Harry Potter and the Ritual of Love's Memory

Chapter 55

Most news from the wider Wizarding world barely made a ripple in the secluded pool that was Hogwarts. Sometimes a big event, such as the ousting of Fudge and the installation of Minister Bones, could get the student population abuzz for a few days. But Harry rarely saw much change in his peers based on the headlines splashed on Hermione's copy of the Daily Prophet.

The Azkaban breakout was a notable exception.

The morning that the news broke, it took Professor McGonagall silencing the Great Hall and addressing the issue before the tumult subsided slightly. The Deputy Headmistress explained that Professor Dumbledore was at the Ministry to lend aid to Madam Bones and provide support as needed. Some found Dumbledore's involvement comforting, but quite a few murmured uneasily about convicts on the loose while the headmaster was away from the school.

The following weeks bore a string of unwelcome news. The Ministry released information about which prisoners had escaped Azkaban, and the names filled many with dread. A special edition of the Prophet profiled the dozens of Death Eaters who were now on the run. Harry eyed an old photo of Bellatrix Lestrange, who was apparently one of Voldemort's most loyal and ruthless supporters, opposite a photo of the man who had assumed Mad-Eye Moody's identity the previous year, Barty Crouch, Jr. With a heavy sigh, he folded up the paper and passed it back to Hermione as he squeezed Ginny's hand tightly under the table.

A number of students reacted poorly to the news, but Harry noticed that Neville seemed much more shaken than most. He couldn't be sure, but Harry thought he'd heard muffled sobs coming from the shower the night after the Death Eaters' names had been revealed by the Daily Prophet. When Neville quietly climbed into his bed later that night, a conversation from the end of the previous year popped into Harry's head.

"Hey, Neville," began Harry cautiously. "Are you doing alright?"

The boy reached for the curtains of his four-poster before deciding not to pull them shut. With a deep sigh, he turned toward Harry, though his eyes didn't reach those of his dormmate.

"Just a rough few days. I figured when I heard about the breakout that..." He trailed off as he looked at the ground between them.

"The ones who attacked your parents?"

"Yeah. Crouch and the Lestranges. It was bad enough over the summer after I figured out that Professor Moody had been Crouch the whole time. He tortured my parents and then casually used the Cruciatus in our class." The heaviness in Neville's voice transformed into a hardness that Harry had never heard from his friend. "I thought he gave me that book on plants to try to make me feel a little better, but the bastard was just trying to make sure I knew enough to help you get by the Second Task."

Harry squirmed uncomfortably. He had spent more than a few nights wrestling with Crouch-as-Moody's actions during the tournament but hadn't considered the implications of how it might have affected Neville to have been in such close proximity to the man. The bitterness in his friend's voice served as a reminder that Harry wasn't the only student who had experienced loss and trauma at the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"It's just that... They went after my parents to try to find a way to bring You-Know-Who back. Even though their plan didn't work, the three of them still ended up getting what they wanted. I hate it that they're out there, free to do the same thing to even more people." Neville swiped at a tear.

There was nothing Harry could think of that would assuage the pain Neville was feeling, but his mind desperately sought something to say nonetheless. His shoulders sagged as he, too, stared at the floor between their beds.

"I'm sorry, mate," said Harry eventually, his voice barely more than a whisper. The weight of grief on his friend reminded him of how the glaring hole in his own life where his parents should be could still catch him off guard. The knowledge that the cause of the loss in both their lives walked free, actively planning to inflict the same sort of pain on others, made Harry's stomach churn.