16 March 1993, Hogwarts
The petrification of Daphne Greengrass changed things. Things really started to look bleak for the boy who lived, especially with the Slytherins looking nervous for the first time since the attacks started. The heat and suspicion on the Longbottom scion had skyrocketed, because a member of the House of Snakes was attacked. Neville's distaste for the house was very well known, and since he technically had a motive to petrify every victim, and he was a parselmouth, the entire school pretty much stayed away from him.
Honestly, Neville wanted to curse the Heir of Slytherin for giving him that much trouble.
However, the school itself was also in danger of closing for the first time in decades. Even when Lord Voldemort still had a body and was fighting a war, and actual death eaters roamed the halls of the castle disguised as students, the school still remained strong. Dumbledore remained strong. The school had survived McLaggen's petrification because they were still under the headmaster's banner, politically, at least.
But the Greengrasses were not the same. The Longbottom scion expected them to use every dirty trick they could manage just to get a measure of retribution from whoever they thought was responsible, which included Neville and Dumbledore.
The Daily Prophet article had done enough damage to their reputations. The revelation that Neville was a Parselmouth had changed things and his grandmother was the one dealing with the aftermath.
Neville clenched his hand when he remembered that article that pretty much slandered him and the Professor. If it wasn't for the enchantments his grandmother put up, he would have been overwhelmed by hate mail. His Gran had already doubled the number of people going through his mail in the last few days alone. They already hired a couple of people years ago to go through his mail and sort it out accordingly.
The truth was that the Longbottom scion was famous on a national scale, and sometimes even internationally. There were dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of letters that arrived every day asking for endorsements, inviting him into an event or another, or sometimes even just giving him gifts. Fan mail got boring very quickly after the first hundred letters. There were secrecy contracts, of course, since mail is somewhat sensitive, but official letters tended to be obviously marked, so the risk of them knowing something damaging was little.
Anyway, Neville's Gran hiring more people meant that the current workers were overwhelmed, and that meant that things were really bad in terms of public opinion. The elder woman had refused to tell him what the letters contained, but he knew that it was her way of protecting him from the outside world.
Right now, Neville was sitting alone in a corner of the common room, everyone was giving him a wide berth and glances when they thought he wasn't looking. He hadn't seen Ron or Hermione in a couple of hours. Hermione was probably in the library studying and Ron was either asleep or playing chess against himself. Neville didn't feel like talking to them. He didn't feel like talking to anyone, really.
Of course, that was when Professor McGonagall entered the common room, and everyone shut up to listen to her announcement. There was a big possibility that the school would be shut down, after all, "First of all, I want to reassure all of you that Professor Dumbledore decided against shutting down the school at this moment, but that decision can still be contested by the board and even the ministry, so I cannot say if that decision will be final or not."
A few students whooped but they were silenced quickly by her glare, "Now, with that said, I still have a few things to address to all of you. Considering the escalation that the perpetrator of these horrid attacks has been exhibiting, a few rules and regulations have been decided. From now on, all students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities, so no clubs, no meetings, nothing other than classes and the common room."
There were a few voices of protest, but McGonagall raised her hand, "I know that this is stifling, but we're only concerned about your safety."
"Why don't you just expel Longbottom?" a voice asked.
"I know this is a difficult time for you all, but I assure you that if Mr Longbottom was in fact guilty, we are more than competent enough to have caught him. This is not a time for you to be divided, but to unite in front of that threat," the professor's voice turned somewhat choked, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. There is the very present possibility that the school be closed if there is another attack, or if the culprit behind them isn't caught. If you think you might know anything about the attack, anything factual at least, I urge you to come forward."
She climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately, still giving him the stink eye.
But Neville didn't pay any attention to them. They had condemned him so readily, without even a second's thought, so their opinion stopped mattering to him anymore. But someone else had suffered as he had. Hagrid. He was accused of the attacks too, and he was even expelled for them. And if Neville knew Hagrid, he would never attack another human being. For all his intimidating appearance, the man was literally the personification of a gentle giant.
He had to talk to him and get his side of the story.
With that in mind, Neville stood up and looked for Ron and Hermione to join him. Maybe they were in their dormitory. He went upstairs and heard a familiar voice, "I'm telling you, Hermione, it might be Neville."
"Don't be silly, Ron," Hermione's voice responded, "we literally were with him when Filch was attacked."
"He could have petrified him before and then came back so that we wouldn't be suspicious," Ron protested.
"I'm telling you, Ron, it's not Neville. Now stop speaking rubbish and let me finish this essay."
Yet, the redhead wasn't to be deterred, "Even if it's not him, you have to admit that whoever is responsible has to be interested in Neville. Every single victim was someone that Neville either didn't like or had annoyed him in some way."
"Dean didn't do anything to Neville…"
"Anything that we know of. But my point is, are we safe? You know, I knew since last year that being his friend would be dangerous. But this is a lot more than I signed up for."
Hermione didn't answer for a few seconds, "No, it's not. And it might be dangerous. But like you said, we're his friends…"
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