The Chosen Ones

"Neville Longbottom!"

Neville felt as if he would be sick. His head spun, and for a moment, he feared he would pass out. What was going on? How was his name in the Goblet of Fire?

"Neville Longbottom!"

Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed through the Great Hall, and Neville felt a thousand sets of eyes staring at him. His face burned, and he shrank in his seat.

"Come on," he heard someone say. "You've got to."

He looked behind him and saw Rose standing there. Her smile was kind as she beckoned him to follow her. She was his shining angel, there to escort him to his doom.

"I'll walk with you," she said. "It'll be alright. We'll sort this out."

She helped him to his feet and guided him to the back room. Neville tried to walk quickly, desperate to escape the eyes burning holes in him.

<Don't look at them,> came Rose's voice in his head. <They don't understand.>

Neville was thankful for the telepathic bond. His throat was so dry he didn't think he could speak if he wanted to, and hearing Rose's voice in his head was soothing. It felt as if she were all around him, ready to defend him from the terror of the other students.

<How do you know?>

<Because not one of them understands that this isn't a matter of fame and glory,> Rose replied. <That's what they think this is, and they're angry at you for cheating the system.>

<But I didn't,> Neville said as they approached the room. <Rose, you must believe me!>

<I believe you,> Rose replied. <You're not like Cohort.>

Neville glanced over at the teachers and immediately regretted it. The only thing worse than every student glaring at him was Professor Snape glaring at him. For a moment, he was back in class, approaching the Potions Master with a miserable excuse for an assignment.

<Don't look at him,> Rose ordered him. <Stay focused on me. I'll get you through this, Toad. I promise.>

Neville concentrated on Rose's voice, forcing himself not to panic.

<If there's any time I shouldn't cry, it's now,> he told himself.

Rose would inform him later that he'd pathed that to her, and he was thankful that she hadn't said anything at the time.

They entered the backroom and found Fleur, Krum, and Cedric. Neville quickly assessed each of them. Fleur sat up straight in one of the chairs, holding perfectly still as if she were waiting for someone to paint her; Krum stood on one side of the fireplace, either brooding or staring off into space; Cedric leaned against the wall on the other side of the fireplace, his eyes drifting between the other two.

All three of them turned to Rose and Neville when they entered.

"Rose?" Cedric asked.

"Do zey want us to come back?" Fleur asked.

"Not exactly," Rose replied.

"Then what–" Cedric started to ask, but he was interrupted by a mass of adults entering the room.

Professors Dumbledore, Sprout, McGonagall, (to Neville's horror) Snape, and Moody all entered the room. They were followed by Madame Maxime, Professor Karkaroff, Mr. Bagman, and Mr. Crouch. There was a sudden rush of noise as the door was opened and closed.

"Isn't this most fascinating?" Bagman asked. "Lady and Gentlemen, may I–"

"Not now, Bagman!" McGonagall snapped.

"Ms. Delacour, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Krum," Professor Dumbledore said. "This is Neville Longbottom. The Fourth Champion."

If the other three champions were surprised, Fleur was the only one that really showed it. Cedric frowned and stood up straight, evidently taking the situation seriously, and Krum scowled, just as terse as ever.

"'ow can zhat be?" Fleur asked. "'E is too young to compete!" She turned to Rose. "And vy is she 'ere?"

"Sa–" Rose began, but Professor Dumbledore cut her off.

"This is Rose Peta-Lorrum," he informed them as Rose curtsied. "She has my permission to be here." He turned to Karkaroff and Maxime. "Anyone that would like to contest that may take it up with me."

"Oh, I'd to contest you on something, Dumbledore," Karkaroff said. "I wasn't aware that the host school got two champions. Did I miss that in the rules?"

"Zhey don't!" Madame Maxime exclaimed.

"How'd he get past the age line?" Karkaroff snapped. "Or those two knights that you said would keep this sort of thing from happening. You insisted they'd be better."

"I had Taltria and Alavel memorize the faces of all students present at Hogwarts," Rose said, drawing attention from everyone in the room. "Asking them their names was just a precaution. Then we put the entire thing inside a zone of truth, and the second question everyone was asked was 'How old are you?'"

"Every professor in this room tested that, Karkaroff," Professor McGonagall said. "Even you admitted you couldn't lie inside that thing."

"So someone paid them off!" Karkaroff shot back. "It's easily done!"

Rose pressed her lips together, evidently trying not to laugh.

Neville, however, found nothing about the current situation amusing.

"Those knights aren't human," Professor Dumbledore said. "There is nothing beneath that armor. I'll admit, I might have made a mistake on the age line, but that's why I asked Rose here if I could borrow Taltria and Alavel. They remain loyal only to her, which brings me to my next question." He turned to Rose. "Rose, did you tell them to allow someone to place Neville's name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"Why would–"

"Just answer the question, Peta-Lorrum!" Professor McGonagall hissed.

"No."

"Could someone have lied and placed Mr. Longbottom's name inside the Goblet?"

"Third question everyone was asked: 'Who are you entering?'"

Professor Dumbledore turned to the other two headmasters.

"I believe that rules out the easy approach," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Why are you deferring to her?!" Karkaroff demanded. "She can't be more than 10 years old!"

"Well–" Rose began.

"Not the time," Professor McGonagall hissed.

"As I said, they are loyal only to her, because she created them," Professor Dumbledore said.

"What eef someone simply pretended to be 'er?" Madame Maxime asked.

"I doubt that's possible," Professor Snape muttered.

"Rose?" Professor Dumbledore asked, once again turning to Neville's only friend in the room.

"Taltria and Alavel were under orders to ignore all spoken commands from me," Rose said. "They were instructed to treat me as any other student for the time that the flame was lit. If they needed to communicate with me at all, they only did so over telecomm."

"That means telepathic communication," Professor Dumbledore explained. "We can discuss this with Taltria and Alavel later. Right now–"

"Then we have nothing else to talk about!" Karkaroff shouted. "I demand that the Goblet of Fire be relit and I resubmit my students' names! If Hogwarts has two champions, then it's only fair that Durmstrang receive two as well!"

"That's not how the Goblet of Fire works," Crouch said. "Once the flame's gone out, it won't relight until the next tournament."

"Then I'm leaving!"

Rose opened her mouth to respond, but Professors Snape and McGonagall shot her a look, and she closed it.

"No you're not," Professor Moody growled, motioning to Krum. "You know as well as the rest of us that your champion's got to compete, which means you've got to stay here with him."

"Zhat still means zhat Hogwarts 'as got two shampions," Madame Maxime said. "Two schances to win. Eet is 'ardly fair to us!"

"Professors?"

Neville heard his own voice come from his mouth, but it was as if his lips had moved on their own. He vaguely remembered willing them to move, but it was as if he were dreaming.

All eyes turned to him, and despite feeling small, Neville stood up straight, empowered by the small smile Rose directed at him.

"Yes, Neville?" Professor Sprout asked.

"Can't I just not compete?" he asked. "I don't even want to be here. I'd rather just withdraw from the tournament. That way, everyone can be happy."

Professor Dumbledore shook his head, and Neville's spirits sank.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it's not that simple," Professor Dumbledore said. "Mr. Crouch? Mr. Bagman? Would one of you please explain?"

"The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract, you see," Bagman said. "The boy has no choice. He must compete."

"More than a little convenient," Professor Moody growled.

"Yes, it is," Karkaroff said.

"Not what I meant, Karkaroff. More than likely that someone's trying to off Longbottom."

"Aren't you being a little dramatic?" Bagman asked.

"All they had to do was enter his name, and the tournament will take care of the rest," Professor Moody said.

It hadn't occurred to Neville until then that people had died in the tournament. Since the Goblet of Fire had been lit, Rose had told them it was too dangerous. She made no exceptions for anyone, not even Luna or Hermione.

Now Neville was a champion. He was going to die.

"You hardly need the Triwizard Tournament to do that," Professor Snape said. "If I wanted to kill Longbottom, I'd just distract Peta-Lorrum with a shiny object for five minutes. I doubt Longbottom would last that long without her to hold his hand."

This time, it was Rose that glared at Professor Snape. Out of the corner of his eye, Neville was sure he caught Professor Dumbledore doing the same thing.

"Alastor, Severus, that's not helping," Professor Sprout said. She turned to Mr. Crouch. "Isn't there anything we can do? He obviously didn't enter himself."

"So he says," Karkaroff snapped.

"There must be some clause forbidding someone from entering him against his will."

Mr. Crouch shook his head. "I'm afraid not. As Bagman said, the Goblet of Fire is binding. It chose him. He must compete."

"Brain, what's going on?" Ginny whispered. "Why did Toad's name come out of the Goblet?"

"I wish I could tell you," Hermione replied, looking at the back room. "Something's going on, I just don't know what."

"Something's going on alright," Ron snapped. "Rose let Neville enter and not us!"

"You saw his face," Sally-Anne said. "He was terrified."

"Excited is more like it," Ron said. "Who wouldn't be? A thousand galleons? Fame and glory? Why did she let him enter and not me?"

"She didn't," Hermione said.

"Just cos she likes him best."

"You know that's not true," Hermione said. "If Rose were playing favorites, we all know she likes Luna best. If Rose had anything to do with this, Luna's name would've popped out of the Goblet, not Neville's. Rose is the one that's been telling you to drop it, that it's too dangerous. No one knows what we can do better than Rose."

"And how would she know what's gonna happen?" Ron asked. "It's not like she has anything to do with the tournament, apart from having Taltria and Alavel patrol the Goblet of Fire all the time."

Hermione didn't have an answer to that. What was going on? Rose had insisted that the tournament was too dangerous, as if she knew something they didn't. Neville's name came out of the Goblet, but it was the fourth name. That didn't make sense. Someone must have tricked the Goblet of Fire into thinking there were four schools, but how'd they do that with Taltria and Alavel standing guard? Since Rose ordered them to ignore verbal commands, the only two people in Hogwarts that could command them were Hermione and Rose, and they were told to ignore all commands from anyone other than Rose. That meant that the only person that could've put Neville's name in the Goblet of Fire was Rose, but Hermione knew it wasn't her.

If it wasn't Rose, then who was it? How'd they get it in the Goblet? How'd they convince the Goblet that there were four schools?

"What is going on?" Harry asked. "Does this mean that Neville's gonna be in the tournament?"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "I hope not."

Hermione glanced over at the back room as they all rose to their feet. She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just watched another of her friends get dragged off to his doom while she watched helplessly.

"What about you?" Sally-Anne asked. "Don't you need to go home?"

"Not for another…" Hermione paused while she cast a wandless Tempus charm. "Half hour or so."

"How do you keep doing that?" Sally-Anne asked.

"There's a charm called Tempus that tells you how much time has passed from some point you designate," Hermione said. "I worked out how to cast it wandlessly, so I just designated six o'clock, then subtract the time from two hours."

"That's brilliant."

"Fascinating," Ron said. "Tournament?"

"All I know is that Rose knows more about this than she's letting on," Hermione said. "Her involvement goes beyond having the Nimblewrights stand guard. She's not telling me, so Professor Dumbledore must've told her not to."

"So she tells you everything?" Ron scoffed.

"As a matter of fact, Ronald, she does," Hermione snapped.

"Please don't start you two," Sally-Anne pleaded with them. "It was already far more exciting today than I like it to be. Let's wait until we've heard Neville's side of the story before we start judging him, okay?"

Hermione forced herself to relax. She didn't want to start arguing with Ronald over something so small, especially since she wouldn't be seeing any of them for another few weeks.

"Sally-Anne's right," Hermione said. "You lot can talk to Neville and Rose about it tomorrow, or tonight if she doesn't just sneak him into his room."

"What about you?" Harry asked.

"I'll just have to stress out about it tonight until I hear from Rose," Hermione said. "It's fine. It's not as if I've got classes in the morning."

"Lucky you," Ginny grumbled.

Rose raised her hand.

"This had better be good, Peta-Lorrum," Professor Snape warned.

"Why did it pick a fourth champion?" she asked.

"That is an excellent question," Professor Dumbledore said. "Considering the goblet is only supposed to select three champions, it seems someone must have tampered with it." He held up a burnt piece of parchment. "Let's see…" He adjusted his half-moon spectacles. "He wasn't entered under Hogwarts. According to the Goblet of Fire, Mr. Longbottom is the champion for… well, I don't think it matters right now. Perhaps we should all get some rest, and come back at this tomorrow."

He turned to the other two school heads.

"Madame Maxime, Professor Karkaroff, my sincerest apologies for this incident. Despite how it may look, this was not an attempt on the part of Hogwarts to enter an additional contestant."

"Of course not," Karkaroff snapped. "You just had one of your own students take over protecting the Goblet of Fire, and had the nerve to act surprised when two of your students were chosen."

"Igor," Professor Snape said, "believe me when I say that Longbottom poses no threat to Durmstrang's chances of winning. He is the least qualified student in Hogwarts. He won't last two seconds, much less win."

Karkaroff glared at Professor Snape, then at Neville. Neville took a step back when the other headmaster's eyes fell on him.

"You might be right, Severus," he scoffed. "Viktor! We're leaving!"

He turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Krum to catch up with him.

"Ve are going too," Madame Maxime said to Fleur.

The two women spoke in French, both sounding angry, as they left the small room. Bagman and Crouch followed close behind them.

"Mr. Diggory, Mr. Longbottom, you two return to your rooms," Professor Dumbledore said. "I'm sure Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are both eager to start celebrating."

Cedric didn't even look at Neville on his way out. He hadn't spoken a word since the whole thing started, and Neville didn't blame him.

I deserve it. It's all my fault.

"Mr. Longbottom, don't keep them waiting," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Sorry, Professor," he said, snapping back to reality.

"Come on," Rose said. "Let's head back."

"Rose, would you please stay for a moment?"

"No."

Everyone stared at Rose, although none of them looked surprised apart from Neville.

"Excuse me?"

"No, sir."

"You misunderstand. I need to–"

"I'm not leaving Toad's side," Rose said.

"I'm sure Longbottom can survive one night without you to make sure he doesn't choke on his own tongue," Professor Snape said.

"There's a difference between surviving and living," Rose shot back.

Neville watched as Rose gave her other favorite professor a glare that he'd never seen on her face. All for him.

I'm not worth that.

"Rose, you don't–" Neville started.

"Yes, I do. I'm going back to Gryffindor Tower with Toad. If you want to talk to me, Old Man, you'll have to wait until after that."

Professor Dumbledore closed his eyes, and Neville was certain he was seeing Professor Dumbledore frustrated for the first time.

"My office immediately after you're finished. Bring Taltria and Alavel."

"Fine."

Rose led Neville out of the room and into the Great Hall. Neville's footsteps echoed through the room, and he found it creepy for it to be so quiet.

Neville's head spun with everything that had just happened. Why did it have to be him?

Rose didn't say a word until they got to the sixth floor.

"Do you want to stop by the Room of Requirement?" Rose asked.

"What for?" Neville asked.

"We don't have to go right back to the common room," Rose said. "We don't have to go back at all, if you don't want."

Neville didn't want to go back. With no one around, he wanted to run away. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he wanted nothing more than to take Rose's hand and run away. He wanted to leave everything behind; Hogwarts, the Triwizard Tournament, angry professors, mean students. Neville wanted to run away from it all.

He didn't realize he was crying until tears blurred his vision.

"It's gonna be alright, Toad," Rose said. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"Didn't you hear them?" Neville sobbed. "I've got to compete. You said the Triwizard Tournament's supposed to be life-threatening to seventh-years, and I'm just a fourth-year! I'm gonna die!"

"No you're not!" Rose said, rounding on her friend. "I swear, Toad, I'm gonna keep you alive, even if I've got to compete in your place."

Neville stopped crying and looked at Rose. That was it! If Rose competed in his place, he wouldn't have to worry about a thing. She could take on the challenges without a problem, and she could use her magic to disguise herself as anyone. No one would know it wasn't him competing.

"Can you?" he asked, his eyes shining with hope.

"I doubt it," Rose said, destroying every scrap of hope he had. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I don't know how the contract works, but I doubt I can compete in your place."

"Then… Then I'm…"

Neville collapsed and began to sob uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face, which he covered so Rose wouldn't see him. He hated himself for looking so foolish in front of her, but he couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry," he choked out. "I can't… I can't stop."

"It's alright," Rose said, crouching down next to him. She put her arms around him and rested his head on her shoulder. "You're scared. It's hard to stop crying when you're scared. It's just you and me, Toad, so you don't have to worry about it. Just keep crying until you feel better."

For what felt like hours, Neville did nothing more than cry. He was so scared he didn't know what else to do. What else was there to do? He was going to die. Someone murdered him simply by putting his name in the Goblet of Fire. Now there was nothing he could do but cry.

"I don't want to," he sobbed. "Please don't make me."

Rose didn't say a word the entire time he cried. She sat with him and stroked his hair, smiling the warmest smile Neville had ever seen. Not until after he'd finally stopped crying did she say anything.

"You'll be alright, Toad," Rose said. "I'm gonna make sure of it. We've got three weeks until the first task, and you're gonna be ready for it. We're gonna be running drills every day, and I'm putting you through survival training, but you'll be ready."

"What's survival training?" Neville asked.

"I drop you in the middle of the Forbidden Forest and you've got to find your way back," Rose said. "It was one of the first training drills Ali and I did."

Neville groaned and dropped his head back on Rose's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll start you with somewhere easy," Rose said. "It's going to be rough at first, but you'll get the hang of it. I don't just mean the training, I mean all of it. I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you you'll make it out alright, but you'll survive."

Neville wiped the tears from his eyes and picked his head up from Rose's shoulder.

"Can you not tell anyone I broke down like that?" he asked.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Rose said. "That's what Alice always tells me when I cry. She just holds me and runs her hand through my hair."

"When do you cry?" Neville asked.

He couldn't imagine Rose crying. She was always so confident and brave, unlike him.

"I can't exactly cry anymore. It's a side effect of veil of undeath. I can still cry, just no tears come out."

They sat together in silence for another few minutes. Neville wasn't sure if Rose was waiting for him to speak, but he didn't know what else to say. All he could think about was the Triwizard Tournament and how he would be dead before Christmas.

"Do you remember the dragon from last year?" Rose asked. "The one into which that boggart changed?"

Neville remembered the dragon looming over Rose as she screamed in terror. He remembered the chaos that ensued. He hated remembering it, not only because the dragon scared him, but because Rose being afraid scared him more.

"Yeah."

"It's called Valignatiejir. It… he hurt me not long before I came to Hogwarts. He…"

Neville looked at Rose and saw that her eyes were squeezed shut. Her face was contorted in discomfort.

"Rose!"

"I'm sorry," she said, returning to normal. "I still can't talk about it. It helps to talk about it, but… After it happened, Sk'lar held me and I cried. I cried for weeks. I couldn't stop. Sometimes that's all you can do."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Neville said.

"I'm sorry, too," Rose said. "I'm sorry all this is happening to you. You're a good person, Toad, and you don't deserve this."

She climbed to her feet and offered her hand to Neville.

"Come on. Let's head back."

"It's gonna be horrible, isn't it?" Neville asked, taking her hand and allowing her to help him up.

"Probably," Rose replied. "Most of our house sees this as a good thing, but we know it's not."

They walked to Gryffindor Tower in silence. The Fat Lady watched them as they approached.

"They're waiting for you in there," she said.

"You don't have to face them," Rose said. "I can just teleport you straight to your room."

"I'd love to," Neville said, "but if I can't face them, how can I face the rest of the tournament?"

"Don't be a champion yet. Just be Neville for tonight."

"I can't. I've got to face them. Best deal with it now rather than tomorrow morning." Neville stared at the portrait. "Last year, during the earthquake, I wanted to quit. Every time we got to a cave-in, I wanted to just let someone else deal with it, but I was the one with the sword, and I signed up for it. If I'd let someone else deal with it, I would've let you down."

Rose smiled at him, and suddenly, everything didn't seem so bad. He felt like he could face the world with her by his side.

"You wouldn't let me down this time."

"It's still something I've got to do, just like it was last year. I couldn't quit then, and I can't quit now."

Rose didn't say anything; she just smiled at him.

"What?"

"That's a good first step," she said. "Ready to take the next one?"

"No, but I will anyway," he said.

"Good. I've got to go see Professor Dumbledore, and besides, it'll be better if you do this on your own."

"Why?"

Neville went pale. Why did Rose think it was a good idea to leave? Was she abandoning him? He knew it; he just wasn't worth standing by.

"Trust me, it'll be better if you go in on your own," Rose said. "I'm not far behind, I promise. Remember: One foot in front of the other."

"And do what I've got to do," Neville said, nodding. "Thanks for everything Rose."

He and Rose held each other close. He didn't want to let her go. If he did, she might not come back, so he held onto her for as long as he could.

The Fat Lady cleared her throat. "They're waiting."

"Right," Neville said.

He and Rose backed away from one another, then she vanished.

Neville stared at the empty space for a moment, then turned to the portrait.

"I don't suppose you believe that I've forgotten the password?" he asked.

"I'd be more surprised if you remembered it, but you're not getting off that easy," the Fat Lady said as her canvas swung open.

"Of course not."

Neville climbed through the portal, and found most of Gryffindor waiting for him. The moment he got through, there were cheers and a rush of people with questions.

"What happened?"

"How'd you do it?"

"She let you, didn't she?"

"Are you two–"

"Quiet!"

Everyone turned to Ginny, whose voice was loud enough to silence everyone.

"Give him some space," Sally-Anne said, pushing her way through the crowd. "Neville, are you alright?"

"I've been better," Neville replied, thankful that he had a moment to breathe.

"'Been better'?!" Fred exclaimed.

"Come on!" George shouted. "Let's hear it for–"

"Stop right there!" Sally-Anne shouted.

"I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire," Neville said. "Rose didn't either."

"So you can all stop asking him about it right now," Sally-Anne said. "Celebrate if you must, but leave him out of it." She turned to Neville. "Come on, Neville. We'll walk you to your room."

"You believe me, right?" he whispered.

"Of course we do," Ginny said as they pushed their way through the crowd. "No question."

There were cheers as they began the journey to his room, which Ginny silenced with an explosion above everyone's heads.

Through everything else, Neville was glad his friends had come to his rescue. Some small part of him knew he needed to do this on his own, but the rest of him said "Not yet."

"Where's Rose?" Hermione asked.

"She thought it was better if she didn't come through with me," Neville said.

"Probably best," Sally-Anne said. "They're already making a lot of assumptions. They're just stories, so don't pay them any mind."

"Hold up!"

They turned back to see Harry running to catch up to them.

"I had to do something with Ron," he said. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Ginny huffed.

"Any idea what's going on?" Harry asked.

"Rose and Professor Dumbledore don't know what happened," Neville said. "Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime are angry at Professor Dumbledore. I think they think he got Rose to let me in."

"But I doubt Rose could've got the goblet to allow a fourth person," Hermione said. "Even if she could, she wouldn't. She's trying to make up for last year with Professor Dumbledore. She wouldn't risk ruining the tournament like this."

"Why didn't you just tell them 'No'?" Ginny asked.

"Mr. Crouch says I've got to," Neville said as they reached his room.

He collapsed on his bed as everyone took seats around the room. He wanted to cry again, but he held back his tears.

"We'll sort this out," Sally-Anne said.

"There's nothing to sort out," Neville said. "I've got to compete! I'm going to die!"

"Don't say that."

"Rose won't let you die," Hermione added.

"We won't let you die," Ginny said. "Right?"

"We've got your back," Harry said. "I don't know how much help I can be with the tournament, but I know all about dealing with unwanted attention."

"We can all practice with you every day," Ginny said.

"That's what Rose says she's gonna do," Neville said. "That and survival training."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said.

"Why, what's that?" Ginny asked.

"It's something Alice did with Rose," Hermione said. "Basically, she's gonna drop Neville somewhere hard to get out of, forcing him to think on his feet to escape."

"Forbidden Forest," Neville mumbled.

"Sounds about right," Hermione said. "I can see if I can come up with some spells to help you through it, and–"

"It won't matter," Neville said. "I can't cast spells."

"You're a wizard, Neville, of course you can," Hermione replied. "You would've been expelled by now if you couldn't do something."

Neville thought back to his classes over the past three years. He barely passed anything that needed magic. He could do it, but it was as if there were some sort of block on his ability to do it. That was why he liked training with Rose; he felt like he could do something when he wielded the Sword of Gryffindor.

"You're good at Herbology," Sally-Anne said. "Why don't you look up the types of plants in the Forbidden Forest? If you know where they grow, you can figure out where you are."

Neville shook his head. "I can't."

"Of course you can!" Ginny exclaimed.

"We'll help you find some books about it tomorrow," Sally-Anne said. "Even Rose will give you some time to relax."

Neville couldn't believe that everyone was trying to help him. No one had ever cared about Neville, but he had friends. He forgot that sometimes.

"Get some rest," Sally-Anne said. "Everything will be alright."

No matter how hard Neville tried that night to believe it, he knew everything would go wrong. It always did.