Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also reference to the canon character death of the fifth book. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: Sometimes you just need a cuddle.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 16); MC4A (Year 5)
Individual Challenges: Red Lights (Y); Red Bull (Y); Red Wave (Y); Gryffindor MC [x2]; Ravenclaw MC; Magical MC [x3]; Neurodivergent [x2]; Rian-Russo Inversion [x2]; Ethnic & Present; Zukes of Hazard; Booger Breath; Ship Sails; Hold the Mayo; Gender Bender; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); In a Flash; Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 16 – Assignment 07
Subject (Task No.): Divination [Task#1: Write About something shattered/shattering (figurative or literally).]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [268](Delicate); 1000 Prompts Challenge [826](Shattered); Hogwarts Gardens [Gnome 1 (Only Trio Era Characters)]
Other MC4A Challenges: SpB [1C](New Moon); TrB [4E](Found Family); Ship (Lunar Lion)[SpMed2 (Cuddling/Snuggling; Sleeping Together); SpMic2 (White); Bingo (2B - Grief/Mourning)]; Chim [Reta] ("The Anonymous Ones" - Dear Evan Hanson; Gender Bend; Sienna);Hunt [Sp Set](Castle);
Representation(s): Desi & Fem Harry Potter/Luna Lovegood; Harry & Neville are Godsiblings
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Zucchini Bread; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi); Demo 1 (Corvid Brain; Queen Bee); Demo 2 (Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Bast's Blessing; Hot Stuff; Misshapen Pods)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); Once (n/a)
Word Count: 923 words
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Shattered
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Neville found them curled up together in a window seat near the staircase leading from the Gryffindor entrance to the Ravenclaw tower. Harini was closest to the window. Her faded sweater was one of the many ones that she had inherited from her cousin, as she had the majority of her casual wardrobe. The cuffs of the sleeves covered her hands, not that Neville had to see them in order to know that Harini had balled them into fists before tucking them under her chin. In the weak light coming from the moonless night outside, he could see dried tear tracks on her sienna cheek. Wrapped around his godsibling like a piece of Devil's Snare, Luna had on a cream peasant dress that was covered in pink larkspur blossoms. Her long blond hair fell off the ledge behind her back to coil on the blue-gray stones of the corridor's floor.
Honestly, he wasn't even surprised to see them together, not like Hermione or Ron would have been. For all that those two were acknowledged as Harini's best friends by the general population of Hogwarts, neither of them seemed to actually understand her. At times, Neville had his doubts that they were even kind to her. They definitely weren't to Luna.
After what had happened at the Ministry last week, Neville had been expecting Harini to break. She had been keeping it together too well. She wasn't close to Sirius, not like they should have been, not like what would have been expected had the pair not been forcefully separated after the death of Harini's parents. A few weeks of interactions and a pitiful handful of letters exchanged couldn't bridge the distance caused by having over a decade of history that had been stolen from them.
Harini had never complained about the way that her godfather had kept his distance after his escape. If Neville hadn't felt compelled to take her aside at the start of their third year in order to explain what he knew of the situation, he might never have discovered just how much Harini hadn't known about the wizarding world. It had been a long journey since that first conversation in which Neville had realized that Harini hadn't acknowledge her relation to him because she hadn't been aware of it, not that she had been ashamed of him. He knew that they still had a long way to go, too, that there were things that Harini still hadn't told him.
But Neville was good at observing the environment and condition of things that couldn't tell him if something was wrong. He could take the few things Harini had mentioned in that off-handed way of hers and combine it with what he could see. And he had seen so much more than she was likely to be comfortable with him having seen. She was so small, easily smaller than the third-years never mind the rest of their year, and as thin as a seedling with its first set of true leaves. She was not afraid to stand up for anyone who needed it, except for herself.
Most telling was the way she would watch her surrounding like she was trying to determine how much of a threat each person around her was. That habit served her well during quidditch games. It was probably part of what made her so good at Defense as well. It had definitely kept her alive during her time at Hogwarts. But to Neville, it screamed like a banshee just how much more there was to Harini's claim that her muggle relatives didn't like her.
Harini might not have been close to Sirius, but the man had represented a possible escape from them. Now that hope was gone. To make it worse, the only reason that they had been at the Ministry that night was because they had gone to rescue Sirius. It had ended up being a trap, true, but it had still started as a rescue attempt. Having Sirius die trying to save her from a trap that shouldn't have been possible to set had just cracked something in her, no matter how intact her delicate facade had seemed.
As the days had passed, Neville found himself holding his breath as he waited for the inevitable shattering. It felt a lot like waiting for the crashing thunder that accompanied the thaw of the waterfall that fed the lake on the Longbottom estate. The thrumming anticipation made a humming vibration beneath his skin. He could only hope that Harini broke down before the term ended in another four days.
So when Harini hadn't shown up at dinner that night, and then missed curfew as well, Neville had slipped out to go looking for her. Every fiber of his being refused to let his godsibling grieve alone, no matter how annoyed Harini might be that he hadn't let her tend her wounds in private like a cat. Discovering that Luna had already found Harini was no more surprising than finding bowtruckles in wand trees. The two had forged a strong bond over the last year.
Neville moved closer the pair curled onto the window seat. Luna stirred as he took up a spot leaning against the wall near their feet. She blinked up at him. Then she settled more firmly around Harini as if making a point about her place. Neville rolled his eyes at the blatantly feline action but contented himself with watching over them for as long as needed.
It was no hardship, after all.