A/N someone enlighten me…my spellchecker seems to be in doubt too…is it 'realise' or 'realize'?

I felt my insides freeze. "Awww the wittle baby is scawed," she taunted in her ridiculous little girl voice, the voice that has haunted my dreams ever since that night in the Department of Mysteries. Two wands were aimed at me. Harry and Severus were dragged in. "My, my, Severus," a voice taunted, "it seems Bella has been right about you all along. In a muggle car, on the road with Potter and Longbottom?"

As they taunted and kicked Severus, I took the opportunity to look at Harry and estimate our chances. "Neville," I suddenly heard Harry whisper. " My wand…I can accio it but you need to distract them."

There was only one Death Eater who was watching us now. We looked at each other.

"NOW!"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS" the Death Eater watching us fell.

"ACCIO WAND" Harry yelled. It worked. The wand flew to his hand.

Harry dove behind an isle "ACCIO SNAPE" he bellowed, and Severus' battered and bruised body flew over to him, out of reach from the Death Eaters. I dove behind another aisle now that Severus and Harry were in position.

Lestranges spell rattled the shop and I was bombarded with the entire contents of the feminine products aisle. YUCK! I threw a box of something completely unmentionable at her, disgusted, and to my surprise it hit her square in the face, giving Harry time to stun her.

I saw one Death Eater trying to make his way around the aisle where Harry was hiding while the others were throwing hexes in his direction. I nearly felt insulted that none of them seemed overly concerned with getting me out of the way. "BINDUS!" I yelled, watching him fall, tangled in ropes. Harry looked around, saw what happened and nodded his thanks.

Harry threw a full body bind on the fourth Death Eater, but not in time to prevent the slicing hex, that was thrown his way, cutting his wand arm from wrist to shoulder. He didn't drop his wand but it was clear he couldn't lift his arm to aim. I was alone with Rastaban.

He advanced on them with a feral grin. "Potter, how I've been wanting to kill you," he said, "the Dark Lord will reward me most handsomely. And Snape…well, boy, be glad you won't have to suffer the awful death that is in store for that traitor."

You know, I've never understood the need to gloat. In Defense, we were always told to be quick, not let yourself be distracted and not stop fighting until you know the battle is over. Apparently Rastaban hadn't been paying attention in that particular class. Not that I'm complaining; it gave me just enough time…

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Rastaban shouted, just as I apparated in front of Harry and Severus and yelled "REFLECTO!"

It was only when Rastaban dropped to the floor, dead, that I realized what I had done. But I didn't have long to reflect on that…no pun intended, I swear!

Harry was bleeding badly. I cast a healing spell and the bleeding stopped, but the wound didn't close completely. A potion from the car would have to finish the job. Severus opened his eyes slightly, clearly in pain. "We're…not dead," he said. We grinned, finally realizing we had won.

"Harry…" I said. He nodded. "We need to bind them and send a signal for the Ministry, but only seconds before we leave ourselves. We don't want to run into them any more then we do the Death Eaters." Soon all surviving Death Eaters were bound and gagged. Only one was actually conscious but that could be remedied. I stared at Bellatrix. Now was my chance…no one would know and Harry certainly wouldn't tell…I looked at him and saw him clutching his wand as well, clearly entertaining the exact same thoughts.

My mum and dad. Harry's godfather. I hate her. She didn't deserve to live. Why would it be wrong to use the Killing Curse on people like her? Then I heard the voice of professor Lupin in my head, something he had quoted to me a while ago when I told him Bellatrix deserved to die. "Many that live deserve to die. And many that die, deserve to live. Can you give it to them?" Something like that. I don't remember the book. I just remember I got angry at him.

"Neville," I heard. Severus had opened his eyes and was looking at us. "Harry. Boys…I understand. I wouldn't blame you. But she is bound and defenseless. Think. Would your parents approve of what you are about to do now? Slay an already defeated opponent?" His voice was uncommonly kind for him. Also rather weak. "He is right," Harry mumbled, "As much as I want to do it, he is right." I nodded.

"Let's get supplies and take professor Snape to the car. Where's the shop owner?" Harry glanced behind the counter. "Dead."

We grabbed whatever we needed, trying not to feel like looters, and together we carried Severus to the car. Taking another jerrycan of gasoline, we raced off, only waiting long enough to send distress sparks in the air for the ministry.

Harry cursed as he looked at his arm. He went through the medikit and found a bottle of potion. Rubbing it on the cut, he watched the skin mend. "Better." Then he took a few sips of bloodreplenishing potion. Looking over his shoulder, he bit his lip. "Neville, we will need to stop soon to look after Severus." I nodded, too tense to notice the name change. It hit me a few minutes later. "Did you just call him…" Harry's fists tightened. "In that bathroom…Rastaban threw the killing curse before his companion could prevent it, saying the Dark Lord had always ordered to capture me alive. He jerked me out of the way of the spell and wandlessly threw a couple of hexes. He was too weak to do much damage, but I would have been dead if it weren't for him. That's how they knew he is a spy."

We drove on for about another hour, then I pulled over at a motel. It was dawn, anyway. We decided it was best to take a room for two days, rest the entire day and leave again by midnight. We cast a glamourie charm on Severus, hiding the bruises on his face, and explained to the girl at the reception that he had driven all night and needed a break. She smiled at us – she was about 17 and quite pretty, I must say, - and gave us the key to a room. Entering, we found three beds in a large room. There was a dining table and a bathroom with bath. Putting Severus down on one, we looked at each other, hesitating. "For Merlins sake," Severus opened his eyes slightly in an attempt to sneer, "Neither of us likes it, but you will have to help me clean up. I'm not your professor anymore, I can't deduct points or give detentions, remember?" I grinned, and set to work, soon assisted by Harry. It wasn't as bad as we feared, though the bruises were substantial. Some ointment from the medikit took care of that. No bones appeared to be broken, but the fever had set in again. Another fever potion, and then we tucked blankets around him to sleep.

Harry removed his robe. "Good thing they're black," he said, "or everyone would have noticed the blood." His entire sleeve was soaked in blood. "Fortunately Mrs Weasley taught me a few cleaning spells." He cleaned his robe and fell on another bed. Putting several charms on the doors and windows as protection, I quickly showered, dragged myself to the bed next to Harry's and fell asleep.

That's all for now! Of course I could hardly let them die after only five chapters, right? Anyway, don't worry, all roads eventually lead to Hogwarts!

Oh, and Lupins quote is from LOTR, of course.