Hmmm…. I guess I should read the FanFic main page every now and then. Didn't know there was gonna be an outage. Aw, well. Didn't have time to write during the weekend anyway. But here it is, the newest chapter! Enjoy and….Enjoy.

XXX

Chapter Six

Healing

"Neville." The voice was soft, a whisper along the edges of his consciousness. The darkness was complete and Neville ignored the voice. The darkness was warm, it was comforting, he did not want to leave it.

"Neville." The voice continued, more insistent, there was an underlying urgency to it. This gave Neville pause. The voice, it sounded familiar. He tried to remember who it was but his worry was already beginning to fade. The darkness was enveloping him and he let it come.

"Neville!" The voice was now harsh and panicked. Pain flared and Neville's eyes snapped open, the light in the room was dim but still too bright for his eyes.

He flinched back, blinking rapidly. His senses came back to him, the pain pounding gin his skull, the dull throb in his broken finger, the ache of muscles and bones that had been abused. It was like a dull roar of noise, persistent and unidentifiable.

"Are you okay?" Cho asked, worry in her voice.

Neville took a moment to try and regain his thoughts. They were still in the Tower, Cho looked worst for wear, her black hair disheveled and tied into a hasty ponytail, her features were strained, her eyes shot with red and the air of weariness surrounding her. Neville noticed the bruise on her cheek seemed to be swelling and growing darker. He reached out and touched the skin around it, it was hot on the tips of his fingers.

Cho jerked back and Neville suddenly realized what he had done. He glanced away, feeling his embarrassment burn in his face. "I'm fine." He managed after a long silence. Cho only nodded.

"I need your help." She said, her voice low. She shot a just glance toward the Bodiless Man who was still propped up against the wall. But now Neville could see his feet and his hands. He looked at Neville, his blue eyes dimmed with pain and his skin taunt and shallow.

"What's going on?" Neville asked, sitting up. He felt a wave of disorientation and his head began pounding harder. He closed his eyes, a hand against the smooth wall for support.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Cho asked.

"I'm fine." Neville insisted. He pushed aside the disorientation and sickening feeling that was beginning to fill him. "What's going on?" He asked again.

"I think I can heal your fingers and the wound on your head." Cho said quickly.

"How?" Neville asked.

"Damon's been teaching me how to do it. He knows the basics in healing, repairing bones and patching up cuts and things like that. He says I've got the spell right, but now I have to test it. Make sure he wasn't just mocking me." Cho said quickly and quietly.

"Damon?" Neville asked confused.

"The Bodiless Man." Cho explained, she shot another glance toward him. He grinned weakly at the two, his hand moving in a short wave of hello.

Neville looked back to Cho. What had she been doing? He shook his head. How long had be been asleep? "Are you sure?" He asked.

Cho looked uncertain for a moment, but then it vanished, replaced by determination. "Yes…I think." She said.

Neville felt like laughing, but he didn't. Instead he looked at her serious expression and nodded. The pain in his hand and head seemed to redouble, as if they were realizing that they would be healed and were trying to get the most of their time left. Neville suppressed a groan. "I guess that makes me your guinea pig." He said, with a small strained smile.

Cho didn't smile, noticing his pained look. She extended her hand for him. Neville hesitated for a moment and put forward his bandaged hand. He felt a dull throb of pain as he moved it and tried not to wince as he settled it upon Cho's hand. She looked down at it, frowning slightly and began unwrapping the makeshift bandages.

Neville winced and closed his eyes against the pain. "I'm sorry." Cho said, removing the bandages more slowly.

"No. No. It's okay." Neville said opening his eyes. He grinned weakly. "You don't have to be sorry about anything."

Cho ducked her head for a moment and Neville saw tears sparkling in her eyes. "I keep thinking this is a bad dream or something. That I'll just wake up in my bed and everything will be alright." She whispered.

Neville nodded. He hesitated for a moment and then set his good hand upon Cho's shoulder. He felt her barely contained sobs. "Everything'll be okay. By now they'll have found out what happen and they'll be looking for us." Neville said reassuringly. "The door will hold the creature back and Dumbledore or one of the professors will come and get us. There's nothing to worry about."

Cho smiled weakly, wiping her eyes. "I hope so." But Neville could hear an undertone of doubt in her voice. He didn't say anything, but was feeling the same way. Ginny had been knocked out, he had seen no one in his running down the corridors and the stairs beyond Cho. For all he knew no one even knew they were gone.

Even if no one knew that he was gone, someone would realize that Cho was missing. Wouldn't they? Neville looked up to the narrow window slit. The light still came in the same way it did when they first arrived. Surely several hours should have passed.

Cho took a deep breath and quickly wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry." She said. 'I'm sorry to just start crying like this."

Neville nodded. "It's okay."

Cho smiled briefly. "I guess everyone in the castle knows I have a tendency to cry." She said, laughing hollowly.

Neville didn't respond. The thought had crossed his mind, but then again he could understand. She had lost someone close to her, just as Harry had. Her reaction was normal, while Harry's bordered on self-destruction. "There's nothing to be sorry about." Neville said. 'If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry. It was me who dragged you along to this place. If I hadn't run into you, then you wouldn't have to be here." Neville looked around the room and settled upon Cho. "Stuck in this place and hurt." He finished, shaking his head.

Cho took a steadying breath. "Thanks." She said with a small smile. She continued to remove the bandages, going slow and steady, though Neville still winced slightly at the pain. After several minutes she removed the last piece of cloth wrapping his hand. Neville felt the chill air run across his hand, he could feel every movement of the hairs upon his skin as they waved minutely in the air, sending small shocks of pain through his hand. Neville looked down and got a good look at what had happened to his hand, he quickly turned away. It wasn't worst than Cho's back wounds, but it was one thing to know that you're in pain and another to see where the pain is coming from. It felt as if the pain began to double again as he looked at the swollen, bruised, and cut skin.

Cho sighed as she looked at it. "Alright. Let's get this over with. We may be rescued or we may have to get ourselves out of this situation."

Neville agreed. Who knew if they would have to be the ones to find their way out of here. He hoped it weren't so, but there was a growing sense that this was not any ordinary place. The door that just appeared, the creature in the hall, he strange ceilings that seemed to stretch upward forever. Whatever this place was, they needed to get out and they couldn't do that unless they were well enough to move. His broken fingers, battered head, Cho's cuts, and the Bodiless Man's broken leg.

"Ready?" Cho asked. She held Neville's hand in hers, her wand poised over it. Neville watched it intently for a moment. He hoped she was a good student and then nodded. "Ossis Medicor!" She cried.

Neville felt a tingling sensation envelope his hand, then suddenly it was suffused with a great fiery pain. He let out a gasp and doubled over, clutching his hand to his chest. Cho started shouting, trying to get to Neville's hand.

The red haze of pain cleared and Neville looked up to see Cho staring down at him, her face etched with worry and tears already beginning to form in her eyes. Neville groaned and sat up, suddenly feeling very weak and very dizzy. He lifted his hand up, only to see it still darkened, swollen, and the same.

Cho's face collapsed and she clenched her eyes shut. "I thought I did it right." She said in a small voice.

Neville sighed. Then he began to realize something. The constant pounding of pain from his hand had lessened. Neville looked at his fingers closely and then noticed that one of the broken fingers had been repaired. He touched it gingerly and was rewarded with no pain. He grinned, telling Cho.

"Then it works." She said, happily.

"I told you it'd work!" the Bodiless Man shouted, his voice was weak and his words hoarse. "Now, fix my leg."

Neville groaned with pain as he touched another finger. A wave to hot fire burned through his hand, darkening the corners of his vision for a moment. "Looks like only one was healed." Neville said after regain his breath. "I guess you're going to have to do it to all remaining two."

"How badly does it hurt?" Cho asked.

"No worst than it does right now." Neville replied, giving her his hand.

Twice she did it and twice Neville collapsed to the floor crying out in pain and clutching his hand. Afterward he felt weak and exhausted. He could feel the need to sleep, to eat, and to rest tugging at the edge of his mind. He resisted the call and sat back u, shaking off the slight feeling of disorientation.

"How does it feel?" Cho asked.

Neville clenched his hand slowly. "A little lingering pain, but okay." He replied.

Cho examined his hand. "The swelling will probably go down and the cuts shouldn't be a problem. They're small and they're already closed up." She nodded to herself and set down his hand.

"You should become a healer." Neville said, leaning against the wall.

Cho smiled. "Are you up to another round?" She asked.

Neville sighed. "We might as well get it over with." He replied after a moment of dread.

Cho was nodding solemnly. "You'd better pay attention to this one. Damon said that this could also heal the cuts on my back. An all purpose healing spell."

Neville looked at her questioningly.

"When I'm done healing you. You're going to have to heal me." She explained.

Neville felt a wave of dread and a wine of rising panic.

XXX

Great ending, huh? You have to have those emotional moments where they can gather their thoughts and sort out things.

Response Time!

Stroppy-Teenager: Finally remembered what stroppy means. If the pain you were talking about at the end of chapter four, it was Cho falling on her wounded back. Just imagine how much that would hurt…a lot is my guess.

Gboyary: Sorry if the name was misleading, but I couldn't help but using it. I had to skew the story a bit in Everything Falls Apart so that Neville and Cho could fall into the Wardrobe. If you hadn't realized it yet. Lion Neville, Witch Cho, and Wardrobe Wardrobe. But thanks for your review and putting me on your favorites!

DarkLordLongbottom: Thanks for your compliment. I like writing him, though I'm thinking he should be a mite more bumbling and humorous. As for Cho, she's too much of a nice kid to go about torturing people just for information. It's all bravado on her part…or is it? (Insert evil laugh)

Until Next Chapter!