Forbidden

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Forbidden

chapter six

Another part of the puzzle

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Neville followed Mad Eye Moody down from the stands and soon they had reached a secluded spot by the lake. Neville was nervous. He didn´t know if Moody was going to tell him off for shagging Snape or if he was going to tell him more about why he generally sucked at magic. All Neville knew was that he preferred the latter, but he knew he had to speak with Moody about Snape and himself.

"Here´s a good spot," Moody said while looking around them through the shrubbery as if to make sure no one was following them.

"Good spot for what? Why did you bring me out here? The first task is ..." Neville said, but was cut off by Moody.

"Just listen, Neville! Have you thought more on that day as I asked you to?" Moody asked and searched his pockets for something. Neville nodded.

"Good! Now, do you remember the man with the grey beard and the orange glasses?" Moody asked and pulled something Neville had never seen before. Dumbledore´s Pensive!

"Yeah. A little bit, but I can´t be sure. All I remember of him was that he was kneeling down infront of me and I was crying," Neville said and looked at the Pensive curiously.

"What is that thing, sir?" he asked Moody.

"This is a Memory pensive, Neville, and with it I am going to help you further in understanding why you´ve turned out the way you have," the old man said with a faint smile. Neville however had no idea still what he was talking about.

Moody stirred his wand in the Pensive and made the many images swirl around inside and Neville looked at them all with great curiosity, leaning over it slightly.

The trip inside the pensive took such a short duration of time that Neville barely had time to grasp what was happening until they were already inside the memory in the pensive. Neville stood next to Dumbledore in a room that Neville recognised as his grandmothers kitchen, but the wall paper was different and there were more people in the room. Neville looked around and identified as many as he could; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Cornelius Fudge and Snape. He looked alot younger than he was now. But just as handsome.

"Whu..Where ... What the hell happened?" Neville tried asking Snape that stood to Neville´s right, leaning in the doorway, but he got no answer. There where three more people there that Neville didn´t recognise. A woman that had long red hair and brilliantly green eyes, a short little man with thinning hair and a tall man that looked alot like Harry. Same haircut, Neville thought and concluded that this must be Harry´s father, but how could that be? He had been dead for years!

Moody placed his hand on Neville´s shoulder and told him to be quiet.

"They can´t hear you. This is a memory from thirteen years ago. Just listen to them," Moody said and Neville did as he was told.

"...They were found wandering in Kensington Park early this morning and have been brought to St Mungo´s for immediate treatment. The only thing that could be interpreted as an explanation to their condition was what Alice was saying over and over again," Dumbledore explained to Neville´s grandmother. She was sitting on a chair with baby Neville on her lap. He was playing with the toy that his mother had bought him two days earlier, but never had the chance to give him herself; a little playset of a Quidditch pitch and enchanted figurines that played on it.

"What was she saying? What happened to them?!" the loud, uncontrolled exclamation of his grandmother made him break his concentration and he started listening to what was going on. But he had been to young to understand it back then, but now, the real Neville, was all ears. Then Dumbledore spoke again.

"The Cruciatus curse. Alice was repeating the words 'Death Eaters' over and over again. They must have used it on them until there was nothing left to break down," he said and a tear left his eye. Lily started crying into James' arms. Baby Neville fell onto the floor as his grandmother lost it and started screaming that it wasn´t true, it was nothing more than a joke! Neville began to cry violently from the bump on his head. Remus picked him up and tried to shush him, but to no use.

Then a man came in and introduced himself as Barry Codknocker (if the situation hadn´t been such a somber one, Neville would´ve laughed at his name.) and said he was from the Ministry.

"The Healers say that the damage is immense and that they have no idea how long it could take for them to recover," he said, but was obviously bothered by the screaming both from baby Neville and his grandmother. He took out his wand and aimed it at her.

"Calmare Cortexus!" he exclaimed, but at that same second as the yellow bolt of energy was fired, Snape interfered.

"No!" he gasped and pushed Barry´s arm away. The bolt missed its original target and, even though Remus tried to cover him, it hit baby Neville in the head and immediately knocked him out.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?" Snape roared and Barry was immediately attacked by him, Sirius and James.

Dumbledore made a wave with his hand and they all froze.

"I was just trying to calm her down! I didn´t mean to hit the baby! If Severus hadn´t pushed my arm he wouldn´t have been hit!" Barry said, trying to explain too much in too little time.

"This is all I can show you at this point, Neville," Mad Eye Moody grumbled from behind Neville. He snapped back to reality and soon found himself standing on the bank of the Lake. He hadn´t realised he had started to cry until the wind caught on to him. Moody patted his back in a paternal manor.

"Let it out, boy. It´s alright," he said and Neville cried. But he did it silently.

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---------------------To be continued in chapter seven; The Competition.------------------