Growing - Chapter Six
Jul. 12th, 2006 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meddowWith holidays over hopefully this will be updated more regularly. For all of those still reading, thanks for your patience.
Growing (6/18)
Chapter Six – Home Again
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Chapter Summary: Neville realises that he no longer owns any pants, makes a plan concerning the voice and surveys the damage done to the Longbottom family home.
Author’s Notes: Thanks as always to my beta Nathaniel for reviewing and encouraging.
Previous Chapter
~*~*~*~
His doubts about his decision lingered, but Neville still waited patiently the next morning for Ted and Andromeda to arrive. As he waited he realised that he had a rather big problem; he no longer owned any pants. The ones he had been wearing had not survived the night, and all the others he owned probably had not survived the fire. This led him to realise that he most likely did not own anything anymore. Not even a toothbrush and even worse, no spare underwear.
Ted eventually arrived at ten ready to accompany Neville back to his home and told him it was alright, Neville could borrow some of his clothes and Andromeda always kept spare toothbrushes around the house. But in the end Neville had to floo to the Tonks’ home wearing the now rather dishevelled shirt he had on during the attack and a striped pair of hospital pyjama pants. He did not want to think how ridiculous he must look.
Andromeda greeted them in the lounge and gave Neville a big hug. Ted explained the problem.
“Oh, don’t worry. You can borrow Ted’s clothes today and Ted can take you shopping for new clothes tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ted can,” replied Ted, rolling his eyes at being volunteered.
Andromeda leaned over and kissed Ted on the cheek. “I’ll take the day off tomorrow and come too,” she announced. “It will be fun. I haven’t been to Diagon Alley in months…Now do you want to see where you will be sleeping?” she added turning her attention to Neville.
Neville followed Andromeda to the first floor of the cottage. He had never had a reason to see this part of the house, but found it to be the same as the rest, painted in nice neutral colours except for one room overlooking the greenhouse. That looked like someone had attacked the wall with pink, green and black paint. It was also covered with posters of music acts. Neville assumed it had once belonged to Tonks.
Andromeda arrived at a small dull room containing a bed, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe, but Neville’s eyes were drawn to the large pile of mail and boxes sitting on the bed. “I’m sorry, it’s rather boring. We don’t have guests often …actually you may be the first, ” she commented.
Neville, more interested in the mail than the room, inspected the first package, which was addressed to him in purple letters. “They’ve been arriving since yesterday. They’re all for you,” Andromeda announced. “Now, I’ll leave you to settle in and read your mail. Oh, and there is an owl sitting in the kitchen that hasn’t moved for a day. I think it’s expecting a reply.”
Neville spend the next hour inspecting his mail. The purple addressed package was apparently from the Auror Office and contained a pair of pants, a package containing three pairs of underwear and the message, We though you may find this useful. Neville suspected from the purple ink that Tonks had something to do with it, though he was rather embarrassed that people knew of his lack of possessions problem. There was also an individual card signed in purple ink wishing him well from Tonks and Remus. Tonks had obviously signed for her partner.
There was another large parcel containing an iced chocolate cake with ‘get well soon’ written on it from the Weasley family and a card signed by Ron’s parents as well as Ginny. A letter from Hermione wishing him well and offering any assistance she could give him, and accompanied by a card signed by Ron and Harry who expressed their sentiments that they hoped he was okay and saying that apparating into the Ministry of Magic without a licence was really impressive. Fred and George send Neville a soft parcel containing a red shirt with U-No-Poo Doesn’t Scare Me on the front of it and I survive and got this t-shirt from Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes on the back all written in yellow letters.
Seamus and Dean also sent cards both telling him how wicked it was that he battled werewolves and Dementors. There was another card signed by all the staff at Hogwarts, including for some reason Filch (who had also signed for Mrs. Norris), and accompanied by some chocolate brownies, that judging from the weight were some of Hagrid’s creations that Ron had once told him about with the warning not to eat them. Surprisingly, there was also a card from Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Neville had only spoke to them a few times, mostly Bill telling him all about Egypt while in the hospital wing. Neville had decided that he was going to visit Egypt one day as result and Bill had given him a list of all the best bars to visit in Cairo.
There were a few cards from his various distant relatives and also a bundle of official looking letters. The Daily Prophet asked for an interview. Neville decided to think about it, but did not really want to. More ominously there was a letter from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Neville stomach sank as he read it. Apparently during his encounter with Dementors he had broken a number of laws, using magic while underage; apparating while underage; apparating without a licence; apparating into a Ministry building outside of hours. The letter eventually concluded that no charges would be laid against him due to the circumstances, but they would be rather appreciative if he could find a more legal method of escaping death next time.
There was also another letter from the Ministry announcing the Longbottom house was now cleared of any fire and had been ruled uninhabitable, though Neville was allowed to return so long as he did not enter the actual building.
Neville got changed into his new blue pants and his U-No-Poo shirt, and wandered down the stairs, chocolate cake and brownies in hand, and spotted Duck sitting on the counter, letter tied to his leg. Luna had replied to the letter he had written what seemed like a lifetime ago. The events that occurred before his brush with death flowed back to the forefront of his mind, accompanied by the guilt he had felt at his unsent letter about his parents.
Dear Neville
Of course it’s Harry who will beat You-Know-Who but it’s not fair that he has to do it alone. There will be someone out there who is going to help him.
Luna
Neville didn’t believe that in the end Harry would have help, some part of Neville had realised some time ago that in the end it would be just Harry that would have to save them all. This thought did not give him much comfort. After all Harry was his age and so Neville could appreciate in part the huge burden on Harry’s shoulders. The future of all the people who had just written and sent cards, of all the people Neville knew and liked, everyone good and decent in the world now depended on Harry Potter, who was just a teenager like him. Neville agreed with Luna. It really did not seem fair at all.
Just then Andromeda walked in. “I thought I heard someone…,” she stopped and Neville realised that she was reading Neville’s shirt, she had an expression Neville couldn’t figure out. “Really,” she said with a tone of disgust in her voice. “That’s not very funny.” Neville realised she was rather upset but trying unsuccessfully to hide it.
It occurred to Neville then that many people, especially the parent of an Auror, would not find something mocking You-Know-Who to be very funny at all. Neville felt very uncomfortable all of a sudden. “It’s … um …it’s the only shirt I own.”
“Well, you can borrow one of Ted’s if you would like.”
“Yeah.” Neville decided that would probably mend the situation. Andromeda turned and started to walk out of the room, before suddenly stopping and turning back to him.
“Nymphadora didn’t send you that shirt?” she enquired.
“No…but she did send me these pants.”
“Good,” she replied quietly before leaving in search for more appropriate clothing for Neville.
~*~*~*~
Ted decided to cook up a feast that night in honour of Neville arriving. He was actually quite an excellent cook, serving up a brilliant meal of spaghetti bolognaise and though Neville hadn’t ever really had Italian food before, he found he loved it. That was followed by an extra large helping of Mrs. Weasley’s chocolate cake and gigantic dollop of chocolate ice cream. There was one good thing about being attacked by Dementors and that was the excessive amounts of chocolate everybody let him eat.
“Is there anywhere in particular you want to go tomorrow?” Ted asked once Neville had finished eating and was feeling quite bloated.
“Well, um, I was wondering if I could visit my home.”
Andromeda glanced anxiously at her husband and Ted’s usual smile left his face. “Sure,” he finally announced after some silence. He got up and paced towards the door of dining room. “Though I think you had better prepare yourself, Neville. It’s not a pretty sight.”
He left and returned with a folded copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand and gave it to Neville. Longbottom Home Burns --- All occupants survive against the odds was the headline. Neville’s hope that nobody would find out about his large proud home fizzled quickly. Neville noticed Andromeda and Ted were watching him nervously. He bent his head to see the rest of the article only to be greeted with a large picture of what had once been his home.
A few walls still stood at the back, but the whole front of his home had burnt down. There was a large pile of rubble and the nearby trees and grass had turned black. Where Neville’s room had once stood, Neville could now see the sky behind the house.
He had really lost everything.
Ted leaned over and patted him on the arm. “Are you alright?” he asked calmly.
Neville had spent most of his life hating that house. But it was his home all the same, and now it was reduced to rubble. He didn’t know what he was right then but he was certainly not okay. “Yeah,” he muttered quietly.
The happiness of the food and company having suddenly evaporated, Neville wanted nothing more than to be alone. “I think I’m going to get some sleep,” he said excusing himself from the table. Andromeda glanced at Ted as if willing him to do something, but Ted did nothing, which Neville appreciated. He really did not want to have to talk about it.
“We’ll see you in the morning then.”
~*~*~*~
Neville spent the night trying to contemplate what he would do. He no longer had a home. All his families history had been contained in that one house, so it was as if his past had been erased. It was a hollow empty feeling, and on top of it he had managed to isolate his Gran, who had always been there no matter what. Now Neville was truly alone for the first time in his life.
He stared up at the ceiling in his foreign room. The moon was no longer at its peak but provide enough light for Neville to stare at the objects surrounding him. He listened as Andromeda and Ted eventually walked past his door and into their room down the corridor.
What had he been thinking when he agreed to stay here? Neville had the distinct feeling he had made a big mistake. Realising that he could no longer undo the past, he decided to suck it up and continue. What would Gran say, he asked himself. She would say he had made his bed and now he had to lie in it. Neville now had to prevail.
Trying to think of something else his mind fell onto Luna’s letter. He had sent her one back that afternoon telling her he was okay and instructing her that she cannot have Duck wait around for a response all the time, just in case Luna needed him. Though thinking about Luna’s letter brought him back to his parents and the thought of his parents brought him back to the mystery of the woman’s voice.
Suddenly Neville remembered something he had read in one of the letters he had been sent. Clambering out of bed, he tried to find a candle. Failing miserably he remembered that Ted and Andromeda’s house was a Muggle one, you had to flick a switch. Fumbling around in the night he eventually managed to achieve light. Hoping he had not woken Ted and Andromeda up with the noise, he found the letter in question. It was from the Ministry about the status of his home. Scanning the letter he finally found what he wanted.
…An Auror report on the investigation will be made public on the attack in a week. If you wish to see it, it will be viewable at the Ministry library…
Neville knew that every time the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was involved in an incident a report was compiled. A gentleman from the Ministry had approached him for a statement for such a report last summer after the events in the Department of Mysteries. His Gran had told the gentleman to leave and that Dumbledore would tell him everything he wished to know, so Neville and the others did not contribute to the final report.
But this meant that there would be a report in the Ministry library what happened to his parents. If Neville were to ever figure out if his parents were still present somewhere then knowing exactly what happened to them was important, no matter how many awful details about what happened to them it contained.
Neville had never been to the Ministry library before, but he knew it was within walking distance of Diagon Alley, which meant he could go tomorrow.
Happy that he had a plan, Neville managed to finally drift off to sleep.
~*~*~*~
Neville felt very tired the next morning. All he had dreamt about last night was black cloaks surrounding him. He knew he was having a bad dream and would eventually manage to wake himself up. But as soon as he drifted off to sleep again, there they were, the Dementors.
Andromeda, who seemed to be a morning person, was already up and munching on some cereal while reading the paper.
“Morning,” she called. “Sleep well?”
“Yeah,” Neville replied nonchalantly, trying not to give her any reason to be concerned.
“Well, there’s cereal in the cupboard, milk in the fridge. Or you could wait for Ted and have some of his bacon. He should be up within the hour,” she said, not looking up from the paper.
Neville settled for cereal and read the sections of the paper Andromeda was finished with. No sign of anything to do with him. There was, however, an attack on some muggles in Kent. It seemed the Death Eaters, or some creatures allied with them were attacking someone every evening.
Ted eventually came down the stairs, and carefully made his breakfast while Andromeda complained that she and Neville (who was wearing another of Ted’s shirts) had been ready to go for an hour. Ted complained to Neville that of all the women in the world, he had to marry the only one who could get ready on time. Neville smiled but stayed quiet, trying to avoid taking a side in the rather friendly argument they were having.
“I think we should visit Neville’s home first. See if anything has survived the fire before we go buying things,” Andromeda announced while Ted munched on his sandwich.
“Mmm hmm,” Ted managed to say since his mouth was full of bacon.
“Is that alright with you?” She glanced at Neville.
“Sure.”
~*~*~*~
Neville was forced to slide-along apparate to his home with Ted and Andromeda since he was still underage. Neither of them had ever been there and as a result they were forced to use the photo in the Prophet as a reference to avoid winding up apparating over a lake, or worse in the middle the Muggle motorway. There was one very close to Neville’s home.
When they eventually got there, Neville realised that it looked so much worse in life than in the paper. Pieces of rubble, glass and brick were everywhere. The plants surrounding the house were singed black or burnt away altogether.
Ted and Andromeda stood back while Neville inspected the remains of Longbottom house. He had to tread carefully so as not to get bits of glass and brick in his shoes (that belonged to Ted and were three sizes too big). As he had seen in the photo, the whole front of the house had come down; the brick lying on the ground and the wood burn away.
The tallest part of the house that was still standing was the main fireplace. Gran’s centrepiece remained standing stubbornly while the room she had tried so hard to keep clean had been reduced to ash.
There was nothing left of Neville’s bedroom. The upper floors had disappeared completely into the rubble. Neville walked around the house to inspect his garden. It was now buried deeply under what was once his room. He had to acknowledge that his Mimbulus had not survived and neither would have Trevor, who slept in his wardrobe during the night.
Neville spotted something red underneath some of the rubble close to him. He stared pulling up some of the bits concealing it, but some of it was too heavy. He was about to give up in frustration when some of the larger pieces began moving on their own. Neville turned to find Andromeda and Ted lifting up pieces and moving them away with levitating charms. Eventually Neville managed to free the remains of his Gryffindor scarf. One end was badly burned.
Neville realised that there was nothing else. Everything else was gone.
He stood there a while in silence clutching his scarf, and eventually found a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything more, Nev.” It was Ted. “I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Neville muttered.
Ted began to lead him away from the remains of his room, when Neville heard a familiar voice calling his voice.
“Master Neville! Master Neville!” Dusty was running towards him, carrying a bundle in her arms.
“Dusty!” Neville was relieved to have confirmation that a least one of the house-elves has survived the attack. “You’re alright!”
“Dusty is well. So is Blinky. Blinky and Dusty got out, Sir.”
“That’s brilliant!”
“Dusty didn’t know where you went, Sir, so Blinky and Dusty have been checking to see if you would return.”
Neville suddenly heard a croak come from the bundle in Dusty’s arms.
“Trevor?” Neville dared to wonder.
“Yes sir. Blinky took Trevor and Dusty took your special plant, Sir, before Dusty and Blinky left.” The old house elf handed over the parcel, which turned out to be his Mimbulus and his toad wrapped in an old red tablecloth, which Neville knew to have the Longbottom family crest embroidered in the centre of it.
Neville got down on his knees and hugged the small creature. “Thank you so much.” Just when all hope had been lost, it was Blinky and Dusty, who were hardly ever noticed around the house, that saved the day. “Tell Blinky thank you from me as well.”
“Is there anything Dusty and Blinky can do, Sir? Dusty could come and stay with you,” Dusty suggested. Neville thought about it for a second. He would have to ask Andromeda and Ted’s permission first. He looked over, both of them looked rather glum at the prospect. So Neville had a better idea.
“No. I want you to keep an eye on Gran for me. Make sure she doesn’t get lonely and isn’t unhappy and if she is, I want you to tell me. Alright?”
“Yes, Master Neville. Is that all?”
“Yes.” At that Dusty clicked her fingers and was gone.
Neville found himself genuinely smiling for the first time in a while. “Brilliant little creatures they are. Well, I think we had better swing by our home before we head to London,” Ted said.
“Why don’t you want a house elf?” Neville asked, wondering if he might have found Hermione two new members of SPEW. She would be rather impressed if he had.
“Well, I actually quite enjoy cooking, and Andi would go nuts if she wasn’t able to clean.” Ted smiled while Andromeda glared at him and the three of them walked away from the rubble together.
“Besides, I think you’ve found a better use for them,” Andromeda added.
Next Chapter
Growing (6/18)
Chapter Six – Home Again
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Chapter Summary: Neville realises that he no longer owns any pants, makes a plan concerning the voice and surveys the damage done to the Longbottom family home.
Author’s Notes: Thanks as always to my beta Nathaniel for reviewing and encouraging.
Previous Chapter
His doubts about his decision lingered, but Neville still waited patiently the next morning for Ted and Andromeda to arrive. As he waited he realised that he had a rather big problem; he no longer owned any pants. The ones he had been wearing had not survived the night, and all the others he owned probably had not survived the fire. This led him to realise that he most likely did not own anything anymore. Not even a toothbrush and even worse, no spare underwear.
Ted eventually arrived at ten ready to accompany Neville back to his home and told him it was alright, Neville could borrow some of his clothes and Andromeda always kept spare toothbrushes around the house. But in the end Neville had to floo to the Tonks’ home wearing the now rather dishevelled shirt he had on during the attack and a striped pair of hospital pyjama pants. He did not want to think how ridiculous he must look.
Andromeda greeted them in the lounge and gave Neville a big hug. Ted explained the problem.
“Oh, don’t worry. You can borrow Ted’s clothes today and Ted can take you shopping for new clothes tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ted can,” replied Ted, rolling his eyes at being volunteered.
Andromeda leaned over and kissed Ted on the cheek. “I’ll take the day off tomorrow and come too,” she announced. “It will be fun. I haven’t been to Diagon Alley in months…Now do you want to see where you will be sleeping?” she added turning her attention to Neville.
Neville followed Andromeda to the first floor of the cottage. He had never had a reason to see this part of the house, but found it to be the same as the rest, painted in nice neutral colours except for one room overlooking the greenhouse. That looked like someone had attacked the wall with pink, green and black paint. It was also covered with posters of music acts. Neville assumed it had once belonged to Tonks.
Andromeda arrived at a small dull room containing a bed, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe, but Neville’s eyes were drawn to the large pile of mail and boxes sitting on the bed. “I’m sorry, it’s rather boring. We don’t have guests often …actually you may be the first, ” she commented.
Neville, more interested in the mail than the room, inspected the first package, which was addressed to him in purple letters. “They’ve been arriving since yesterday. They’re all for you,” Andromeda announced. “Now, I’ll leave you to settle in and read your mail. Oh, and there is an owl sitting in the kitchen that hasn’t moved for a day. I think it’s expecting a reply.”
Neville spend the next hour inspecting his mail. The purple addressed package was apparently from the Auror Office and contained a pair of pants, a package containing three pairs of underwear and the message, We though you may find this useful. Neville suspected from the purple ink that Tonks had something to do with it, though he was rather embarrassed that people knew of his lack of possessions problem. There was also an individual card signed in purple ink wishing him well from Tonks and Remus. Tonks had obviously signed for her partner.
There was another large parcel containing an iced chocolate cake with ‘get well soon’ written on it from the Weasley family and a card signed by Ron’s parents as well as Ginny. A letter from Hermione wishing him well and offering any assistance she could give him, and accompanied by a card signed by Ron and Harry who expressed their sentiments that they hoped he was okay and saying that apparating into the Ministry of Magic without a licence was really impressive. Fred and George send Neville a soft parcel containing a red shirt with U-No-Poo Doesn’t Scare Me on the front of it and I survive and got this t-shirt from Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes on the back all written in yellow letters.
Seamus and Dean also sent cards both telling him how wicked it was that he battled werewolves and Dementors. There was another card signed by all the staff at Hogwarts, including for some reason Filch (who had also signed for Mrs. Norris), and accompanied by some chocolate brownies, that judging from the weight were some of Hagrid’s creations that Ron had once told him about with the warning not to eat them. Surprisingly, there was also a card from Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Neville had only spoke to them a few times, mostly Bill telling him all about Egypt while in the hospital wing. Neville had decided that he was going to visit Egypt one day as result and Bill had given him a list of all the best bars to visit in Cairo.
There were a few cards from his various distant relatives and also a bundle of official looking letters. The Daily Prophet asked for an interview. Neville decided to think about it, but did not really want to. More ominously there was a letter from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Neville stomach sank as he read it. Apparently during his encounter with Dementors he had broken a number of laws, using magic while underage; apparating while underage; apparating without a licence; apparating into a Ministry building outside of hours. The letter eventually concluded that no charges would be laid against him due to the circumstances, but they would be rather appreciative if he could find a more legal method of escaping death next time.
There was also another letter from the Ministry announcing the Longbottom house was now cleared of any fire and had been ruled uninhabitable, though Neville was allowed to return so long as he did not enter the actual building.
Neville got changed into his new blue pants and his U-No-Poo shirt, and wandered down the stairs, chocolate cake and brownies in hand, and spotted Duck sitting on the counter, letter tied to his leg. Luna had replied to the letter he had written what seemed like a lifetime ago. The events that occurred before his brush with death flowed back to the forefront of his mind, accompanied by the guilt he had felt at his unsent letter about his parents.
Dear Neville
Of course it’s Harry who will beat You-Know-Who but it’s not fair that he has to do it alone. There will be someone out there who is going to help him.
Luna
Neville didn’t believe that in the end Harry would have help, some part of Neville had realised some time ago that in the end it would be just Harry that would have to save them all. This thought did not give him much comfort. After all Harry was his age and so Neville could appreciate in part the huge burden on Harry’s shoulders. The future of all the people who had just written and sent cards, of all the people Neville knew and liked, everyone good and decent in the world now depended on Harry Potter, who was just a teenager like him. Neville agreed with Luna. It really did not seem fair at all.
Just then Andromeda walked in. “I thought I heard someone…,” she stopped and Neville realised that she was reading Neville’s shirt, she had an expression Neville couldn’t figure out. “Really,” she said with a tone of disgust in her voice. “That’s not very funny.” Neville realised she was rather upset but trying unsuccessfully to hide it.
It occurred to Neville then that many people, especially the parent of an Auror, would not find something mocking You-Know-Who to be very funny at all. Neville felt very uncomfortable all of a sudden. “It’s … um …it’s the only shirt I own.”
“Well, you can borrow one of Ted’s if you would like.”
“Yeah.” Neville decided that would probably mend the situation. Andromeda turned and started to walk out of the room, before suddenly stopping and turning back to him.
“Nymphadora didn’t send you that shirt?” she enquired.
“No…but she did send me these pants.”
“Good,” she replied quietly before leaving in search for more appropriate clothing for Neville.
Ted decided to cook up a feast that night in honour of Neville arriving. He was actually quite an excellent cook, serving up a brilliant meal of spaghetti bolognaise and though Neville hadn’t ever really had Italian food before, he found he loved it. That was followed by an extra large helping of Mrs. Weasley’s chocolate cake and gigantic dollop of chocolate ice cream. There was one good thing about being attacked by Dementors and that was the excessive amounts of chocolate everybody let him eat.
“Is there anywhere in particular you want to go tomorrow?” Ted asked once Neville had finished eating and was feeling quite bloated.
“Well, um, I was wondering if I could visit my home.”
Andromeda glanced anxiously at her husband and Ted’s usual smile left his face. “Sure,” he finally announced after some silence. He got up and paced towards the door of dining room. “Though I think you had better prepare yourself, Neville. It’s not a pretty sight.”
He left and returned with a folded copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand and gave it to Neville. Longbottom Home Burns --- All occupants survive against the odds was the headline. Neville’s hope that nobody would find out about his large proud home fizzled quickly. Neville noticed Andromeda and Ted were watching him nervously. He bent his head to see the rest of the article only to be greeted with a large picture of what had once been his home.
A few walls still stood at the back, but the whole front of his home had burnt down. There was a large pile of rubble and the nearby trees and grass had turned black. Where Neville’s room had once stood, Neville could now see the sky behind the house.
He had really lost everything.
Ted leaned over and patted him on the arm. “Are you alright?” he asked calmly.
Neville had spent most of his life hating that house. But it was his home all the same, and now it was reduced to rubble. He didn’t know what he was right then but he was certainly not okay. “Yeah,” he muttered quietly.
The happiness of the food and company having suddenly evaporated, Neville wanted nothing more than to be alone. “I think I’m going to get some sleep,” he said excusing himself from the table. Andromeda glanced at Ted as if willing him to do something, but Ted did nothing, which Neville appreciated. He really did not want to have to talk about it.
“We’ll see you in the morning then.”
Neville spent the night trying to contemplate what he would do. He no longer had a home. All his families history had been contained in that one house, so it was as if his past had been erased. It was a hollow empty feeling, and on top of it he had managed to isolate his Gran, who had always been there no matter what. Now Neville was truly alone for the first time in his life.
He stared up at the ceiling in his foreign room. The moon was no longer at its peak but provide enough light for Neville to stare at the objects surrounding him. He listened as Andromeda and Ted eventually walked past his door and into their room down the corridor.
What had he been thinking when he agreed to stay here? Neville had the distinct feeling he had made a big mistake. Realising that he could no longer undo the past, he decided to suck it up and continue. What would Gran say, he asked himself. She would say he had made his bed and now he had to lie in it. Neville now had to prevail.
Trying to think of something else his mind fell onto Luna’s letter. He had sent her one back that afternoon telling her he was okay and instructing her that she cannot have Duck wait around for a response all the time, just in case Luna needed him. Though thinking about Luna’s letter brought him back to his parents and the thought of his parents brought him back to the mystery of the woman’s voice.
Suddenly Neville remembered something he had read in one of the letters he had been sent. Clambering out of bed, he tried to find a candle. Failing miserably he remembered that Ted and Andromeda’s house was a Muggle one, you had to flick a switch. Fumbling around in the night he eventually managed to achieve light. Hoping he had not woken Ted and Andromeda up with the noise, he found the letter in question. It was from the Ministry about the status of his home. Scanning the letter he finally found what he wanted.
…An Auror report on the investigation will be made public on the attack in a week. If you wish to see it, it will be viewable at the Ministry library…
Neville knew that every time the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was involved in an incident a report was compiled. A gentleman from the Ministry had approached him for a statement for such a report last summer after the events in the Department of Mysteries. His Gran had told the gentleman to leave and that Dumbledore would tell him everything he wished to know, so Neville and the others did not contribute to the final report.
But this meant that there would be a report in the Ministry library what happened to his parents. If Neville were to ever figure out if his parents were still present somewhere then knowing exactly what happened to them was important, no matter how many awful details about what happened to them it contained.
Neville had never been to the Ministry library before, but he knew it was within walking distance of Diagon Alley, which meant he could go tomorrow.
Happy that he had a plan, Neville managed to finally drift off to sleep.
Neville felt very tired the next morning. All he had dreamt about last night was black cloaks surrounding him. He knew he was having a bad dream and would eventually manage to wake himself up. But as soon as he drifted off to sleep again, there they were, the Dementors.
Andromeda, who seemed to be a morning person, was already up and munching on some cereal while reading the paper.
“Morning,” she called. “Sleep well?”
“Yeah,” Neville replied nonchalantly, trying not to give her any reason to be concerned.
“Well, there’s cereal in the cupboard, milk in the fridge. Or you could wait for Ted and have some of his bacon. He should be up within the hour,” she said, not looking up from the paper.
Neville settled for cereal and read the sections of the paper Andromeda was finished with. No sign of anything to do with him. There was, however, an attack on some muggles in Kent. It seemed the Death Eaters, or some creatures allied with them were attacking someone every evening.
Ted eventually came down the stairs, and carefully made his breakfast while Andromeda complained that she and Neville (who was wearing another of Ted’s shirts) had been ready to go for an hour. Ted complained to Neville that of all the women in the world, he had to marry the only one who could get ready on time. Neville smiled but stayed quiet, trying to avoid taking a side in the rather friendly argument they were having.
“I think we should visit Neville’s home first. See if anything has survived the fire before we go buying things,” Andromeda announced while Ted munched on his sandwich.
“Mmm hmm,” Ted managed to say since his mouth was full of bacon.
“Is that alright with you?” She glanced at Neville.
“Sure.”
Neville was forced to slide-along apparate to his home with Ted and Andromeda since he was still underage. Neither of them had ever been there and as a result they were forced to use the photo in the Prophet as a reference to avoid winding up apparating over a lake, or worse in the middle the Muggle motorway. There was one very close to Neville’s home.
When they eventually got there, Neville realised that it looked so much worse in life than in the paper. Pieces of rubble, glass and brick were everywhere. The plants surrounding the house were singed black or burnt away altogether.
Ted and Andromeda stood back while Neville inspected the remains of Longbottom house. He had to tread carefully so as not to get bits of glass and brick in his shoes (that belonged to Ted and were three sizes too big). As he had seen in the photo, the whole front of the house had come down; the brick lying on the ground and the wood burn away.
The tallest part of the house that was still standing was the main fireplace. Gran’s centrepiece remained standing stubbornly while the room she had tried so hard to keep clean had been reduced to ash.
There was nothing left of Neville’s bedroom. The upper floors had disappeared completely into the rubble. Neville walked around the house to inspect his garden. It was now buried deeply under what was once his room. He had to acknowledge that his Mimbulus had not survived and neither would have Trevor, who slept in his wardrobe during the night.
Neville spotted something red underneath some of the rubble close to him. He stared pulling up some of the bits concealing it, but some of it was too heavy. He was about to give up in frustration when some of the larger pieces began moving on their own. Neville turned to find Andromeda and Ted lifting up pieces and moving them away with levitating charms. Eventually Neville managed to free the remains of his Gryffindor scarf. One end was badly burned.
Neville realised that there was nothing else. Everything else was gone.
He stood there a while in silence clutching his scarf, and eventually found a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything more, Nev.” It was Ted. “I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Neville muttered.
Ted began to lead him away from the remains of his room, when Neville heard a familiar voice calling his voice.
“Master Neville! Master Neville!” Dusty was running towards him, carrying a bundle in her arms.
“Dusty!” Neville was relieved to have confirmation that a least one of the house-elves has survived the attack. “You’re alright!”
“Dusty is well. So is Blinky. Blinky and Dusty got out, Sir.”
“That’s brilliant!”
“Dusty didn’t know where you went, Sir, so Blinky and Dusty have been checking to see if you would return.”
Neville suddenly heard a croak come from the bundle in Dusty’s arms.
“Trevor?” Neville dared to wonder.
“Yes sir. Blinky took Trevor and Dusty took your special plant, Sir, before Dusty and Blinky left.” The old house elf handed over the parcel, which turned out to be his Mimbulus and his toad wrapped in an old red tablecloth, which Neville knew to have the Longbottom family crest embroidered in the centre of it.
Neville got down on his knees and hugged the small creature. “Thank you so much.” Just when all hope had been lost, it was Blinky and Dusty, who were hardly ever noticed around the house, that saved the day. “Tell Blinky thank you from me as well.”
“Is there anything Dusty and Blinky can do, Sir? Dusty could come and stay with you,” Dusty suggested. Neville thought about it for a second. He would have to ask Andromeda and Ted’s permission first. He looked over, both of them looked rather glum at the prospect. So Neville had a better idea.
“No. I want you to keep an eye on Gran for me. Make sure she doesn’t get lonely and isn’t unhappy and if she is, I want you to tell me. Alright?”
“Yes, Master Neville. Is that all?”
“Yes.” At that Dusty clicked her fingers and was gone.
Neville found himself genuinely smiling for the first time in a while. “Brilliant little creatures they are. Well, I think we had better swing by our home before we head to London,” Ted said.
“Why don’t you want a house elf?” Neville asked, wondering if he might have found Hermione two new members of SPEW. She would be rather impressed if he had.
“Well, I actually quite enjoy cooking, and Andi would go nuts if she wasn’t able to clean.” Ted smiled while Andromeda glared at him and the three of them walked away from the rubble together.
“Besides, I think you’ve found a better use for them,” Andromeda added.
Next Chapter
