As We Stumble Along
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Summary: Everyone knows what happened to Harry in Deathly Hallows, but not much is known about the occurrences at Hogwarts. What really went down at Hogwarts while Harry was off Horcrux hunting?
A/n: Bah… apologizes times a million. Things have been insane and I've been going through a Marauders phase… hence my Regulus fic I posted a while back. I'm gonna get back to this ASAP. I promise!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Besides, if it was… it wouldn't be about Harry…
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Chapter 25: Stronger
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Things got worse and worse. No one heard of or saw Seamus in weeks. The Carrows were beating up more and m more on poor Neville. Everything seemed to be his fault, even if he didn't do it. Alecto made a full recovery after Seamus poisoned her and she seemed to come back with a vengeance. Any member of the DA had to be careful not to breathe the wrong way or risk being verbally attacked and thrown into detention. It almost seemed as if the Carrows knew who the members were.
Neville missed a lot of class. But without Ginny there, he had no one. He heard nothing more from Luna and Ginny and Neville was clinging to hope, but it was getting harder and harder to hold on. He could see his fellow DA members losing hope as the Carrows tortured them mercilessly.
It made Neville want to curl up and cry some days. He never could imagine it ever getting this bad. Sure he knew things would get bad, but never ever this bad. Ever. It was disheartening. And it was doing exactly what the Carrows wanted it to do. It was causing everyone to lose hope.
Harry was never going to save them. Harry was gone. Harry abandoned them. Harry wasn't going to help them anymore. They had to help themselves or face the consequences. But helping themselves lead to detentions.
People were starting to lay low, not do insane DA things. Neville still would occasionally. Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillian were a duo to watch out for. The two would do anything to make the Carrows' lives a living hell. Ernie still seemed to be going after them because of what they did to Justin. Michael just seemed to be out to do it for his own personal gratification. Neville told them to stop, but they seemed to refuse to.
And then all the stuff they did, Neville got the brunt of the punishment. He was half tempted to run away. But only cowards ran away. And Neville Longbottom was not a coward anymore. He used to be, but he couldn't be a coward anymore. He was in too deep to be a coward.
But when Michael Corner got caught unchaining a Ravenclaw first year that was being unjustly punished, it was Neville that saved him. It was Neville that found him barely walking out of the dungeons. Neville was on his way from the greenhouses (he had a pass from Sprout) and he saw Michael stumbling and then falling flat on his face.
He rushed over. "Mike…" he said slowly.
Michael just groaned. He looked like he went through a wringer, and Neville felt sick when Michael looked up him. He was a mess. His stomach was tying in knots as he helped Michael to his feet.
The guy cried out in pain and Neville closed his eyes. "Come on Mike, the infirmary isn't too far away." But Neville knew that there wasn't much that the infirmary could do. Madame Pomfrey had specific instructions on who to heal and what to heal. Punishment injuries weren't allowed to be healed, but poor Michael couldn't walk. Neville was practically carrying him to the infirmary.
Neville nearly fell a few times himself, but managed to get Mike to the infirmary. But he managed it. He felt sick and fell onto one of the beds once he got there. It was late, and Neville knew he had to go back to the dormitory, but he didn't really want to right now. Thankfully the next day was Saturday and he could sleep the entire day away.
But he never slept in his dorm any more. It went from having five rowdy occupants, to having one extremely lonely one. When Neville used to wish for silence, now all he wanted was the noise back. He just wanted to have Seamus and Dean… Harry and Ron. It felt so empty without them. He wanted to go find someone to come in the dorm with him just to make the silence stop.
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His wish came true no three days later when Seamus returned. But his return only made things worse. He didn't say a word. He looked worse than Michael had, and Neville knew better than to ask what happened to him. He seemed almost like a zombie. He stared, and said nothing. He had gashes all over him, bruises… but nothing was as painful to look at as the dead look in his eyes.
"Seamus…" Neville whispered as he stared at his friend from across the room. Seamus was just staring blankly out the window, the moon illuminating his scars, making him look almost like he had come back from the dead.
Seamus didn't say a word. And Neville didn't try anymore.
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Exhaustion was finally getting the best of poor Neville. It was at a DA meeting where he finally just collapsed. He was supposed to be helping them, but he hadn't been sleeping… he hadn't been eating… he was just ready to run. Right now. But he couldn't run. He wouldn't allow himself to run.
"NEVILLE!" Neville wasn't sure who cried his name out (although it might've come from multiple people). It took him a few moments to come to and he slowly opened his eyes to look right up at Ernie. "Dude… you need to get some sleep."
Neville didn't say anything as he tried to force himself up. "Sorry about that…"
Ernie forced him back to the ground. "Neville… you're done for the day. The meeting's over guys… go back to your common room."
"No--" Neville protested, but he knew that Ernie was right. He couldn't just run on fumes. He had been running on that for the past few days and it finally caught up with him as he fell back on the ground.
Ernie pulled something out of his pocket as a sofa suddenly appeared out of the floor under Neville to elevate him a little bit. Ernie grabbed a vial out of his pocket and uncorked it. "Drink this Neville, it'll help."
The room wouldn't have given it to him if he didn't require it. But Neville shook his head. "I'm fine Ernie."
"Bloody hell Neville, stop being the hero and just take it."
Never drink anything that you don't know what it is. But Ernie had it up against his lips. Neville tried to resist. He really did, until Ernie pinched his nose shut and he opened his mouth to breathe. Ernie forced it down his throat.
And Neville was out.
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A/n: Yay Neville.
Review please! I'm sorry for the lack of writing.
Would anyone be interested in a Justin/Ernie friendship one?