Thorn | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 43: Everything Is Okay

Ever since the incident at the department of mysteries, Briar had been slowly improving. At first, her progress seemed minimal, if you could even say there was any at all. The first couple months after the incident felt more like survival than true healing, but Sirius and Lupin had promised her that getting through the hard moments was a part of her healing process.

Knowing this, she tried to feel proud of herself each time she made it through a crisis. Every time her old hurts bubbled to the surface in a catastrophic moment of misery, she used her coping skills and made it through the moment as best as she could.

Because surviving was still an incredible step in the right direction.

However, as time went on, Briar started to do more than just survive. She began to truly heal and make noticeable changes in herself, even as early as the beginning of September.

Sure, she was spending most nights in Neville's dorm, but it helped her sleep and associate the night with more happy memories rather than the isolation and fear that nighttime had been previously equated to.

So, when Neville's roommates teased her for being the 6th roommate, she took it with a smile. She was just grateful that she had been able to get away with this so long without Snape noticing. The man wasn't exactly her biggest fan, especially after the incident with the note in September, but she served her time in detention and steered clear of the menacing professor afterwards.

All seemed well for Briar. Her anxieties were starting to feel more manageable; she was feeling the most well-rested she had in ages, and her relationship with Neville was continuing to blossom into something beautiful.

So, when Briar was suffocating underneath the weight of  unexpected panic one day, she felt a shock at the sudden reversion. However, her thoughts were echoing one solitary thought in particular.

Neville is in danger. Neville is in danger. Neville is danger.

This horrid thought echoed in her mind in an endless loop. She knew that this wouldn't stop until she saw him safe and sound with her own eyes, so she shoved shoes onto her feet with quivering hands and vision blurred. Her eyes were unfocused while her mind continued to spiral.

She needed to find him. She had to see him.

Fear strangled her heart in a vise-like grip as she stumbled from the Slytherin dorms and towards where she hoped Neville would be. She passed Dean and Seamus at one point and mumbled to them to wonder about Neville's whereabouts, but they didn't know. Her throat threatened to close when each boy shrugged at her.

Briar kept trudging through the corridors; she only stopped once she reached the portrait to the Gryffindor common room. Her echoing thoughts made it hard to focus, and she couldn't recall what Neville said was the password for the week.

She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to make a plan of what to do next, but her mind couldn't fathom planning in that state. Her focus remained solely on one task.

When the portrait swung open a moment later, she rushed past Ginny Weasley who had been on her way out. Briar hurried into the Gryffindor common room, and she rapidly climbed the steps that led her up the tower to Neville's dorm. She reached his room and faintly knocked before she pushed her way into the room.

Neville was sitting on Harry's bed and talking with him about something serious, and Briar's quivers slowly died down into the occasional twitch.

He was safe.

Harry and Neville both looked over when she had opened the door. Briar's cheeks were pale and her eyes still slightly unfocused, so Neville rushed to her side. He put a hand on each cheek and questioned, "What's wrong?"