The sunset was golden on the late November night, everything seemed calm as the snow settled upon the uneven ground of the Longbottoms garden. A blond haired toddler waddling around, his mother looking over the kitchen table at her husband who, with a wand in hand, was making a small paper bird float in front of the boy. All seemed well, Voldemort was dead, his Death Eaters being rounded up one by one. Life might finally get back to normal, the woman thought. Her son might be able to grow up in a world without a darkness such as that.
The young boy squeals in delight as he catches the bird, crumpling it in his tiny hands.
"Now Neville, it's time for bed," Frank said, placing his wand on the arm of the couch.
With one strong arm, he lifts his son, cradling him.
"No bed. Bed bad. Monsters there." the child babbles. Trying to wriggle out of his father's grasp.
"It's okay Neville. It's okay now. The monsters are gone." Alice tries to soothe her son. "Tell you what, you can stay in dada's arms and we can go check for monsters together. What do you think?"
Neville's small head bobs up and down in agreement. His hands clinging onto his father's shirt as they move towards the stairs. Each step causing the wooden floorboards to creak under the man's feet.
"All good so far." Alice smiles towards her son, who looked even more terrified than before.
"No monsters. No monsters." The boy cried.
With each step, the more the boy wanted to escape. His mother, a few steps ahead of her husband, wand out, a light at its tip. Each step creaking with the weight of the witch and wizard on top of it. By the time they got to the top of the stairs, Neville was wriggling around so much, his father was having problems holding onto him.
"You go first, I'll bring him in after he sees you're all safe in there," Frank mutters just loud enough for his wife to hear.
She nods, raising her wand to cast the light across the bare walls of their home. With each step the sinking feeling in her stomach worse and worse, until she was through the door and a bolt of red light hit her wand, sending it flying.
"Frank! Take Neville! Hide!" She screamed as a wave of clear energy hits her square in the chest, freezing her in place.
Frank, child in arms, ran down the stairs fast as his feet could take him. A cackling behind him of a witch that is all too well known. He grabs his wand as he runs past the couch, towards the cupboard under the stairs.
"Now you stay here until your gran comes to get you, okay?" He says, pushing the child into the crevice, closing the door behind him. Muttering a few incantations and with a wave of his wand, the spell was set.
He threw his wand to the floor, muttering something about how Neville comes first. He ran back up the stairs, and with a bright blue light hits him on the temple he falls with a thud.
"Come on Barty! Get her down here so we can look for the boy!" A woman's voice calls, obviously, despite her mad deemener, she's the one in charge here. "Rodolphus, get the husband!"
Steady thuds and creaks come next of three or four people barreling down the stairs.
"Lay them on the floor by the fireplace. Wouldn't want them getting cold on us now would we!" the only man not carrying one of the Longbottoms shouted, not caring about how far his voice would carry. "Unfreeze her, Bella."
The woman points with her curved wand towards the woman lead on the floor, her arms pinned to her side. With a bright flash, Alice goes sprawling, her limbs let loose.
"Please.." Alice begs, shuffling over to her husband's unconscious body. "Leave them alone."
"Now that's going to be a bit difficult since you have some information we want." One of the men towering over the cowering woman spits down at her. "Now if you tell us where the boy is, we'll go easier on you." A cat like grin spread across his face as he licked his lips.
"Now now Barty, our job is not to scare them half to death... Oh wait," she cackles "It is. Rabastan, go look for the boy. We'll get started here." The woman said with an evil smirk.
The tall thin man moves from his position at the front door and opens the door to the dining room, blowing things apart with the reducto curse. The light from the spells bouncing through the crack of the door onto the cowering child below. His eyes hollow as he looks upon the bright lights from the bent wand, causing the woman on the floor to scream in pain, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Now tell us, Alice. Where is the Dark Lord?" the man standing close to Bella's side asks. "We know your son was the other child. Now I'm not going to ask again, where is the Dark Lord?"
"I... I don't know I thought he was killed." She said powerlessly through the tears.
"You and I both know that that's not true." he sighed, nodding towards the eager woman to his left.
Another bolt of light hits her straight in the chest, her face contorting with pain, screams rippling from her chest in terrified waves. A cackling laugh spreads throughout the room, the three people gazing upon the thrashing woman. A stirring from the unnoticed man on the floor brings the curse to a halt.
"Look who's finally decided to join us!" Barty sniggered, watching the man's eyes flutter open and fill with horror at the scene he's witnessing.
"Get..... away... from her" Frank demands, struggling to lift himself off the ground.
Barty laughs, pointing his wand at the man. "Such courage! Maybe one day your poor excuse for a son will want just like his daddy. That is if we don't kill him first." He licks his lips, grinning at the people around him. "Crucio!" he shouts, a jet of light hitting the man square in the chest.
The little boy in the cupboard, staying silent, cowering at the tall figure of the man casting the spell that's making his father scream.
A teenage Neville woke up, covered in sweat, the screams echoing in his mind. His eyes scanned the dorm room which he shared with four other boys to make sure he didn't wake anyone up. These nightmares were a regular thing since the dementors showed up. He stood up, going to the cold stone windowsill, wishing there was some way he could forget that terrible night.
