Chapter 5

A Secret Untold

"Welcome, to yet another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, told the student body. "I extend a special welcome to those new to our school," he turned to glance at the first years, "as well as those returning for their final year." Harry caught Dumbledore's eye as the headmaster scanned the crowd of seventh years for quite some time. The elderly man inhaled deeply, trying to fight back a welling emotion. It stuck out like a sore thumb to Harry, as he had never seen his mentor so stressed, including the previous year. "I won't beat around the bush saying everything in the Wizarding world is fine, because, as all of you well know from the past couple years, it isn't. Lord Voldemort has regained an astonishing amount of power in the past two years alone." Some students still cringed at the name, but Harry was happy to see that this number had drastically decreased since last year alone. Dumbledore continued. "Although the Ministry strongly opposes, this year at Hogwarts will not be any different than other years. I strongly encourage all students and teachers to stay on your toes, but do not live in a constant state of fear. Hogwarts is one of the safest places you can be. Do not fret over Lord Voldemort just yet.

"A reminder that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students, and Quidditch practices will begin…"

Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione, who looked astonished. "Why doesn't he have any extra security? He knows what Voldemort is planning!" Hermione whispered. Ron nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "It's Dumbledore, he's always done what he wants." He let out a sly grin.

Ron looked nervously at Hermione and then looked around to see if anyone was paying them any attention, but all eyes were still on Dumbledore. "Listen, Harry, there's something that Mum and Dad and Moody were talking about that Hermione and I sort of overheard one evening."

"What? I was around Grimmauld Place all summer, why didn't I hear about it?"

"Well…it was sort of during one of your training sessions," Hermione said offhandedly.

"When?"

"When Moody put you up in that library to skim that huge book for five hours straight." Ron explained. "We found out it was a diversion in order for them to discuss matters with Moody privately, without him having to look in on your training."

"That's why he put me up there?" He couldn't help it as his voice began to rise. No one trusted him with important information anymore.

"Yes," Hermione said, looking around at the Gryffindor table. "Harry, please keep your voice down. We'll explain everything in further detail later in the common room."

Harry felt anger rise in him. Why didn't anyone trust him to know Voldemort's plans? He wasn't a child anymore!

"Lastly, I am proud to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody!" Dumbledore said, gesturing to the end of the table where the aging Auror sat. The weathered man nodded his head slightly at Dumbledore in respect, his grave facial expression seemingly carved in stone. Harry knew that Moody had been through great ordeal in the past couple months, but he tried to cover it with numerous masks. The Auror attempted to grin at the students in a mismatched sort of way. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, however, seemed to know that was his intent. Most of the other students looked either slightly horrified or else amused. "Some of you might recognize him from three years ago where an imposter unfortunately took his place, but please join me in welcoming Professor Moody to Hogwarts!" Scattered polite applause filled the Hall, but the attention was waning; Dumbledore noticed. "There is a big day ahead for all of us, so I strongly suggest you get a good night's sleep. Good night, everyone."

"So what's the big deal?" Harry demanded as everyone stood up to leave. A great rumbling came from all sides of them as benches scraped on the floor and everyone began to talk once again about their summer vacation.

The trio walked towards the exit. Ron and Harry almost stopped by the crowd of first years to lead them towards the dormitories, but Hermione insisted that they keep on going. Ron was in utter shock. "Hermione? Not following instructions?"

"They have other prefects to lead them upstairs. We have more important matters to deal with." Both Harry and Ron gaped at her, but she quickly dismissed it. Instead of walking up the typical stairwell to get back to the Gryffindor Tower, she led them to a much less used side door. "Less chance of being overheard," she explained. "Besides, we need a change of scenery."

"So what's the big deal?" Harry asked, getting rather irritable now.

"The big deal is that Neville was attacked this summer."

"Neville Longbottom?" Harry asked, astonished. He felt sorry for the pain his classmate had to overcome, but didn't know what it had to do with him.

Hermione nodded. "By Voldemort and two Death Eaters," she said gravely. "The entered his grandmother's house when he was home alone."

"That's horrible!" Harry exclaimed. "What happened to him?"

"Well, Aurors came to the scene immediately, just in the nick of time and took him to St. Mungo's, but the Death Eaters got away," Ron said somberly.

"No offense meant to Neville, but what does this has to do with me? Why is it such big news?"

Hermione took in a deep breath. "It's big news because Neville is guarded almost as heavily as you are, Harry." Tears filled her eyes. "They got him with the Crucius Curse, just like they did to his parents."

"But why did they go after him? And why is he protected by Aurors?"

"His parents knew a ton of stuff for the Order back in their day," Ron explained. "Neville probably knows a few things even Moody doesn't know about. Evidently when the Frank and Alice Longbottom went crazy, the Order put at least three Aurors to work guarding Neville at a time. The thing is that there weren't many Aurors to spare, just as there is a shortage now. Still, there have been Aurors constantly on Neville's watch ever since he was a baby."

"Do you know who knows about Neville's guard?"

"Not many," Hermione chimed in again. "Dumbledore obviously knew, as did Moody and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but beyond that I doubt anyone really understood where certain Aurors in the Order went when they disappeared for hours at a time. Remember how Tonks and everyone used to just disappear for a day or so and we just assumed it was tracking Voldemort? Well, it appears that most of the time they were just keeping track of Neville."

The three continued their trek towards the Gryffindor Tower in silence. "Why didn't they tell me?" Harry asked quietly.

"Listen, mate, you have enough on your plate as it is, with school and Quidditch and training and all. Don't explode at us for not telling you, nor for the Order for not telling you." Harry knew Ron was trying to prevent him from yelling. At the moment he felt so sick to his stomach he thought he might faint, much less yell.

"I'm not going to explode, Ron," Harry said even quieter than before. "I just can't believe…they hurt Neville so much…" He felt himself full of ranging emotion: rage, anger, sadness, humbleness, and understanding for Neville's past. By then they had reached the Gryffindor Tower. Most of the stragglers had already gone inside. Harry gravely told the Fat Lady the password that he had heard downstairs ("Copernicus"). No one felt much like sticking around the common room, so Harry and Ron solemnly bade Hermione good night and climbed the steps to the boys' dormitories with heavy hearts. Harry had wanted so badly to hear about Neville's parents and his past when he originally found out the Longbottoms were estranged. Now he wasn't quite so sure. Some secrets need to remain untold.