Ch. 9 Hiding
Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way
~ Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones
The next morning I awoke tucked into my bed, though still in the sweatpants and t shirt I had been in before falling asleep. I stretched and yawned and stumbled out of my room. I must admit, I was rather confused, as I had definitely fallen asleep in Neville's arms on the couch. So why had happened?
I was greeted with the sight of Neville waiting for me outside with a cup of coffee, my addiction. I beamed at him and took it eagerly.
"Did you...?" I asked silently, implying my tucked in state.
He nodded with a small smile, "Yeah, was that..."
"It was nice," I smiled, blushing furiously without a care to try and control it, "Thanks."
He beamed in response and sighed in frustration, "I have to go to Charms, I missed it last time and the four of us agreed we wouldn't miss the same class twice in a row. Seamus will be here, though," he explained.
I nodded in understanding and hugged him in thanks, watching him go with a nostalgic sigh. Seamus then ran down from the boy's dormitory rather abruptly and smiled at me in an annoyed manner.
"Are you going to tell him? Ever?" he begged with the smallest of sighs.
I shook my head furiously while replying, "No. I don't want to make things awkward when I need his complete presence so much."
Seamus rolled his eyes, "It won't make it awkward, I can almost guarantee."
"Yeah right," I muttered in annoyance before changing the subject, "Wanna play chess?" Seamus rolled his eyes, for as easy as it was to beat Neville, Seamus had continuously beaten me and was now bored with it, though I was getting better.
"Alright, alright, though only cause you've been through emotional and physical and mental trauma," he conceded.
"Wouldn't that just be trauma?" I laughed as we sat down.
"Shut up," Seamus chuckled. He beat me again, but it took him a lot longer than usual. He indicated that meant progress, but I still maintain I suck at that game.
A lot.
The days and weeks dragged on in my little prison, though I did manage to have a good time and talk with my friends. I visited Snape occasionally, though also sporadically for fear of those hateful Carrows, at night whilst under the cloak of a dillusionment charm. And, whenever Neville and I were alone in the common room (which seemed to be happening increasingly often, to my general dismay) I would teach him the art of hand magic.
The lessons moved slowly, for he was still getting used to the idea of not having to use his wand and I was a terrible teacher, partially just for being a terrible teacher and partially because Neville himself distracted me terribly. I will confess, though, that I had given up on the idea of telling him how I feel.
"Ok, so, I don't even really need to use a spell?" Neville asked one afternoon for the millionth time.
"Nope. Just imagine in your mind what you want to happen, and then just… go. You have to feel it," I smiled weakly, for it wasn't an exact science and I knew that it would be troublesome for him to get used to.
"Give me an example," Neville groaned in annoyance.
"Well," I paused, swallowing hard, "Let's say you wanted to light a fire." I paused, turned to the fireplace, and snapped my fingers, "You just have to imagine the fire happening and will your own energy to go into its creation, is all. You have to feel it inside of yourself."
Neville looked at me for a moment like I was crazy, but finally closed his eyes, took a deep breath and snapped his fingers. A small, almost dying fire appeared. It disappeared right away, but not before Neville could see it and cheer in excitement.
"Look Maggie! I did it!" Neville pointed eagerly. I grinned at him and nodded, and watched in amusement as he put his hand to his forehead and swayed on the spot.
"Well I think that's it for the day. You're new at this so even that little amount of energy is making you sick," I paused, reaching out to hold him steady, "Breathe."
He nodded, holding onto my shoulder as he composed himself. I
helped him sit on the couch and watched as his face grew steadily paler.
Shit, I thought anxiously, "OK, I am about to do something very, very stupid for you."
He looked at me wearily and I grinned, trying to make it seem like it wasn't as big of a deal as it was going to be.
"I'm sneaking out," I paused, "And I'm going to get you some tonic from Madam Pomfrey. Now, before you protest, keep in mind that you're getting sick and any extreme activity on your part is not going to help you at all," I raised a hand to stop him from talking and he glared instead.
"Look. Everyone is at class. So much is everyone at class is that you're ditching class. You need something to help your systems heal and I have no idea how to make that sort of tonic. I'll be careful, OK? I promise," I looked at him as he remained incredibly pale and didn't seem to recover, "I have to."
He watched me go with desperation in his eyes and I took a deep breath. The hallways were empty, thank God, but I still felt my palms sweat and my heart pound. A disillusionment charm wouldn't be useful, as it would just look like the background behind me was moving and therefore suspicious. I took to the shadows, pacing along the wall and trying to not breathe so loudly.
I turned the corner to the grand staircase and began running downwards, reminding myself than it was the middle of the class period and the Carrows were both teaching. I was safe, I was safe, I was safe.
I reached the top, near the nurse's office, and snuck inside to find myself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy.
I hadn't interacted with him much; just once when I had first come to the school. And now, he was clearly ditching class and had clearly caught me outside of my realm of safety.
"Well," he looked mildly amused, but still disgusted like always, "The American half-blood emerges from her cavern of safety."
I looked at him, glaring. I recalled every awful thing he had done to my friends, both this year and years past; and to the legendary friends of my friends.
I spit in his face.
He grimaced as he wiped it from his face and roughly grabbed my arm, "Now, did you really think you could get away with that? I am a Death Eater you know."
I laughed loudly in his ear, "You're about as much of a Death Eater as Filch is a wizard."
He shouted in protest and pulled out his wand. I did much the same, glaring at him and awaiting his next move. Curse after curse was shot back and forth between us as we dogged between statues and empty classrooms, though he managed to hit me with a nasty Sectumsempra across my right cheek that burned like hell. I did, however, manage to do much the same to his right hand as we fought back and forth in the middle of the corridor, shouting and causing as much of a ruckus as anything. It was a miracle the charms class down the hall did nothing in response.
Malfoy sent a mild stunning spell that sent me turning into the wall. I slammed into it, bruising my right arm, and the act of falling twisted my left ankle. I cried out in pain and looked up to see him poised above me, his wand out and his eyes filled with glee.
"The Dark Lord will honor me for this," Malfoy laughed, "Maybe my family will go back into good standing after the incident."
"What incident?" I snapped, but everything ached along my right side and I realized it was one hell of a stunning spell that had hit me there, and as such I couldn't manage my growl in quite the same manner as usual.
"The Potter incident," Malfoy whispered angrily, "We had him and he got away. My father, aunt and mother has already paid horribly and maybe, by bringing you and your 'hand magic,' we will be rewarded."
"Change sides," I hissed through my teeth as the pain increased, "You'll be protected and Voldy will never hurt you again."
Malfoy shook his head, "No. I've made my choice," and he pointed his wand at me. I braced myself for being fully stupefied, or perhaps petrified, or immobilized or something so that I could be easily brought away. My side was hurting more and more and I felt my cheek wound's blood drip onto my shoulder.
"Hey, Looser," I heard an all-too-familiar voice call out. I looked up and over and saw Neville, with a little bit more color in his cheeks, standing and facing Malfoy with his wand out.
"Get away from her," he whispered angrily, eyes narrowed and face fierce.
"Ha!" Malfoy laughed obnoxiously, "Like you could do anything to me, Longbottom."
Neville glared for another moment before whispering hoarsely, "Watch me."
A huge curse blasted from his wand and sent Malfoy sprawling on his back. I watched, helpless and amazed, as the two fought each other even more vigorously than I had fought him. Snaps that indicated a curse being shot filled the air as the two practically blasted apart every statue in the hallway. I groaned as my entire right side went numb and clutched my left ankle, trying to think of what I could do in a minute to fix myself and help Neville.
But then I watched as two things happened at once. Malfoy screamed out, "SECTUMSEMPRA!" and slashed his wand across Neville, creating a long gash from his right shoulder down to the left side of his hip. But at the same time, Neville cast some sort of curse- I didn't hear the incantation- that caused Malfoy to be sent across the hall and slam into the back wall, falling unconscious. Neville fell to the floor crying out in pain and clutching his quickly-becoming-bloodied shirt. I cried out and tried to get up to help him, but soon fell to the floor.
Madam Pomfrey then came running out, her eyes wide and terrified.
"What is going on here? Mr. Longbottom! Ms. Johnson! Ms. Johnson! You should be hiding…" I looked up at her angrily.
"Neville was losing energy due to magical causes and I tried to sneak up here to get a tonic from you. Malfoy cast some sort of spell that completely injured my right side and I sprained my left ankle. He's unconscious over there," I pointed feebly with my left arm, "And now Neville has a huge gash…"
Madam Pomfrey quickly went through a series of incantations on Neville and then on me, making my right side no longer feel like it wasn't there, only very painful.
"Get back to the common room, now, before the Carrows find you!" she ordered, "Ms. Johnson, I will be down in a moment with a potion for your side and your ankle. I stopped Mr. Longbottom's wound from bleeding but you're going to have to clean him with a potion I will bring along with yours. Quickly, now!"
Neville, who didn't have a limp despite the immobility of his chest, helped me up and helped me limp quickly to the Common Room. I tried not to cry while it felt like pins and needles were stabbing every inch of my right side. Neville looked determined, though it wasn't only his chest that was slashed- his arms were badly cut and I could see a nasty bruise forming on his cheek.
"How did you get down there?" I whispered as we reached the top of the stairwell, not without effort.
"I felt my energy return to me and I just got this really, really foreboding feeling and I knew I had to find you," Neville paused, "I knew someone was going to attack you and I just… I couldn't bear the idea of you getting tortured again."
"You recovered? Really?" I looked at him in shock.
"What? You never get that sick after using hand magic…" Neville looked confused.
I opened my mouth to explain when I felt five different types of chills go through my body as a horrible voice called out, "Well, well, well… if it isn't the muggle-lover and the slut, injured and unable to fight back."
I turned around, frozen except for that, to see the male Carrow looking at me with greedy eyes.
"Are you ready to tell me now, or should we just try that again?" he whispered quietly. I felt everything within me grow cold and I started shaking madly, realizing there was absolutely no way out that wouldn't kill me or Nev.
Neville didn't even say anything, just stared at him with the darkest look in his eyes. He pulled out his wand and held out his left palm and simultaneously sent a huge blast of energy into his gut and a stunning spell directly at his head. He immediately crumpled to the floor, and Neville did nothing except turn around with me still supported by him and continued walking, quietly, to the Common Room.
I stared at him open-mouthed.
"How… How… How…" I repeated as we entered the Room. He still had that scary dark look in his eyes as he looked at me.
"I told you, Maggie," he whispered quietly, making me almost fear for myself at his tone of voice, "He would never lay a hand on you again."
"But… But… But… Neville, that amount of simultaneous magic should have killed a beginner, or at least make you really weak… you shouldn't have been able to support me over here. And you had just been sick from using magic before! This is impossible," I shook my head.
"Why?" he asked bluntly, that dark look still in his eyes.
I swallowed, and murmured, "You're scaring me."
His eyes immediately softened and he swallowed, "Sorry. I just… Please explain," now he looked weak, his cheeks draining of color almost instantaneously after calming down in his facial expression.
"The more you use hand magic, the more used to it you get and the more you can do, and the cycle continues. There are some things that just kill you no matter what, but… when you're a beginner it doesn't take much to kill you. Hardly anything at all to weaken you. And it normally takes ages to get better, especially this early on," I paused, "It is incredibly remarkable that you managed to do everything you've done since you first cast that flame."
Neville shrugged, though he looked like he was about to vomit.
"Just… relax," I soothed, "Well, this means you're a natural. Though, I have to ask… what was going through your head when…"
"He is never going to hurt you again," the dark look was back and Neville, once again, looked healthy and determined, "Never."
I swallowed compulsively, "OK. So the instinct to protect me must have triggered some sort of adrenaline rush that allowed your magical energy quota to increase enough to practically kill him. And a similar thing must have happened when you realized I was probably in danger."
Neville shrugged again, still with that dark look in his eyes that made me exceptionally nervous as Madam Pomfrey came running in with four bottles in her hands. She handed two to me, one filled with a clear liquid and the other filled with a purple liquid.
"Drink both of them, every last drop," she instructed. She then handed me one filled with a bright, electric blue liquid that seemed to be excessively viscous.
"This one you have to spread on his wound, and maybe yours too," she examined my cheek wearily, "To keep them from getting infected or start bleeding again."
She finally handed a bottle filled with a green liquid to Neville and explained, "Drink that, every last drop. You two, don't leave the Common Room for any reason. Amycus Carrow is on the warpath looking for you two and only Professor McGonagall is keeping him away."
We nodded and she left in a flurry of robes. I drank both of the vials she had handed to me and Neville did the same with his, color filling his cheeks even more fully now and more life visibly returning to his actions. I grabbed the electric blue goop and nodded to him.
"I think I have to take my shirt off," Neville whispered softly. I nodded again, but now my heart was moving at breakneck speeds and everything suddenly became very, very hot.
When he did, I managed to get distracted from his naked torso by a very long and angry looking gash running across his from. I gasped and put my hand to my mouth and looked up at him desperately. He shrugged, trying to pass it off as no big deal, but I felt tears leak through my eyes.
"Oh Nev," I whispered, "This is so bad… Neville…"
He smiled, "Anything for you."
The room was spinning again, and I think my heart grew some sort of feathery wings structure and flew off into the sunset.
I took out the blue goop and poured some of it onto my hand. I spread it gently onto his shoulder portion of the wound and he winced violently.
"I'm sorry, we have to do this," I mumbled. He nodded and braced himself for the rest of the goop.
I used my fingertips to spread it so it would be more concentrated in the wound and I tried to not think about what was happening too much. If I did, I would realize that my fingers were running sensuously along his bare skin and the next logical step was only making out on the couch in a compromising position. The lower I got on his torso, the faster my heart seemed to beat and I really wanted to have some ice thrown on me.
No, not some, I realized as I got closer to his hips, a lot a lot a lot a lot… I want to bathe in the Antarctic ocean… I was swallowing compulsively every five seconds and I couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes. My mouth felt really, really dry.
When I finally reached the finish of the scar, I was terrified to look back up at him as neither of us had said a word. Though, the more I realized how close I was to just… I don't even know… I kept thinking in a sing-song voice F*** F*** F***idy F*** F***…
I finally brought myself to look up at him and saw in his scarred, bruised face an unfathomable expression. I swallowed and sat back from him, weakly singing, "Ta-da!"
He grinned, also weakly, and grabbed the bottle of blue goop. I stared at him, nervous as hell, as he did the same thing to the deep scar along my cheek, except, he was working with my face, and as such our eyes could not leave each other's. I was staring into those immeasurable brown eyes and I didn't know what to do as his fingertip traced from the lowest part of my forehead down my cheek (the far right edge of my right eye) to my chin. I wanted to moan. I didn't even notice that my right side had stopped hurting.
When he finished, he sat back from me and gingerly pulled on his shirt. I tried to breathe evenly and somehow regain some sort of mental capacity to talk to him, but the only think I could think about was how soft his stomach had felt beneath my fingers and how warm he felt as well and…
"What do you think the others are going to say when they see us? You should see how many scars you have on your face Mags," Neville laughed, though his laugh shook some and I looked at him questioningly.
"I dunno, but you probably look worse," I grinned, "You have a bruise the size of Canada on your cheek."
He stuck his tongue out at me and I was trying really hard to not think about what… erm… what it would be like to… Oh God…
The door to the Common Room opened, thank God, cutting off my train of thought and making me regain my sanity. Seamus and Parvati and Lavender came in and played the gasp-at-their-wounds show, but all I could think about was the fact that Neville had reached out and held my hand during the conversation and wasn't letting go.
Ginny was gone and the castle was mainly quiet. Neville had gone back to going to class after a couple of days, but of course he couldn't stay unpunished forever.
I was reading in an armchair, watching out of the corner of my eye the flickering of the fire in the fireplace. It was late, and most students were at dinner or the library. It was also a beautiful day outside for March and there were many students on the grounds wherever the Dementors weren't.
The door to the Common Room burst open and I looked behind me in alarm to see Seamus carrying Neville. He was limp, but his eyes were open and he looked mainly sane, though he had about five new gashes on his face and his hand was rather bloody.
I ran forward, tears streaming down my face as I helped Seamus set Neville down on the couch.
"What happened, what happened, what happened?" I demanded, crying and spreading some of the blue goop (there was a lot left over and Madam Pomfrey just let us have it) on his new wounds.
Neville laughed weakly and I glared at him to be quiet, looking up at Seamus to explain.
"Well, the Carrows decided that Crabbe and Goyle needed to practice their Sectumsempra and Cruciatus curses out on the school's biggest 'troublemaker,'" Seamus did air quotes around the last word, "And they definitely pushed some of the boundaries on how long you can be under the Cruciatus curse before going insane."
I gasped and held Neville's face between my hands and looked directly into his eyes for signs of madness, "Are you crazy?" I looked up at Seamus, "Is he…"
"I'm fine, Maggie. Barely a scratch on me," he chuckled softly, "Though, I'm pissed they tried to kidnap Gran."
"They what?" I screeched, "Why?"
"To gain control of me I suppose," he paused, "But no, I'm not mad."
I rolled my eyes but I was filled with extreme relief as I finished cleaning up the blood on his hand and cleaning the cut on his wrist. Seamus walked away quietly as Neville gingerly sat up and I sat next to him, not leaving his side even though we eventually fell asleep next to each other on the couch, quiet in speech but expressive only in our gazes.
The Easter holidays passed without much incident, though it was mainly just Neville, Seamus and I cooped up in the Common Room together, goofing off and not venturing to the outdoors- except Seamus, who left to get food. But then, the month of April came.
April is my favorite month today, if that helps at all. It wasn't before.
It was mid-April and I was reading my book, once again- the book I never seemed to be able to finish thanks to interruptions. I was thinking about how much I missed home and wanted to go back to it, though my hopes of such didn't seem to be high anymore now that I couldn't even leave the Gryffindor Common Room without getting cursed by some offending person. It was the middle of the class period and I didn't think I'd get interrupted, and I had about five pages left to go…
Of course. The door of the Common Room opened and Neville, as always, came running in. He was out of breath and frenetic in his movements, though he looked at me with a rather amused expression on his face.
"What did you do this time?" I sighed, closing my book and standing up.
"Well, I have to go into hiding- real hiding. And I have to direct their attention from here so they don't get permission to come in here and get you of course," Neville reassured, "Sorry about that."
"Wait, what?" I demanded, running up to him and looking for any new wounds.
"No, they didn't get me, but they're probably going to kill me this time as soon as they stitch themselves back together again, no big deal. Though, I think Professor McGonagall is stalling them, bless her," Neville murmured fondly.
"What did you DO?" I shouted, looking at him in terror.
"Well, I was in Dark Arts, right? And Amycus was talking about all the different ways to torture someone, like he does. And he basically gave the class a play-by-play of what he did to you," I stared at him in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know, right? Awful. No one there was happy about it, not even Crabbe and Goyle, though that might have been out of disgust at his details rather than anything else. But the rest of the Slytherins- even Malfoy- looked horrified, and of course everyone else was too. And I just wasn't going to stand for it any longer, obviously. So I stood up and cut off his balls with Sectumsempra," he shrugged matter-of-factly.
"You what?" my eyes were wide and I felt my jaw drop.
"Yup. You could hear the thunk as they fell to the floor beneath his robes. Well, obviously he was screaming bloody murder and everyone in the class was pretty much doing the same thing, well, the girls were also screaming in disgust and Seamus was laughing his head off. I just ran out of there of course, and I met McGonagall and Alecto in the hallway. McGonagall managed to help me get past her but I saw them going towards Amycus and of course she's going to be equally pissed. I wonder if they'll be able to stitch them back on again? It's an interesting conundrum," Neville paused, "Anywho, gotta go into hiding now, is the short of it."
I looked at him like he was crazy. He had said the whole story in the most cheerful voice since Mickey Mouse and I was just shocked, though also, deeply amused and grateful.
"Don't look at me like that, I wanted to cut his wiener off too but I felt that would be much for the moment when I'm just going to kill him some day anyway," he paused, "Ever since you told us what he did to you I've wanted to do that."
I smiled, though the situation wasn't funny at all, and asked, "What are you going to do now?"
"Go into hiding!" he asserted, "I have to. Lord knows this is the sort of thing that gives them automatic permission to hunt me down for. Anywho, I felt I should let you know, before I just disappeared from view."
I felt tears flood my eyes, "I… I can't… No… Nev…"
"I know, it sucks. Balls, actually," Neville paused, "But I have to."
I nodded and tried to stop crying and failed miserably as I sobbed, "I'm going to miss you so much. Be safe."
Now or never…
I opened my mouth to finally just tell him- tell him that I loved him, God dammit, because 'like' no longer worked in the strength-of-words department- when he pulled me towards him and gave me the biggest hug I'd ever received.
"I'll miss you too, Mags. Maggie Mags. Be safe yourself," he paused, swallowed, and pulled away, "We deserve a better goodbye than this, but I feel like I hear them coming."
I nodded. He then sent me into complete shock-mode by pulling me forward and kissing me on the forehead, his lips lingering there, and running out the door. I watched as the portal closed and couldn't get my thoughts to go back to coherency.
And then there was one…
I curled up on the floor and cried out of pure lonesomeness. Not that I wasn't touched by what Neville did, but I still… it would have been better to have had him with me.
Seamus came in and held me as I cried, in a very Neville-like fashion, though it wasn't the same and he knew it.
"Well, you have to admire his courage, eh?" Seamus finally said at one point in the evening, "Amycus was really being more than a pig."
"I'm not saying I don't appreciate what he did!" I sobbed, "I just… he's gone, Seamus, he's gone."
"He's safe, wherever he is," Seamus paused, "At dinner Amycus and Alecto couldn't stop screaming about how they would find him no matter what, meaning, they haven't found him yet."
"Are his balls reattached?" I asked feebily.
"Unfortunately, yes," Seamus sighed, "Though, according to rumor, Madam Pomfrey had to be repeatedly threatened by Alecto before she did anything. A Cruciatus curse may have been involved."
I smiled weakly and soon fell asleep next to him, my dreams filled with that same instance of Neville kissing my forehead over and over again, like some sort of subconscious wish-fulfillment loop.
When I woke up, Seamus had brought me breakfast, and we spent the morning not talking about the direness of the situation. He wasn't going to go to class, as apparently the Carrows had been shooting him dirty looks for his hysterical laughter at the whole situation, and also, he didn't want me to be alone. I apparently looked "Rather suicidal, and I mean that in the nicest way possible Maggie."
We played Wizard Chess- I actually won- and mainly just whispered to each other about where we think Neville could have been. I managed to stop crying midway through the morning and was vowing to find him again, someday, and kiss him properly and live happily ever after with him- end of story. No more Voldy, no more resistance, no more worry. We'd go to America and be bleedin' happy.
And then the Common Room door opened.
"If I can't have the Longbottom brat, at least I have you, bitch!" I looked up and saw Alecto cackling with her wand pointed at me. Before I could even think, Seamus had stood up and screamed, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" and Alecto froze, falling over onto the ground.
"RUN MAGGIE!" Seamus shouted. I stumbled over the furniture and took off sprinting down the hallway, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I frantically thought of where in hell I should have gone.
There were teachers and students everywhere in the hallways trying to help me escape, though I had no idea of where to go. I managed to narrowly evade Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy- in that order- but was trapped when I ran into that hateful Amycus.
"Hello, whore," he grinned evilly, "Your boyfriend might have though he had me, but I'm all stitched up and ready to have another go, eh?"
Amycus backed me into a wall and held a knife up to my throat. I froze, emotionless and thoughtless, as he began to cut the sensitive skin underneath my ear and sneered at me, his breath hot and awful smelling on my face. I shut down, ready to just die, because if I didn't pay attention to what was happening maybe I could sleep through the whole affair. The pain along my cheek as he cut there was awful, but at least there wasn't any removal of clothing yet and perhaps, perhaps, I'd die before then.
"Stupefy," a calm, cold voice called out, and Amycus froze and fell to the floor in a lump, the knife clattering next to him. I looked up and saw Professor Snape standing there, his wand out and his face furious.
"Go to the seventh floor," he paused, "There is a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet. Walk through that corridor three times thinking, in no fewer words, 'I need someplace to hide from the Carrows where no one on the Dark Side can find me and I can live for a long time.' Think it each time you walk through there," he reached out and squeezed my wrist, "Good luck."
I nodded and sprinted off to the seventh floor, not trying to think about how much Snape had just risked for me as I reached the corridor.
I sprinted by it the first time, thinking the phrase exactly, wondering what in hell this was going to do to help me out.
I sprinted by it the second time, thinking the phrase exactly, but froze when I saw Alecto limping up the staircase and coming towards me.
I quickly ran by it the final time, thinking the phrase exactly, and trying my hardest not to scream as Alecto came running up to me with her wand out just as I turned to see a door appear in the wall. I ran through the door , feeling curses woosh past my ears and her evil laughter fill them as she came behind me and…
The door slammed shut in front of her and completely disappeared.
I fell to the floor, finally letting the flood of emotions I had dammed run through me, and curled up into a ball, sobbing. Now I was completely alone, and- worse than that- he had touched me again. That bastard had touched me again and my face was bleeding and he had touched me.
I did find comfort in the fetal position on the floor, though, I knew that there was only one person I actually needed right then and there, more than food or air or water or being free.
"Maggie?" I heard that wonderful, wonderful Welsh voice ask in amazement. I thought I was hallucinating out of want, but when I looked up I saw Neville staring at me in amazement.
"Hello," I smiled weakly, "You came here to hide too, eh?"
Neville watched me for a moment before laughing and offering his hand to help me up.
"Yes. Welcome to the Room of Requirement," he paused, a huge grin on his face, "Get comfortable."
A/N: That chapter was a lot longer than I had originally planned it to be, and I definitely cut five scenes from it. Ah well. I love all the people who have favorite this story and reviewed- well, the two of you in the latter case- because I love this story so much. The next chapter is the best chapter, though, when this story was rated M it was ten times longer, if that gives anyone any sort of hint, so now I have to think of more stuff to put in. Should be interesting.
PLEASE REVIEW!