Faith .|. H. J. POTTER ✔

Chapter one-hundred-forty-five

"Neville - what the - how -?"

Faith stared at her fellow Gryffindor, taking in his beat-up appearance. One of his eyes was swollen yellow and purple, he had multiple old cuts on his face and he seemed to be limping. But despite that, he looked happier than ever. He quickly pulled all of them in for a bone-crushing hug. 

"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!" Nevile exclaimed gleefully.

"Neville, what's happened to you?"

"What? This?" Neville gestured at his injuries with a dismissive wave. "This is nothing. Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going, then? Oh," He turned to Aberforth and Alex, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way,"

"Couple more?" Aberforth asked. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew and a Caterwauling Charm on the whole village!"

"I know, that's why they'll be Apparating directly into the bar," Neville told him. "Just send then down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot,"

Nevile held out his hand to help Hermione get into the tunnel, Ron quickly followed. 

"Be careful, Faith," Alex told her, having a deep frown on his face. 

"You know me, I'm always careful," Faith smiled, trying her best to not make him worry as much by telling this big lie. Faith was a lot of things, but careful was not one of those.

Then Neville held out his hand for Faith, not missing the fact that he had grown much taller than the girl over the time they hadn't seen each other, and then followed himself. 

It seemed as if the passageway had been there for years. It had smooth steps that led far into the dark distance and brass lamps hung on the ceiling. It was very narrow and the ceiling hung low so even Faith had to lean over a bit to fit through. 

"How long's this been here?" Ron asked when Harry finally got in behind Neville. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it, Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of school?"

"They sealed off all of those before the start of the year," Neville told him. "There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and Dementors waiting at the exits," Neville walked in front of them but did it backwards so he could see them. "Never mind that stuff ... is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"Yeah, it's true," Harry said.

"What did you do with the dragon?" Neville asked after letting out a laugh.

"Released it into the wild," Ron said. "Hermione was all for keeping it as a pet -"

"Don't exaggerate, Ron -"

"I'm never coming near dragons ever again -"

"But what have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something," Neville said.

"You're right," Harry nodded, quickly putting a hand on Faith's middle when he saw her slipping, "but tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything,"

"It's been ... well, it's not really like Hogwarts any more," Neville said, his excited smile fading away. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Oh yeah, I blasted Mr Carrow against a pole," Faith nodded, stating it as if it was a most casual comment.