Sorry this chapter took a while, quarantine is giving me major writers block!
Any way, another long for you so hope you enjoy - should probably mention that some sections of this are from Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban.
As always, let me know what you think!
Also special thank you to Green-Silver-Ravenclaw who always leaves such lovely reviews (it won't let me reply to them but they honestly make my day!)
Stay safe you amazing humans xx
Ebony was relieved once she got out of the hospital wing after a few days, she'd had enough of being stuck in the same room for days on end.
Thankfully her black eye had disappeared thanks to Madam Pomfrey's help so she was able to spin the story that she simply had the flu without too much suspicion which saved her from weeks of whispers and unwanted questions and stares.
She had one hell of a time catching up with her work but most of the teachers just seemed happy that she was back in class. Apart from Snape, who gave her detention for not handing in an essay that was due from the holidays. She'd wanted to say that she spent her Christmas trying not to die from starvation but she kept her mouth shut.
Neville, on the other hand, came to her defence and said that he was being unfair. Snape couldn't care less and merely stated that he could join her that night.
...
"You are to make this floor spotless, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir." Ebony said and Neville nodded meekly.
"What was that Longbottom?"
"Yes, sir." He mumbled, not looking up.
"Hand over your wands." Both of them reluctantly obliged. Ebony hated not having her wand, it made her feel powerless and vulnerable. "I will return in a while, I have more important things than watching lazy imbeciles clean floors." With a swish of his robes, he left the room.
"What a prick," Ebony said, grabbing one of the buckets of water.
"Agreed. All we did was not hand in one essay." Neville added, doing the same. "I just don't understand why he hates me some much."
"I don't know either, you're not even that bad at potions."
"Thanks but I think you may be exaggerating, we are both horrendous at potions."
"Oh come on, we only make things explode every other day." They both burst out laughing before getting onto their hands and knees to start scrubbing the floor.
...
"Somethings got to be done about it Minerva, poor girl's skin and bone"
"I've spoken to Albus but unfortunately there is nothing we can do."
"This is ridiculous!"
"Trust me, Poppy, I find it just as infuriating."
"Good evening," Remus said as he made his way over to where the two older witches were sitting, "Everything alright?"
"Ebony."
"Ah." He sighed as he sat in a nearby chair. He had heard that she merely had a bad case of the flu but from the tone of voice, Remus figured that it was definitely something else. "What's happened now?"
"That girl passed out on the train and turned up on my ward half-starved that's what!" Minerva placed a comforting hand on Poppy's arm.
"Is there nothing Albus can do?"
Minerva took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "Unfortunately no, Ebony has told us nothing directly so we're working on assumptions. Until we have some concrete facts about the situation we can do nothing."
"What about Longbottom? Have you tried asking him?" Poppy asked.
"No," Remus said with a smile, " I doubt we'd get much out of him if she's told him anything I highly doubt he would betray her trust."
"We've just got to keep supporting her how we can," Minerva said and Poppy gave a small huff. "And you really shouldn't be worrying yourself right now Remus, you've got enough on your plate."
Remus blushed slightly and scratched the back of his neck. "Speaking of which, I really must find Severus." He rose from his seat. He hated people bringing up his condition, even if it was meant in a caring way. It made him feel weak like he was a burden.
Just then, as if on cue Snape walked into the staff room and began to make himself a drink. "Ahh Severus, I was meaning to come and find you," Remus said with a smile, wandering over to his colleague.
"Yes, your potion is sat waiting in my classroom." Snape did not return the smile.
"You're finishing rather late this evening Severus," Minerva remarked, looking over her glasses.
"Detention," he said. "Which I must get back to."
"I'll come with you then," Remus said and he bid goodnight to Minerva before following Snape out the door.
"Who's in detention then?" He asked
"Longbottom and Lestrange," Snape replied, keeping his eyes straight ahead. He never had been one for small talk. Remus smiled a little.
"What have those two done now?"
"Lestrange thought she just wouldn't bother to do the holiday homework I set and Longbottom felt the need to be extremely disruptive about it."
"I see." Remus in-fact did not see. Any decent human being would see that Ebony had not been well and would perhaps cut her some slack. Apparently, Snape wasn't in the mood to be decent. As for Neville, Remus very much doubted that Neville had been 'disruptive' and was more likely just standing up for his friend.
...
They'd got just under half of the classroom done before Snape came striding in an hour later with Professor Lupin at his heels. "Is that all you've done?"
"It's only been an hour." She protested.
"5 points from Gryffindor. Don't talk back Lestrange." Ebony flinched and Lupin raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
She huffed and shot a glance at Neville who sighed too. Her back ached and she really wanted to go to bed. She stood up to move a chair out the way and was hit by a sudden head rush. She gripped the back of the chair for support, scrunching her eyes up as the world seemed to spin.
"You alright Ebony?" Lupin asked. Snape just glared.
"Yeah just felt a bit dizzy."
"Should you really be doing this so soon after getting out of the hospital wing?" Lupin seemed to be asking Snape more than her. Ebony just shrugged. She watched as Snape glowered at Lupin - who she could've sworn was wearing a slight smirk- before muttering, "That be enough, for now, both of you get out of my sight."
Ebony and Neville both looked at him in surprise, unsure of whether or not he was serious.
"Did you not hear me? Go, before I change my mind." He snapped, dumping their wands on the desk. Ebony wasn't sure if she actually saw Professor Lupin give them a wink or if she was just imagining it.
Both of them wasted no more time and muttered 'thank you, Professor,' and made a speedy exit. They burst into giggles as they got out into the corridor.
"Professor Lupin is my favourite teacher ever," Neville said as they made their way down the corridor.
"Don't let Professor Sprout hear that." She said, giving him a light shove with her elbow. He just laughed.
"You are okay though right?"
"Merlin, yes I'm fine," she sighed with a smile. "I just got up too quickly."
...
Neville was sat on the sofa flicking through his herbology textbook but his eyes were merely flying over the page.
"Hey, you alright?" She said, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him.
"I'm fine."
"I think you'll find that's my line." She said with a smirk. He looked up and managed to give her half a smile before looking away again. Her face fell "Seriously Neville, what's wrong?"
He frowned, fiddling with his wand. " 's nothing," he mumbled, "it's stupid."
"I'm sure it's not." He looked up at her, twirling his wand in his hair. "Also don't do that, remember what happened last time." He gave a small chuckle and obediently put his wand down.
"The half-bald look was really not my thing."
"It was awful." She agreed. "So come on," she gave him a gentle nudge. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Is this really what I do to you all the time?"
"Yes," she said, smiling. "Now stop avoiding the question."
He inhaled deeply. "It's just...it's my mum and dad's wedding anniversary today."
"Oh," Ebony wasn't quite sure what she was expecting him to say but it wasn't that. "How long they been married for?"
"Fifteen years."
"Wow, congrats to them." She said still looking at him slightly puzzled. "Why's that got you down in the dumps though?" He shrugged.
"I don't know," he mumbled, raking his fingers through his hair. "I guess I was just wondering whether or not...you know...they know."
"Oh."
"Like they should be celebrating right now but instead they're just...barely there." His voice cracked and Ebony hesitantly took his hands in hers.
"I'm sure they know," she said. Honestly, she had no idea about the ins and outs of spell damage but that wasn't what was important right now. "If they love each other I sure that somewhere, deep down, a part of them knows."
"Really?" Neville's eyes were watering. She gave him a grin.
"I think so," she squeezed his hand. Neville just sat there smiling with tears running down his cheeks. Ebony had no idea what to do. "I'm really not good at this you know." He laughed and wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Yeah, I'd noticed." She tried to scowl but it quickly turned into a smile as Trevor hopped from Neville's lap onto his shoulder.
"I think I'll leave the touchy-feely stuff to him." She said as he licked Neville's chin.
"Good idea." He replied, giving the toad a little pat on the head.
...
Ebony awoke to the sound of loud chatter. The other girls in the dorm were sat up with the ends of their wands lit. She looked at Hermione, who's eyes were noticeably red and puffy. She sighed, Ron was being an absolute prick.
"What's going on?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. Lavender just shrugged. Parvarti went over and stuck her head out the door.
"Everyone's going downstairs." She said. They all looked at each other before shrugging and climbing out of bed.
Ebony pulled on her dressing gown and stumbled downstairs into the common room. No one seemed to have a clue what was going on and there was a lot of chatter coming from the third year boys. She shoved her way towards where Neville was standing with the others from his dorm. All of them, particularly Ron, looked extremely pale. "What's going on?" She asked.
But before he could answer her, Percy came barging downstairs. "Everyone back upstairs!" He said, ushering people towards the dorms.
"Perce - Sirius Black," Ron said faintly. "In our dormitory, with a knife! Woke me up!"
The room suddenly went very still. Neville clung onto Ebony's arm. She looked at him. "Really?" She whispered. He shrugged, "Ron woke up screaming, surprised you didn't hear it".
"Now really, enough's enough" Professor McGonagall stormed into the room, a look of fury on her face. Clearly, she thought that they were continuing the quidditch celebration party from earlier. "I'm delighted that Gryffindor won the match but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better from you."
"I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!" Percy said. "I was just telling them all to go back to bed! My brother Ron had a nightmare-"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME HOLDING A KNIFE!"
Professor McGonagall just stared at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he have got through the portrait hole?"
"Ask him!" Ron pointed a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's portrait. McGonagall glared out him and went out into the corridor. The entire common room seemed to be holding its breath. Ebony placed a hand on where Neville was still clinging to her arm.
"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"
"Certainly good lady!" He cried.
The air suddenly became very tense as a stunned silence swept across the room.
"You - you did?" McGonagall said in disbelief. "But - but the password!"
"He had 'em!" Said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through to the common room, her face white as a sheet. Ebony felt Neville tense up next to her. She leant in and whispered "Hey, it's okay," but Neville continued to stare ahead, trembling.
"Which person,' Professor McGonagall said, her voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
That's when the penny dropped and Ebony watched as Neville let go of her arm and raised his hand. She felt her heart sink.
"Go to bed. All of you," Professor McGonagall ordered coldly. As the rest of Gryffindor house dispersed up the stairs she caught Neville. "Longbottom, I'll deal with you later."
"Professor it wasn't-" Ebony started.
"That's enough Lestrange." She snapped and Ebony winced.
They both just stood and watched as she turned on her heel and left.
...
The Howler arrived at breakfast two days later. It was brought by a huge barn owl which landed right in Neville's cereal. Ebony watched the colour drain from his face.
"Run for it, Neville," Ron advised. He shot a panicked look at Ebony and she nodded. Ebony then watched as Neville seized the envelope and ran from the hall, accompanied by roaring laughter from the Slytherin table.
He didn't make it very far though, the entrance hall was suddenly full of the booming voice of his grandmother yelling that he had brought shame on the family. Her harsh words sent a familiar shudder through Ebony's body that made her skin crawl.
She discarded her toast and ran after him.
...
Ebony found him leaning against the wall next to the common room entrance. McGonagall said that Neville was no longer allowed to know the password, he simply had to wait for someone to let him in. Ebony, of course, thought that this was a pile of shit and told him them anyway, the fact that he usually forgot straight after was beside the point.
"Hey," she said, noticing that his eyes seemed rather red. "That was rough."
"Deserved it," he muttered, picking at the skin around his thumbs. "She's right, brought shame to my whole family."
"No, you haven't." Neville merely laughed. "It was an innocent mistake, Neville, anyone could've lost that piece of paper."
"I was the only one dumb enough to write them down in the first place."
"Everyone was getting confused with the passwords changing all the time if anything that was a pretty smart idea." She gave him a small smile. "Don't beat yourself up about it."
"Just shut up alright!" Ebony just stood stunned with her mouth slightly open as Neville threw his hands up in frustration. "Why can't you just accept that I am fucking useless? Everyone else does!"
"I just," she said quietly, looking down. "I was just trying to make you feel better."
"Well stop it alright!" She had never seen him like this and it gave her a pit in her stomach. She looked at his face, red with watering eyes. "My 'innocent mistake' could've got Ron killed!" His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. "You don't know what it's like to always be the one to blame! As soon as something goes wrong it's always me. Even when it isn't my fault people always think, 'Oh what's Neville done now?'. Even Gran does it. You don't understand how it feels to be this useless."
"I do actually." He stared at her, his expression slowly softening. She smiled weakly. "I get it." She blinked as tears stung her eyes. "It fucking sucks."
Tears were flowing freely down Neville's face and Ebony felt one or two trickle down her own cheeks. They both just stood there, staring, neither of them quite sure what to do. Then Neville took a step towards her, his arms open a little. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his middle while he clung to her neck.
"Why do we both have to be so messed up?" He mumbled into her neck and she gave a half-laugh, half sob.
"Life would be pretty boring if we weren't." He lifted his head, a watery smile on his face. "I don't erm.. I don't think you're useless, just so you know." She stammered, feeling herself blushing.
Neville wrapped his arms around her again, clinging on tighter than before.
"I don't think you are either." He said softly and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
...
"What do you want to do tomorrow then?" Ebony asked, flopping down onto the sofa next to Neville which caused Trevor to give a surprised croak and hide in the crook of Neville's elbow.
"Are you not going to Hogsmeade?" He asked, frowning.
"What, and leave you here alone?" She said, "Why would I do that?"
Neville smiled a little. "But I thought you needed a new quill."
It was true, Ebony's had broken when she dropped it in the middle of a busy corridor and it had got trampled on multiple times. No amount of Reparo's could fix it.
"I mean yes-"
"Then go"
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" She asked.
"No," he rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his lap. " I just feel bad that you aren't going because of me."
She sighed and gave him a defeated smile. "Fine. I will go and get myself a new quill if it bothers you that much." She thought for a moment. "Then I will visit Honeydukes on my way back and pick up some chocolate and we can spend the rest of the day playing exploding snap and chess. How bout that?"
Neville's face spread into a wide grin and he flung his arm around her neck. He had become very physically affectionate after their argument in the Hospital wing and honestly, she loved it. It made her feel warm and bubbly inside. She almost craved it. "I think you're the best friend ever!"
She laughed, " I wouldn't go that far."
"Well, I did." He said, leaning his head on her shoulder. She let out a long breath
It was strange, the thought that one person could make you feel so at ease by simple being near you but here he was. Neville, the most unexpected person she thought she would ever call her friend. She leant her head on top of his. This was nice, she thought, she could happily stay here forever.
"Take some food though." She lifted her head and arched an eyebrow at him.
"It's only Hogsmeade, I think I'll survive the trip."
"No for the dog, if you see him. I think he's a stray and he was really skinny."
"If you think I'm going anywhere near that bloody mutt you can think again."
"He's not that bad."
"He could easily tear my foot off!"
He turned his head to look at her. "Why are you so scared of dogs?"
"My great uncle used to have two bloodhounds. They were massive and had big teeth and one time when I was seven, they chased me around the garden." She shuddered. "I can still picture the drool coming out of their mouths"
Neville wrapped his arms around her elbow. "Take some food anyway and if you see him, just throw it in his direction and back away."
"I'll think about it." She said. "If he does bite me though-"
"Permission to yell at me."
"I was going to suggest taking Trevor into protective custody but yelling works.
...
She was just in her way back from Honeydukes when she saw a long tail disappear around the corner. She sighed and followed after it. She found the dog digging in a bush on the outskirts of the village. What the hell should she do now?
Ebony cleared her throat. "Um...hi?" The dog's head snapped up and he barked at her, wagging his tail. She took a couple of steps back, already regretting engaging with the animal. She slowly reached into her pocket and as she did so the dog sat down, cocking his head to the side. Ebony tossed the couple of pieces of bread that she had collected at breakfast towards the large black dog. He yipped happily and wolfed them down before looking up at her wagging his tail.
"Sorry, that's all I got." She said, holding her hands up and backing away.
"Oi, Lestrange!"
Ebony's hands curled into fists and she sighed. She really wasn't in the mood.
"Replaced Longbottom with a dog now have we?" Draco scoffed as he strutted over with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. "Suppose, that mutt is probably smarter than him." The three boys roared with laughter.
"Thought I wasn't worth the effort," She retorted, " you know, Bloodtraitor and all that."
"Changed our minds," Goyle said, cracking his knuckles, " you're pretty easy pickings."
"Yeah." Crabbe chimed in, "Bring up mummy and daddy and you start shaking like a leaf."
Ebony felt her cheeks burn, "I'm not scared of them." She said through gritted teeth.
"Really?" Goyle said, raising his eyebrows "I think your Boggart would beg to differ."
Ebony clenched her fists and was about to take a step towards him but before she could there was a deep growl from behind her. She turned to see the large dog baring its teeth and edging skulking towards Goyle who just laughed.
"Oooo setting your dog on us now," he said in mocking tone, "oh I'm so scared." All three of them laughed but the smiles were quickly wiped off their faces when the dog let out and loud bark and pounced at them.
She couldn't help but grin as they tore off down the street screaming. Serves them right, she thought. A few moments later the dog returned and sat in front of her and she almost thought it was smiling. "Thank you for that," she said, fully aware that she was talking to a dog like it was a person. "Maybe you aren't so bad after all."
She watched as he bounced off towards the small hill a little way from the village and then turned back to her expectantly. "What?" She said, raising her eyebrows. The dog walking a little more and then turned around again. "You want me to follow you?" He gave a yip and wagged his tail. Ebony shrugged. "Sure, you did help me I suppose." He gave another bark and ran ahead, turning back every so often to check she was following.
Ebony was following a dog. She was following a dog that she was still scared may try and rip her leg off any minute. She had no idea why something in her gut just told her to. It wasn't until they reached the entrance to a cave that she realised quite how ridiculous it was. "And this is how I die." She muttered and the dog laughed. The dog fucking laughed.
Ebony froze and watched him disappear inside. Part of her was telling her how stupid it was and that she should turn back. However, that part was difficult to hear over that Gryffindor part of her brain that was saying that she should totally just follow a bloody dog into a cave where she would most certainly be murdered.
"Lumos." Her breath became shaky as she stepped inside. It was full of dead rats and other bones. The dog was nowhere in sight. "This was a waste of time." She muttered and turned to leave when she saw a shift in the shadows.
"I wouldn't speak so soon dear cousin." A croaky voice echoed though the darkness.
Her heart stopped.