Author data
name: PinkFluffyFeather
e-mail: [email protected]

Fic data
title: Red
disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. Never will be. Just playing with some characters from J.K. Rowling
Rating: R – to be on the safe side
Genre: drama
Warnings: well… there is violence, but not much
Summary: detention gone wrong
Beta: TornBetweenTwoWeasleys
Author's note: written for the First Kill Project; also posted on Veelainc Yahoo Group

Red

"You … stupid BOY!! Of all the the stupidity you showed me so far you had to add this! Why do I even bother to TRY and teach you …?" a very agitated potions master bellowed at the poor Gryffindor.
"Didn't I tell you time and time AGAIN that you never … NEVER EVER add snake eyes BEFORE you have added the monkey blood!! How many bloody times do I HAVE to tell you this?"

Neville couldn't stand it anymore. Every single time he tried his best at potions - during lessons and detentions - but every single time he failed miserably. He couldn't concentrate when Snape was looking over his shoulders. Especially when he heard his professor insulting him and his clumsiness. Although he felt himself cower during the potions master's rant he also felt the anger of five and a half years boiling in his blood.

He didn't feel it when his fingers clenched around the knifes grip - the same knife with which he prepared his potions ingredients. He didn't see it when he raised the hand with the knife above his head. He didnt't even realise it when he plunged the knife in his professor's heart. He didn't see the horror and then the surprise on the potions master's face. He didn't see how Snape fell on the floor with the knife still in his chest.

All he saw was red.

^o^ * ^o^ * ^o^ * ^o^ * ^o^ * ^o^ * ^o^

Dumbledore sadly said his goodbyes to the aurors and the boy. He knew he couldn't help him. The boy still looked as dazed as he was when they found him standing near his cauldron with a perfect potion simmering in it. Severus Snape lying dead on the floor with a knife in his heart and a surprised look on his face.

Neville couldn't say anything coherently. The only thing he said was: "Show him. Show him. Show him." What is was he wanted to show they didn't know. The him probably was Severus Snape but even that they couldn't tell for sure.

Of course they cast a spell over the knife and the room to see what happened that night. Everyone who was in charge with solving the murder of professor Snape agreed that there was only one thing that they could do with Neville Longbottom. They had to send him to the closed ward in St. Mungo's.

As it was Neville's first serious crime, in fact it was his first kill, and considering all the events surrounding the death of Severus Snape, Neville was declared mentally unstable.
Therefore the judge decided that he was to be treated for this illness in St. Mungo's. Not everyone was happy with this judgment. You could say that most Slytherins were very displeased. Nobody knows whether that was because of Snape's early demise or because the new Head of Slytherin was Charlie Weasley…