The Forgotten 7th Year

Christmas Day

Luna's POV

He-who-must-not-be-named strode into the room. He was terrifying, and I couldn't draw a full breath. The air in the room seemed too thick, my head was spinning. His red eyes glanced around. They momentarily lingered on me, and my blood chilled. But they came to rest on a sleeping Ollivander. A high cold merciless voice,

"Crucio!" The pain jolted Ollivander awake, but he didn't have time to scream before You-know-who ended the curse, and another spell dragged him to his feet.

You-know-who held a picture of two boys, laughing at some forgotten joke.

"Who is he?" He barely gave the old man a chance to answer before demanding. "Tell me now. Crucio!"

Ollivander screamed.

I was standing there, rigid. I didn't know if I wanted to run forward to help, or back away to hide, but I could do neither.

I was just, there. A deadweight.

Useless.

You-know-who had ended the curse, and paced around the shaking man in slow, deliberate steps. Each one echoed in the bare cellar and made me flinch.

"Where is this man, Ollivander? I know you know."

"I, I don't. I don't know. Please-" his phrase was cut short my another drawn out scream.

"Now, now. I'm sure it will come to you. You sold a wand to every child in Britain. Surely you can remember." Ollivander lifted a trembling head to look at the picture once more. He was breathing hard, each inhale came in a rapid gasp.

An expression of recognition slowly dawned on his face.

"I, I can't be sure, but..." He trailed off, looking terrified.

"But?" He urged impatiently. I could tell that you-know-who wanted this information very very badly.

"That boy is far from eleven, so I can't be sure. It could be, it's possibly, Albus Dumbledore."

"I meant to other boy you incompetent blood traitor!" Ollivander recoiled.

"The other one, I don't know. I sold a wand to every wizard in Britain, but I've never seen him before in my life."

"Are you suggesting he's foreign?"

"Possibly."

"Do better."

"What do you want me to do? I can't remember someone I've never seen."

"I do not appreciate the attitude." He sighed, then cursed him again. And again.

My blood was boiling now, but a mixture of horror and fear subdued the anger. I couldn't do anything rash. The anger was fading, replaced by a hopeless numbness.

I backed away, until I hit the wall. I shrank into a ball, and tried to block out reality. Last time this happened, I buried my face in Rolf's shoulder. Now, I could only rest my head on my knees, and cover my ears.

But try as I might, the screams penetrated my skull, and scraped like knives against my brain. And even though Ollivander was the one being tortured, I was in pain too.

Soon he began to sound like Neville, then Ginny, then Rolf. Soon, I wasn't in a square cellar, but a circular room. Soon, it wasn't Him, but Alecto.

I was almost surprised when it ended. The pieces of my hallucination scattered like ash on the wind.

I rushed to the old man on the floor. He was shaking and his breath was faint.

"Water." He murmured, almost inaudibly.

I grabbed the bucket, and ladled him spoonfuls until he was done. Then, I sat by him until his breathing evened into the rhythm of sleep.

I wanted to join him, but I knew if I close my eyes, the only thing waiting for me were nightmares.

Neville's POV

"Hey, Hannah."

The window closed, and after a few moments, the door opened. She came running out. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she had a flour smudge on her cheek.

"Neville! What are you doing here? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you, but we thought you were You-know-who."

"I was just..."

I suddenly realized she didn't know about my parents. I chose my next words carefully.

"I was, umm, somewhere, and I couldn't take it. I ran out, and disapparated to the first place I could think of."

"Wait! How do you know where I live?"

"You had a picture. In our fourth year, you showed us a picture of your bicycle, and it had the house in the background."

"Creepy factor aside, do you need to talk about anything?"

"Actually, yeah." I didn't know why I said it. "I was at St. Mungo's. Visiting my parents." She seemed confused, and I pressed on. "They are, they were." I took a deep breath. "They were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters.

She looked horrified.

"Neville, I'm so-."

"Don't say you're sorry. You do didn't do anything, and if there is one thing I have too many of, it's condolences. Today, I was visiting them, and it was all too much. I should probably be getting back though. Gran might worry."

"You don't have too. Stay. Have Christmas Dinner with us. You can be like an adopted part of the family!"

"Thanks, but I don't want to intrude."

"No, really. It wouldn't be an intrusion at all!"

"If you're certain..."

She grabbed my hand, and marched me up to the house. The door opened, and the man, assumably her dad, looked at us.

"Dad, this is Neville. He's a friend of mine from school. His family is a little bit... complicated, so I was wondering if he could spend Christmas with us."

Her dad looked somewhere between skeptical and another unreadable emotion. I thought he might slam the door in my face, but a voice from inside called.

"Why not? We have too much food anyways." Her father groaned, and stepped aside.

"Fine, dear!" He called.

I walked inside, and realized.

She'd called me adoptive family. Not brother. I wasn't sure why this was an improvement, but for once, I might have a happy Christmas.

Cliffhangers pretty much resolved, is everyone happy?

Here

Thanks,
Aria