Neville couldn’t sleep that night. He just kept tossing and turning thinking about all the details of the plan the DA had thought up. He didn’t want to think about the risk the DA would run by letting all carnage lose in the corridors whilst he, Ginny and Luna would go into Snape’s office and try and find the key to the noise that woke them up every day for the run. What if one of the DA were caught whilst they were doing this? What if he Ginny or Luna was caught. What if it went down like it did the last time when Clary had been beaten.
Neville didn’t want to risk it, he couldn’t stand if his friends got hurt… not again. He peeped his head over his closed scarlet curtains, Seamus was sound asleep and it would be pretty selfish if he woke his friend up. So he needed somewhere we he could sit with nobody else around. The Gryffindor common room was a pretty decent bet. Nobody was normally down there this time of night so Neville put a jumper over his pjarmas and headed downstairs.
“I am worried Luna… I mean James was right I would never hold that against you but…”
Ginny? And Luna? Their voices could be heard from within the common room in hushed whispers. He didn’t know what they were discussing and therefore he didn’t really care. Come to mention it he didn’t fully digest the words because he mainly worried about what he had been thinking before. As Neville interrupted Ginny’s sentence as he entered the room both of the girls looked up from the corner that he normally sat in. The fact that Ginny didn't finish the sentence made him immediately realise that whatever it was they had been speaking about had been an extremely tense conversation. There were two faded red sofas that faced one another and they were both sitting opposite each other.
“Nev?” Ginny asked “Everything fine?”
“Yeah I-I was just overthinking.” Neville admitted, he took a seat next to Luna. He sighed, Hannah always said that speaking about stuff always made it better, and there was probably nobody that would understand more than them. “You know the plan we thought of tonight.”
“Is everything alright with it?” Luna asked
“I think it’s too overcomplicated. I think it involves too many people and I don’t want to put the DA in harms way like we did last time, I don’t want a repeat of what happened to Ari again…” Neville ranted
“Neville… I-I…I think the plan is good, we need a diversion and I-.” Luna explained
“But what if we didn’t need a diversion?” Ginny questioned “What is Snape just wasn’t in his office?”
“Why wouldn’t Snape be there?” Neville asked “And we just like snuck in and…”
“It were over and done with?” Luna said “I mean… it would make the plan a lot simpler and sometimes the more complicated something is…”
Ginny had paced the room to the window that overlooked the grounds. It seemed she was focusing very intently on something.
“Like when Snape is leaving the grounds?” Ginny asked
“Does he?” Neville exclaimed as he made his way over to Ginny. Then he saw what she meant. Snape (you could tell it was Snape, who always wore long black robes that swept behind him in the wind) there were two people accompanying him that looked strikingly like Amycus and Alecto Carrow. They were heading straight for the front gates of the castle.
“Why don’t we go now?” Neville asked
“Now?” Luna asked “But what about the DA?”
“They’ll understand.” Ginny agreed “I’m with Neville, if we go now we at least know Snape won’t show up for a while and perhaps he’s right… the plan isn’t right. If we’re quick we can easily get this done between us.”
“I’ll just go and put something on that isn’t pjarmas.” Neville said before running up the stairs. Like anything last minute it did stress him out quite a bit. He grabbed a new shirt and jeans from the floor, he chucked them on his bed as he shoved his trousers on and began to button up his shirt as he barreled down the stairs. Ginny and Luna were waiting for him as they all ran out of the common room together. They were armed with nothing but their wands as Ginny directed them through the empty castle corridors. There was nobody in sight, the paintings were all asleep, no ghosts were about ether.
“We’ll go the room above Dumbledore’s office and climb down, I can summon a rope.” Ginny said “We can abseil down.”
“Isn’t that dangerous.” Neville asked, even on his adrenaline high he didn’t fancy doing that.
“I’ll go first.” Ginny offered
Neville nodded, they climbed up some stairs and Ginny had apparently successfully led them to the room above Dumbledore’s office. It was a completely deserted loft room that had several windows letting in a draught.
“Incararous.” Ginny said, she pointed her ripe at a chair and the next thing he knew the chair was wrapped in a thick rope. There wasn’t much time to think as Ginny unwrapped the rope and tied it a large iron hook that Neville thought was very well placed.
“Luna you’re good at knots do you mind checking it for me?” Ginny asked, Luna nodded she pulled on the ends of the ropes and nodded at Ginny. “Alright I’m going down.”
Ginny then grabbed hold of the rope and carefully lowered herself down and out of the window, off the edge of the roof before disappearing. Neville dared himself to look out the window and the stunt that Ginny had to pull off looked extremely precarious. The drop was at least 50 metres, the wind was extremely strong and Ginny appeared to be struggling as she tried to open a window by the sounds that she was making, whilst hanging onto the rope. It appeared the window wouldn’t open from the outside.
“Smash it in Ginny!” Neville suggested, even if she used a charm it would still be better than what she was attempting.
“No…Snape will be onto us Neville…” Ginny yelled back “I’ve found a weakness in the frame it will come undone.”
Ginny kept wrestling with the window but somehow she managed to get it open. She stuck her leg into the window and managed to climb onto the window frame. Before she slipped into Snape’s office.
“I’ll go next if you want Nev.” Luna offered
“Thanks Luna.” He smiled. But surprisingly Luna was as good as Ginny was, despite not being as strong. She somehow managed to glide down the rope before Ginny reached out to grab Luna and pulled her into the office.
“C’mon Nev…” Luna called. Neville let out an apprehensive breath as he grabbed the rope with his sweaty hands. He had abseiled before, his primary school once went to this outdoors activities centre were he had done exactly this, he hated it but he had still managed it. He treat it just like that. He climbed out of the window gripping onto the rope tightly. The wind howled as he manoeuvred himself down the roof before dropping off the edge. He saw Ginny not four metres down.
He managed to see some footholds in the millennium old stone, so he decided to concentrate on that and not on the drop. He knew one misstep would mean certain death, therefore the concentration was so important. His hands also began to burn up, and the whistling of the wind was making his ears ring, his face to feel numb from the cold of the wind but nothing could’ve broken his concentration. He was scared but he somehow managed to push it down. He acknowledged it, this was extremely treacherous, but he felt fearless at the same time.
He was quite quick about it though knowing they didn’t have all night. Ginny was then in arms reach and she grabbed his hand as he managed to get his legs on the window sill. Ginny pulled him into the office.
“Well done Nev, I never thought I would ever see you do something like that in my lifetime.” Ginny joked
“Oh thanks Ginny.” Neville smiled. Luna appeared hard at work looking for the source of the sound, she was on the the opposite side of the room using her wand tip to examine things more closely. Neville also made himself busy, he looked at every artefact twice, every paining, every since brick even but with no luck. There appeared to be nothing like a amplifier or something that could be magically enchanted to create the noise that woke them up every day.
“Guys look…” Ginny was pointing at something that was tucked away in a corner. It appeared she had removed some sort of sheet that was covering it.
“Have you found it?” Neville asked
“No but… the sword…that’s the sword of Godric Gryffindor and Dumbledore left that to Harry in his will and it’s here?” Ginny implored.
Why did Snape have the sword? If it was supposed to belong to Harry why was it here anyway? Why couldn’t the sword be given to it’s rightful owner. Maybe Snape had prevented it by stealing it? It then dawned on him that this was more of an important errand than pranking the Carrows.
“We need to take it and get it to him.” Ginny explained. “If I could find… I don’t know why Dumbledore gave it to Harry but I know it must have something to do with what Harry is doing right now…”
“But won’t Snape notice that it’s gone?” Luna cried
“Well yes but we can figure that out Luna…” Ginny said, she slipped the sword into her belt. “Dumbledore meant for him to have it.”
“I agree with Ginny, I think we need to take it.” Neville agreed. “Dumbledore…”
“Mr Longbottom?” Neville almost jumped out of his skin, but then as he turned around he noticed a portrait of Professor Dumbledore. He didn’t expect to see a portrait of Dumbledore however as he was a previous headmaster he would’ve received the honour.
“Professor…” Neville cried “Did you give Harry the sword?”
“I did indeed… but I am aware that Mr Potter did not receive the sword that was not exactly as I planned it.” Dumbledore confessed
“We could deliver it to Harry, would that help him, Professor?” Neville asked
“It would, but I believe it may also help you too Mr Longbottom,” Dumbledore said
“Come again?” Neville asked
“The Prophecy could’ve referred to two different boys, one whose parents thrice defied Lord Voldemort, a child who was born as the seventh month died, that fateful Halloween night 17 years ago… he chose to go after Harry… and therefore it was fated with that one decision that he would become the chosen one.”
He was born on the 30th of July, his parents had escaped Voldemort multiple times… did that mean? No, he couldn’t have been the chosen one.
“Neville could’ve been the chosen one?” Luna blurted
“Exactly Miss Lovegood…” Dumbledore continued
Neville opened and closed his mouth, Luna had pieced together what Neville had feared Dumbledore meant. Suddenly some things that had never made sense to him began to. He remembered two years ago at the Department of Mysteries he had felt a strange connection to the prophecy that Harry had picked up, the one that referred to Harry. Or did it?
“But that’s impossible.” Neville cried “I can’t be the chosen one.”
“You’re not Neville, but you could’ve been…” Ginny inputted “We need to get out of here!”
“You do indeed…” Neville then choked back in horror. Out of the darkness came Snape, and both of the Carrow siblings, and even further behind them were Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott, both of them looking extremely happy.
“Well Well Well…” Amycus laughed “If it isn’t you three and what’s that you have there, attempting theft are we?” His eyes widened madly when he saw the sword, Neville could’ve sworn he looked half jubilant at the prospect of finding them here trying to knick the sword from the headmaster’s office. His mind must’ve been brimming with all the possible punishments he could inflict.
Ginny was stunned on the spot, even she didn’t move as she still held the sword in her left hand. “It doesn’t belong to you!” Ginny then said, “It belongs to…”
“YES-.” Alecto hissed
“It belongs to Gryffindor.” Ginny scowled “Not to you, you filthy murderer…”
“I would be very careful Weasley… take them to the Dungeons…” Snape said, Pansy immediately grabbed Luna and tackled her to the floor.
“LET GO OF HER!” Neville screamed, he tried to jump at Pansy but he was caught by Amycus Carrow who grabbed him and thrust him into a tight hold, he was then somehow restrained his hands couldn’t move… he couldn’t defend himself. Pansy then began to laugh at him, laughing about how defenceless they were against them.
Ginny had been accosted by Alecto who made her drop the sword on the floor with a massive clang. Snape picked up the item and examined it. “I shall have to return this to Madam Lestrange's vault…”
“No…” Neville protested
But he was then violently dragged away from Snape. It was then when he lost all awareness of his surroundings, the reminder of Madam Lestrange… Bellatrix Lestrange brought back another horrific fact. He had always wondered why his parents had been singled out, and now it was fairly obvious why. Bellatrix Lestrange had thought he was the chosen one, and therefore to find out where her master had gone it would make sense to torture the other family involved with the prophecy. Therefore it was all his fault.
This whole debacle had been his idea, it was his fault his friends had been caught. Why had he ever suggested such a stupid thing? He couldn’t even protect Luna from Clary’s vengeful dorm mate… James would hate him for not protecting her… for dragging her into this shit. Hannah would hate him too, for being too stupid. He could already imagine how his girlfriend would react to his reckless decisions but she would be extremely angry at him. Thanks to him the entire DA was also compromised, now having all their leaders captured by Snape and the Carrows.
That was his problem, after all, he was genuinely stupid, and his stupidity always cost people.
It was his fault his parents were currently in Saint Mungos and didn’t recognise him. They had sacrificed themselves to protect him.
It was his fault that Harry had smashed the prophecy. When he was foolish enough to be caught in that jelly legs jinx during the battle of the Department of Mysteries.
It was his fault that Clary had been beaten. He should’ve reacted faster, he should’ve stepped in instead of stood there like a complete lemon.
It was his fault that his gran disliked him, for not being worthy of the Longbottom name. For not trying enough. Even now as he was dragged into the depths of the castle, he no longer fought.
He just did what he always did, he didn’t fight he just begged.
He begged to whatever great power that would listen that they could redo the prophecy.