the_debt_of_time

"Neville, I... I taught your parents Occlumency. I knew what was going to happen
to them, so I put up barriers around the pain sensory areas of the mind," she said, not
knowing better words for what she had done. "I'd already been tortured by Bellatrix myself,
so I knew where those memories were stuck, and I didn't want... I didn't want your
parents to suffer more than I knew they would," she said, her voice breaking.
"Merlin, please let this work," she whispered and reached for her wand, staring into
Alice's large eyes. "Legilimens."
"Should have stayed hiding, Longbottoms!" Bellatrix yelled, laughing as she aimed her wand at
the young couple. "Not that it would have done you any good. The Potters stayed hidden, and they're still
dead!"
"So's your Dark Lord," Frank spat bitterly.
"You watch your mouth, you filthy blood-traitor!" Bellatrix screamed. "Crucio!"
"Frank!" Alice yelled as Rodolphus Lestrange held him down. Her own arms, held back by Barty
Crouch Jr, were throbbing, and she was certain that one of her shoulders had been dislocated.
When word reached them of the Potters' deaths and the destruction of Voldemort, Frank and
Alice mistakenly thought it was safe to leave their Fidelius-protected home. Leaving Neville behind with
Frank's mother, the Longbottoms had planned to go and seek out Dumbledore to learn of Harry's
whereabouts. They had heard rumours that something happened with Sirius and there was some mix-up
with an arrest, which had not been too surprising; Sirius had a habit of getting himself arrested.
Unfortunately, they never made it to Dumbledore. They had been accosted barely a few streets from
their home, stunned, and dragged away where they were tortured—not for information but for revenge.
Somehow Voldemort was dead, and his Death Eaters had scattered to the wind as Aurors rained down
upon them. These four decided to give a little back to the Aurors, which was exactly what they had said
when they first attacked.
"You bitch!" Alice screamed and spat toward Bellatrix, who turned on her, wand raised.
"You'd like a taste then, sweetheart?" Bella sneered.
"Hide... Hide away.. ." Frank mumbled incoherently as Rabastan Lestrange approached
him, wand aimed with a Cruciatus at the ready. "Hide away," he said again as Alice prepared herself for
the pain to come once more.
And they hid away.
Hid far away behind the barriers that Mia constructed.
"Reducto," Mia whispered.