The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 103: The Calm Before The Storm

Approximately thirty minutes after Harry and Luna departed the Room of Requirement, Colin Creevey received a message on his coin. The message simply read that Snape fled the school, and to prepare for battle because Amycus Carrow alerted Voldemort of Harry's presence here at Hogwarts. Neville jumped awake at the news of this message, rallying the D.A. members together. On the other hand, I remained in the corner, contemplating everything that had led to this moment.

Of course, I expected a war. Voldemort knew that the trio was hunting horcruxes (partly because I had told him when we first met), but he likely thought that they weren't going to succeed in doing so. Now that he knew that one of the last horcruxes was at risk, he was going to come after it. But at the time, it seemed more like a conspiracy than a course of action because I didn't think that Voldemort would've actually attacked Hogwarts.

But then again... It was my father. At the end of the day, he didn't care.

Voldemort wanted Harry dead. And now since he knew Harry's location, his mission could finally be put into action.

Shit.

"You alright there, Dawn-ald?" someone asked, breaking my thoughts.

I looked at the person as they filled the space Neville was once in. I sighed deeply, rubbing my forehead, before shrugging. Thankfully, this person was Fred Weasley, who was a bit easier to talk to compared to most in the room. He just didn't seem too hostile.

"I don't know..." I stammered, "I'm just worried..."

Fred cocked his head, "I mean... We're all feeling a bit of that at the moment, but I'm quite surprised that you are, considering... Well, you know."

"You know I'm just as dead as the rest of you lot if I come face-to-face with my father, right?" I scoffed, "For fuck's sake, I couldn't even convince those bloody Carrow twins, and I've never met them."

"So, that's where you and Longbottom ran off to shortly before we arrived..." Fred chuckled, "Well, you made it back in one piece, didn't you?"

I inhaled sharply, burying my head in my hands, "Barely..."

I wasn't going to tell Fred about what actually happened with the Carrows. I mean... Hell... The look on everyone's faces after Ron dropped the silly, little, fun fact that I used the cruciatus curse on Hermione burned itself into my eye sockets. If any of them found out that I used it on Neville, given his parent's history, they definitely would've offered me as a peace treaty to my father.

Fred laughed, touching my left arm, "That's a neat little tattoo you've got there, Dawn-ald. What's it mean?"

I looked up at Fred, narrowing my eyes, "You know exactly what it means, Weasley. Come on now."

"Yeah, I know what it means to people like your parents or Malfoy," Fred scoffed, "But what does it mean to you?"

"It means nothing," I shrugged rudely, "At least now it does."

Fred cocked his head, smiling, "Exactly... It may have meant something in the past, but now it means nothing to you, so stop acting like you're the villain here because you're not."

I rolled my eyes, "You say that like it's easy."

"How come?" Fred asked.

I sighed annoyedly, clenching my jaw. I appreciated Fred's camaraderie, but at the end of the day it was still my past. To everyone in this room, I was my past, and there was no changing that. But maybe he was right... I was only a villain to those who didn't know the details of what happened. My morals were still there; I knew that they were. Anything evil I've done, it was for a legitimate reason, or done unwillingly. I wasn't a villain to myself, but more of a victim of some very unfortunate family history.