Neville Longbottom

Neville Longbottom

The summer had gone well for Neville Longbottom. He had gotten to visit his parents every two weeks. The doctors told him they were getting better, but Neville knew the doctors were only trying to cheer him up. Still his parents kind of recognized him and were happy to have somebody visit.

Every day, he had been practicing the spells that he had learned from Harry during the DA meetings.

Before Harry and the rest separated to go to their homes, Harry pulled Neville aside. "Neville, you have shown great improvement in your Defense against the Dark arts. Only Hermione is learning the spells quicker than you are, I think she is nervous that you are going to be better than she is. I know you are going to be better. You are more motivated. Bellatrix tortured your parents into insanity. You must be stronger and more powerful than Bellatrix is, if you want to defeat her. You must practice, practice, and practice!"

Looking down at his feet Neville replied, "Harry, I failed you. I let the prophecy break and now you will not know what it says. I wasn't much help because my lips were bruised and I could not cast spells."

Putting his hand on Neville's shoulder, Harry responded, "Neville, you stuck with me anyway. You were defenseless and yet you stayed with me. The battle was intense and we could have both been killed. We all could have been killed, but you didn't run and hide. That shows true courage. As for the prophecy, I heard the words from the lips of the seer herself. Losing the globe was no great loss. Perhaps it is better that the globe was destroyed. I happen to know the prophecy, but Voldemort does not. You and I have much in common. Both of us have lost our parents to Voldemort, yours through insanity and mine through death. The fate of our lives run like two streams, each flowing a different direction, but soon they will join into a river, a river which will over come Voldemort."

Harry paused and then grasped Neville to him. Neville returned the grasp. They were united not in friendship, but in the bond of warriors, men who had fought together with a common cause. The fate of both depended on each other.

Separating Neville looked Harry in the eye; "I will do better."

Harry replied, "We must Neville, our world depends on it."

Suddenly Neville ducked behind Harry.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"Its, its her!" said Neville.

"Who!" said Harry. Grabbing the handle of his wand. He expected to see a Death Eater.

"Its, its, Luna, Luna Lovegood!" spoke Neville with both admiration and fright in his voice.

"She's only a girl Neville," said Harry relaxing. "I'll call her over." Putting up his hand he tried to wave at Luna, but Neville grabbed it.

"No, please don't call her Harry," pleaded Neville. "I think I like her, but I am not sure. Women are scary, Harry. I have watched other fellows with their girlfriends. One minute the girl is yelling at them and the next she is crying and holding on to them. Girls are quite confusing."

"Tell me about it," said Harry. "I am sure, I am not the bloke to tell you about women, remembering his disaster with Cho. At least with Voldemort, we know he is trying to kill us. With women I am so not sure."

They both laughed.

During the summer Neville practiced his spells. One day his Gram came to watch. "Neville you will never be as skilled as your father and mother were," she commented.

Neville stopped his practice. He went to his Gram and looked straight at her. "Gram, Voldemort took my parents from us. What happened to them keeps me scared all the time. I have no confidence in myself and you don't help. Your constant criticism undermines my desire to improve. It makes me feel weak and useless. Voldemort wants the wizards weak and confused so they are easier to kill. Voldemort cares nothing for pure bloods, muggles, or half-and-half. He only knows and wants power. Just because we are pure bloods, doesn't mean we are any safer than muggles or Harry Potter, who Voldemort hates. Bellatrix told me how she tortured my father and mother. Then she tortured me. She enjoyed it Gram, and she is from a pure blood family. I don't understand why these things are happening. I do know I need help and that I must do something. Your are my grandmother, my only kin. You are supposed to guide me, teach me, and support me."

Gram sat there for a long time looking at him. Slowly she looked down, "I admit that I have been hard on you. I realize now that it was for my own selfish interests. I loved your grandfather. He always made me laugh. He died fighting for justice. It was a small problem for the world, but a big injustice to him. Your father and mother were the same, fighting against Voldemort. I have lost my whole family to causes. I felt if you were not allowed to build your self-confidence, you would not leave me for a cause. I am wrong to think that way. We can not stop life or destiny. Crying she said I don't wish to lose another of my family."

Grabbing Neville she held him close. "It looks like it is to be your destiny to fight. What ever your fate you must be prepared for it the best you can. I suppose I must teach you."

"Teach me Gram?" said Neville confused.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she said, "Yes Neville, I was almost the dueling champion at Hogswart in my final year. Until I came up against your Grandfather," she laughed. It sounded rusty and old, as if she hadn't laughed in a long time. "I had defeated all the others. There was only one opponent left your Grandfather. Your Grandfather was not considered all that good. Dueling requires lightening fast reflexes and a certain amount of ruthlessness. The weakness of your foe is to be exploited for their defeat. Your Grandfather just walked up to me with his chest bare, his wand to his side.

He said, "Cast a spell on me. I am defenseless."

"I could not do it," she admitted.

He looked at me and said, "This is what I like about you. You have a strong sense of right and wrong. It is wrong to stun a helpless man."

"So saying he stunned me!" she laughed.

"Restored by the counter-spell, I was livid to have been tricked by such a ploy, but he was ready for me. He grabbed me pinning my wand arm to my side and kissed me, right in front of everyone. Well he certainly got applause for that!" she said turning pink. "Then he turned and started to walk away. I wasn't going to let him get away with what he had done so I hit him with a leg binding charm. While he was hopping around I grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips. He lit up like a Lumos spell," she laughed hoarsely. 'After that we became quite fond of each other and as you know eventually married."

Neville was stunned. He had never heard his Gram laugh before and found it hard to visualize her being romantic.

He showed her all his spells including his Patronus. She was quite impressed.

"Did you learn all these spells at school? You must have a very good Defense against the Dark Arts teacher," she said. "Some of these spells are very advanced, and I can't even do them."

Glowing from the praise, Neville replied. "Our Defense against the Dark Arts teacher wouldn't let us practice any spells this year. The headmistress didn't believe Voldemort was alive so she thought there was no need to practice. Hermione believed that our education in the Defense against the Dark Arts must continue in spite of the narrow-mindedness of the headmistress. Voldemort is alive. Harry told us he was and I know he is. Harry and I fought against him. Hermione recruited interested students and found useful spells. Harry found a room where everyone could practice undisturbed. Harry then taught us how to do the spells. We practiced in secret, in violation of school rules. We were almost caught and expelled."

"You fought He Who can't be Named!" Gram exclaimed.

"His name is Voldemort. Not saying his name gives him more prestige. I will not give him that pleasure," Neville replied quietly. "We, Dumbledore's Army fought him. I did not want to tell you, as I was sure you would disapprove. Voldemort is gathering followers once again to destroy both muggles and wizards alike."

"You fought the Dark Lord and lived! Now Neville," and she caught herself.

"I almost started on you didn't I?" asked Gram.

"Yes," replied Neville.

"Well back to the lessons then. We must get you trained if I don't want to be the only one left in this family," she said.

"Now the power of a spell is dependent on the emotion you put into it. The greater the emotion the greater the power. For example the happier the thoughts you use in the Patronus spell, the stronger the Patronus. Most of the spells used in the dueling I was taught are of the humorous variety. The leg-binding spell and the jelly-legs spell for example. The stunning spell is different. You must visualize your opponent, as unconscious and you must believe you can make them so, easy in concept hard in execution. There are also other considerations. A spell has to hit you to be effective. You can dodge them. A shield charm will also protect you, but only for a moment. Sometimes you make the first move and sometimes you let your opponent make the first move especially if they are overconfident. Study your opponent and know their weakness. If they have a weak shield charm blast through it with a good stunner. Plan your attack and defense before the duel if possible. Knowledge of the responses of your opponent speeds up your own responses."

Neville was impressed, "Gram you must have been very good."

"Yes, I was Neville until your Grandfather found my weakness," she smiled.

"As you know you have to say the spell for it to be effective. Desiring to win, I developed a skill I call speed spelling." lifting her wand she mumbled, "Stupefy." Three gouges appeared in the dirt, before Neville could have said Stupefy once.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"The spells are not as strong as usual, but they are great to disorientate your opponent. You point them at both sides and the middle of them. Come on lets practice," she said.

By the end of the summer Neville was doing quite well against his Gram, but she still had a few good tricks she promised to teach him later.

As the Hogwarts express pulled out of the station He waved at her and realized he would miss her this time while he was at school.

As she waved goodbye at her grandson, tears flowed down her ancient face. "He has already suffered as much as I have. He has his own fate. I have prepared him as best I can. Live to come back Neville."

Nervous, Neville joined his friends in a compartment on the train. Ron and Hermione were busy with Prefect business. Harry and Ginny greeted him and there was, "Oh no! It was Luna!" Neville backed out of the compartment mumbling about a missing toad.

"Oh come on," said Ginny. "Trevor is always wandering off and always shows back up."

"I'll be back," stammered Neville.

After he had left Luna spoke in a dreamy voice; "He was very brave during the battle at the ministry. I wonder what he is afraid of in here?"

Ginny asked Luna, "Did you find a crumple horned snork on your trip."

"No," replied Luna. "They are very fast runners. We saw lots of their tracks on the snow. Their hoof marks look a lot like sheep's hooves. We once thought we saw one once crossing a ridge ahead of us. When we got there, there were only sheep."

"They wouldn't be all wooly like a sheep, would they?" asked Harry.

"Why yes, I suppose so," Luna replied.

"Well maybe they hid among the sheep for safety," Harry volunteered.

Ginny gave him a dirty look.

"Oh!" replied Luna. "That must be why we didn't see any. They were hiding. I will have to write my Dad and tell him."

As Hermione and Ron entered the compartment, they noticed Harry contemplating the ceiling while Ginny was trying to gag herself with her fist.

Ron was looking at all of them hard. Harry was afraid he was going to say something, so Harry pressed a chocolate frog into Ron's hand and asked him if he had seen Neville.

Never one to refuse food, Ron started to eat the frog and answered Harry. "He's up front with Seamus and Dean."

"I hope he found his toad," said Harry.

Ginny again stuffed her mouth with her knuckles and did a slight nod towards Luna as she looked at Hermione. Hermione just smiled, and they started a conversation about the latest muggle fashions.

That night in the dormitory before the rest of the fellows came to bed, Harry cornered Seamus and asked him if he had noticed Neville acting strange.

"Yep," replied Seamus. "He has it bad Harry."

Thinking the worse Harry asked, "What does he have?"

"He is in love with Luna Lovegood," Seamus replied. "I think she is his first crush. He had gone totally bonkers. He is afraid to talk to her and if she talks to him I am afraid he going to pass out."

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Harry. "I am not very good with women," thinking about his dismal performance with Cho.

"It is best you let him alone," answered Seamus. "I remember my first crush and it was quite painful, but I survived. It is one of those things you have to live though. No one can tell you what to do. You just have to figure it out yourself."

"Thanks," said Harry.

Thinking back on his relation with Cho, he realized how painful and confusing love could be. With magic you could read books about how it works with a woman it was an eternal mystery.

At their first DA meeting, Neville demonstrated a marked improvement in his skills. He was quick, precise and showed great patience when helping the others with the execution of their spells. However when he got anywhere near Luna, he forgot every thing he knew. Harry gave it some thought and called Hermione over. "Hermione, Neville has improved tremendously over the summer. I think it is time we gave him some additional responsibility. A number of first and second years have approached me about training. Trying to train everyone at once would be counter-productive. What we need is another class. Would you be interested in backing him up for a while until he is confident about teaching? I notice he is very patient and would be a good teacher with the younger kids."

Hermione agreed, "His talent with spells is a little weak, but his motivation is incredible. He is getting more confident every day. He only has one problem," and she giggled.

"What is that?" asked Harry.

"Luna," she replied.

"Yes," said Harry. "That is why I would like to separate them. He turns to jelly around her. We need him to develop the best he can with Voldemort still running around. I'll ask him if he is interested."

"Excellent decision Harry. Aren't you the mature young man," she replied with a wink.

Harry shook his head; "Maybe I should ask Dumbledore about women. I can already hear his response. Ah! Young Harry there are great mysteries in the universe. Women are the greatest. Anytime we think we know them, we are probably wrong."

Later that week taking Neville aside, Harry explained to him. "Neville you are my best student even better than Hermione. I would like you to teach another class of DA's. There are a number of first and second years that wish to be taught. I have watched you and I feel you are the best man for the job."

Neville thinking about Luna and how she made his stomach seem like it was filled with butterflies was relieved at the thought. He would not have to practice with her. "If you think I can do it, I will."

"I am counting on you Neville, I would not have picked you if I didn't think you could do it. Voldemort makes us do things which in a normal life we shouldn't have to," sighed Harry.

Neville gritted his teeth, "I will teach the youngsters. They may be able to help us in our defeat of the Dark Lord."

At breakfast the next morning Luna came over to the Gryfindor table to talk to Ginny. Neville quickly dropped his fork and dived under the table for it. While under the table he thought to himself, "She is so beautiful. I love the way her eyes glow and the way she excepts things as they are. I wish I could do the same."

Walking down the hallway one day he noticed Luna coming towards him alone. He quickly turned and went up a hidden staircase. "Am I afraid of her or am I afraid she will reject me if I tell her I love her? It seems I will be miserable until I know."

Neville peeked at her at afar. He had memorized her looks and actions until he could tell what she was going to do next.

Not thinking to ask her, he speculated on whether she could love him as much as he loved her.

The whole school was watching them. Neville dodging any contact with Luna and Luna her usual dreamy self. Even Draco noticed after a while.

Backed up with Crabbe and Goyle, Draco harassed Neville as often as possible. "Luna would never like a wimpy loser like you," he said. "What do you like about her? She is so crackers you would have to put some cheese on her before you could stomach her."

One day in the spring after a winter of suffering tremendous heartache and the addition of harassment from Malfoy, Neville broke. He loved Luna and was no longer going to take any abuse from Malfoy.

It was a beautiful spring day on the shore of the lake and as usual Malfoy was taunting someone. Today it happened to be Luna. He was telling everyone how Luna had transfigured a bird into a wild colored tablecloth instead of a teacup. Much more useful she had exclaimed.

"She can't do the most basic spells," he proclaimed. "What a clown!"

Dropping his cloak Neville walked towards Draco. "That's enough Malfoy. You can say what you want about me, but I am offended by your criticism of Luna."

Draco laughed, "You may be a pure blood Neville, but you are the worst kind, useless! Your parents couldn't even defend themselves against the Dark Lord."

"You should know to keep my parents out of it. Prepare for a duel scumbag!" shouted Neville.

Neville marched towards Malfoy.

"Crabbe, Goyle take care of him," said Malfoy standing relaxed.

As the two raised their wands, Neville barked Patrificus Totalus twice and twin beams shot from his wand. The two gorillas were lying on the ground immobile. Draco started to look worried.

Neville did three stunner spells in rapid succession. They hit left, right and center of Malfoy throwing up great plumes of dirt. Draco appeared to be in shock. Neville spoke, "Expelliarmus!" and Draco's wand flew into the air. "Accio wand!" and Draco's wand flew to him. Flipping both his and Draco's wands over he tossed them, sticking them tip first into the ground. Getting close to Draco, he dived at him knocking him to the ground. They rolled around with fists flying.

Draco caught Neville in the eye and was yelling, "Get off me you oaf!" He quit yelling after Neville punched him in the mouth several times.

As a crowd formed around them, Neville picked up Draco by the front of the robes and yelled at him, "You will treat Luna with respect or I will beat you every time you open your stinking mouth!"

Getting off Malfoy, Neville looked down at him and barked. "Your are a pitiful example of a pure blood, Draco. Even the lowest mudblood is better than what you have become. You cast disgrace on the name wizard." Having made his point, Neville turned, walked back and picked up his wand. He heard Malfoy muttering behind him.

Malfoy staggering to his feet thought to himself, "He is not getting away with that. Accio wand!" he whispered and his wand flew into his hand. As he pointed his wand at the back of Neville he yelled, "Stupefy."

Neville sidestepped the spell and kept walking. The spell spent itself in the distance. "You are a coward as well as scum, Malfoy!" Neville said without turning around.

Malfoy again yelled, "Stupefy!"

This time Neville didn't dodge the spell. A soft glow surrounded him, a shield spell caused the bolt to glance off and it cut a deep furrow into the ground.

Without turning around or looking back, Neville pointed his wand over his shoulder and spoke casually, "Patrificus Totalus." The force of the spell knocked Malfoy off his feet and he was rigid before he hit the ground.

As he gathered up his cloak and strode back up to the castle, a small smile crossed his face. "Thanks Gram," he thought.

The crowd that had watched the whole affair was quiet. Ron managed to mutter, "That was bloody great. Harry, we are going to have to have him teach us that stuff."

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and with excited whispers ran back to the castle.

The week's worth of detentions washing dead things out of jars did not even bother Neville. Working with Professor Snape no longer intimidated him.

Luna still gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He dreamed of walking with her holding her hand and talking to her, but he couldn't bring himself to approach her.

Little did he know he was about to be setup by a pair of wily girls!

Ginny and Hermione had hurried to the Ravenclaw dormitory where they found Luna and told her what had happened.

"That was very nice of him," said Luna dreamily. "I have seen him watching me and I want to talk to him, but he is always hiding behind a column or running the other way. He is so bashful!"

Ginny said, "We have a plan and the three of them stuck their heads together and girlish laughter echoed throughout the room."

That Saturday after lunch Ginny and Hermione approached Neville. Hermione told him she had some new ideas for spells and she needed his opinion. 'Its so pretty today. Let's go down to the lake where we can practice," she said.

They were almost to a bench by the lake when Neville realized what was going on. Luna was sitting on the end of a bench with her back to him. She had plated her hair and had some sort of beetle tied on to the end. He turned to flee and Ginny and Hermione each grabbed an arm. Hermione whispered to him, "You have been avoiding her all year. Everyone knows you are in love with her. Here is your chance to talk with her. She would like to talk to you. She wants to thank you for standing up for her against Malfoy." Turning him around she and Ginny pushed him towards Luna.

As he walked to the bench he thought to himself, "I am going to have to tell her sometime how I feel. But I don't think this is the time. My stomach is in knots and I feel weak all over. I don't know if I can do this."

Ginny and Hermione watched him go.

Neville sat down in the middle of the bench and looked at his shoes. Luna turned and looked at him. She started talking and as she talked she slid over next to him. He stiffened and slid away.

Ginny exclaimed, 'He is going to bolt! I know it! He's going to run!"

"No he isn't," replied Hermione. "He will do all right."

"If he tries to run I am going to stun him!" Ginny said as she pulled out her wand.

Luna was still talking to him and Neville was just nodding his head slumped on the bench. Luna slid over next to him again. He straightened and slid sideways again; but there was no more bench. He fell to the ground with a thud. Picking himself up, he muttered something and turned to go. That's when Ginny's spell hit him. He went stiff and fell to the ground.

Luna had stood and was looking down at him with a soft smile on her lips. "It doesn't look like you are going to run this time Neville Longbottom." Getting down on her knees she stroked his hair while she told him how she felt.

Glancing at Ginny and Hermione, she motioned them over to her. "What do I do now?" she asked.

Ginny and Hermione glanced at each other and giggled. Heroine and I will hold him up while I do the counter-spell. You put your arms around his neck and kiss him when he comes out of it. As soon as he relaxes we will let him go.

Ginny and Hermione each grabbed an arm and propped Neville up. Luna put her arms around his neck and said, "I am ready."

Ginny did her counter-spell. As life returned to Neville, Luna kissed him. His eyes slowly closed and he relaxed. The girls let him go and he put his arms around Luna and held her.

The kiss finished, he took her hand and led her back to the bench where they sat down.

The girls sensing they were no longer needed turned and walked away.

"That went well," said Hermione. "I wonder if it will work with Ron?" Both her and Ginny broke into wild laughter.