Written for the 'Your Journey begins' challenge at The Golden Snitch:

Narcissa Malfoy paired with desertredwolf's favourite character: Neville Longbottom

(song) 'Turn Our Eyes Away' –Trent Dabbs, (word) diamond, (dialogue) "I used to think I had everything, and then I met you."

The Golden Snitch Trolley: Caramel Cobwebs: "What a terrible feeling to love someone and not be able to help them."

23. Selene: Write about something that takes place at night. [Greek Mythology Competition]

Chocolate Frog Card Club: (Bronze) Mooncalf. Challenge: Incorporate the full moon into your story, without using werewolves.

Dame#8. Emotion [Royalty Competition 1000k+]

The Wand writing competition: Neville Longbottom; Drama; Quidditch reference

Words: 2,448

Disclaimer: Lyrics from the song 'Turn your eyes away' by 'Trent Dabbs' are written in bold black. They don't belong to me, nor do the featured characters.

The Blackness in the Heart

"Look, look, look! The moon! It's so bright and shiny! And it's already dark outside. Your parents must be so worried…"

"It's alright, Alice. I'd rather stay here for a little while longer."

The middle-aged, brown haired woman looked confused at the handsome brown-haired young man, who was sitting on the fluffy chair in front of her.

"Who is Alice?" The witch asked innocently and positioned herself on a more comfortable spot in the plain bed.

Neville sighed and like every time he visited his parents, he felt the sharp, stinging pain in his chest, whenever they didn't remember him. But - like always - he tried to keep his emotions under controll.

"Mum, it's me, Neville."

He watched his black haired father sending him a suspicious look as he sat down on his wife's bed.

"Neville… Neville… Neville," Alice Longbottom repeated over and over again, in a lovely singing voice.

"Yes, Mum, I'm your son," the young Gryffindor said in a gentle but sad voice, and once both his parents sat comfortably, with their arms around each other, he reached out and softly covered them with the – ugly – green and yellow hospital blanket.

"My son… son… sun… sunny – look!" His mother screamed and gestured wildly to the little suns that were painted on the blanket. "You like sunny days, especially during a qua, quo quidditch game! Don't you, Frankie?"

His father seemed to ponder over the question. Then he shook his head vehemently, stopped and nodded enthusiastically.

Despite all the years in which he had visited his parents, sometimes he just couldn't prevent the tears that threatened to from in his eyes. Even though their condition wasn't as bad as usually, it still hurt a lot to see one's parents not remembering their own son.

Additionally, his father had ceased to speak a couple of month ago and since then he hadn't spoken a single word. Not to the nurses, not to his wife, not to Neville.

And as painful as it was to watch his mother's sweet and crazy babbling, she did have some very rare, clear moments every now and then, which he treasured more than anything else in the world.

"Tired… so tired…" Alice mumbled and rested her head on her husband's hospital-gown covered shoulder.

The young Gryffindor smiled kindly at his mother. He took a step forward, quickly stroked his already sleeping father's hand, then brushed his fingers through his mother's hair in a lovely gesture and finally he gave her a soft, sweet kiss on the cheek.

"Go to sleep, Mum. It's already late at night," he whispered as he sat down on his chair again.

"Sleep, yes… late… night…" Alice whispered, but before she followed her husband into the land of dreams, she whispered his name once again, and Neville's heart skipped a beat.

Silently, he watched his parents, the people that meant the most to him. It was the very first time he had visited this late an hour, but due to his frequent visits, he was good friends with Head-Nurse Holloway, who usually was on call during the nightly hours.

And he had to visit today. He actually planned on telling his parents everything about the final battle, and that Voldemort was finally gone.

But sometimes, life – or in this time sleep – just came in the way.

So Neville decided to spend the night in his usual fluffy blue chair, which Madam Holloway had once given him as a birthday present.

He would tell them everything tomorrow, tell them about his friend's bravery, and about the death of Bellatrix Lestrange. The woman who – right on this day about 17 years ago - had tortured them to insanity. And he would tell them how this woman died this night - right on this very day.

.oOo.

Neville didn't know how long he had been sitting in his fluffy chair, but suddenly he heard a loud crack somewhere behind him. Instinctively, he jumped and pointed his wand towards the door.

"Show yourself," the young man demanded.

At first, nothing happened and for a moment Neville wondered whether or not he had imagined the whole thing. But then, the door slowly opened to reveal someone he had least expected to see.

There, quietly entering the room, both her hands held up in a peace-offering gesture, was Narcissa Malfoy.

Neville's eyes widened and he swallowed hard, since he had no idea what to do next. She was Malfoy's mother, but apart from that, the Gryffindor hadn't heard anything else about her.

In addition, she was quite the difficult person to read; her face was well guarded and her body language didn't reveal anything that could help him in this particular situation either.

The only thing he did know was that she was the sister of the woman who had tortured his parents to insanity.

'But it was Bellatrix, not Narcissa' Neville told himself and tried to get rid of the sudden anger that had started to boil inside of him. 'Don't confuse a quaffle with a snitch...'

Sighing, he lowered his wand a little and looked into her brown eyes properly.

In her eyes was a shimmer of sadness, which Neville hadn't expected to see and he felt a rush of sympathy replacing his anger toward her.

Additionally, she looked tired, exhausted, and worn out; she had a deep cut on her cheek and it seemed like her leg was injured, since she was limping when she had entered the room.

Well, she probably doesn't look any better than I do right now, he mused and remembered that he had only managed to clean the large, bloody wound on his forehead. Everything else, his robes, shoes, and other injuries hadn't bothered him in his rush to see his parents again. At least I'm not the only one who comes here in the middle of the night, looking like fresh from the battlefield…

"I have to admit, that I didn't expect seeing you here," Neville finally said, and he was surprised at how calm his voice sounded.

The blonde witch still hadn't moved, but her lip twitched. "Believe me, I didn't plan on running into you either."

The young man didn't know why, but suddenly he started chuckling. It was partly due to the fact that he hadn't done it in a very long time, and partly because it simply felt good. So despite everything, despite the fact that he knew very well that this woman in front of him was the wife of one of Voldemorts most loyal Death Eaters, he signaled her to come closer and take a seat on one of the chairs next to him.

Neville smiled amusedly when she hesitated. A daughter of the Ancient and Noble House of Black was feeling uncomfortable about sitting down next to him.

He even saw that the usually formidable witch played nervously with a small, but elegant diamond necklace. He shook his head; this was going to be an interesting night indeed.

Then Narcissa finally took a deep breath - as if to steady herself – and carefully sat down next to him. However, her eyes never met his, since they immediately wandered to the sleeping couple on the hospital bed.

"Thinking about it, I should have known you'd be here tonight," Narcissa said in a monotone voice, without moving her eyes.

"Well, usually I'm not really hard to read," he answered and a small smile graced his lips. "My Gran used to say that I'm an open book."

"She's a wise woman. Though I'd rather say that, given the circumstances, you look rather like a book with many torn out pages."

As soon as the words were spoken, she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth and muttered, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to sound insulting. Sometimes I walk through the fire without even noticing that I'm already burning…"

"It's alright," Neville said gently and leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes wander over to his parents again.

"What brings you here? And how did you come in if you don't mind me asking? Madam Holloway is usually very strict in that matter."

"I thirst for truth, for what I've never tasted," she said cryptically, but before Neville could voice his confusion, she continued. "I – I never wanted to believe what my sister did. Somehow my feet brought me here, probably to see what she did with my own eyes. It seems like a hideous trick of fate that she died the same day she tortured your parents."

Neville honestly couldn't have said it any better. He didn't know what it was like to lose a sister, or what it meant to come to terms with her actions. But upon seeing the torn expression on the blonde witch's face, he knew it wasn't easy.

"So, you're here to ask for my forgiveness concering your sister's actions?"

Narcissa vehemently shook her head and for the first time that night she turned and looked at him with teary eyes. "No. What she did is unforgiveable."

She took a deep breath. "I think I am here because I want you to know that I am not my sister - even though both our hearts are as black as our name."

Neville nodded. For some reason he believed her. "What prevented you from doing good?"

The witch sighed. "There were days, when I think I can change who I am," the blonde witch said with a mix between hope, sadness and frustration in her voice, "but in the end, something always happens, and it calls to me again. The comfort for the sin."

It was a strange situation, the two of them just quietly sitting and talking… but for some unexplainable reason it felt oddly comfortable. Neville supposed that it had something to do with the end of the battle. In a way, it symbolized a new start; not only for the fighter of the resistance, but also for the people on the other, the dark side. It was a time for changes and – in Neville's own opinion – everyone had the right to change who they wanted to be and what they wanted to do in their future. And if Narcissa really wanted to change, than he was the last person to deny her that.

"I have always been the odd one out in my family. And you know, back then, I still used to think that I had everything, but then I met you. I think the one thing I never had was love," Narcissa continued in emotionless voice. "Marrying Lucius was mainly to please my parents, and only brought me down further into a world where I didn't really belong. I never wanted to be part of something where we turn our eyes away from this path we've taken, washing clean our faces whenever we could."

Neville, who had carefully listened to her words, was silent for a moment and looked at his parents.

He had never really thought about how it was like to grow up in a house with pureblood-fanatics all around. Deep down, he felt sympathy rising for the elder woman, when he thought that she might have never experienced what it was like to be truly loved by one's parents.

Even though he hadn't had the time to spend a lot of time with his parents, he just knew that they, deep down, still loved him. That's what kept him going in the first place.

"I was so scared for Draco," Narcissa whispered, and a tear rolled down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away. She started to play on her necklace again. "The past years, I only lived leaning on the hope that, one day, even we will be saved. Despite everything we did."

Before Neville could reply, his mother stirred in her sleep and she turned around to snuggle closer to her husband.

"What a terrible feeling to love someone and not be able to help them," Narcissa whispered, and when Neville looked into her eyes, he saw that she really meant it.

"You know, Bella isn't the only reason I am here tonight."

"She's not?"

"No. Your mother is," the blonde witch said sighing. "I have known Alice from my own time at Hogwarts. We were actually quite good friends. Considering my family's reputation and all, that meant a lot to me."

Neville stared at her open mouthed. But before he could ask anything, Alice moved again, and groggily opened her eyes.

"Hey mum," Neville said, and smiled at her, "Look, one of your old friends – "

"Please, please take it away!" Alice screamed.

The Gryffindor and his companion looked confused and they watched as Alice's whole body starting to shake and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Mum, what –"

"Take it away," she cried again and this time, she pointed to the necklace Narcissa was wearing. "Please, it hurts. STOP."

Still screaming, the brown haired woman was now pulling her legs closer to her body, and put her hands on her head; her eyes were forcefully pressed together.

A pained expression flashed over Narcissa's face, so she carefully held on to the diamond necklace and took a step closer to Alice. Neville watched terrified as his mother screamed more and more, until she buried her face on her husband's chest, still sobbing, "Please, please Bellatrix, stop, please…"

And suddenly it dawned on him. His mother remembered.

She had seen Narcissa and remembered the woman who had painfully tortured her so many years ago. It pained Neville greatly to see his mother like that, but it almost hurt him more to see her remember someone like Bellatrix, but not her own son…

"The necklace," Narcissa suddenly said as she put the diamond- jewelry back under her robes and covered her old friend with a blanket, in an attempt to get the irritated witch back to sleep.

"The necklace belonged to Bella. That's why Alice remembers. Bella wore it all the time, even on the day…"

"Even when she tortured them to insanity?" Neville sounded harsher than he intended to.

Narcissa isn't like her sister, he repeated inside of his mind. It must be painful for her to be compared to a heartless monster all the time.

A surprisingly comfortable silence fell over them and for a while neither of them said a word.

"I guess every man decides to take or save a life one day," Neville finally said, and to both their surprises, he carefully took Narcissa's older hand in his, but both of their eyes were still fixed on the sleeping Alice.

"Today, is the start of something new, and I want to save your life. I will help you to find a way to get rid of the blackness in your heart."