Charmed

Charmed

My head is spinning...

My head is growing light...

My body is growing heavy...

I'm wandering aimlessly down the dark and empty corridor...

Mingling with the lonely and forgotten shadows of the night...

My uneven breath escapes my lips in short, rasping gasps...

I don't think I can stand on my own two feet...

I abruptly bring myself to a halt and grip the cold, hard wall for support...

-"Am I going insane?"

I am cold and shaking...

I feel my knees begin to buckle...

I feel my knees about to give in...

The weight of my body will not hold...

-"Just let go..." I tell myself...

I allow myself to slowly slither down the wall...

And sink onto the floor...

The voices are growing louder...

I lift my head up...

My vision is blurred over with tears...

-"STOP IT!"

-"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" I cry out...

But to no avail...

No one hears my desperate screams...

The merciless sound of immoral cackling taunts me...

It pierces through my thoughts...

And echoes throughout my ears...

Drowning out the sound of my furiously beating heart...

-"STOP IT!" I cry out again...

I can see their bodies jerking uncontrollably now...

I can hear each earsplitting thud as their flailing limbs crash against the floor...

-"Don't worry..." snickers a female in a wickedly, low and venomous voice...

-"It will all be over soon..."

-"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

I scream until my voice grows hoarse...

Still no one hears me...

No one hears my desperate screams...

-"Neville? Neville, what are you doing out here?"

My body goes numb and begins to tingle...

My throat burns and my mouth is dry...

I can see them struggle against their attackers...

I can see them struggle to fight off the unforgivable curse...

-"WHERE HAS THE DARK LORD FLED!" she hisses...

-"I...don't...know..." gasps a deep, steady yet slightly shaky voice...

-"YOU BOTH KNOW WHERE THE DARK LORD FLED...NOW SPEAK!"

-"NEVER..." gasps the same deep, steady voice...

-"CRUCIO!"

I hear a woman scream...

-"ALICE!"

-"MUM!" I call out to her...

-"MUM JUST HOLD ON!"

She doesn't hear my desperate screams...

-"Neville?! Neville! It's me Harry! Neville can you hear me!?"

Her sinful laughter fills my head once again...

-"LEAVE MY WIFE ALONE!"

Now I hear a man scream...

The laughter grows more maniacal...

-"CRUCIO!"

Their screams are blood-curdling...

I feel my stomach drop...

It begins to twist and churn...

I think I'm going to throw up...

Suddenly the deep, steady voice I used to know has changed...

The voice is now weak, and scared, and pleading...

-"Please...please just leave my wife alone...please...just let my wife go..."

-"Alright Frank...I'll let your wife go...go first to die that is..."

The laughter starts again...

-"CRUCIO!"

I hear her screams once more...

Then silence...

-"Now it's your turn Frank...Good bye..."

-"Crucio..."

Then silence...

I can see their bodies lying sprawled out in the middle of the floor...

"Let's go...hurry up...NOW!" she calls out to her accomplices...

"MUM...DAD GET UP! WAKE UP!"

I crawl over to them...

Their eyes are wide-open, staring up at me...

Only their eyes are empty and hold no signs of life...

-"NEVILLE!" Harry began to shake him. "NEVILLE IT'S HARRY...CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

-"What's wrong with him Harry?" asked Ron who was still half-asleep.

-"RON, GO GET DUMBLEDORE! NOW!"

They are still breathing...but just barely...

They are both completely still except for the random twitching of their nerves...

"Don't worry...It'll be okay I promise..." I tell them in between sobs.

I feel the tears spill from my eyes...

"Please don't die...don't die...don't leave me!"

-"Harry what's wrong!" called Hermione, running down the corridor towards him and Neville.

-"It's Neville...I found him like this a few minutes ago..."

-"What's wrong with him!?"

-"I don't know...I sent Ron to go get Dumbledore..."

-"Neville? Neville? It's Hermione can you hear me!?"

Harry and Hermione both desperately tried to reach Neville...but he couldn't see or hear them...

-"I think he's lost it..." whispered Harry sadly shaking his head.

-"Mum? Dad? Where are you?"

Suddenly they both disappear...

I look up and see Harry and Hermione huddled around me.

-"What's going on?" I asked them, looking around confused.

-"Oh Neville!" shrieked Hermione, as she threw her arms around him. "We were so worried!"

-"Don't worry mate...it'll be okay...Ron went to go get Dumbledore." replied Harry shooting Hermione a nervous glance.

I slowly nodded and tried to stand up but Harry and Hermione both held me down.

-"Just wait till Dumbledore gets here...he should be here any minute." Hermione whispered comfortingly into his ear.

And then rushing down the corridor towards us is Ron, followed closely by Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey.

-"What happened?" questioned Dumbledore calmly; staring down at Harry, Hermione and Neville through his half-moon spectacles.

-"I woke up to screaming...then I noticed Neville wasn't in his bed...so I came out into the hall and found him out here...screaming...and thrashing about..." replied Harry out of breath.

-"I see..." replied the professor softly. "Neville...do you know where you are?"

-"No..."

My voice begins to break...

I see her pale, gaunt, face again...

Her sunken-in eyes are watching me...

Waiting for me to make a move...

She tilts her head back and begins to howl with cruel, tasteless laughter.

I can hear her words echoing throughout my mind-

-"Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy."

I can feel my heart beating faster...

I think it might just burst out of my chest...

I can feel her warm, breath on my face as she closes in on me.

-"Crucio."

I grit my teeth and try to fight it...

Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey exchanged worried looks.

-"Neville..." Dumbledore began softly. "Neville you are amongst friends. It is alright."

I can't hear him...

-"Albus...what shall we do? He seems to be in some sort of trance..."

Dumbledore magically conjured up a stretcher.

-"Harry, Ron, Hermione...thank you for your assistance...you can now retreat back to your dormitories..."

-"But Professor...is Neville going to be alright?!" asked Hermione nearly in tears.

-"Mr. Longbottom should be fine...Madame Pomfrey and I will take good care of him..."

Harry, Ron and Hermione turned and began walking back to the dormitories.

-"Oh one more thing..." started Dumbledore, "I would much appreciate it if this incident was not spoken of to another living soul."

-"Yes professor." the trio replied in unison, turning around to watch again as Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey struggled to calm Neville and bring him back from his delusional rage.

-"NO! NO GET AWAY FROM ME!"

-"Neville, it's alright you're having a nightmare dear." replied Madame Pomfrey advancing towards him.

Suddenly I find myself in the corridors of Hogwarts again. I take a good look around me. I see that Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey are both trying to grab me, while Harry, Ron and Hermione are standing back watching in horror.

Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and positioned himself in front of Neville, placing his hands firmly on the boy's shoulders. Dumbledore's kind, twinkling blue eyes stared deep into Neville's wide and troubled brown ones, searching for any sign of consciousness.

-"Neville. Do you know where you are?" he asked again calmly.

-"CRUCIO!" this curse will haunt me until the day I die...

Suddenly I begin to laugh, a type of laugh that doesn't belong to me. A type of laugh that would normally give me goose bumps and make the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and stand up.

-"I'm right here professor.' began Neville, his voice was low and eerily calm.

-"How are you feeling?"

-"I feel dead professor...my soul is dead. She's ruined my life...and she thinks that she can haunt me forever with what she did...and she knows exactly where to find me."

-"Who?" asked Madame Pomfrey glancing helplessly at Dumbledore.

I laugh again and begin to pace around in circles.

-"She had her chance...she had her chance...she should have tried harder..."

-"Who should have tried harder?" replied Madame Pomfrey.

-"I didn't break like she wanted me to...but she still won't leave me alone..."

Suddenly I break into a hysterically fitful rage of laughter.

-"She turned my parents into vegetables...my parents are bloody vegetables...isn't that a funny thing to have happen..." Neville mumbled to no one in particular. His cheeks were flushed an angry red and his eyes were blood shot and watery from laughing so hard. He stared down at his feet with a wide, unnatural grin planted on his face.

Suddenly Neville's grin faded and he started yelling and cursing obscenities at the top of his lungs, then he began feverishly pounding his fists against the hard stone wall, as if he were fighting someone.

Harry, Ron and Hermione silently continued to watch the disturbing scene unfold in front of them. Dumbledore forcefully grabbed Neville by his robes and hauled him away from the wall, holding him steady while Madame Pomfrey pointed her wand at Neville's chest causing him to instantly collapse to the floor. He was then lifted onto the stretcher and wheeled away by Madame Pomfrey to the hospital wing.

Eventually Ron and Hermione both snuck back to the dorms before Dumbledore realized any of them were still watching, but Harry remained in the empty corridor, watching as Dumbledore made his way towards him.

"Professor..." whispered Harry, staring up at Dumbledore in horror. "Neville is going to be alright isn't he?"

"I should hope so Harry."

"Do you know what happened to him professor?"

There was a long, silence that overcame the two before Dumbledore finally began to speak.

"What you have just witnessed Harry...was fifteen years worth of a memory charm losing its effect."

"I don't understand...professor..."

"Neville has been under the influence of a powerful memory charm that was placed on him as a young child...to suppress the memory of his parent's torture..."

"You mean...Neville witnessed his parents being tortured."

"That is correct. His grandmother informed me that when she first took him in that he had terrible nightmares. She asked if a memory charm could be used...so I put one of the most powerful memory charms I conjure up on Neville."

"So is that why Neville has always...had trouble remembering things?"

The old, wizard nodded. "That would be why."

"So just now...Neville was reliving his parent's torture...all over again?" asked Harry, his eyes growing wide in shock.

Once again the old, wizard nodded. "You see Harry, a memory charm isn't meant to be permanent, after so many years the charm begins to wear off. When it does eventually wear off the person will relive some of their worst memories, as you have just witnessed with Neville."

"So what will happen to Neville now?" asked Harry softly.

"He can either choose to continue living his life with the memory of his parents torture forever in his mind or he can choose to have another memory charm placed on him...But as I mentioned before, please do not speak of this with anyone else. I trust that you will be able to do this, as I know you have loyally kept your word about the current condition of Neville's parents."

Harry nodded and then Dumbledore bade him goodnight and left.

Harry now stood alone in the quiet, darkened corridor, wondering if Neville would ever fully and truly recover.