We Who Defied Fate [Harry]

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Being part owner of the Leaky Cauldron was useful. As the establishment was quite old, and since it had become the gateway to Diagon Alley once wizarding kind chose to go into hiding, it was protected by ancient, powerful magic. This magic could be broken, like any protection, but the Cauldron was disproportionately small compared to the protection it had, which was more fit for some of the oldest manor houses of the longest-running Wizarding names. And, being that the owners were Neville, who had the respect of the former Dumbledore’s Army and the Auror office, and Hannah, who had the loyalty of her entire house to fall back on, it had been all too easy to shore up the magical protections with more. The Leaky Cauldron suppressed the use of curses, hexes and jinxes, preventing aggressive spellcasting from anyone not recognized by the owners as friendly. The furniture was enchanted to come to life and protect the Longbottoms. When the absolute worst thing you could do to Hannah Longbottom was tick her off by dangling her from the air by her ankle just before the bar stool tried to eat you, there really wasn’t much point in attacking the place. And Hannah could summon an army to her before anyone could even halfway through dispelling the protective spells around the place.

Here, on the second floor, Neville sat in one of the drawing rooms usually rented out by patrons for meetings and parties that were too large to hold in the public bar on the first floor. Getting away from Hogwarts was rarely easy during the school year, and this year was especially so—the lightened load of not being Head of Gryffindor had been filled with time spent on making sure the castle was safe and secure. And that was on top of the students and staff often seeking him out. Neville was well known for his knowledge, experience, and patience, and was always being sought bout by students of all houses. One of the few things he took pride in was the fact that Slytherin students came to him for advice too, proving that the House rivalries, while certainly still present, had diminished from what they’d been when he was a student. It was a step in the right direction, though Neville doubted he’d live to see the four houses unify once again.

It was a nice dream, anyway.

Still, he’d managed to skive off for lunch at the Leaky, which he would normally like to take with Hannah, but sadly, one of her workers was under the weather so she couldn’t join him today. Which was a real shame: while she might not be as active in opposing the Dark Arts as her husband, Hannah was no fool and often contributed when they met with the others. So Neville sat currently in a large, squishy armchair before the empty fireplace, absentmindedly drinking at a hot mug of butterbeer while he waited for Harry Potter. Normally, that meant Ron would be coming, possibly Hermione as well, but given the rushed nature of the meeting, Neville couldn’t be sure anyone else would show up. So currently he was reviewing the notes he’d made regarding patrols, suspicious activities and students, and information shared by Professor Grey. As much as he hated to admit it, Neville agreed with Grey that the culprit was likely a student. He’d come to the same conclusion himself after the murder on the train, though Neville highly doubted that their killer was alone. Sure, it couldn’t have been hard to kill an eleven-year-old girl (and to make it worse, the girl’s wand had been taken and used on her, so they couldn’t use Priori Incantatem to catch the killer), but Neville had helped train some of the Aurors that had died. Even surprising them, it wouldn’t have been easy to bring them down alone, and nearly impossible for a student.

He had really had enough of this for one lifetime already.

Well, no rest for the weary, as the Muggles say.

@potter

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It had been a while since Harry had seen Neville. Okay not really, for they had seen each other just the other week. It was difficult during the school year for the friends to get together, since Neville had classes to teach and was also the deputy headmaster. Harry really needed a break from having to be in the ministry all day. Or at least he made it seem that way, for he would only be there during the business day, sometimes however he was out doing stuff for the Order trying to figure things out and put a stop to this madness. He knew that Neville had some things that he wanted to discuss, regarding patrols, suspicious activities of students. Harry had been contacted by Neville for a meeting, sure it was rushed and that was why he came alone today.

Harry entered the Leaky Cauldron and looked around and took in who was all there. He waved to Hannah who was currently busy but had looked up when the door of the pub had opened. After looking around he quickly made his way up to the second floor where he knew which room Neville was in. They always changed the rooms that they met in. It was a precaution that they always took when meeting in public buildings. Harry walked down the hall and quietly opened the door to the room that Neville was in. Said person was sitting in a large squishy armchair drinking butterbeer. Harry checked to make sure that the room was warded and secure. He knew that he didn’t have to check because Neville was always on top of those kinds of things. But one could never be too careful. “Long time no see old friend.” Harry said in greeting as he walked over and sat down in one of the other chairs that was near the fireplace.

@superluigi64

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He felt the presence in the room and turned. His face split into a wide grin—his real grin, goofy and happy with just a hint of shyness. Not the teasing, friendly grin he used for his students and fellow staff members, but his actual happy grin, which only a handful of people could coax out of him. “Long time no see old friend.” One of the few people in the world who’d always been in his corner, Harry Potter remained one of the most-respected people in the world, where Neville was concerned. He’d seen Harry at his best and his worst, seen him stand tall in the face of the worst Dark wizards and quake in fear as his wife was giving birth. Where most people looked at Harry and saw Merlin reborn to save them all from evil, Neville knew all too well he was looking at a normal human, and never treated Harry like anything more—because that’s all Harry wanted from the world, so Neville could at least make sure he and his family obliged the Boy Who Lived.

“Ah, you’re a sight for sore eyes, mate.” Neville ran a hand through his hair, waving his wand to summon a rolling food cart into the parlor with the lunch Hannah had made. The tray was piled with half a dozen thick barbecue sandwiches, mugs of butterbeer, goblets alongside a jug of pumpkin juice, and curly fries. Hannah had recently decided to add this American sandwich to the Leaky’s menu, and it had proven quite popular, so much so that she was looking into adding more barbecue-based items to the menu. Neville gestured to Harry to pile a plate, which he did himself as well. “The house-elves do a great job with the cooking, but nothing will compare to my Hannah’s food,” he said appreciatively as he poured a gobletful of pumpkin juice. As he bit into the tangy sandwich, he took a sheaf of parchment and handed it over to Harry. “Patrol routes for the Aurors. They each have five or six routes, and orders to patrol at least once every four hours. I let them decide which route and what time exactly, makes it impossible to predict them.”

Neville was silent for a few minutes, enjoying the sandwich and fries as best he could, given that he was on a tight schedule. But eventually, he finished the first one, chased it down with more pumpkin juice, and sighed, half in satisfaction, half in frustration. “I could have done without the next Dark wizard trying to rise in my lifetime, you know. Ever feel like you were born under an unlucky star?” He snickered slightly at that, despite himself. He knew now why the Death Eaters had targeted his parents, knew the whole story. And he had come to the conclusion that life, or fate, or whatever, had royally screwed over the both of them and anyone who chose to stand with them. Again and again, they were drawn into life-threatening conflict, which probably meant that fate wanted them to die painfully.

Luckily, Harry and his friends—five in particular, but not just them—had gotten quite good at telling fate to sod off. “So I’m assuming Professor Grey’s already contacted you, then?”

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“Ah, you’re a sight for sore eyes, mate.” Harry smiled a little at Neville’s greeting. It was good to see him again. He took note of the man sitting near him as he ran a hand through his hair and then he had summoned a tray piled high with several sandwiches and there also were some mugs of butterbeer. Harry smiled a little and he was grateful for the meal. He hadn’t had anything since dinner the night before. Harry had grown to like the American food that Hannah made and sold here at the Leaky Cauldron. He grabbed a plate and did just what Neville gestured for him to do. As he filled his plate with food he listened to Neville speak and explain what was on the piece of parchment that was handed to him. “Patrol routes for the Aurors. They each have five or six routes, and orders to patrol at least once every four hours. I let them decide which route and what time exactly, makes it impossible to predict them.”

Harry looked over the parchment at took note of the patrol routes that Neville had come up with and memorized them. “Nice job with the patrol routes. They should work out well in confusing anyone trying to figure out if there is a pattern there.” He then grabbed his sandwich and began to eat. Harry enjoyed the sandwich and also the butterbeer that he had drank in between bites. “I could have also done without another dark lord, as they tend to like to call themselves.” Harry let out a sarcastic laugh at the thought that dark wizards cared only about themselves and no one else. Damn fate was always trying to kill them in every which way. But they were always lucky and got away with their lives. He was sure that at some point they wouldn’t get lucky and not come back at all. “If I might make a suggestion as to the patrol routes, inform those that are animagi to use their form when going near the third floor corridor, and to not be seen and that when patrolling the grounds to use their forms as well but to play the part well as an animal.” Harry added after thinking about it for sometime.

“So how are our kids holding up at Hogwarts after everything that has happened?” Harry asked in a referring tone. He was concerned for his own kids and also their friends. Especially with everything that has been going on. Out of his kids Lily was the one who wrote home quite often. Most time the letters were addressed to Ginny but Harry usually ended up reading them. But it was always a good thing to hear from Neville how his kids and their friends were doing.

@superluigi64

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Harry approved of the patrol routes, which Neville was fairly certain he would. Their time spent together in the Aurors had not been wasted at all, and it was still easy to follow Harry’s lead and work with him. He also agreed that they didn’t need to deal with this big bag of dragon dung again, not that Neville expected him to disagree. Harry had it worse than anyone where the last Dark Lord was concerned. And he wasn’t exactly going to have it easy with this one. Neither of them had ever been the type to sit back and rest when others were hurt or in danger. But so far, only one student had been murdered. It was horrible, yes, but multiple Aurors had been ambushed and killed. If that many students were dead already, Neville wouldn’t be getting any sleep at all, so he doubted Harry would exactly be getting the rest he’d need. Nobody could force him to rest either; Harry was remarkably stubborn about things like that. But that wasn’t a bad thing to have in the man who constantly led the fight against evil.

“So how are our kids holding up at Hogwarts after everything that has happened?” Ahh, the question he’d known was coming. Ginny often bugged Neville for details about her children, and the Herbology professor had long since learned to shrug her off. The reason for that was that Ginny wanted to know everything. If he gave her information, she wanted updates to come to her on a daily basis. He shared things with her that he felt she needed to know, but for the most part Neville deflected Ginny’s questioning (which did not seem to discourage her in the slightest). But Harry…he liked hearing about his children, but he only asked when he was worried. And Neville couldn’t deny answers to him nearly as easily. He put down his goblet and stared at the parchment for a minute. “James didn’t take it well. Part of me feels bad for him, but part of me is kind of happy that a dead body can affect him so much at his age, you know? We were used to it by that point…anyway, he’s hiding it well, but he’s been having trouble sleeping. I think he’s getting better though, he was late to Herbology but looked better, probably the first good sleep he’d had since term started. Lily seems to be taking it in stride, but I haven’t seen much of her. And Albus…well, you know him, he keeps to himself and doesn’t say anything.”

“Alice seems…well, it’s weird. I think she’s shoving the actual murder aside and just not thinking about it. But she hates seeing Jamie down like that, and he can’t fool her. And the boys…well, they haven’t come around to see me or talk about it yet.” He sighed, rubbing his neck with his hands. He had thought his sons would come to see him before the first weekend, but no such luck. Then again, Alice had come to see him more for relationship advice than anything. For now, he would have to trust that his children—all of his children, blood, foster and de facto—were okay, or getting back that way. “By the way, it looks like Alice fancies James, but he doesn’t feel the same—or at least, she’s convinced he doesn’t. You know anything about that? Please don’t tell Ginny, I don’t need my coin to light up twenty times a day asking if they’ve snogged yet.” Because it would. It would and he’d never know peace until he put the coin away and taught Percival to run off any owls Ginny sent and blocked the Floo network to the castle and found some way to make sure she never spoke to Hannah again.

Not likely.

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Harry finished eating as he was listening to Neville talk about how their kids were holding up. “It is good that James finally got some decent sleep. He’s tough and stubborn and he will get through this.” He said as he looked at his friend. He was sad that James had to find the body but like Neville he was happy at the same time. Seeing a dead body changed people and it usually brought out the best in them. “I am sure your boys will come around soon.” Harry knew how Neville felt, since he never got a letter from his kids, maybe he would just surprise them on day and show up at Hogwarts.

“By the way, it looks like Alice fancies James, but he doesn’t feel the same—or at least, she’s convinced he doesn’t. You know anything about that? Please don’t tell Ginny, I don’t need my coin to light up twenty times a day asking if they’ve snogged yet.” Harry almost choked on the butterbeer that he just drank, as he busted up laughing at what Neville said about Ginny bugging him for details all day every day. It was true it would most likely happen that way. Once he stopped his laughing. “I won’t tell Ginny, as long as I can help it. But then yet again us not telling her might end with us getting a set of matching bat bogey hexes when she does find out that we knew and didn’t tell her.” Harry said with a smirk. They both knew all too well how Ginny was, especially when it concerned the kids.

“Is the Hill prepped for having Order meetings? And don’t worry Burt won’t know about them. Because this time he is only in the Order so we can keep a better eye on him.” Harry said in an informative tone. He had a feeling that Burt was up to something and it was going on right under their noses but he wasn’t sure what it was just yet. “I have this feeling that the man is up to something. Have you found anything out about that?” He hoped that Neville had some idea as to what Burt was up to, because if he could help it he would put a stop to the man’s power hungry ways.

@superluigi64

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Stomach full and eyelids drooping more than he should allow them to, Neville let himself relax, despite the gravity of the things he was discussing with Harry. He leaned back while Harry commented that James would see this through. Neville had to agree. James reminded him a lot of Fred and George—always looking for fun, but completely reliable when the situation called for it. For all of the twins’ pranking ways, they never targeted him, and had intervened to help him deal with bullies on more than one occasion. Fred’s death had been one of the worst to deal with, because of how hard it was on George. Harry also promised not to tell Ginny, which relieved Neville—the Bat-Bogey Hex if she ever found out would not last nearly as long as the pain of having a Galleon imprint burned into his chest. “I’ll take my chances,” he responded, grinning.

The talk turned more serious then, with Harry asking if the Hill was ready and wondering what Neville had on the Headmaster. All this cloak and dagger stuff bothered Neville. It simply wasn’t his style to spy and be suspicious of others. But he did it, because there was simply no way for them to get a straight answer out of the Headmaster. “The Hill’s ready. The thorn elemental pack has reached maximum capacity and the last of the Wandbeaters matured a few months ago. The Blasting Caps should be fully grown in the next week or so. The place is fortified about as well as I can manage. The Order can even bring young children there, as long as they stay in the elementals’ territory they’ll be safe.” He polished off the jug of pumpkin juice, letting the cool liquid trickle down his throat. “As for the Headmaster…he’s had the third-floor corridor gauntlet set back up, the one you ran first year. He says it’s because he thinks we’ll need to protect a dangerous artifact—I’ve heard about the Mirror of Erised—but I put up Sensor Wards in the Herbology chamber while I was setting everything else up. Someone’s going in and out of there regularly, and Reynolds is the only teacher I don’t have to escort through my chamber, the others don’t know the secret.”

He paused for a moment, considering how even now, with darkness just trying to get a foothold, their side was divided and indecisive. “I don’t like this, Harry. This feels too much like fifth year.”

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“I’ll take my chances,” Hearing this from Neville, and the look on the man’s face made him laugh. He had finished eating and listened to his friend speak about The Hill being ready for use. “The Order can even bring young children there, as long as they stay in the elementals’ territory they’ll be safe.” That was a good thing since Harry had a feeling that it would be necessary to bring children there. “Good job, and I have a feeling that before the year is out and possibly even before the Christmas Holidays we might be needing The Hill as a safe place for our children and also their friends. And if they are worried about falling behind in classes and what not well that will be taken care of as we will have members of the Order teach them what they would learn at Hogwarts and even more so. And plus I already know that Walton is teaching a select few students more than just the regular stuff that is required.” Harry said in a contemplative tone that was accompanied with a contemplative look on his face. He had every intention of bringing their kids and friends here for protection and to also teach them more advanced magic and what not.

“Damn that old man!” Was all he could say as Neville explained that the old man had set up the gauntlet on the third floor once more to protect the Mirror of Erised. “I think that someone, possibly Burt is the one going down there, but I would not be surprised at all if he has told Stone how to get through your portion of the gauntlet. I would also suggest keeping an eye on him as well.” Harry said, “Also If you need to you might employ the help of Rob and Selliah in keeping tabs on Stone as well as watching the third floor, in their animagi forms, and during the day have John do the same, just remind him to make sure he isn’t discovered. And just so you are aware, Selliah has a special assignment for Diane Lockhart, the Deputy Head of the MLE. So she may not always be available.” Harry told his friend.

“I don’t like it either Neville, and you are right it does feel too much like fifth year. Dark times are upon us my friend, and now we must be ready to do anything to protect those that we love and those that are innocent. We must also do what we can to remove Burt from his post as Headmaster, it might take a bit to do so but it must be done, for he does not care about the students, he only cares for himself. You will end up becoming the Headmaster once Burt is removed. I know that you have no wish to do so but it must be done.” Harry looked at his friend once more, for he had been staring at the wall for some time as he spoke. He knew that it might be a lot for someone to take in but, not Neville. No Neville was one of his best friends, and aurors and that is why Harry trusted him to do what needed to be done without hesitating, and would protect their children and their friends.

@superluigi64

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Processing information quickly had not come naturally to Neville, but with time and confidence, he had improved at doing it. Confidence was the main factor; Neville’s forgetful nature as a child often stemmed from spending too much time thinking about what his Gran would say to him, if the teachers would look at him and compare him to his father despite knowing he couldn’t measure up, wondering what nasty form of punishment or embarrassment Snape had cooked up for him today if he messed up. So much worry about what was coming, about how he was never good enough, that he couldn’t focus on the here and now easily. Things had improved in fifth year, when he was around people who didn’t berate him for failing or express the desire that he be more like his father. Fury at Bellatrix Lestrange had given him a drive to focus that let him shut out everything else as white noise, which was a big boost to his overall performance in class. But what truly pushed him past his lack of confidence was seventh year. He discovered that his concentration and focus spiked drastically when others were hurt or in trouble, and he stopped caring about whether or not he was good enough and just settled on being enough. For nearly ten months he remained in this mindset, and when the war ended, the concentration did not.

So Neville easily sorted through new data in his head. Grey was teaching select students advanced magic. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of the International Aurors headhunting potential recruits before they’d even left the school, taking advantage of the situation like that, but right now, giving some of the more skilled students a set of spells beyond the norm might save lives. The qualities needed in the Aurors were the same that would lead students to fight for others and fight hard. Stone was under Reynolds’ thumb—expected, given he’d been hand-picked by a man in love with power. Rob and Selliah could track Stone for him, but Selliah also had a secondary assignment from Lockhart. Not surprising, and not particularly worrisome. Lockhart was Hermione’s direct subordinate and a former Auror, she more than had the credentials for trust. Aaaand Harry wanted to take Reynolds out of Hogwarts and put him in charge of the school. Great. Not that Neville disagreed on any one point, but the end result still sucked. He groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. “Thirty years we’ve been friends, and you’re trying to take me out of my greenhouses. You will rue the day, Potter, just you wait and see.” He wasn’t serious—okay, maybe Neville would employ George and Ginny to help with a suitable practical joke in response—but it bothered him nonetheless. “I don’t belong in Dumbledore’s chair, Harry. I’m not sure anyone does. Hermione, maybe. I’ll do the job, just…the idea makes me feel like I’m a kid again. Inadequate.”

Mentally, at least. The herbologist twisted in his seat, sighing in relief as his back popped in three places. Neville’s body was forged iron, powerful and unyielding, maintained from constant work in gardens and greenhouses. Like most of the former DA, he found he couldn’t stand the idea of becoming even a little softer, no matter how age might justify it. He did lack some of the agility that youth had given him, but not much, given that he hadn’t been that agile to begin with, not like many of the others. Still, his back knotted up and ached more easily than it used to. Even magical healing methods couldn’t completely undo the damage a hundred lashes of the whip had done to him over the course of his seventh year, particularly the ones done by a whip enchanted with the Cruciatus Curse. “I’ll get lazy, sitting up in that office all day, you know. My little lion’s already trying to take more and more of the greenhouse work from me.” He smiled, thinking about his son. He felt as though all his children deserved to know about the Order of the Phoenix, but it was Philip that he wanted to show Longbottom Hill to.

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“Thirty years we’ve been friends, and you’re trying to take me out of my greenhouses. You will rue the day, Potter, just you wait and see…I don’t belong in Dumbledore’s chair, Harry. I’m not sure anyone does. Hermione, maybe. I’ll do the job, just…the idea makes me feel like I’m a kid again. Inadequate.” Harry knew that Neville would give him an answer such as this. And to be honest Neville was quite right he did not belong in Dumbledore’s office. The only person besides McGonagall who belonged in the place was Hermione, but then yet again they need her as the Head of the MLE. “Neville I have an idea okay and it should work out just fine.” Harry said and paused for a second before continuing on. “Here is what we will do. Once Burt is out you will become the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but only for the duration of this war. After that we can get Hermione to take up the post. And while you are Headmaster you can continue working in the greenhouses since that is where you belong anyways.” He finished up his idea. It wasn’t a clear idea yet. It was more like an outline of what they could do. And maybe Neville might have some ideas of his own.

“Well I can gurantee you at least one thing and that is you will not get lazy. As I mentioned before you can continue to work in the greenhouses. Just make sure you appoint a good deputy headmaster and then you guys can just divide the amount of work between you two.” Harry commented. Neville just needed to acknowledge the fact that he could delegate responsibility.

“I take it that Philip is trying to do everything in the greenhouses, just like you did with Professor Sprout?” He asked knowing full well that Neville had been the same way with their former Herbology Professor. “Another thing I wanted to bring up and get your opinion on is letting the kids join the Order. I talk about it with Ginny, you would think that she would have flipped like Molly did when we asked to join, but nope Ginny was calm about it and even though she dislikes the idea, she supports it one hundred percent. But the kids are not allowed to go on dangerous missions. However they will be our eyes and ears among their respective houses.” This was something that he had put a great deal of thought into and well he wanted Neville’s opinion before they went ahead with it.

(this post is way overdue no need to remind me. I just got sidetracked with my other posts, so sorry about the wait.)