Neville Longbottom found himself before Professor Dumbledore facing possible expulsion, an angry array of Hufflepuff parents behind him.

Dumbledore's eyes were very serious as he insisted, his left hand holding the wand he had just disarmed a very aggravated Augusta Longbottom from wielding against him.

"This is not a matter that I can leave to my heads of house. I have seen in the Daily Prophet a reliable rumour that one of our male students has been sleeping in the girls dormitory with multiple girls. This is something that has not been seen since the time of Headmaster Dippet who erred in allowing Sirius Black off with only probation. Since he is now in Azkaban for betrayal and murder, clearly that act of tolerance was a mistake!"

Dumbledore rumbled.

"Here now, I was at Hogwarts back then, and Sirius was a sixth year caught with a pair of seven year girls in the act, what you are trying to punish young Neville for is nothing like that at all!" Shouted Emile Wiltshire, father of one of the girls in question.

Professor Sprout had her hands on her hips and was visibly fighting with the obedience oath Hogwarts used to keep staff from going against the Headmasters orders when he chose to invoke its power.

Milicent casually slipped from the background crowd she had no place in and quietly placed her hand on Professor Sprout's back and whispered "Isa" to still the powerful obedience oath into temporary slumber.

"That is just about enough Albus. I will not have a sweet boy like Neville compared to those lunatic Marauders you chose to tolerate and empower back then. Oh yes Albus, you weren't subtle. Just because we could not argue does not mean we could not see. Sirius Black was an ill disciplined rogue the bad seed of a worse tree, and you empowered his very worst behaviours. Neville is a sweet boy who did what any Hufflepuff should be expected to do and aided his housemates in distress. I was told of it, and convinced him to continue."

Albus Dumbledore frowned. Her oaths should have kept her silent. He felt the bond between them, and attempted to exert his will along it, but the bond was oddly unresponsive. Not severed, just still, as if time had stepped around it and passed for the rest of the world and left the bond aside as it passed.

Harry needed to be properly guided. Rumours of his dark practices already made Dumbledore fear Harry was headed down the dark path. Neville had already branded himself an evil influence, and needed to be cut away.

The young Granger girl had proven herself another evil influence, possibly some sort of radicalized muggle political with no respect for the traditions of the world she was stepping into. He had left her removal to Lucious Malfoy and his not so clever contacts in the Underage Magic authority and Aurors of negotiable allegience, only to have them actually fail. Fail against a muggle girl with no backing or support. If his enemies could not handle a muggleborn child, of course it fell to Dumbledore to handle the Pureblood nobles with actual support.

"Neville was caught sleeping with no less than five Hufflepuff girls Professor Sprout. Not even Sirius was that disgraceful." Albus said primly.

"He was a badger Albus. I had one crying homesick girl in the common room, and the next thing you know half the first years were sobbing and demanding to go home. They were alone and afraid in a strange place, and Lord Longbottom chose that moment to have a breakthrough in his Animagus studies and found the spirit of Hufflepuff and turned into a badger."

Professor Sprout clasped her hands and beamed as she looked at the memory of that evening. Neville had transformed into the largest badger she had ever seen, but he was a very Neville sort of Badger and before she could react at all, the orginal crying girl hand buried herself into his fur, tears snot and all, and clung to him like a baby lemur.

In seconds he had gathered into his paws all the weeping Hufflepuff girls, and in a great, deeply sticky mess of soft fur and sobs, they cried themselves to sleep. When the time came to wake them to go to their rooms, they refused to go without Neville.

For the first two nights, Neville had slept with the first year girls because they were homesick. Then the next night he had slept with the second year girls because he was fluffy and they never had the chance when they were first years. This was enough to make Neville feel guilty and thus Neville spent another night with the Hufflepuff second year girls.

Dumbledore tried again. "He is an unregistered Animagus, that is a crime."

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!" Shouted Minerva McGonagall, being deputy Headmistress she was less bound by oath than full subordinates, and about done listening to Dumbledore go after the sweet twelve year old Longbottom boy as if he was a late teen degenerate like his precious Marauders.

"You know very well that Animagi are required to submit their form to the Ministry of Magic upon the completion of their NEWTS or end of their education. You personally advised me not to register my own form until I had completed my Post NEWT Transfiguration Mastery as your apprentice to avoid any meddling from the Ministry." Minerva objected firmly.

"Badgers are dangerous animals that should not be allowed around children." Dumbledore said, flailing now for his disciplinary excuse.

The booming of a battle staff hitting the ground shocked the room as Mad Eye Moody glared at Dumbledore.

"Chose your next words carefully Dumbledore. I may have lost a leg against Voldemort, but he left blood on the ground too. I'm a proud Hufflepuff, and while the lore of other houses is full of Hippogriff shit about supremacy of their house and their founder, ours is full of stories of Helga Hufflepuff bringing actual badgers into her house to live among her students. For a hundred years this was the custom after her passing. We are the House of Badgers, and the day you attempt to remove a student from Hufflepuff for being a Badger is the day you see how sharp are our claws." Mad Eye said, stumping to stand beside Professor Sprout.

Noting that several Hufflepuff parents were also arraying behind the pair, hands on wands, and worst of all, Harry, Hermione and somehow that damned Slytherin chit Bulstrode had snuck in and was standing beside Neville ready to draw wands, Dumbledore was forced to relent.

"It sets a bad tone for a male student to be sleeping with female students, underage female students." Dumbledore said, a last attempt at defiance.

"A bunch of homesick girls were crying and needed a stuffed animal to hug to feel better. Neville just gave them one that actually cared and hugged back. If you want to raise this as a morality breech, understand my daughter Susan was one of the second year girls he slept with on the second night, and I have seen her memories in my pensive. Should you press this as a morality matter, I will be forced as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to treat this as a deliberate character assasination and abuse of position to defame a Lord of House by another Lord of House and demand your trial before the Witagamot." Amelia Bones said softly, moving to stand beside Mad Eye Moody.

Augusta Longbottom snarled, standing beside her Neville.

"If you think the Light Faction will come like you well trained dogs to your defense in the Witagamot, you may see how many of them stand with House Longbottom, and how many of them stand with Hufflepuff." Augusta threw the gauntlet down with pride in no way affected by her beginning this conversation being disarmed.

Milicent Bulstrode offered some speculation, loudly enough to be heard.

"As Lady Selwyn, I would be forced to instruct my Steward (that would be my uncle, Lord Bulstrode) to stand with House Longbottom. I can't imagine many of the Dark Faction would mind taking advantage of a split in the Light Faction to force a vote of No Confidence in Albus Dumbledore when he has lost support of his own followers. Can't say who the new Supreme Mugwump would be, but it wouldn't be a friend, that is for sure." Milicent mused thoughtfully, shaking her head in mock sadness.

Albus Dumbledore smiled his best kindly grandfatherly smile and chuckled softly.

"Perhaps it comes from never having been a parent myself. I failed to look at this from the point of view of the children involved. Indeed, given the age and experience of a wizard who has seen so many abuses over the years, it is possible I overreacted and saw a threat to our children I could not ignore, where in fact, no such threat exists."

Nodding as if he had seen the wisdom of their words, not the defeat of his plans, Dumbledore spoke softly.

"It seems I have been mistaken, and done some fine young people a very grave disservice. Still, the matter with the Daily Prophet will have to be addressed. The reputation of the school must be protected after all."

Dumbledore said, abandoning his plan, but leaving others to do cleanup.

Emile Wiltshire chuckled, and pulled out a photo.

"Send this to the Prophet. My daughter sent me a copy when she owled about her first week. If anyone has a problem after that, you know its politics not reason."

The photo was passed to a group of mothers who all gave a collective "Awwwwww"

Minerva McGonagall snagged the photo before it could reach Dumbledore and saw a strange nest formed with a tangle of pajama clad arms and legs flung haphazardly about like some sort of flannel squid around a black and white body of a sleeping badger with four little faces burrowed into his fur, eight little fists gripped tight in his fur.

"Is Mister Longbottom really that soft?" McGonagall wondered, not thinking anything as tough as a badger ought to be the degree of soft and plushy that she seemed to be seeing.

Milicent and Granger grabbed one of Neville's shoulders and cooed in stereo.

"So fluffy!"

Neville hunched down in his chair and tried to disappear, rather unsuccessfully. Augusta Longbottom had an unreadable expression on her face, but Harry was openly snickering at his friend's new existence as Hogwarts designated plushy.

As the group filed down the stairs to the Great Hall for a long delayed lunch, Neville sought to deflect the attention from his badger Animagus to Harry.

"So mate, any progress in your own?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged. "I know its a snake, but also not a snake. It's like I can see its shadow, but there isn't enough of me to fill it yet. I can fill most of it, but something is missing. It is part of who I need to be, but I'm not there yet.

"$ Being a snake is complicated. If it was simple, any monkey could do it. I think it is well that you are holding out until you are less ignorant and have more of the monkey beaten out of you. You would make an embarassing snakelet right now. I would not want to be seen with you. $" Noodle offered in what, to him, was support.

"I can't believe we have to wait to Easter to even do our potions." Huffed Hermione.

Harry shrugged. "Not my fault you chose to get born under more complicated stars." He supplied unhelpfully. "Still, we can practice doing potions together with our gifts, to make yours more potent that ours was. Should make it a little easier."

Milicent looked excited. "Neville and I can do things with potions you wouldn't believe. His plant magic, my water magic, his ability to make processes happen when he wills it, and mine to make them stop allow us to take chances normal potions would explode if you tried."

Hermione shrugged. "Fire does what I tell it to, I isn't that I just give heat to things, I can take it. I can keep a temperature steady or even keep different parts of the potion at different temperatures. It's more an art than any sort of a magical science, so we would have to experiment.

Harry shook his head. "Look, air is my thing. About all I can do is control the fumes, I mean I can condense stuff out of the air for extractions, and yeah I can brew some really toxic stuff and not have to worry about breathing it, but I'm not super useful potions wise."

All three turned to Harry and pointed. "Cleanup!" Three yelled in stereo, and one swore in counterpoint.

Inside Dumbledore's office, Albus Dumbledore looked at Alastor Moody of his Order of the Phoenix, senior Field Auror, and Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE.

"I know you did what you felt was right based on the facts of the case, but you understand this was just an excuse to remove a dangerous influence on The Boy Who Lived. You know the prophesy. You know the stakes. Voldemort will return, and if The Boy Who Lived is not willing to do his part we all may fall.

Amelia Bones snickered. "The Longbottom boy? What's he going to lead Potter into? Gardening? Group hugs? The boy may never be the hero Augusta wants, but if he has an evil bone in his body it must be shrapnel."

Dumbledore leaned forward and put his Legimancy behind his words to hammer them into the minds of his listeners, forcing them to give them the weight he knew they needed.

"He killed two people. He killed his own parents. He takes part in forbidden rituals hidden in parts of the forest denied to me." Dumbledore said, his voice ringing with the truth of it.

Amelia felt the words hammer home, while head of the DMLE, she had come up through administration, not Auror, and lacked the mind defense training. For a second the words looked like they would take root, but Alastor slammed down his staff again, a blast of magic snapping Dumbledores Legimancy.

"He ended their pain you Merlin be damned coward. I asked you, I BEGGED YOU, twelve years ago to let me end it for them. They only stopped screaming when the Mediwitches paralyzed their vocal cords. You said we couldn't afford another death in the Order. For morale, for the greater good, sacrifices had to be made. I swore your damned oath and couldn't disobey you. Well he did not. He did what you forbade me to."

Moody paused for a second before ushering his half stupified boss Amelia Bones to the door of Dumbledore's office.

"Funny thing about those forbidden rituals. You are awfully keen on stopping those forbidden rituals even though they were part of wizarding culture before your precious Wizagamot or even Hogwarts was, yet you bound us all in forbidden rituals in a forbidden armed Order of the Phoenix that subverts sworn agents of legitimate government and law enforcement to do your private will.

Examining the choices of young Neville Longbottom and Albus Bloody Dumbledore, I deeply regret which one I swore to."

Moody said as he stomped out of Albus Dumbledore's office. That was bad. Of his direct action agents, very few survived the war. Alastor Moody was the single most dangerous of his still living followers.

Still, he brushed off Alastor's criticisms of his methods. Albus was the Champion of Light, only he understood the needs of the Greater Good. Only he could be trusted to make the hard choices. Only one more sacrifice to make, and whatever it cost to see the Boy Who Lived sacrifice himself to save the world, then Dumbledore could at last rest.