Author's note: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights
Hogwarts: Ravenclaw, Assignment #7, Arts and Crafts Task #5 Write about someone being helpful/useful to someone else
Content Warnings: Canon-compliant torture and injuries (Carrows)
About a Bruise
The sun left every evening, good grass was dying
You drew your dawn on the world, on the world
Tenderness to you was only talk about a bruise
Or walking into water after dark
-About a Bruise, Iron & Wine
"See?" Neville said, forcing a smile on his bruised and bloodied face for her sake and her sake only. "I'm good as new."
Hannah didn't look convinced. Which was fair, since any sort of improvement on his face had come directly from her healing hands and clever charmwork. They were so, so lucky to have Hannah since the Carrows were stopping any of the DA members from going to see Madam Pomfrey after the torture sessions that had come to pass as detention (thus utterly breaking the poor woman's heart). But Hannah looked pale and worried, and Neville didn't want to worry her more than he already did every day that the DA went on.
"Hannah?" he said. He reached for her hand and squeezed. "I'm okay. Thank you so much for your help."
She exhaled and spoke quietly, so that she didn't wake up or attract the attention of any of the others sleeping in the Room of Requirement. She was still wearing the yellow sweater, flannel pajama pants, and messy bun she'd worn when Ernie had woken her up in the middle of the night. A few stray corkscrew curls had escaped as she'd worked on him, and they swung as she shook her head sadly.
"If I were a better Healer…"
"How on earth could you be a better Healer?" Neville said. "You've never even trained and you're so incredible, Hannah. You've patched me up beautifully. Thank you."
She still wasn't sure about this, but she was tired and she didn't want to argue. Neville was tired too; his latest detention had been the worst yet. Crabbe and Goyle had been far too happy to see him for their weekly target practise, and they were getting good too. He'd call them Neanderthals, but he didn't think they were capable of any worthwhile evolution.
He took Hannah's hands and ran his thumbs in circles over her soft skin.
"I'm sorry I worry you so much," he said.
"It's not your fault," Hannah said. She wiggled one of her hands free and pushed back his hair. It took everything Neville had in him not to wince when her fingers, delicate as they were, brushed against a bruise on his temple he hadn't even realized he'd had. Merlin, he'd look a mess in the morning. Of course, Hanah noticed and started examining this new bruise on his forehead.
"Still," he said. He chewed on his lip, which was a bad idea since it was already cut. Owe. Seamus teased him that it was good that he was snogging their Healer since he seemed to need her services so much, and maybe he was right.
"I'm worried about us," she said quietly.
"Why 'us'?" Neville asked. He frowned. "Did the Carrows—"
"No, no," she said. She had gotten her marching orders long ago: keep your head down and fall in line, because if something happened to her the rest of them were absolutely doomed. "I just… when all this is over, if it's over, we're going to… we're going to have nothing in common but pain and bruises and blood, Neville."
"That's not true," he said softly.
"Be still," she said. She touched the tip of her wand to his forehead and whispered something, and immediately Neville felt better. The area was numb and cool. "There. You'll have one less goose egg in the morning."
"Thank you," Neville said. "Are you going to spend the night? I can wake Seamus up if you want him to take you back to the Hufflepuff Common Room…"
"No, it's too risky," she said. "I'll just claim a hammock."
When they emerged from behind the room divider they'd used to create a miniature infirmary for themselves, it didn't take long for Neville to realize that there was only one hammock free. For whatever reason the Room of Requirement hadn't delivered a new one for Hannah. Or maybe it had withheld it, somehow knowing…
"Do you mind curling up with me tonight?" Neville asked.
Hannah shook her head. "No. No, I… I think it'd be good for me to hear your heartbeat tonight."
Neville's heart broke a little bit more but he didn't say anything. He just sat down on his hammock, pulled her to sit down next to him, and then stretched out. Hannah lay against his chest, carefully avoiding the bruises and lacerations since she knew exactly where they all were, and he tucked her head under his chin. They swayed gently.
"Hannah?"
"Yes?"
"I don't just love you because you're keeping us together," Neville said. "You're keeping me together in about a million ways. You know that, right?"
It took Hannah a while to respond, because it always took her a while to respond to compliments. "I didn't know you loved me, no."
"My mistake," Neville said. "Forgive me?"
"If you behave yourself and get some sleep so my healing magic can hold, yes," Hannah said.
Neville was more than happy to follow her instructions, especially if she stayed tucked against him like this all night.
"Because I love you too," she said quietly under her breath a few minutes later, when he was meant to be asleep. Neville didn't answer, since he wasn't meant to have heard, but he knew. And that was the best medicine yet.
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