The hour after Neville arrived back in the hospital wing was not a happy one for either Cornelius Fudge or Severus Snape. They found themselves at a total loss to explain how a chained werewolf had somehow escaped from a locked first floor room in only a few minutes, and had vanished without a trace. Snape unsurprisingly began throwing wild accusations about, even at Black, although he had been with Snape the whole time.
When Harry showed up, Snape turned his attentions to him, but Madam Pomfrey leapt to Harry’s defence, declaring his injuries such that he could not possibly have been running around freeing prisoners by himself. She quickly ushered him into the hospital wing as well to receive treatment.
Throughout the commotion, Dumbledore had remained quiet and unflustered, calmly pointing out simple, undeniable facts to the irate Fudge and Snape. He did however choose to forcibly make the point that, with Lupin gone, there was no further need for Dementors around his school. Fudge reluctantly had to accept this, but left in a very angry mood, and none too happy with Dumbledore.
Neville on the other hand was able to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep in the hospital wing, along with Ron, Hermione and Harry. In fact, he slept through much of the morning as well, an effect of his internal body clock adjusting to the time travel, according to Hermione. When he awoke, the other three were already up and waiting for him. They barely had a few minutes to talk things over however when the door behind them opened and Dumbledore entered.
“Ah, good to see you all up at last,” he said with a smile. “Feeling better I trust, Harry?”
“Er, yes, thanks Professor,” replied Harry.
“Excellent,” said Dumbledore. “Professor McGonagall will be particularly relieved; she was most worried. I fear her concern may have been more for the welfare of her House’s star Quidditch player, but it was genuinely felt, I’m sure. I would like to speak with Neville alone for a few minutes, if that is all right.”
Hermione, Ron and Harry exchanged glances and nodded. “We need to find Sirius anyway,” added Harry. “We’ve got to tell him where… well, we’ve got something important to tell him.” The three of them departed, leaving Neville alone with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore peered long and hard at Neville over the top of his half-moon spectacles. Eventually he spoke. “Well Neville, I think you had better tell me everything that happened yesterday. And I mean everything.” Dutifully, Neville recounted the tale. It took a long time and Dumbledore listened in silence, not interrupting once until Neville had finished.
“Remarkable,” he said at last when the tale was over. “Quite remarkable. It appears I shall have to have a talk with yet another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher about withholding information.”
“Professor Black was only doing what he thought he had to, sir. I hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”
“I understand,” said Dumbledore, “but I do wish he’d come to me last summer when he found out. Though, would I have believed him? Would anyone have been prepared to believe Remus’ innocence?”
“Why did you trust us, sir? When we told you he was innocent, you could have disbelieved us.”
“Ah, but by then I had seen Remus. I had looked into his face. The face of a werewolf does not lie. We have learned to master our human faces to conceal the truth at will, but a werewolf cannot do so. I looked at him and I saw only innocence, fear and frustration. It wasn’t enough to be sure, but the testimony of four people, including yourself who had no reason to care for Remus, was enough for me.”
Neville looked down at his feet. He felt uncomfortable asking his next question. “Sir, the Patronus I cast. Does it really mean I have powers I didn’t know about? I’ve never been able to do anything but the simplest magic, you know. Where did that power come from? Will I be able to do it again? What does it all mean?”
Dumbledore looked kindly on Neville. “I would say it means nothing, and also a great deal, Neville. The Patronus Charm, like most truly powerful magic, is a very emotional spell. It depends greatly on the mental state of the wizard. Yesterday, you were able to channel your pre-knowledge that you would overcome your previous limitations, that you would achieve a dream of yours. It put you in exactly the right state to cast the spell. Whether you can achieve that state again is impossible for me to say.
“Do not be so despondent, though,” continued Dumbledore, seeing Neville’s face. “Yes, I cannot say whether in time you will become a skilled wizard or not, Neville. But to me that is an irrelevant question. What matters about last night to me is what you did, not how you did it. You were instinctively prepared to risk yourself for the sake of someone you hardly knew, out of a sense of justice and right and wrong. That took a great deal of heart, and not a small amount of courage, Neville. Yes, courage, Neville. You may not see it in yourself, but it is there.
“I must confess I should have trusted the Sorting Hat more. Last year, when you told me the Sword of Gryffindor did not come to you in the Chamber of Secrets, but to your friend Ginny, I confess I briefly entertained doubts as to whether you were a true Gryffindor. I hid them so as not to worry you, but they were there all the same. I must offer you my profuse apologies. It is clear, not just from the form of your Patronus, but more importantly from the choices you made, that you are where you belong. I can say truly that your parents would have been most proud of you were they here today, but for reasons that would have nothing to do with you casting powerful magic. Rather because you were prepared to stand up for the truth and for your friends, despite the risks. That is what would have most pleased them.”
Neville turned his eyes away from Dumbledore. He always felt uncomfortable about accepting praise, especially from such a person as Dumbledore, and mention of his parents always affected him. Eventually, he said quietly, “Mr Lupin didn’t deserve to suffer any more. It’s not fair what happened to him. I wonder what’ll become of him?”
“I shall leave his fate in the capable hands of Professor Black,” answered Dumbledore. “He will have to stay in hiding of course, sadly. There’s no chance of me convincing the Minister of his innocence and it would be foolish to try. If only Pettigrew hadn’t escaped. We may all come to rue that in time.”
Neville had almost forgotten about Pettigrew. Now however something else that had slipped his mind forced its way back into that memory. “Sir, there’s something else that happened yesterday that I forgot about,” he said. He told Dumbledore about his strange encounter with Professor Trelawney, and her mysterious words. At the time he thought they were about Lupin, but now they had to be about Pettigrew. “Is Professor Trelawney really a Seer, Headmaster?”
“Not really, but she does have her moments,” replied Dumbledore with a smile. “Tell me exactly what she said, Neville. It may be very important.”
“I’m afraid I don’t remember it exactly, Professor. But there was definitely something about a servant returning the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord rising again. Then something about the end of the beginning; I didn’t really understand that bit. I’m sorry I can’t remember any more. Does it really mean You-Know-Who will return?”
“Lord Voldemort was always going to return sooner or later, Neville. All this means is that it will most likely be sooner. Pettigrew has nowhere else to go but back to his master and Voldemort is helpless without followers at present. We must be on our guard.” Dumbledore pondered for a moment. “The end of the beginning,” he mused. “An interesting phrase. I wonder…” There was silence in the room for some time. Neville felt all the elation he had felt at Dumbledore’s praise draining out of him, and old fears returning.
At last, Dumbledore said, “Well, thank you for the warning, Neville. I would not worry so much at present. We may yet have long years of peace ahead of us. But now I am keeping you from your friends. Go on, Neville. And if you happen to see Professor Black before me, tell him I wish to speak with him. Good morning.” He parted from Neville with a smile, but walked away with a very thoughtful manner.
As it happened, Neville did not get to see Black on his leaving the hospital wing, nor for the rest of the day. When he returned to Gryffindor Tower, he spoke with Harry, who informed him that he had told Black about the whereabouts of Lupin, and Black had left the castle immediately and not yet returned. They waited for him to return, but he did not, nor was he to be found the next morning, which was a Saturday, exactly a week before the departure of the Hogwarts Express at the end of the year. It was only at lunch in the Great Hall that one of the fifth-years mentioned over the Gryffindor table that he’d seen Black entering his office just minutes before.
So immediately after finishing eating, Neville, Hermione, Harry and Ron gathered together and hurried up to Black’s office to meet him. They were joined on the way by Fred and George, who insisted on coming along as well. Neville guessed Harry or Ron must have told them something about the Marauders for they looked very excited.
The six of them burst into Black’s office without warning, startling Black immensely. He was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by boxes and various trunks and cases. “Harry!” he said brightly. “Come in, come in, all of you. Sorry about the mess.”
“Where have you been?” asked Harry. “How’s Lupin?” Black looked past him at Fred and George with a worried look on his face. “It’s all right, they know,” continued Harry, seeing Black’s expression. “I told them yesterday. You can trust them.”
Black smiled. “Of course you told them everything. You’re the Marauders. Remus is safe. A little shaken after everything that happened, but basically fine. I moved him into a place in London I have. Harry knows where I mean, but it’s probably best if that’s all I say. Your hippogriff’s there too. I had to stay a while to make sure he was all right, and then I went to see Dumbledore this morning.
Hermione looked around at the boxes. “Did Dumbledore sack you?” she asked.
“No, he didn’t,” answered Black, “although perhaps it would have been within his rights to do so. Actually I resigned.” The disappointed reactions of the six teenagers in front of him made him grin broadly. “Thank you, I can’t tell you what that means to me. But to be honest, I was never a great teacher and my heart wasn’t really in it.”
“You were a good teacher,” said Hermione. “Far better than either of the others we’ve had, although admittedly that’s not saying much. You really made the subject fun.”
“Yeah, and you let us get away with so much in class,” added Fred.
“Exactly,” said Black. “I don’t have proper teaching skills like discipline, and I never will. But that’s only one of several reasons I’m leaving. I’ve done what I came to do. I abused Dumbledore’s trust by taking the job under false pretences and it would be wrong to stay after that. And although Dumbledore smoothed things over and I won’t face charges of helping Lupin, I think Snape could make it very hard for me if I stayed. It wouldn’t take too much to persuade parents or the governors that I’m guilty; after all, I am. I couldn’t put Dumbledore through that; I owe him too much. Anyway, Dumbledore reckons he might be able to get someone good for next year.”
“What is it between you and Snape, Professor?” said Hermione. “I mean, he really seems to hate you over something in particular.”
Black’s smile turned rueful and he scratched the back of his neck. “There are quite a few things, but the main one is something rather stupid I did in the middle of my fifth year. We told you Remus would go down to the Shrieking Shack for his transformations and we went with him. Well, Snape was snooping around and being a pain, and I decided it would be a wheeze if I told him how to get through the Whomping Willow to the shack on a full moon. I didn’t think he’d go, but he did. James caught up with him and stopped him. Perhaps saved his life from the werewolf. I’m not proud of it, and I like to think I’ve grown up since then. But ever since, Snape has been convinced I tried to kill him, and he loathes me. Frankly though, I can’t say I care.”
Leaving everyone else to ponder on what he’d just said, Black turned to look among the boxes and the piles of papers and other assorted junk. Failing to find what he was searching for, he raised his wand and cried, “Accio map!” A sheet a parchment leapt up from under several others on his desk and flew to him. Black caught it and turned back to the others. “Since I won’t be needing it any more, I wanted you to have this back, Harry,” he said, handing it over.
Harry took the parchment. “The Marauder’s Map?” he exclaimed.
Black nodded. “It belongs to you now, and the Second Marauders.”
“So it is true!” said Fred, pushing forward in front of the others with George. “You were the original Padfoot? It’s an honour, Professor.” He shook Black’s hand reverently, as did George. “We owe so much to you,” added George. “You were our heroes.” Black laughed.
“Does this mean we’ve your blessing to continue the Marauders?” asked Fred.
“I would love it if you did. It would be good to know there’s still a place at Hogwarts for pranks and mischief-making. Make us proud.”
“Oh, we will,” grinned George. “So, now we know who the names belong to, what are we going to call ourselves now?”
“I still want to be Prongs,” said Harry. “It was my father’s name, and the stag’s my Patronus. I want to keep it. I think we should keep the same names.”
“Even Wormtail?” asked Ron.
There was an uncomfortable pause, before Black unexpectedly said, “Yes. I think since Pettigrew has forfeited his right to be in the Marauders, he has forfeited the name as well. But it’s up to you and I would understand if you don’t want to use it. Apart from Harry, the names don’t mean the same to you as they did to us.”
“I’ll take it,” declared George. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint the rest of you, and maybe we can make Wormtail a name to be proud of again.”
Fred patted his twin brother on the back. “You know, George, I know a great jinx that would give you exactly the right sort of tail if you’re interested.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” replied George and the twins both laughed. Fred reached out and took a corner of the map Harry was still holding and indicated that George and Ron should do the same.
“Moony,” said Fred.
“Wormtail,” continued George.
“Padfoot,” stated Ron.
“Prongs,” finished Harry.
“Marauders for ever,” declared the four of them in unison. Black was beaming, but Neville could swear he saw a tear in his eye.
“Take care of my name, Ron,” said Black. “Don’t do anything with it I wouldn’t do.”
“That doesn’t rule out much,” said Harry. Black roared with laughter and faked to punch Harry. “So what are you going to do now?” Harry added.
“Go back home, look after Remus and try to find another job, I suppose. I guess if the worst comes to the worst I could always make a career as a guide dog,” joked Black.
“What about Professor Burbage?”
Black stared at Harry at the mention of the name with his mouth half open. “When… how did you find out about that?”
“Oh come on, Sirius. It’s been obvious for weeks. I don’t know why you couldn’t tell me. Is it serious?”
“It’s always ‘serious’ with me,” he laughed. “In this case, that’s up to Charity. I’d like to keep seeing her, but that is another long talk I have to have.”
“Will you be staying for the leaving feast?” asked Neville.
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
* * *
Black was as good as his word, and the leaving feast the next week was a good as ever, particularly for Neville as he had just learned he’d managed to pass his exams, including commendations in Herbology and Muggle Studies. However, there was one disappointment. Despite getting a ridiculously high mark, Hermione told him she was dropping Muggle Studies in order to lessen her workload. She was giving up the Time-Turner as it had become just too tiring for her to use. That meant that next year he would be taking a course with none of his friends for the first time. He looked up at the friendly Professor Burbage sitting next to Black at the teacher’s table and reflected on what an interesting couple they would make.
The next morning, just before Neville departed Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall handed him a sealed envelope, together with a note which read, Dear Neville, Please give this letter to your grandmother. It will explain everything to her and put her mind at ease. Enjoy your summer. Yours, Albus Dumbledore. Grateful that Gran would not be spending this summer keeping him under paranoid surveillance, Neville tucked the letter into his pocket.
Having sent his belongings on ahead, Black actually joined everyone on the Hogwarts Express for the journey to London, as he had done on the way to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year. The friends sat in the same carriage and talked over the remarkable year they’d had and what the future held in store, but Neville was thinking about his conversation with Dumbledore and the phrase the end of the beginning, and he was quiet and perturbed.
On Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters they made their farewells. Ron talked of meeting up over the summer. Neville shook Black’s hand and said, “Goodbye, Professor… I mean, Mr Black.”
“Sirius, Neville. If it’s the last thing I teach you, it’s to call me Sirius at last.”
“Goodbye Sirius, then,” said Neville.
“That’s better. And this isn’t goodbye anyway. We’ll see each other again soon, I expect. Enjoy your summer.”
And with that, Sirius turned and proudly strode off down the platform alongside Harry. His fine cloak was billowing in the draft created by the train and he was already talking and laughing heartily with his godson. Neville watched them go until they reached the barrier at the far end, stepped through, and vanished.
Hermione came up alongside Neville. “It’ll be strange without him around next year,” she said.
“It was strange with him around,” replied Neville. “I think that’s what made it so interesting.” He finished loading his trolley, said goodbye to Hermione, checked Trevor was still secure in his box, and left quietly in search of his Gran.
Neville Longbottom and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Sonorus
Chapter Notes: In which Neville talks with Dumbledore, Black resigns from the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, and the year comes to its end.
Chapter Endnotes: So that's the end of PoA! I hope you enjoyed it. Look out for Neville Longbottom and the Goblet of Fire, arriving very soon.