Really hoping...

[agathi]

... Neville doesn't have anything seditious in that garden notebook. I don't remember, was he involved with the fluxweed when it was there?

Comments

[kiya]

I imagine it has his notes on the Daemonorops draco and the lionwort in it.

[janeite]

Which are not damaging in and of themselves--efforts to develop hardier strains of potions ingredients is something you'd expect from a NEWT student it sounds like. Just as long as he doesn't mention anything about their intended uses or recipients.

[cheyinka]

I am almost certain he was involved with the fluxweed, but hopefully if he wrote about it it's vague enough that he can say he was doing what Professor Sprout asked him to do.

[ursamajor]

Oh, shit.

Edit: oh shit oh shit oh shit.

[cheyinka]

Well. That's problematic. At least Evelyn et al know that something might be up, thanks to Hydra's quick note...

[(Anonymous)]

I was concerned Neville was too happy in his last couple of posts.

I'm glad Evelyn was able to see through D's note.

[ursamajor]

*nod* Yeah, and good choice on the userpic - not just automatically believing.

Still, worried for Neville. :( Wonder how long Bellatrix is going to leave him alone with Hydra, or if that's already over.

[cheyinka]

Oh. Oh dear. Frank is going to rescue his son.

[kiya]

My comment as soon as I saw Bella saying she had Neville was "FRANK IS GOING TO GO SPARE."

[janeite]

I actually think that may have been his intent, at least on some level. We know he's lost his taste for hunting down traitors, and that he's extremely protective of the students in his care. It was an uncharacteristically clumsy move for him, if he didn't at least subconsciously want to tip her off.

[(Anonymous)]

agreed, I was thinking that too.

qwerty88 (that was me anon above too)

[cheyinka]

Especially with how his invitation to Aurora went, yes. Though I think it was more subconscious than conscious, really; he may have been hoping to take her into his custody before Bellatrix could, reasoning that he'd be a gentler interrogator.

[kiya]

Well, fuck canon/AU dramatic parallelism right in the ear.

[keshwyn]

Agreed. While harkening back to that other canon is one of the things Alternity can be awesome for, I was really, really hoping not in this case. (I mean, the sword of Gryffindor was not really in character for Neville, but there were so many OTHER things that could have been...aaaaagh damn.)

[kiya]

... so. Neville's like the bravest character in canon, if you know how to look for it.

... he knows they're going to try to break him. And he knows they're going to succeed eventually, right?

... what you want to bet he managed to say or do something to push someone over the edge into breaking his mind so he didn't give anything else away?

Because if he thought of it. he would.

[cheyinka]

He totally would, but what a way to go. :(

[keshwyn]

His greatest fear was betraying his parents. He always had to avoid boggarts because of that.

Going out like that would be the most painfully unfunny method of conquering a boggart ever.

Edited to add: I did not want to be right.

[kiya]

Or he didn't provoke it, but rather asked Hydra to do it.

(And now she has to deal with that.)

[batrachian]

which she...will.

(i am unsure how to feel about that. but she totally would have done it.)

[janeite]

I think it was Hydra. I think Neville dropped his occlumency and asked her to do it. She couldn't help him escape or kill him outright without blowing her own cover but THIS--this she could do. She was left alone with him to practice, and pushing too hard too fast & breaking your suspect before you can get any useful intel seems like something that would be thought of as a "rookie" mistake.

[kiya]

"I'm sorry I broke the traitor, mummy, but I'm trying to be like you and I thought I was getting somewhere...."

[(Anonymous)]

good thought

qwerty88

[kiya]

Hydra's the worse for wear. Pretty sure that confirms our theory, hey? Both in the 'I did that to my friend' sense and the 'Mummy was not happy afterwards' sense....

[cheyinka]

Yeah. That sounds very likely, and also very awful :(

[kiya]

This is Alternity. It can always get worse.

[cheyinka]

Yeah. Also, Bill seems to be thinking along similar lines.

[kiya]

And Hydra confirms.

[cheyinka]

Well. That just breaks my heart all over again.

I... wow.

[keshwyn]

Also, if we're hearkening back to the otherCanon, Bellatrix, the two Lestranges, and Barty Crouch were the ones who did it to the Longbottoms originally.

Hydra is the Lestrange/Bellatrix magic combo of Neville's generation.

That poor woman.

[keshwyn]

Dolohov is going to have a whole HERD of cows.

[cheyinka]

Every cow. Every cow ever will be had. (but it'll be too late for Neville)

[stinaleigh]

He started letting them loose in response yo Seamus.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, that sense of foreboding I'd had since Neville's book went missing turned out to be justified. Dammit.

I actually shouted "No!" at my computer screen and literally still have tears streaming down my face.

In the morning, I'm sure I'll be ready to congratulate the players on their excellent storytelling yet again. But right now, I think I need to retreat from Alternity for a bit & lick my wounds.

[agathi]

(That was me.)