Predictably, Neville was left partnerless.

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Hullo, this is Neville Longbottom, I think I've done this right.
Erm, you can leave me a voiceletter. If you'd like.

Comments

text - yes absolutely!!

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[Neville goes pale upon receiving the message, interpreting it instantly as an accusation, mostly because he's still so high strung after his conversation with Barty. His reply is rapid.]

I didn't have anything to do with that, even if it is true
I would never work with him on anything

[doggedly]

yeah i didnt think you would? or were or are
sorry did i say that or does your device maybe correct things to read as the worst case scenario


i just want to know what the hell the bastards been saying to you

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oh
nothing. he just enjoys taunting me
over the things he did to my parents

[doggedly]

[The one thing you shouldn't ask after someone says something like that (especially in regards to someone like Barty Crouch) is what happened to your parents. But Sirius realises that he doesn't actually know. It hadn't even occurred to him that something might have happened to them. There's a bit of selfish tunnel vision when it comes to the future.

So, okay. A pause.]

is it something we should a stop to

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[If Sirius is curious, a certain someone had far less tact than him about the whole thing.]

how?
he's not likely to listen is he

[doggedly]

[oh my wizard god what the hell will be sure to get caught up on the torture deets soon]

so whats your alternative, do nothing?
just because hes a madman doesnt mean hes a madman youve got to put up with
manage it on your own if you like but theres help out there if you want it

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I suppose, well, I would like him to bugger off honestly

[whoa calm down there Neville don't be so harsh]

[doggedly]

[yeah wow slow down there tiger]

all right thats a place to start i guess
have they told you about the runes and things yet
theres bound to be a bugger off rune

[this is kind of a joke, but he also kind of means it. not a bugger off rune, maybe, but something... something that'll help. he doesn't know Neville, barely met him, but nobody deserves Barty Crouch. least of all Frank and Alice's kid.]

dont suppose youre any good in a library

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I heard about the runes
but I don't really know how to use them or anything

[Neville is starting to feel hopeful for the first time since getting a message with the name Barty Crouch, Jr. attached to it out of the blue.]

I do alright
I've had to visit the libraries here quite a bit because I don't know much about muggle herbology

[doggedly]

yeah i dont know how to use them either but guess what
we're going to learn

[this is a huge inclusion because 1) Sirius admitting he doesn't know something?! and 2) Sirius suggesting research?!? hopefully he won't have to Modify Neville's memories to forget that this ever happened. don't ruin his street cred, and stuff.

although, briefly distracted--]

why are you s
oh yeah you have the plant ability dont you
whats that like

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alright
thanks sirius I mean it

[Your secret is probably safe with Neville, but there's no guarantee there aren't misty-eyed hugs in your future, Sirius. Beware.]

I think it's quite cool
I wish I could have grown plants this fast at home it would have come in handy in class
what have you got?

[doggedly]

[ew no]

tellekinesis
which is like an advanced levitation charm as it turns out so significantly less useful in classes just because itd be redundant

hows the sword by the way

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[And by misty-eyed, I mean full on bawling. Neville is not what you'd call "stoic." Prepare yourself.]

well it has got to be quite useful here
hasn't it?
I was never very good with levitation charms my aim is terrible

the sword is just fine I am trying to learn how to use it properly
I think most things have got more ways of blocking a sword than a snake
especially great ruddy giants on fire

[doggedly]

[this sounds horrible Neville please we are men]

its all right i guess
it isnt magic is my point

oh come off it thats no way to be
its not just any sword is it its the sword of bloody GRYFFINDOR thats got to count for something especially versus giants and things
fire or no fire
who do you have teaching you

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[if you want manly dignity you have come to the wrong place, friend]

no I suppose not
I do miss it, magic
I don't miss getting cursed much though, bit of a drag

well it is quite a bit less magical here I would wager, still very shiny though I will give it that
I have been taking lessons at the school and there is another bloke from Sigyn helping me but it is slow going
can you use one?

[doggedly]

[god dammit]

and yet youre quite cavalier about it
were you cursed often enough that this is a talking point

[Actually, perhaps he doesn't want the answer to that. The war, et al. It says something about his age and experience that--though their own version of the war is on at home, the thought of students getting cursed at Hogwarts is still somehow unthinkable. Dumbledore's protection goes a long way, even with the rise of Voldemort's power and influence.]

are you joking i dont know a thing about swords
wish i did
especially that one
are you seriously taking lessons at snapes school

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well yeah during detentions
got quite a lot of those in the end
and just anywhere they felt like it really

[What's that? You don't want heartwarming tales about the year of Hell? Well tough nuggets, because Neville can get quite cavalier about it when the mood strikes him.]

yes.
Harry and Hermione aren't taking it seriously but I was there when he ran Hogwarts
and I'm not letting what he did there happen again
I'm keeping an eye on it, I don't care what they say

[doggedly]

[The thing is, Sirius hates Snape. Hates him, and nothing here has done a thing to improve his feelings toward him. He's on our side now, everyone's said, and certainly he's done things to seem that way. And he is, probably. Sirius doesn't think too much about it because he can't stand to think much of Snape at all.

Detentions with curses, those were under Snape's time as headmaster. He's a bastard, but that seems cruel. Or does it? He was a bastard with hexes when he was a kid. Could have grown to be the same.]

so what youre saying is


youre a spy

[How serious is the threat of Snape? No idea. But Sirius can't disapprove of someone spying on him. It feels somehow... right.]

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[Not just any curses, either. The Unforgivibles.]

I suppose you could look at it like that
but it's not exactly likely he'll be fooled why I'm there
he's been trying to shut me up since I got here hasn't he
one of his teachers let me in though, behind his back I'm almost certain

[doggedly]

[there's a pause, before he answers. as someone who hates Snape, this is interesting to encounter.]

think hes meant to have changed sides so none of us are meant to worry
you really dont believe that?

[far be it from Sirius to defend Snape, but...]

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[This one takes awhile to come back because it's something he's been grappling with. He trusts Harry and Hermione on a very deep level, but... well, nothing Snape has said or done here has in any way helped his case, and Neville is very, very not ready to believe that everything he and the other students went through was all to maintain some stupid cover.]

I think the things he did were unforgivable and it doesn't really matter what side he was on in the end
and I think nobody who actually cared about anybody but himself could have done what he did no matter what justification he's using

did they even bother to tell you what it was like, what he turned Hogwarts into?

[doggedly]

[No one is ever going to get Sirius to like Snape, or even care about Snape. They might be able to work on the same project, as long as they're kept far, far away from one another, but Sirius will always hate Snape. So if there's anyone that would agree readily to Snape being a selfish bastard who only cares about himself, it's Sirius Black. He doesn't actually know all of the things that Snape has done--he has an idea of a few of them, but only things that are more or less contemporary to his time.

Hogwarts has a battle. That's always been a little inconceivable to him, but with Dumbledore, why not? And with Snape as the bloody headmaster...]

theyve only said a little

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[Of course, is what he thinks, rather vindictively. Because once you consider the things Snape actually did, it becomes so much more difficult to rally behind the justification he was doing it for our benefit.]

Did you know that he sent all the muggle-borns to Azkaban?

As young as the first years. It didn't matter to him.

[doggedly]

[As a future prisoner of Azkaban (the future Prisoner of Azkaban)-- well, Sirius has done a bloody good job of ignoring that aspect of the future, mostly because James and his fate have been all-consuming. But there's times when it comes up--deliberately, accidentally--and then he doesn't know what the hell to think.

There's no moment of pause here. It's not always easy, not being selfish, but something like this rates far beyond him.]

first years

[and Merlin, what else do you say to that? First years.]

he did it or he tolerated it
not that it matters
and they know this?

[Harry and Hermione, he means. They can't know it.]

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well he was the one in charge, wasn't he
if he didn't do it then he's the only one who would have had the power to stop it and he didn't, so it's just as bad

they ought to know it if they're not thick, and you know they're not
they saw Dean Thomas while they were out there, he's a muggle-born in our year
some of the 7th years were able to make a run for it because the trace expired, but anybody younger than that...

anyhow even if they didn't get that they know all about how he turned Hogwarts into a Death Eater training camp, how he hired two of them (the Carrows) to torture the students who didn't fall in line, and how he took kids hostage when their parents were causing too much trouble outside.

[The fact that they're not explaining this to the strangers here from other worlds isn't exactly sitting well with him, but the fact that they're not telling even other Order members is making it very, very hard for Neville not to pull his hair out. They cannot possibly buy the stupid martyr story that he's telling so fully that they won't even give their friends and family a fair warning about what sort of things Snape has proven he can live with himself doing, can they? It's ludicrous.]