A/N: Here's part 10, please remember to review!
Astrid's POV
After Ginny and I made our way through the entrance of platform 9 ¾, we looked around and saw that the platform was far less crowded than either of us had ever seen it before. Usually at this time, mere minutes before the train would leave, the station would be bustling with noise and activity. I knew that there wouldn't be any Muggle-born students because they would no longer be permitted to attend; but I guess I never realized how many Muggle-borns were at Hogwarts. Also, I knew of several half-blood students that wouldn't be returning either, due to the fear of all the interrogations of "magical blood quality".
On the night of Bill and Fleur's wedding, Death Eaters began apparating literally the second after Harry, Ron and Hermione had disapparated. Many of the guests had already fled, but those who stayed behind, mainly the Weasley family, myself, my father and the other members of the Order were interrogated intensively be the Death Eaters, but luckily no one was seriously injured. The next month was spent solely at the Burrow, Ginny and I didn't leave the house at all until yesterday when we visited a rundown and sparse Diagon Alley. Uncle Arthur still went to work at the Ministry but soon got word that the entire family was being watched by the Death Eater ruled Ministry; because of the roaming Death Eaters and the lack of safety, Ginny and I had been dropped off at the front entrance of King's Cross Station by a "ready for battle" Bill.
Ginny and I looked at each in surprise at the state of the platform; I could tell it also worried her that there were so many people missing. We latched onto each others free hand and made our way onto the scarlet Hogwarts Express just in time before it slowly began moving forwards out of the station. We stowed our trunks in a front storage area and quickly walked down the train's aisle, looking for a friendly face. Once we reached the back of the train, we saw Neville in one of the larger compartments. There were four booths in the entire compartment, two on either side of the aisle. I saw Seamus, Parvati, Padma and Lavender in one of the booths up front; across the hall sat Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan, snuggling into each other while talking to their fellow Hufflepuff Susan Bones. Neville however was in one of the back tables by himself; Ginny and I made our way over to Neville's booth where I sat next to him and Ginny sat across from us.
"Astrid…I thought you wouldn't be here." Neville confessed once we sat down. I smiled and hugged him, planting a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I figured someone had to come back and make sure you didn't do anything stupid." I joked, Neville however was not pleased.
"No Astrid, you shouldn't be here…it's too dangerous for you, they know you're friends with Harry." Neville said seriously.
"So what should I do? Stay home and just have them hunt me down instead, you know it's mandatory for everyone but Muggle-born to attend Hogwarts this year." I pointed out. "I've examined every option Neville; this is the best one I've got."
"I guess you right…" He sighed after some time, "I just don't want anything to happen to you, Astrid. It would kill me." I smiled at him and grabbed his hand underneath the table, placing it on my lap. The three of us all talked on the long train ride, it was odd how melancholy the entire train was…usually everyone was excited and rambunctious on the train, ready to start the new school year. When we were nearly at Hogsmeade station, we all felt the train slow down and stop suddenly. It was eerily silent throughout the entire train and we could see Death Eaters apparating outside. We sat in silence for a few moments until two Death Eaters, Travers and Avery, came up the train's aisle and into our compartment...It was obvious who they were looking for.
"Hey losers," Neville said, gaining their attention. "...he isn't here." Neville shocked me by standing up and confronting the two Death Eaters. They sneered at him and the rest of us in the compartment before getting off the train and disapparating just as quickly as they had appeared.
It was only the beginning of November, but this year at Hogwarts was by far the worst. It was multiple times more miserable than fifth year and I though nothing could be worse than Umbridge and her tyranny. How very mistaken and naïve I was… Muggle studies was now taught by the Death Eater Alecto Carrow while Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught her vile brother, Amycus Carrow. Muggle Studies had basically turned into an anti muggle/muggle-born class that was all about Pureblood supremacy and how we needed to clean out the "disgusting muggle blood" that polluted our world by infecting wizards and witches. Defense Against the Dark Art had virtually much turned into a Dark Arts class where we would be forced to either use horrible curses on others or have them used on us.
During one night in the middle of October, Ginny, Luna, Neville and I sneaked into Snape's Headmaster office to steal the Sword of Gryffindor. Ginny and I knew that Dumbledore had left it to Harry in his will, but the ministry had refused to hand it over because it wasn't the property of Dumbledore. We both knew there was a big reason as to why Dumbledore wanted Harry to have the sword, and I knew it had to do with the Horcruxes. We had managed to find the sword and were on our way out of the office and to our common rooms when Snape caught us red handed with the sword. We were so scared he would give us some horrid punishment, like detention with the Carrows...but instead he only gave us a weeks worth of detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest, it was a walk in the park compared to what we were expecting.
After another few weeks on abuse at the hands of the Carrows, Neville, Luna, Ginny and I had decided to started up Dumbledore's Army again in rebellion to the two Death Eaters that we so cruelly treating us and the other students at Hogwarts. Whenever we weren't busy with school or watching our own backs, we would help other students escape from the torturous beating the Carrows called "detention".
"Come on now...I know it hurts but you've got to run faster!" I whispered to the injured first year that Michael and I had just freed. The Carrows had the poor child chained up in the dungeons for a whole week before we were able to find him and help him escape. We were running up the stairs, out of the dungeons when we heard a scream followed by thundering footsteps coming up behind us.
"Where are you? You wicked little children!" We heard Alecto bellow from below us.
"You two go on, I'll hold her off." Michael said stopping on the stairs.
"No Michael, they'll torture you!" I argued.
"Better me than all three of us, now get!" Michael pushed me and the first year and we both turned back up the stairs and sprinted up, finally finding safety in the Gryffindor common room. After I helped the first year clean himself up and bandage his wounds, I went up to the boy's dormitory where Neville was napping on his bed. He was the only person in the room, and even though I knew I needed to wake him up, he looked far too peaceful to disturb. I sat at the foot of his bed, careful not to sit on his legs, and as creepy as it sounds, I just watched him. The past two months had been strenuous and damaging to all of us, but it wasn't until now when I was able to really take in all of Neville's injuries. His bottom lip was beginning to slowly heal from being split, he had a bruise on his forehead and several scratches littered his face, neck and hands. I know I was just as roughed up as Neville, but I couldn't help but wish I could take all the beatings instead of him.
Over the past two months, Neville and I had healed our slightly damaged relationship. We weren't dating and we hadn't even done anything except for holding hands…but it was nice to have an emotional connection with him again. I stood up and walked over next to the head of his bed and brushed back some hair that had fallen into his face. Tracing my hand down the side of his face and neck, I then gently shook his shoulder to wake him.
"Wake up Nev," I said softly to him; he groaned in his sleep a little before rolling over to face me and opened his eyes.
"Hey you…" He must have then seen the concern on my face. "What's happened?" He asked sitting up in bed.
"Michael and I helped that first year escape, but Michael was captured by Alecto. I'm scared Neville, what if they really hurt him this time? Or even kill him…" I felt my eyes begin to water. Neville wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against him.
"It's alright Astrid, he's a strong bloke. If he's not back by tomorrow night, we'll go after him. I promise." Neville kissed my cheek softly before resting his head on my shoulder. "Come on, we better head down for dinner so we don't miss it again, you've already lost enough weight."
Neville took my hand in his and led us down to the Great Hall where we sat at the Gryffindor table next to our fellow battered housemates. We sat across from Lavender, Parvati, Seamus and Ginny. We sat there talking for a few minutes before the food magically appeared on the tables…although calling it food was quite a stretch. In the two months we'd been back at Hogwarts, I had already lost ten pounds. It wasn't a big deal at the moment as I wasn't an ultra skinny girl who needed every pound I had, but I could see my stomach was completely flat and I was losing my curves that had always made me feel so feminine. Neville had taken notice right away about my weight loss and would often get angry over it…I think he really missed all my once "voluptuous" curves.
I looked down and groaned as I saw that it was "gruel" night once again. Drastic changes had been made to meal time's at Hogwarts; there was a certain window to eat and if you weren't sitting at the table by the designated time, you wouldn't get any food. Each meal had a specific amount of time to eat before the food vanished again; breakfast was a mere five minutes, and both lunch and dinner were a mere ten minutes. You would be amazed at how difficult it is to down a decent amount of gruel in only ten minutes. Once our ten minutes was up, everyone stood up and began filing out of the Great Hall that was now rather drab and had more of a prison feeling about it. Neville and I stayed back from the main group of Gryffindor students and were some of the last to make it out into the hallways. We took our time walking back up towards the common room, holding hands as we looked around at the partially deserted halls. Right as we walked by a stairwell, we heard several screams followed by cruel laughter; it sounded like someone was casting spells at another person, causing them a great deal of pain. Neville and I quickly went into the secluded stairwell and climbed to the top where we saw two bulky looking Slytherin's using the Cruciatus curse on a smaller Hufflepuff student.
"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled at the two oafs; they merely sneered at me and Neville before returning to their torture. "Stop it you stupid assholes! Petrificus Totalus!" I stunned the smaller of the two; the painful curse he had been casting was lifted and the poor Hufflepuff ran as fast as lightning to get to the safety of his common room.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" I heard Alecto screech out behind us.
"We were just practicing some of the new material we learned, and these two decided to curse John." Spoke the great big oaf.
"They were using the Cruciatus curse on a first year! It was cruel and I tried to stop-"
"Shut it...stupid blood traitor!" Alecto flicked her wand and a conjured whip lashed out, gripping me by my neck and throwing me to the ground. Neville raised his wand, but the conscious Slytherin disarmed him and grabbed hold of Neville. "You are just like your blood traitor father…Sirius Black's little brat. Time someone taught you some manners, you little bitch." Alecto kicked me in the stomach, causing me to curl up on my side. Alecto flicked her wand again and this time I could feel invisible claws ripping through the skin on my back, warm blood instantly seeped through my clothes and onto the floor. Alecto kicked me again, this time in my back, right at my spin. My body began to spasm uncontrollably in pain as I slipped around on the floor in my own blood. I don't know where he found this sudden burst of strength, but through the very edge of my vision, I saw Neville punch the Slytherin square in the face, knocking him out cold. Before Alecto knew what was happening, Neville had grabbed his own wand, stunned the old hag and she was now out cold on the floor as well. I felt the whip dissolve as Alecto hit the floor and I took in a deep breath of air I had been robbed of. Neville grabbed my wand off the floor and ran over to kneel next to me.
"Oh Astrid, you're bleeding everywhere…"Neville said softly, handing me my wand. We both froze as we heard a groan and looked over to see both Alecto and the two Slytherin boys slowly come to. Neville threw his arm around me and hoisted me up next to him. "Come on Astrid!" I ground my teeth together in pain and we took off up the stairs.
"Where the hell did they go?" We heard Alecto scream. "Don't just stand there, get'em!" We then heard them all take off running; they were gaining on us quickly. Right as they were about to see us, I pulled Neville through a small door that must have been a broom closet of sorts. I shut the door behind us, held my breath, closed my eyes and listened as I heard them run past the door. "Where did they go?" Alecto demanded as they thundered past and eventually the sound of their running faded away to silence.
"…Astrid?" I opened my eyes and saw that Neville and I were now in a large room. The walls were mirrored and I instantly recognized it as the Room of Requirement. It was similar to how I remembered it during our fifth year; the only difference now was that it looked like we could live here. The large fireplace was lit, casting a warm glow through the room. In one corner there was a large sunken bath, similar to the Prefects' bath, and looked like it could comfortably fit at least ten people. In the same area as the bath, was a door that I assumed led off to a toilet. Close to the fireplace was a comfortable looking four poster canopy bed, furnished with deep red sheets and a golden duvet. We both looked at each other in awe before jogging over to the other side of the room. I immediately went for the bath and began filling it up with warm water from the tap. Sitting next to the bath was a small collection of bath gels, shampoo and conditioner. I took some of the bath gel and began pouring it into the warm water, smiling when I realized it was coconut scented. Coconut was my favorite. I stood back and watched in happiness as the bath filled and bubbles began multiplying. "This is amazing…it's exactly what we needed, and then some." Neville said laughing as he walked up next to me.
"I know; it's so perfect." I smiled up at him before wincing as I felt a sudden pain shoot through my back. "Neville?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you look at my back for me?" I asked him. He nodded his head slowly and I shrugged of my robes before grimacing as I peeled off my jumper. I looked up at Neville and saw he was blushing and had averted his eyes to stare at the floor. "It's okay Neville, I'm not naked."
"I know, but…it's still…" I took his face lightly in my hands and made him look me in the eyes.
"Neville, it's fine, okay?"
"O-…okay." Neville managed to mumble out. I turned around and heard Neville gasp loudly.
"Oh god, Astrid…" He whispered. "They're all over your back…and blood is…is everywhere."
"I know Nev; I can feel every damned one." I gritted my teeth and hissed in pain as he began to inspect them.
"Hang on," Neville went over to the bath and picked up a washcloth that was next to a few folded towels. He dipped the washcloth in the warm water and squeezed it a little before making his was back over to me. "Take off your bra. Ah, I uh…didn't mean it like that…I won't look, I swear!" I laughed at Neville's chivalry before reaching behind my back, unclasping the hook on my bra and letting the newly stained and ruined garment fall to the floor. Neville slowly began wiping off the blood that had caked itself all across my back. He was trying his best to steer clear of the large, painful gashes but every now and then he would accident bump one, causing me to let out a hiss in pain and made him apologize repeatedly. "Vulnera Sanentur." I heard Neville cast the healing spell; I could feel, with a bit of discomfort, my skin sealing itself back together slowly. "There, all finished…unfortunately the curse she used made it where a healing spell won't completely heal them, but they don't look as bad. You will have some scarring though."
"Thanks Neville." I turned around to face him…big mistake. I had somehow forgotten that I was completely topless and poor Neville turned a bright shade of scarlet once I had turned to face him…however he couldn't seem to remove his gaze from my chest. I probably should have been more embarrassed, but the expression on Neville's face was too hilarious for me to be nervous at all…I do believe this was the first time Neville Longbottom had ever laid eyes on a pair of breasts. His eyes were the widest I had ever seen, but once I cleared my throat to gain his attention, they immediately shut, his whole face scrunching up in the process. I laughed at him quietly before reaching up and placing one hand on his cheek, the other I tangled in his hair. I bit my bottom lip, contemplating whether or not I should do what I'd wanted to for so long now.
"Astrid…" Neville whispered, still keeping his eyes shut. I got up on my tippy toes and pressed my lips against his, kissing him for the first time in months. Just as I was about to pull back, I gasped lightly as I heard Neville drop his wand to the ground and felt him wrap both of this arms around me, hoisting me up towards him. I moved both of my arms to circle his neck and jumped up a little, wrapping my legs around his waist. I opened my mouth a bit and ran my tongue against his bottom lip, begging for entrance. Neville opened his mouth a little and our tongues went wild together, doing a frantic tango before we both had to pull back and gasp for air. Neville next went to a soft spot on my neck and began suckling and nipping at it; I leaned my head back and moaned out, causing him to suck even harder.
"Neville…oh, Merlin!" I gasped out as he bit a little harder before licking the spot and pulling back to look me in the eyes. I leaned my head down and kissed him on the lips again which caused him to tighten his arms around me, digging into my back on accident. "Ouch!" Neville instantly pulled back and set me onto the ground again.
"I'm so sorry Astrid! Did I hurt you too much?" He asked hurriedly.
"I'm fine Neville, I promise." I smiled up at him before pecking him on the tip of his nose. I looked at the water once again; it seemed to be calling my name, begging me to hop in. I reached down and slipped off my socks and shoes before pulling off my skirt and panties.
"Merlin Astrid, aren't we moving a little fast?" Neville had covered his eyes once he saw me taking off all my clothes.
"Relax Nev; I'm not going to shag you senseless yet…" I laughed at the blushing Neville. "I'm just getting into the bath." He nodded but didn't remove his hand from covering his eyes until he knew I was in the bath, fully covered by bubbles. The water felt absolutely amazing and I dunked myself under before wading over to the side where I sat on a little ledge that was made into the five foot deep bath. "Neville…it's kind of weird for you to just be standing there watching me, you know? Why don't you join me?" I suggested.
"Your right, the water looks really nice." Neville replied before standing up and shyly shedding his robes, button down shirt and slacks. He stood there in only his plaid boxers, looking down shyly…I couldn't help but chuckle at his nervousness.
"I'll shut my eyes." I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands to insure Neville that I wouldn't peak. I heard a bit of noise as I assumed he shed his boxers and then felt the water shift as he quickly made his way into the water. I opened my eyes and saw that he was all the way on the other side of the bath, as far away from me as possible. I shook my head at him and made my way over to him, perching myself right next to him on the underwater bench. We just sat there, not touching or looking at each other…just staring ahead at the bubbles that floated around for what felt like an eternity but what was in reality about ten minutes or so.
"I love you Astrid." Neville whispered to me; I looked over at him and saw he was gazing down at me. "I love you more than I ever thought possible…you mean everything to me, Astrid. I'm sorry about Hannah and about not writing back…I'm sorry for hurting you like that." Neville reached over to me and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around my middle and placing my legs across his lap. Even though we were naked as the day we were born, it wasn't awkward at all; it was actually quite possibly the most natural thing I've ever done with Neville... besides loving him, of course. He leaned down and kissed me softly, I then laid my head on his shoulder and he rested his head on top on my own.
"I love you too Neville." I whispered back at him, shutting my eyes in content.