Prompt #18: "Don't cry."
"Avada Kedavra!"
Hermione screamed and lunged forward, intending on pushing Bellatrix down, but it was too late.
Alice's body hit the floor with one final thump just as Frank's screams grew both in pitch and fear. "Alice! Alice! No! No! You monsters!"
Bellatrix's cackles rang through the air before she Disapparated with the rest of the Death Eaters. Hermione's blood was freezing in her veins at the sight of the badly mutilated corpse of one Alice Longbottom.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
This didn't happen in my time—have I messed everything up already?
It hadn't even been five minutes since she had been thrown back into the past by her well-meaning but bumbling friend, Neville, and already, Hermione had caused something terrible to happen.
Alice Longbottom wasn't supposed to die. In her time, Alice had been a permanent resident of the Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo's Hospital—she wasn't dead.
But now, she was.
And Frank was perfectly fine, or as fine as he could be while wailing over his wife's corpse. He clutched her to his chest, rocking back and forth as he sobbed pitifully. "No, no, please, don't leave me… No, Alice, please… No, no, no…"
Hermione's feet refused to move. Her vision blurred, and her breath came out in shallow pants. Her hands trembled as she dropped to her knees.
What had she done?
Hermione's head snapped up at the sound of a baby's wails. Neville. She glanced at Frank, who was still crying and begging Alice to wake up. There was no way Frank could handle caring for Neville at the moment.
Shaking her head to clear it, Hermione got to her feet and followed the high-pitched cries towards the baby's bedroom. When she opened the door, Neville's cries grew in both pitch and volume. Hermione walked over to the crib and peered inside.
Neville was trying to climb out of his safe and secure prison, big fat tears streaming down his tomato-red cheeks. He took one look at Hermione and wailed even louder.
Tears formed in Hermione's eyes, and although she wasn't the maternal type, her heart broke for her tiny friend. She scooped him up as best as she could, remembering how she used to pick Crookshanks off her bed. She held Neville to her chest, swaying from side to side and trying to calm him down.
Neville grabbed onto her hair and yanked a bit too hard, and Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from crying out and scaring Neville even more than he already was.
"Don't cry; it will be okay," Hermione whispered, still holding Neville securely. Neville sobbed but quieted down a little at her voice. "I've got you, Nev. You're safe with me."
Neville's cries lessened until he was sniffling, his face buried in her neck. Hermione kept her tears at bay as she rocked Neville in her arms, gently shushing him.
What was she going to do? Neville was now motherless. She had no way of getting back home. Frank was out there, heartbroken. And Harry… Harry was an orphan too.
Hermione had never failed at something before—Divination and flying didn't count because she wasn't interested in either of those things—and she swore she wouldn't fail at this either.
But how was she going to set things right after she had gotten Alice killed? It was Hermione's own fault for appearing at the wrong moment. If she had just—
Neville tugged on her curls and whispered, "Mama?"
Hermione's heart cracked. She kissed Neville's blond head and breathed in his baby scent. She whispered, "No, Nev. I'm sorry. It's just me. Hermione."
"Nee," Neville murmured, resting his head on her shoulder.
Hermione clenched her jaw to keep herself from wailing like a baby. Poor Neville didn't even know his mother was dead, and here he was, snuggling against the same person who had caused his mother's death.
"I'm so sorry, Neville," Hermione whispered in the silence of the room. "I'll find a way to make things right. I'll do my best. I promise."
She couldn't fail. She just couldn't.