This was initially a fic for my lovely Lisa's birthday, but she requested Luna/Neville and that's just not how this turned out. So, it's still a fic for her birthday, but an unrequested one. Happy birthday ;)

DH spoilers, one-shot, follows Neville's progression across the year.

He thinks of Ginny and Luna as his girls. Not quite his sisters, certainly not his girlfriends, but closer than friends. As the oldest, he is duty-bound to protect them.

It is, however, Ginny who starts the rebellion.

During Snape's first speech as Headmaster, roughly a hundred shrieking bats erupt from... well, nowhere, as far as Neville can tell. They begin flitting between colours – red gold green blue pink orange purple – and then, as one, they swoop down on Snape.

Snape clears his throat, and the bats are gone as suddenly as they appeared.

"It was with deepest regret that we said goodbye to our last Muggle Studies professor, but fortunately Professor Carrow has volunteered to step into the breach," he continues silkily, as though nothing has happened.

It doesn't seem fortunate to Neville. Professor Carrow looks like she studies Muggle torturing techniques. Neville assumes Muggle Studies will be drastically altered this year, and hopes the kindly Professor Burbage is all right, wherever she is.

It is only later, as they are filing out of the Great Hall, that Neville notices Snape's eyes on Ginny, and his breath gets caught in the back of his throat.

"Bloody Fred and George," Ginny declares, flinging herself onto Ron's bed. "They said those bats would stick to Snape for ages. Don't suppose they realised we were dealing with better wizards than Umbitch."

"I think you should be more careful," Neville ventures, perching himself on the edge of his own bed. "Snape knew it was you, probably because you're the only Weasley left at Hogwarts."

Ginny sits up with a fierce look on her face, as though she has been waiting for somebody to tell her it was a bad move. "I am not going to sit back and let that oversized bat take over our school."

Neville frowns. It occurs to him that he has never actually argued with Ginny. He doesn't really make a habit of arguing with anyone. He has seen her fight with Ron, true, and been especially glad that he has no siblings. Now, though, he doesn't shy away, because if he wins, he might succeed in keeping Ginny safe. There are things in the world that are worse than Ginny Weasley's temper.

"That's not what I said," he answers carefully. "You just shouldn't use Fred and George's stuff so obviously. We don't want the Death Eaters going after them, do we? And you'll be number one suspect for any of their products. The longer we can stay at school, the more use we'll be here."

She pulls a face but nods her assent, and he feels an odd sense of triumph at having won this battle. It occurred to him before he returned to Hogwarts that Harry and he were born a single day apart, yet Harry has managed to achieve so much more in the same time-frame. He wonders if Harry knows how many similarities there are between them. Both July-born, same age, both essentially lost parents because of Voldemort. Both Gryffindor, but Harry seems to fit the house much better than Neville does.

But then, not many of Gryffindor could claim to have faced Voldemort – what was it, three times? Four? – whilst still at school. Harry Potter is unique, one of a kind and... not at Hogwarts.

They obviously assumed he'd be there. The Carrows had skulked up and down the train, calling his name, shooting spells into empty corners. Ginny was delighted. She kept snickering as they passed, throwing things so the Carrows would whip around, thinking they'd found Harry Potter.

"Like he'd come back to school," she says scornfully when Seamus brings this up, swinging her long red hair over her shoulder. "That'd be handing himself to them on a plate, 'specially with Snivellus as the Headmaster."

Neville isn't sure where she picked up this new nickname from, but he smiles tentatively.

It is Neville's idea to reform Dumbledore's Army, but Luna who masters the Protean Charm so they can contact the old members. They could even induct new ones thanks to her, but Neville is wary of doing that. Snape has taught him one thing; to be suspicious of everyone. If Dumbledore can be tricked, so too can Neville, Luna, and Ginny.

Ginny is the first to be chained up. Neville and Luna are alarmed when she doesn't show for dinner (Luna sits with the Gryffindors now, house customs seeming a little ridiculous), but Colin Creevey tells them she Stupefied Alecto Carrow during detention. It doesn't surprise Neville when he hears.

Neville and Luna worry about consequences after they free her, but Alecto appears to have forgotten about having left a girl down in the dungeons. Ginny merely smiles grimly and says it was worth it.

Luna thinks of going to Madam Pomfrey to get supplies so they can heal the injured, after Terry Boot returns from Muggle Studies with a slit running up the entire length of his arm. Madam Pomfrey is forbidden to heal it herself, but is delighted when Luna comes to her. She greets the girl as though she is a daughter, and Neville watches thoughtfully.

He still finds Luna bewildering, and doesn't think he'll ever get used to her. She's weird and so wonderful to have in this frightening, cruel world, with her theories on a secret race of worm-men that the Ministry were trying to hush up, and how Cornelius Fudge was a prototype of an attempt to crossbreed a banshee with a leprechaun.

Luna also talks of how lonely she thinks Boggarts must be, and how it can't be very pleasant having to represent people's worst fears. She thinks that's the Ministry's fault too – they were probably friendly spirits who got in the way of a Ministry experiment.

Neville shifts uncomfortably when she mentions this, caught between laughter and reflection. He remembers the days when Snape the teacher was his greatest fear. If only he could defeat the real version by imagining him in Gran's clothes. It isn't a comfort that he was right to be afraid of Snape.

Dumbledore's Army don't often meet up, not all together. They don't really need to, after all, since they aren't being taught anything this time. Too many people know about the Room of Requirement for that to be safe; that is one point where he can learn from Harry's mistakes. He doesn't want the Carrows catching them if he can help it.

The Carrows are two of the nastiest people Neville has ever come across, far worse even than Snape. The DA vent their frustrations on Snape by writing 'UNWASHED No. 1!' with a clever drawing by Luna near the Entrance Hall to mimic Harry's Wanted posters. However, no amount of 'KEEP INCEST OUT OF HOGWARTS' painted by the DADA classroom can make up for Neville having to watch whilst Goyle practises the Cruciatus curse on Ginny. She bears it well, but she trembles so afterwards, and only partly out of anger.

That night, Ginny declares her intention of going after Harry's inheritance – Godric Gryffindor's sword in Snape's office. Her eyes are glittering oddly, and Neville feels it would be more dangerous not to agree. She will do it regardless, and it is more likely to succeed with his help. Better that they stick together in this, as with all things.

They arrange the plan meticulously, so even Hermione would be proud, but Snape sweeps in anyway. Neville shivers at the grim triumph in the headmaster's eyes – Snape has always had that sort of effect on him. He almost collapses in relief when they learn their punishment is to be sent to the Forbidden Forest. Funny, how it was once the worst punishment he could imagine.

Seeing the Gryffindor sword in Snape's hands and Snape in Dumbledore's office does something to Neville. He snaps.

Covert graffiti isn't enough. He thinks his parents would do more, but he has never had the luxury of a proper conversation with them.

People need to know that there is still hope.

He begins to talk back in class. At first it is just when Slytherins bring up the "number one undesirable" in sneering tones (Slughorn sends him to Alecto Carrow with the deepest sympathy, but sympathy is no good, Neville realises). And then, the Carrows take it too far, talking of the first war, and those pathetic few who stood up to the Dark Lord.

Neville is quite calm as he stands and tells them that they have it wrong. The pathetic few followed You-Know-Who.

The torture curse, when it comes, isn't as bad as he was expecting. They don't know that Bellatrix Lestrange performed this on him years ago, and the pain was so bad he thought he was going to fall apart. This pain is nothing, especially as it is followed by the grim satisfaction that he is making a stand, that they are proving his point by punishing him.

He doesn't know how long the Carrows are going to be at the school, or how long it will take Harry to return, but he does know that Hogwarts isn't going to be Voldemort's school. He won't let them train up Death Eaters here.

They continue their campaign of rebellion successfully until Christmas. Although Neville, Ginny, and Luna are the ringleaders, all the old DA left at the school muck in. They sneak children out of detention, get Dobby to send them food if they are forced to go without, continue writing messages outside the Carrows' classrooms ("Pure blood, but doxy dung for brains!").

They spread 'sightings' of Harry Potter; Luna is the best at this, proclaiming loud and clear how her uncle's friend's sister fed Harry just last week, and how he told her of all the great and wonderful things he was doing. Ginny sets whispers in motion about how Harry just might be in Hogsmeade that weekend, and the Carrows step the guard up in response.

Neville's marks in class suffer accordingly, but he finds he doesn't mind. He has become very accustomed to being bottom of the class. There are more important things in life, after all.

Everything changes on the train home as, with a horrible lurching feeling, Neville sees Luna being carted off by a huge masked figure.

Gran fusses over his injuries, unaware of how bad the school's getting. He doesn't want to worry her and, more importantly, doesn't want her to stop him from going back. His DA galleon glows warm eventually – Luna fine – but Luna doesn't return after Christmas, and Neville can't help feeling like he's failed her.

He will not fail Ginny.

Ginny takes to sleeping in his dormitory. She curls up now on Harry's bed, not even bothering to go to Ron's first any more. Seamus and Neville say nothing and appreciate the company. Going from five to two felt uncomfortable and wrong somehow.

Seamus adopts Luna's role, of sorts, in their group. He takes the initiative from Neville, and tells Amycus that he doesn't much fancy being punished for not wanting to marry his sister. Amycus's ugly face whitens and reddens in the space of a minute.

Seamus's own face will probably never look the same again, though Ginny tries her best to stop the bleeding. Madam Pomfrey has been banned from helping 'dissenters who deserve their punishments'. He takes it all amicably, though, this boy who thought the Boy-who-Lived was a liar and had no scruples in telling him so, two short years ago.

In fact, Seamus's wounds seem to spur everybody else on, and Neville catches Lavender Brown declaring that getting rid of the Muggleborns was the worst thing the Ministry ever did. She probably shouldn't have yelled it across the Dining Hall, and she is lucky that Snape declares coldly that he will deal with her. Amycus hides his disappointment badly.

"Do you think he's still – alive?" Ginny asks hesitantly.

Neville nods, and then realises she can't see the movement. "Of course."

"That's what I think," she confides, pressing her face into Harry's pillow. She emerges, looking dishevelled, to say, "I think otherwise we'd know."

He nods again and exhales slowly, wincing as he lifts his left leg onto the bed. He suspects he must have banged it with that last Cruciatus curse that Crabbe put on him. Each curse now brings a slight thrill of fear in his stomach – how many more of them can he survive before he—

Breaks.

Cracks.

Like his parents.

It isn't something he is fond of dwelling upon.

"I miss him," Ginny says flatly. "I miss him so much my head aches sometimes. I wish I – knew something about what they're doing. I wish I could know they were safe." She hesitates, playing with her covers. "One of the girls, she's decorated the walls with those Ministry posters, only now they say 'Desirable No. 1'."

Neville snorts. "Harry'd love that." A glance at her tells him that was the wrong thing to say, but he doesn't know how to fix it.

"Last time, he ruled for over a decade," Ginny says quietly. "Before Harry finished him."

Neville rubs his tender calf, deciding not to waste the rest of their precious medical supplies on it. He can cope. "Well, he won't get the chance to see out this year," he vows steadily. "He's too scared to declare himself this time, because of Harry. It's pathetic."

This appears to please her and she's silent for a few minutes, before asking, "If you got the chance, would you – do you want to – are you after..."

He allows himself a smile and realises suddenly how much confidence he has gained simply from standing up to the Carrows. He has absolutely no problems asking questions of anybody now, but Ginny had the confidence to begin with, and is not used to this new, self-assured Neville.

"Bellatrix," she manages finally, and he freezes, fingers digging painfully into his muscle. "Would you – kill her, you know, if you got the chance?"

It is not something he hasn't considered, although he had dismissed it as impossible before this year. Bellatrix is powerful as well as cruel.

He bites his lip, letting the question circulate through his mind. He couldn't let her go, not if he had the chance to do something about it, but mostly because he knows that she'd go on to do the same thing to other people. Fourteen years in prison drove her to insanity, not to remorse.

But could he kill somebody? Even her?

"I don't know," he says slowly. "I don't need to, if that's what you mean. Not for my parents. I thought I did, but... they're all like that, aren't they? All the Death Eaters. They all would have-" He chokes a little here, but continues his attentions to his leg – "done that to my parents if they thought it meant they could find him. The Carrows, Malfoy, Snape."

Ginny is suddenly on his bed, giving him a tight hug. He inhales shakily, burying his face in her shoulder.

It is okay to have moments of weakness as a leader.

The next few months fly by. Ginny vanishes, but Neville's Galleon tells him she is safe. Lavender and Parvati creep into the boys' dormitory – Lavender takes Dean's bed, and Parvati Ron's. They give Harry's bed respectful looks each time they enter the dormitory, and Neville smiles, thinking of Ginny sprawled over it.

Seamus gets more and more daring with each person who goes missing. He tells the Carrows how brave he thinks they are for taking on schoolchildren. No wonder their leader gave them this job.

Soon, his face will be barely recognisable.

Neville hears from Luna for the first time in a long stretch of months, and the news that she has seen Harry, Ron and Hermione puts fresh life into their resistance movement. They step up rumours about the trio, claiming that they've been sighted with curse breakers and dragon tamers (both of which are actually true), that they've discovered a way to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named through the power of song and embroidery (which probably isn't true).

Neville finds a rush out of helping people, out of finally being useful. He hopes his parents would be proud of him. If they knew.

The little family he has left costs him. When the Death Eaters go after Gran, Neville realises how much he's getting to them, even though they had to stop releasing those in detention because of what happened to Michael Corner. Gran escapes, but now Neville is dispensible. The Death Eaters have no leverage over him, and he causes too much trouble to be allowed to continue.

He can't leave the school to them, but the Room of Requirement ensures he doesn't have to. The biggest problem there is when the girls arrive ("Would it be all right if I had a bath? ... What do you mean you hadn't really thought about washing?").

A rumour starts that Harry escaped from Gringotts on the back of a dragon that Neville knows they didn't initiate, and hope swells in his chest.

And then Harry himself arrives, more real and tangible than a hero on a dragon, and all their problems have been solved. Harry will get rid of Snape and the Carrows, and then they can take on Voldemort.

But Harry, it transpires, is not there to solve all their problems.

Neville knows it will be all right once Luna and Ginny arrive, though. He knows that even if Harry cannot get rid of the Carrows, they can - together. It is not only Harry they've been preserving the school for this year, after all. He can see Harry clearly, for perhaps the first time, as the other boy stands there, rubbing his forehead as though it pains him. Harry is not a wonder-boy. He is scared and troubled, and he doesn't have all the answers.

Neville has been using Harry, a boy younger than he - albeit only by mere hours - as a Dumbledore replacement, expecting him to pull a miracle out from nowhere.

It is all right that Harry cannot do it.

Neville will find a way.

Fin.