Neville Longbottom and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter 2: The Battle of Nine Nevilles

There was a knock at the door, and Moody nodded at Neville to answer it. There were sixteen Wizards standing on his doorstep, and he invited them in. They all filed into the parlor, and Neville noticed that Roody was watching from between the stair rails.

Neville already knew most of them, and he immediately stepped up to give Luna a hug. Other classmates gave him a hug or a handshake as they walked past; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasley Twins. He also knew Hagrid, Harry's mom and Ron's dad, as well as Ron's older brother Charlie and his girlfriend, Fleur, who was a fellow Triwizard competitor. Lupin and Sirius he knew from his Third-year, and there was also Mundungus and Shacklebolt whom he met last Summer at Grimmauld Place.

"If you haven't been to get your school stuff yet, you should check out our new shop," one of the Twins told him, and the other added, "Yeah, Bagman skipped out but we got a startup loan from Gringotts."

"That's enough small talk," Moody announced, "time fer business." Everyone informally lined up, and Moody continued. "Right then, the escorts know who they're takin' an' where they're goin'."

Neville saw that they were basically paired up, and Hagrid was standing beside him. "Yer with me," Hagrid smiled, his cheeks squeezing his eyes shut. "Leavin' on Sirius' motorcycle jus' like the way we came fifteen year ago." He put a hand on Neville's shoulder, but only three of his half-Giant fingers fit. Neville patted his hand and smiled back.

"I'm sure we're all touched," Moody interrupted, then he swiped a few strands of hair off Neville's head and dropped them into his flask.

"Ow! What's that for?" Harry and Ron seemed concerned about Neville scolding Moody.

"It's fer Polyjuice Potion," he answered as he shook up the flask. He went along the line giving a drink to one member of each pair, and Mr. Weasley followed behind handing a bundle of clothes to each.

One by one they started morphing into eight Nevilles, and were changing into identical clothes. He wasn't sure why it only just occurred to him, there would be eight decoys. Looking at eight other "him's" was strange; very different from when he saw only one of himself in Third-year.

"A'right," Moody hollered over everyone's chatter, "head ta the park across the street an' get ready ta go."

The sun had long since gone down but the street lamps were on. Once in the park, most were mounting Brooms, but Charlie and Tonks were each on a Thestral, Sirius was on Buckbeak, and Shacklebolt was on a flying carpet. Hagrid mounted the motorcycle, and Neville hefted his half-sized trunk into the sidecar before slipping in himself.

"You hang on," Hagrid said, "I added a couple o' tricks jus' in case."

"Good luck everyone, an' see ya at the Safe-House," Moody hollered, and Hagrid started the motorcycle. "Count of three, one . . . Two . . . THREE!"

The motorcycle lurched forward and climbed steeply into the sky. Neville wedged his feet tightly on either side of the trunk and felt more secure. Brooms, Thestrals and a carpet swarmed around them, and once they were a couple hundred of meters up they split into three groups.

"Get yer Wand out," Hagrid yelled, and they were immediately under attack.

The first Spell bounced off Hagrid's back, but he gave a painful grunt. Neville had his Wand out and half-stood so he could swivel around. There were four Death-Eaters attacking their group, and they had to spread out to avoid cross-fire. Neville was wordlessly blocking Spell after Spell directed at Hagrid. The "Neville" that was with Lupin blasted one Death-Eater with a fireball and he went down with a trail of smoke.

"Hang on!" Hagrid hollered, and he smashed a button beneath the fuel gauge with his huge thumb. The motorcycle rocketed forward and Neville would have been thrown off the back if his feet weren't securely wedged.