[HP] The Order of the Phoenix Family

After breakfast, Harry's high spirits after defeating Voldemort were mostly over.Many leave the dinner table exhausted to collect the remains and belongings of loved ones.Luckily, Neville didn't need to do this kind of thing, his grandma was in high spirits discussing the restoration of the castle with Professor McGonagall, but he also lost many friends, those who had supported the DA with him during the past dark year Partners, and people he didn't know already lay under the dome of the auditorium.

Perhaps partly out of guilt, Neville felt connected to those strangers, as if they were relatives he had never had the chance to know.In the battle of the night, Neville had no energy left to maintain his sense of kindness and justice. He could only run past the fallen and pray that it wasn't someone I knew, not my friends.

In fact, he knew that each of the victims here had saved others from this fate, Neville himself being one of them.He walked slowly through the room where the remains were kept, trying to remember every face.Some, like the Weasleys, have left with dead relatives.And Dennis Creevey knelt beside Colin alone, wiping his brother's face with a towel. As Muggle-borns, their parents needed to work hard to get into Hogwarts.

Neville knelt beside Danny and awkwardly conjured up a basin and water, which wet both of them and Colin's robes.Dennis ignored his apology and continued to wipe. Neville's vision became more and more blurred. He felt that he had turned back into that useless little boy again, at a loss and unable to do anything.Then Danny leaned toward him, burying his face in his shoulders trembling, all he could do was hold the kid as close as he could.

Colin was underage even by wizarding standards, they were supposed to protect him.How were they going to explain it to the Creeveys?The parents sent their two sons to Hogwarts, into a magical world that they could not touch, and then one son died, and the other didn't know how long it would take to recover.When they held a funeral, how would they explain Colin's death to their relatives and neighbors?Has there been a gas explosion in the school?

Neville stayed with Colin and Dennis for several hours, persuading the younger boy to leave the dead for a while to eat, until the Creeveys arrived in a hurry, accompanied by McGonagall, and he slipped away quietly.

Back in the Great Hall again, Neville saw the Gryffindor sword leave the place where he had left it that morning, but still by the table.When he picked up the sword, the others seemed to be okay.

"Very well, you should take it!" Augusta Longbottom's voice startled him, and he didn't notice that Granny was sitting at the old Ravenclaw table not far away, enjoying mashed potatoes and gravy. Tang, "You deserve it, Neville. We'll go and see Frank and Alice later, they'll be proud of you! The Longbottoms are British—"

"I'm not going," said Neville, and Granny seemed to think he was joking.

"Of course you want them to know—"

"I'm not going!" Neville yelled with a ferocity he'd never shown to Granny, and Augusta squinted her eyes, standing up in the way she was ready to beat the crap out of her when threatened.There was a little boy in him who immediately crouched down with his head in his arms, but Neville wasn't going to give him the stage at the moment.

"I said I didn't want to go now, grandma," he said before Augusta could speak, looking the old witch in the eyes, "I'm tired, I want to rest for a while, and I'll see Mom and Dad tomorrow. And I don't want to Take the Gryffindor sword with you, it is the property of the school and belongs to all true Gryffindors."

After saying this in one breath, Neville's heart was beating louder and louder, and several people around him raised their heads from their dinner plates to pay attention to this conflict.Facing his grandson's belated rebellion, Augusta was silent for a few seconds, and then unexpectedly and easily compromised.

"Okay then, I'll go by myself later." She said, after a pause, her tone was slightly softer, "Have a good rest, Neville."

Neville nodded, watching his grandmother sit down to eat again and walk out of the Great Hall without looking back.He didn't know where he was going, but if he stayed on, even if Augusta didn't say a word, he would surely change his attitude and obey Granny's original request to go to St. Mungo's to see Mom and Dad.

Parents he barely knew.

Neville gulped down a choked sob, and the sudden intense loneliness enveloped him like a giant cage.After taking over Dumbledore's Army with Ginny and the others, he hadn't felt this way for a long time.So incompetent, so helpless, afraid of being blamed, afraid of being found out about his family situation.Grandma always spoke proudly of how her son and daughter-in-law had heroically sacrificed their minds to fight You-Know-Who, and Neville wanted to be as proud as she asked, but that, like everything else she expected from him, seemed an unattainable goal .Even after awakening to his magical abilities, Neville was known to be almost a Squib, and being impatient was bad enough, and he was terrified of people's extra patience for pity.

These were things that Augusta Longbottom couldn't understand. His grandmother had never put herself in the position of a weak person in her life, and she didn't care about the eyes of others, nor was she afraid of any threats.She raised herself according to this standard and later became the son of an Auror, and treated her grandson even more harshly, but Neville was never the heir to the spirit of son and daughter-in-law she expected.There were times when Neville wondered if his grandma had been hurt as badly by repeated disappointments, and he was ashamed to realize that the thought brought him a small vengeance.

But Neville still loves his parents, loves their happy smiles and arms holding him in the old group photos, loves them losing their minds but still trying to give him the best things in his hands, loves that one day he will return The faint anticipation of hearing them call their names.But today, the day before dawn when he refused to join Voldemort in person and beheaded Nagini the Serpent, Neville didn't want to see them.He never doubted that he was loved, but love is not understanding, not support, not fighting side by side, not the phrase "you are not hurt" or "we are so proud of you, son".

I'm sorry, Dad, Mom, Neville said silently, it's only today, I don't want candy wrappers.

He dragged his heavy legs up Gryffindor Tower, but the Fat Lady ignored him asking for the password. Neville didn't realize that he was still holding the bloody Gryffindor sword before he got into the portrait hole. I can take it back to the dormitory.As soon as he stepped on the crimson carpet, he was sprayed with fireworks all over his face. The noise was deafening. The sorrows and joys of human beings are never connected. The activities of mourning the dead and celebrating the victory were being held in the castle at the same time.

Those who knew the situation immediately gathered around, Neville wanted to say that he was not in the mood, but it felt good to be recognized by the people who loved that clumsy him, and it felt good not to be alone anymore.He told the story of fighting back against Voldemort and beheading Nagini over and over again, let everyone take turns touching the Gryffindor sword with admiration, and drank butterbeer one cup after another until the brain became dizzy, and then Can't think about anything either.

A lot of firsts happened today, the first time he showed a complete Gryffindor posture, the first time he raised his arms and shouted the name of Dumbledore's Army in front of everyone, the first time he killed an enemy (although it was a snake ), the first time I contradicted my grandma, the first time I put my selfish needs before everything else, the first time I didn't care what happened tomorrow.

As the sun went down, Neville finally felt that he had had enough of indulging, and a wave of drowsiness overwhelmed him.He managed to drag his sword to the four-poster bed and fell face down on it.

Falling asleep was like sinking into a warm white ocean, with Neville drifting through hazy dreams.He found himself stopped, standing in front of a strange oriental woman, she was wearing a dark long skirt, her black hair was coiled behind her head, her age was unclear.She was beautiful, a strange beauty mixed with darkness and innocence, like dangerous animals, like snakes.

"Hello." Her purple-black lips curved, and her smile was unexpectedly gentle.

"Should I know you?" Neville asked.

"Maybe," she said, "tell me your story, please?"

It's a bit of an inexplicable request, but he's in a dream anyway, so what if it's illogical?Neville had said everything, his parents, his grandmother, the ridicule and ridicule he had received, his struggle to be fearless.No one has ever heard him say such a long speech, waiting for his description to flow from stuttering to smooth.Neville talked about how he chopped off Nagini's head with his sword in one breath. He said this part too many times today, and he would not miss any detail.

"It's like this..." the woman said softly, thoughtfully, "—do you know? People's consciousness does not really disappear. Those who seem to have lost consciousness, their consciousness is only locked up , can’t feel and express, and even don’t know their own existence. But one day, the cage will be shattered, and everything they see and hear will come back to them.”

"Is that so?" asked Neville. "My parents... would they too?"

"All consciousnesses that have ever existed will until they are able to choose to die and make a choice."

"Then the torture they suffered... those Cruciatus Curse..." He felt a biting cold, and on that day, Mom and Dad would have to go through it again...?

"Always with their consciousness. I'm sorry, Neville." Suddenly she opened her arms and embraced him. Dreams don't need logic, and Neville accepted.She was as warm and soft as a dream, not at all snakelike.

"But what you thought they didn't know, will be equally clear on that day." The woman continued, "As much as you tell them, they will remember as much, and then one day, they will remember their own feelings. Yes Pride, joy, anger, or pain. They fall back in love with the person they love as deeply as they have loved for so many years."

"Is that so?" said Neville again.

"Don't you believe me, Neville?"

He raised his head and looked at the strange face, reconfirming that he had never seen her before.She didn't look at him like an old acquaintance, but more like a kind person who met by chance, and he gave her a hand by the muddy puddle during the journey.It doesn't make sense, Neville rarely travels, and he can cause endless accidents at home.

But—"I believe in you."

The woman laughed, more naturally and more relieved this time.

She said, "Thank you."

A white halo came forward, blurring her outline.Neville stretched out his hand subconsciously and shouted urgently, "Wait! Who are you?"

There is nothing at the fingertips, and her figure is just a few feet away, yet far away.

"What's your name?" he pressed. "What's your story like?"

The light gathers, and the last thing to fade is the smile, and the gratitude that floats like seaweed in the white current.

Neville opened his eyes.

It was the next morning, and the golden-red sunlight peeked into Gryffindor Tower from the windows on the east side, marking the beginning of the day without Voldemort lurking around.

Time to get up and see Mom and Dad, Neville thought, I have a lot to tell them.

When he turned his head, he saw the Gryffindor sword leaning against the bed reflecting the warm morning light.