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"It feels like a bad dream," Augusta told Remus. He and Harry had arrived at the Longbottoms' about half an hour ago.
"Neville is strong," he said. "He will handle himself."
"You didn't see him when he read the news, Remus," said the Longbottom matriarch. "He looked like a completely different person. He didn't look like my Neville." She slowly began to cry so Remus held her hand to console her. "I worry about him," she said sniffling. "He is the only family I've got."
Remus said nothing because he didn't know what to say. He wondered what Harry and Neville were doing as he looked at the stairs that led to the upper floor where the boys were.
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Harry had never seen Neville like this. The boy didn't have that nervous look on his face which was, otherwise, always there. Instead there was this quiet, enraged expression which made Harry feel somewhat scared of him.
They were in Neville's room for the last half hour and the boy had barely said two words. He kept looking out the window. It was a cloudy evening and the sun had already set. However, there was still some light left on the horizon.
Realizing that staying in the room with Neville not speaking would lead to nowhere Harry decided to give it one last try to see if he could get the boy to talk. "All I want you to know is we are here for you," he said. "I am here for you just like you were when everyone called me a liar."
It was then that Neville slowly turned to look at him and Harry genuinely felt intimidated by the boy. "I want to show you something," he said before heading out of the room. Harry followed, wondering where Neville was taking him.
A minute later they were standing outside a room. He didn't miss Neville's trembling hand as it reached for the door knob before turning it open. It was dark inside to see anything clearly but as Harry followed him in he realized where he was as he saw the two beds upon which lay Frank and Alice Longbottom.
He stopped dead on his feet as he felt numb from the shock of being there. He wasn't expecting that Neville would take him to his parents.
Neville, on the other hand, walked over to the small stool which was kept in between the two beds where he sat and looked at his parents with an expressionless face. He then reached for the nightstand from where he picked up a small dropper which had some kind of liquid in it. Harry saw him put a few drops of it in his parents' eyes.
"They can't blink or close their eyes because the nerves which control their eyelids don't work," Neville said. "So this potion keeps their eyes from drying out. It is just one of the many things that I and my grandma have to do for them." He then paused for a moment before smiling sadly. "To see them just lie here, without moving or speaking, I don't even know if they can hear me. And yet I talk to them every time I'm here. But then I get this feeling which tells me that it would've been better if they had died that night. At least that way their suffering would've ended a lot quicker."
"Neville…"
"The healers said that their brains still make them think that they are under the effect of the cruciatus," he said ignoring Harry, "which makes them feel that pain from time to time. Even after all these years, they are still suffering." He grabbed a piece of cloth which he then used to wipe the drool from his father's mouth. After that he took out a small vial from the nightstand and showed it to Harry. "This is the only potion which helps them with their pain," Neville said before removing the stopper. He then carefully poured one half of it in Frank's mouth and the other half in Alice's. "There is nothing else that can be done. They will stay like this until their bodies finally give up. They can't eat solid food so they can only live for so long on potions." He then paused and Harry saw his whole demeanor change instantly as Neville looked him in the eyes. The next set of words which left his mouth made Harry genuinely fear him. "This is why I won't kill her," he said slowly, "because that would be too kind. I will make Bellatrix feel ten times the pain than what she tortured my parents with. I will make her realize that she was safer in Azkaban."
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The news about the Azkaban breakout spread like wildfire. Pictures of dementors flying around the monstrous dark mark above the magical prison instilled fear amongst the public as they began to wonder whether Dumbledore was right about Voldemort's return. This didn't bode well with Fudge who could clearly see his image amongst the public dwindle. If this went on then he was sure to lose the next election. So he had his team figure out a way to fabricate a tale that would be believable to the public and the only thing they could come up with was to blame the entire thing on Sirius Black.
"He broke out from Azkaban before so he knew how to do it again!" is what Fudge said in the press conference. "He was never testified under veritaserum during his trial. He got away by telling lies and now he has gone ahead and broken his fellow death eaters out to cause panic amongst us all. But don't worry! I will see to it that Sirius Black receives the harshest of punishments which he so very desperately deserves. You can count on me and I promise that I will never let you down!"
Sirius was outraged by Fudge's statement. He also couldn't help but find it funny seeing how dumb the minister's team could've been to come up with something this stupid. However, Amelia informed him that a good number of people believed what Fudge had said which didn't surprise him much.
"It was a desperate move from Voldemort," Remus had said. "Something this massive has grabbed people's attention and it will force them to think whether or not Dumbledore was right all along."
"Maybe that's a good thing then," Sirius said. They were currently at Potter manor with Harry. Daphne and Astoria had joined them and the kids were wandering around the place as Harry showed the girls his ancestral home.
"Instilling chaos and panic amongst the public is never a good thing," Remus said. "However, considering how bad it was last time this tactic will only play in Voldemort's favor." Sirius looked at him in confusion. "A lot of the people who lost someone last time will likely join him simply out of fear. It is a common trait in us humans, whenever we want to protect ourselves or someone that we care about. We think that joining the danger will keep us safe from it which, in this case, will work in Voldemort's advantage as it will strengthen his army of death eaters. But then again, this is just a speculation. However, one thing is certain, and that is he will not see a lot of resistance this time because people know how dangerous he is."
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"It was the first time I ever saw him like that, you know?" Harry said as he told Daphne about his meeting with Neville from yesterday. They were currently in the manor's library that was almost twice the size of Hogwarts' which Daphne told wasn't surprising considering how old the place was. Almost all the books were handwritten but thanks to magic they were all preserved in pristine conditions.
"You can't judge him, Harry," she said as she picked one book from the shelf in front of her and opened it to read. "One can only imagine what he goes through every time he sees his parents like that."
"I know," he said slowly. "I also, however, learned something new about him and it's that I would never want to be the one to make him angry. When he said what he would do to Bellatrix…the way he said it, it almost made me feel bad for that death eater. It was hard to believe that it was Neville in front of me."
"Isn't that how you felt when you saw Pettigrew that night in the graveyard?" Daphne asked. Harry realized what she meant as he said nothing in response. "You and Neville have both suffered terribly at the hands of Pettigrew and Lestrange. Only you two can understand the anger that you have for these two death eaters. And the best way to deal with that anger is to channel it in a way that will make you strong enough to one day face these bad people. It doesn't matter how angry Neville is. If he faces Lestrange right now he will be dead or worse, tortured by her. And I am not saying this because I don't realize how much he is suffering. I am only stating what is true. There is a reason why Lestrange is Voldemort's most trusted follower. A lot of people consider her even worse than him because of how unpredictable and crazy she is. If Neville plans to face her then his greatest strength would be to keep his cool in front of her and not let her get inside his head. That is the only way he can have a chance of winning."
"I don't think Neville will be in a calm state if he ever comes face-to-face with her," Harry said, "at least not from what I saw yesterday." There was silence for the next few minutes as the two continued to scour around the library before he spoke again. "I want to help him," he said slowly. "When I walked into his parents' room I realized how measly my loss is compared to him. Do you know what he told me? He said that it was better if his parents had died that night instead of being in that state of constant torture. They still feel the curse's pain from time-to-time and they can't even scream or cry or do anything about it. All they can do is just lie there and take it all in."
Daphne came over and hugged him just as Harry broke down in tears. "I can never look at Neville and not see his parents' state from now on," he said. "And it somehow makes me think of my parents being like that even though they are dead."
Daphne said nothing because she had nothing to say that would make him feel better. She could only hope that Harry knew that. They remained like that for the next few minutes until his crying had downed to sniffles. Harry wiped his tears as she let go of him when Daphne saw the look in his eyes.
"I know we can't make his parents better," he said slowly, "or bring my parents back. But we sure as hell can make those death eaters and Voldemort pay for what they did to our families…to a lot of families. I also know that we can never do it if we solely rely on what we learn at Hogwarts."
"What are you saying?" Daphne asked. "That you want to train? We are doing that."
"It's not enough," he said before he looked around. "We have this place for ourselves. There are enough books here to teach us about powerful, ancient magic. Let us learn and practice as much as possible because once school opens for the new term we won't be able to come back here until Christmas."
"You want to train here?" Daphne asked. Harry nodded.
"It wouldn't have come to this if Voldemort had stayed dead," he said. "Seeing how quick he was with breaking out his death eaters from Azkaban there's no telling when he will show himself to the public or make a surprise attack for that matter. We need to be prepared as best as possible."
"So what do you plan to do?" Daphne asked.
"Dumbledore has the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said. "I want to make a group just like that for us – you, me, Neville, Tracey and maybe Astoria. With Voldemort's return the death eaters have surely gained their confidence back. Once school opens the Slytherins will be unstoppable in creating havoc and you and Astoria will be in a lot more danger. I don't like saying this because I promised your father, but I may not be able to protect you and her."
Daphne held his face and looked him in the eyes. "I told you before that I can take care of myself and Astoria," she said before she paused for a moment and then continued. "But I do like the idea of us creating our own group, just like the Order."
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Thanks for reading…