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Title: In Longbottom’s Garden

Contributors: dm_fugitive, ___neville___

Edited by: Carla Lute

Posted: 2005-11-07 to 10

Game Date: August 2nd

Disclaimer: No one at Levicorpus owns Harry Potter, the world or its characters. We just like to play in J.K. Rowling’s world.

* * * * * * *

Draco, still feeling slightly dazed, began an ardent search for a pair of earmuffs or plugs. He remembered all his mother's dire warnings about putting anything smaller than his elbow in his ear as he stuffed them with cotton, and covered them with a few layers of duct tape that he found in the caretakers shed. He also took a pair of shears and put them in his pocket.

He apparated in small jumps to Lancashire and coming to a hault about quarter of a mile from the Longbottom residence. He walked the rest of the way. His shears in hand, sticking out of the long dark cloak that was pull up to cover his face made him look like a horror film psycho. But Draco wasn't try to scare anyone, he just didn't want to be seen.

He made his way through the inky night, skirting the lights from the house and began looking for the Mandrake leaves that Neville had boasted of...near the back door, he believed.

Neville was the only one awake in the house. His grandmother had gone to bed hours ago, but he had stayed up reading. These days, he avoided sleep. He had nightmares almost every night now and found himself staying up very late as a result.

He was trying his best to keep his eyes open and finish the chapter on poisonous plants when he thought he saw something moving outside. He quickly ran to the window to see if there was really someone or something there. What he saw was a hooded creature heading straight for the backyard.

"No! No! No!" he whispered to himself. "What if it goes for the mandrakes?"

Neville didn't know whether to run outside and stop the creature or run down the hall, put on his earmuffs and crouch in a corner somewhere until whatever that thing was was gone. Whatever he chose to do, he knew he had to do it now!

He ran to his bedroom and pulled out his wand and two pairs of ear muffs. He then ran into his grandmother's bedroom and put a pair over her ears. His gran was such a heavy sleeper, she didn't even notice. He then stepped out of her room and used his wand to lock the door behind him. He put the other pair of earmuffs on his own ears, ran out the back door and pulled out the first mandrake he could find. Then, he stood in the shadows and waited to see what would happen.

Draco heard a faint screeching and whirled around. Someone was standing in the silhouette of house lights, holding a squirming Mandrake. Grateful beyond measure that the duct tape seemed to be holding, he tried to get a better look at the plant. Much as he acted like he knew all about Mandrakes, Herbology was not his best subject. He had not been able to figure out which leaves he needed, so he'd just been cutting at random. But, it was dark...he couldn't see well enough to tell whether or not he had the right ones.

He gulped and decided to take a gamble. What he needed was light. Lumos he thought and the tip of his wand glowed bright.

Neville saw the creature reach into his cloak and pull out... a wand? What kind of creature would carry a wand? Unless it was a Death Eater. He had been fooled by the cloak. He had thought it was a Dementor or something. But now he knew he was face to face with a Death Eater. But why was the scream of the mandrake not killing it?
The wand lit up and Neville instantly knew he was exposed. He had to act fast. Gripping his wand tightly, he held it out in front of him.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

The wand flew out of Draco's hand and everything went dark again.

Great, he thought this is just great. This definitely goes on the list of things *not* to tell my father. Oddly though he felt compelled to tell Professor Snape all about it. Not now, later when he had a chance to think it over. Now, he needed his wand back. Accio wand! Accio wand! he thought desperately. He thought he heard a slight twitch in the folliage, but no wand came to him. He held his hands up in a sign of surrender, not sure if Longbottom could even see him, and started backing towards the spot that he thought his wand was.

Neville saw the wand fly out of the hooded man's hand. He was proud of himself for catching him off guard. He then saw the man hold up his hands in surrender. What kind of a Death Eater was this? Neville knew he wasn't good enough to make a real Death Eater surrender this quickly, if at all.

Neville kept his wand pointed at the Death Eater as he moved closer to get a better look. The moonlight was just bright enough that Neville could see who it was as soon as he got close enough.

"Malfoy?"

Draco backed away very slowly as Neville approached...inching ever closer to where he hoped his wand was... He thought he saw Longbottom's lips move, but between the ears plugs and the screeching Mandrake, he had no idea what he said. Draco had never been a good lip reader.

He felt something long and the right width under his shoe. He was already hunched close to the ground, he allowed himself to drop as though he had tripped, and grabbed for desired piece of wood. He pointed it at Longbottom. Unable to make out even his own voice he shouted. "Don't move! I don't want to hurt you! I just need some leaves!"

Neville panicked as he saw Draco grab his wand. Now they were both pointing their wands at each other. He saw Draco move his lips and he quickly jumped out of his direct path, afraid that he was trying to cast a spell on him. He had no idea what Draco had said, but Neville assumed he was trying to disarm him.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Draco was a bit more prepared this time. He couldn't hear the words, but the look of determination on Longbottom's face told him he was casting a spell. "Protego!" he shouted. It was as he said the words, felt the power move to his fingers and then stop there, that he realized the piece of wood he had picked up wasn't his wand...it was just a useless stick.

Longbottom's spell knocked him back onto the ground with his legs still coiled so that he was almost in a fetal position.

Oh %*^%#! thought Draco. This is DEFINITELY going on the list of things not to tell father. Oddly enough though, he did want to talk it over with Snape...in a few days, assuming Longbottom wasn't feeling murderous.

Neville saw Draco freeze and fall to the ground. He quickly grabbed the stick out of his hand. When he realized it was not a wand, he lit up his own wand and looked around for Draco's. Once he found it, he picked it up and held on to it tightly. He then replanted the mandrake so that he could finally take his earmuffs off.

Once he could hear again, he approached a frozen Draco and inspected his ears. He knew there had to be something in them because the mandrake's cry hadn't affected him in the slightest.

"Cotton and duct tape. Very interesting," he said as he removed the last bit of cotton from his ears.

"Alright Malfoy. I'm going to put you back to normal now because I want to know what in the bloody hell you are doing at my house. And I know you're not going to try anything, because I could easily kill you with a mandrake right now, but I'm choosing not to. Even though you've joined the Death Eaters, I expect that since we we've been classmates for so long, you will be as civil with me as I am being with you. Besides, I have your wand, so you don't really have much of a choice."

He pointed his wand at Draco and said, "Finite."

"DAMN!!" Draco screamed loudly, as his jaw suddenly unfroze. "That hurt," he whined rubbing his sore ears where Longbottom had ripped away the duct tape. Draco thought about saying When have I ever been civil with you, Longbottom?, but Neville did have a point about him being the one with the wand.

"I just..." Draco began, and suddenly developed the same bizarre lockjaw he'd experienced with his father earlier that evening.

Now that Neville knew he was no longer in danger, he smiled at the sight of Draco at his mercy. "I'm listening, Malfoy. You just what? What were you hoping to accomplish coming here? Where you planning to kill me?"

Draco shook his head furiously. He tried to say he just needed leaves for a potion. He tried to say he came because if Bella came, she would have tried to kill Neville and his grandmother. But none of that would come out. "I..." he had to think of something, something good, something his protesting mouth would let out. "I...needed to get caught," he said softly.

"You needed to get caught?" Neville had a look of confusion on his face. "What kind of an answer is that? You actually expect me to believe that? Is your conscience finally getting the best you or something?"

There was a period of silence.

"If you don't explain yourself right now, I'll turn you in to the ministry. They can use you as leverage to get to more of the Death Eaters. So start talking!"

Draco swore again. "Do you think I enjoy this? Do you think I wanted it in the first place? You have no idea what it's like to live in His shadow everyday. I need to get away for a while...I need to not be there. Call the Ministry if you want to." Draco drooped his head in his hand...the other hand quietly slipped the shears into his robe pocket. "Just don't make me go back...not yet."

Neville had never seen Draco behave like this. As far as he knew, he had never had a moment of weakness in his life. This made Neville very unsure of how to react. Was he really that desperate? Was he faking it? He just didn't know what to believe. But he had to say something.

"Okay, Malfoy, who are you trying to fool? I don't believe you for a second," he said. "And even if you were telling the truth, you've brought this on yourself. You didn't have to run off with the Death Eaters that night. You chose this path. Besides, do you really expect me to be nice to you? You've done nothing but torment me since I've known you. What makes you think I'm going to feel sorry for you?"

Draco just stared at Neville for a long moment. His legs were beginning to cramp from having kneeled for so long. He held both of his hands up now. "Look, Longbottom, you won. You caught me. I honestly don't care whether you pity me. I just think I might have a longer life with your people than mine. So what are you going to do with me?"

Neville took a moment to think about what to do. A part of him wanted to show some compassion, because that was in his nature. But another part of him wanted to torture Draco in some way. He wanted to keep him as a hostage until he figured out what to do with him. But he didn't want to put himself or his grandmother in any more danger.

"Does anyone know you are here? Are there any Death Eaters that will come to my house if you do not return tonight?"

Again Draco found himself fighting the bizarre lockjaw...he had to be careful what he told Longbottom about tonight, though he wasn't sure why.

He hadn't told anyone he had come here, but those words wouldn't come out instead he said, "No one cares about me. They might get curious come morning, but they shouldn't come here...unless you post another open message on your journal." He gave Neville a warning look with this last sentence.

"In that case," said Neville, "follow me." He led Draco into the house, never letting down his wand or his guard.
"You can sleep in here tonight." And with that, he pushed Draco into the hall closet, slammed the door shut and locked it.

"Sleep?!" Draco repeated incredulously. "In here?! Don't you have a spare bedroom or something?" He was not sure Longbottom heard him. Draco leaned against an uncomfortable set of shelves and tried to be appreciative that Longbottom hadn't tied him up.

Neville had heard Draco quite well, but pretended not to hear him.

A spare bedroom?, he thought. He actually expects me to treat him like a guest in my house and give him a bedroom with a window that he could easily crawl out of? No, I think the closet will be just fine for tonight.

Neville went to his room and placed Draco's wand in his trunk, underneath a stack of heavy books. He then closed the trunk and locked it.

"If he even tries to summon his wand, it will make so much noise, I'll wake up right away," he muttered to himself.
Then he wrote a letter to Professor McGonagall, sent his grandmother's owl off into the dark night with the letter, turned off the light and went to bed.

* * * * * * *

Longbottom had at least had the decency to store Draco in a linen closet, Draco pulled some pillows and blankets off the shelf and tried to make a nest for himself. But even if he had been comfortable, Draco doubted he could have slept. His mind was racing with thoughts he could not voice.

After a good half hour of wriggling into various positions in an attempt to sleep. Draco gave up and made a further search of the closet. Several spectacularly old fashion and over the top hats sporting dead birds and dried flowers lined the top shelf. Draco amused himself by trying them on. He was reaching for the one with the stuffed vulture, when his hand hand hit something with a hard edge that wasn't a wall.

Draco pulled out a hardy shoebox from the far corner. He sat down on the floor of the closet and opened the lid. Inside were old photographs.

He recognized Frank and Alice Longbottom from an old Daily Prophet article that Aunt Bella had showed him, but even if he hadn't, he still would have known they were Neville's parents. Some of the pictures were olds ones, of healthy, happy Longbottoms. Others were more recent...taken inside St.Mungo's longterm care ward. Draco stared at them for a longtime, transfixed by Alice Longbottom's vacant eyes.

Quite a while later, he put the box with the photos and the hats back up on the shelf. (The broken bits of the wand he put in his pocket...there was no spellotape to mend them and his mothers warnings about never picking up broken wands still rung in his head, but they gave him some comfort all the same.) Then Draco curled into a ball on the floor, covered himself with a blanket, and cried silently until he fell asleep.

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