If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
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5 May 1995, Hogwarts
"What? Just like that? You came in, removed the thing in my scar, and are just leaving without any other explanation."
"Goodbye, Longbottom. I have things to do. Oh, and don't tell anyone about this." With that said, he conjured an illusion hiding himself as he opened a portal and left the castle, with a dumbstruck teenager yelling his name.
Neville watched as Harry Potter disappeared from his sight while yelling, "Potter!"
He looked around and saw no signs of the Potter scion, before slumping into himself. To be completely honest, he didn't know whether he should be thankful for Harry or angry at him for what had just happened.
Well, he was mostly just thankful. After all, Harry had done something that no one, not a single expert from all over the world had been able to do. His grandmother had called in healers, curse breakers, and even some weird shamans who couldn't speak English, trying to remove the soul shard in his scar, but nothing worked.
The Longbottom Matriarch was even tempted to speak with Dumbledore once more, despite the man's horrible reputation, if it could save his life and free him from his burden. Of course, it was quickly ruled as a bad idea since the former headmaster obviously knew about the soul shard and hadn't done anything to help.
It had been stressful, knowing that at any moment, he could lose control of his own body, and become nothing more than a clone of the man who had murdered his parents. Even his grandmother kept him at arm's reach, always wondering if he'd snap and kill them all. That mixed with the fact that the entirety of magical Britain would demand his head if they knew of it, well, made for a very troubling year, to say the least.
And now, it was gone.
Neville could already feel the difference. His mind felt clearer and less cluttered. Magic came easier to him. It wasn't more powerful, but it was more structured. He slept easier and the small train of thoughts about attacking people who made fun of him, just stopped.
When Potter arrived, no matter how much Neville knew that it wasn't warranted, a small part of him wanted to attack him. He didn't even realize that it wasn't meant to be a thing until he thought about it clearly. He was just less angry all the time.
He couldn't help but wonder how much of his anger was him, and how much was the Horcrux.
Because there was still some anger there, deep down. He couldn't help but feel frustrated that the boy healed him so easily now, instead of a year prior. He wouldn't have lost his family crest then, and perhaps, he would have even become the Longbottom Patriarch one day.
And yet, he had to wait until Neville was at his lowest to find that out.
He knew that it wasn't rational, but the anger was still there. It was just different. Where previously, it felt like a blasting curse, now it felt like a slow simmering flame, one that was far more controllable.
Then again, he had no idea how Harry managed to do what he did. Maybe he'd been researching it for a year and just figured it out. He hated not knowing.
He walked back to the common room, ignoring the faint whispers trailing behind him, and sat next to Hermione. They had gotten a lot closer after the fight with Voldemort. The muggleborn had saved his life, he knew that and could never repay her for what she had done.
Without even saying anything, the girl cast a privacy charm around them, "Something happened."
"How in Merlin's name did you figure that out?" Neville asked without even me saying anything.
"It's in your eyes. You can try to hide anything, but your eyes will always betray you."
The former Longbottom scion rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever. Do you want to hear it or not?"
"This better be good," she muttered.
"It's gone!" his grin widened as he saw the look of pure confusion on her face, "What was in my scar, it's finally gone."
"What? How?" she answered, still gaping at what he had just said.
"Harry came by a few minutes ago, and just to care of it. I have no idea what he did. I felt this intense heat everywhere, then I think I blacked out from the pain. After that, it was gone."
It really was hard to put it into words. How does one describe someone touching their soul, making it react, before ripping out Voldemort's soul shard like a leech? Still, Hermione's reaction was worth it. He had never seen her visibly gape at anything since she came back from the Department of Mysteries.
She steeled herself a bit, "Harry Potter was here?"
"I don't know how he snuck through the wards either. But I learned to give up and understand his magic over the years. Do you remember what he did in the first two tasks of the tournament? He didn't even look like he was trying."
"He's impressive, but soul magic is a dead art. I couldn't find out anything about it. It's like someone personally purged all mention of it from all sources of knowledge. You know what, let me have a look."
Before he could say anything, the muggleborn waved her wand at his face in very complicated patterns. She kept frowning with each result while muttering, "This doesn't make any sense. How did he do it?"
"What's all that?"
"Just revealing charms. I found one geared towards dark magic and magical anomalies. There's still dark magic on your scar, but it's fading. And there doesn't seem to be any magical anomaly, not anymore."
Neville gave her a weird look, "You tried the spell on me before."
"Well, yeah. I was curious and wanted to know if I could help. Don't worry, I never messed with it, just used some revealing charms to understand it. There's nothing I could find that could even theoretically help you, so I stopped."
"Have you been looking into soul magic ever since I told you about the Horcrux?" he asked.
It had been a massive step forward and a sign of trust on Neville's part when he told her about the Horcrux. It had been after Voldemort's return, where he was almost drowned by the guilt, hearing the sobs of students around him, each one losing a parent, a sibling, or a friend in a way that was only possible because of him.
He needed someone to confide in. He and Ron had drifted away, mostly because he started to see through the boy's true nature. He couldn't help but wonder why it took hearing the redhead badmouthing him after the Chamber of Secrets fiasco. Ron was someone who was easily pressured by the idea of being in the popular crowd. He was extremely loyal when they were in trouble, and surprisingly brave at times, but when the whole world turned on Neville, the redhead was pressured to do so as well.
Hermione was the only person other than his grandmother that he trusted, and while being stuck in a castle where everyone suffered unknowingly because of his existence, he couldn't help but confess everything to her. He felt lighter after that, and there was no judgment in Hermione's eyes, just sympathy.
It was probably why they were so much closer now than they ever could be.
To think that she'd been looking for anything to help him despite knowing that Neville had visited hundreds of experts who couldn't do anything. It warmed his heart.
However, he froze completely when Hermione shook her head, "It's not just that. I did research to try to solve your condition, but that's not it. There's a secret I've been keeping."
Neville gave her a confused look, feeling slightly betrayed, "What secret?"
"Do you remember the fact that my soul was stuck inside a Diary?"
"Yes, the Unspeakables healed you, right?"
The muggleborn shook her head, "That's not quite right. My soul is still there, in the Diary, but they connected it to my body, which is how I'm here now."
"So, you're trying to fix it?"
It didn't sound that serious. She was still Hermione, and she was still the wonderful muggleborn that befriended him. Was her soul being in another place really that big of a deal?
As if reading his thoughts, she nodded, "Of course I want to fix it. You need to understand. My soul being in someone's hand means that I belong to them. They could make me do whatever I want. In fact, they've been ordering me for a while now. They seemingly forgot about me with the whole war going on and I've been extremely lucky that no one tried to force me to do something reckless here, like take hostages or something."
"But the wards…" Neville protested.
However, Hermione interrupted him, "I don't know much about soul magic, but I know that there's very little that wards could do to stop it. They could force me to kill you and there's nothing I can do to stop it. There's no way I can resist it. There's a reason why Phylacteries are considered to be dangerous. Immortality is very nice until someone finds your soul and turns you into a glorified puppet."
Neville froze at that, unable to grasp the fact that his closest friend had been keeping this for so long, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I literally couldn't. I also couldn't search for a way of escaping. I was literally soul-bound not to do that. Do you have any idea what it feels like to have chains around your very soul, and have thoughts literally erased from you since they go against your orders? I've been using the excuse of saving you as a way to learn more about soul magic. It was a nice way to circumvent my orders, not that it helped. I found nothing."
"But how are you telling me now?"
She burst into laughter at that. It was ugly, raw, and more than a bit mad, "Because the bitch is finally dead, and the commands issued by her are null and void. I don't know who the hell managed to kill her, but I'd like to personally thank them. I felt all of the commands I'd been forced to obey just disappear. Can you imagine the sheer relief I feel? I'm free. Or, at least, I am free until someone else picks up the Diary and takes control of me once more."
The former Longbottom scion couldn't help but sympathize with her. It must have been stifling, suffering while completely alone, unable to confide to anyone, or even express. Still, the idea that someone that was halfway across the country telling her to kill him was terrifying, especially since there was nothing, she could do to stop it.
"How can I help?"
"With the bitch dying, the Department of Mysteries will be scrambling trying to reorganize itself. My plan is to sneak inside and steal the Diary."
Neville nodded resolutely at that, "We can't leave with the wards still up. I have no idea how Harry was able to sneak in and out of this place."
"I don't either," the muggleborn replied, "But we shouldn't have to wait for long until McGonagall lifts the wards. It'll happen any day now, and we should be done planning by then."
"And what next? Do we just hide the Diary until the day we die?"
She shook her head, "No, the Unspeakables will keep looking for it. We'll need knowledge of soul magic from someone who really understands the field."
"You're talking about Harry."
"I don't know a lot about the field, but I can tell that removing a soul shard without destroying the host is beyond anything I could find in any text, and beyond what the Unspeakables were able to do in over a year of experimentation."
Neville gave her a doubtful look, "I don't think Harry will be willing to teach you soul magic. You said that it was a very rare and dangerous field and he's been notoriously secretive with his magic since coming to school."
"I can be very convincing when I want to," she murmured threateningly.
"I'm not sure that this is a good idea, Hermione."
"Do you have any idea what it feels like to have someone dictate every single act of your life with just a word? Do you have any idea what it feels like to think that this might be your last day alive, that you might be forced to commit unspeakable crimes because of someone halfway across the country wants you to? I'm desperate. And maybe sneaking into the Department of Mysteries is a bad idea. Maybe trying to force Potter's hand would backfire. But I'm running out of options, and this is my only chance at truly becoming free. Plus, he owes me, and he knows it. I'm not asking you to do anything you're not comfortable with, but I'm doing this with or without you. Still, this is a moot point if we can't get the Diary first."
Neville hesitated. He knew that it was a bad idea, but what choice did he have? This was his last friend, and he could see the tears in her eyes, the emotions so raw that he couldn't refuse, "I'll help you with stealing the Diary on the condition that we have a proper conversation before you do anything reckless against Harry. Do we have a deal?"
The blinding smile on the girl's face made it all worth it. He only hoped that this wouldn't end up biting him in the ass.
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AN: I sort of wrote this on a whim. I had something else planned but decided to make this at the last minute. Some of you expressed some interest in having a small subplot with these two. I was planning on keeping this in the background and having some sort of reveal afterwards, but it wouldn't have felt right without this chapter.
The idea was to show Hermione's desperation at getting her soul back, and she's jumping at the chance since she realized that he was able to heal Neville. She's too jaded to trust anyone with her soul, which is why she wants to pressure Harry into teaching her. (Don't worry; her plan isn't to attack him or anything too stupid.) Surprisingly, I had fun writing Neville as the voice of reason for once.
Still, I know that a lot of you definitely don't like chapters with Neville and Hermione, so I'm leaving it up to you to decide. This chapter was to pretty much open the door for it, but I can just as easily not do it.
Anyway, whether or not I'll actively continue this subplot will be up to you. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.