A/N: God, I get the most interesting reviews. I'm meeting people just as weird as I am! Still thanks for them all!
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Second Bond
Harry guessed that fate was on his side as they met no one patrolling Hogwarts' corridors. Harry figured there probably was an Order meeting or something and then wondered if they would notice they were missing five members.
Not even Filch or Peeves came running when the students opened the doors of the Main Entrance. Swiftly they made their way across the grounds, Harry keeping one eye on the Forest they other on the auras of his friends.
There were no lights on in Hagrid's hut, the half giant being either out or in bed. Harry hoped it was the latter as if he was out, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor would most likely be venturing into the forest where Harry was meeting Neville.
They stopped at the edge and took off their spells or cloaks. Luna was digging into a small backpack she had brought with her before pulling out four necklaces. Each one was made of a black leather strap and had a white crystal on it's string.
"These will let us communicate with each other. If your get lost, find a safe place to call for us and don't get distracted by it. That's how you get killed." The Seer explained as she handed them out. "To use them, simply grasp it tightly and speak. We'll heard everything your saying, even to someone else."
Hermione was examining hers with awe. "Where did you get these?"
Luna smiled. "They belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. I found them in my family's vault in Gringrotts this summer. Why do you think intelligence of any kind is favored in Ravenclaw. The founder was a Seer as well."
Ginny grinned. "Excellent."
Harry nodded and suddenly gasped. His friends' reaction times were great but there wasn't a problem. Harry had suddenly felt a warmth spread through his body, like the feeling he got when Draco hugged him that night in the dungeons. Slowly the feeling disappeared and a goofy grin settled on the Elemental Veela's face.
Hermione touched his face in concern but Harry just laughed.
"What's happened?"
Harry bit his lip in insuppressible excitement. "Draco is very close to completing the second bond."
Ginny whooped. Ron looked confused.
"Second? You mean there is more?"
Luna nodded. "Three in all. This one is an emotional bond. So sweet." Ron looked ill.
Harry blinked and looked down at his watch. They had fifteen minutes.
"Come on. I want them back before the sun rises tomorrow."
The five were cautious as they entered the forest. While the full moon had been the night before, the Forest held many other dangers, including hundreds of giant, man-eating spiders.
The underbrush thickened as they traveled farther into the trees, very little moonlight shining through the upper layers of forest. Every crack of a twig made them jump, every whisper of the wind had them stopping and straining to hear if it was the whisper of a curse instead. A few footsteps away, Harry suddenly felt a wave of magic.
Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna went flying back from the clearing with screams of pain. Harry turned back and moved toward them only to be thrown back himself. Lying on his back, Harry opened his eyes to see a dome of flashing magic surrounding him. With a growl the Elemental Veela lifted a glowing hand to break it when Luna's voice stopped him.
"Don't do it, Harry! He's drawing on nature. To fight it would wear you out." The Ravenclaw yelled as she stood. Harry saw that his friends were alright if not badly shaken.
Hermione moved over closer to the dome and moved away some of the dirt to find a glowing ring of some kind of fine powder. She looked up.
"He's using Nature Stones as anchors for his wards. Luna is right. The only thing he didn't count on was us. They can be destroyed easily. Most wizards and witches try to banish the ward instead of its anchors and tire themselves out. You go on."
Harry nodded. He felt uneasy leaving them in the Forest without his protection but he needed to get his family back. Alone he cautiously stepped closer to the clearing. It was empty.
Harry stood in the shadows, his head tilted as he listened. His watched ticked. The wind blew and the leaves rustled. It was midnight.
Across the clearing a shadow shifted and broke away from the rest and Harry's senses went crazy. His hair bristled and stood stiff, his teeth sharpened and his pupils pointed into cat's eyes. His body became more sensitive to the feel of the wind and the shifts in the air and magic currents. His hearing increased tenfold along with his eyesight. His nose knew that the figure was Neville and Harry held back a growl.
He waited until the last second before Neville stepped into the light and the clearing before misting into invisibility. It was bets to watch his prey and study his behaviour.
This was not the same Neville Harry had known. This one walked with an air of confidence. Too much confidence. His normally joyful face was alert, his eyes darting nervously around the clearing. There was a slightly insane glint in his cold blue eyes as well. Neville took out some potion bottles and began to uncork them.
Harry could tell right away what they were. A Strengthening Potion, a Magic Enhancing Potion and a Reflex Quickening Potion. Harry snorted mentally. Did he honestly think that would save him? Harry was magically more powerful than Dumbledore and Voldemort together on their best days, not counting his natural animal instincts and his knowledge of fighting that simply came natural to an Elemental Veela. Harry's wand was useless with theElemental Veela's new magicwhile Neville was as good as dead with his.
Harry watched his enemy down the potions with an impassive face as his rage and his powers grew. Neville wiped his mouth with his sleeve and grinned nastily.
"Where are you Potter?" He yelled into the woods and Harry rolled his invisible eyes. There was a tree just above the boy, its branch sturdy. With a flying leap Harry landed on it and crouched down. The tree had barely twitched with its added weight and Neville was none the wiser.
"Do you not want to fight me? Do you not have the heart to hurt one of your fellow Gryffindors?"He taunted. Bad idea, Neville, old friend. Harry thought as the boy began to tease him. He walked around in circles yelling into the trees, telling any animal out there his position. Honestly, Voldemort, the worst of the Dark Lords, had these idiots as his followers? The fact that one of them hadn't impaled himself on his own wand was a big accomplishment for the radicals.
"I'm going to enjoy turning over your family to the Dark Lord." Neville continued a smirk in his voice. "I'll stand back and watch as he kills them one by one. Perhaps he'll let me join in. I think I'll select the mate of a certain Elemental Veela. I'll watch him scream."
Neville was just turning under Harry's branch when the Elemental Veela, misting into sight, swung down andgabbed the boy under the armpits. Lifting him with the force of magic and brute strength, Harry threw the traitor into the tree he had been sitting in.
Neville's body hit with a CRACK and slid down, his clothes catching on its rough bark. He was winded but sadly not unconscious. Harry's fists were clenched with rage, his aura shining wildly around him.
"Tell me where they are and I may spare your life." Harry said with a hiss. Neville laughed insanely, struggling to get up.
"I'll never tell you, Potter." He said with a snarl before throwing a good sized rock at his opponent. It smashed before getting within five feet of him and Harry raised an eyebrow. Neville was obviously still not very creative. It was sad really, that Harry was fighting such an undeserving opponent.
Neville whipped out his wand.
"Avada Kedrava!"
Harry's eyes widened at the Killing Curse falling from a fellow Gryffindor's lips before twitching his fingers.
A slab of rich brown earth sprang up in front of the Elemental Veela, absorbing the spell before falling into pieces. Neville shrieked in rage.
"Why do this Neville?" Harry asked, his anger and curiosity battling. "Voldemort ruined your life just a s much as mine. His followers attacked your parents!"
Neville's left eye twitched in the moonlight, the cut above his right eye bleeding freely. The Death Eater was breathing heavily from being thrown into a tree and the strain of the Killing Curse while Harry hadn't even broken a sweat.
He let out a bitter, loud laugh that surprised Harry.
"My parents!" He asked in surprise. "It's always about my parents. Bellatrix thought they might have known something about you, so she tortured them. I was tortured as well, just for the fun of it. That and Bella likes to hear children scream. But you'll find that out later. She's dreadfully upset about Narcissa betraying her...don't know what she'll do when she sees her. But that's another story."
The two Gryffindors began circling each other, looking for weaknesses. Neville continued.
"I was sent to live with my grandmother, Potter. My poor dear, grandmother. She never got over the loss of her son and her daughter-in-law and her grandson just wasn't good enough for her. It was always 'You should be more like Frank, Neville. He wasn't scared of anything.' or 'Do you think your mother cried when she came into her magical powers?' I was the splitting image of my father with my mother's eyes and face. I couldn't escape their shadow anywhere."
Harry scoffed. "Do you not think I have it any different. Know how many people have told meI look like my father but I have my mother's eyes? Even Sirius and Remus fall into believing they have James back, just for a moment. ButI would never do what you've done. You're betrayed everything your parents believed in. Aren't you grateful in the least?"
Nevile gave Harry an angry irritated look. "Of course I did. When I was weak and simple-minded, I believed what my grandmother told me. Admired them and was grateful. But for what? They're sacrifice has been forgotten in the Legend of the Great Harry Potter. People everywhere talk of your father's bravery and your mother's love, nothing is said of my parents. That's whenI realized, it's because there is no honor in being driven crazy. They didn't have the decency to die. We're so similar Harry, even our birthdays are in the same month, hours apart. The only difference is that your parents are dead while mine sit in a hospital bed and chew gum all fucking day as they waste away into nothing."
Harry was amazed. No honor in being driven insane by torture for not telling your side's secrets? Neville threw another curse, dark purple in color. Harry just pulled down another lightning bolt to zap it with. The other boy's face grew dark.
"So why me then?" Harry asked. Keep him talking. The sooner his friends found and broke the stones the quicker they could grab Neville and force where he'd taken Draco to out of him. "If anything I understand what you're going through. You could have come to me."
Neville sneered, his face turning ugly.
"You? I hate you. You're the reason they were targeted in the first place. You're special powers, then your surviving that attack all those years ago. You have everything I wanted. Power, fame, popularity. The best friends I wished for and at one point the affections of the girl of my dreams. She didn't know I was alive with you around, making daring missions against my Master. Her feelings have now changed of course but that's not the point. Zabini has already been taken care of. She made friends with me to get to you. It only took last year's episode at the Ministry to make me see what real power was."
While Neville had been ranting, Harry had heard Hermione's voice whisper to him on his crystal. They had found all four stones now and in two minutes were going to blast them away. All Harry had to do was keep blabber mouth over there talking.
The screen had given out just when Neville had screamed the killing curse at Harry. The whole group had tensed. Draco had grabbed his bars, his knuckles whiter than usual with worry.
Harry can't die! He thought to himself as Sirius buried his face in his hands. Remus had also made to grab his bars but had gotten burned again. Blaise had passed out and was resting in his cage. Pansy glanced over at him worriedly every now and then.
Draco swallowed his panic but felt it settle like a stone in his stomach. The bond was not advanced enough to know if Harry was dead or not, it not having the same affect on Draco has it did on Harryand the blond worried.
My last words to him were Fuck You! Merlin, ifI ever see him again I'll apologize for being such a git. And Malfoys never apologize. I, I just can't lose him.
Harry's pain had been unbearable to watch. Harry's pain had caused Draco pain.
And at the most inopportune time, Draco Malfoy realized he loved Harry Potter.
And the Second Bond flared into life.
Neville had suddenly began to throw curses and hexes at Harry in a crazy motion. Dodging them Harry blocked most and threw a few of his own back. The Elemental Veela cursed himself for letting the sneaky snake drink that Reflex Quickening Potion. While one of Harry's spellshad hit its mark Neville didn't seem to notice the painful purple boils he had grown and had still been throwing everything he had at Harry.
Suddenly that warmth he had felt earlier came back in full force. Draco had completed the Second Bond. Harry was distracted, just enough for Neville's next curse to strike him in the chest. A slash tore at the skin and spurted blood as Harry was thrown back and hit the ground with a hard thump.
Pain clouded his mind as Harry lay there. Happiness filled the Elemental Veela as he struggled to breath. Neville took his time as he grabbed a large rock. He was going to smash that lovely little head into the ground and leave it there. Harry was trying unsuccessfully to catch his breathe but his chest was hit with a stab of pain every time his lungs filled with air.
Neville had just raised the rock above his head when four explosions blasted around the clearing. Smoke and dust filled the air and the shock of the blast had knocked Neville off his feet. Draco's presence filled Harry's mind, before it moved comfortably to the back, a quiet reminder of why he was here. From his position on the ground, Harry felt Draco's worry and guilt as he thought about the Elemental Veela but what Harry felt the most was love.
Luna, Ginny, Ron and Hermione all bursted through the bushes just in time to see Harry blast Neville through the air. Just as it looked as though he was about to land in between two trees, twigs, branches and vines sprang from them, trapping the boy in them like a fly in a spider's web.
No matter how much the boy struggled he could not escape. Harry sat up and his friends rushed over. Hermione gasped at all the blood.
"Harry! Are you alright? Oh of course you're not alright! You're covered in blood!" The bushy haired Sixth Year wailed as she pulled up Harry's clothes to reveal the cut. Harry batted away Hermione's and covered the cut with his own, using his healing magic to fix it. Hermione harrumphed.
"I could have done it."
Harry shrugged. "So could I." He looked at his friends. They had twigs and leaves sticking out of their hair and dirt covered their clothes and skin.
"What happened to you guys?" Harry asked in surprise. Ron scowled.
"I'm going to have a talk to Hagrid about getting some leashes for those bloody spiders of his. They are horrible." The red-head shivered. Hermionebeamed at him.
"But it was awfully brave of you to jump on that one that was after me, Ronald. It almost got me!"
Ron turned red and shrugged. "Well, I couldn't let it do that..."
Harry grinned at his friends before standing up and walking over to Neville. He wanted to know where Draco was.
With a vine in his mouth, the Gryffindor wasn't in much of a mood for talking but Harry also knew he wouldn't tell him anything anyways.
"We need a way to get the information out of him. That's the only way to save them." Harry explained, looking at the traitor. "No torture. That's Death Eater tactics and we're above that."
Ginny glared at Neville pulling her wand. "I'm not."
Luna grabbed the red-head's elbow. "Yes you are."
Harry looked to Hermione. "Any ideas?" The girl smiled weakly.
"None legal. It would be so easy if we could jut snatch it out of his mind."
Harry and Hermione both stopped at those words and looked at each other.
"Of course!" They said in unison. Ron, as usual, looked confused.
"What now? I swear I'm always left out of these amazing times of understanding and inspiration!"
Harry looked at their prisoner in question. "Can you do it? I've had it done to me andI know the spell but I've never really done it. Once on Snape by accident."
Hermione shook her head. "I found very few books on it last year. You should try it. You're mind is loads more stronger now than last year."
Harry nodded and took out his wand. No need to totally mess this up with an off focus spell. His wand at his side, Harry looked at Neville's eyes. The boy was nervous and sweaty. Good. It would be easier to break into a mind that is not focused.
"Legilimens!" Harry said forcefully.
It was easy to break into Neville's mind, as powerful as Harry was and the Elemental Veela was bombarded with images. Memories and fantasizes, Harry saw them all. He saw Neville being treated badly by Snape and Draco. Saw his grandmother crying late at night over her dead son's picture, saw Neville sneaking up on her as she mad him lunch and use the Killing Curse on her. Meetings with Voldemort flashed by and Harry saw the poisoning of Trelawney as well as the push he had down the steps and Neville trying to break into his dorms.
Gritting his teeth, Harry moved the images by faster until he came to Snape's Potions Classroom and Neville's detention. Harry saw the group disappear form Hogwarts and into a room filled with cages. Each person was levitated into a separate cage. Harry pressed forward again and saw Neville leaving the house he was in and going outside. The scene outside was familiar...it was the backdrop to that horrific night in which one of Harry's friends was murdered and Voldemort returned to his body.
Just before apparating, Harry caught the sign by the house.
Riddle Manor,
Little Hangleton
Harry pulled out of Neville's mind and shook his head. Little Hangleton. That's where Draco was. Now how to get there.
"So?" Hermione asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. "Did you get where they are?"
Harry nodded. "Ever heard of a place called Little Hangleton?" Hermione narrowed her eyebrows and shook her head but Ginny gasped.
When they all looked at her she explained.
"T-Tom, he told me about there. It's You-Know-Who's hometown."
Ron was pale. "How'd you figure that out?" He asked Harry.
The Elemental Veela grinned. "I read his mind. Snape taught me."
Ron gapped. "I knew that greasy old bat could read minds! I knew it!"
Luna ignored him and stepped forward starring at Neville who dropped his gaze. It seemed that Luna's knowing stare was too much for his guilty soul.
"Someone has to keep watch on this one. He cannot get away."
Harry bit his lip in thought when suddenly something crashed through the undergrowth. Firenze was met with five wands pointed in his face. The centaur's hands went up in a show of peace.
"I come in curiosity, students. The Forest sings of battle and the stars shine brightly tonight. Change is in the winds."
Harry sighed. "I suppose Mars is also unusually bright tonight?"
The centaur's head went back as he gazed at the stars and repeated "Mars is unusually bright tonight."
Harry grimaced. "Great Harry. Get him started on that again."
Luna looked up as well. "Oh look, something is burning." She said so in a voice that told such an occurance to be normal in
the world of Luna Lovegood.
Four heads snapped up towards the midnight sky.
"Fawkes!" Shouted Harry and the phoenix circled down to the group. Harry turned to his friends and grinned. "They can watch him for us. Maybe even bring him in."
Fawkes landed gracefully on the ground. "What do you need, Little One?"
Harry crouched down and smiled. "Could you hold him for Professor Dumbledore? He's wanted on charges of murder, attempted murder, spying and Death Eater activities. I have to go and get my family."
Fawkes nodded, her tail ablaze. "I will need him secure for transportation."
It took Harry and Hermione's teamwork to tie up Neville. He was chained, roped, bound by endless cords and then stunned before Fawkes clutched his bindings in her claws and vanished in a flash of flame.
Ron sighed. "So how are we getting to You-Know-Who's?" He asked, looking green at the thought.
Harry was at a loss for ideas but Luna just smiled dreamily.
"Why we get Harry to call the Thestrals of course."
A/N:There! So Neville's been taken care of and now they are on the track to getting Draco back! Yeah! Thanks for all the reviews!
S.Tangerine