Chapter 3
By Ordinaryguy2
AuThOr'S NoTeS:
Had a hell of a life event since I last wrote. My wife and I went on a slightly late 17th wedding anniversary getaway at a hotel on the bay of Tacoma. On the second night on the way back from the restaurant, my wife began to have stomach pains, which has happened every now and then. Two hours later, she had me call 911. We got to the hospital, and in less than 3 hours she was having surgery. Turns out she had 2 hernias in her intestines and some other complications. She had to stay at the hospital for a week. Scary stuff. I don't mention this for sympathy, but to remind everyone to remember that time with those you love is precious.
November 1, 1994
7:30 am
Hogwarts, Scotland
Neville's morning was not starting off well.
His foot was stuck in the trick step on the staircase. Again. He would have liked to have thought that the first fifteen times of getting his foot stuck would have given him an innate sense to avoid it by now. Behind Neville huddled a blonde figure in a dress slip or nightgown. Neville wasn't sure which. Meanwhile, four people were closing in on him from above and below.
In truth, Neville could say that all this started when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. It was later when most of the Gryffindors were in the common room. He'd been shocked as he listened to Ron accuse Harry of undermining the Goblet and thus ruining the reputation of Gryffindor. Angelina Johnson had butted into the tirade suggesting that Harry's success at getting his name to come out had probably made the rest of the Gryffindors' applications into the Tri-Wizard Tournament null and void. Several of the older Gryffindors were extremely angry at that point.
Hermione had tried to talk them down, but McCormick had hit her with a silencing spell. Neville had actually stepped in at that point to defend her. But someone behind him had followed McCormick's example and silenced him with a spell, too.
Collin, his brother Dennis, and a few other of Harry's supporters had fled to their dorm rooms. They were two few and did not have as much Gryffindor bravery. Even Fred and George had to back down once Angelina, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell turned on them. They had learned from their mother that women can be quite scary at a certain point which is why they knew to run away and board themselves in their room until seeing if the ladies were more reasonable tomorrow.
As it was, Harry never showed up. Fuming, everyone else went to bed.
Hermione had broken the silencing charm and removed the charm off of Neville, too, thanking him for his efforts, making Neville feel just a little bit proud. Neville had offered to stay with her until Harry arrived, but she sent him to bed, stating that Harry would probably respond better to her alone, but she promised to tell Harry about what Neville had done.
He'd woken early to Ron's snoring which seemed louder than normal. He'd actually been a bit grateful because being up early gave Neville a chance to get ready and get out the door before they woke up.
It was while going down the main staircase that Neville had noticed the situation of several Ravenclaw fifth year or older girls herding young Luna Lovegood around but shooting spells at her bare feet which were bleeding and seemed to have several broken toes. The crying girl had obviously had a silencing spell on her, much like Neville and Hermione had on themselves the night before.
Neville run into the group, calling out Expelliarmus. The witch had lost her wand cried out in dismay as her wand went flying out into the void to land far below on the stone floor, shattering.
Neville had been surprised that he had made the spell even work, foolishly stopping in his amazement.
"Bastard squib! You busted Henrietta's wand!" shrieked Marietta Edgecombe. She hit him with the Expelliarmus spell as well, but it landed of the landing they were on. Edgecombe went over to where Neville's wand lay on the floor and stomped on it three times to finally break it, though the effort left her with a slight limp.
Neville had tried rushing forward to save his wand, but one of the girls, he recognized her as Jacqueline Spanner, a dark-haired girl with a large wart next to her nose that she swore was from a family curse, had cast some spell that slowed down his momentum to a crawl. Neville had seen Jacqueline's snarky side at several of his family's business functions, but had never realized that she had such a mean streak.
Neville turned and glared at the last girl who seemed to be hanging back. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, did not seem to want to be there, but she wasn't about to abandon her friends either. She was another one whose family had business dealings with the Longbottoms. They would never talk much as main subjects for her were from Witch Weekly or news articles about quidditch. Neville was more interested in herbology and new discoveries. She had seemed nice, but to see her hear, cruelly attacking a nice girl like Luna.
"What are we going to do with them?" asked Jacqueline.
"Use your wand to pull out all their hairs!" demanded Henrietta.
"Let's just leave them," countered Cho. "People are going to be coming down the stairs at any moment. We can't be here. Obliviate their memories and let's go."
" 'Obliviate their memories' !" snarled Henrietta. "That squib broke my wand!"
Tapping her wand in her hand, Marietta stepped toward the defiant Neville and the worried Luna. "Oh, I can think of an appropriate punishment. Lock them in a broom closet. Remove their clothes. And of course, obliviate them after adding a little love potion." She pulled out a pink vial between her fingers.
"They'd just shag in there!" snapped Henrietta. "How is that a punishment?"
Marietta smiled cruelly. "For the first part, this little love potion is also partially a fertility potion. Little Luna will become pregnant and won't be able to come back to school next year. And for the second part, we will send an anonymous letter to Snape as to where to find them."
Jacqueline gave her friend a started look. "Damn, girl, that is really devious. Is that the potion you used on that Sally-Anne bint last year?"
Marietta chuckled. "Ask me no questions, and I will tell you know lies."
Cho was look up the stairs for any intruders. "I-I think this is going too far, Marietta. Just obliviate them right here and let's go."
"The squib broke my wand!" Henrietta practically shouted.
"And that was an accident," pointed out Cho. "Besides, Marietta broke his wand in return."
Marietta grinned and sent a stinging curse at Luna, but was amused when Neville purposely stepped in the way. He didn't let out any outcry, just glared defiantly.
"More Gryffindor in him than I thought," Jacqueline commented.
"There's a reason more Gryffindor graduates died during the last war than the members of any other house," Marietta remarked, looking at Neville. "Oh, you would be perfect if I was actually into any of that S&M stuff. Maybe I will recommend you to some people I know that are trying it out. That is if Snape doesn't get you kicked out of the castle."
Henrietta grinned viciously, changing the constellation of freckles on her face. "So we are doing the potion idea?"
Marietta nodded, her cruel eyes staring straight into Neville's, ignoring Cho trying to get her attention.
"You will pay for this," insisted Neville.
Marietta snorted, a trait she hated but couldn't stop. "You won't even remember who did it to you, squib."
"I think he will," called out someone from two floors above them.
"Potter!" Marietta spat.
They could see Harry Potter standing on the upper railing of the seventh floor. At least it looked like Harry Potter, although he looked to have finally managed to do something with his awful hair. It was still strange to look at, just different.
Despite being so high up, Harry leapt out into the air, causing everyone to intake air. Even more surprising was the fact that his incredible leap carried him passed the staircase and to the far wall, which he leapt off of to another wall, coming lower and being a spectacle.
In fact, when he finally landed on the stair railing just a little above Cho, everyone jumped. Cho hurried down the stairs, afraid from the fierce look on Harry's face.
"This-this has nothing to do with you," insisted Marietta. "Go away."
That last part sounded more like a whimper than anything else. "But it looks like you are playing a game." He glanced at Neville and Luna. "Maybe you play a little to rough. Maybe you would like to play with me instead." He gave a wide grin.
Henrietta, a rabid fan of horror books, spotted Harry's extended canine teeth. "Vampire!"
"Wrong, freckle-face," Harry tutted. "Do you want to try again or just become Filch's apprentice?"
"This is not normal behavior for Potter," Cho whispered to Marietta.
"This is ridiculous," Jacqueline burst out. "Potter's just showing off with some obscure spells he learned. He needs to be shown his place." She raised her wand with its tip glowing red. Marietta matched her movements a took aim.
Harry easily leapt over the spells. A cord of silk shot from his wrist as he went over the side of the railing and he disappeared from view.
The three girls plus Cho rushed to look over the side, but saw no sign of Harry Potter anywhere.
"Spanner, with the way you talk I gotta ask-"
The Ravenclaws looked to see Harry kneeling on the opposite bannister.
"-are you Snape's love child?"
Despite the shock of seeing Harry appear again, Jacqueline still registered the insult to her parentage. She shrieked and began to fire curses at him. Henrietta ran after her, shouting encouragement, while Marietta held back with Cho.
The curses flew out from Jacqueline's wand and yet never hit their target. Instead, cracks and small holes appeared in the castle wall, several portraits cried out in dismay as they either burst out in flames or were knocked down off the walls to be destroyed far down below.
"Bloody Morgana," Marietta muttered. "No one should be able to move like that."
Behind her, Cho glanced back at Neville and Luna, motioning for them to go.
Neville was trying hard to move fast, and while the slow-moving spell had mostly left him, he couldn't go much faster than a walking pace. Luna wasn't much better with her injured feet, but she was able to tug at him to try and hurry him.
Marietta had noticed something happening behind her. "Cho, what the bloody hell?"
Aiming her wand, Marietta sent a stunning spell at Neville's back.
"Protego!"
The stunner bounced off the mystic shield, instead hitting a suit of armor that fell over spilling a family of dust bunnies that ran away to find a new home.
"You are being a fool, Cho!" snapped Marietta. "One word from me, and my mother will have your parents kicked out of the country along with you!"
"I don't care!" snapped Cho. "You've become a monster! And I don't want to become one, too! You're twisted desires to hurt others is getting worse and worse and I want no part of it. If I am sent back to some land that I have no memory of, then so be it! At least I will have known I tried to do what it right!"
Marietta looked down at her one-time friend. "You don't know-"
Something landed behind her, and Marietta gasped. She glanced at Cho who was staring wide-eyed behind her.
"He's behind me, isn't he," she said in a trembling whisper.
Cho gulped and nodded, not even thinking about the argument they had been having.
Marietta turned slowly. Potter stood just two feet away from her. Behind him, she could see her other two friends caught tight in some kind of web. Even their mouths were covered with webbing which is why she couldn't hear them screaming.
"I… don't suppose we could just forget about all this?" she asked.
Harry shook his head no.
Thinking she had nothing else to lose, she raised her wand to cast a spell. "Reduc-"
There had been a quick 'snikt', and a flash of metal followed by another quick 'snikt'.
Marietta stared in disbelief as the front of her wand fell to the floor. She let out a shriek. And a little bit of pee.
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Later that day at Hogwarts
"I can't believe you did that, Harry. I thought you were going to save the transformations for a big reveal later, like the First Task?" Hermione regarded Harry, trying to understand him. Or maybe she was trying to understand the new him.
"Neville and Luna needed help right away. I talked to her while Neville carried her all the way to the infirmary."
Hermione grinned. "Did he really do that? That was really… noble of him."
Harry nodded. "I was impressed, too. I think doing all that extra work with Professor Sprout is paying dividends for him. He's lost a lot of the baby fat from his cheeks and the rest of him. I think more and more girls are going to be turning their head to get a gander at him in the next couple of years."
"What about Luna?"
"She's… a strange one. Nice, very nice, but a little off." Harry scratched his head and then began trancing his new hair patterns. "She gave me a look and asked me if I was really Harry Potter. After I told her I was, she asked me who else I was."
Hermione stared at him.
Harry continued. "I told her that would be telling. She gave a little shrug and gave all of her focus to Neville."
Hermione was biting her lip as she considered something, so Harry now stared entranced as she bit her lip. "Lavender said something once. She speculated whether Luna could possibly be mad, or if she had the Sight. She finally decided that Luna was just a bit crazy."
"Were the aurors called?" Hermione asked. "Or did Dumbledore sweep it all away?"
Harry paused at this jaded response from her. It never feels good to have one's heroes be revealed to be so much less than originally regarded. "He tried. But someone had gotten word to Madame Bones of the DMLE. Once Madame Bones got her teeth into the mess, she was not letting go. Dumbledore tried to persuade her that if the girls were to have their deeds known to the entire Wizarding World, that it would mark them for life. Bones responded by saying that 'those that are never punished for their misdeeds, easily return to doing them'."
Hermione tutted. "Great, two higher ups in the Magical Britain chain of command have very different life philosophies. That's must make for some interesting politics."
Harry chuckled. "Those two could almost make politics seem interesting to me. And, I admit, aggravating as well. But, when Neville heard that those girls might possibly get out of this with maybe a week or more of detention, he swore a magical oath, stating that the families of Edgecombe, Bergiser and Spanner were banned from all Longbottom properties and businesses from this day forth and ending any contracts with their families."
"He can do that?"
"Evidently," Harry said. "Neville said it was his right as he had taken up the Longbotttom lordship this year after his birthday. He just wasn't spreading the news around."
"How did the girls take the news?"
"They scoffed at first. Few people have been known to take Neville serious, I'm afraid. It wasn't until Dumbledore began to protest that it was too harsh of a punishment that they began to wonder what that oath had meant."
"What does that mean? I haven't really heard of such a banning before."
"Yeah, me too. Fortunately, McGonagall was there to do some explaining for everyone else. As the lord of his family, Neville is fully within his rights to end any contracts with those three families if he can prove sufficient cause. As for the banning effect, any property or business that the Longbottoms have controlling interest in or own outright will have nothing to do with those families. They cannot step inside one of the stores that the Longbottoms run or in a store that is on rented land the belongs to the Longbottoms. And it turns out that the Longbottoms have controlling interests in several businesses in the Wizarding World. It will prove devastating for the Spanners since all of their apothecary supplies are supplied by the Longbottom specialty farms. The Bergisers are also hit hard because they have plots rented from the Longbottoms in Diagon Alley, in Hogsmeade, and a few other places around England and even two in France."
"What about Edgecombe? She seems to be the ringleader."
"Her mother works for the ministry, and her father passed away. Killed while taking part of a Death Eater attack about a month before Voldie died. They, of course, claim he was under the imperius curse." He smiled when Hermione rolled her eyes. "The Longbottoms do have a controlling interest in Witch Weekly, though, so Marietta and her mother's subscriptions are permanently cancelled, which will include some really ticked off cousins and aunts."
Hermione snorted. "I just imagined how Lavender would react if her subscription to Witch Weekly were permanently cancelled."
"I think the twins could sell tickets to watch that." The dark-haired boy shook his head in amusement. "Anyway, about that time, Neville's gran arrived. She about flipped when she heard Neville's wand was broken. And she chose to blame him for that. I had to step in and explain the entire thing to her how Neville had stepped in to protect a younger year from several students older that he himself was. And also how Marietta had chosen to break Neville's wand and what they planned to do to him and Luna."
"And Dumbledore?"
"Just thinks detentions will solve everything."
Her hand gripped into a fist. "Somehow I think their detention would not include a search thru the Forbidden Forest during the night to find something killing unicorns."
Harry smiled. "Maybe we can suggest to Hagrid that the girls could help ease Aragog's rheumatism by applying hot compresses to all eight of his legs."
"Maybe Ron could help," she added, smiling back.
They both broke into laughter.
Hermione wiped away a tear. "So how did the Dowager Longbottom take the news to Dumbledore trying to dismiss everything."
"For one, she is insisting to prosecute Marietta for what she did to her son's wand."
"You mean grandson, don't you?"
He shook his head. "Turns out Neville has been using his dad's wand all this time." He frowned. "They didn't say what happened to his dad."
Hermione, however, was focused on the first part of what he said. "But… 'the wand chooses the wizard, or witch'; that is what Ollivander told me when I received my wand."
"He said something like that to me, too. Neville was probably having to force magic thru a wand that wasn't willing to work with him."
She gave a sad frown. "And people have been calling him a 'squib' because of it."
"Yeah, that is not right. I kind of have an idea… but I want to run it by Xander first." He quickly changed the subject. "Madame Bones is taking Marietta in for deliberately breaking Neville's wand. Marietta howled at first, then pointed out I had broke her wand so I should be arrested. She thought she had me there, and that they wouldn't take me in since I am in the stupid contest, and thereby giving her an out, too. But then I pointed out that hers was an act of malice while I broke her wand simply defending myself from getting a reducto straight to the chest at point blank range."
She eyed him questionably, but agreed to wait to hear what he wanted to run by Xander. "What about Cho Chang?"
"While she didn't stop the others from hexing Luna, or the other things they have been doing over the years, but this morning she did finally stand up against them. Turns out she was being peer pressured by Marietta and the others for a while now. It seems that the Ravenclaws have a severe pecking order. If she had turned on them, they would have attacked her mercilessly. Flitwick was there and claimed that he allowed such things to occur so everyone will strive to be at the top."
The teenage girl was horrified. "That goes against any rational psychological studies! And Professor Flitwick? I would never guess that he would allow such things to occur."
"It turns out that that is exactly how Goblins grow up, tormenting each other, trying to climb to the top, sometimes over the bodies of others. It's probably what keeps their numbers down. Flitwick claimed to have kept the students of Hogwarts from going that far though."
"Is Flitwick being removed?" she asked, her voice hardened.
Harry noted that she had not included the title of 'professor' to the half-Goblin teacher. In fact, she hadn't corrected Harry for not calling Dumbledore 'headmaster' either. "Don't know yet. Dumbledore said he was going to have to go over that with Flitwick later. The school review board will probably be involved."
"Are they going to do anything to help Sally-Anne? Marietta is the one responsible for her pregnancy last year due to that potion."
"You forget, the Wizarding World is stuck in the 17th century. They aren't big on the rights of others. Especially not an underage muggle-born witch."
"I hate that kind of thinking," she fumed. "There has got to be something we can do."
"How about if we ask Professor McGonagall to take Madame Longbottom-"
"It's Dowager Longbottom, Harry."
"Right, her. Anyway, the we ask that the two of them go and check on Sally-Anne to see how things are with her, and hopefully that will spark something to get them ideas on how she can complete her education."
"I suppose that could work." She glanced up at Harry. "Suppose… suppose Professor McGonagall is scheming with Dumbledore against you?"
Harry winced. He knew it had cost Hermione to doubt her favorite teacher. "Then having her check on Sally-Anne could be seen as a test. We can even have Dobby follow them to see how it goes. That is, if they decide to do it. It is still possible that they won't."
"If they don't, we will send Dobby to check on Sally-Anne," Hermione said, happy to have problem solved the issue. "We should also send a message to Madame Bones to check if Marietta and her cronies have used that potion on anyone else. Not to mention what else they have gotten away with while at Hogwarts. I'm sure there are more victims."
"I wonder if Isabel could tell us?"
Hermione thought of the sentient spirit that was the castle. "She might know some of it. Xander said that she could only focus on a few places in the castle at a time."
"Why don't we go find out? I have a question for Xander about Neville, so now sounds like a good time to head up there."
She grinned. "You just want to try out your new abilities more."
Harry grinned. "Hey, Spider-Man and Wolverine. It's an awesome combination. And while I could easily take down three Fifth Year witches, I am going to need to get some serious practice in to do well in this contest. Besides, I'm sure you want to try learning your new abilities, too, right?"
She looked thoughtful for a moment, them gave him a shy look. "Can you speak Japanese? What I read says Wolverine spent a lot of time in Japan, so he would have learned to speak it."
"Do you know Japanese?"
She lowered her head in embarrassment. "I've just started. I know the majority of the characters and can say a few phrases so far."
Harry concentrated a moment before breaking out in a grin. I think you are one of the most beautiful beings in the world, and my life is so much better for having you in it.
Hermione regarded him coyly for a moment. Reaching out, she traced his Gryffindor tie upwards, until suddenly she pulled him forward. She grabbed a hold of him and brought their lips together. Harry had almost gone into fight mode, and possibly flight mode, but once he realized what was happening, he relaxed and kissed back with the skill he had obtained from his two avatars.
Hermione's eyes opened briefly in surprise, and slowly pulled back. You are quite the flatterer, Harry.
Harry blinked back in surprise. "I thought you said you barely knew any Japanese?"
She gave him an embarrassed smile. "I just learned from you. It's one of the powers I gained."
He ran a finger over his lips, surprised at how tingly they were. "Um, well, I picked up several other languages from Wolverine. And a couple from Spider-Man, so if you want to try a study session some time, I am game."
She blushed and actually giggled, which embarrassed her and amused him.
"Shall we?" he said, holding out his hand.
She smiled and took it. "You know, a girl could easily fall for a someone as well-mannered as you."
"Here's hoping," he answered with a devilish grin.
She shook her head as they headed up. "I'm kind of worried about what Xander is doing. I'm not sure I like that he said he was going to make the Come-and Go Room dangerous."
Her companion gave her a wry grin. "You misunderstood. He said he was going to turn the room into the Danger Room. It's an X-Men thing. It's designed to help train in using our powers. It'll help you deal with your issues with flying, too."
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AuThOr'S NoTeS: 10/23/2019
Ok, I didn't reveal who Hermione amalgamed with on purpose, but I left a pretty big clue.
I realize that most people will not like that Flitwick was allowing bullying to go on, but it makes sense in several ways. Ravenclaw is the house of the smartypants, which Flitwick had once been a member so it would be hard to hide bullying in his house. Luna was often bullied, had her clothing and things stolen, and was kicked out of the Ravenclaw several times to roam the halls late at night. Flitwick would have had to know and allowed it to occur. And that shatters the sweet kind image I like to have of the guy.
Neville got to prove he is Gryffindor material in this chapter though it did cost him his wand. It does bring him closer to Luna, however. Plus, I have other plans for Neville.
Cho had been forced to go along with her gang of thugs since she got to Hogwarts. She is breaking ties though, which is really hard at that age.
Still hoping someone will take on my challenge to write a similar story.