A/N: Hello everyoneee! So, here's the second chapter of my Miracles prompty! I write oneshots (almost) exclusively, so posting a second chapter like this is like a special treat for me, haha.

If you're new to the program, this is a part of the ongoing prompt challenge I have with my two besties who I shamelessly plug in every story (Bruhaeven. LeRequiem. READ THEM)

This is for the prompt miracles are things we make for ourselves, here and now.

enjoy, please :)


Carrow had dismissed the class, despite the fact that he still had an hour and a half to spare. Apparently his rivalry with Neville was more important than the group of detention-ees he was always happy to see broken.

Most of the students fled, grateful to be free, but also scared of getting caught loitering in the halls by the other Carrow. Or worse, Snape.

A few stayed behind.

Luna. Seamus. Dean. Cho.

"How long do you think he'll keep it up?"

Seamus had returned from the hospital wing and, though he had missed the confrontation in the classroom, he hardly needed anyone to explain what was going on. He took one look at the three pacing anxiously outside of the door, and a scream from within told him all he needed to know.

"He's already been at it for twenty minutes. If Longbottom would stop laughing at the man, it'd have probably been over already. Carrow hasn't got any stamina – why d'you think he's always making students do his dirty work?"

Dean spoke calmly. He didn't look as nervous as the two girls, who were both fidgeting in their own manner. Cho was pacing up and down the corridor, back and forth, wringing her hands, while Luna carefully twirled a piece of hair around her finger, biting her lip and blinking her eyes.

Peals of manic laughter interrupted their silence, and, hearing loud bangs and thuds that sounded like tossed furniture and destructive spells. They all looked to the door, as if they could see through it to the mayhem within.

"…insolent! Disgusting, filthy bloodtraitor! I'll teach you…."

The laughter mixed with screams as, it appeared, the cruciatus curse began anew. Even above the noise, Carrow's frustrations could be heard.

"Stop it! STOP LAUGHING! Goddamn it, I said – STOP!"

Suddenly they heard a loud thud, and an eerie silence fell over the corridor that was far more frightening than the bumps and screams.

They all looked at each other. Dean jumped to his feet. Fiddling and fidgeting stopped, and looks of worry turned into looks of complete terror.

Terror that was not unfounded, as a sickly, hacking laughter that was not Neville's came drifting out from under the oak door.

They watched as the large golden knob turned slowly, and the heavy door creaked open.

Carrow stood in the frame, grinning smugly and covered in a horrifying freckling of blood.

For a moment, no one said a word. The four students stared at Carrow, their expressions ranging from disgust, to fear, to concern and confusion. Finally, Carrow licked his thin lips, and rubbed some of the remaining blood off of his face with the back of his wrist.

"Well – you'll be wanting to get him to hospital wing."

No one moved – still in shock. Carrow just shrugged and stepped out of the room casually. They watched as he walked away, and when he was almost at the end of the hall he turned around.

"Oh, and it's best that you'd hurry. That dirty hag will need all the time she can get to figure out how to fix him up."

These words seemed to break the spell, and brought the students' attention back to Neville, who was still in the classroom. Without another moment's hesitation, they rushed into the room together, and found Neville's body splayed out on the floor between two broken leg chairs, and two decent sized pools of blood. His eyes were open, but they didn't see a thing.

"Neville!"

Cho rushed forwards, collapsing to the ground to shake Neville's still body. Her hands went to his shoulders, but before she could make any attempt to revive him, she fell backwards in surprise. Her hands had made a disturbing squelching sound as they made contact with his body, and they appeared to sink directly into his skin. When she pulled her hands away, they were covered in a dark, sticky liquid that looked like a mixture of blood and some other bodily fluid.

"Oh my –"

Luna's voice was small, and a hand flew up to cover her mouth, which had dropped open in awe and horror.

Cho, who was only just pulling her attention away from the goo stuck on her fingers, looked to see what Luna staring at.

There, where she had placed her hands on his shoulders, were two deep handprints that cut deep into his flesh. Pools of blood slowly filled the abscesses, and as she watched, Cho began to feel very ill.

"What the bloody hell did he do to him?" Seamus, who had remained fairly calm up until then, ran his fingers through his hair and began pacing.

He walked around the body and squatted down to get a closer look at the imprints. He reached out a hand, but Dean – the only clear-headed one in the group – pushed him away before he had the chance.

"Don't! He's put some sort of hex on him – you could hurt him even more…."

Seamus straightened, and, beginning to panic, pressed his palms into his eyes.

"What the hell is going on? What do we do? What did he do to him?"

He returned to his pacing, murmuring under his breath.

"…gonna fugging kill him…. I'll kill him if he… I'll fucking kill him…"

"Seamus – we need to get him to the hospital wing."

"How? What did he… but… and his skin… the blood… I'm gonna fucking kill him…"

With Seamus's frustrations making him incomprehensible, and Cho's face a nauseating green color, Dean turned to Luna.

"Luna. Will you help me move him to the hospital wing?"

Luna, usually the most dazed of the group, was alert. Her wand ready, and her gaze steely, she gave him a curt nod and moved so that she and Dean were on opposite sides of the body.

The Ravenclaw in Luna came out – strong, confident, and intelligent. She knew what to do.

"I'll cast the spell, you hold him steady. Ready?"

They both raised their wands.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Neville's body slowly floated away from the floor, wobbling slightly. Dean's forehead creased in concentration as he struggled to keep Neville from tipping towards the floor, while Luna's wand bobbed steadily as she her spell lifted him to waist-height.

Seamus was no longer pacing, instead staring vacantly at the operation before him. Cho, on the other hand, was lying on the floor, apparently unable to handle the gruesome curse.

Luna and Dean walked slowly towards the door, Neville balancing precariously between them.

"Seamus! Get the door – and bring Cho while you're at it."

Dean's orders snapped Finnegan back to reality, and without hesitation, he threw Cho over his shoulder and ran to open the door.

...

...

"Carefully! Careful, please! Oh dear… oh dear. Right there – the cot by the window. Oh dear…"

Madam Pomfrey abandoned the battered student she'd been bandaging and ran over to the window, trying to examine the damage even as Dean and Luna were gently floating Neville towards the bed.

The trip had taken longer than they had hoped, and the corners of Neville's lips had turned a frightening blue.

"Oh dear… This does not bode well. Oh – Mr. Finnegan, would you please put Cho in the corner over there? Yes, perfect – and get her a glass of water and some chocolate from the cabinet, would you? Thank you. Oh dear… what has that Carrow done this time?"

After close examination, as well as some gentle prodding from her wand, Madam Pomfrey straightened and rushed over to a potions cabinet, a very concerned look on her face.

"…. Oh my. Out of the way – please … liverworts, boomslang skin, petrified bezoar … Okay, shoo! Now! I have work to do, and not much time to do it in! … unicorn hair? Damn it, if only Severus weren't…"

She ran about the crowded infirmary, carrying armfuls of ingredients to a makeshift potions station set up by the restrooms. If the life of their best friend weren't on the line, her hopping about would have appeared quite comical. Luna laughed anyways, unable, as always, to conceal her bizarre, and often inappropriate reactions to life.

They stood by the bed, trying to stay out of the nurse's way. Despite their attempts to do so, she knocked into Dean and one of the glass vials she held went flying through the air, shattering on the hard floor. The liquid inside sizzled as it made contact with the stone, and it hissed as it evaporated into nothing.

"Damn it! Please. Come back tomorrow… or, maybe a week or… Just – I need you all to leave for now, please!"

Seamus opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get out any excuses or expletives, Dean shoved him in the direction of the door.

"C'mon Seamus, we can't do anything else. We'll see how he's doing when we visit Cho tonight."

Luna was the last to leave. She'd been listening carefully to Madam Pomfrey's mumbling, trying to figure out what was wrong with Neville from the various ingredients she listed.

She frowned though, as what she heard formed a dark and ominous solution in her mind.

But it was Madam Pomfrey's last words that echoed through her brain as she walked back to the Ravenclaw common room:

"There's no way he'll come out of this sane. Just like his parents, the poor boy."

...

...


postread: yes, it's a cliffhanger. i'm sorry! i'm working really, really hard on finishing the story... it's almost done, but i don't want to make any promises about quick updates or anything. i'm trying really hard though! i'm new to this long/chaptered story nonsense!

anyways. as usual, reviews are hugely appreciated and more than welcome. concrit, flames, or love - leave it via the review button below!

love always,

junejune