The Courage To Continue
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe. I just play in it.
A/N: This is for xperfectlyimperfect's I dare you challenge in which I had to write about Neville Longbottom and the quote by Winston Churchill at the end of the story.
Neville Longbottom slid around the corner and barreled into the Room of Requirement carrying Ginny Weasley's limp body with him. He had just rescued her from the Carrows and their idea of detention. They had gone too far this time. They would wake from his stunners any moment if they weren't on his tail already. The bad thing about the room of requirement. You could make the exit anywhere, hence his timely arrival in the detention classroom just after Ginny lost consciousness, but you could only enter from the seventh floor. Thank goodness for lightweight charms or he would have been too slow he thought as he could hear the Carrows looking for him on the other side of the now hidden door. He laid Ginny down on the new hammock that the room had provided. It looks like this wasn't only his sanctuary anymore. He would be sharing now. He sighed, regretting the necessity of it as he set to healing the unconscious girl with the supplies that the room provided. They practically had their own infirmary in here.
He winced as he cleaned out her cuts and applied the dittany. He got very red in the face as he took care of the ones on her chest. He did so quickly and covered her back up with the sheet. He made sure she had plenty of pain relieving potion. As he did all he could, he retreated back to his own corner willing himself to forget the sight of them ripping off her shirt and trying to get the rest of her undressed and talking about what they would be doing to her. She fought them so much they finally stunned her so they could continue. Neville remembered the looks on their faces as he burst in and shot off two stunning spells so quickly that they couldn't even raise their wands. He had seen Ginny withstand the Cruciatus curse, be flayed by a magical whip, be beaten, but she had never looked afraid before. Neville wasn't stupid. He knew that she was afraid, but she had never shown it until that moment. That alone shook him more than anything else that had happened to them this year.
Neville shook himself out of his thoughts and set about modifying the room to make her more comfortable. He added partitions between their "rooms" so they could each have their private space. He left the infirmary area. Who knew when they would need it again. He then added another bathroom so that there would be one for boys and one for girls. He sighed again. He had a feeling that there would be more people intruding on their space before long. Just as he finished making the changes Ginny sat up with a scream. He rushed over to her and hugged her, telling her it was ok, she was alright, and waiting for her to realize that her nightmare was over.
"N-Neville? Where are we? Where have you been?"
"We are in the room of requirement. I have been hiding out here for the last few days. I've been keeping an eye on things, that's how I knew to come get you. The room is very helpful with showing me where I'm needed."
She closed her eyes and nodded giving a thankful prayer that Neville had taken refuge here.
Neville began again. "I just wish I had been able to get to Seamus in time. I failed there, but I won't fail again." He said forcefully.
"Seamus is okay Neville. I mean, he's in the hospital wing and not in great shape, but he's alive. They will torture us, but they don't want to risk us dying. That might just bring attention to the fence-sitters about what's really going on here." Ginny soothed him.
"We will wait until dark and we will go get him from the hospital wing and bring him here," Neville decided. "Do you know which bed he is in so we can be stealthy about it?" She nodded and Neville smiled at her.
She muttered something under her breath that Neville didn't hear. "What was that?" He asked.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" She said a little louder. "Winston Churchill said that. It seems oddly appropriate here." Neville could only nod knowing that she was right. With each success they had they were only a little closer to the goal. They just had to hold the line until it was all over, and by the Gods they would do so. They would take every success they could get and would always find the courage to continue.