Title: Easiest Promise
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Neville/Ginny
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 598
Summary: Neville searches for one person when the final battle is over.
Notes:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Task - Write a story that takes place directly after the battle of Hogwart. Focus especially on how the survivors might feel. (E.g.: relieved, guilty, happy, hopeful, sad…) Prompts: word: death / location: Great Hall / action: grieving / genre: hurt/comfort
Big Damn Prompt Race Competition: 13. Character- Neville Longbottom
Neville stared at the war-torn battle field. There were deaths, many of them. There ones who were relatively uninjured were levitating motionless bodies.
He swallowed. He couldn't believe he actually survived. He thought for sure he wouldn't live to see the day after the battle. Yet, here he was when there were so many other witches and wizards unmoving. Witches and wizards that were so much stronger than Neville, so much more experienced.
The feeling of guilt overwhelmed him. 'How can they be gone when I'm still here?' he asked himself. And of course, there was no answer.
When he got to the Great Hall, he saw Remus Lupin, and his heart immediately went out to Harry. It wasn't fair. The boy had lost so much people and now the last connection to his parents was gone. Stolen by death.
He saw Tonks, right next to Remus. 'Don't the two of them have a baby now? What's going to happen to the baby?' he thought, but he had a feeling Harry would make sure the baby was taken care of.
His eyes went to a huddle of redheads. They were all gathered around someone. His heart stopped beating. "Please, tell me it's not Ginny," he muttered.
"It's not me," the voice sounded from right behind him.
He whirled around and his eyes landed on a shaking redhead. Her usual normal look of fierce determination was gone, replaced with the look of pain. "Who?"
"Fred. Fred is gone," she mumbled as crystal tears rolled down her dirt-smudged cheek.
Neville shook his head. It couldn't be, but he read the truth in her eyes. He knew people were going to die, but it was hard to believe it would be someone he knew and liked. Someone he went to school with.
He held his arms open and Ginny ran into them. Her cries were heart-wrenching and her body shook with the force of them. "I'm so sorry, Gin," he murmured into her hair. He wished he could do more for her, but that was the only thing he could think of to say.
"It's not fair," Ginny yelled, her fingers clutching his ripped shirt as if it was a life preserver and she was floating out to sea.
"No, it isn't," Neville quietly agreed. He pulled her closer and over her shoulder, his eyes landed on Harry.
Neville swallowed, feeling even more guilt because he was holding a friend's ex-girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend that he thought the friend might still have feelings for.
He couldn't help the way he felt, though. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been on their own mission, Neville and Ginny were back at the school, doing their best to survive while protecting the other students, along with Dumbledore's Army. He fell for Ginny, and by the kisses they shared when they were alone, he was sure the feelings were mutual.
Emerald eyes showed pain when they looked into Neville's brown eyes. There was a flash of acceptance, though, and a nod of his head. Harry understood that things had changed, and he'd accept it, even if it was only for Ginny's sake.
Neville nodded back, grateful for Harry's understanding. He focused back on Ginny. He rubbed her back and whispered soothing words into her ear even though he knew they didn't really mean anything in the grand scope of things.
She tilted her head up. Her cheeks were wet with her tears. "Nev, promise me you'll never leave me?" she asked.
"I promise," he vowed. And it was the easiest promise he ever had to make.