CHAPTER TWELVE: AFTERMATH
I've got to get to you first
Before they do
It's just a question of time
Before they lay their hands on you
-D.M.-
Neville had never experienced the kind of freeze-out he was exposed to from his house now.
Ocasionally, Harry tried to talk him into breaking up with Draco and when Neville refused to talk about it, Harry lapsed into furious outbursts and spent a few days ignoring him very aggressively.
Ron was into a new habit of avoiding him, always looking unsettled and nerve-tangled as if Neville was a giant spider. The other Gryffindors had noticed that Neville was in disgrace and though nobody else knew about the big secret, there were whispers about some sort of conspiracy, since the new Slytherin inquisitors that Umbridge had appointed never bothered Neville anymore. So his other housemates seemed to avoid him temporarily, seemingly waiting out Harry's anger.
As the frustration was already seething under the pressure of the new school order, a story about some sort of treachery seemed to be all they needed.
The only person having longer conversations with him was Hermione and most of the time she could not, since Harry and Ron were with her all the time.
And every attempt Draco and Neville had made to sneak away alone had failed. The school was like a military institution, breeding paranoia and aggression.
Neville still went to the DA-meetings and some students were still talking to him from the other houses. But meeting the frosty behaviour of Ron and Harry brought him to tears nearly every night, as soon as the lights were shut in the dormitories. To share room with Harry and Ron was nearly unbearable and he had asked permission to change room from the new headmaster, but she had only waved him off, accusing him of stealing valuable time from her.
It was just after breakfast when he found a note in his pocket, containing Draco's beautiful handwriting. He wanted them to meet up in the astronomy tower, skipping the history class. There was something important Draco just had to tell him. Neville was relieved to the point of tears for having a chance to see Draco again alone.
His heart seemed to miss a beat every time Draco walked past. There was so much he wanted to say to him, about the last time they were together and about Harry and Ron. And of course, he wondered how Draco was doing in his own house.
The History lesson could go to hell for all he cared. Nobody would want to sit beside him and what did he care if his absence was reported to Headmaster Umbridge? He was an orphan with not much of a future anyway. Good grades or no, there was still no home and no family to return to once he left Hogwarts and not lot of friends at that. What really mattered to him was Draco. As long as his lover still wanted him, there was nothing he wouldn't do for them. Absolutely nothing.
Neville knocked at the door to the astronomy tower very carefully before entering.
Draco obviously hadn't arrived yet, so Neville walked into the empty classroom and looked around at all the weird instruments and googles lying around. The classroom hadn't been in use for a few weeks, so a lot of other items had been carried in there temporarily. He was just eyeing a strange looking glass when he heard the hardly audiable sound of the door closing and the lock clicking.
"Neville." Draco whispered behind him.
His voice sounded a lot darker than usual. Neville felt the usual warmth spread in him and turned to face the Slytherin. His heart almost stopped.
The looking glass crashed to the floor and splintered.
Standing with his back to the locked door was no other than Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father and presumably one of the most dreaded Death eaters during Voldemort's reign.
A malicious smirk spread across Lucius' thin lips as he noticed Neville's strong reaction and growing dread, but the Malfoy eyes were cold and filled to the brim with hatred.
Neville tried not to make sudden moves that revealed his fear, but his voice gave him away as he spoke, trying to sound casual.
"Uh, g-good morning, Sir..."
"Longbottom." Lucius answered, poison practically dripping from his tounge.
Lucius made a scary, friendly smile, while leaving the door to slowly approach Neville, who started to walk backwards on shaking legs.
"You are ignoring your lesson. Why is that?" Every word had a deadly edge.
Neville swallowed and fought to find a steady voice.
"I- I don't like history a lot." He tried.
"No?" Lucius heightened an eyebrow, his gaze sharpening. "You should, because if you listened to Mr Binns, he could tell you what history has to say about worthless rabble who try to interfere with the Malfoys."
Neville's every limb turned cold. The horrible realisation that Draco wasn't coming, that he hadn't been writing the note, was painfully clear by now. He could only try to get past the dangerous threat in his way and run for the door.
Not wasting another moment, Neville tried to sidestep Malfoy senior, only to throw himself at the opposite direction the next moment, diving for the door. His legs were swept away from underneath him and in the blink of an eye, Lucius had him in a strong grip, violently throwing him into the wall. Neville felt his back and head hitting stone, sending white heated shocks of pain through his system. Before he fell to the floor, the strong hands had gripped him again, pressing him against the wall.
Lucius' face was so close to his now, that their noses were almost touching.
"When I'm through with you" Lucius whispered, menacingly slow, "I'll make sure my son never touches you again."
The first hundred meters Draco ran were in pure panic.
Then he threw the door open to Mr Binns lesson, in a futile hope of finding Neville there.
But there was no sight of the auburn-haired Gryffindor and ignoring all the faces gaping at him, he started to make it for the dungeons, at a loss about where else he could get help from. He only knew that his father had respect for Snape, maybe even certain fear, but how he would find Neville was still beyond him. The school would take years to look through.
Snape was his only hope!
A perfect order existed in the potion's classroom, as Snape put the little first years to work.
They had kept a healthy respect for him since that day when Draco's blood laid splattered over his desk. No cheekiness like that of Potter's or any no-win revolutions like those of Neville's was even near to occur in this class.
Smirking, he watched as a frightened little Gryffindor girl, Lora Spellman, added too much belladonna to her potion, which caused it to splash all over her. She threw herself back with a scream, hysterically trying to wipe the potion off herself without success. Snape swooped in on her and and revelled at her crouching as he informed her along with the rest of the class about the rules of removing the potion from the skin.
"As we can see, hysteria proves fruitless." Snape lectured them, making Lora's face turn red with shame.
The Slytherins laughed at the sight.
"This situation was not only a lesson about potions, but also a typical example of the difference between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. Characteristically, the Gryffindor chose to act before thinking, spending several valuable seconds doing nothing useful at all. A Slytherin, however, would always consider his actions carefully, never losing control of any situation."
Then nothing more was said, as the door to the dungeon flew up, banging into the wall.
Draco, the dreaded prefect, came rushing in, obviously forgetting about the steeping stairs down to the classroom and made a wild stumble down several steps before regaining his balance. The desperation made him look absolutely mad.
"DAD IS GOING TO KILL NEVILLE!" He shouted, staring at Snape.
No, Snape thought, but I am going to kill you.
"HE'S HERE AT HOGWARTS, I CAN'T FIND THEM! HELP!!!"
"Calm down, Mr Malfoy!" Snape said very briskly.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, DO SOMETHING!"
Throwing Draco a venomous glare, Snape stubbornly continued in the same collected voice. "Your father was heading for the astronomy tower recently. I do not think he..."
But Draco was already shooting up the stairs and out the door. Snape felt as if the bitterness was going to consume him.
"Finish your potions and then leave." he ordered the shocked students. "This might take a while."
In the astronomy tower, mortal fear hung heavy in the air.
Neville trembled miserably as Lucius held a long dagger against his throat.
"You might have wished I would start here." Lucius whispered, his voice thick with thriumph. "But you see, you have gone just a little too far to be allowed such a quick relief."
Neville closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed, trying to collect himself.
So this is it. It all ends here and I had Draco, at least I had him for a little while.
Neville looked back at Lucius suddenly, clenching his teeth.
"You're pathetic, letting me scare you like that!" he spat at Draco's father.
Lucius eyes narrowed, the blade pressing harder against the soft flesh, letting the first drops of blood spill.
"What was that?" he said, silkily smooth, smiling at Neville's whimper.
"He loves me...and...you cannot... handle that."
"Oh, I can handle a lot more than you imagine." Lucius eyes were glowing viciously, as he grabbed both Neville's hands in one grip and cut the clasp on his pants off with the knife. "Now, let's see how brave you are."
Neville's face went white with dread. He tried to break free from the grip, but his head was slammed into the wall again, making him too dizzy to know what was up and down. His pants were pulled down just below his knees, making it impossible to make any kicks or other defensive moves with his legs. But he did struggle wildly, panic gripping him as he hung helplessly in Malfoy senior's grip.
One swift cut on his throat stopped his squirming. Even though he realised that the dagger had not gone fataly deep, the warm blood running down his neck was a shocking reminder that the power over his life rested in the hands of Lucius.
"I really wish your parents were sane enough to witness this." Lucius said matter-of-factly, suddenly turning Neville around against the wall.
Neville started to struggle again, unable to prevent the tears from spilling.
"Please don't!" he cried, his voice almost failing in despair. "Please, please, can't we just talk about it?"
He only heard a silent, menacing laughter behind his back.
"You're not worth any discussion, you useless little worm."
Lucius knee forced his legs apart just enough and Neville fought wilder than ever to get free, screaming on the top of his lungs. Lucius answered by striking his face into the stone wall.
The explosions of pain in Neville's head made his sight covered by red fog. The blood ran in rich streams from his nose as he fought against unconciousness.
"Now," Lucius hissed, "I wonder if my son ever did this to you?"
Then, instead of feeling the nudge of warm, hard flesh against his buttocks, there was only cold steel.
Neville heard himself catch his breath to cry out again and then the rest got lost in a merciful darkness, as the blade entered him and brought unbearable pain with it.
The students in the corridors leading up to the astronomy tower saw some extraordinary sights this day.
First Draco came rushing, stripped of all his usual dignity. He burst through the door of Mr Binn's classroom again and dived for Hermione's desk, as steady as only a seeker could.
In the blink of an eye he had grabbed Hermione's Hogwarts- a history and was on his way out again, shouting loud enough to wake the dead as a crowd of eyes stared after him.
"POTTER, SNAPE BANGED YOUR MOTHER EVERY FRIDAY IN THIS CLASSROOM!"
A number of gasps rose and Potter was on his feet as quick as Ron, who gaped in astonishment over the impossible event.
"MY BOOK!" Hermione bellowed, rising from her seat as well, to join the stream of upset Gryffindors following Harry and Ron as they started a mad chase after Draco.
Any protest leaving Mr Binn's lips was useless.
"Oh dear." The teacher muttered, shaking his head in anxiousness. "I dreaded the day that boy would settle for suicide."
A few brave Slytherins followed, but stopped short as they saw Snape rushing past them, shouting at Draco somewhere ahead of him with a earth-shattering authority.
"MALFOY, YOU LEAVE POTTER OUT OF THIS!"
Frightened students jumped back at the sight of Snape, running uncannily faster than they had ever imagined. But as the rest of the Gryffindors trailed Draco furiously, Potter suddenly turned to throw himself at Snape as he came running. Snape was not ready for the impact and both fell to the floor in a nasty collision.
Potter's impetious cries penetrated the doors to several classrooms, as he aimed his clenched fist at Snape's face.
"LEAVE ME OUT OF WHAT!? HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU? WITH MY MOTHER, YOU FILTHY..."
He came no longer, as Snape had the backside of his hand flying into Potter's temple, throwing him off in a second while holding his wrists steady.
"HELP, HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!" Potter yelled.
"Potter, you unbeliveable idiot..."
At this, the door to a classroom opened, and McGonagall appeared, staring with a shocked frown at the two of them. Snape only threw her a poisonous glare.
"Lucius has Neville in the astronomy tower. Draco, along with Potter, has lost it completely." Snape explained to her, releasing Harry's hands as he stopped to struggle, once the words had sunk in to him.
"Your assistance would be appreciated, Minerva." Snape concluded, as he took off again, followed by a desperate Potter, shouting after him.
"Professor! Professor! I didn't know! I..."
"EXPULSION, POTTER!" Snape bellowed triumphantly.
Behind them, McGonagall turned into a cat to run faster than she would usually manage, leaving a class of bewildered four years behind her.
As the mists of unconciousness started to lift, Neville came to experience his own body gradually. First, he felt himself lying on his back in something warm and moist. Then there was a heavy pressure on his pelvis, making it hard to breathe properly. Some tingling, distant pain made itself reminded as well, but it refused to catch up with him, somehow.
Worst of all, he felt very, very cold and weak.
His memory cleared as he saw Lucius victorious face beaming down at him. Next, he realised that Lucius had straddled him, causing the pressure. A deceptively kind smile shone down on Neville as he tried to cough a lump of blood out of his mouth.
"Do you know what this is?" Lucius said softly, holding his gloved hand above Neville's face.
The glove was covered with blood. The hand gripped his jaw loosely and Lucius brought his mouth close to Neville's ear.
"You are dying." He whispered.
Neville understood that the wetness under him had to be his own blood. But it felt like so much.
"I feared you might leave me too soon." Lucius continued. "So I removed some of the pain from you and stopped the bleeding a little, only for now. I hope you are truly grateful."
Neville tried to move, but discovered that he was way too weak even to lift his hand. Then he came to think of Draco, feeling the tears slide down his cheeks at the thought of never seeing him again.
"Oh, yes. I would cry too if I were you." Lucius taunted, obviously misinterpreting the tears. "Can you guess my next move?"
Neville tried desperatly to form a word, coughing some blood up to clear his throat.
"Coward."
Lucius looked as if he couldn't believe his own ears. Then he gave Neville a stinging slap in the face.
"Yet, it is obvious who is the winner and who is the loser in this little game." he answered, his voice now frostier than before.
The knife flashed in the air and Neville could feel its cold blade leaning against his sex.
"Forgive me.", Lucius whispered. "But as a symbolic gesture to the extinction of the Longbottoms..."
Neville felt weary and broken, beyond a state where he could fear trivial matters such as pain. He was practically dead already, wondering what Lucius could possibly do to make things worse than that knowledge. He had feared the likes of Draco's father his whole life and now those who destroyed his parents would take him too. The bitterest sting though, was the naive hope he had kept alive, following him since that night in the forest. Just a small, fragile hope that he might be able to see Draco's parents one day, in another world, where everything dark lay behind them. It all felt so pathetic and distant now.
He suddenly let out a half-quenched sob, causing Lucius to let out a chilling, silent laughter.
"Oh, don't cry now. It will take considerable time before you die after all, since the blade is quite dull."
"It's so pathetic." Neville whispered, his voice broken by all the screaming. "You cannot change Draco and you know it. Nothing you do to me will change that."
"How dare you?" With a growl of fury, Lucius buried the blade deep into the tender flesh.
Neville screamed so loud that he lost his voice. Then the dark came again, threatening to drag him down with it forever. He heard banging noices piercing the drifting down to oblivion. Like footsteps and maybe voices.
But it didn't matter anymore. He was gone.
Draco had never thought he could run this fast, outdoing the entire Gryffindor class as he almost flied up the stairs to the astronomy tower. Although the lactic acid in his legs told him that he was spent a while ago, the adrealine flooding his blood kept him going. He threw himself at the door as he reached the top of the stairs, finding it locked. A quick, simple spell made it click open and without hesitation Draco threw himself through the opening, holding his wand ready to kill if needed.
In no time at all, he had spotted his father, rising from the floor to face him. Lucius looked as if he would say something, a thriumphant smile playing on his lips. But he never got that far.
"EXSPELLIARMUS!" Draco roared, not bothering to look if Lucius had a wand or a dagger in his hand.
He had caught sight of the blood on his father's robes and that was all he needed.
Lucius flew into the wall, dropping his dagger. But in that very moment, the Gryffindors had reached the tower and threw themselves over Draco.
Lucius regained his senses astonishingly quickly and drew his wand out. It was at the very last moment Snape, McGonagall and Harry reached the door and shouted the disarming spell in unison. Again, Lucius flew backwards with such force, that he crashed into several stargazer instruments.
Harry seemed to have lost his mind, as he charged forward to pick up Lucius wand before he could reach it again. Snape just barely caught his robes and pulled him back very harshly.
Lucius seemed to melt into his own shadow and vaned from the room as if being a bad dream.
"He didn't have his wand!" Harry yelled, struggling to get free from Snape's grip.
"He'd rip your insides out for the lack of it!" Snape hissed, pushing Harry away to examine what was left of Neville, while McGonagall sternly ordered the Gryffindors to release Draco and leave the room.
Ron was most reluctant to obey, since he had grasped Hermione's book and struck Draco over the head with it a couple of times. Only Harry stayed behind, as if he had some sort of unspoken special permission. None of the teachers reflected over it, since they were busy saving Neville's life.
As soon as Draco was free, he rushed to Neville's side, not caring at all about who was left in the room.
"He's...white!" Draco breathed, suddenly realising that he sat in a sea of Neville's blood. "Where's the blood coming from?!"
Snape had his cat reflexes on as usual. He grabbed Draco and lifted him away from the scene, locking his arms to quench his struggles, before putting him down so that Snape blocked the unnerving sight.
"We don't have much time." Snape said, under remarkable self-control.
"LET ME THROUGH, YOU..."
"SILENCE! Malfoy, fetch me the black brew, in the third locker, second bottle on the upper shelf."
He released Draco to see if he obeyed.
"I'm not leaving him!" Draco sneered.
"Then Mr Longbottom will die, since only professor McGonagall and I are competent to hold his death back long enough."
Defeated, Draco left, using some reserve strength he didn't know he had left, to reach the dungeons at the speed of lightning. McGonagall looked at Harry, who was almost as white as Neville after seeing the blood and the lifeless body in the middle of it.
"You." McGonagall said with a serious face. "Fetch madame Pomfrey at once and tell her that the wounds are...fatal."
Harry burst out of the room in the same speed as Draco. As soon as they were alone, the two teachers looked at each other in understanding.
"We might as well use the fireplace right now to notify madame Pomfrey." McGonagall said, starting to prepare the fire with her wand.
Snape nodded as he stopped the bleeding with the potion he had brought with him, looking like the one he had described to Draco.
"How much do you think they saw, Severus?" McGonagall's face was red with anger, worry and shock all at once.
"Not enough." Snape answered. "Potter might have, but then again, I shall need to have a serious talk with him anyway."
