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(Enchanting Melodies) Chapter 419: The Last Laugh
🕑 Added 2025-02-01 14:03:27 +0000 UTCChapter 419: The Last Laugh
20 May 1995, Hogwarts, Scotland
Neville Longbottom knew that this was a bad idea. It wasn’t exactly a hard conclusion to make. He learned time and time again that trying to force Harry Potter into a position he didn’t want, was a very easy way to get outplayed. Dumbledore had learned that the hard way many times, as did the ICW, the minister… Now that Neville thought about it, a very disturbing number of people tried to oppose Harry, and all of them ended up losing.
Yeah, he wasn’t looking forward to this, not at all. But he was doing it for Hermione. The muggleborn had stuck by him through thick and thin, stayed his friend despite failing to save her in the Chamber of Secrets, and didn’t sneer at him like most people would when he told her that he was pretty much not a Longbottom anymore.
It was a dark year, looking back. When the world turned on him when Harry betrayed him, lost all of his so-called friends, when he felt constantly guilty about Hermione fate, he became easily manipulated and relied on the feeling of channelling something very dark, and obviously very evil. It had been nice, to be regarded as a powerful wizard. No wonder Harry liked it so much. And yet, all that talent drove him to almost kill someone in a fucking school competition. He had been at his lowest after that, still regarded as a serial killer in the making and having been essentially disinherited. Hermione coming back in the summer was the literal light at the end of the tunnel, and he refused to let her slip between his fingers again, not when he finally had her back.
The idea of her being mind-controlled by some Unspeakable into becoming a monster frightened him, to say the least. It was enough that he was willing to risk Harry’s ire. As powerful and terrifying as the other boy was, he wouldn’t go too far. Well, he hoped he wouldn’t. He still felt bad about it since Harry had just saved him by removing the Horcrux from his scar, but Hermione’s well-being overwhelmed any other feeling he might have had for the other boy.
To be perfectly fair, the first part of Hermione’s plan had gone without a hitch. He had been nervous about stealing the Diary from the Department of Mysteries, but the entire heist was over in less than an hour. It was funny, being under Polyjuice and robes, and just waltzing into the Ministry of Magic, taking the elevator as Unspeakables, and no one even tried to stop them. Hermione had found a way to get past the first layer of protection to enter the department, and the rest was easy enough.
Hermione did all the work, very cleverly breaking through the wards of the rooms, stopping any alarm from being set off, and all Neville had to do was to make sure she remained undisturbed while she tried to break in. He had put up a few privacy wards, enchantments to make people ignore them, and even a disillusionment charm, but it was unnecessary. The Department of Mysteries was essentially empty, something about them being busy investigating some incident and whatnot.
Whether luck was in their favour, or it was their plan working out without a hitch, they still got the Diary, replaced it with a fake, and got out, without leaving any traces. Hermione was practically skipping near the end, and all they had to do was the hard part, getting Harry to help them.
It was weird that a heist into one of the most secretive departments in the Ministry of Magic was easier than trying to get Harry to do what they wanted. Neville had no idea how Hermione was planning on doing that and to be completely honest, he was sort of worried about it.
Well, that was when the complication started. For one, they had no idea where he was. Neither Greengrass nor Harry were seen during dinner, and since Neville knew that Harry could sneak in and out of the castle when it was under its war wards, it wasn’t out of the question for them to not even be in Hogwarts.
It was honestly a stroke of luck that they found Greengrass and Harry talking with each other near the Black Lake, seemingly on a romantic walk, after which they started kissing. The sight did make Neville irrationally angry.
He was frustrated, of course. He’d been walking around the castle for hours, trying to find them, and they were having fun? Hermione obviously felt the same way, the way she gripped her wand far tighter than usual was proof of that.
Not wanting to miss them after hours of searching, Hermione cast a privacy ward around them, probably hoping to convince Harry to help her without any outside interruption, only for her and Neville’s wand to come flying out of their hands.
Harry turned and glanced at them for less than a second, before saying, “You’re both fucking idiots.”
Wait what? Why the fuck would Harry call them idiots. They hadn’t even said anything. Neville was absolutely struck speechless, but Hermione, thankfully, kept her wits and asked, “Why are we idiots?”
“You mean besides trying to set a ward around a couple who were kissing?” he blandly replied.
Neville blushed, “It’s not our fault that you’ve been very hard to pin down.”
Harry shrugged in response, “That’s hardly my problem.”
Right as they were about to bicker, Hermione interrupted them, “Harry Potter, you owe me and I’m here to collect.”
Any drop of amusement disappeared from Harry’s face, “And pray and tell what I owe you, Granger?”
“Your mother.”
“My mother is dead,” Harry replied with sarcasm dripping in his tone.
“She is,” the muggleborn agreed, “But that doesn’t change what she did to me.”
Harry was about to respond, but Greengrass stopped him by grabbing his hand. He looked at his girlfriend in surprise, before just nodding at her. It was like the two had a private conversation, “Look, Granger, Lily Evans didn’t do anything to you. You’re the idiot who got her soul swallowed up in a diary. The Unspeakables are the ones who tried to use you as a weapon. All Lily did was give you a couple of frankly harmless orders, hoping that you’d stay out of her way, and yet, here you are, making a nuisance of yourself. And all in all, Harry had no hand in anything that happened to you.”
Hermione practically snarled at her. It was the most emotional Neville had seen her ever since she came back. She quickly steeled herself, “Well, let’s agree to disagree. Lucky for me, I’m not exactly asking him for help.”
The last Potter hummed, looking more amused than anything, “Let me get this straight, you’re coming to me, needing my help, because Neville probably blabbed about me removing his Horcrux. And instead of trying to make a deal, instead of trying to appease me or anything like that, your plan is to threaten me, try to force me to put your soul back into your body.”
“No, I want you to teach me soul magic. I’m not trusting anyone with my soul, not anymore,” the muggleborn answered without denying anything.
“Wow. You want me to teach you a very dangerous form of magic that was lost to time, a form of magic that I still haven’t fully mastered while threatening me. Are you seriously hearing yourself? The sad thing is that you can’t learn, not really. Soul magic needs a certain form of perception of the world, it’s chaotic and yet rigid at times, it needs a lot of improvisation since no two souls are really the same, and unfortunately, you’re not good at that. You’re very smart, very quick at understanding, an ideal operative, but you’re so materialistic, your thoughts are so rigid and logical that you’ll never be able to understand soul magic. And even if you were suitable, there is nothing that would get me to teach it to someone who’s acting the way you are.”
“You will if you don’t want everyone to know about your soul magic. They wouldn’t be as kind as I am about it, and they’ll target your weak point.”
That last statement was ominous, especially since Hermione was staring right at Greengrass, essentially threatening her. When Hermione said that she was certain that she could convince Harry to teach her, he didn’t expect her to threaten his girlfriend. He would have refused otherwise. Sure, he knew that the negotiation wouldn’t be exactly friendly, but not that Hermione was planning on getting them both killed.
There were rumours about what happened when someone hurt Harry Potter’s family. The Lycans had literally disappeared even since they attacked Arcturus Black. Neville did his best to research a bit about what happened outside the castle with the war wards being lifted, and apparently, Lycans just stopped going out in public, without any sort of warning. According to a lot of Aurors, Harry had left the hospital on the warpath. It was probably the Daily Prophet embellishing things again, but there had to be some truth to it.
The moral of the story was very simple. Do not mess with Harry Potter’s friends and family, but Hermione didn’t seem to have taken that to heart. Neville turned towards the muggleborn and asked, "What the hell, Hermione?"
It hadn't even been a conscious thing. He was just blindsided by the way the muggleborn acted. Maybe it was her desperation, maybe she had something else up her sleeves, but the way the amusement disappeared from Harry’s face, the way his eyes narrowed at the both of them, well, Neville would be lying if he said that he didn’t shiver slightly in fear.
Hermione, though, gave him a warning glance and turned back towards Harry, expecting a response. And she got one, as the last Potter spoke up, his voice frosty, “Did you think that coming here hoping to blackmail me would change anything? I can just as easily tell people about the Horcrux in Neville’s scar, about how he isn’t even a Longbottom anymore, or even I can tell them about your diary, that you’re not healed yet. Do you think the public wouldn’t demand killing Longbottom for the ‘danger’ he represents? Do you think the Wizengamot is going to care about some muggleborn’s plight? No, they’ll say that you’re technically an artefact, not a witch, and they’ll use you as a weapon. I can protect my friends and family, can you say the same for yours.”
“You don’t have any proof,” Neville answered, panicked at what Harry had said.
“Neither do you. But unlike you, the evidence of Hermione’s nature can be very easily procured. All it would take is a snap of my finger.”
The young wizard snapped his finger, and a familiar diary materialized in his hand. Hermione’s eyes widened in panic and opened her expanded bag, only to see it empty. Harry rolled his eyes, “That’s just sad. Did no one tell you that souls are multidimensional in nature? A small expansion charm and a ward wouldn’t do much to hide it from me. Maybe it would work on a couple of detection charms, but someone who actually knows soul magic. Now, that I have it, I wonder what I’ll do. I could kill you, right here, right now. No one would even bat an eyelash. I could force you to go attack the ministry, turn you into a criminal.”
Neville ran towards Harry, trying to snatch the diary from his hands, only to find himself back where he started. He was wandless and severely outmatched. He gave the other wizard a pleading look, “Harry, please.”
Harry and Greengrass exchanged a look once more, this time it was far longer. Neville didn’t know what silent conversation they were having, only that by the end, Harry’s eyes softened slightly, and he released a tired sigh, “Look, I’m tired. I’ve had a very draining day, and I certainly didn’t need the two of you running here with a half-baked plan to blackmail me. So, I’m going to do you a solid. This is it. From this day forward, I don’t know you. Either of you lay here, dying, then I will do nothing to stop it. It’s not my problem anymore,” he turned towards the frantic Hermione and spoke up, “You will never speak to anyone about my capabilities. You will not knowingly interfere in my affairs with the intent to hinder me or my goals. You will never try to hurt me, either directly or indirectly, or anyone that I love. And if Longbottom ever tries to do the same, you will kill him.”
Neville’s eyes widened when he realized that Harry had just used the Diary to enforce his will on Hermione. He had essentially enslaved her. Hell, one of the commands was to kill him.
Before he could say anything else, Harry grabbed the diary and took out a small spark of light from it, which he pressed firmly into Hermione’s chest. Immediately after, the diary turned into dust.
He yelped in fear, expecting the worst, and seeing Hermione dead. But she wasn’t. She was just standing there, gaping at Harry, touching her face, while murmuring, “I’m free.”
Like an owl, she turned towards Harry, “Something is wrong. What did you do?”
“I only put your soul in your body, but you forgot what the Unspeakables did, didn’t you? What they taught you was never in your soul but in the diary itself. They didn’t know any soul magic, just realized that you could learn through it, and with the diary gone, you’re back to your old boring self. Your brain was never really in charge of your thinking. No, it was the enchantments in the diary. No Diary means no superpowered brain, no extra knowledge, nothing. You’re just a normal muggleborn now. You’re not special, not anymore.”
She ran towards Harry only to freeze in her tracks, “Did you forget about your last orders? You can’t harm me. But why would you want to? You’re free now, aren’t you? You have your soul back. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Neville glared at the other wizard, who interrupted him, “This concludes any business we have left. The only reason I wasn’t as severe is because of our history together. This ends now. We are done. No more adventures, no more deadly escapades, just live a quiet unremarkable life, and we won’t have to speak to one another again. Goodbye, Neville, Hermione. Live well.”
Harry grabbed Greengrass’ arm and started to walk towards the castle. The former Longbottom scion was frozen for a fraction of a second before turning, while yelling, “Now, wait a minute…”
As he turned, he realized that he was somehow right outside the Gryffindor common room. Hermione, still speechless, just went to her knees, tears flowing from her eyes, “It’s over.”
Neville didn’t know what to say. She had fucked up royally in how she handled the interaction with Harry. That was a fact, which could have easily gotten them hurt or even killed. A part of him wanted to lash out, to tell her how stupid she had been, but one look at her face made him freeze.
Instead, he just agreed with her, “It is. You have your soul now.”
“Then why do I feel like I lost?”
“You did. We did. But that doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you’re free now.”
The muggleborn sniffed, “I’m not special anymore.”
“I was never special,” the former Longbottom scion answered, “That doesn’t make me any lesser, only like everyone else. But you’ve always been special, the brightest witch of your age. You can always still grow. We still have time.”
“Together?” she asked, with vulnerability in her voice.
“Yes, together forever,” he replied without a drop of doubt in his voice.
Neville didn't know what would come in the future. He always felt like his path had been dictated to him, but that wasn't the case, not anymore. As badly as this went, this was an opportunity for both Hermione and him, an opportunity for a new beginning.
A new beginning. Yes, he liked the sound of that.
AN: Well, that’s it for Neville and Hermione. This chapter was a bitch and a half to write, and I’m not sure it came out like I wanted it to. It’s supposed to be a bittersweet ending with neither of them being special anymore. Neville isn’t a Longbottom anymore, the public stopped caring about him too much, and even his fate is gone. Hermione lost everything that made her special from the Department of Mysteries, and they’ll both have to explore their new lives forever. I thought a lot about their ending, and this felt the most fitting. I was planning on having Neville be involved in the last fight, but I changed my mind. It felt like it would be too intrusive, I guess. He hasn’t been a vital part of the story in a while. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Comments
Garri Sarkisov
Well done bittersweet indeed
Mythras Sarimanok
I’m a fan of how that was wrapped up!
athass_prkr
I did add a small part with Neville protesting. But yeah, I have no direct plan on using Neville again. Maybe if I get a flash of inspiration, I would. But you have a good point about preserving Neville's 'goodwill' just in case.
DeriVeritas
It kind of depends on whether you actually intend for this to conclude their role in the story. If you don’t, this could serve as a means of preserving Neville’s minor goodwill.
DeriVeritas
An interesting addition/edit might be to have Neville object to Hermione’s implied threat. Nothing that would seriously change the chapter, but it could indicate to Harry that he expected a less antagonistic conversation.
Afterdark230
Perfect!!! Did not see it coming that way. Nice way to tie up the two of them!
