The Girl Who Lived to be a Nightmare

Summary: What if the Potters never died that Halloween night? What if everyone believed that Rose Potter was the Girl-Who-Lived? What if the Potters became egoistic and favoured Rose over Harry? What if Harry knew all along that he was special and began practising magic at the age of 7?

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer that I'm typing on.

Italics are thoughts

Bold is parsletounge or beast speak

Bold and Italics is writing or letters

Underlined is Spells

Chapter 3

The Longbottoms

Fear nothing,

for fear leads to indecision,

and indecision leads to mistakes,

and mistakes can cost you your life

Longbottom Manor

A young boy was running up the stairs to the owlery of Longbottom Manor. He was Neville Longbottom, best and only friend to Harry Potter. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He had a pudgy face but was actually very fit. He loved Herbology and anything to do with plants. He hoped that the gift that was wrapped in his hand was enough thanks for the present that Harry had sent him yesterday. Harry was the best mate anyone could ask for and Neville still thanked whatever luck he had that he had gotten lost in Diagon Alley last year.

Flashback

Neville was hiding behind a bookcase in Flourish and Blotts, crying. He and his family had come shopping so they could buy some gifts for Neville and make sure any clothes that they bought him would fit. In the busling crowd Neville had gotten separated from his parents and sister. He thought he saw them enter the book store but it was only a few people who looked like them. Neville knew that he should go back out there and look for them but he didn't want to risk them coming in here to look for him when he had just left in search of them. 'I'm so pathetic,' he thought and started to cry harder.

"What's wrong?" Neville jumped at the sudden voice. He looked up and saw a boy who looked to be about his age. He had messy, black hair and bright, emerald green eyes that were filled with confusion. He had a lean build and was slightly taller than Neville. He offered his had to Neville who took it and stood up.

"I c-can't find my p-parents," Neville tried and failed to keep his voice from cracking. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffed rather loudly.

The boy smiled, "I'll help you find your parents!" he proclaimed. "I got separated from my parents too. I guess I didn't notice them leaving with all of these books around." The boy started to laugh quietly at his attempted joke to cheer Neville up but when it didn't work he fell silent. "I'm Harry by the way."

"Neville Longbottom," Neville murmmered quietly. He suddenly felt shy around this boy since he wasn't used to being around people his own age other than his sister.

"Hey Neville," Harry said. "Why don't we become best mates. We can owl eachother all of the time. We don't have to tell anyone, not even our parents, it can be our little secret. Wouldn't that be so awsome?"

Neville smiled, "Okay, I'd like that."

Harry's smile got even bigger. "Thank's Nev."

End of Flashback

Neville smiled fondly at the memory. He was pretty sure that he would still be behind the bookcase if Harry hadn't found him. After that Harry had owled him asking him some general question about himself to see what they had in common. Both of thir favourite colours were green and they bothed liked to read alot. While Neville usually read about Herbology, Harry would read whatever books he could get his hands on. That's why Neville knew that it was safe to know that Harry would like receiving a book for a present. The only problem with that was not getting Harry the same book that he already owned, and that was hard to do considering how vast Potter Library was, even Harry's small library had at least 50 books in it. The lady who had sold it to him could almost garante that whoever he was buying the book for wouldn't have this book. Neville just hoped she was right.

Neville arrived at the top of the owlery. He went over to one of the owls and tied the letter and the book to it. "You know the drill, take this to Harry Potter's room and don't let anyone see you."

The owl hooted and flew off. Neville watched it for a few seconds before running back downstairs. He decided to check on his plants before everyoned else woke up. Last year, his parents had given him his own greenhouse and a few plants to start up with. Neville was thrilled with it. The only thing his parents told him when they showed it to him was that he was to take care of the plants on his own. While some would consider this to be a chore, for Neville it was like a hobby. Just like his sister loved Quidditch, Neville loved to tend to his plants, making sure they were strong and healthy. Upon arriving in his greenhouse, Neville quickly watered the plants, plucked seeds from some of them and trimmed some others. A half an hour later and he was finished. Neville usually did this after breakfast but since today he would be dropping in for a surprise visit to Harry's house for his for his, Rose's and Neville's birthday, he decided to do it before breakfast. Neville went up to his room and had a shower. When he exited his nose told him that breakfast would be ready soon. He quickly ran down the stairs, towards the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, Neville saw that breakfast was already ready and that the rest of his family was there eating. A bit peeved that they started eating without him, he went over and sat in his usual spot, between his Dad, Frank and his Gran, Augusta. He grabbed some pancakes, poured some syrup on them and started eating.

Just after Neville finished his first one, the others seemed to realize that he was there. His Dad looked at him and said, "Where were you 'till just now son. You're usually the first one up. We checked your room before we started eating but you weren't there." Neville almost snorted, 'Didn't they hear the water running from the shower?'

Neville swallowed what was in his mouth. "I was in my greenhouse. I usually tend to my plants after breakfast but today I decided that I would tend to them before breakfast so that we could leave a bit earlier."

His mum, Alice, smiled, "Ah, that's good Neville. I'm so proud of you, you take such good care of those plants." It was a common fact in the Longbottom family that they couldn't go anywhere until Neville took care of his plants for the day.

His Gran looked like she wanted to say something, but one look from Alice silenced her.

They ate the rest of the meal in silence. Neville finished first and looked around at his family. It looked like they were ready to go as soon as they finished. His Gran was wearing, like always, very dark green robes and Neville noticed that her ever-present vulture hat and bright, red handbag was beside her. His Dad was wearing plain black robes with the Longbottom crest (an 'X' made with two wands and a tree in the background) on them. His mother was dressed in similar robes. His sister was wearing some Muggle clothes. Neville took after his mother with her dark looks while Katie, his sister, took after her dad. Both of them had blond hair and blue eyes. His Gran looked like them too but her hair was grey. Neville waited for them to finish quietly.

Soon everyone was done and they cleared the table. Neville lead the way into the living room. He tried not to look anxious but couldn't help it, it would be the first time in a year since he had seen Harry. Thankfully the others just passed off his unsually quietness as nerves and didn't question him, though his Mum looked at him strangely a few times. His Dad quickly lit a fire.

"Well, I think I'll go first." his Gran said. "Then Frank, Katie, Alice and Neville." With that she grabbed some floo powder and shouted "POTTER MANOR!" She threw the powder onto the fire. The flames changed into a green fire and she stepped into them, vanishing from sight. The others copied her actions and soon Neville was left alone. As soon as his Mum went through, Neville bolted up the stairs, grabbed the books that Harry got him and put them in a bag that he had found that made it and the contents go invisible. He would have done this before but it would have made eating rather awkward.

Once he got back downstairs he grabbed some floo powder and shouted, "POTTER MANOR!" He threw the floo powder onto the ground, made sure his bag wouldn't fall off his back and stepped into the roaring green flames.

HPHPHP

Potter Manor

Harry had just arrived in his room when he heard the fireplace roar to life. With an annoyed sigh he turned around an headed back down the stairs.

Upon arriving in the living room, he found Neville being shot like a rocket out of the fireplace. He almost Harry's Dad James, but he stepped out of the way and Neville landed on the floor. Harry walked over to his family when he realized that introductions were about to be made. Neville also got up and walked over to his Dad.

His Mum Lily stepped forward first and said, "Thank you for coming today. For you little ones who don't know me, I'm Lily, this is my husband James," she pointed at him, "my son Harry," she pointed at him, "and my daughter Rose." she pointed at her.

A woman who Harry guessed was Neville's Mum stepped forward and said, "It's great to be here. I'm Alice Longbottom, this is my husband Frank, his mother Agusta, my son Neville and my daughter Katie." When Frank and Agusta were mentioned they both nodded and when Neville was mentioned he smiled at Harry. Katie didn't even seem to realize what was going on since she was staring at Rose. She seemed completely stunned that she was in the presense of the Girl-Who-Lived. Harry could tell that Rose was enjoying it.

Harry turned to Neville, "Want to see my room?" he asked. He tried to sound somewhat nervous.

Neville nodded. "Okay."

Both of them ran up the stairs trying hard not to laugh when they heard their Mums saying how sweet it was that they were already becoming friends. Harry opened the door to his room and walked inside. Neville followed him and shut the door. He was stunned when he saw the amount of books there was. bookshelves lined the walls except for where the bed was. There was even a mini bookshelf above where the dresser was. There was a small area that didn't have any books but had a poster of the Tornadoes Quidditch team. Underneath it there wasn't anything so Neville assumed that that was where Harry kept his books that held the notice-me-not charm on them. Neville looked back at Harry and gulped. Harry was glaring at him expectantly. "Well?" he said.

Neville laughed nervously, "I wanted to surprise you?" he half said, half asked.

Harry sighed, he didn't want Neville to be jumpy the rest of the time he was here. "Alright," Neville sighed in relief. "Next time though, you'd better let me know ahead of time," Harry threatened. Neville gulped and nodded. "You said in your letter you wanted to check out the book you got me, why?" Harry was now curious.

Neville looked indignant, "You mean you haven't looked at it yet? If you had read the first page you would want to know why i wanted to look at it."

For a breif second Harry looked almost frightened, but it was gone as soon as it came and replaced with an embaressed look. Neville decided he would call Harry out on it later. "I had to, umm, deal with some other things." Harry said, hoping that Neville would buy that.

Neville didn't but said anyways, "Okay, whatever you say. Now lets look at it."

Harry nodded and said, "Look what I found the other day." He moved over to ontop of his bed and opened a drawer in the wall. "No one knows about this, I keep anything important in here so no one can find it." He reached inside and pulled out the book. "You want to sit down on the bed so you can look at with me?" he asked Neville nodded and sat down. Both of them read the first page;

Rare Magical Gifts

Introduction

This book is very special. Unlike other books, it can peform a small amount of magic. Let me explain.

No one knows who created this book, but whoever did must have been powerful. It can tell you of any magical gifts that you have or will have when you either; come into your inheritance or become of age. There is another book, a pair, to this one but it has been lost. It is called 'RARE AND EXTINCT MAGICAL RACES AND HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOUR ONE OF THEIR DESCENDANTS'. If you find that book, then it works the same as this one.

As stated before, this book can help you find out what gifts that you have, but it didn't say how. If you look at the next 20 pages of the book you will find that the pages are blank. There is a reason for this. On an empty page you must bleed one drop of your blood onto it. The book will then check for any magical gifts contained within it, for magic runs in blood. You must wait 5 hours then return. By that time the book will have determined if you have any gifts and they will appear on the page. You can do this 20 times. The rest of the book has a small introduction to all of the gifts. You must purchase books on you ability if you wish to learn more about them as this book can only take you so far. This book will also tell you between 1 and 10 what level you are for each ability.

Harry stopped reading. He was shocked. This book had suddenly become his favourite book in the whole world. He looked at Neville who was grinning. Harry smiled too, "Want to try it out?" he asked.

Neville nodded. Harry got up and went to his dresser. He grabbed 2 eagle-feathered quills and walked back over to the bed. He turned the page of the book and indeed it was blank. He pricked his index finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the paper. As soon as the blood hit the page it spiderwebbed across then faded away. He turned to the next page and offered the other quill to Neville. He took it and did the same thing. The same affect happened when his blood fell onto the page.

When Neville looked back up at Harry he found that his friend appeared to be internally struggaling with something. The looked cleared when Harry noticed that Neville was looking at him. "Do you want to check out the forest?" he asked.

Neville nodded. It would take the book about 5 hours before they found out if they had any magical gifts. Harry closed the book and returned it to the hidden draw and return the quills back to the desk. "Let's go." he said.

Harry and Neville slipped out the back door, the others had almost seen them. They quickly ran to the edge of the forest. Harry stopped and looked back to make sure that no one was following them then headed into the forest with Neville following behind him. They walked determindly ahead for a while before Harry stopped and turned to Neville. "Do you trust me?" he asked, dead serious.

Neville nodded confused, "Of course." he said.

Harry nodded too, "What I'm about to show you can't be repeated to anyone, you got that?"

Neville was now thoroughly confused, "Okay, Harry what's going on?"

Harry didn't say anything, he just turned and walked off the path. Neville followed him. They walked for a while before they came to a small glade. Harry stopped and turned to Neville. "I want you to meet a friend of mine," he said. "Neville meet Sky, Sky come out and me my friend Neville."

Neville was floored. One second Harry was talking to him and the next he starts growling like a cat or a lion. He was even more surprised when a small leopard cub that was about the size of a house cat and had bright blue eyes, walked out from behind a bush and growled at Harry. He started to get scared when it stalked up to him and started sniffing him.

"This is Sky," Harry said, "she's a Nundu."

Neville was now completely terrified. Ever since his Dad had told him about Nundu's he wouldn't go near cats. He was just starting to get over that phobia when suddenly there was a Nundu right infront of him, ready to kill him. "G-get it away from me." he all but screamed.

Harry growled at the beast, which made it back away. "Neville," he said. "She was attacked by wizards. She became my familiar when her mom died. You said you trusted me. I'm telling you, she won't hurt you anymore than a dandelion will. Please don't be scared."

Neville thought it over quickly. He could either run for it and probably die or get lost, or he colud trust Harry. He decided with the latter. He tentivly reached out and petted 'Sky'. She licked his hand. Any fear that he had vanished. "Hi Sky." he said.

Sky purred, and Harry laughed. "She likes you." he said.

Neville looked up sharply. "You can understand her?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "Ya can't you?" he asked, confused.

Neville shook his head.

"Oh," said Harry. He glanced at his watch. "It's almost time for lunch, maybe we should head back." he said.

They both said bye to Sky, Neville in English and Harry in his weird little growl. They walked back in silence. Harry was glad that Neville and Sky got on so well and Neville was happy that he had made a new friend that wouldn't eat him unless Harry told it to. They both went back into the house and into the kitchen. They slipped quietly into the only chairs that were left. They pretended that they were having a conversation about the Tornadoes, something that they were both familiar with. Soon Rose, Katie, James and Frank joined in the descussion and it got pretty heated. Everyone was arguing on who they thought was the best and most important on the team.

Lily, Alice and Augusta saved the argument from getting violent with the arrival of lunch. Everyone ceased arguing and dug in. Neville was shocked at just how much Harry and his Mum consumed. Unlike the rest of the Potters who ended up with the food back on the plates, they ate with perfect table manners but still managed to out-eat the rest of the table. Neville finished eating first and waited patiently for the others to finish.

20 minutes later everyone was done and a house elf came and cleared the plates away. Everyone walked into the living room where all of the gifts were. Harry, Rose and Neville all looked super excited now that they could open their presents. Everyone was seated when the fireplace roared to life and Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stepped through, arms loaded with presents. Sirius was the last remaining sane Black. He had black hair that fell to his shoulders and handsome features. He had light brown eyes that sparkled with everpresent joy and mischief. Remus on the otherhand looked older than he was which was 27. He had sany-brown hair that was streaked with grey. He had brown eyes that looked tired but had joy in them as well.

When Sirius saw the others about to open presents he looked indignant. "You can't start a party without me!" he said. With that he went over and plopped down on the ground beside Rose. Remus said hello to everyone and sat down beside Harry. With that everyone started to open presents.

Overall it was a good turnout. He received a Cleansweep 6, the newest model, from his Dad, Rose got one as well. Both he and Rose got some books from Lily although Harry's were more complex and advanced. James decided to take a leaf from Lily's book and got Neville just that, books. He got him several advanced books on Herbology. Lily gave Neville something completely unexpected. She had handed him a box and said, to read the card first. He had scanned it before jumping up and down in excitement. When everyone questionned him about it he told him that Lily had given him some jumping toadstools seeds, his first ever magical plant. She told him that you usually work on them in your second year of Herbology but thought that he could handle considering what she had heard from his parents. Neville's parents had payed for him to go to a summer camp in August starting tomorrow that worked with Herbology only. Apparently some really big Herbologists were coming in to teach those who had 'the green touch'. They had gotten Rose a kneazle kitten that was red with darker red spots. They had gotten Harry a puppy, well he thought it was a puppy. It had an abnormally large shoulder span and a larger paws than normal. It was completely black fur with bright yellow eyes. He named it 'Shadow' while Rose named her kneazle 'Princess'. Sirius had bought a combined gift for both Harry and Rose, a set of brand new quidditch balls, complete with beaters bats and he got Neville alot of candy. Remus bought a protection pendant for each of them.

Everyone except for the women, decided that they wanted to go outside and play some Quidditch. Harry, Neville, Remus and Frank were all on one team. Rose, Katie, Sirius and James were on the other team. Harry and Rose were Seekers, Neville and Sirius were Beaters, Remus and James were chasers and Frank and Katie were Keepers. Harry's team won 250 to 100.

Everyone went inside to have tea and a snack. Harry who wasn't hungry started reading one of the books that his Mum had gotten him. It was about charms, her strongest point. It was almost completely theory but Harry soaked it up. He made connections to how it was similar and different to other types of magic. Charms, he found, required short bursts of concentration and sometimes feelings. Transfiguration on the other hand, required not as much concentration but focus. It took longer to transfigure something since naturally it went on bit of change to the next, so if you let your focus waver even for a milisecond, the change either came out incomplete, it doesn't change at all or it turns into something completely different.

After tea, Rose, Katie, Sirius, Frank and James went back outside to play more Quidditch. Lily, Alice and Agusta went into the living room to gossip, though if asked about it they would say they were talking about the latest news. Harry and Neville went back to Harry's room to check on the book.

Harry entered his room with Neville right behind him. He shut the door and went over to the secret drawer. He pulled the book out and suddenly felt nervous. 'Why am I so nervous, it's not like I'm gonna find anything amazing about myself that I didn't already know about.' He looked at Neville who nodded and told him to open the book.

Harry opened the book to his page. He read it through and fainted.

HPHPHP

He he if anyone can guess what Harry reads I'll give you a cookie, 123abc-harrypotter is not allowed to guess since you know the answer pretty much. Be creative, if you were reading the top of the page (right undernieth the sumary) you can already guess 2 of them. Think of any possible magical gift and you might be right. If you can guess what type of dog Harry received unknowingly (I don't think the Longbottoms knew either), I'll give you a cookie. Here's a hint, if you know much about Greek Mythology it might be alot easier, also it is mentioned in Harry Potter canon. 123abc-harrypotter you can guess for this one.

A kneazle is a cat-like creature that is very intelligent. It has spots on it's fur and has large ears. It also has a cat-like tail. It is very good at judging the character of a person. Crookshanks is part kneazle. This definition, the definition of a Nundu and pretty much all other definitions/info or anything else comes from the introduction to Neville and the rest of the Longbottoms. This chapter also shows how Harry and Neville are different from the rest of the family as they would rather work than play games. Don't get me wrong they love to goof around and stuff they just like to either spend some (most) leisure time reading or working it the greenhouses respectively.

Next chapter we figure out why Harry had the need to faint. Also Dumbledore comes back into the story. He offers Rose a chance to receive some extra training (he doesn't really give her a choice). He leaves Harry out so Harry starts some of his own training (he mainly works on honing his magical abilities. Lily and Remus also have a private conversation and deside to give Harry some secret training. I'll give you a cookie if you can figure out the first thing Harry asks them to teach him (it may or may not have to do with one of his gifts). I'll give you a hint, he hates how Dumbledore seems to know everything that's going on.

Harry will be really powerful in this story but he won't be invicible. He will have loads of friends from all the houses. He also comes into contact with alot of magical creatures, and I mean alot. That is because he knows that there won't be alot of wizard support when Voldemort returns so he needs other options. Also, Voldemort won't have some pussy little army. It's gonna be huge, I mean gigantic, like 10 000 wizards alone gigantic plus whatever werewolf/vampires/giants etc he can find. So Harry is gonna need all the help he can get. He will represent his own side, not Dumbledore's, not the Ministies, his own and his side will be a force to be reckoned with.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and keep on reviewing. Sorry about any spelling, grammer or punctuation problems. Also a sorry if the sentences don't make complete sense, just read them through or skip over them, the rest of the paragraph will make sense. Pretty soon I might change the rating to M to be safe cause there will be violence and alot of swearing.

Should I make just one story with all of the books or a separate story for each year. I'm leaning towards one story but if you guys think I should make more that's fine too. What should Neville have for a familiar? (not Trevor the toad, there will be no toads in this story except for in potions!)

Sapphire Fire Stone