I see the good mood is ruined. You might as well return to the castle," Merlin said as he got up from his pillow.
"Good," Ron said from behind Neville. "I've got loads of Transfiguration homework."
Merlin turned around to look at him with a smile on his face. "Oh no, you misunderstood me." His smile grew brighter. "We must all return to my castle."
Ron, Neville, and Snape all stopped dead in their tracks. The last place you wanted to be was in your enemy's stronghold, and Merlin was no friend of theirs.
"Come on, don't want to miss dinner!" Merlin said happily, beckoning them forward.
After a second of just standing still, the three blue, see-through wizards reluctantly followed Merlin, each wondering how they were going to make it out of this tight spot.
A/N: So, was it a good/bad read? Tell me! I did post a beginning to a Filch/Dudley story, I'll prolly finish it even if no one reviews cuz I want to get the plot out of my head! Grr.. it's eating my brain! Ok, some answers now...
Neville knowing about the drink: Did you happen to realize Neville knew there was something strange with the stuff in the goblet? Ah ha! Neville is not stupid and actually did try to do good in Potions class since his first year, but Snape was ana--and was always scaring him too much to think clearly. That has seemed to have worn off, has it not? So, now he's more aware of what's around him. Also, once you've had a Forgetfulness Potion, you never forget it's smell. That's one of the side-effects, I'm afraid. hint hint- Neville would have to have had it before. Guess when!
Merlin, friend or foe: If you haven't guessed yet, you should have your temperature taken.
Why Snape insulted Ron's mum: Snape did that because he wantd Ron to get so angry that he'd forget about the drink. I'm not implying that he didn't enjoy saying it, but there was a reason. It worked, did it not?
The voice that talks to Neville in the Vision Realm: HELLO! Didn't ANY of that seem familiar? I sure hope so because you already know who the person speaking to Neville is.
Why are they blue: Remember- in the Vision Realm, they are blue & see-through!
The three in the castle: Do you think they'll make it out? No one is still totally sure if the other suspects them, it will be fun. They are trapped in a place where the walls have ears, so is there any way they can exchange info? There is a friend in the castle, that's all I'm going to say.
Any questions? Ask me now by pressing "Review"! Thanks!
Next chapter: "Merlin's March"