The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 106: Those Who I Vowed To Protect

*CW: Major Character Death, Extreme Violence, & Gore*

Disclaimer: Scenes including the underlined content warning(s) have the first and last words bolded. Please read at your own risk.

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I didn't know how long I was out for, possibly just a few minutes. All I did know was that when I started to regain my consciousness, my ears rang, and the lights burned my eyes. I still felt incredibly lightheaded, which almost made me think that I died and ended up in the afterlife. But I also knew that wasn't possible... Because I was immortal thanks to my father's daft blood curse.

As the ringing in my ears slowly diminished, another sound took its place: crying.

I looked over to where the sound was coming from and saw what looked like Percy (my eyes were still adjusting) sitting next to someone, shaking them, and pleading for them to wake up. I was in too much pain to stand up completely and walk over to where he was to see what was going on. So, I sluggishly made my way up to a sitting position, grabbing onto my head the moment I had done so — there was still a lot of blood present from when my brother smashed my head into the ground. I hoped my brain wasn't damaged... or more damaged than it already was.

"FRED! FREDDY!" Percy cried, "FRED! PLEASE, THIS ISN'T FUNNY! THIS IS NOT A PRANK! WAKE UP. PLEASE!"

No.

My heart sank at the sound of these words. I was almost too frightened to look over at what lay beneath Percy, knowing that it was Fred. I sat there, staring at the floor, as my lungs grew tight, making it difficult for me to breathe. However, I didn't want to be panicking for no reason because it could've just been my brain fucking with me... So, I looked over.

And the scene I saw worsened just about every emotion I was already feeling.

When the wall exploded and we were all thrown backwards, most of us had hit the floor... Fred wasn't so lucky. His head landed on a sharp rock, impaling his skull, and breaking it. Fresh blood splattered the rock; enough had come out that it was dripping from it. Fred had gone pale in the face and was unmoving. From where I was sitting, I knew that his chest had gone still. He died on impact.

Fred was dead.

"Fred..." I panicked, slowly crawling over to where him and Percy were, "Fred... Fred... FRED! FRED! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO, PLEASE WAKE UP! FRED, PLEASE WAKE UP!"

He wasn't going to wake up.

"HE HIT HIS HEAD ON THE ROCK, DAWN" Percy cried, "HE'S NOT WAKING UP!"

I shook my head, heavy tears falling from my eyes. Even though I knew exactly what had happened, I remained in denial about it. Fred was a master at jokes and pranks, but both Percy and I knew that this was nothing of the sort. And the second I realized this, I collapsed my head on top of him and sobbed.

It was as though every memory of him and me rushed to my head in this moment. Looking back, I wished that I wasn't as cruel to him as I was. Most of our recent conversations involved me snapping at him because I was in a bad mood... I shouldn't have done that, knowing that those were some of the last times we were going to talk. And then I thought back to that one summer where we fell for one another... Part of me wished that I hadn't done that either.

Maybe Fred was in love with me... No, he definitely was, and that was the worst part. I led him on, and he died knowing that I didn't love him back, or at least not in that way. I loved Fred as one of my friends, and again, it was a moment like this that made me wish I was kinder to him... that I had fought harder for him. Hell, I was so focused on just protecting Neville that I forgot about all the other people I cared about.