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Neville sighed as he tried the hex again. He could feel a bit of magic move through the wand in his hand but the spell just wasn’t completed. Instead, a flowerpot in the corner of the room had exploded sending ceramic shards flying and causing several students to glare at him.
The heated glares just made the boy even more nervous, as he was used to no one looking at him. Being invisible was a comfort. At home, his grandmother and uncle only paid attention to him when they were yelling at him or trying to force the magic out of him. Being someone who blends into the background suited the boy better than having anyone’s focus on him.
Still, at the moment, he had no choice but to be in front of the class trying this spell. “Try again, Mr. Longbottom,” the charms professor told the young boy. They had tried this spell in Defense Against the Dark Arts but Flitwick decided to have them review in Charms and the half-goblin was trying to help those who hadn’t gotten it down.
When Neville made the proper wand movement and spoke the incantation this time though, he was the one sent flying back onto his butt. He hit the ground hard enough to leave a bruise but got back up.
Flitwick offered the first year a smile. “Don’t worry, Mr. Longbottom, you will have plenty of time to get it right.”
The statement was meant to be a comfort, but all Neville felt was shame. His grandma has always been scared that he was a Squib, but once his magic unlocked, all he heard was that he was only just better than one, and his school performance so far was just proving her right.
So the boy headed back to his chair in the back of the class, the same rough spot that he sat in during almost every class. Back here he could make as little noise as possible and just wish he really was invisible. Not that he would ever be talented enough to cast the Disillusionment Charm.
The rest of the class passed in a blur and Neville made sure not to let himself make another sound, even as he overheard his class and dormmate Seamus Finnegan making fun of his performance along with Dean Thomas.
When class ended Neville just sat there until everyone else was gone before walking by himself to the dorms. He didn’t really feel like lunch and it wasn’t like anyone would notice that he skipped.
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Seamus and Neville stared at each other as they dueled. Neither of them wanted to concede any ground. So spell after spell was cast, deflected, shielded, and dodged. Hermione was the one watching the duel and Neville knew she was dissecting everything as it happened, the teen knowing the moment each spell left the two boys’ wands what they could have done better. It was during times like this that Neville was glad to no longer be invisible.
He could stand in front of the crowd now with his head held a little higher. Ever since Hermione, Ron, and Harry started Dumbledore’s Army, Neville had been steadily improving. He was doing so well that when he saw a gap in Seamus’ defense that he didn’t hesitate. “ Flipendo! ” He called and pointed his wand forward, only for the jinx to backfire and send Neville’s wand flying from his hand, allowing Seamus to cast a stunner at the once-shy teen.
An hour later Neville found himself heading down the stairs to the kitchen. Before he could make it down even a single flight though Hermione caught up with him. “Hey Nev, can we talk?”
Turning towards the girl, the blond boy nodded his head. “Sure Hermione, what is going on?”
The girl gave him a smile and Neville couldn’t help but return it. “I wanted to talk about your performance today. You have certainly improved since our first year but I think today everyone saw just how much.”
A sigh came from the Longbottom Heir. “Yeah, but I had another spell backfire on me and it lost me the duel. Sometimes it seems like I will never get to the same level as everyone else. Still, no reason not to try.”
Hermione placed a hand on the teen boy’s shoulder. “Nev, I just want to let you know that you will get there. That is the main reason I followed after you. I know things seem bleak with the war going on, but, well...”
Hearing the girl pause, he noticed she looked down over the railing and watched as several sets of stairs shifted. ”I actually looked up some other women in the muggle world who had to fight for their rights and you remind me of this quote by Maya Angelou that talks about needing to face defeat to find out what you can handle, but never letting yourself be defeated. We know you can handle a lot Neville, but you are stronger for it. Just don’t let yourself be defeated Nev, you are better than that.”
With that over the girl headed back up the few steps that the two had gone down and Neville kept going down. He was headed towards the kitchen, but he couldn’t help but spend the rest of the night thinking about what Hermione told him.
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Neville knew it was a bad idea to head to the Ministry of Magic, and he knew it was an even worse one to head to the Department of Mysteries, but Harry said that Sirius Black was in trouble. For a second Neville thought it was weird that the ‘golden trio’ cared, but then he realized that if all of them did, it was for a good reason.
The blond didn’t need any more information when that thought registered and he headed off with them. He would help protect his friends, his family, and his world from the Death Eaters and he could only hope his parents would be proud of him for it.
Of course, now he found himself with a broken wand and being held at wandpoint by Bellatrix Lestrange. A part of the teen wanted to rage, but a bigger part of him was looking at Harry and Hermione’s faces and seeing the resignation there.
As Harry seemed ready to stop fighting to let him free Neville thought back on Hermione’s words on the stairwell a couple of months ago. “Harry it is alright. I get it, but I am proud to be my parents’ son.” He said in response to the insults Bellatrix had been spewing since she got him in this position.
With that said the Longbottom Heir reared his head forward and slammed it back right into Bella’s chin, staggering her and making her release him. As she did Neville rolled forward and grabbed a wand he had disarmed from one of the other Death Eaters earlier and instantly he felt it respond to him in a way his father’s never had.
With a wand that actually connected to his magical core, the boy suddenly had access to more magic than he had ever thought he would have and he knew exactly what to do. “NEVER BE DEFEATED RIGHT! FLIPENDO! ” He called out as he slashed the wand at the woman who had tortured his parents into insanity and send an over-powered Knockback Jinx at her. The thing was that he put so much power into it that the spell misfired again, this time though it was due to the amount of power and what should have been a Knockback Jinx, blasted Bella off of her feet and sent her flying into a wall at the other end of the room.
Hermione pointed her wand at a Death Eater to their left and repeated the cry before the fighting started up once more. One by one after that the members of Dumbledore’s Army that were in the Department of Mysteries repeated the call and the Death Eaters were being overwhelmed. The Sirius Black and several other Order of the Pheonix members burst into the room and the Death Eaters were all knocked out.
Even though the night ended with Sirius not needing to be saved, Neville was glad they went, because he finally learned to roar properly. Even if he still had yet to properly cast a Flipendo