3SM140
Disclaimer – Just having fun, no money made.
Chapter 140
Neville soon found himself in front of a stern Headmaster, a glowering Snape and faintly disappointed looking Lucius. Minerva was nearby looking ill and Sinistra was tight-lipped in outrage. Neville expected Greg to look smug or triumphant, but the boy simply looked grief-stricken and near tears.
The Headmaster eyed Neville coolly and demanded a full accounting of how he'd ended up with the Dark Mark. Neville slowly told the tale of going to spend time with Blaise and ending up getting tricked into agreeing to be marked by the wizard that his friends had insisted was not Voldemort.
Neville was unable to describe the meeting and those attending and Albus grimaced, he'd expected Neville to be enspelled to prevent the boy from spilling Voldemort's secrets and telling who had attended. Then Neville told of the time spent in the cage next to the muggle prisoners 'to think over his much-too-late rejection'.
"Grandmother was told that I was carousing in Knockturn Alley by my so – called friends, so she didn't send for Aurors right away. They were there taking a report when Theo gave me his own portkey and I escaped back to Longbottom Manor." Neville's face showed a mix of anger, resentment and faint guilt, "It didn't occur to me that Theo would get caught and be killed by his own father. None of the wizards or witches saw him in there, freeing me."
Greg gaped at Neville, "Did you totally miss the dozen or so muggles in the cages next to you?"
Neville actually did look surprised at the mention of the muggles. He had never bothered to look at the muggles or talk to them, no matter how many questions or pleas they had directed at him. "You mean that they betrayed Neville?" Anger stirred in Neville as well as a feeling of relief. He grasped onto that hint of possible exoneration - it was all the muggle's fault, not his after all.
Severus grimaced, able to easily read Neville's thoughts since he was practically shouting them. Albus could see them as well and his lips tightened. They had catered to Neville's 'problems' long enough. "Sinistra, would you call the ministry for Aurors Savage and Shacklebolt?"
Neville's Head of House sighed and complied with the request while Neville paled and tried to stutter an objection. Soon Hugo and Kingsley were standing on either side of Neville, staring at the dark mark on his arm while Albus gave them Neville's tale. Hugo sighed, but he had known that eventually students would turn up marked.
"Well, Kingsley, I know you studied the dark mark while a student at the Auror Academy." Albus asked the former Ravenclaw. "You took a fair amount of not – so – pleasant heat over it, but you were correct that the dark mark needed to be looked into and studied."
Kingsley nodded a bit absently while looking at the non-moving and somewhat paler than usual dark mark on Neville's arm.
"You are right; this mark is quite different from other dark marks." Kingsley glanced over at Severus who returned the look sourly. A decade ago Albus had insisted that Severus allow Kingsley to look at his dark mark and Severus still resented the intrusion into his personal space. "It is undoubtedly because of the trickery involved in his being marked. He can likely be called or tracked with it, but not much more. I rather doubt that it means it can be broken. I would need to research a bit further."
Kingsley stepped back next to Lucius and Severus to watch while Albus once again trained his no longer sympathetic eyes onto Neville. "Well, Mr Longbottom, what do you think we should do with you?" Albus threw the question to him. He found that this sometimes forced people into admitting they should have some form of punishment. It had worked somewhat on Severus, who had ended up swearing to protect Lily's son.
Greg was squirming angrily in his seat. He had several suggestions if no one else did, but with Sinistra's hand resting gently on his arm, he remained silent.
Neville blinked in surprise and looked at the Headmaster with calculation. "I was kidnapped and tricked, why do I need to be punished for that? The muggles were the ones that betrayed Theo and I could hardly have predicted that. I certainly never guessed that Theo's father would torture and murder his own son."
Lucius watched Neville with sorrow. Frank would be devastated to watch his son brush off the death of a friend who had essentially died to rescue him. It was increasingly obvious that Neville was more Alice's son than Frank's. Alice had been a cold – hearted shrew that had gotten along with Augusta Longbottom quite well. Lucius could understand saving oneself from Azkaban by any means available but dismissing Theo's death this way was uncalled for.
Severus glared at Neville a bit broodingly. While Severus had no difficulty understanding how one could accidently cause the death of a close friend without meaning for it to happen, he didn't understand the boy's ability to totally dismiss the idea that he was at least partially responsible. When he had realized he had endangered Lily he had risked his life and a fair amount of torture to right the wrong and had been nearly suicidal when Lily had been murdered in spite of his efforts. This cold-heartedness was beyond even the former Head of Slytherin's ability to understand.
Albus and Hugo exchanged looks. Even a half-hearted agreement that he was in the wrong would have satisfied them. After all, most teenagers disliked admitting that they weren't always right. However, this total rejection of any wrong-doing was disturbing.
"Well, Mr Longbottom, whether you could have predicted this outcome or not, I believe you owe it to your late friend and rescuer to ensure his murderers do not succeed in their plans." Albus said, his voice now sounding very 'Head of the Wizengamot handing down sentencing to the accused'.
Neville watched Greg out of the corner of his eye. Greg was looking at the Headmaster with distaste and sneered angrily at Neville. Greg could see any hope of justice fading away while the batty Headmaster recruited to his cause.
Neville, though, was eager to do whatever would put him in a better light with the wizarding world.
"What can I do, Headmaster?" Neville asked with a glint in his eyes. He might get an Order of Merlin out of this, or at least an acknowledgement that he'd helped Albus defeat the Death Eaters.
Severus watched Neville with a jaundiced eye. If the boy thought he'd ever be seen as anything but someone with a dark mark he was fooling himself. In spite of everything that Lucius and Severus had done, and even with Leaders like Albus, Hugo and Fudge backing them and with Harry Potter's very vocal support they were still viewed by many with suspicion although things had lightened up considerably lately.
After Lily's death Severus had taken the offer to help keep Lily's son safe from Albus with despair and an expectation of not surviving whatever the next conflict brought. He'd not had a single hope of anything but death. Neville was obviously seeing this as an opportunity. Neville was not only a Slytherin, but one of the more cold-hearted and self-absorbed that Severus had ever encountered. Reluctantly Severus thought that perhaps Neville needed to be very self - reliant since none of Neville's family looked after him.
Greg Goyle watched with helpless fury as Neville cut the deal with Dumbledore. They would pretend that Greg and Neville had been 'talked to' about their fight and the Dark Mark had not been revealed. Neville would allow himself to be bullied into helping Blaise with their schemes and would therefore find out what was being planned.
Albus took Greg's agreement for granted, not even glancing at the grieving Slytherin. Greg looked at Severus, who nodded slightly at the young man who slumped in unhappy acquiescence to the plan. He just hoped that his old Head of House could ensure that justice was done eventually. Greg liked Sinistra, but she'd not been Head of House long enough to win complete loyalty and confidence from all her Slytherins.
Greg was cut loose before Neville to go down to the dorms and was faced a large percentage of the Slytherin students. Slytherins with ties to the present Dark Lord supporters already knew what was going on. Others, like Harry and Draco, knew enough to guess. The rest had hesitant looks; like they weren't sure they wanted to know but suspected that they needed to be aware of what was happening.
Greg, though, was not intending to say anything. He needed to not stir up his father by saying something to have him yanked back home and executed. He was also aware that he wasn't smart enough to fend off questions without accidentally giving more information than he intended. Let the traitorous little weasel answer the questions.
"Ask that bloody little git Neville your questions." Greg answered their hesitant enquiries shortly and shoved through the group and then hesitated at his dorm room door. He would have to room with 'the git'. He threw a spell to create a dividing curtain between his bed and Neville's so he wouldn't have to look at the betrayer.
Neville was sent back to the Slytherin dorms soon after and he strode down the halls with a determined look on his face. He was going to come out on top, he just knew it. His feeling of confidence took a dive when he found himself faced with a mix of accusing, hostile and uncertain eyes when he went into the common room.
"Well?" Draco asked with his jaw clenched. Harry stood behind Draco, his green eyes blazing in anger.
Neville's brain briefly went blank. He'd not thought far enough ahead to be expecting to run a gauntlet of fellow Slytherins.
He cleared his throat nervously and went with the explanation that the Headmaster had thought up.
"I was captured briefly by Death Eaters." Neville answered. "Theo managed to get to where they had locked me up and gave me a portkey he had that sent me to the Leakey Cauldron." He hesitated. "It never crossed my mind that his father would kill his only child."
Most of the students nodded. Yes, for a wizard to kill any of his children was rather unheard of. To kill his heir when he had no other child to take the child's place was unthinkable.
He slithered through the crowd while they mulled this over and settled into his bed and looked at the curtain blocking his view of Greg's side of the room with a mix of relief and guilt.
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Theo Nott's body was claimed by relatives on his mother's side that, thankfully, came all the way from America at Severus and Albus' request to take him to be buried next to his maternal great-grandparents who had emigrated to the U.S. during the 'trouble with Grindelwald'.
This left little time for any sort of memorial for the boy, but they had managed a short service the evening before he was taken by the relatives. The majority of the Slytherins and 5th years of the other houses attended.
There were whispers about Theo's death, how terribly he must have suffered. There were several students that were abruptly withdrawn and either sent to other schools not in the UK or the left with their families who decided to live elsewhere in the world that was less hazardous.
Pansy had attended with reddened eyes and a tear-streaked face. Her family had tried to get her to join them in hiding, but she was determined to see this through, now. She'd not been in love with Theo, not as yet. They had been friends from childhood and then united in their efforts to escape being marked by Voldemort.
Pansy would always wonder if they could have been more once the dangers from the Dark Lord had gone … assuming the Dark Lord did not win. That was what made Pansy weep the hardest. The lost future and wasted potential that Theo's death had caused.
Pansy was the last to leave and she stood over Theo's casket, vowing to do all she could to make sure Voldemort and all his followers paid for Theo's loss.
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Umbridge faced the first classes with a remarkably sincere smile. It had taken most of the winter break, but she had worked out how to survive having Gilderoy, the werewolf and Snape overseeing her work. She was in luck and Gilderoy was the first 'assistant' to keep an eye on her.
She looked out over the students – the OWLs class, the fifth years. How she despised a good ½ of the students in this class. There were more than a few in the fifth year class that were rather uppity. The fifth years had far more mudblood and filthy half-blood troublemakers than she liked to see and she knew they were the problem.
Dolores rapped her wand on her desk, bringing the class to order. "Welcome back to school, fifth years. Please turn your books to page 321. We will be studying Hags today." She could see Gilderoy perk up immediately. One of his books had been 'Holiday with Hags'. She smiled meanly.
"A rather well-known witch by the name of Wilhelmina Lawson is quite an expert in the subject. She wrote a book about several of the clans of hags in Europe." Dolores smiled while Gilderoy paled and a horrified look crossed his face while he sank back into a seat. She knew perfectly well that Lawson had likely also investigated the clans in the UK and Gilderoy had stolen her notes and obliviated the witch.
"Hags are creatures that greatly resemble elderly female humans, but in fact are not – they are a magical creature and not human at all. Muggles mistook them for witches many times over the centuries. Hags do have magic and can even use a wand at times, although their magical strength is not all that strong. They are unable to apparate and that was why they were nearly wiped out during the muggle witch hunts." Dolores' eyes swept over the classroom.
Dolores continued with her lecture, keeping an eye on the nervous Gilderoy who was, for once trying to not be noticed. She finally got to the practical part of the lecture.
"Can anyone tell me what spells work well against Hags?" Dolores noticed that the entire class looked at Lockhart in puzzlement. They all had read his series of books in second year, including the one about Hags. He'd bragged about his exploits and had the students help him re-enact the 'heroic' parts. Now he was being curiously silent, especially when Umbridge would mention that 'Wilhelmina Lawson said this' or she 'recommended that'. Usually Lockhart would insist on putting in his opinion.
Dolores wound up the lecture, "Your next class is in three days, I want two feet of parchment on some of the more notorious Hags of the past, the trouble they caused with the statute of secrecy and the laws that apply to Hags and why they are needed."
Dolores continued the lectures on Hags during all the classes that day, effectively shutting Lockhart down before he could even begin to take over the class and turn it into a self-promoting monologue. She had been careful to keep the lecture as inoffensive as possible, so perhaps the would – be tormentors would be satisfied that she was 'squashed'.
After the evening meal finished, Blaise Zabini, a sixth year named Bole and a seventh year – Corey Warrington came to her office one at a time. Then that sullen boy, Longbottom, arrived.
"Well, any ideas on how to break the wards on Hogwarts or how to circumvent them?" Dolores got straight to the point. Neville's heart dropped. They wanted to let Voldemort and the Death Eaters into the school.
"I've heard that there were tunnels at one time." Bole said slowly. "But I've never heard where they were."
Warrington nodded. "Or we might trick someone into undoing the wards on the gate. Hagrid is keeper of the keys, and I believe he can be fooled if we are careful."
Dolores nodded with a complacent smirk. "You all have others in your year groups that will help look for the tunnels?" They nodded at her. "Very well, get looking, then!" She shooed them out the door except for Warrington, who lingered. "That idea of yours about Hagrid … look into it carefully and don't tell any of the others." The seventh year nodded and quickly caught up with the others before they realized he hadn't left along with them.
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The next day Neville slipped away during lunch and met with the Headmaster and told him what had been asked of them. Albus hummed thoughtfully. Not a bad plan, there were mentions of the tunnels even in the book 'Hogwarts a History'. Few ever found any of them.
Albus waved Neville off, "I'll have Professor Sinistra call you to her office on some pretext or other when we need to speak."
Neville slumped off, a bit disgruntled. He'd expected some praise for having found out the plot so quickly.
Albus called Severus and Lucius from Dragonsrest and Malfoy Manor to discuss the findings.
Severus nodded, "It sounds reasonable. But all of the tunnels are either caved in or heavily laid with traps from when we were trying to catch Sirius."
"Hmmm. Well, perhaps we can ponder this and return in a day or two with our ideas?" Lucius said, his eyes narrowed in thought. He was sure there was a way to turn this into a deadly trap.
Albus nodded and they decided to regroup on Saturday to go over ideas.
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Harry and Draco worked on their Herbology essays with disgruntled frowns. Lockhart was not living up to their expectations. They had expected Umbridge to have been humiliated or at least frustrated by constant interruptions from 'I'm an expert on everything' Lockhart.
Instead Lockhart was acting like he had a bad case of food poisoning that was causing nauseating stomach cramps. Umbridge had told them to spend the weekend reviewing Ghouls and to pay special attention to works published by Argus Grimstone. With a smirk she had said they should perhaps review Professor Lockhart's book 'Gadding with Ghouls'. Harry had thought Gilderoy was going to launch his lunch then and there.
He and Draco had written lengthy letters to their families about their disappointment. What really angered them was that Umbridge was actually doing a fair job teaching, now. It was maddening.
Monday morning arrived with an incoherent note from Gilderoy Lockhart popping on Albus' desk just before breakfast. It started as a formal resignation from 'assisting with the Defense position' along with an apology for the short notice. It unraveled from there into a list of excuses ranging from the need to attend book-signings at unnamed bookstores, 'numerous' requests from other schools that wanted his help in tutoring students, and finally a plea that the 'the werewolves needed him'.
Albus chuckled a bit; he looked forward to letting Remus read the resignation. Remus would have a good laugh, although having Lockhart at the werewolf town had greatly helped in getting at least part of the British wizarding society to accept that werewolves were not necessarily to be feared. Not to mention the book that Lockhart had co-written with Remus had caught people's sympathy. The town where Dex and Remus' pack lived did need Lockhart, to an extent, he supposed.
Lucius, Severus and Lupin had started looking at the maps they had of the tunnels Lupin had told them of back when they were after Sirius. They had set up in a room off the great hall and were considering the various tunnels for suitability when Albus wandered in with a twinkle in his.
"Ah, Remus, I'm afraid you are now the 'watchdog' in Professor Umbridge's classes." Albus said with a smile, passing around the resignation for the two Slytherins to sneer at.
Remus didn't sneer, he scowled. "I'd hope he would hold out for a few weeks instead of days."
Remus trudged to the Defense classroom, where the first class of the day was already underway. The seventh year NEWTs class was scribbling down eagerly the information about Ghouls that Umbridge was imparting with a self-satisfied smirk. She eyed the werewolf with dark amusement and rubbed the silver rings she was wearing. She'd seen Lockhart flee and had immediately donned the robes with silver thread woven into the fabric. The silver bracelets and necklaces had finished off the outfit.
"You're a bit late, Mr Lupin." Dolores simpered. She waved him forward and had the satisfaction of watching him flinch when he got close enough to feel the effects of the silver.
Remus hesitantly had a seat on the dais next to Dolores' desk and listened to her lecture. She was giving a rather good lecture and he could think of nothing to add to it or object to. Dolores paced slowly in front of the dais as she talked and smiled a bit wider as she saw Remus turn a little green and try to shrink back every time she passed close to him. Remus had expected to arrive, interrupt her lecture at a few spots and make a few 'corrections' in superior tones.
Now the silver made the wolf inside snarl in fear and dread. It was nowhere near the full moon and the wolf should be entirely quiet, instead it was difficult for Remus to concentrate at all with the wolf's distress overshadowing everything.
Remus managed to last through the morning classes and staggered to lunch and whispered the problem to Albus. Albus' eyes glittered, but not in his usual amusement. Professor Umbridge was called to the Headmaster's office and given a chilly command to cease wearing silver in any form while she taught at Hogwarts.
Dolores attempted to act surprised that wearing silver adornments could be causing a problem to anyone at Hogwarts, like the entire wizarding world in the British Isles was not aware that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. She fluttered and begged the Headmaster's pardon with a patently false look of tragic contrition.
Severus attended the afternoon classes with grim visage and a foul temper that managed to unnerve Dolores enough that she made a few mistakes that Severus was able to leap on with glee and correct with sneering derision. The pink horror had caused him to be drawn away from one of his favorite pursuits, which was plotting with Lucius and Albus, and she was going to pay for it.
Lucius, with intermittent help from Severus and Remus, inspected the tunnels trying to decide what one was best for a trap. After a week or so they decided that the tunnel that Ginny had showed Harry and Draco would work the best. The long climb from the tunnel to the fourth floor doorway behind the mirror would hopefully tire many invaders and that particular alcove and hallway was overlooked by several stairways that could place the Death Eaters in a crossfire.
After Ginny, Harry, Draco and Luna had investigated the tunnel some of the Professors had taken an interest in exploring it as well. Flitwick and Vector especially had gone through and cleaned up some of the murals and had cleared some of the rockfall. Now they examined the area still blocked and tried to estimate how long it would take to clear. They wanted the Death Eaters to have to clear some of it, but not so much they would look for a different entrance.
Finally, Albus and Hugo clear most of the cave in and repair the area so it wouldn't show that it had only recently been put to rights. They left just enough to delay the invaders an hour or two.
Ginny and the twins were brought in on the scheme along with Draco and Harry. They needed Neville and Blaise's posse to 'overhear' some clues.
Ginny and the twins soon spoke about two of the tunnels where Blaise and Crabbe could hear and when they and a few others explored them, they found they were the ones that had collapsed. Still, the conspirators were encouraged, since they were making progress and Umbridge was pleased with their news of finding two of the tunnels.
Neville kept close to the conspiracy and reports his findings to a coolly contemptuous Goyle while in their dorm room and Greg passed the information on to either Harry or Draco, or if he was able to get Severus alone he reported straight to him.
Finally Harry and Draco sat at the line of fifth year tables in the great hall with Blaise close by and called Ginny over.
"Hey Ginny, we have this essay for History to do. He wants something on Hogwarts, but warned all of us that he expects something unusual – not the endless series of stories about the charmed ceiling and ones like that. Draco and I want to do one on the tunnel you showed us that starts on the fourth floor." Harry says and sees Blaise freeze with his forkful of ham halfway to his mouth.
"Oh, that would be a good one. One of you can describe the murals and their history and the other the history of the tunnel itself." Ginny smiled and pretended Blaise hadn't abandoned eating and was rather unsubtly listening in.
"How big is the rockfall, do you think?" Draco asks casually.
"Oh, not very big. I bet it could be cleared in no time." Ginny answered brightly and wandered on off.
Harry and Draco watched Blaise hustle off with a sense of satisfaction mixed with dread. They confrontation was within sight. They hoped they could pull this off with few casualties.
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A/N – The closer I get to the end the more difficult the chapters are, it seems.