Neville caught up on events at Hogwarts via the next morning's Daily Prophet.

After receiving reports of illicit Polyjuice usage, the Aurors had taken the precaution of verifying the identity of every person in the castle, the Beauxbatons carriage, and the Durmstrang ship. They hadn't uncovered any more impostors.

Professor Moody found Fleur Delacour in the Beauxbatons carriage, hidden under an Invisibility Cloak. She was unconscious, but unharmed. She and fellow foreign student Viktor Krum remained under investigation for allegations of the use of Unforgivable Curses.

Neville shook his head as he put down the paper. He was sure Crouch was behind those curses, through compulsion or deception, but he had no proof. He'd just have to hope the Aurors would sort it out–both for the sake of the champions, and so the Ministry could focus on the larger threat. Voldemort's return should have been front page news, but flipping through the whole paper had turned up not a single mention. Perhaps the Ministry was still deciding on the best way to break the news without causing a panic.

Despite the skepticism he'd heard from the Aurors, and Dumbledore's prediction that the Ministry would be reluctant to accept Voldemort's return, surely they'd at least warn people to be cautious. Even if the Ministry didn't accept Neville's word as definite proof, they couldn't ignore what he'd reported altogether.

When Neville arrived back at Hogwarts, accompanied by his grandmother, two Aurors were already waiting in Dumbledore's office to question him.

The Aurors listened to his story and took notes. When Neville finished giving his account, they told him if he thought it over, he would realize the more plausible explanation was that Barty Crouch Junior had acted alone, and the trauma of the ordeal had left Neville confused. What's more, they wondered, how could he say with any certainty that he hadn't been the victim of a Confundus Charm?

His Gran wasn't shy about expressing her outrage. Dumbledore looked none too happy either, but controlled his temper as he assured the Aurors they could take Neville at his word.

Before Neville could recover from his surprise enough to even begin to defend himself, the Aurors rose to leave. They told him if he wished to correct any errors in his statement once he'd had time to properly reflect, they would be happy to listen.

After the Aurors left, his Gran complained to Dumbledore about the sad state the Auror force had fallen into since the days when her son and his wife had served. She assured Neville she knew he was telling the truth, no matter what anyone else said. Then she departed as well, vowing not to let the matter rest until 'those fools at the Ministry' had heard her strongly-worded opinions on the subject.

Dumbledore offered him a few solemn words about the truth having a power of its own, then sent him on his way.

As Neville walked back to Gryffindor Tower, no one paid much attention to him. Word of the previous day's events must not have gotten around yet. It felt disorienting to have experienced so much, only to find the world still saw you as the same person you'd been the day before.

When he entered the common room, Hermione jumped up from one of the couches and ran to him. She started to reach for him, but stopped short. "Oh! I have no right. You must be furious with me."

"What? No. Why would I be?"

"I could have stopped it if I'd only checked sooner!"

"Checked what?"

Harry, Ron, and Ginny joined them. Harry glanced around the room. "We have a lot to talk about, but somewhere private."

"Classroom?" asked Ron.

"I have somewhere better in mind."

Harry led them out of the common room, down one corridor, and around a corner into another. Aside from their group, no one else was in sight. Neville couldn't remember ever coming this way, though they hadn't traveled far from the common room.

Harry stopped in front of a landscape painting of the valley around Hogwarts, seen from high above.

"Good idea," remarked Ginny. "We don't go up there enough."

Harry bowed to the painting, despite the lack of a person in it.

In response, the painting swung on hinges along one edge, revealing a circular staircase leading upwards. They began to climb, the painting swinging shut on its own behind them. Their way was lit by sunlight coming through narrow windows spaced evenly along the wall next to the stairs.

"Are we allowed to be here?" wondered Neville.

"No one ever said not to," Harry told him with a grin.

Ginny said, "It's fine. Hermione and I come up here all the time for nude sunbathing."

Neville missed a step, and had to grab the railing to catch himself. "What, really?"

"No," Hermione answered flatly.

"Sorry, I may have misspoken," said Ginny, without a hint of genuine contrition. "We have discussed it though."

"Only in the sense that you suggested it, and I said absolutely not, under no circumstances."

"Right, so think about it, and let me know what you decide."

The door at the top of the stairs let them out onto the roof of Gryffindor Tower.

A breeze was blowing, but the day was warm enough to make this a refreshing contrast.

They walked over to the nearest parapet. The Black Lake dominated the view from this side, with the Durmstrang ship floating a short distance out, and the train station visible on the far shore. Walking the perimeter of the roof, they could see the grounds stretching out to the forests beyond, and past them, the mountains that ringed the valley. The Beauxbatons carriage was parked near the castle, where it had remained since arriving.

The castle's other towers rose up around them, but not close enough to feel like they were looming–more like they stood in companionable silence, admiring the view along with them. The tops of some of the taller buildings of Hogsmeade were just visible in the distance, out beyond the Quidditch pitch.

Plenty of students were taking advantage of the warm day to get out and enjoy the lake and grounds, though they all wore Hogwarts uniforms, with no visitors from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons visible among them.

Neville spotted the greenhouses where he spent so much of his time. He'd always found them comfortably spacious, but they seemed small from up here. It all did.

"This is amazing," he said.

Harry stood next to him. "Yeah. Not all the secrets we know are horrifying. I figured if we're going to discuss things that aren't so fun, it might help to at least have a nice view to look at. Don't laugh, but maybe it'll help put things in perspective or something?"

"It's great, but are you sure it's private?" Neville glanced back at the door, then around at the other towers.

"I don't think many people know how to get up here, and the ones who do probably don't come up too often. For most of the year, the wind makes it too cold to stay long."

"Never bothered me," Ginny remarked lightly.

"Surprise, surprise," answered Harry. "Anyway, Moody taught us spells to block eavesdropping. They work for both enclosed rooms and small open areas like this–as long as there's something that can signify a boundary, like the edges of the roof."

"I'll do it," offered Ginny, as she drew her wand and began to cast.

"There's something I need to show you," Hermione told Neville, taking out a piece of parchment. "This shows everyone nearby, and Polyjuice can't fool it."

She held it up, using both hands in case a gust of wind came along to try to snatch it away. Neville could see most of their names gathered near the center of the page, with Ginny's name moving in a circuit around them as she made her way around the roof.

"That's impressive magic," he told her. "Did you make this yourself?"

"No, don't you see? I had this, but didn't think to check the person who came for you, even though I had just seen Harry check Sirius before he'd leave with him. It didn't occur to me you might be leaving too. I thought your grandmother just came to make sure you were okay. You know, after what happened to Cedric."

Ron added, "Ginny and I should have thought of it too, but Hermione has been taking it extra hard. She's so used to being a step ahead of everyone, she's started to expect it of herself. At least she spotted what was going on eventually."

"Too late!" cried Hermione.

Ginny had finished casting, and came over to put a soothing arm around her. "Let Ron tell it."

Ron looked to Harry. "Might be simpler to explain if we could also tell him about…"

"We can trust Neville," declared Harry, as he took out another, larger piece of parchment. He tapped it with his wand and recited an activation phrase. This parchment began to show far more names sliding across its surface, with fixed lines indicating walls. "This version shows everyone in the whole castle."

Neville looked back and forth between the parchment and the castle spread out below them. "Wow."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, right? My dad, Sirius, and Remus made it, back when they were students here."

While Harry put the parchment away, Ron picked up the story. "After we left you in the corridor, we used it to check for impostors in the common room, but didn't think to check the hallway. We were in too much of a hurry to start checking out-of-the-way places for Fleur… for all the good it did. The Map doesn't even show the Beauxbatons carriage." He gestured towards where the carriage stood below. "That's where Moody found her, using that magic eye of his."

"Yeah, the Prophet mentioned that," said Neville.

Hermione jumped in again. "We thought she was in danger. We had no idea you were too."

"No reason you should have. Despite all the crazy things that happen around here, I've never gotten too mixed up in it before yesterday."

"And it almost ended in tragedy!" She held up her parchment again. "Anyway, I've been trying to make a copy, though it doesn't have nearly as much reach. While Ron and Ginny were using the original, I got my copy out to work on it some more, hoping we'd be able to search using both. That's when I saw you, McGonagall, and Barty Crouch, but not your grandmother. I ran as fast as I could, but you were already going through the Floo. I couldn't get a shot at Crouch because McGonagall was in the way. By the time I reached the fireplace, he must have shut it off at the other end."

When Hermione paused to take a breath, Ron continued, "Ginny and I got there right after. We convinced McGonagall to send Dumbledore to your house, but you were already gone. I guess you know the rest."

Hermione looked down, busying herself with putting her parchment away. "I'm sorry I was too slow."

Ron and Ginny echoed her apology.

Neville said, "None of you have anything to apologize for. No one could have expected them to take me. Besides, has everyone forgotten who the actual bad guys are?"

Harry shook his head. "That's the thing, though. I did expect it. I knew if I didn't face whatever was coming, someone else would have to. But I let myself believe it would be Dumbledore or Moody–someone who'd have a chance of taking on Death Eaters, or even Voldemort, if he was as weak as the other times I've seen him."

"No. Voldemort tried to convince me the whole thing was your fault, or Dumbledore's, or anyone else who protected you. That's how I know it's absolute nonsense. He wants to divide us. We can't let him."

Harry didn't reply, but looked like he was considering the point.

Neville turned to Hermione. "Crouch Junior fooled everybody. Not just yesterday, but all year. He fooled Dumbledore and the other organizers, Moody, the champions, the people who worked with his father at the Ministry, my Gran and me… everybody. I think it's his idea of fun. Talking about it, he almost sounded like he enjoys being other people more than himself. It makes sense he'd be good at it."

Hermione looked ready to argue, but he continued before she could interrupt. "Suppose you had figured it out soon enough to catch up to us before we left. If it came to a fight, Crouch wouldn't have hesitated to fight dirty. At least no one died. The day could have gone a lot worse."

Hermione had no immediate response.

Ginny asked, "So do you hate Hermione a whole bunch now?"

"What? Of course not!"

"She thinks you do. I bet a hug would go a long way towards convincing her otherwise," she suggested, pushing Hermione towards him.

"Would that be okay?" Hermione asked. "You don't have to."

"That would be great," he assured her.

She threw her arms around him, squeezing hard. Her hair smelled like flowers, though he couldn't identify the species. He wondered if she brought Muggle shampoo with her from home to use at school.

After giving them a moment, Harry said, "The parchment I showed you is a secret few people know about. I'd appreciate it if you kept it that way–mainly so it doesn't get confiscated."

Neville said, "I won't tell anyone. But didn't you already show Professor McGonagall? To convince her about Crouch?"

Hermione pulled back enough to look at him, but continued to clutch at his sleeves. "I showed her my copy. Professor Flitwick helped me make more to give the Aurors, so they could check everyone. At least that gave me something useful to do, to keep my mind busy."

Harry asked, "Speaking of which, did you have your follow-up interview with the Aurors yet?"

Neville grimaced. "Yeah. Dumbledore was right. The Ministry isn't ready to admit Voldemort is back. They're claiming Crouch acted alone. I don't know why I bothered. From now on, I'm keeping my mouth shut. There's no point in telling people the truth if they refuse to believe it. I'd probably just get arrested."

"Wait, what?" asked Hermione. "Why would they arrest you?"

He explained how the Aurors had wanted to take him into custody the day before, until Dumbledore stared them down.

"But you saw him!" she protested. "Can't you volunteer to take Veritaserum?"

"Some people can resist it," Ron told her. "That's why our dad focuses on catching people in actual possession of cursed objects. That's solid evidence, for as much good as it does."

"How is solid evidence not a good thing?"

"In most cases, the object gets confiscated–which is good–but the owner hardly ever gets more than a slap on the wrist. They claim to be a collector who bought it to appreciate the craftsmanship, or for its historical value or some such. They have to pay a fine, and maybe a bribe or two on top, but in a couple of months, the whole thing blows over."

Hermione scowled, but turned to Ginny.

Ginny said, "Before you ask, no, Legilimency won't settle this either. Memories can be modified."

Harry addressed Neville. "On that topic, don't spread this around, but we've been learning Occlumency. You should start too."

Ginny added, "I can give you exercises to work on over the summer. You probably won't be able to hold off Voldemort for long, but being able to block out any spies he has in the castle is better than nothing."

Neville said, "I'll take anything that might help even a little against Voldemort, or anyone working for him."

Hermione observed, "You're saying his name now."

"Yeah. If you've never actually seen him, and he's just this idea, you can try to pretend that if you don't name him, he won't come for you. But I've seen him now, up close, and I can't pretend anymore."

"I get it," Ginny said. "Though it might be better if you called him by his real name, Tom Riddle, like we do. 'Voldemort' is an image he created for himself. Beating the person behind the myth feels more manageable."

"Okay," Neville said. "I'll try to remember. It might take me a while to learn all the things you all take for granted."

"You're doing fine," Hermione told him, squeezing his forearms. She still hadn't let go of him. "I know it's asking a lot, but do you think you could go over what happened to you one more time? Anything you can tell us might help."

"I don't mind. When I said I'm done talking about it, I didn't mean with any of you. I know you won't dismiss what I say and tell me I'm confused."

"Certainly not," she assured him.

"How much has Harry already told you?"

"I gave them the basics," answered Harry. He glanced at Hermione. "Apparently my report didn't include enough details though."

"Well it didn't," she told him. "You, Ginny, and now Neville have all seen different aspects of Riddle. That could be useful. I've been thinking about something Ron said after the second task."

"As well you might," Ron put in. "My words are worth pondering at length. Remind me what I said?"

"Shush, and I'll tell you. It's like what Ginny said a moment ago. If the Dark Lord Voldemort is too powerful for us, we'll just have to find a way to defeat the man, Tom Riddle. To do that, we need to understand his motivations and weaknesses… anything we can use to get him to make mistakes."

"Wise words indeed. I said all that?"

"Of course not. I took your tiny seed of an idea and expanded it enormously."

"So you're saying if it works, the credit should go like 90% to me, 10% to you?"

"No, but I can see how someone with weak math skills might make such an error."

He rubbed his chin. "I suppose I could go as high as 20% for you. Still 90% for me though."

Neville said, "If you're looking for ways that Riddle is wrong in the head, I hardly know where to start."

Hermione shot a glare at Harry. "See? You didn't tell me that!"

Harry shrugged. "Not exactly breaking news that the Dark Lord is barking mad, is it?"

"No, but we need to understand the specific form his madness takes, if we're going to exploit it."

Ron warned, "And as brilliant as my idea is, we'll still need to keep the Dark Lord part of him from killing us, long enough for us to beat the nutter part."

Harry sighed at this reminder. "Even with all the extra practice, I don't know how I'm ever supposed to catch up to him."

"Don't try then."

"Ron!" protested Hermione.

"No, listen. You're always pressing us to learn everything, because we don't know what might turn out to be useful. But we don't need to defeat every Dark Lord who ever lived, or ever might. Just Riddle. We need to defend against his spells."

"I can't even imagine how many he must know. It's not like they're written down anywhere for us to study."

"Yes, but how many does he use regularly in most fights?"

"And if he chooses to throw in some obscure curse we've never heard of, just on a whim?"

"That's far less likely if he underestimates his opponent. If he has to fight Dumbledore, he'll try to surprise him. Against Hogwarts students, he'll go with his favorites. We can work with that. Everyone knows how much he loves throwing around the Unforgivable Curses. What if we concentrate on learning to counter those? And we're already learning to block his Legilimency."

"He'll adapt his strategy as soon as he realizes it's not working."

"Of course, if the fight goes on for too long. But it could buy us enough time to hit him with one or two obscure magical surprises of our own."

"Such as?"

"To be determined. It's a start though."

Hermione sighed. "I'd feel better preparing for all possibilities, but I suppose we need to be realistic. I wonder if the Ministry collected information on which spells Voldemort favored during the war. It couldn't hurt to ask Professor Moody."

Ron folded his arms in satisfaction. "There you go. That covers the magical part of our strategy, or at least the defense. We just need to figure out how to finish him off in a way he won't see coming. And sort out the details of the mental part of my bold and insightful plan."

"You're mental if you think it'll be that easy."

He grinned. "Nice one. But don't worry. I have faith in you."

"Well. That may be the first sensible thing you've said today." She tapped her finger against her lips, eyes going distant. "I'll need to ask my parents to send me some books on abnormal psychology."

"How are you going to explain that?" wondered Harry.

"It won't be the oddest subject I've ever asked them for books about," she replied absently.

Neville asked, "Shouldn't we be talking to Dumbledore about this? He must know more about Voldemort–er, Riddle–than anyone."

The other four exchanged looks.

Harry said, "Dumbledore isn't big on sharing information. I doubt he would have told us as much as he did yesterday if your grandmother hadn't forced the issue."

"Yeah, I guess maybe not." When no one else had anything to add, he said, "Should I go ahead and start then?"

"One moment, please," said Hermione.

To his disappointment, she finally let go of him so she could get out a pen and a pocket-sized notebook, flipping past several pages already filled with her careful handwriting. "Sorry. When you're ready. Harry said the first thing Riddle talked about was his wand?"

"Yeah. Crouch handed it to him first thing."

Ginny said, "Makes sense. Feeling the power of a wand in his hand would be his top priority after spending so much time feeling so weak."

"Yeah, I get that," agreed Neville. "When Hermione pushed me to get my own wand, it changed my life."

Hermione smiled. "People should follow my advice more often. Did he happen to mention what sort of core it had?"

"I don't think so. The wood looked like yew. He said it was his first wand, if that helps. Moody thinks getting it back might have been the reason they broke Pettigrew out of Azkaban. Uh… Dumbledore told you about him, right?"

They nodded grimly.

Hermione said, "Harry, that must be the brother wand to yours. Yew and phoenix feather."

He frowned at the reminder. "And?"

"And we might be able to use the way brother wands lock up when pitted against each other, if we're expecting it and he isn't."

"Maybe," he conceded.

Neville went on with his story. The first time he mentioned the prophecy, everyone but Harry looked surprised.

Neville asked, "You didn't tell them?"

"Usually I tell them everything, but since this could be about either of us, I wanted to check with you first. I figured it could wait one more day, after all the years Dumbledore held onto the secret."

"We should tell them. It's not even much of a secret anymore, after yesterday."

Hermione complained, "Harry, I can't believe you left that out. This could be so important."

"Don't count on it. At least not the part Dumbledore was willing to tell us."

"But you didn't even mention it."

"Because I knew if I did, you wouldn't let it go until I told you everything."

"Oh, please. I'm not that bad. Anyway, one of you better tell me right now."

Ron coughed, using his hand to cover his expression.

Neville took out a sheet of parchment. "I figured you'd want the exact wording. After Harry left, I asked Dumbledore to repeat it slowly, so I could write it down. He doesn't want it getting around too much though, so I'm supposed to burn this after I read it to you."

He recited as much of the prophecy as Dumbledore had been willing to divulge. When he finished, he noted, "Riddle knows all but the last bit about marking someone as his equal. I don't think anyone but Dumbledore knows the rest."

A long moment of silence passed, then Hermione spun to face Ginny. "And you made me drop Divination!"

"I did no such thing!" Ginny shot back. "You said it was useless."

"Ordinarily, yes. But now, with this…"

"You're always saying Arithmancy is far more useful. Why don't you use that to find our best way out of this mess?"

"I may just do that!"

"Please do!"

"Isn't this good news though?" interrupted Ron.

"How can you say that?" demanded Hermione.

"Now we know Harry has the power to win. I mean, he was always going to try his best, but… Sorry, mate, but you would have been the underdog. Not that I have any problem rooting for the underdog, mind you. But now, we know it's your destiny to have the power to beat Riddle. This changes everything."

Harry blinked. "Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that."

"It could also be Neville's destiny," Hermione reminded them.

"I guess," Ron said. "Though Harry has already faced Riddle several times. Can someone jump in this late and still be the hero? No offense, Neville."

"None taken," Neville told him.

Hermione said, "I'm sure Neville regards himself as the hero of his own story, the same as anyone else."

Neville wasn't sure he'd ever seen himself in quite those terms, but thought it best not to mention it.

Ginny insisted, "You can join the fight at any time. All you need is a good enough reason to commit yourself to it."

Ron shrugged. "Fair enough. I suppose we're all coming in late to a war which kicked off before we were even born. Though having two Chosen Ones is going to take some getting used to."

"Think how I feel," muttered Neville.

Harry snorted. "Yeah. Tell me about it."

Ron said, "I can't even imagine. I still can't help thinking it seems like Stooging."

"Stooging?" asked Hermione.

"Quidditch foul," explained Ginny. "It's when more than one Chaser enters the scoring area at the same time."

Hermione shook her head, glancing towards the distant pitch. "Of course. Somehow, everything leads back to Quidditch."

"Glad you're starting to catch on," Ron told her. "My point is, the prophecy talks about the one with the power. Won't fate or whatever force acts as the ref for prophecies call a foul against us for doubling up on Chosen Ones? Trelawney always says trying to fight a prophecy is certain doom. Of course, she says everything is certain doom."

Neville said, "Yesterday, I suggested Harry and I could face Riddle together, so one of us could distract him long enough for the other to land a spell. The headmaster didn't dismiss the idea. People get in trouble when they try to thwart a prophecy, but I think fulfilling one in a creative way is alright."

Hermione made a note of his idea, then asked, "Can I see that parchment? I want to memorize it before we destroy it."

Neville handed it to her, and she read it through several times, reciting to herself. When she finished, she passed it to Ginny. As soon as she let go, it burst into flames. The ashes drifted away in the breeze.

Neville gaped at Ginny's casual display of power, but since the others showed no reaction, he didn't comment. He might have a lot more ground to make up than he realized.

Ron said, "Now that I think about it, the Goblet did let four champions into the Triwizard Tournament, so maybe we could slip this past."

Harry said, "In a sense, it's still a Triwizard Tournament though, since the fourth champion is a witch."

"Boy, is she ever," Ron agreed with a grin.

Harry rolled his eyes. "After the selection, maybe they should've changed it to the Triwizard and Uniwitch Tournament. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue the same way, though."

Ron's grin grew wider as he directed his gaze towards the Beauxbatons carriage. "I wouldn't mind wandering over sometime and rolling Fleur off–"

"Anyway," interrupted Hermione, "Neville is correct. Trying to prevent the fulfillment of a prophecy altogether generally leads to disaster, but fulfilling it in an unexpected way is fine. Perhaps even common."

She shot Ginny a look, adding, "I read up on the subject while trying to find out the consequences of interfering with the delivery of a prophecy. I gave up when I couldn't find any records of anyone acting so recklessly."

Ginny gave her a smirk and a wink. "First time for everything."

Ron said, "So we need to think of a way to fulfill it that's best for our side, then make sure everything turns out that way."

"Right," confirmed Hermione.

Harry said, "It would help if Dumbledore would tell us the whole thing."

"Until he does, we'll have to work with what we have."

Neville resumed telling his story. Hermione asked questions and took rapid notes on everything related to magic, both Riddle's claims and Dumbledore's later explanations. She also took more interest in how Riddle had acted than Dumbledore had shown.

Neville told them, "There was clearly something wrong with him, but not in the way I expected. I was sure he was going to torture me for fun, then kill me when he got bored."

There was an uneasy silence at how easily things could have gone that way.

Ginny said, "He must want something from you–probably the full prophecy, like Dumbledore thinks. Until he gets it, he'll play whatever role he thinks will make you do what he wants. Fear isn't his only weapon."

"The role he chose to play wasn't terribly convincing."

"It worked on me."

"When?"

"Tell you later."

Hermione glanced up from her note-taking. "Neville met a much older version of him. Maybe during all those years as a disembodied spirit, he got out of practice at manipulating people, or even acting like a normal human being."

"Crouch didn't act like he noticed a difference," remarked Neville.

Ginny said, "Maybe Crouch is in too deep to want to see the truth. I sometimes got bad vibes from Riddle, long before things turned ugly. He always managed to explain everything away, and I'd wind up feeling silly, or guilty for doubting his friendship." She shook her head in disgust. "In time, I learned to dismiss my doubts without him even needing to convince me."

Neville gave a puzzled frown. "You make it sound like you've seen him a bunch of times."

"Something like that. I didn't know who he was, of course. He looked like an ordinary student."

Neville nodded, still confused, but accepting her partial explanation for the moment.

"One thing hasn't changed," she went on. "The version I met was already studying people's expressions. I know because he tried to teach me. From your description of how he acted with you, it sounds like he was using Legilimency to see what expressions you were expecting him to make."

Ron said, "And here's me thinking Riddle couldn't possibly get any creepier."

"You have no idea," she muttered. "Though he never got around to teaching me that. Probably didn't want me to get good enough at understanding manipulation to realize what he was doing to me."

Harry said, "I guess it fits–Riddle always putting on a show, I mean. He built his cult around blood purity nonsense, despite having a Muggle father himself."

"It felt like more than that," Neville said. "I keep going over it. It seemed like… Riddle's collection of masks might be all that's left of him now, if that makes any sense. A collection of masks trying to hold itself together. Maybe that's why he and Crouch get along so well. They're both always putting on a show."

No one had a response to that, so Neville picked up the story where he'd left off. When he reached the end, it took another minute or so for Hermione to finish taking notes. She tucked away her pen and notebook, then flexed the fingers of her writing hand, using her other hand to knead her cramped muscles.

Neville gestured at the pocket where she'd put away her notebook. "What do you think?"

She gave him a sympathetic look. "The whole experience must have been dreadful. It's terrible you had to go through it."

"Thanks, but I meant is any of it useful?"

"Oh. Maybe. I need to sit down and go through my notes when I can concentrate better. I might have more questions, if that's okay."

"Right. Of course," he told her, then addressed the whole group. "Listen… I appreciate you all giving me a chance to be a part of this. I know I have a lot to prove, especially now."

"Why especially now?" asked Hermione.

"Now that you've heard how I didn't do anything to stop them. I didn't even tell off Riddle when he asked me to join him."

Harry said, "Dumbledore thought you were smart to not provoke Riddle for no reason."

"Would you have kept quiet?"

"Maybe not, but people have told me I don't always think things through enough."

Hermione huffed. "You're lucky to have devoted friends who keep trying to help you with the problem."

Harry gave her a sheepish grin.

She shook her head and stepped close to Neville. She pressed her hand against his chest, over his heart.

"Blood of the enemy," she reminded him. "That was the part they needed you for, right? Magic itself judged you, and decided you were on the right side. Otherwise, the ritual wouldn't have worked."

"I guess. But does it matter which side I'm on if I don't do anything to make a difference? After you pushed me to get my own wand, I finally started to feel like I belong at Hogwarts. I'm still not sure I belong in Gryffindor."

"Brave doesn't mean stupid. If Riddle comes after you again, and you have a chance to fight back in a way which actually serves a purpose, you'll do what's right. I know you will."

Neville took a deep breath, feeling the warmth of her hand pressed against his chest. "Thanks. I'll try to be the wizard you think I can be. Harry, I meant what I said yesterday, about wanting the same extra Defense lessons you get. I have a feeling it could be important for more than just my own sake. For something bigger."

Harry said, "I know that feeling. Maybe it's the prophecy you're sensing, but maybe not. You still might have a chance to stay out of this from here on. Riddle needed you for a specific reason yesterday. That doesn't mean he's going to come after you again. He's got a lot more reasons to have a grudge against me."

"I'm not going to go looking for trouble. I just need to be ready if it comes looking for me."

"Alright, but I'm not the only one getting extra lessons. Ginny does too. Since the year is almost over, you might want to wait until next fall to start. We'll have a different teacher by then–hopefully one with different teaching methods. If you try to jump in now, you may wind up getting set on fire your first lesson."

Ginny grinned and snapped her fingers, flicking a small burst of flame into the air.

"Next fall should be fine," Neville hastily agreed. "Until then, is there anything you can tell me about your encounters with Riddle? Before I learn Occlumency, I mean."

Ron suggested, "I reckon we could fill him in on the parts we can assume Riddle already knows."

Harry nodded. "Makes sense. Though even leaving things out for now, it'll take some time. Maybe we should pick this up tomorrow. We've been up here awhile." He sighed. "I get why all this talking and planning is important, but I wish there was something we could be doing."

Ginny said, "One thing we can do is start watching out for more cursed objects showing up."

She and Ron exchanged a grim look.

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "Even if Dumbledore is right, and Riddle doesn't launch any all-out attacks right away, things could still get bad, like during the war."

For the benefit of the others, Ginny explained, "There's a reason people like the Malfoys hoard cursed objects, and why our father has devoted his career to confiscating them. The Death Eaters were always a small group, so they needed ways to make their reach seem longer–like they could get to anyone, anywhere, even if they lacked the numbers for a direct attack. They tried to make people afraid that if you spoke out, any random object you touched could mean your doom."

Harry said, "Neville, your grandmother mentioned something about this."

Neville nodded. "She says it's a big part of why people are still so afraid to say the name. The Death Eaters carried out some attacks in person, but there's something almost worse about dangers you can't even recognize until it's too late."

"Yeah," agreed Ginny in a quiet voice.

Neville went on, "Everyone would know a Death Eater planted the object, but not necessarily who they were. Was it someone you thought you could trust? It created a lot of paranoia and suspicion."

"That's horrible," said Hermione. "How could people live their lives like that?"

"I hope we don't have to find out," answered Harry.

"Any more than we already have," added Ginny, turning away to look out over the grounds.

Hermione folded her arms around herself and looked to the west. "It's starting to get a little cool up here, with the sun getting lower and the wind picking up. Let's go back inside."

Harry put his arm around Ginny as they all headed for the stairs leading down.