Keeping a Promise

Chapter 24

"NEVILLE!" Kamrynn yelled and shoved her way in front of Neville when he tried to hug Ron and Hermione after he had finished hugged Harry. "What happened to you?" she said, slapping his shoulder after she hugged him tightly. 

 I looked at Neville when it was my turn to hug him: one of his eyes was swollen, yellow and purple, therewere gouge marks on his face, and his general air of unkemptness suggested that he had been living rough. 

Nevertheless, his battered visage shone with happiness as he let go of me and said again, "I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!" 

"Neville, what happened?" I asked, softly. 

"ANSWER US!" Kam yelled, on the brink of tears. "I SWEAR I WILL TEAR THIS PERSON TO PIECES FOR TOUCHING YOU!"

 "What? This?" Neville dismissed his injuries with a shake of the head. "This is nothing. Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going, then? Oh," he turned to Aberforth, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."

 "Couple more?" repeated Aberforth ominously. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew and a Caterwauling Charm on the whole village!"

"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating directly into the bar," said Neville. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."

Neville held out his hand to Hermione and helped her to climb up on to the mantelpiece and into the tunnel; Ron motioned for me to go next, helping me into the tunnel. He then helped Astoria and Kamrynn before following suit. 

There were smooth stone steps on the other side: it looked as though the passageway had been there for years. Brass lamps hung from the walls and the earthy floor was worn and smooth; as we walked, our shadow stippled, fan-like, across the wall.

 "How long's this been here?" Ron asked, as they set off. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it, Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of school?"

"They sealed off all of those before the start of the year," said Neville. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and Dementors waiting at the exits." He  started walking backwards, beaming, drinking them in. "Never mind that stuff ... is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"Yeah, it's true," said Harry. 

Neville laughed gleefully. "What did you do with the dragon?"

 "Released it into the wild," said Ron. "Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet –"

"Don't exaggerate, Ron –" Hermione flushed.

"But what have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."

 "You're right," said Harry. 

"Enough about our travels," Kam interrupted. "Tell us about Hogwarts. What has been going on? We heard it was open, but not a single other thing." 

 "It's been ... well, it's not really like Hogwarts any more," said Neville, the smile fading from his faceas he spoke. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

 "Yeah," Astoria said. "They're death hungry deatheaters. I can only imagine what they've been like here. I'm sure they're the ones that did that to you. I can't believe they teach here." 

 "You're right. They do more than teach," said Neville. "They're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?" Harry asked.