The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 66: The Forbidden Shack

*CW: Violence & Mentions of Self-Harm*

February 22nd, 1997

The full moon was today; Astronomy on Wednesday night had told me so. I didn't know whether or not I was going to transform. I had all of the symptoms: extreme hunger and inexplicable anger, although I could have just been extremely paranoid. Thankfully, it was the weekend, so I had no classes today, only an apparition lesson, which I sat out of anyways because of my foot. But besides that, I've had nothing else to worry about, except for this transformation, which kinda eased my nerves.

At the moment, Hermione and I were heading to the Great Hall for dinner. The corridors were empty, for the most part, and that was because of my ankle, it took me longer to walk to-and-from class and meals. On Thursday, two days after I got back from school, Madam Pomfrey exchanged my bandages for a boot, so I got to ditch the crutches. Thank Godric too, because those things were extremely hard to walk in. Now, I just limped around the school with a ten-pound black boot on my foot; I did receive a couple of signatures though, which I thought was cool.

As for my mental breakdown outside of my dorm, where I ripped off my bandages, Madam Pomfrey fixed those up too. The scars were still fresh, so I was required to wear the bandages in case the wounds reopened. But I didn't have as many, the bandages were wrapped just around my lower abdomen, and I had to apply new ones everyday.

"When are you supposed to leave?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure," I shrugged, "Remus was supposed to send me a letter, but I haven't received anything yet. I just know that I go to the Shrieking Shack, however I get in there."

"You didn't hear this from me," Hermione whispered, "But the entrance to it is under the Whomping Willow."

I raised my eyebrows at Hermione, "And how do you suppose I'm going to reach that entrance without losing another limb? I'd like to not break my other foot 'Mione."

"Well, I dunno," Hermione shrugged, "At least, that's how we got down there. It was kinda out of luck though, but I'd just wait for Remus's letter."

"I hope it arrives soon," I sighed, "It'd kinda suck for you lot if I transformed in our dorm."

"You think?" Hermione chuckled nervously.

The two of us entered the Great Hall, and took our seats at the Gryffindor table while we waited for the rest of the students to file in for dinner. We were amongst the first to arrive; had been the entire week, which was good because we got first call on what nosh we wanted. Again, it may have just been the paranoia, but I was quick to dig into the roasted chicken, steak and kidney pie, pork chops, and steak; I've had a strong desire to eat meat this whole week.

My plate was stacked with food by the time the rest of the students arrived, which I had decided to feast upon early. Even Ron, who usually ate rather large portions, was startled by how fast I chowed down my dinner.

"Dawn, slow down," Hermione hesitated as she set down her fork, "You're going to choke on your food."

I looked up at her as I took a bite out of a chicken wing, "I'm hungry, leave me alone."

"I'm starting to think that you might be one of them," Ron hesitated as he helped himself to a serving of mashed potatoes, "You never eat steak."

I rolled my eyes as I slammed my fist on the table, rather loudly too, startling many who were sitting close by, "Could you not be so loud about it? And I'm not... I'm not one of them, alright? I just got scratched, but they're making me spend a night in that stupid shack anyways, okay?"