Chapter Two:A Scapegoat is Born
The day after Voldemort disappeared with Harry, three of his Death Eaters breached the Longbottom safe house. Among them were Barty Crouch Jr, Rodolphus Lestrange, and his brother Rabastan. Rodolphus' wife, Bellatrix Lestrange, would've been there had she not been called up by the Dark Lord himself. She and the Malfoys alone knew that he was still alive.
The Death Eaters had gone off at short notice because they knew that the Longbottoms went into hiding at the same time the Potters did. Rodolphus, who was leading the little expedition, thought that they would likely know why Voldemort went after the Potters. This is why he could be seen breaking down the wards around the little cottage.
He watched the small family through a large bay window for a second before nodding to his brother. At that the two of them, a white faced Crouch trailing behind, blasted down the front door and filed into the Longbottoms' sitting room. He sneered when he saw that neither of the two aurors had wands on them.
"We've got a few questions for you," he said, still sneering.
Rabastan then said, "Yeah, and if you don't answer them—" he pounded his fist into his hand.
Rodolphus shot him a look and then continued harshly, "Why did the Potters go into hiding?"
The young couple glanced at each other before glancing back at the three Death Eaters in front of them. Rodolphus nodded to his brother, who grinned.
The younger brother then stepped forward and cast the cruciatus on Frank. The wizard under the spell sank to his knees but never let out a scream. After a few long seconds, Rabastan lifted the curse and Frank sat on the ground sobbing and gasping for breath.
Then Rodolphus rounded on Alice. "Maybe you'll have some answers for me."
"You'd have to kill me first," she growled, glaring at him.
The insane man thought for a moment before replying, "Maybe I won't have to." He then turned to Crouch and snapped, "Get the boy."
Crouch paled slightly at being addressed but nevertheless stepped forward and wrestled a one-year-old boy from the witch's grasp.
At this she started screaming, "Please! Don't touch Neville! Kill me, torture me, anything but don't hurt him!"
"That got a reaction," Rabastan said, grinning stupidly.
Rodolphus, however, began shouting as well. "Tell me why the Potters went into hiding!"
"Don't!" Frank shouted to his wife.
"CRUCIO!"
The auror was now writhing on the ground. Rabastan held the spell for over a minute. Rodolphus turned his wand on Neville and Alice began screaming again and he ended up torturing her as well. They spent after almost an hour, they finally left as they realized that they were not going to get any information out of the two Longbottoms, as they could no longer think straight from the pain. They exited the house leaving a baby boy, Neville, to sniffle and cry for his mummy.
After a couple hours, Dumbledore showed up and took Neville to his grandmother's. When she had answered the door, Dumbledore gave him to her, told her what had happened, and told her to keep a firm hand on the boy. Then, he left and called up an Order meeting.
"Why have you called us here?" Molly Weasley asked. A lot of the members that were left looked at him curiously, waiting for an explanation.
"As you know," he started, gaining everyone's attention. "The Potters were murdered by none other than Lord Voldemort." Everyone nodded, tears in their eyes. "Well, some Death Eaters wanted to know why he died, so they went after the only other family that went to hiding at the same time as the Potters, the Longbottoms." The room gasped. "Alice and Frank were tortured into insanity today, leaving poor Neville pretty much without parents. Now I am going to tell you all some information on why Voldemort went after the Potters and why they and the Longbottoms went into hiding. A couple months ago, a prophesy was made that spoke of a boy born at the end of July that would have the power to destroy Voldemort. There were two children that this applied to; Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Obviously, it wasn't Harry or he would still be here with us today, so we can only assume that the now orphaned child, Neville, is the one who can defeat Voldemort. We all know that he isn't really gone, so I have told you this so that we can protect the boy."
And with that he concluded the meeting. Poor Neville was then terrorized for the next ten years, everyone in the Order revering him. This was all a part of the master plan that Dumbledore had come up with. What did it matter that it crushed a poor boy's ego? It was for the greater good after all.