The Boy Who Believed - Neville Longbottom x OC

Chapter eighteen: The Howler

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I woke up at 3 am. I tried to fall asleep again, but I couldn't. I stared at the ceiling. Suddenly an idea popped in my head. Now was the perfect moment to check on the diary. I put on some socks and took my wand with me. I walked to the basement as quiet as possible. I looked if the coast was clear and I walked down the basement. It was very dark and cold. I found a lantern and turned it on. I walked to the back of the basement, where I first found the dairy.

When I arrived at the table where it was supposed to be, there was nothing. The diary was gone. I looked at other places, but couldn't find it anywhere.

"Where is it?" I whispered to myself.

"Where is what?" a voice said. I immediately recognized it. Lucius stood there with a raised eyebrow. "Well? Are you going to answer my question?"

"Umm... well..." I tried to come up with a good lie. "I looked for the box my mother left for me." Lucius was confused.

"Why would you look for a box, which is empty?" he asked.

"Well... I maybe thought... that there was something written in the inside. So I decided to look for it." I lied. Good lie, Mila.

"In the middle of the night?" Lucius asked.

"No... I mean yes... but... I couldn't sleep anymore." I said. That is in the fact not exactly a lie.

"So you thought, because you couldn't sleep, you will just go look for a empty box?" he asked. I nodded. He raised his eyebrow.

"Well, I'm getting tired now. I guess I will go to sleep now. Goodnight!" I said quickly and ran away before he could say anything else. I quickly pulled off my socks and put back my wand. I jumped in bed and tried to sleep, but again I couldn't fall asleep. Where was the diary? Does Lucius know about the diary? Why was Lucius up so late? I replayed the moment when Lucius came out of the basement.

In Flourish and Blotts before the fight between Lucius and Mr. Weasley. Lucius grabbed Ron's sister's book and after the fight he gave the book back, but also another book. That book looked very familiar, but now I knew what book that was. It was the diary. Lucius slipped the diary into Ron's sister's cauldron. But why? Why would he do something like that?

All kinds of theories came up to my mind. The theories went from normal to crazy. One of my theories was that Lucius was a guardian angel keeping me out of danger. My last theorie was that Lucius was You-Know-Who. I couldn't think straight anymore. So I decided to sleep. This time I did fell asleep.

Dobby woke me up at 12 am.

"Goodmorning, miss Lestrange! Master has told Dobby to tell you to come downstairs!" Dobby said. I dressed up and walked out of my room. Was he going to question me about last night? Was I in trouble?

When I arrived, everyone was sitting together.

"Mila, please sit down." Narcissa said and I sat next to Draco. "The ministry has sent you two a letter.". Great.

I took the letter and read it out loud:

"Dear Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Lestrange,

We have received intelligence that a Summoning Charm was used at a place yesterday at twelve minutes past four.

As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).