Chapitre 3: Prologo 3: Magnus Neville Longbottom
Neville opened his eyes and blinked a few times before he realized what had happened.
He wasn't dead, but his body felt so strange, somehow he was lying on the stone floor but he didn't feel it.
The stones reminded him of the battle.
His head shot up, and he found himself in the same room.
His body tensed, waiting for the danger.
Nothing.
There was nothing.
He looked around to find the same arch in the middle; only this one didn't have a veil.
His head started to pound from the sudden movements.
He slowly looked around, trying to find Harry, or Sirius, or even Bellatrix.
The quietness was almost suffocating, and he felt more alone than he had every felt.
"Harry?" He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
The sound echoed off the walls before dying away. No one answered him.
"Someone?"
Nothing.
"Anyone?!"
Nothing.
Panic crept over him.
Slowly he tried to stand, but the sharp pain that sliced through his abdomen prevented him.
"Yes, Neville Longbottom, you are alone… In the human sense" said a faint man's voice.
Nevill's skin jumped. He looked everywhere for the speaker of the voice, and couldn't see anyone.
The pain again increasing from movement, ...he was really beginning to regret standing in front of Bellatrix's curse, of course he didn't want someone else to die or suffer for her again, that's why he acted the way he did and stood in front of the curse that was targeted at Sirius Black.
"Do not move, you will have all the answers in due time," he said as he now saw a faint outline forming as it moved across the room.
A man started to materialize in front of him, slowly fading in and out until it was completed.
Neville looked upon a tall but young man, he has a thin, athletic build, messy brown hair that falls over his forehead, and his eyes were deep-set twinkling light blue.
"Who are you?" Neville croaked out, feeling very stupid, but for some reason he felt he knew this person from somewhere, he just couldn't remember where.
"Hmm, One could say that I am your second uncle, Magnus Neville Longbottom, your father's cousin, although this would not be entirely correct," he said quietly but his voice sounded drained of all life.
Neville nodded, he had heard from his great uncle about his son and his father's cousin, Magnus, who had died in 1975 at the hands of the death eaters.
And now that he said who he was, Neville could recognize him from the old photos his great-uncle had with his son.
'But if I am talking to someone dead..., that could only mean one thing...' thought Neville, realizing his current situation, although it was to be expected.
"No, Neville, you are not dead" he said bringing him much hope.
"Huh?... then... What am I?" Neville said his voice void of all emotion. He had gone past shock into a dark hole known as apathy. Also, for some reason he felt this strange feeling of his body being drained, his stomach ached constantly and so did his head.
"You are one of the few to stop between life, death, space, and time"
He looked up at him. He was tired of asking questions, but needed answers desperately.
"What does that mean?" Neville asked.
Magnus nodded.
"You are here because you wasn't meant to die yet and the veil may have accepted your body but not your soul"
"I think I understand... a little at least. But what about you?"
"I?, hmm, I have gone through the same situation as you..."
"You died when you wasn't meant to die?"
"That is right, but in a time and space different from yours and my death didn't involve the veil and that's what makes the difference between you and me right now"
"What do you mean?" asked Neville completely confused at this point, no matter how hard he tried to understand the whole thing it was only getting harder and harder.
"Your situation is even more unique than the few souls that end up here, most of those who die before their time are forced to leave their physical body and then their soul ends up here, completely losing its connection to the living world and slowly but surely dying completely," Magnus explained.
"But as for you, your soul still retains its connection to the living world even though it is here, but your physical body no longer exists there," he added.
"So..., I can't go back, it's like being dead," said Neville in frustration, in other words, he had died, except that it was in a unique way, nothing to make him feel better.
"That's right..., but maybe you can't go back to your time and space, but I can make you a deal since we are... something like family"
"A deal?" asked Neville completely confused, he was still trying to process that he was dead and was currently talking to a dead ancestor of his family or something like that.
"Yes Neville, a deal. My body was hit by the killing curse about... hmm... 2 minutes ago, that's what brought my soul here, but my body is still mostly intact"
"What? Wait, just a second, I don't understand, two minutes? How? You didn't die a long time ago..."
"Remember what I told you, we are from a different time and space, similar maybe but with their differences that change everything" Magnus clarified.
"In fact in this place time is much different than in the living world, what for us are seconds for them are years" he added causing more confusion in Neville.
"Huh? How...?"
"Simple, one second here is equivalent to one full year in the living world"
"A what?!...a year in a second?!"
"Unbelievable, isn't it? But yes, I've been here for more than 120 years already".
"This..., 120 years?" muttered Neville, his eyes wide open in surprise, unable to fully believe it.
" Indeed, and the only entertainment here is to see the past of different times and spaces. Like your past Neville along with your family's past and even the past of the other me from your reality who died similarly but in a different time, place, and circumstance"
"Wow..., that's really amazing"
"It is, in fact, if you stay here for more than a day your stay here will become permanent"
"Huh? What do you mean by permanent? I'm already dead"
"Your physical body maybe, but your soul still retains a unique glow that is your connection to the living world, although it is slowly losing its luster, it's only a matter of time before your situation becomes similar to mine"
"Does that mean that if I stay here for just one day I'm going to really die?!"
"Well, I've never seen or heard of a situation like yours, so I can't tell you if there will come a time when you will die like me, but I can assure you that when your soul completely loses its luster is when your connection with the living world will be completely lost," explained Magnus and it was then that Neville understood what this strange feeling he felt throughout his body was.
"Unlike you, all the souls here have already come without a glow, so you are rather unique Neville. That's why I propose a deal where you can return to the living world but in a different time and space than the one you know"
"I think I understand..., you say I can go back to the living world but being you in your own body, right?"
"Um, exactly, you seem to be putting things together. Although I have some conditions, but yes, in essence, that is what I am proposing, of course, your other option is to stay here watching the souls of those who die before their time"
"But..., me occupying your body? that would be..."
"My soul can no longer return Neville, we are both in a state similar to death but you can still have a second chance to live, my body, for now, remains in good condition because the killing curse only affected my soul leaving my body intact, but it is a matter of time before my body begins to decompose like any other," said Magnus stopping Neville from speaking.
"If you can take my place it is also a benefit to me and to you if you wish to have a chance to live again," he added, looking at Neville.
"But my friends, my family, my..."
"Whether here or in my body, you'll never see them again, there's no point in holding on to that. You should be grateful that you have the chance that all the other souls here don't."
"I..., I know, it's just, it's hard to process all this"
"And it's understandable, but look forward, not back. You've done your part in your world, now you have a chance to live in a different one"
"But there's still so much I couldn't do..."
"That may be true, but your death has given others the opportunity as well. Besides, we may be from different times and places but Frank Longbottom is still my cousin and the last time I saw him he was very excited about joining the Aurors," Magnus smiled.
"My father..."
"Yes, though not the one in your reality, but similar"
" I would be able to see them, both of them, meet them, father and mother"
"You could..., but you must always remember that they in my time and space are not your real parents and most importantly you must never mention anything about this place to the living or about your peculiar situation taking my body..., that could create chaos in all of spacetime, already allowing you to take my body is a risk, but as long as you hide this secret well nothing too troublesome will happen. Do you understand?"
"This..., yes. So that is your condition?"
"Huh? Oh, no, no, that's an obvious thing you should do unless you want the whole bloody thing to go to hell," Magnus replied.
"My condition for you is that you must become Lord Longbottom as I was meant to be, fulfilling all the responsibilities that the position demands. In addition to that, I would like you to take care of those damn dark wizards that caused my death, but this is only a secondary request, what I really care about is the Longbottom family, if you can fulfill that condition I will happily allow you to be me from now on"
"But why me? I'm not... Lord material" asked Neville doubtfully and a little nervous at the idea.
"Several reasons, first of all as I told you before, your soul still has a connection to the living world and secondly we are both sort of like family, my priority always was and always will be the Longbottom above all else" explained Magnus.
"Besides, we may be from different times and places, but our blood and magic are compatible," he added.
"I don't think it makes any difference when we're dead," Neville commented.
"Oh, but it does, your soul can't enter any living body without a soul, it must be compatible with the body and its magic or it will reject it," Magnus started to say.
"The killing curse attacks a person's soul, but the body remains intact and until a few minutes have passed it still retains not only the mind along with one's memories but also the magical essence that connects the wizard's body with the soul"
"Why do you think that since ancient times wizards and witches have been so fanatical about the idea of keeping their blood pure?" Magnus asked after his explanation.
"Because they are fanatics who don't want to lose their power," Neville replied automatically.
"That's only a superficial reason, the real and oldest reason is because of the legacy that every pureblood wizard carries, every family has a magical essence that is passed down to their children and so on from generation to generation, the purer it is the more conversational this essence is," Magnus said.
"It still seems absurd to me that this is why they discriminate against Muggle-borns," commented Neville.
"It is, but in our case, it actually works in our favour, Neville. Our magic is compatible. You know, I never had a great relationship with Frank due to the separation of our families, but even so in your time and space he named you Neville based on my middle name, he was a good man, even though both are from different times and spaces from what I saw your father and my cousin are very similar," said Magnus with a slight smile.
"So..., will you accept my deal?" asked Magnus staring at Neville.
"I..., I don't see any other option..., I just don't know if I can be a good Lord or even fulfill your expectations"
"You are a Longbottom, surely you can, plus my body still has all my memories and knowledge intact, my own motor reflexes are still there, take advantage and use them, learn and improve Neville, be a better version of yourself and a better version of me. And don't forget that as heir and next Lord, you must put the Longbottom first, that's the deal"
"Alright..., I, I promise!"
" Good, when a Longbottom says that he will do something he does it no matter the circumstances. Now we'd better not waste any time," said Magnus.
"Neville, whatever you do, don't resist," and so without another word to Neville, Magnus quickly began the process of transmigrating of Neville's soul into his body.
Neville at first felt a great pain as well as a sudden connection with something that attracted him.
He didn't know what it was, but he remembered Magnus' words: "whatever you do, don't resist".
So he followed and let himself be carried away by this attraction.
"Neville..., these will be my last words to you. If you ever wish to fight the Dark Lord, remember that you must first find the Horcruxes and destroy them all. Only after that can you kill the Dark Lord, until then it is better that you stay out of his way and do not compromise the Longbottom in a lost cause. I have faith in you. Faith that you will be able to do whatever you propose to do. Never doubt in your abilities and don't stray from your path, always look forward and only use the past as a way of learning to avoid repeating your mistakes"
And so it was that Neville heard Magnus' last words and after a while, he opened his eyes again as a new person, now he was Magnus Neville Longbottom.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone