Wolfsbane // Neville Longbottom

Chapter 29: Aftermath

"Neville, dear, get me the Dittany. Now."

Neville was seated next to Cassie. She was lying in the hospital bed with her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling at a steady pace. He gently stroked her hand, his eyes fixated on his girlfriend.

Her skin was paler than usual. Her hair laid around her head, all tangled up, but that was the least of their worries. Her eyes were still slightly swollen and red from the crying. The dried-up tears had been wiped away by him a few minutes prior. Her soft pink lips were parted only slightly.

The shirt she was wearing was drenched in her own blood and even her skirt was stained. Madam Pomfrey was still working hard on mending the last few wounds. They were hard to heal seeing as they were magical wounds but soon a silvery line appeared on her torso, adding another set of scars to her body.

His heart ached and his entire body felt heavy with sorrow and sadness. To see Cassie like this felt unbearable. It was heartbreaking. The way she was sobbing in the Ministry was an image he would never be able to get out of his head. The way she begged not to be taken back ever, it shattered his heart.

He never ever wanted something bad to happen to her and he would do anything to ensure that it wouldn't.

There was no way that he was going to let her back to the Ministry for a full moon. He didn't care about his old boss, Minister Kingsley, or anyone else. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

Cassie hadn't harmed herself on a full moon in a little over a year. They take her to the Ministry and all of a sudden she comes back with a slit open stomach. They had forced her to walk on a dislocated knee and well, seeing her expressions of fear and anguish, the past twenty-four hours had been worse than horrible.

"Neville, dear," Madam Pomfrey spoke up, pulling Cassie's shirt down again and cleaning her hands. He looked at the bloodstained apron she still had on and take a shaky breath. "I think you should go and get her some fresh clothes. She would like that, wouldn't she? To be out of those bloody clothes."

He nodded and looked at Cassie who was still unconscious. She looked quite peaceful but he knew there was a storm raging inside of her. The second she would wake up, all that peace would be gone within less than a split second.

"She'll wake up in a few hours," Madam Pomfrey said, placing her hand on his shoulder for a second. "We won't let her go back. No matter what she or the Ministry says. I won't allow it. I'm done patching her up... I can't do it anymore." Neville looked up at her, seeing tears burning in her eyes. He nodded and stood up, placing Cassie's hand gently beside her body.

"I know, Poppy. I won't let it happen," he said, giving her shoulder a soft squeeze before heading to her room. The students in the corridors shot him curious glances but he kept diverting his gaze. He sped up until he reached her office and he stormed inside, a loud sob escaping his lips the second he stepped inside.

He burst into tears and sank onto the couch. He buried his face in his hands and let out every single emotion he had been keeping in for an hour and a half now ever since he had seen Cassie at the Ministry.

Her limp, her cries, her begging, her wounds, her blood, her leg. Everything. It was one of the worst things he had ever seen, and Neville had had a fair share of trauma already. 

He let out his tears for a few minutes before regaining himself, determined to be strong for Cassie now. He walked over to her bedroom and pulled some undergarments, a jumper as well as a comfortable pair of pants from her wardrobe. He buried his nose in the jumper for a second and sat down on the edge of the bed.

He was so in love with this girl. He had never truly been in love. He had liked several people, but he had never been in love. But with Cassie he was. He could see a future with her, a life. For the short and long term. No one had ever made him feel the way she did.