The weeks went slowly by and winter gave way to a mild and gentle spring. Neville’s spirits perked up a little as the weather began to get warmer. He was by now accustomed to the difficulties and challenges of daily life at Hogwarts and though his work continued to struggle, he had more or less come to terms with the fact that he was never going to be a successful student. He focused more on getting by, staying out of trouble and away from the Slytherins, and enjoying the pleasant surroundings of Hogwarts castle.
Since their discovery about the Philosopher’s Stone, he and Hermione had kept a close watch on Snape and anything suspicious he might be up to, but as yet they had not discovered anything. Snape seemed prepared to bide his time, or perhaps he had not yet discovered a way past Hagrid’s three-headed dog. Either way, Neville and Hermione agreed there was nothing they could do for now, but stay watchful.
Hermione meanwhile had found a new way to spend her time. Over lunch one day towards the end of March she announced that she had begun preparing for the end-of-year exams, notwithstanding the fact that they were ten weeks away. She spent even more time alone in her room or in the library than usual, and occasionally would drag Neville along to the library as well, in an effort to “encourage” him to do more work of his own. Neville would, as often as he could, try to find ways out of these study sessions, partly because he had no intention of starting revising now and partly because he had taken to avoiding the library. Since the last incident with Malfoy he wasn’t keen to return to the scene of his humiliation and perhaps run the risk of being caught again.
So, more than ever before, he would spend his time sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room. He took to watching the comings and goings of his fellow students, who hung out with who, the rivalries and petty arguments amongst them, and so on. The girls in his year, for instance, seemed to have formed a tight clique, excluding Hermione, and Neville wondered how she got on in her dormitory. Probably much as he did.
Dean and Seamus were now very much the best of friends and were regularly found together, though they were always good to Neville, and would often have time for him, should he need it, though they weren’t exactly friends. Ron was almost always found tailing after Harry and didn’t seem to get on well with many other people, not even his brothers, who seemed to tease him mercilessly at every opportunity. Neville was a little scared of Fred and George. Not because they were dangerous as such, but mayhem and trouble seemed attracted to them like magnets.
Harry on the other hand, Harry was a bit of a mystery to Neville. He spent nearly all his time with Ron, or with Fred and George or the rest of his Quidditch pals, but nevertheless he seemed to be on first name terms with a great number of other people, and that didn’t seem to just be down to his status and success as the Gryffindor Seeker. Because of the feud with Hermione, Neville still avoided Harry, but he found it increasingly difficult to really dislike him.
In late April, however, Harry and Ron began to behave increasingly strangely. They were gone from the common room a lot of the time and seemed to visiting Hagrid’s hut a lot more than they usually did. Neville knew they were friends with Hagrid but something else seemed to be up. The two of them stayed up late into the night in their room, whispering to one another about something.
Then, in early May, there came a day when Ron didn’t turn up for classes. Neville overheard Harry saying that Ron had had an “accident” and was laid up in the hospital wing. He didn’t appear the next day either, and Snape took the opportunity to pile even more work (and scorn) on Harry. Harry looked worried and agitated most of the day and seemed to have a lot on his mind.
The day after that Harry spent the day running around the castle a lot and there were rumours of strange things going on down at Hagrid’s. Neville watched events with suspicion, but Hermione wasn’t interested as she was working hard. That evening Harry came in late but went straight up to bed, which he never usually did.
Neville himself went to bed a little later, but he slept lightly, wondering what was going on. So it was that he was awakened in the middle of the night by a noise across the room. Looking up, he saw Harry getting out of bed and getting dressed. What was he up to? Neville watched Harry open up his trunk and take out a thick roll of material before heading off down to the common room. Hurriedly Neville got out of bed, pulled on a coat and a pair of shoes and ran off after Harry. Something had piqued his usually dormant curiosity.
When he got down to the common room however, it was empty. But then the door out into the castle swung open of its own accord. Neville was momentarily nonplussed. “Harry?” he called out into the dark. There was a sudden noise by the door and a chair wobbled. “Who’s there?” he said.
“Neville, what are you doing here?” said Harry’s voice. Suddenly there was Harry, standing by the door, as if he had appeared from nowhere. He was holding a strange shimmering garment in his right hand. “Go back to bed.”
Neville approached Harry, still curious. “Is that an invisibility cloak?” he asked, indicating the garment in Harry’s hand.
Harry smiled. “Yeah, it’s mine.” A thought suddenly seemed to strike him. “Say Neville, do you fancy an adventure? I could really use your help with something.”
“What?”
“Oh, you’ll see. We’re just going on a little trip, that’s all. Just down to Hagrid’s, then up to the Astronomy Tower and back. Won’t take long. It’d be useful to have a second pair of hands, though.”
Neville hesitated. “We can’t go out at night, you know that.”
“That’s what’s so great about this cloak,” replied Harry. “No one will see us. Come on, you can’t sit in your room being boring all your life. Where’s your sense of fun?”
Neville had never even thought about having a sense of fun before, but Harry’s enthusiasm was surprisingly infectious. Almost without thinking he said “OK,” and before he knew it he and Harry were on their way through the castle underneath the cloak. Nervously, Neville tried to make as little noise as possible, but it was difficult to keep up with Harry who was racing on.
They reached the ground floor and snuck out of the castle by a side door. Under the cold night of the moon, Neville was beginning to regret his impetuousness. It simply wasn’t like him. What was Hermione going to say? It had been sort of an unspoken agreement between them to stay away from Ron and Harry. She was going to be really mad.
Harry noticed Neville’s glum face. “Cheer up,” he whispered. “I’ve got a surprise for you.” They reached Hagrid’s hut and Harry removed the cloak from them and knocked. The huge figure of Hagrid opened the door.
“Ah, yer here,” he said, looking rather miserable. “Oh hello Neville, you come to help?” Neville just nodded. Hagrid reached inside the door and picked up a large iron chest with a pair of thick wooden handles on either side. The chest rattled and rumbled in his hands. Hagrid let out something that sounded like a sniff. “Take care with ’im, OK? Make sure ’e gets off alright.” He seemed reluctant to part with the chest.
“What on earth have you got in there?” asked Neville.
“Didn’ yeh tell ’im?” said Hagrid.
Harry shook his head. “There wasn’t time. Show him.” He grinned widely. Hagrid carefully laid the chest of the ground and opened it up. The inside was scorched and blackened and a jet of flame shot up. A scaly creature flapped its wings and tried to pull itself out of the chest.
“It’s a dragon,” said Neville unnecessarily. He was fascinated by the creature, he’d never seen one before, but he made sure he didn’t get too close. Hagrid mournfully closed up the chest again. “Bye, Norbert,” he sniffed.
“He has to go, Hagrid,” said Harry kindly. Hagrid nodded. “Ron’s brother Charlie looks after dragons in Romania,” said Harry to Neville. “His friends are coming to pick it up from the Astronomy Tower at midnight.” Harry and Neville took a handle each and lifted up the chest. Hagrid waved them goodbye. They spread the invisibility cloak over themselves again and headed back to the castle.
“What happened to Ron?” asked Neville.
“He got bit,” said Harry. “Got too close to Norbert. Luckily Madam Pomfrey doesn’t ask too many questions.” They re-entered the castle and took the long climb up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. By the time they got to the top Neville was utterly worn out. It was just after midnight and Charlie’s friends were already there. They took the chest and flew off in a hurry. Harry and Neville stopped a moment to rest. Neville shivered. He always felt cold up on the Astronomy Tower.
After a short while they made ready go back down again and put on the invisibility cloak once more. They made their way carefully down the long winding staircase to the base of the tower. But when they got there they found someone waiting for them. It was Draco Malfoy, who was hanging about the entrance to the staircase as if on the lookout. “How did he know?” thought Neville. Under the cloak Harry made a motion to Neville to be silent and they tiptoed carefully past them. However, just as they thought they were past they heard another sound.
“Mr Malfoy, what do you think you are doing out here?” It was Professor McGonagall who appeared out of the gloom with a very strict look on her face. “I hope you understand the severe penalties for being out in the castle at night.” She stood looming over Draco, peering over the top of her spectacles.
“But Professor,” said Draco “I know for a fact that somebody else is out of their room tonight. I, er, came out here to report them to someone. He’s up the Astronomy Tower this very moment. It’s one of the Gryffindors. You’ll see.”
McGonagall eyed Draco dubiously. “Very well, we shall wait a short while. But I sincerely hope you are not lying to me Mr Malfoy. Professor Snape would be… most disappointed.” Draco looked worried but defiant. Neville smiled to himself, but Harry nudged him and indicated they should get going. But as they set off, Neville clumsily stepped on the trailing edge of the cloak and tripped. The cloak slipped off him and he fell to the ground with a crash. Malfoy and McGonagall turned to see what it was.
From his position on the floor Neville looked up at the place where Harry would be. He felt sure he had rushed off, indeed he was hoping he had and would escape being caught. But to his surprise Harry appeared, throwing off his cloak and chucking it into a dark corner. He reached over to help Neville to his feet as McGonagall came rushing up.
The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur for Neville. He vaguely remembered McGonagall’s angry lecture and her docking himself and Harry 50 points each, plus giving all of them (including an incredulous Malfoy) detention. He remembered being taken in sullen silence back to Gryffindor Tower and settling into a fitful sleep. All the while Harry had been beside him. Harry had tried to take all the blame on himself, but McGonagall hadn’t listened.
The next morning, Neville stopped Harry as they were about to go down to breakfast. “Why did you do it?” he asked. “You could have got yourself away.”
“Hey, I wasn’t going to abandon you to McGonagall,” said Harry. “Besides, it was my fault you were there in the first place. I should never have persuaded you to come. I’m sorry I got you into this. Can you forgive me?” He looked genuinely upset and concerned. For the first time Neville saw Harry Potter in a new light. Not just the reckless troublemaker, but someone who genuinely cared.
“Sure,” Neville replied. Harry clapped him on the shoulder and they left their room. Though Neville didn’t realise it at the time, at that point all the quarrels he and Harry had had were forgotten forever.
At breakfast, it seemed that already the entire school knew what had happened. With a hundred points lost in the race for the House Cup, the other Gryffindors notably shunned Harry and Neville. When they sat down together opposite Hermione, she gave Harry a look that would have slaughtered an army if it could and promptly launched into a tirade directed at Neville about breaking the rules, getting into trouble, and especially about getting himself mixed up with the likes of Harry Potter. She said nothing to Harry the whole time but she made sure he heard the whole thing. Harry just sat with his face down and said nothing, before leaving early to retrieve his cloak.
* * *
The next couple of weeks plunged Neville back into the misery he had experienced earlier in the year. Everybody in Gryffindor took to avoiding him and some were downright rude. He hadn’t realised the House Cup meant so much to so many of them. Even Hermione wasn’t talking to him, although that was partly because she was busy with revision. Mainly though Neville thought it was because she was annoyed that he had broken their agreement and not listened to any of her warnings about Ron and Harry.
Harry had suffered similarly and in a way Neville felt sorrier for him, because he wasn’t used to being so unpopular. The Slytherins, who now led the House Cup standings, gave the two of them mock cheers at every opportunity, including the next Potions lesson, where Snape made no effort to stop them. Only Ron, now out of hospital, stuck by Harry, though he still ignored Neville.
It was the Tuesday of the last week before end-of-year exams when the time for their detention finally came around. The wait had been terrible and Neville was just glad to get it over with. That evening he and Harry reported to Filch’s office as instructed. They found Draco already there, looking decidedly angry. Filch, muttering and grumbling to himself as he invariably did, marched them all out of the castle and down to Hagrid’s hut. Apparently Hagrid had requested to supervise them for detention. That at least gave Neville some relief. It could have been McGonagall, or even worse Snape.
Hagrid came out of his hut with his boarhound Fang. “Good, yer all ’ere,” he said. “Got an importan’ job needs doin’ tonight. We’re goin’ to take a little trip into the Forbidden Forest.” He waved his huge hand in the direction of the nearby trees.
Malfoy’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “What? We can’t go in there. There’s…”
“Be quiet, Malfoy,” snapped Hagrid. “There’s somethin’ in the forest killin’ unicorns. I think there’s one injured in there somewhere. We’ve got to go find it. Come on.” He led them to the edge of the Forest, but Neville and Draco hesitated at the edge. “Come on,” said Hagrid again. “It’s perfectly safe if you stick by me or Fang. Don’ go off the path, neither. But the Forest ain’t nearly as dangerous as people say it is.” That didn’t particularly reassure them, but they followed Hagrid in anyway.
Inside the Forest, the darkness was close and oppressive and their lanterns seemed barely able to cut into the gloom. The trees appeared to loom over them, and Neville soon felt horribly lost as if there was no way back. Though it wasn’t very cold, he was shivering terribly.
Hagrid soon found traces of unicorn blood near a fork in the path and announced they would have to split up to look around. “Harry, you come with me,” he said. “Neville, Draco, you go with Fang. Remember, stick to the path.” Draco and Neville glared at each other but before either could complain, Hagrid was gone.
The two of them and Fang continued down the other path. Now Neville felt truly alone, and Draco’s false bravado didn’t help at all. His hand itched on his wand, ready to send up the warning signal that would bring Hagrid running at the first sign of danger.
All of a sudden his forehead began to itch and he had the strangest feeling that there was some strong presence among the trees over to his right. Almost without thinking he found himself walking in the direction the feeling was coming from, as if he was being drawn there. As he came to the edge of the path a bank rose up before descending into a wide dell. “Where are you going?” whispered Malfoy. “Don’t you dare go running off, Longbottom.”
“Come here,” said Neville. “There’s something down here, I know it.” Reluctantly Malfoy followed, leading Fang. The three of them scrambled to the top of the bank and looked down. Lying on the far side of the dell, against a great tree, was a unicorn. Its beautiful white body was stained silvery-blue and it was utterly motionless. But leaning over it was a stranger creature. Clad in a black cloak and hood, no feature of its body could be seen. Its hidden face lay across the unicorn’s neck.
Both Draco and Neville gasped. Then suddenly Neville’s foot slipped on the ground, sending a shower of earth and stones tumbling down the side of the dell. The dark figure lifted its head and turned. Neville’s hand shot to his forehead. The scar there had burst into flame with desperate ferocity. He cried out and fell to the ground. “Malfoy,” he sobbed. “Malfoy, do something. Signal.” But when he turned his head, Malfoy was gone, fleeing up the path in panic. Fang was also nowhere to be seen.
With all the energy he could muster, Neville raised himself up, hand still clasped to his forehead. The figure advanced slowly towards him, the cloak so covering every part of him that it seemed as if he glided across the ground. Neville tried to run but he couldn’t. He felt no strength left.
At that moment he heard a strange cry and saw a flash of movement away to his left. Something had bounded into the dell and was advancing on the cloaked figure. The figure turned and fled. It leapt up the side of the dell and disappeared. The pain receded from Neville’s scar. Shaking, he raised himself to his unsteady feet and breathed heavily. The world seemed to spin in front of his eyes for a moment before they finally cleared.
“Young foal, are you hurt?” said a voice. Neville’s eyes came into focus on his rescuer. He gave another gasp. It was a centaur. He had heard rumours before that some lived in the Forest but had not dreamed he would ever meet one. He knew they could be dangerous and backed away slowly. “There is nothing to fear,” said the centaur, his arms open. “The danger has passed.” Neville hesitated. “I mean you no harm,” continued the centaur. “You are safe now. But the forest is a perilous place for one alone and so young, Neville Longbottom.”
Neville started for a moment at the mention of his name. “Yes, your name is known to us. Your story has reached even us here deep in the forest. None but you bear that scar. I am Firenze. It is an honour to meet you.”
“Er, thank you,” replied Neville. Feeling that he could trust the creature, he scrambled down into the dell to join him. He went over to examine the unicorn. It was indeed dead, its blood still seeping from the wound in its neck. Firenze trotted to his side.
“A terrible thing, to slay a unicorn,” he said. “To kill something so pure, to drink its blood, it lays a curse on you for the rest of your life.”
“But why would anyone do such a thing?” asked Neville.
“Unicorn blood will keep you alive, even if you stand on the very edge of death. He whom you saw tonight must feed to survive, and he wishes survive at all costs. Do you know who that was, Neville Longbottom?” Neville shook his head. “Your scar is wise,” continued the centaur. “It has taught you the truth.”
Neville touched his scar and just as he did so remembered in a flash what Dumbledore had told him about it, all those months ago. “That, that thing, that was You-Know-Who? He’s here, in the Forest? But why? Why has he come back after all this time?”
Firenze gazed into the night sky silently for a while, and then turned back to Neville. “There is a secret hidden up at the school this very moment,” he said.
“The Philosopher’s Stone, I know.”
“Do you know what the Stone can do?”
Neville nodded, and realisation flooded onto his face. The Philosopher’s Stone gave life. You-Know-Who was seeking to return, this time forever. He began to shiver with fright once more. Firenze turned his eyes upwards again. “Mars shines unusually brightly tonight,” he said. “Come, Neville Longbottom, I must take you to safety. The others of my herd do not take kindly to your kind and I must return soon.” He led Neville out of the dell to find Hagrid and the others. Neville noted he trod lightly and effortlessly, knowing every inch of ground as he looked more into the sky than anywhere else.
They found Malfoy cowering under a tree and he almost fled again at the sight of the centaur. Further down the path they discovered Fang, and then at last Harry and Hagrid, who greeted Firenze as one he knew. Firenze accepted his thanks, said his goodbyes then turned to Neville. “Take care, Neville Longbottom,” he said. “The signs are as dark as they have been for some time. Be on your guard, young foal.” And with that, he galloped off into the night.
Neville Longbottom and the Philosopher's Stone by Sonorus
Chapter Notes: In which Neville’s brief encounter with one Norbert leads to his serving detention with Harry in the Forbidden Forest.