Neville's head whipped in my direction, frantically grabbing his wand and pulling his grandmother behind me.
"NEV... IT'S ME!" I shouted, running over to him.
"STUPEFY!" Neville shrieked, causing me to fall backwards.
I hit the pavement with a harsh thud that heavily scratched one of my legs and arms. Groaning in anguish, I recollected myself. Neville hesitantly approached me with his wand drawn. I quickly realized that I shouldn't have done that since I didn't look like how he last saw me: blonde hair... not as pale... and gray eyes.
"I would have expected to see you in an Azkaban cell by now...." Neville seethed, standing above me with his wand drawn.
"NEVILLE, DAMMIT, IT'S ME!" I shouted, "IT'S DAWN!"
Neville cocked his head, his voice shook with anger, "Is this some joke to you? Using your niece against me..."
"Nev... I'm serious," I assured, holding out the hand with my promise ring on it, "It's me... The Daily Prophet lied, I'm alive!"
Neville's face softened, gawking at the ring, but his wand didn't drop. He was having a hard time believing that it was me... I understood why. I wasn't going to give up though, I kept the ring insight as I slowly stood up.
Neville gulped, looking at me again, "If you're her... and really her... what was our first date?"
"Look, Nev... I know what you're thinking, I'm not her-" I hesitated.
"WHAT WAS OUR FIRST DATE?" Neville shouted, cutting me off and shoving his wand closer to my face.
"Officially, it was the Black Lake where we first kissed..." I panicked, cowering on the ground again, "Unofficially, it was the Slytherin vs Gryffindor game where George and Harry jumped Draco..."
Slowly, Neville dropped his wand as his face softened even more. Tears grew in the corners of his eyes, meaning that I had broken through his defenses... but he still looked extremely confused. And instead of greeting me, he covered his mouth and returned to where his grandmother was standing. While he did this, I stood up, dusting myself off, before I approached the two.
"Is that her?" Neville's grandmother asked quietly.
Neville nodded, "Could you... erm... give us a couple of minutes..."
His grandmother narrowed her eyes at me, shoving a fork into her grandson's hands, "The portkey expires in ten minutes... If you're not back by then, you'll walk."
Sighing deeply, Neville nodded and hugged his grandmother goodbye before she disapparated from Diagon Alley. It was apparent that his gran was not fond of me... I assumed from the looks she gave me. Like I feared, she mistook me for Bellatrix Lestrange, and sadly so did Neville. Silence filled the alley as Neville and I stared at each other; neither of us knew what to say.
"I honestly thought you were dramatic about how strict she was..." I joked, trying to ease the awkward tension, "But if the portkey expires, I'm sure that the twin's have a Floo Network in their flat that you could use..."
Silence grew in the alley again as Neville bit his lip, refusing to respond. And after a while, he broke eye contact, lowering his head and shoving his hands into his pockets. He was still trying to process everything... I sensed it. And again, to try and ease some of the tension, I approached him with a smile.
"So... erm, new wand?" I beamed, wrapping my arms around him for a hug and reaching in for a kiss.
Neville moved his head, dodging the kiss and refusing to hug me back. Furrowing my eyebrows confusedly, I hesitantly backed away... both confused and hurt. I knew that he was still processing the fact that I was alive, but I thought that he would've at least... you know... kissed me back.
"New hair?" Neville scoffed, pointing to my curls.
"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.
"I don't know, Dawn... you tell me," Neville hissed, folding his arms, "I thought you were dead!"
"Well... I'm obviously not dead..." I chuckled awkwardly.
"Obviously not..." Neville hesitated, "I'm just... confused. I watched Bellatrix kidnap you... The Daily Prophet and your mum announced your death. I mean, you don't look like yourself, but you look... okay?"
"I only look okay because I escaped," I sighed, "I've been with the Weasleys for the past month."
"WAIT... WHAT?" Neville shouted, "YOU WERE WITH THE WEASLEYS?"
"Yeah... what's wrong with that?" I asked hesitantly.
"AND FOR THE PAST MONTH... THE THOUGHT TO TELL ME THAT YOU WERE ALIVE NEVER ONCE CROSSED YOUR MIND?" Neville spat.
"Nev..." I stuttered, "I tried... I really did..."
Neville rolled his eyes, obviously unimpressed with my answers. Tears were forming at the corners of my eyes, I didn't understand his sudden attitude.
"I tried at least twice a day!" I explained frantically, "Trying to tell you everything that happened was difficult for me!"
"I didn't need to know everything!" Neville scoffed, "I watched her kidnap you... I knew that bad things were happening to you. What I didn't know was whether you survived or not!"
"NEVILLE!" I shouted, "I'M TELLING YOU THAT I TRIED! WHY ARE YOU GETTING CROSS WITH ME?"
"I'M CROSS WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT MAKING SENSE!" Neville protested.
"What's not making sense to you?" I asked rudely.
"Honestly... everything about this conversation," Neville scoffed, "The way you look... you staying at the Weasleys... how you escaped... THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE, DAWN!"
"Well, to answer one of your questions, I was at the Weasleys recovering... so I apologize if I couldn't send you a bloody letter while I was busy having to be walked up-and-down the stairs because I couldn't do it on my own!" I seethed.
"Well, you can obviously walk on your own now?" Neville spat, "So what were you really doing, Dawn?"
I scoffed, taking a large amount of offense to his accusation. What was I really doing? WAS HE EVEN LISTENING TO HIMSELF RIGHT NOW? This was not the Neville I remembered from school, he would have never questioned me like this.
"Are you fucking joking?" I protested, "Neville... I was recovering? And I just told you I had trouble telling you what happened because of that?"
"I bet you didn't have trouble telling Fred, did you?" Neville muttered underneath his breath.
What.
"What did you just say?" I hissed.
"Don't pity me, Dawn... I've seen the way that you two look at each other," Neville scoffed, "And now you're telling me that you guys spent the last month together, without my knowledge... Just save me the trouble and tell me what you two did while you were apparently 'recovering'."
I was astounded... really. He didn't believe me. He thought I was messing around with Fred, when in reality, I was sulking over him the whole summer.
"LONGBOTTOM!" I shouted angrily, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? FRED IS MY FRIEND... AND I'VE MADE IT CLEAR THAT I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU... AND ONLY YOU! SO, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"Who brought you here, Dawn?" Neville asked coldly, "Because if you were truly recovering, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wouldn't have let you out of the house."
"Well.. erm, Fred did..." I hesitated, causing Neville to sigh disappointedly and roll his eyes once more, "But that doesn't mean anything!"
Neville dug into his pockets and pulled out his portkey. He was getting ready to leave. Tears fell from my eyes as I rushed forward. He couldn't have left... not until I explained myself properly.
"NEVILLE, STOP!" I shouted, grabbing his hand, "LISTEN TO ME!"
"Dawn, what do you want me to say?" Neville scoffed, "There's something that you're not telling me... and if you're not going to tell me what it is, I'm leaving!"
"Nev, I want to tell you everything... I really do!" I explained frantically, "I just don't know where to begin..."
Neville sighed, placing his portkey back into his pocket, "Let me put this into perspective, Dawn... How would you feel if Cedric randomly approached you... weeks after his alleged-death... and told you that he's been spending the past month at Cho Chang's house."
Angrily, I dropped his hand, backing away from him. Nothing but fury protruded from my body. Neville was beyond ignorant. Quickly, he noticed my changed demeanor, his head lowering slightly.
"How dare you bring Cedric into this..." I hissed, "Is that really how you feel?"
Neville kept looking at his feet, he didn't respond.
"First of all... he and Cho broke up months before we dated. Second of all, Cedric is dead... Longbottom," I fumed, "He's been dead for over a year now, and if I wasn't over it... I wouldn't be with you. BUT GUESS WHAT, LONGBOTTOM, I'M WITH YOU NOW. I LOVE YOU AND ONLY YOU... SO HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!"
Neville inhaled sharply, still not looking at me, "You didn't answer my question..."
"I WOULD'VE JUST BEEN HAPPY THAT HE WAS ALIVE!" I spat, "I WOULDN'T HAVE ARGUED WITH HIM... LIKE YOU ARE WITH ME!"
Neville sighed once more, shaking his head, "Just tell me what you and Fred did, so I can leave."
"We didn't do anything!" I protested, "That's what I've been trying to say... but you aren't listening to me!"
"THEN WHY COULDN'T YOU WRITE TO ME!" Neville spat, "EVERYBODY ELSE KNOWS... BUT ME! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"BECAUSE I FEAR THAT YOU'LL SEE ME DIFFERENTLY, OKAY?" I shouted, "IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FRED... IT HAS TO DEAL WITH YOU!"
"Then tell me," Neville shrugged, "As long as you tell me the truth... I could never see you differently."
"That's what you say now..." I hesitated, my voice choking up, "But I know that's a lie..."
Neville sighed deeply, his face softened completely. Hesitantly, he approached me, gently grabbing my hand with the promise ring on it. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as he squeezed that hand, looking into my eyes.
"I'm telling you that I won't see you differently," Neville assured, his voice softening, "So, go ahead... tell me."
"You have to promise me..." I stammered.
Neville nodded his head, squeezing my hand again, "I promise..."
Heavy tears fell from my eyes. I wanted to tell Neville the truth... I really did. I knew that if I didn't tell him, he was going to leave. I didn't want to lose him completely, but either way, I was about to lose a part of him. Despite his promise, I knew that Neville wasn't going to look at me the same once he found out about my parents.
I sighed deeply, "She took me back to the manor... I was there for two weeks."
"I know," Neville stammered, "You already told me that..."
My lips quivered, looking up to hold back more tears, "I was tortured... belittled... starved, but I eventually escaped and the order knows that I'm alive. We all agreed that it would've been best for the public to still think that I was dead... to prevent them from coming after me again, you know?"
Neville nodded, giving me a concerned look and squeezing my hand tighter, "Okay... and your parents allowed Bellatrix to do that to you at the manor?"
Fuck.
This was the part that I feared telling him. I wished that I could've backed out... could've just left the story at that, but Neville wasn't going to let me. I was going to have to tell him about my family... it was the only way.
I inhaled sharply, "Erm... Narcissa and Lucius aren't my parents..."
Neville cocked his head, "What do you mean?"
"Erm... I don't know who my father is, I almost don't want to find out..." I explained frantically, my hands shaking, "But my real mother gave me to Narcissa and Lucius when I was a baby... they changed my looks to match Draco's and gave me a fake identity..."
Neville looked at me confusedly, "I still don't understand, Dawn..."
Oh no...
"Nev..." I hesitated, "I really don't want to tell you who my mother is... but it's quite self-explanatory. You mistook me for her a couple minutes ago..."
Confused, Neville furrowed his eyebrows again before a lightbulb went off in his brain. His eyes widened in a panic, and he frantically let go of my hand. Neville looked me up-and-down in disbelief; he looked disappointed and terrified at the same time.
"Nev..." I stammered, "Say something... anything..."
I wasn't sure what he was thinking, but he lowered his head, mumbling relentlessly to himself. After a few moments, Neville chuckled softly underneath his breath and shook his head. Hesitantly, he grabbed my hand again, staring at the promise ring on my finger.
"Nev... Is everything alright?" I asked nervously.
He looked up at me, smiling, before quickly pulling out his wand, "Evanesco..."
The spell hit my ring, causing it to disappear. Confused, I snatched my hand away from his. Tears quickly refilled the corners of my eyes as my lip quivered.
"WHAT?" I panicked.
"You're not the person I made that promise to..." Neville said coldly, digging into his pocket for the portkey.
"ARE YOU BREAKING UP WITH ME?" I asked frantically.
Neville disappointedly shook his head at me as the portkey transported him away from Dragon Alley. The only noise I heard in the silent alley was the frantic pounding of my heart. The air around me grew clammy, I found it difficult to breathe. I collapsed to the ground, hyperventilating and crying.
I couldn't believe it...
He didn't believe me...
It was over.
We were over.