Someone screamed.
Female. In pain, thought Neville dimly. More pain than fear or anger. A lot of pain.
He looked around, trying to decide where the scream had come from, but his legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed. He pushed himself painfully backwards until he could sit against a convenient tree.
He sat somewhere between Hogwarts Castle and the Whomping Willow. The sun was setting behind him, throwing long shadows and red light. It made dark colours seem darker and blood seem redder.
Not that it needs to be.
The grounds were dotted with dark shapes, but Neville couldn’t tell by looking whether or not they lived or who they were, save for one or two that were much too small to be Death Eaters.
He rubbed a weary hand over his eyes. He had been eating a late lunch in the Great Hall a while back, looking around at the mostly empty room, when it happened.
There was a sound like a very deep bell. Boonnnggggg! Neville felt the floor beneath his feet shaking as the entire Hall froze. Then someone screamed.
The scream had come from somewhere outside “ some student finished with lunch, probably, trying to enjoy the sunny, post-exams afternoon. Professor McGonagall pulled herself up, her face dead white.
“Heads of Houses, sweep the castle! All other staff outside “ collect any missing students and bring them in! Mr. Filch, find any staff not here and send them outside!”
By some stroke of luck, all four Heads of House were there at the time, plus a few of the other staff members. They scrambled in all directions with much less dignity than usual as Professor McGonagall turned to face the students.
“What was that?”
“Are we in danger?”
“Where are the teachers going?”
“Quiet!” The students hushed instantly, eyes wide at the harshness in their Headmistress’s voice. “The bell was a signal that the protective wards have been breached. I am about to invoke a spell on this Hall “ only current Hogwarts students will be able to enter. No one will be able to leave until a current staff member lifts it.”
“Professor! Does that mean Death Eaters are here?”
Professor McGonagall looked down at the first year who had spoken “ a gawky brunette with a child’s open, fearful face.
There was a long moment in which she seemed to age before Neville’s eyes, but she answered softly, “I’m afraid so, Miss Loth.”
The dreadful confirmation of what he had already known beat in Neville’s ears. As the headmistress turned to go, he leaped up. “Professor! I want to come.”
She turned sharply. “Mr. Longbottom, I am afraid that that is out of the “” Several benches scraped against the stone floor, covering the end of her sentence. Neville turned to see Lavender Brown standing, face pale, eyes glittering. Holding her hand was Seamus Finnegan, his other hand clenched into a painfully tight fist. Across the table from them was Dean Thomas, staring steadily at their professor.
And across the tables “ Luna Lovegood. Cho Chang. Ernie MacMillan. Blaise Zabini. Ginny Weasley, wand gripped in both hands, fire blazing from her eyes. Others “ nearly all those who had been in the D.A. and many who had not.
Professor McGonagall looked over them, expressionless. They held their collective breath, hoping. Then a single tear spilled from the Headmistress’s eye.
She closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. “May God have mercy.” She opened her eyes, businesslike again. “Any who are of age may come.”
“No! Professor!” A dozen voices cried out in protest. Ginny snapped, “We were in the D.A., we’ve trained, we’re ready! Don’t ask us to stay here!” Her voice dropped, intense, strained. “Please don’t ask us to.”
The teacher nodded curtly. “Very well. Sixteen and over may come; if you were in the organization called Dumbledore’s Army and are at least fifteen, you may come as well.”
“But Professor!” It was Dennis Creevey, who was still a tiny fourteen and standing on the bench.
This time, she shook her head decisively. “No. You and any others who feel that you have any skill in defensive magic must stay here in case the wards are breached and to give aid to any here who may need it.”
Someone sucked in a breath. Professor McGonagall, looking much more herself, said briskly, “That is, however, a very small possibility. Now. You will soon be joined by more of your classmates. Any who “ who will be coming with me, do so now.”
About three dozen students followed her, clutching their wands and in some cases, each other. Outside the Hall, the Headmistress stood, raised her wand, and waved it in a slow circular movement. On the third circuit, she raised both hands sharply. A sheet of gold fire shot up around the Hall and disappeared. She lowered her wand and reached a hand towards the Hall, to be stopped as though by a layer of glass.
Neville stared at his young friends still inside. Dennis Creevey had run right up to the barrier and was staring back, eyes huge. Neville heard Lavender sob and Seamus murmuring softly to her. Professor McGonagall nodded sharply to those inside, but cleared her throat as they turned away.
As soon as they were outside the castle, shapes could be seen “ dark shapes in Death Eater’s masks, professors, some students, screaming and casting spells at random as they ran. The Headmistress barked sharply, “Students! Try to stay together. You will find the younger children and get them inside. That is your priority, understand?”
Neville charged down the steps to his left, where he could see two cowering boys, a masked figured advancing. He heard Seamus yelling something very rude-sounding in Gaelic and heard Ginny’s furious, clear voice as she descended. Neville raised his wand. “Impedimentia!”
They hadn’t managed to save all the students. Neville yelled, and heard others yelling, “Get inside the Great Hall! You’ll be safe in the Hall!” and saw a few terrified children flying by, some with older escorts, but they had dispersed too much. There was no way all of them could be warned in time.
He had been able to save a few, feeling only grim satisfaction as his enemies fell. He was borrowing an idea of Dean's “ Stun someone, bind him, levitate him behind a bush, and Disillusion him.
It had originally been a joke, but it worked well. At least three Death Eaters would have to have help getting back to the battle, and that was only if they were found. Of course, he’d only won the first fight because one of the kids had flung a hand over his eyes and “ the only thing he could think of “ shot sparks into his opponent’s face, and the third because the child under attack had already used accidental magic and turned the man into a very confused, non-fiery salamander by himself “ but still, that was three less.
Slowly, Neville pulled himself up, using the tree as a prop, and set off towards the place where he had heard the scream. He stopped involuntarily when he saw the greenhouses.
Professor Sprout’s beautiful, treasured greenhouses were a wreck. Half the glass panes were gone, a Death Eater lay sprawled there with mask half ripped off, and most of the plants were overturned.
Inside was worse. The still shape of a child sprawled on a bed of broken pottery “ a very young student. Neville knelt slowly, and more slowly still turned the boy over.
He had very light hair and was quite pale; Neville remembered his Sorting. His name was Ned, and Neville remembered him because, upon hearing his House, Ned’s face had lit up and he had made the fastest beeline that Neville had ever seen to the Hufflepuff table.
Neville rose, holding the child’s body. Logically, he should leave Ned in the greenhouse until it was over; he was far past anyone’s aid. Yet Neville felt, with an increasingly numbed mind, that it would be better to take the boy with him, so he did.
As he left the greenhouse, he saw Professor Flitwick standing on the castle steps and heard his magically magnified voice. “All students, return to the Great Hall! The battle is over! All students….”
Later, Neville would learn that the attack on Hogwarts had been intended to divert Aurors to the area while Voldemort and another group of his supporters descended on the camp where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were staying. Harry himself would tell this to Neville, adding that it was a good thing Voldemort couldn’t feel his soul, a remark which Neville puzzled over for some time.
Right now, though, Neville was exhausted, the weight of the dead boy dragging him down. He crossed clumsily to where Professor Flitwick had finished the announcement and found he couldn’t move any more except to look beseechingly up at his Charms teacher. The tiny man drew in a sharp breath. “Ned Wright. Merlin. Thank you, Neville. Please “ please take him inside.”
*
“And that,” finished Hermione, “is what happened to Voldemort.” Harry had left the telling of the full story up to the others. Neville, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna sat in the Hospital Wing, as they had done two years ago. This time, Harry and Ginny held hands, as did Hermione and Ron.
“What exactly happened here?” Ron asked quietly. “We’ve heard a little “ six students dead “ but “”
Neville thought of Ned. “I saw torture in the Ministry of Magic, even saw Sirius Black fall through the veil, but “ I carried Ned Wright back to the castle, he was a Hufflepuff, second year “”
He choked. Hermione reached over and took Neville’s left hand; Luna took his right.
Neville took a deep breath. “It was the greatest insult to life and humanity and green growing things that I’ve ever seen.”
Luna squeezed his hand. Said Harry quietly, “Voldemort’s finally paid for it. You won’t have to see it again. We’ve been fighting for years, but now we can work on making things better.”
Neville looked out the window; the greenhouses were just visible. He nodded. “Yes. Things can be better.”