SOFIA | ❨ NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM ❩ UNDER MAJOR EDITING!

Chapter Thirty Nine.

"Sofia... your father is dead."

The sentence itself was a confirmation of Sofia's worst thoughts. Her nightmares. Everything negative that created a thunderstorm led back to this.

"W—What?" Sofia choked out, staring at McGonagall.

The old woman standing in front of her had a somber look on her face. She felt so terrible for Sofia, but didn't want to show it.

"Your mother sent a telegram. We were going to give it to you but... it just didn't feel appropriate."

This wasn't happening. Not now. Not when things for once seemed to be lining up and making since in her life. This wasn't happening.

"No. That's not right.... h-h-he just wrote me a letter last week. He said he was fine and—"

"Miss Cherith..."

Sofia looked up at McGonagall with teary eyes, not wanting to believe that what she was saying was true.

Suddenly, she felt an arm wrap around her waist.

"Come on, Sof. I'll take you away from all of this..."

It was Neville whispering in her ear.

"He's—gone..."

Sofia then began sobbing, turning to cry into Neville's chest.

"No one's going to hurt you, Sof. I'm right here." was all Neville responded to her sobbing.

When Sofia turned around again, McGonagall was gone.

Her father was really gone. Dead.

Her sobs seemed to go on for so long. Her head felt like it was going to combust at any moment, and her chest felt like it was on fire.

"It hurts..." she muttered in between sobs.

Neville reached out to touch her face, but she couldn't feel his fingers on her cheek.

—

Sofia sat up from her slumber pretty quickly. Sweat covered her forehead, and tears stained onto her pale cheeks.

She quickly looked around, reality checking to make sure it was all just a terrible nightmare. She saw her friends sleeping soundly in their beds, even Lily snored.

Sofia got out of her bed, and felt the sweat that dripped out of her pores and that had soaked into her clothes. She was trembling from head to toe.

She didn't want to be alone at the moment. She wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if she was.

Without treading on the thought for more than a few seconds, she grabbed her wand and left her dorm. She stated an incantation that would let her wand light up, so she could actually see where she was going on the dark staircase.

Her legs lead her to a familiar dorm, and she pondered on if she should knock or not. She knew everyone was asleep, so she quickly decided against it.

Her trembling hand met with the doorknob, and she slowly turned it. She tried her best to not make too much noise when she walked in.

She slowly made her way to the bed she knew that Neville was sleeping in, but accidentally stubbed her toe,

"Bloody, fucking, cunt, shit..." she mumbled as she held her toe. It had hurt a lot worst than she wanted it to.

'Did I really just say bloody?' Sofia thought to herself, still holding her pinkie toe.

She then heard shifting, and heard Ron mumbling something about spiders in his sleep. She was relieved that she hadn't somehow managed to wake any of the boys up.

She continued to walk over to Neville's place of sleep, and when she got there, she stared at him for a moment. He looked so peaceful, like nothing on the planet could hurt him.

"Neville?" she whispered, shaking him a bit.

His eyes slowly opened, and met with Sofia's eyes staring at him.

"Sofia? What—"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to disturb you, I just—"

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Neville started to consider every scenario on why Sofia would be waking him up at this time of night. Something had to be wrong.

"I just... I had a bad dream. And... I'm scared."

Sofia knew that she was acting like a child. But, her reasons were genuine. She didn't want to sleep alone, and she knew the one person to go to that would never allow her to feel like that.

"Oh... well—come on, then." Neville scooted over a bit, his raspy voice shaking from nervousness. He lifted his blanket up, showing Sofia where she could lay down at.

Sofia crawled onto the bed, and got under the blanket with Neville. She could tell he was exhausted, and felt guilty for bothering him.

"I'm sorry for waking you up."

Sofia laid her head down on the pillow, and looked over at Neville.

"Don't apologize, Sof. I would rather you be here..."

Even in his tired state, he still seemed to care for the girl so much. She didn't even need to ask in his mind. She could've just pushed him over and wiggled into the small spot next to him, and he would've never complained.

"Goodnight, Neville." she whispered to him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you, Sof." he responded, earning a strange glance from Sofia.

Every time he said those three words to Sofia, she could feel that he was being honest.

"I love you too, Nev."

He smiled, and pulled her closer to him. His arm snaked around her waist, wanting nothing just to feel her skin.

"I'll be here, Sof. Go back to sleep."

He started to slowly pepper kisses behind her ear, and onto her neck. Her face grew red from the sudden affection, but she was enjoying it.

As he stayed awake, watching to make sure she fell asleep, he continued to touch her. It wasn't in a sexual way, but a desperate attempt to show her how much he loved her.

Everything about her was so perfect. Neville couldn't understand how a being like her was allowed to walk the Earth, just acting like they weren't an angel. There wasn't a single imperfection that laid upon her. Her skin was so soft, and her hair was as well. He was obsessed with every single inch of her.

Neville loved her.