Growing - Chapter Twelve
Nov. 4th, 2006 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meddowGrowing (12/18)
Chapter Twelve – Not Given Lightly
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Chapter Summary: Neville heads off to Bill and Fleur's wedding and finds himself attending a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix.
Author’s Notes: A big thank you to Nathaniel my beta and thanks to those who are reading.
Previous Chapter
~*~*~*~
A week after Tonks left, Neville borrowed a bag off Ted and packed the clothes he would need for three nights at the Weasley household. Neville had bought Harry a present from Andromeda, it was a collection of rare potions ingredients since Neville had heard Harry had become quite good at Potions lately. His own birthday went off very quietly. Andromeda and Ted greeted him with a nice breakfast but not much could occur, Neville had to pack and get to the Weasley home for Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
Andromeda seemed unsure about the security arrangements at the wedding and party and so fussed quite a bit before he left.
“If it’s open air, then you should stay close to the door,” she said for the fifteenth time that day.
“If it’s open air everybody will be standing so close to the bloody door they will all get stuck in it should a cloud come along,” Ted said trying to make a joke about the horrific weather. Another storm had not come along since the original, but the fear had not subsided. Nobody had managed to figure out how it had been created, and so everybody was living with the assumption that it could and would happen again.
Neville grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it onto the fireplace. “The Burrow!” he yelled and felt the world spin around.
Neville arrived in the Weasley’s fireplace, and in the process managed to trip over his own feet. A strong arm caught him, stopping him from landing on his face.
“Wotcher Nev!” Tonks was standing before him, hair a rather putrid shade of purple. Lupin was there too, and Mad-Eye Moody. They both greeted him kindly. The man holding on to him had a familiar shade of red hair and a face covered in freckles. Neville had never met him before, but there was only one Weasley that Neville had not yet run into at some point.
“You must be Neville. I’m Charlie,” he said smiling and sticking out his hand. Neville gave it a shake, and realised that the house was deserted. He tried to work out whether he had the date right.
“Where is everyone?”
Tonks opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
“Wait!” Mad-Eye boomed, “He still needs to go through security checks.”
“We really shouldn’t treat everyone like they are a criminal,” Tonks replied.
“You can never be sure.”
“And I’m not, but I find the idea that somebody has either replaced him or shoved him under Imperius while he is staying at my parents' house rather unappealing, Mad-Eye,” Tonks replied in a strained voice.
“Neville, do you mind waiting in the lounge for an hour, please? You understand?” Lupin asked. “We’ll tell you what’s going on in an hour.”
Neville was ushered into the other room where he noticed Fred and George were sitting on one couch.
“Hey Neville,” Fred called.
“Stuck at this fun party, I see,” George added.
“Are they waiting to see if you two are under polyjuice as well?” Neville asked.
“Yeah, but how do we know that they aren’t under polyjuice.”
“I smell a conspiracy.”
Neville decided to wait it out and sat down.
An hour passed, and more people entered the room and sat down and begun to wait. Shortly after Neville had arrived, three pretty French women sat down. They looked about the same age as the twins and seemed to spend the entire time talking about them in hushed French, much to the twins' delight.
“She’s talking about what fine specimen of man I am,” George whispered.
“Okay, I’ve got the brunette, George can have the blonde and Neville, I think that one with the short black hair’s yours,”
“I don’t know.”
“She is into you. Look at her giggling,” George said
“That means she likes you,” Fred replied. Neville didn’t think she was looking at him, but he found himself blushing anyway. She had dark eyes and was rather pretty, though older than Neville.
“Stick with us Neville and you can’t go wrong,” George announced.
“French women adore Weasleys and it will probably rub off,” Fred added.
“We should bottle it and sell it,” George continued.
“Call it ‘Luck of the Weasleys’ and stick a picture of Fleur on the bottle.”
“It’ll fly off the shelves.”
The other Auror that had been there at the Department of Mysteries walked in half an hour later and sat down in the corner. As he did, the girls switched their attention and started admiring him instead of the twins.
Tonks and Mad-Eye eventually walked into the room.
“Fred, George, Neville, Claire, Michelle and Antoinette, if you could all follow me that would be great. Sorry Kingsley, you’re going to have to wait a while longer.”
“I understand,” he said.
They followed her into one of the upstairs bedrooms. They had to pass Mad-Eye in the process who glared at them all with his magical eye, which made Neville rather anxious. The French girls started talking in whispers again, but this time they looked at Tonks, who didn’t seem to notice.
“You have to understand, security has to be tight,” Tonks said as they entered the room and she picked up an old sock of the ground.
The Twins moaned about wanting their money back and Tonks rolled her eyes.
“Everybody grab the portkey,” she shoved it in Neville’s hands, “Hagrid will meet you,”
“Have a nice trip,” she added as the others grabbed on to it and Neville felt a hook at the back of his belly button.
Neville ended flat on his face at the end of the trip, to add to the embarrassment, he was the only one who had fallen over. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Want to watch for that last step th’re, Neville,” Hagrid said helping Neville off the ground. Neville looked around, they were at Hogwarts station. There was no train, but a Thestral drawn carriage was waiting for them.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” Hagrid continued. The French girls weren’t spending much time looking at Hogwarts. They seemed more interested in Hagrid.
“Ladies,” Fred said, placing an arm out, to which Michelle, the brunette happily accepted.
George did the same with the blonde, Claire. Leaving Neville looking at Antoinette. “Er…” he stuck his arm out. She accepted, and Neville felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he walked her to the carriage.
Fred and George continued to talk to their respective partner while the journey continues. Neville couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “so you’re a friend of Fleur’s,” and Antoinette spent most of the trip staring out of the window.
They finally arrived at the Hogwarts entrance where Bill and Fleur were waiting. Fleur rushed up and gave all Michelle, Antoinette and Claire hugs and kisses and spoke to them rapidly in French. Neville wished he could understand what they were going on about.
“Glad you could be here,” Bill said, shaking Neville’s hand strongly. He looked much the same as when Neville had last seen him, long hair and scarred face. “Sorry about the security waits, but I guess it’s what you get in these times.”
“We thought we had seen the last of this place,” George said. He was looking up at Hogwarts castle.
“Looks like we were just destined to rule this castle,” the Fred replied. Bill grinned.
Neville continued inside the castle. Noise was coming from the dining hall and Neville followed the twins to find many people waiting in there, not just students and teachers but all sorts of people. Ron’s parents were having a conversation with a middle-aged blond-haired pair, who Neville assumed to be the parents of the bride. Professor McGonagall was standing by conversing with a woman Neville had never seen before. Ginny Weasley was sitting with a blonde-haired girl Neville recognised to be Fleur’s little sister. Neville also spotted Harry, Hermione and Ron sitting alone. Hermione looked up and waived at Neville, Ron beamed and Harry managed to produce a small smile.
Hermione waived him over and Neville was grateful to be outside the high expectations of the Weasley twins for a while.
“Happy Birthday, Neville,” Hermione said getting up and giving him a hug. Neville blushed for the third time that day. He had always sort of admired Hermione. Ron gave him a bit of a look and wished him the same birthday greetings as well.
Harry got up and shook Neville’s hand formally. “Happy Birthday,” he said. Neville was shocked. Harry looked pretty much the same as he always had, but the way he was holding himself, and the look in his eyes, Harry was so old.
“Happy Birthday to you too,” Neville replied.
They spend some time doing small talk. Hermione kept on asking how Neville’s summer job was going until Neville ended up giving them a detailed description of how the Mimbulus survived the storm. As soon as the storm was mentioned Harry seemed to pay closer attention, so Neville told him what happened, even though he was sure Lupin or Tonks must have already told.
“It was scary, but it was over quickly. If you can get into a building you’re pretty much safe,” Neville concluded. Hermione shook her head as if to agree. Ron seemed angry at the whole existence of the storm. But Harry seemed content to just sit there and listen.
People kept on arriving into the evening, when finally Hagrid, Tonks, Lupin, Charlie and Mad-Eye walked into the dining hall. Mad-Eye went up to Professor McGonagall and whispered a few words into her ear. Neville noticed that she gave a look to Arthur Weasley, who clanged his fork against a nearby glass.
“Friends, family. Thank you for making the trip, some of you have come very far and from safer places. It is much appreciated. I’m not going to bore you tonight, there will be plenty of speeches over the next few days I’m sure. I’ll just say, happy birthday to Neville, who has come of age today.” There was a big cheer and Tonks stared up a chorus of Happy Birthday, before dinner was served. Neville blushed the whole time.
~*~*~*~
Neville clambered into his old bed in his dorm room late at night. While Seamus and Dean were missing, the majority of the Gryffindor boys were there and Neville felt glad to be home. He slept sounder than he had in a long time.
That was until Lupin shook him awake.
“What’s – what’s going on?” Neville heard Ron asking in a half yawn.
“There’s an Order meeting tonight. You three and Hermione have been invited,” Lupin whispered. “Get dressed quickly and I’ll meet you down in the common room in five minutes.”
As Neville eyes adjusted to the light he saw Harry was sitting at the end of the bed wand in hand.
“What time is it?” Ron asked.
“Five past midnight,” Lupin whispered before heading down the stairs.
“Happy Birthday, mate,” Ron said, slapping Harry on the back.
~*~*~*~
Neville, Harry and Ron were down and dressed on time and met Tonks and Lupin who were waiting in the common room. “…and I’m telling you there is not a room in this castle that I’ve not been able to get in,” Tonks was saying to Lupin.
“We're just waiting on Hermione,” Lupin said when he saw the three boys, “and here she is now.” Hermione appeared at the top of the girls’ dormitory stairs.
Lupin and Tonks lead them down to the dining hall where the tables had been replaced with smaller ones arranged to make a circle, with an opening into the middle. The room was dimly lit by candle light, illuminating the paper on the desk and the people but causing long shadows to hand through the room. So this was it, Neville figured, the secret organisation that was fighting You-Know-Who.
Like gathering earlier, there was quite a mix of people sitting around the table. There were quite a few members of the Weasley family; Neville saw Ron’s parents, Bill and Fleur, Charlie and the Twins. Professor McGonagall was there, sitting between Mad-Eye Moody and Hagrid. The Auror Neville had seen at the Weasley home, Kingsley, was there. There were also many people Neville had never met before, people of all ages, some closer to Tonks', others closer to Professor McGonagall’s. It was quite an eclectic bunch.
Tonks directed them all to six empty seats between Charlie and Hagrid, Harry sat, flanked on either side by Hermione and Ron. Neville found himself sitting between Ron and Tonks.
“Good, everybody is here, we can start the meeting,” Professor McGonagall announced. “As you can see we have four new recruits, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley-” Neville saw Bill over the table placing a hand on his mother's shoulder, “-Neville Longbottom-” Tonks clapped Neville on the back. “-and Harry Potter.”
McGonagall got out of her seat, and walked towards them. “Would you four please stand,” she commanded.
Neville got out of his chair and stood along with the others.
“You do understand that by joining this organisation, you will be placing yourself in great personal danger, opening yourself up to attack by many fronts and could potentially make your loved ones targets of Voldemort’s forces.” Neville noticed a few people around the table flinch at You-Know-Who’s name.
Neville felt his stomach lurch and his pulse start beating faster. “You now have to ask yourselves whether you wish to take this risk before we will let you continue. Now is the last point you may turn back.”
There was a pause before Professor McGonagall continued. “Hermione Granger, do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Hermione looked down at the ground. It looked to Neville as if a tear fell down her cheek.
“I do,” she said quietly.
“Harry Potter. Do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Harry stared straight at her. “I do,” he bellowed.
“Ronald Weasley. Do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Ron looked over Professor McGonagall’s shoulder. Neville looked too. Arthur Weasley had his arms around Molly Weasley, who looked to be crying in her husband’s arms. Ron looked at Harry and then back to McGonagall.
“I do,” he said, determinedly.
Professor McGonagall moved in front of Neville. Neville looked at Professor McGonagall, she looked more serious than Neville had ever thought she could, but she didn’t seem to display any emotion. Neville also turned to Tonks. She had done this as well. She was staring at the table in front of her, her eyes in shadow.
Neville couldn’t help but think that his parents would have once been in the same situation he was in. Neville was afraid, he did not want to die, he did not want to be a target and he really did not want to see his Gran targeted. But he had seen too much of this war to not fight back.
His parents were not afraid. And neither would he be.
“I do,” Neville announced to the room.
Professor McGonagall placed a hand on his shoulder. Neville then noticed that she looked upset. Neville did not understand, why did they let him choose, if they did not want to him to join. She removed her hand and then walked back to take her seat.
The four of them sat back down, Neville noticed that Lupin now had his arm around Tonks. And Neville understood. He and Harry, Ron and Hermione, they were barely adults, and they had just pledged their lives away. It was not a glorious moment, but a sad one.
“Well, let’s begin, Kingsley. I believe you have news from the Muggle government.”
Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Auror from the battle at the Department of Mysteries, was apparently now acting as a liaison between the law enforcement of the Wizarding world and the law enforcement of the Muggle world. Tonks whispered to Neville that this was because Kingsley was the only wizard the Muggle Prime Minister trusted. He continued on for a while about how they could improve their working together, especially in the area of space photography and about information campaigns the Muggle government was now running to educate Muggles on the danger of “people dressed in black cloaks waiving around sticks.”
Many people asked questions and made suggestions, including Hermione, Tonks and Lupin, but Neville didn’t have anything to add. A brown haired woman begun talking about potions use in the war, Harry visibly flinched when this came up, but there was no specific mention of Snape in particular, just what a “skilled potions master” would be capable of doing. There was also a discussion on the use of the storm, with speculation on how much magic it would take to cause it and whether it could last longer and be permanently fixed. By the end, the only conclusion that they could draw is that they did not know anything and had better be prepared for the worst.
“On that subject, Minerva,” Arthur Weasley began “How long can Hogwarts go without access to the outside world?”
“With the same numbers of student we had last year, about three years,” McGonagall replied. “The house elves are currently working hard to get that up to five.”
“Yer, but could a storm last that long?” Hagrid asked.
“It’s not just storms, Hogwarts must prepare for a siege type situation,” Lupin replied.
“The children would be trapped inside, wouldn't they?” Mrs. Weasley asked.
“They may have to be for their own protection. If the rest of Britain has been taken, then there may be no place else for them to go,” McGonagall replied.
“That doesn’t matter.” Everybody turned and stared at Harry, who had spoken for the first time. “If there is somebody already in Hogwarts who’s working for Voldemort, it doesn’t matter how long you have supplies for. Hogwarts isn’t safe.”
The room went briefly quiet with shock at Harry’s statement. Neville couldn’t believe that Harry thought that. Then Professor McGonagall spoke again. “Professor Snape can no longer enter the castle, Harry. Neither can Draco Malfoy.”
“It doesn’t have to be Professor Snape or Draco. It could be anyone, one of the Slytherins, the next defence teacher!” Harry replied loudly.
“Harry’s right,” Ron added. “There’s a whole house full of students that could be working for Voldemort, until you get rid of them Hogwarts isn’t safe.”
Professor McGonagall stood up and announced in her most stubborn voice, “I think I know where this line of reasoning is going, Mr. Weasley, and I can assure you it has been discussed at some length, but it can come to nothing. Hogwarts cannot function without all four houses.”
Neville did not think this would satisfy Harry and Ron.
“It’s redundant anyway. House loyalties, blood status and the like mean nothing when there is polyjuice or Imperius,” Tonks added quietly. “And we can’t prepare against them.”
“Which is not a good though, but one we should have to keep in mind. Though Mr. Potter has brought up an interesting point, I have yet to find a suitable defence teacher – at this rate the Ministry are going to have to find one,” McGonagall added.
“Is there any way to get around the werewolf laws, Minerva?” Molly Weasley asked.
“No, they are quite clear. They forbid all werewolves from teaching anyone under the age of seventeen, or working at all a week before and a week after the full moon. It’s not going to happen,” Lupin replied.
“Surely the Wizengamot could repeal them if they wanted to,” Hermione suggested.
“The Wizengamot is spending every moment on the war at the moment. I very much doubt you could get them to make a decision, and for that matter, we may not have the support for it,” Arthur answered.
“You can’t let them send another person from the Ministry,” Ron said. “Umbridge was bloody awful.”
“Though she was great fun,” one of the Weasley twins replied.
“For you two maybe, but for the rest of us…I don’t want a return to Ministry control of teaching positions any more than you do, but unless somebody with appropriate experience steps up, it may have to be that way,” McGonagall replied. Of course she would not, Neville thought. Umbridge had nearly killed her.
Neville heard a groan to his right. It was coming from Tonks who was holding her head up by her hands by this point. “Can’t Mad-Eye do it?” Hermione suggested.
“I’m already busy. All the new Aurors being sent into the field don’t seem to be able to throw a curse. Somebody’s got to take the time to teach them something,” Mad-Eye replied.
“What about Bill, he knows tons about the Dark Arts?” Charlie suggested.
“Thanks, but I can’t teach anymore than Remus can at the moment. If the Goblins at Gringott's didn’t think they were above employment laws, then I would be out of a job myself,” Bill replied.
“Then Tonks, she’s an Auror, and she was the best in my year,” Charlie continued.
Tonks groaned again. “I’m an awful teacher, just ask Neville.”
Suddenly Neville felt every eye in the hall on him. It was very intimidating. “Um…Actually, she’s better than Quirrell and Lockhart and Umbridge. And she’s not evil like Snape and Barty Crouch,” he replied truthfully. Tonks glared at him. “I’m sorry,” Neville replied sheepishly to her, “but it’s true.”
“If Tonks were to teach at Hogwarts, can Remus stay here?” Hermione asked.
“Possibly,” Lupin replied happily.
“There is no law governing against who Hogwarts teachers choose to have living in their quarters with them. So long as it isn’t a student, nobody has ever minded before,” Professor McGonagall said.
“The Ministry would probably be too busy to concern itself with such a minor matter,” Mr Weasley added.
“There you are then, two defence teachers for the price of one,” replied George.
“Except I can’t teach anyone under seventeen,” Lupin replied.
“And I don’t want to teach,” Tonks announced. Everybody seemed to look at her at once. “Look, I’m an Auror, I worked bloody hard to become an Auror and if I quit now, then I don’t think they will ever hire me again. I’m sorry if that sounds selfish to you lot, but that’s the position I’m in.” Neville noticed that Lupin looked shocked at that announcement.
“And the position is cursed too,” Harry announced.
“Oh, that’s just a rumour,” Mrs. Weasley dismissed.
“No. It’s true.” Harry answered curtly, “Voldemort wanted the job, but Dumbledore wouldn’t give it to him, so Voldemort cursed the position. Dumbledore told me last year.”
This was new information to Neville, and he suspected from the concerned look on the Headmistresses face that it was news to even her.
“I’ve never heard of being able to curse a job title,” Bill eventually said.
“Nor I and if Professor Dumbledore was not able to lift it, then I’m not sure you will be able to do so despite your expertise, Bill, though I think you should have a look into it anyway,” McGonagall replied.
“Does explain a lot,” Mad-Eye Moody replied bitterly.
“Why would ‘e do that?” Fleur asked. “It es just a teaching position.”
“More than two generations of wizards and witches have never had a proper education in Defence against the Dark Arts,” Fred replied.
“And they’re being slaughtered by the few people that have,” George added.
“Look,” Tonks said, “I’ll do it, but only if you can get it so I don’t have to give up being an Auror and only for a year, and only if we can fix that curse.”
“I’m sure I can reach an agreement with Gawain,” Minerva replied.
“Who’s teaching Potions and Transfiguration?” Hermione asked.
“Professor Slughorn has decided to remain at Hogwarts and will be acting head of house for Slytherin, and I will share transfiguration duties alongside my responsibilities as headmistress,” McGonagall replied.
“Well, that matter is settled then,” Remus replied.
Out of the corner of his eye Neville saw Tonks look to Remus with apprehension.
Next Chapter
Chapter Twelve – Not Given Lightly
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Chapter Summary: Neville heads off to Bill and Fleur's wedding and finds himself attending a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix.
Author’s Notes: A big thank you to Nathaniel my beta and thanks to those who are reading.
Previous Chapter
A week after Tonks left, Neville borrowed a bag off Ted and packed the clothes he would need for three nights at the Weasley household. Neville had bought Harry a present from Andromeda, it was a collection of rare potions ingredients since Neville had heard Harry had become quite good at Potions lately. His own birthday went off very quietly. Andromeda and Ted greeted him with a nice breakfast but not much could occur, Neville had to pack and get to the Weasley home for Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
Andromeda seemed unsure about the security arrangements at the wedding and party and so fussed quite a bit before he left.
“If it’s open air, then you should stay close to the door,” she said for the fifteenth time that day.
“If it’s open air everybody will be standing so close to the bloody door they will all get stuck in it should a cloud come along,” Ted said trying to make a joke about the horrific weather. Another storm had not come along since the original, but the fear had not subsided. Nobody had managed to figure out how it had been created, and so everybody was living with the assumption that it could and would happen again.
Neville grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it onto the fireplace. “The Burrow!” he yelled and felt the world spin around.
Neville arrived in the Weasley’s fireplace, and in the process managed to trip over his own feet. A strong arm caught him, stopping him from landing on his face.
“Wotcher Nev!” Tonks was standing before him, hair a rather putrid shade of purple. Lupin was there too, and Mad-Eye Moody. They both greeted him kindly. The man holding on to him had a familiar shade of red hair and a face covered in freckles. Neville had never met him before, but there was only one Weasley that Neville had not yet run into at some point.
“You must be Neville. I’m Charlie,” he said smiling and sticking out his hand. Neville gave it a shake, and realised that the house was deserted. He tried to work out whether he had the date right.
“Where is everyone?”
Tonks opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
“Wait!” Mad-Eye boomed, “He still needs to go through security checks.”
“We really shouldn’t treat everyone like they are a criminal,” Tonks replied.
“You can never be sure.”
“And I’m not, but I find the idea that somebody has either replaced him or shoved him under Imperius while he is staying at my parents' house rather unappealing, Mad-Eye,” Tonks replied in a strained voice.
“Neville, do you mind waiting in the lounge for an hour, please? You understand?” Lupin asked. “We’ll tell you what’s going on in an hour.”
Neville was ushered into the other room where he noticed Fred and George were sitting on one couch.
“Hey Neville,” Fred called.
“Stuck at this fun party, I see,” George added.
“Are they waiting to see if you two are under polyjuice as well?” Neville asked.
“Yeah, but how do we know that they aren’t under polyjuice.”
“I smell a conspiracy.”
Neville decided to wait it out and sat down.
An hour passed, and more people entered the room and sat down and begun to wait. Shortly after Neville had arrived, three pretty French women sat down. They looked about the same age as the twins and seemed to spend the entire time talking about them in hushed French, much to the twins' delight.
“She’s talking about what fine specimen of man I am,” George whispered.
“Okay, I’ve got the brunette, George can have the blonde and Neville, I think that one with the short black hair’s yours,”
“I don’t know.”
“She is into you. Look at her giggling,” George said
“That means she likes you,” Fred replied. Neville didn’t think she was looking at him, but he found himself blushing anyway. She had dark eyes and was rather pretty, though older than Neville.
“Stick with us Neville and you can’t go wrong,” George announced.
“French women adore Weasleys and it will probably rub off,” Fred added.
“We should bottle it and sell it,” George continued.
“Call it ‘Luck of the Weasleys’ and stick a picture of Fleur on the bottle.”
“It’ll fly off the shelves.”
The other Auror that had been there at the Department of Mysteries walked in half an hour later and sat down in the corner. As he did, the girls switched their attention and started admiring him instead of the twins.
Tonks and Mad-Eye eventually walked into the room.
“Fred, George, Neville, Claire, Michelle and Antoinette, if you could all follow me that would be great. Sorry Kingsley, you’re going to have to wait a while longer.”
“I understand,” he said.
They followed her into one of the upstairs bedrooms. They had to pass Mad-Eye in the process who glared at them all with his magical eye, which made Neville rather anxious. The French girls started talking in whispers again, but this time they looked at Tonks, who didn’t seem to notice.
“You have to understand, security has to be tight,” Tonks said as they entered the room and she picked up an old sock of the ground.
The Twins moaned about wanting their money back and Tonks rolled her eyes.
“Everybody grab the portkey,” she shoved it in Neville’s hands, “Hagrid will meet you,”
“Have a nice trip,” she added as the others grabbed on to it and Neville felt a hook at the back of his belly button.
Neville ended flat on his face at the end of the trip, to add to the embarrassment, he was the only one who had fallen over. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Want to watch for that last step th’re, Neville,” Hagrid said helping Neville off the ground. Neville looked around, they were at Hogwarts station. There was no train, but a Thestral drawn carriage was waiting for them.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” Hagrid continued. The French girls weren’t spending much time looking at Hogwarts. They seemed more interested in Hagrid.
“Ladies,” Fred said, placing an arm out, to which Michelle, the brunette happily accepted.
George did the same with the blonde, Claire. Leaving Neville looking at Antoinette. “Er…” he stuck his arm out. She accepted, and Neville felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he walked her to the carriage.
Fred and George continued to talk to their respective partner while the journey continues. Neville couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “so you’re a friend of Fleur’s,” and Antoinette spent most of the trip staring out of the window.
They finally arrived at the Hogwarts entrance where Bill and Fleur were waiting. Fleur rushed up and gave all Michelle, Antoinette and Claire hugs and kisses and spoke to them rapidly in French. Neville wished he could understand what they were going on about.
“Glad you could be here,” Bill said, shaking Neville’s hand strongly. He looked much the same as when Neville had last seen him, long hair and scarred face. “Sorry about the security waits, but I guess it’s what you get in these times.”
“We thought we had seen the last of this place,” George said. He was looking up at Hogwarts castle.
“Looks like we were just destined to rule this castle,” the Fred replied. Bill grinned.
Neville continued inside the castle. Noise was coming from the dining hall and Neville followed the twins to find many people waiting in there, not just students and teachers but all sorts of people. Ron’s parents were having a conversation with a middle-aged blond-haired pair, who Neville assumed to be the parents of the bride. Professor McGonagall was standing by conversing with a woman Neville had never seen before. Ginny Weasley was sitting with a blonde-haired girl Neville recognised to be Fleur’s little sister. Neville also spotted Harry, Hermione and Ron sitting alone. Hermione looked up and waived at Neville, Ron beamed and Harry managed to produce a small smile.
Hermione waived him over and Neville was grateful to be outside the high expectations of the Weasley twins for a while.
“Happy Birthday, Neville,” Hermione said getting up and giving him a hug. Neville blushed for the third time that day. He had always sort of admired Hermione. Ron gave him a bit of a look and wished him the same birthday greetings as well.
Harry got up and shook Neville’s hand formally. “Happy Birthday,” he said. Neville was shocked. Harry looked pretty much the same as he always had, but the way he was holding himself, and the look in his eyes, Harry was so old.
“Happy Birthday to you too,” Neville replied.
They spend some time doing small talk. Hermione kept on asking how Neville’s summer job was going until Neville ended up giving them a detailed description of how the Mimbulus survived the storm. As soon as the storm was mentioned Harry seemed to pay closer attention, so Neville told him what happened, even though he was sure Lupin or Tonks must have already told.
“It was scary, but it was over quickly. If you can get into a building you’re pretty much safe,” Neville concluded. Hermione shook her head as if to agree. Ron seemed angry at the whole existence of the storm. But Harry seemed content to just sit there and listen.
People kept on arriving into the evening, when finally Hagrid, Tonks, Lupin, Charlie and Mad-Eye walked into the dining hall. Mad-Eye went up to Professor McGonagall and whispered a few words into her ear. Neville noticed that she gave a look to Arthur Weasley, who clanged his fork against a nearby glass.
“Friends, family. Thank you for making the trip, some of you have come very far and from safer places. It is much appreciated. I’m not going to bore you tonight, there will be plenty of speeches over the next few days I’m sure. I’ll just say, happy birthday to Neville, who has come of age today.” There was a big cheer and Tonks stared up a chorus of Happy Birthday, before dinner was served. Neville blushed the whole time.
Neville clambered into his old bed in his dorm room late at night. While Seamus and Dean were missing, the majority of the Gryffindor boys were there and Neville felt glad to be home. He slept sounder than he had in a long time.
That was until Lupin shook him awake.
“What’s – what’s going on?” Neville heard Ron asking in a half yawn.
“There’s an Order meeting tonight. You three and Hermione have been invited,” Lupin whispered. “Get dressed quickly and I’ll meet you down in the common room in five minutes.”
As Neville eyes adjusted to the light he saw Harry was sitting at the end of the bed wand in hand.
“What time is it?” Ron asked.
“Five past midnight,” Lupin whispered before heading down the stairs.
“Happy Birthday, mate,” Ron said, slapping Harry on the back.
Neville, Harry and Ron were down and dressed on time and met Tonks and Lupin who were waiting in the common room. “…and I’m telling you there is not a room in this castle that I’ve not been able to get in,” Tonks was saying to Lupin.
“We're just waiting on Hermione,” Lupin said when he saw the three boys, “and here she is now.” Hermione appeared at the top of the girls’ dormitory stairs.
Lupin and Tonks lead them down to the dining hall where the tables had been replaced with smaller ones arranged to make a circle, with an opening into the middle. The room was dimly lit by candle light, illuminating the paper on the desk and the people but causing long shadows to hand through the room. So this was it, Neville figured, the secret organisation that was fighting You-Know-Who.
Like gathering earlier, there was quite a mix of people sitting around the table. There were quite a few members of the Weasley family; Neville saw Ron’s parents, Bill and Fleur, Charlie and the Twins. Professor McGonagall was there, sitting between Mad-Eye Moody and Hagrid. The Auror Neville had seen at the Weasley home, Kingsley, was there. There were also many people Neville had never met before, people of all ages, some closer to Tonks', others closer to Professor McGonagall’s. It was quite an eclectic bunch.
Tonks directed them all to six empty seats between Charlie and Hagrid, Harry sat, flanked on either side by Hermione and Ron. Neville found himself sitting between Ron and Tonks.
“Good, everybody is here, we can start the meeting,” Professor McGonagall announced. “As you can see we have four new recruits, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley-” Neville saw Bill over the table placing a hand on his mother's shoulder, “-Neville Longbottom-” Tonks clapped Neville on the back. “-and Harry Potter.”
McGonagall got out of her seat, and walked towards them. “Would you four please stand,” she commanded.
Neville got out of his chair and stood along with the others.
“You do understand that by joining this organisation, you will be placing yourself in great personal danger, opening yourself up to attack by many fronts and could potentially make your loved ones targets of Voldemort’s forces.” Neville noticed a few people around the table flinch at You-Know-Who’s name.
Neville felt his stomach lurch and his pulse start beating faster. “You now have to ask yourselves whether you wish to take this risk before we will let you continue. Now is the last point you may turn back.”
There was a pause before Professor McGonagall continued. “Hermione Granger, do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Hermione looked down at the ground. It looked to Neville as if a tear fell down her cheek.
“I do,” she said quietly.
“Harry Potter. Do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Harry stared straight at her. “I do,” he bellowed.
“Ronald Weasley. Do you wish to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix?”
Ron looked over Professor McGonagall’s shoulder. Neville looked too. Arthur Weasley had his arms around Molly Weasley, who looked to be crying in her husband’s arms. Ron looked at Harry and then back to McGonagall.
“I do,” he said, determinedly.
Professor McGonagall moved in front of Neville. Neville looked at Professor McGonagall, she looked more serious than Neville had ever thought she could, but she didn’t seem to display any emotion. Neville also turned to Tonks. She had done this as well. She was staring at the table in front of her, her eyes in shadow.
Neville couldn’t help but think that his parents would have once been in the same situation he was in. Neville was afraid, he did not want to die, he did not want to be a target and he really did not want to see his Gran targeted. But he had seen too much of this war to not fight back.
His parents were not afraid. And neither would he be.
“I do,” Neville announced to the room.
Professor McGonagall placed a hand on his shoulder. Neville then noticed that she looked upset. Neville did not understand, why did they let him choose, if they did not want to him to join. She removed her hand and then walked back to take her seat.
The four of them sat back down, Neville noticed that Lupin now had his arm around Tonks. And Neville understood. He and Harry, Ron and Hermione, they were barely adults, and they had just pledged their lives away. It was not a glorious moment, but a sad one.
“Well, let’s begin, Kingsley. I believe you have news from the Muggle government.”
Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Auror from the battle at the Department of Mysteries, was apparently now acting as a liaison between the law enforcement of the Wizarding world and the law enforcement of the Muggle world. Tonks whispered to Neville that this was because Kingsley was the only wizard the Muggle Prime Minister trusted. He continued on for a while about how they could improve their working together, especially in the area of space photography and about information campaigns the Muggle government was now running to educate Muggles on the danger of “people dressed in black cloaks waiving around sticks.”
Many people asked questions and made suggestions, including Hermione, Tonks and Lupin, but Neville didn’t have anything to add. A brown haired woman begun talking about potions use in the war, Harry visibly flinched when this came up, but there was no specific mention of Snape in particular, just what a “skilled potions master” would be capable of doing. There was also a discussion on the use of the storm, with speculation on how much magic it would take to cause it and whether it could last longer and be permanently fixed. By the end, the only conclusion that they could draw is that they did not know anything and had better be prepared for the worst.
“On that subject, Minerva,” Arthur Weasley began “How long can Hogwarts go without access to the outside world?”
“With the same numbers of student we had last year, about three years,” McGonagall replied. “The house elves are currently working hard to get that up to five.”
“Yer, but could a storm last that long?” Hagrid asked.
“It’s not just storms, Hogwarts must prepare for a siege type situation,” Lupin replied.
“The children would be trapped inside, wouldn't they?” Mrs. Weasley asked.
“They may have to be for their own protection. If the rest of Britain has been taken, then there may be no place else for them to go,” McGonagall replied.
“That doesn’t matter.” Everybody turned and stared at Harry, who had spoken for the first time. “If there is somebody already in Hogwarts who’s working for Voldemort, it doesn’t matter how long you have supplies for. Hogwarts isn’t safe.”
The room went briefly quiet with shock at Harry’s statement. Neville couldn’t believe that Harry thought that. Then Professor McGonagall spoke again. “Professor Snape can no longer enter the castle, Harry. Neither can Draco Malfoy.”
“It doesn’t have to be Professor Snape or Draco. It could be anyone, one of the Slytherins, the next defence teacher!” Harry replied loudly.
“Harry’s right,” Ron added. “There’s a whole house full of students that could be working for Voldemort, until you get rid of them Hogwarts isn’t safe.”
Professor McGonagall stood up and announced in her most stubborn voice, “I think I know where this line of reasoning is going, Mr. Weasley, and I can assure you it has been discussed at some length, but it can come to nothing. Hogwarts cannot function without all four houses.”
Neville did not think this would satisfy Harry and Ron.
“It’s redundant anyway. House loyalties, blood status and the like mean nothing when there is polyjuice or Imperius,” Tonks added quietly. “And we can’t prepare against them.”
“Which is not a good though, but one we should have to keep in mind. Though Mr. Potter has brought up an interesting point, I have yet to find a suitable defence teacher – at this rate the Ministry are going to have to find one,” McGonagall added.
“Is there any way to get around the werewolf laws, Minerva?” Molly Weasley asked.
“No, they are quite clear. They forbid all werewolves from teaching anyone under the age of seventeen, or working at all a week before and a week after the full moon. It’s not going to happen,” Lupin replied.
“Surely the Wizengamot could repeal them if they wanted to,” Hermione suggested.
“The Wizengamot is spending every moment on the war at the moment. I very much doubt you could get them to make a decision, and for that matter, we may not have the support for it,” Arthur answered.
“You can’t let them send another person from the Ministry,” Ron said. “Umbridge was bloody awful.”
“Though she was great fun,” one of the Weasley twins replied.
“For you two maybe, but for the rest of us…I don’t want a return to Ministry control of teaching positions any more than you do, but unless somebody with appropriate experience steps up, it may have to be that way,” McGonagall replied. Of course she would not, Neville thought. Umbridge had nearly killed her.
Neville heard a groan to his right. It was coming from Tonks who was holding her head up by her hands by this point. “Can’t Mad-Eye do it?” Hermione suggested.
“I’m already busy. All the new Aurors being sent into the field don’t seem to be able to throw a curse. Somebody’s got to take the time to teach them something,” Mad-Eye replied.
“What about Bill, he knows tons about the Dark Arts?” Charlie suggested.
“Thanks, but I can’t teach anymore than Remus can at the moment. If the Goblins at Gringott's didn’t think they were above employment laws, then I would be out of a job myself,” Bill replied.
“Then Tonks, she’s an Auror, and she was the best in my year,” Charlie continued.
Tonks groaned again. “I’m an awful teacher, just ask Neville.”
Suddenly Neville felt every eye in the hall on him. It was very intimidating. “Um…Actually, she’s better than Quirrell and Lockhart and Umbridge. And she’s not evil like Snape and Barty Crouch,” he replied truthfully. Tonks glared at him. “I’m sorry,” Neville replied sheepishly to her, “but it’s true.”
“If Tonks were to teach at Hogwarts, can Remus stay here?” Hermione asked.
“Possibly,” Lupin replied happily.
“There is no law governing against who Hogwarts teachers choose to have living in their quarters with them. So long as it isn’t a student, nobody has ever minded before,” Professor McGonagall said.
“The Ministry would probably be too busy to concern itself with such a minor matter,” Mr Weasley added.
“There you are then, two defence teachers for the price of one,” replied George.
“Except I can’t teach anyone under seventeen,” Lupin replied.
“And I don’t want to teach,” Tonks announced. Everybody seemed to look at her at once. “Look, I’m an Auror, I worked bloody hard to become an Auror and if I quit now, then I don’t think they will ever hire me again. I’m sorry if that sounds selfish to you lot, but that’s the position I’m in.” Neville noticed that Lupin looked shocked at that announcement.
“And the position is cursed too,” Harry announced.
“Oh, that’s just a rumour,” Mrs. Weasley dismissed.
“No. It’s true.” Harry answered curtly, “Voldemort wanted the job, but Dumbledore wouldn’t give it to him, so Voldemort cursed the position. Dumbledore told me last year.”
This was new information to Neville, and he suspected from the concerned look on the Headmistresses face that it was news to even her.
“I’ve never heard of being able to curse a job title,” Bill eventually said.
“Nor I and if Professor Dumbledore was not able to lift it, then I’m not sure you will be able to do so despite your expertise, Bill, though I think you should have a look into it anyway,” McGonagall replied.
“Does explain a lot,” Mad-Eye Moody replied bitterly.
“Why would ‘e do that?” Fleur asked. “It es just a teaching position.”
“More than two generations of wizards and witches have never had a proper education in Defence against the Dark Arts,” Fred replied.
“And they’re being slaughtered by the few people that have,” George added.
“Look,” Tonks said, “I’ll do it, but only if you can get it so I don’t have to give up being an Auror and only for a year, and only if we can fix that curse.”
“I’m sure I can reach an agreement with Gawain,” Minerva replied.
“Who’s teaching Potions and Transfiguration?” Hermione asked.
“Professor Slughorn has decided to remain at Hogwarts and will be acting head of house for Slytherin, and I will share transfiguration duties alongside my responsibilities as headmistress,” McGonagall replied.
“Well, that matter is settled then,” Remus replied.
Out of the corner of his eye Neville saw Tonks look to Remus with apprehension.
Next Chapter
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 03:26 am (UTC)I think Bill would take it in good humour; Fleur on the other hand might not like the idea of being a marketing campaign for the twins. Neville’s shy around Antoinette because he’s not friends with her like he is with Hermione and Ginny.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 04:19 am (UTC)So neat to read these characters through Neville's POV.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 04:53 am (UTC)However, there were quite a few typos in this chapter and a few in the last one. You and your beta might want to read through it one more time. Or I wonder if you need a second beta (three heads are better than two).
wizards
I think you want "caught him, keeping him from landing" or "kept him from landing" I don't think "caught him from" works.
packed the clothes rather than packed in, a present from Andromeda rather than off (the repetition of off is a bit awkward.)
Try had been created, and everybody or had been created, so everybody and living on the assumption or with the assumption
scarred face
they looked at Tonks
I realize how rude this is, I'm a lurker and I don't even have an account. But I mean this as concrit, I really have been enjoying the story. I think your plot is fantastic and your characterizations are interesting. With a bit more attention to the language I think this story could go from quite good to great.
Sue
no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 06:26 am (UTC)It’s also great to know you are reading and enjoying the story :)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-04 07:09 am (UTC)Interesting chapter. I just followed the rec from
improbableship-fic out there. Neville's shyness was cute and IC I think.no subject
Date: 2006-11-05 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 08:52 am (UTC)