The demigods are now gods. Sweet. But, as the fates are evil and unable to give us a happy ending, there's a whole new problem to deal with. Namely, a flaming Neville Longbottom falling out of the sky and nearly squashing the new goddess of magic.
N...
It took a while, but we managed to get the death eaters to scatter. We outnumbered them twenty to one, for one thing, and apart from that, they weren't particularly well organised. Which was weird. The death eaters were a lot of things, but they always had a sort of brutal order to their murder, a method to their madness, if you will. Never sloppy. This felt more like a last ditch attempt at control. That or... a warning, maybe?
I wasn't sure, and in the time it took for the great hall to be cleaned up, I decided it didn't matter. Chances were, it was a fluke, and I didn't want to fearmonger in a group who were already incredibly sensitive and unstable from the years prior to this one.
The professors hustled around, grouping the younger years and leading them off to their common rooms while the seventh years sat down, wiping brows with water-soaked scarves and staunching cuts with bloody robes. I performed a mental check on those around me, wanting to make sure there wasn't anyone unaccounted for. Harry.. yep, he was over talking to the Parvati twins, Ron... eating, typical, though he had a nasty gash on his leg that he was doing an awful job of healing, Luna... over talking to Cho, they both looked ok, although I would have expected Luna to be near Neville...
Wait, where was Neville? He wasn't over by the head table, or sitting at any of the tables, or talking to any of the teachers... My eyes darted about, scanning the space urgently as I tried desperately to keep my heart rate down. I couldn't create a panic. We'd just finished a fight we'd thought we'd never have to fight again, everyone was scared enough as it was. I was being paranoid, I had to be.
But he wasn't anywhere. And the longer I looked, the more anxious I became. What had happened? Had one of the Death Eaters grabbed him when no one was looking? Had some one else taken advantage of the carnage? What if he was being held hostage, or worse, being tortured for information?
No, no. It was fine. He was probably helping Professor Sprout with medicinal potions, or up in his room reading up on herbs, or showing first years to the dorms or something. It was fine. It had to be.
Deciding to do something to take my mind off it, I pulled my wand from my sleeve, and with a quick incantation, the Great Hall is pulling itself back into shape, candles lifting from the floor, food spills pulling themselves back into bowls, tables straightening and benches tucking neatly into place. I receive a few grateful smiles for my efforts, mainly from teachers who really don't have the capacity to perform any more spells any time soon.
To be honest, I was a little drained myself. Very drained, actually. Making a split-second decision, I sidled over to Ron, who was still nursing his wound.
'I think I'm gonna head on up to bed.' I told him quietly.
'That's fine.' He looked up. 'You ok?'
'Fine, just tired.' I smiled.
'Goodnight then. And well done on the hall.'
I just nodded, before turning and leaving the hall for my dorm room, and my bed.
First update of 2022!
Has it been good for you so far?
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