NEVILLE'S PARENTS- 050
Christmas break ended faster than Diana would have liked and they were back at Hogwarts. She and Sam had a long goodbye to their father, not wanting to let go of the man. Diana and Harry walked towards the entrance of Hogwarts, hand in hand as Cho Chang walked up to them.
Dia rolled her eyes, Harry squeezed her hand as the Ravenclaw spoke. "Hi, Harry,"
"Oh," Harry said as his stomach leaped uncomfortably. "Hi,"
"Have a good Christmas?" Cho said, ignoring the blonde completely.
Harry nodded, glancing at his girlfriend. "Yeah, really good," Diana blushed, her hair changed to light pink, and a small smile fell on her lips.
"Mine was pretty good," Cho said, smiling as though Harry actually cared. (Which he didn't) "I was hoping I could talk to you, Harry." She finally looked at Diana, a sneer curled on her lips. "Alone,"
Harry scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, awkwardly. "Uh, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Please," Cho pleaded. "Just for a moment,"
Harry glanced at his girlfriend, who shrugged her shoulders. "It's your choice. Don't let me stop you,"
"Okay, let's talk," Harry let go of her hand, walked away with Cho following, and stood in the corner of the courtyard.
Diana stood there playing with the leather sleeves of her father's jacket when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Luna standing behind her with a bottlecap necklace in her hands.
"Hi, Luna," She smiled.
"Hello, Ana. Have a good Christmas?" Luna says in her normal dream voice.
"It was very good," Diana said. "How was yours?"
"Dad and I had a wonderful holiday," Luna said as she held up the bottlecap necklace. "I made this for you."
Diana told the necklace in confusion. "Oh, um, thank you, Luna,"
Luna nodded. "It keeps the Nargles away."
"Erm, thanks," Diana placed the necklace around her neck. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything,"
"Oh, it's quite alright." Luna smiled. "You being my friend is the greatest gift of all. I better be going. Have a nice Nargle-free day, Ana,"
Diana watched as the younger blonde skipped away when another hand was placed on her shoulder making her turn around. Hermione was standing behind her with a smile.
"Hagrid's back, Ana," Hermione said, looking a bit flustered."Where's Harry?"
"Um, he's talking with Cho," The blonde pointed to the two talking, before looking at her best friend's flustered face. "You are feeling alright? You look a bit red."
Hermione batted her best friend's hand away from her forehead and frowned, looking at Harry and Cho. "I'm fine, Ana. Why is he talking with her?"
"She asked to talk. I don't know what about, but it looks pretty serious," Diana said, watching as her boyfriend looked peeved and Cho started crying.
"Whatever he said made her cry," Hermione says, grabbing her hand's hand. "C'mon, let's go save him,"
Diana and Hermione walked over to where the pair was talking. At this point, Cho was full-on sobbing as they stopped in front of them.
"Harry, Hagrid's back," Hermione said, glancing at Cho awkwardly.
Harry looked relieved and grabbed his girlfriend's hand before walking away. "Sorry, Cho."
They hurried out of the courtyard and met with Ron, before sprinting down the hill toward Hagrid's hut. They slid to a stop at the bottom and heard a familiar voice coming from inside. Umbridge.
"I will say this one time. I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been." Umbridge said, standing in front of Hagrid.
The four of them peeked through the window as Hagrid spoke. "I told you. I've been away for my health."
"Your health?" Umbridge said, looking around the half-giant, before glancing at the window. The four ducked, before reappearing.
"Yeah. Bit of fresh air, you know." Hagrid lied.
"Oh, yes. As gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by." Umbridge said sarcastically. "If I were you, I shouldn't get too used to being back. I mightn't bother unpacking at all."
"She's coming," Diana whispered as Umbridge walked to the door. The four of them hid around the hut, Hermione pulling Ron back. They watched as Umbridge marched up the hill and disappeared into the castle. Harry raised his fist and knocked on the door, causing loud barking from Fang.
"Hagrid! It's us!" Harry called.
Hagrid opened the door. "Shoulda known!"
The half-giant let the four in and shut the door. They all sat down at the table, Hagrid placed a chunk of meat on his bruised eye.
"This is top-secret, right? Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants." Hagrid said.
"Giants?" Hermione exclaimed. "You found them?"
"Well, they're not that hard to find, to be perfectly honest. They're so big, see?" Hagrid said. "I tried to convince them to join the cause. But I wasn't the only one trying to win them over."
"Deaths eaters?" Ron asked.
Hagrid nodded. "Yes. Trying to persuade them to join You-Know-Who."
"Did they?" Diana questioned.
"I gave them Dumbledore's message. Suppose some of them remember he was friendly to them. I suppose."
Harry motioned toward his injuries. "And they did this to you?"
"Not exactly, no," said Hagrid as Fang barked, whining over the raw meat that he was holding. "Oh, go on, you have it then, you dozy dog,"
Fang happily ate the meat as Hagrid looked out the window at the dark clouds covering the sky. "It's changing out there, just like last time."
"There's a storm coming, Harry. We'd best be ready when she does."
***
At breakfast the next morning, Diana sat next to Hermione, who opened her copy of the Daily Prophet and yelped which caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.
"What?" Harry, Diana, and Ron said together.
For an answer, she put the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black and white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's.
Diana pulled the paper closer to her as she recognized her father's deranged cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.
Antonin Dolokov, read the legend beneath a wizard with a long pale twisted face who was sneering up at Diana, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.
Augustus Rookwood, said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He-Who-Must-Be-Named.
But Diana's eyes were drawn to the picture of Bellatrix. She was related to this witch, the person her father hated was out of the high-security prison.
Bellatrix Lestrange was convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.
Stands of her hair turned gray as she looked at Neville who was sitting down at the table from them. He was reading the newspaper, pale as a ghost.
MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS A "RALLYING POINT" FOR OLD DEATH EATERS
"Idiots," Diana growled as she began to read it out loud.
The Ministry of Magic announced last night that there has been a mad breakout from Azkaban.
Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he had already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.
"We are doing all we can to round up the criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached,"
Diana placed down the newspaper in disgust and anger.
Harry seemed to mirror her emotions. "I don't believe this. Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?"
"What other options does he have?" Hermione said bitterly. "He can't say, 'Sorry everyone, Dumbledore warned me this might happen, the Azkaban guards have joined Lord Voldemort'—stop whimpering, Ron—and now Voldemort's worst supporters have broken out too.' I mean, he's spent a good six months telling everyone you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?"
Hermione opened the newspaper and began to read the report inside. Diana couldn't tear her eyes away from Neville, who was sitting stiffly. She couldn't help but feel guilty that the witch who tortured his parents was related to her.
She watched as Neville stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, she then followed him, standing up, catching the attention of her boyfriend, brother, and best friend.
"Where are you going, Ana?" Ron asked with his mouth filled with food. Harry looked at her with worried eyes.
"I'm going to talk to Neville," Diana replied. "I'll meet you in class,"
She kissed Harry on the cheek, before heading out of the Hall. She asked multiple people if they saw a tall, dark-haired boy walking past them. One pointed towards the corridor where the Room of Requirement was. Once she was in the corridor Room showed itself to her. Diana pushed the door open, stepped inside, and saw Neville standing in front of the mirror.
"Neville?" Diana said softly as she walked over to the taller boy.
She saw that his green eyes were staring at a picture of the order. Frank and Alice Longbottom standing among the rest of the Order.
"Fourteen years ago, a Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange used the Cruciatus Curse on my parents." Neville began, his voice wavering slightly. Diana grabbed his hand, squeezing it "She tortured them for information, but they never gave in." he glanced at her. "I'm quite proud to be their son. But I'm not sure I'm ready for everyone to know just yet."
"They're proud of you, Neville." Diana leaned her head on his arm, He leaned his head on hers. "And I'm sure they're very proud of being your parents."
"I know." His voice broke. "I know they are. But it hurts, Ana. They don't know who I am. Their own son. Sometimes I wish for a day that they remember who I am, only one day that's all I need. One day where I have parents like you and Koda."
Her hair turned fully blue, as tears fell from his eyes and her own welled up in hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist, which he returned and bent his head into her shoulder, his tears soaked her sweater.
"You don't need parents like me and Koda, Nev. Your parents still love you, no matter if they can't remember who you are. Deep down they know who you are and how much they love you, how you are their son."
Neville just nodded, hugging her tighter than before. His sobs became louder as they sank to the floor, all his pent-up grief from his parents flooded out like a thunderstorm. Diana just held him, letting him cry judgment-free.