Disclaimer: JKR Owns it all!
Written for Book-Quotes Boot Camp
Prompt3: You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it. – Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix.
Written for Globetrotter Drabble Competition
Prompt: Dubai, UAE (15) – Write about something expensive
Written for Television-Quote Boot Camp
Prompt2: Sometimes it's easier to say you don't care... than to explain all the reasons why you do. - Sex In The City
Written for Rat Racers Challenge
The time limit was 15, and I managed to write 472 words, but after much editing and cleaning it up – it stands at 488.
Written for Ten Times Ten
Prompt: Institution - St. Mungo's
Written for The Legendary Gods and Goddesses Competition
Prompt: Nephthys - Write about someone mourning over something
Written for The Greenhouse Competition
Prompt:Ragweed - courage - Write about a Gryffindor
The Boy Who Suffered
Neville Longbottom – he was the almost boy who lived. But he didn't know that. No one did infact. His parents had been taken away from him in what most considered the worse horrible manner than compared to Harry Potter's parents' deaths. Some hoped and wished that they had been killed instead of the deranged state they were left in.
Despite being young, Neville had been forced to grow up. At the tender age of three, he knew that his parents were not the same. They were much different. And the worst thing about their condition was – they didn't remember they had a son.
Every time he visited the St. Mungo's or even when his parents were spoken about – Neville would be stared at with such pity that he despised it! At first, he didn't understand their saddened looks or grandmother's sweet behavior and Uncle's treats after every visit to his parents which was usually contradictory otherwise. No, he didn't understand it back then. But as time passed, Neville started to. They weren't being kind to him without a reason, they just pitied his state!
Sometimes, he wondered how it would be if Frank and Alice Longbottom weren't alive – would things have been the same? Would he have been a pity case even then? Of course, he would be … But that pity wouldn't last for long. They would see him as an orphan, and get over with it. He wouldn't be the boy paid his parents a visit regularly even if they didn't remember him.
He couldn't help but feel horrified at his thoughts. But most of the time – it was hate that he felt for himself. What kind of a child hated his own parents for being alive? Every time he saw happy families, parents hugging their children, parents treating their kids, parents being parents – he wished his parents were rather dead than alive.
Am I fit to be their son – even after wishing that they were dead?
He hated himself – so much.
But that feeling only lasted when he was away from them. Each time he visited them … His heart would beat faster than usual, he would smile, and mostly – he felt calm and at peace. It was in that moment that he realized why he loved his parents and why he was glad that they were alive – whether they remembered him or not.
It didn't matter to him, it didn't matter that they were forced to forget him, because in those few rare precious seconds – when his mother cupped his cheek, and father smiled at the pair of them – it was almost as if they remembered.
Hate as much as he did, he couldn't help but love. For it was those moments that Neville realized his treasure… it was those moments that he remembered that they loved him. And he knew in his heart that he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
AN: Okay, there you go – it would be a wonder if I write anything happy. I hope you liked this sad one, I'm feeling quite down after reading it.
Please do review!