Chapter 25 – Neville Versus the Slytherin

The rest of the weekend had gone reasonably well for Darren. He was the center of attention because of the match on Saturday afternoon. All of the Gryffindors, from first to seventh year had come up and told him what a good hit he had made on that bludger to let Harry get it instead of Cho. Even Harry had been magnanimous in his praise. But, it had not really made him feel better after all. He could not get the picture of Cho Chang crying on the ground after the match had ended. Ron had seen it too and had announced that she was just upset because Harry had beaten her again, and she would never get another chance at him again. Hermione had told Ron to be quiet in the common room because she had seen Darren staring at Ron as he had proclaimed his explanation for Cho's behavior for at least the tenth time. The truth was that Darren felt bad for hitting Cho with that bludger, and he knew she was hurt emotionally from it. The boy that she had decided to love had broken her heart for no good reason, and from her perspective it seemed that he was almost happy to have done it. Darren knew that Hermione was probably well aware of his feelings for Cho. How could she not be? Harry was smart, but Hermione had more reasoning ability than the two of her friends put together. He had looked at her and given a small nod of thanks when Ron had finally shut up. That was ten minutes before he had quietly snuck upstairs to get some much needed sleep, something that had been denied him for almost the entire weekend.

As he lay in bed, he could not help but think whether Neville would actually be able to help him or not. It had never quite made any sense to him for Voldemort to expect Neville to lead Darren to what he had to get, but Darren figured that if that was what it required to get his family back, he would do it. The last thought he had before falling to sleep was that he hoped Voldemort didn't blame him when Neville failed.

"DING! DING! DING! DING!"

"Arrgh!"

Wham!

Darren had hit his alarm clock. It was almost eleven o'clock. He had slept most of the morning away. He sat up and wiped his eyes and shook his head to clear it. None of the other fifth years were in the room and he almost panicked when he realized it. At first he had thought that Neville had told Harry and that the two of them were in Dumbledore's office at that very moment. He had jumped up and looked out the window at the grounds far below. He was looking for the Aurors he knew would come and take for using an unforgivable curse. Thankfully, there was nobody there except a large group of students that were bewitching snowballs to attack each other.

A noise in the room made him turn suddenly. He saw that it was Neville coming back to the dormitory.

"Hi Darren," he said as he usually did.

Darren almost panicked again before he remembered that he had instructed Neville to act as normally as possible.

"You slept all morning."

"Yeah, I was pretty tired last night Neville. How are you this morning?"

"Fine."

"Put my trunk on the bed Neville, please?" It was another test to make sure Neville was still under his control.

Neville picked the trunk up with a huff and set it on the end of Darren's four poster bed.

"Okay, you can put it back Neville, thanks."

With a loud wham! The trunk went back into its place at the foot of Darren's bed.

"Come on Neville, let's go to the library and do our homework."

Neville turned immediately and grabbed his books and stuffed them into his backpack and stood waiting for Darren to get dressed and ready to leave. Darren just looked at him oddly for a second before heading down the stairs and out of the common room. Once in the hallway Darren started to walk very quickly to see if Neville would make an effort to keep up, and not surprisingly he did. He was walking faster than Darren had ever seen him before and Darren made himself slow down so as not to attract any attention from a teacher.

In the library they found a table in a far corner and sat down there. Neville took out his Potions textbook and a large piece of parchment and proceeded to write his essay Professor Snape. Darren had already gotten most of it done, so he sat and watched as Neville wrote so fast that his hand was almost a blur. He did not hesitate once and managed to finish in less than an hour. Darren had a few more inches to go so he told Neville to go and look through some of the books while he worked. He had thought about telling Neville to write the essay for him and to make it look like his handwriting, but his conscience was already overloaded at the moment so he did it himself.

Once he had finished Darren just sat by himself and looked off into space. His attention was on everything and nothing at the same time. His whole life for the last two and a half years was running through his head. The night of his father's death, the sessions of training under the watch of Voldemort's followers, the endless threats and the night not just a week ago when his mother had been given to a Lethifold, but saved at the last moment by Voldemort himself, just to make a point. There was only one ending he could see. They would all die. The only question was if they would all die separately, or if they would all die together.

His mind was so full of problems that did not have a solution to have noticed that Malfoy, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind Neville. He jumped to his feet and hurried over to Neville to make sure nothing happened. Neville was a little too unpredictable at the moment, and Darren didn't need a fight break out in the library.

"…I said, where is your guardian Longbottom?" Malfoy was asking.

Neville did not even appear to be listening at all. Instead he kept reading the book and Malfoy was getting angrier.

"Hey! Longbottom!" Malfoy said as he shoved Neville's shoulder. "For the last time, where is Clarkson?"

That time Neville slammed the book shut and turned towards Malfoy as he reached for his wand.

'Oh shit!' Darren thought as he rushed to stop Neville from attacking Malfoy.

He got there just in time and grabbed Neville's arm and forced him to lower his wand. Neville started to fight back at Darren, but with a quiet command to stop he gave up his resistance.

"What the hell is his problem?" Malfoy almost screamed at Darren.

"Maybe you should try leaving him alone instead of picking on him Malfoy," Darren replied angrily.

"Maybe he should answer when he asked a question," Malfoy spat at Darren.

Darren could see his face was red and that he was angry and looking to start trouble.

"Malfoy, why don't you just fuck off for once," was all that Darren could think to say, but it seemed to have the effect he was looking for. Malfoy just stepped back and watched Darren as he and Neville got their books and papers and made to leave the library, but at the exit Malfoy jumped in front of them and blocked their way.

"I am going to enjoy getting you Clarkson. You and your friend here too. We all will, and it will be soon too. So watch your back."

Darren just grabbed Neville's shoulder and pushed him ahead and out of the library. Malfoy was starting to really get under his skin and he did not need another major problem now.

"Neville, whenever Malfoy or his cronies are around, I want you to watch and make sure I don't get attacked from behind, okay?"

"Okay Darren."

Three days later they sat in Snape's dungeon and worked on a new potion. Darren was not even paying attention to what they were doing. That is he was not paying attention to what they were doing until his cauldron boiled over and his desk started to turn into a rubber like substance.

"Clarkson, five points from Gryffindor for not following instructions," Snape almost yelled at him.

The rest of the Gryffindors did not even look up at Snape, but the Slytherins seemed, as was usual, to revel in anything that made the House Cup that much harder or Gryffindor to win.

"Sorry sir," Darren said half-heartedly.

"Do you know what you did incorrectly this time?" Snape asked as he stood over Darren and looked down his hooked nose at him.

"No sir, I don't."

"You don't. You don't? Why do you not know this simple answer Clarkson?"

"Sorry sir, I don't know where I made my mistake."

Snape turned to the class, apparently intent on turning Darren's embarrassment into humiliation.

"Do any of you know where Mr. Clarkson made his mistake, other than showing up for class that is?"

Darren fumed. He wanted to punch Snape right in the face, but he sat quietly and tried to ignore the snickering from the Slytherin side of the room.

But, to everyone's surprise, Neville raised his hand. Snape looked like he had been hit because his face almost went slack when he saw that Neville wanted to answer.

"Well Mr. Longbottom, perhaps you could regale us all with your infinite knowledge of the Softening Potion?"

"Darren heated his beetle legs too long and that made the potion overheat."

The look on Snape's face told the class that Neville was correct and the silence that filled the air told Darren that the rest of the class was just as shocked at Neville's answering of a question as Snape was.

"Snape composed himself and said, "That is correct Longbottom, but five points from Gryffindor for not having ever answered a question until now."

At this injustice the Gryffindors finally erupted in protest. All year they had followed their new policy of not letting Snape get under their skin, but finally it came to a head because of Neville.

"You greasy haired git!" Darren heard one student, who sounded very much like Ron Weasley, yell.

"You can't do that! He answered correctly!" Dean Thomas shouted.

"Asshole," Darren muttered under his breath.

"What did you call me Clarkson?" Snape demanded.

Darren looked up in shock; shock that Snape had heard him with all the other noise in the room, but Darren had had enough. He actually hoped he would get kicked out of school.

"I called you an asshole, sir."

"Once again the classroom became deathly quiet and Darren knew he was in deep, deep trouble.

"Well, I see that being in trouble doesn't matter to you Clarkson," Snape said evilly. "And, the thought of being sent to Dumbledore's office is something you might like, so I think I will handle this on my own. You will meet me here every night after dinner for two weeks for detention. I am sure I can find something to occupy your time."

Snape then turned on his heel and walked back to the front of the classroom to address the rest of the class.

"You have ten minutes to finish your work, so I suggest that you use the time wisely. And, before you go, I have your essay graded and ready to give back."

Everyone but Darren went back to work. He figured the potion was already no good, so why bother? Snape was just going to give him a failing grade anyway, like that would be unexpected. Instead he just sat and watched Neville out of the corner of his eye. Neville was working feverishly and did not make a single error. In fact, when the ten minutes were over, his potion was only surpassed by Hermione's, and Snape reluctantly took it with a raised eyebrow as he was clearly irritated that Neville had finally done something right in his class.

After the last of the students had turned in their flasks, Snape picked up the stack of parchment that made up their essays.

"Some of you did not do very well, as usual, and some of you have made considerable improvement," he said to the class. "How is it that Neville Longbottom can turn in a paper that is an O when he has not ever received anything higher than an A on any essay in my class?" he asked with a slight hiss.

The class stayed silent. None of the Gryffindors wanted to make Snape become any madder than he already was.

"Did Mr. Longbottom suddenly become proficient in the art of potion making as well as writing essays, or did he have help on this last assignment?"

Snape looked at the Gryffindors as if to challenge them to say something, anything that might give him reason to take more points from them again, but again not one of them said anything. That is until Darren opened his mouth.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Neville can do the work in this class? Or do you just like terrorizing him too much to let that happen?"

Snape turned even whiter than he normally was. All color ran out of his skin and the flesh on his face pulled very taut as he barely controlled his anger. Every student in the class was quiet and they all also noticed that Snape had made a small movement towards the inside of his cloak, an act that many took for him reaching for his wand.

"Well, well Mr. Clarkson I take it that no matter what I do to punish you will make you hold your tongue. Perhaps a month in detention will make you learn your lesson. We will start tonight I think, right here as soon as dinner is over."

"Fine," Darren said with barely hidden disdain.

Snape's nostrils flared at Darren's tone but he just looked back down at the papers he had started to hand out. When he had finished handing them back Darren saw that Neville had indeed received an O for his essay. That was about the only thing that made the class worthwhile that day.

Dinner that night had gone very slowly. Darren had hoped to be thrown out of school for what he had said to Snape in class, but he knew that he could not be that lucky. Besides, it would probably not have done anything other than to make Voldemort even madder at him than he already was. As Darren had sat quietly at the table he had heard the others talking quietly to themselves. As expected, they were talking about him. Finally, Ron turned to him.

"What were you thinking Darren? Snape could have taken a hundred points from us for what you said."

Darren sucked his tongue before answering. "Well, he didn't, did he? I'm the only one that will suffer for it, so let it go."

"But Darren," Hermione interjected, "You could have been kicked out of school today."

"Like that would have been a bad thing anyway," he said acidly.

"Why would you want to get expelled Darren?" she asked incredulously.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you Hermione."

"If this has anything to do with Cho you should know that she is only using Roger Davies to make you nervous."

"No shit Hermione, tell me something I don't already know."

Hermione blushed at Darren's rebuke and he could see Ron's protective side begin to come out.

"Ease up Ron, I just meant that I already know why she is seeing Roger. She made it abundantly clear the other day when she went out of her way to show him off to me."

"Yeah, well that still doesn't make it okay to swear at Hermione," he said angrily.

"Never mind Ron," Hermione said with a wave of her hand. "Darren, can I talk to you privately for a minute, in the Entrance Hall?"

Harry and Ron both looked at her like she was crazy but said nothing.

He threw down his fork and said, "Fine," and shoved away from the table and stormed out of the Great Hall. Hermione followed him, but said nothing until she was sure they were not going to be overheard by anyone.

"Darren, what is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about Hermione," he said while not really looking at him.

"You know what I mean. You were not this combative even when you were a Slytherin. We all knew you to be quiet and unassuming, but now you seem to be looking for a fight all the time."

"Hmmph. Maybe I am. Maybe I am sick and goddamn tired of Malfoy and Snape running roughshod over everybody. Maybe I am sick and goddamned tired of everybody fucking with Neville. Maybe I am just saying what everybody else wants to say, but is too scared to."

"Maybe something outside of school is bothering you," Hermione said plainly.

Darren recoiled instinctively. What the hell did that mean?

"Meaning what Hermione?"

"Meaning that I think there is something bigger than just your hatred of Snape and Malfoy making you act this way."

"What makes you think that?"

"We all hate Snape and Malfoy, and Harry especially has reason enough to dislike them, but you don't see him or any of the rest of us acting the way you are."

"Hermione, if my actions begin to affect anybody else, feel free to lecture me, but since they are only hurting me, how about minding your own fucking business!" he screamed at her.

She looked at him with shock at the anger he threw at her and a small tear ran down her cheek and Darren knew he had hurt her deeply. She had shown genuine concern and he had all but slapped her in the face for it.

"Hermione, you would be better off just staying away from me and stop with trying to be my friend. It will get you nothing but hurt," he said before turning and storming back into the Great Hall and leaving Hermione standing alone in the Entrance Hall.

"Come on Neville," he said when he got back to the table.

Neville grabbed his bag and followed Darren out of the dining hall and past Hermione who was still standing where Darren had left her. They both ignored her and headed up the stairs towards the dormitory and after they reached the third floor Darren figured it was safe to talk to Neville.

"While I am in detention, I want you to keep a close eye on Harry, Ron and Hermione. They will probably try to talk to you about me, and I want you to listen to them, but tell them nothing about what I have asked you to do. It is imperative that I succeed and that you help me, do you understand Neville?"

"Yes Darren, I understand," he answered.

"Good, then I have to head to the dungeons for detention now. You stay in the dormitory and I will see you later after I get done."

"Okay."

Darren turned to head back down the stairs. Half a flight down he turned around and headed back up to see where Neville was. Above him he could hear Neville going up the steps slowly and he let out a sigh of relief. He turned back and ran down the stairs to Snape's dungeon for whatever the professor had in store for him that night. In the dungeon he saw that Snape's classroom door was open so he just walked in.

"Ahh, I see you can at least show up on time Mr. Clarkson,' Snape from the other side of the room.

'Darren said nothing. Instead he just sat down at the front table and waited for the berating he was sure he was about to receive. Sure enough, it was not long in coming as Snape took a position in front of Darren, folded his arms, and looked down his hooked nose at him.

"I see that you seem to believe that you are special Clarkson. You seem to think that since you got out of Slytherin House that you are to be treated better than the other students. Well, I can assure you that you do not rate such favorable treatment, even if you did manage to fool the Sorting Hat."

That last thing Snape said caught his attention, but he did not let himself react to it.

"Oh, I know you figured out some way to fool the Hat, but Dumbledore seems to think that you are a true Gryffindor for some reason. I, on the other hand, know that you are nothing but trouble in the making, and I will be the one to catch you at whatever game it is you are playing."

It was all that Darren could do to not react. He just folded his arms as if he was bored and waited for Snape to finish.

"I assure you Clarkson, you will not get away with whatever it is you are doing, and I swear to you that I will make sure that when I do find out what it is, I will personally have you expelled for good."

"Are you through sir?" Darren asked.

"For now."

"Then what is my punishment for tonight then?"

"You are required to scrub the work tables, by hand. No magic. You can only use this."

Snape handed him a small brush and a bottle of cleaning solution. With a wave of his wand, Snape conjured a bucket of water and set Darren to his task, which took him three hours to finish. The table tops seemed to have a bit of extra grime and Darren could not help but think that Snape had added a little extra grit just for this occasion.

After he had finished, Snape sent him back to the dormitory, but not before letting him know that there was more for him the next night. His arm felt like it would fall off, but he was not about to let Snape know it. Instead he waited until he was around a corner before swinging it in a circle and rubbing it to get the feeling back. As he turned another corner to get to the stairs he heard a voice. It was Malfoy, and he was harassing somebody, as usual. Darren made up his mind that he would just ignore Malfoy tonight, but when he saw who it was, his mind changed quickly.

Malfoy had Neville trapped in a corner and he was pointing his finger in Neville's face. Crabbe and Goyle were there too, standing menacingly yet stupidly next to Malfoy.

"I said, who does Clarkson think he is to talk to Professor Snape like that Longbottom?" Malfoy asked, but Neville just tried to push his way by them.

But Goyle just shoved him in the chest and sent him back into the corner.

"I said, who does Clarkson think he is?" Malfoy asked again.

"Leave me alone Malfoy," Neville told him, but only Darren noticed the anger in his voice. Darren had an idea what might happen next due to what he had told Neville before, but what he saw shocked him completely.

Neville whipped his wand out of his cloak and pointed it directly at Malfoy, who laughed at Neville's gesture. He was too stupid to look in Neville's eyes, which were fixed securely on him.

"Go Longbottom, do your worst, you weak little git."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed at the insult but they got almost as big a shock as Malfoy.

"Offendo Vestrum!" Neville shouted and Darren saw Malfoy start to twitch.

His hands folded into fists and then he punched himself right in the face. His had whipped back violently and then his other hand punched him. Then his right foot swung up from behind and kicked himself in his own ass. Malfoy stood in place punching and kicking himself. His face was getting bloody and Crabbe and Goyle had no idea what to do. They tried to grab Malfoy's arms, but they could not stop him from hitting himself. He was getting beaten up, and nobody else was laying a finger on him. He was hopping from one foot to the other as he kicked and punched himself and Darren could not help but burst out laughing. Where Neville had found that spell he didn't know, but it sure worked.

Darren's laughter was cut short by Malfoy's screams of terror at his predicament. Crabbe and Goyle had him on the ground now, but he was still assaulting his own body. Darren took the opportunity to rush over and grab Neville and get him out of there before Snape heard Malfoy's yelling and crying. He took Neville by the arm and ran up the steps and did not stop until the fifth floor where he stopped to catch his breath. After he did, he asked Neville what had happened.

"Neville, why were you in the dungeons tonight?"

"You said you would see me later, so I came down to see you."

"Err, okay, but what did you do to Malfoy."

"I used a spell that makes somebody attack themselves."

"Where did you learn that spell? I don't remember it in any of the classes we have had before."

"In that spell book I was reading the other day in the library, when you were working on your essay."

"Okay, but lets keep this quiet. We don't need Snape making any more trouble for either of us, okay?"

"Okay Darren, I won't tell anybody."

"Yeah, and I bet Malfoy won't either."