❝𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴,
𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢❞
𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 was a somewhat quiet, yet mischievous guy who had trouble tailing him since he was a mere one year-old. He encounters a girl, whose only known attribute wa...
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CXXVII. GOLDEN TIME
21:79 ─❁────────── 31:80
◁ Ⅱ ▷
❝Tell me it'll all be alright
You are not alone❞
༻───────────────༺
"NEVILLE — WHAT THE — how — ?"
"Forget how, Harry — Neville!" Lucia squealed in delight, as she pushed Harry aside and jumped into Neville's arms, swaying back and forth from where they stood. She felt like she could just cry being in his arms, for the last time she had seen him... they weren't able to say goodbye. These past few months she'd feared for all of her friends in Hogwarts, but here one of them were, in her arms.
"She never hugged me like that," mumbled Ron.
"Me neither," grumbled Harry, narrowing his eyes at them.
"Because Neville's one of a kind," mused Hermione, earning her a playful glare from her best friends.
"I missed you so much!" Lucia sniffled, tears brimming her eyes.
"Oh, don't cry, Lucia! We knew you would pull through the moment we saw the headlines of you being seen with Harry!" laughed Neville.
"B-But — I'm sorry for leaving you all to fend for yourself against those bastard..."
"We ought to think that it was for the better that you did it," said Neville, smiling. "I mean, you were their sole target and it wasn't long until they were going to kill you too..."
"Still..." said Lucia, eyes downcast to the ground.
"Stop!" said Neville reassuringly, pulling away from his friend. He then spotted Ron and Hermione, and with yells of delight was hugging them too.
The longer Lucia looked at Neville, the worse he appeared: One of his eyes was swollen yellow and purple, there were gouge marks on his face, and his general air of unkemptness suggested that he'd been living rough. Nevertheless, his battered visage shone with happiness as he let go of Hermione and said again, "I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!"
"Neville, what's happened to you?"
"What? This?" Neville dismissed his injuries with a shake of the head. "This is nothing. Seamus is worse. You'll see. Shall we get going then? Oh," he turned to Aberforth, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."
