-100-
Everyone here is staring right at the new arrival, looking all so baffled. Dramatic entrance... So like him. There are guards standing on the side, making sure all of the people stays out of this. Neville is held by two guards further away from us. I can't believe it... Severus is here! Why..- I mean, HOW?! Is this purely by coincidence? Or did someone rat me out? What is going on?! Even my mind is screaming at this point, heart heavily pounding inside my chest... Something about seeing him standing there makes me feel better about this situation. Then again... I don't wanna get too much of ahead of myself. Anything can happen at this point. "I'm afraid your request haveto wait, Severus." Yaxley growls and does a small jerking emotion with the fist he has part of my collar in as a sing 'can't you see we're busy here?'. Severus lowers his gaze from Yaxley to me. I'm not sure if he knows it's me and not the real Amycus. So I'm little bit scared he might not care what's going to happen to me.
"Very well. Please continue." Snape bluntly answers with the monotonic tone. My eyes pop wide open as in 'ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!' I swear to Merlin, I'll..- "But if you don't mind me asking... Why are you holding a member of my staff like that?" Snape asks. "This one here and that one there are not the real Carrow twins." Yaxley explains with half gritted teeth. Now Snape shift his eyes on 'Alecto', who's trying to stay calm while the guards are holding tightly from each side of her arms. "Really? They both surely look as pathetic as them." Snape hums carelessly. This man... Haveto hold my tongue for not yelling at him. Evil grin appears my capture's face when an idea hits him. "Well, then... As their 'boss', I'll let you deal with the punishment. Look into their mind and tell us who they really are, so we can all get home." Yaxley smirks as he roughly shoves me towards Snape, so I fall onto my knees in front of him. A small gasp escapes from my lips as he did so. This is not good..! For many reasons.
Headmaster and I share a look. Both of us knowing if these people are going to figure out who we are, there will be more trouble - fatal even. And if they'll figure out Snape is actually on our side... I don't wanna think about what they'll do to him. The real color of my eyes slowly started to appear. Just when Snape is about to say something, one of the guards further away yells:"Hey..!!". Huh?! All of our attention snaps right at where Neville is. He started to fight against the guards by moving more aggressively in their grasp. They start to struggle to have better hold of him. Neville! Corner of my eye, I can see how Snape draw his wand while having his eyes on the boy. This is my change..-! Then, I quickly draw my wand right at the love of my life and shout:"Depulso!!". Immediately, the banishing charm shoots Severus right at the crowd, knocking some of the guards along with him. A table that had Harry's posters on it also breaks and the pieces of papers goes flying. This all makes people around gasp and scream out of surprise. Both of Yaxley's eyebrows raise:"What the..-?!", "Glacius!" I cast on him when he was about to run for the wand I knocked out of his hand earlier.
In that very moment, the guards that has the hold on Neville gets distracted and he yanks himself free. The flicker of hope raises in me when I see this. That's when Neville made the run for it. Again, it's all like in slow-motion even in reality happens fast; As he's running towards me, as fast as he can, he's slowly turning back into himself - we both are actually. My heart misses a beat when I realize what I'm supposed to do while watching the boy running towards. Apparate. But... I've never done it with other person with me! Am I supposed to think him in his Polyjuice form or in his own?! I DON'T KNOW!!! The anxious feeling consumes me while watching him approaching, guards running only few meters behind. I quickly try my best to think a place where to Apparate us. Somewhere safe. A place I can picture us being in. My real hair appears and falls down on my shoulders. Neville extended his hand towards me, the mix of desperation and trust written all over that face which is now partly his and Alecto's. Fuck! Reaching my hand towards him, not as trusting of my own abilities written all over my face. Immediately, when our hands connect and we get firm grip of each other, we vanish. "NOOO!!!" Yaxley's furious scream echoes around the place.
In Potions classroom, Professor Slughorn is minding his own business - calmly writing down something while sitting behind the desk in candle light. When all of sudden, the sound of Apparate spell can be heard - followed by all kinds of pots, pans and bottles crashing down when Neville and I appear to the room and fall down to the floor as we accidentally hit one of the shelves. "MERLIN'S BEARD!!!" Slughorn leans back in his seat shocked, eyes wide. My eyes shoots open, chest going quickly up and down, now fully turned back into myself. I..- I did it..! Then, I quickly raise myself to sit to check up on the boy next to me, who has turn back to himself as well. He's laying on his side. "Neville..!! Are you alright?!" I place a hand on his shoulder and turn him on his back. Immediately he let's out a terrifying scream:"AAAHHARGH-!!!". My eyes widens, face going all pale and heart sinks somewhere in the deep. The worst has happened: Neville got Splinched! No!!!
There is blood coming out of his shoulder, right where the arm is attached with his torso. Slughorn runs up to us:"What in the name of Merlin happened?!". Too shocked to answer to his question, unsure if I actually even heard him correctly:"I-I..-". This is not what supposed to happen! Neville keeps on screaming in pain, tears streaming down on his face. The incredible quilt consumes me. Then, I look up to Slughorn and snap:"Please! Help him!!!". The Professor is baffled and starts looking around the Potions classroom in panic:"Oh..- Uhm...". My focus goes back to Neville and I try to sound calm and soothing while caressing his hair a bit:"It's okay..- You're going to be alright.". Obviously, that doesn't ease the pain he's in and he keeps crying. It shredders my heart. My head snaps back to Slughorn, who's still struggling to find the right potion. "For Merlin's sake!" I shoot up from the floor and rush to check all the bottles this room has. There must be something to cure Neville's deep wound!
In panic, I start opening every single cabinet and drawer with shaky hands that now are all over Neville's blood. The boy cries on the floor in great pain which makes all of this even more intense. My whole mind is way too all over the place to be able to cure a wound that severe with the wand. Maybe I am even too afraid to do so. What if I'll hurt him even more by accident? Tears raises in my eyes and breath hitches. Slughorn worries:"I don't think I have any..-", "FUCK!!" I rasp out and slam the cabinets shut. Right then, we hear how someone enters the room with us. Slughorn is the first one to notice the man and he let's under his breath surprised:"Headmaster..?". Huh?! Immediately, my whole body turn to face him. It really is him! Severus stands at the doorway, fully focused on the bleeding boy on the floor. "Top drawer on the left of the desk." he suddenly tells as he hunches down beside Neville. Without any hesitation, I rush to the desk and open the right drawer, grab the bottle inside and run to hand it to him. Severus grabs the bottle, opens it and pulls out the pipette. At the same time I kneel down and gently stroke the top of crying Neville's head like caring mother:"It's okay, Neville. You're in good hands now. It's alright. You're going to be alright.". Snape starts squeezing the pipette and small drops began to drop down on the wound.
Slowly, but surely, the wound stared to close and Neville's cries fades into quiet whimpers. Nervous smile appears on my face while watching this happening as the tears quietly streams down my cheeks. "Oh..!" my breath shudders. All this time Slughorn has been standing on the side, just staring at us confused. Without my notice, Severus's eyes visits on my neck, only to see the necklace isn't there anymore. "I suggest you take him to the Hospital Wing for Madam Pomfrey, so Mr. Longbottom gets the aid he needs." Snape tells with the usual monotonic tone. My (e/c) eyes lift up to him, only to see he already had his eyes on me. Calmness washes over me and I can feel how my mind becomes clear and more rational. Then my head began to nod on its own:"...Yeah. We will.". Glancing over my shoulder the see the current Potions Master behind me:"Professor.". "Hm? Ah, yes." Slughorn then comes in and carefully helps me get Neville on his feet. As we're heading out of the classroom, I look over the shoulder to see the Headmaster and offer him a small smile while mouthing:"Thank you.". There is no emotion what so ever on his face to let me know what his current thoughts are. He's probably mad. Most likely... After all, this isn't the first time I've got myself into trouble where he has come to the rescue. Only... I used a charm on him. That must've hurt a ton. But I had to! Otherwise people would have figured out we are on the same side!
After getting Neville to the Hospital Wing, we thanked Slughorn who then head back down to the Potions classroom to clean up the mess we made and I stayed here to keep an eye on the student. Bet he's really confused by all of this. After all, we didn't really explain what really went down. Think we managed to lie to him we were trying to learn Apparate spell that went wrong. I'm not sure... I'm still so shaken by everything that happened in the Ministry and when we came back here. Poppy took care of Neville's wound and eventually put a cloth around him to support the shoulder. Even we managed to safe him from loosing his whole freaking arm for good, he still lost a lot of blood, so he needs to stay in bed while getting some blood into his system.
"How are you feeling?" I ask softly while sitting on a chair beside the bed after Poppy left from our sight. "Better." he answers while giving a weak smile as he's laying under the covers. My breath shudders again and I let out a heavy sigh:"Neville, I'm so sorry. About everything. I..-", "It's okay, (Y/N)." he places a hand on top of mine. There is no blood anymore on my hands. Poppy ordered me to wash them as soon as I entered the room and hand her the student. I look at the boy in front of me with gentle eyes:"You were so brave, Neville. I'm so proud of you.". To think how we first met... How scared he always looked - even from the smallest things. He chuckles softly:"Don't know if I was more scared back at the Ministry, or when I saw how Snape came in to the room and saw me laying on the floor.". Can't help, but chuckle as well:"Yeah. They both were pretty intense moments.". For some minutes, Neville and I talk before Luna appears to the Hospital Wing, looking all so worried. And that was my cue to leave the two lovebirds alone. I'll come see him tomorrow - first thing in the morning.
It's pretty late at this point, but I still wanted to talk to Severus about everything that happened. So, I travel all the way to Headmaster's Office, only to see he's not there. Hmm... I looked for him quite a while around the castle before deciding it'll be best if I'll just head back to my own chamber and try again tomorrow. Bet Remus is waiting there for me, so I'll at least get to talk to him everything that happened. And ask him about how Severus figured out where we were... Just when I turn around the last corner to get to the chamber, I notice the familiar dark figure standing beside the door, waiting for me. Severus! Immediately, my heart skips a beat when I realize it really is him. Right away he sees me and turn his whole body towards me, not saying a word. Seeing him standing there... I get consumed by this greater feeling that I cannot hide any longer. Not sure if I should start crying or smiling, so I ended up having this upside down smile with glossy eyes, and then... I run to him. Without any hesitation, Severus opens his arms and I jump to hug him. Our bodies makes a thud sound when we collide.
Right away, I bury my face against him and inhale the scent. Severus wraps his arms around me and presses his nose the side of my head, also inhaling the scent. I missed this. I missed the feeling of his arms around me. Holding me ever so tight. I missed... Him. So darn much. How long has it been? Five? Six months? We stay like that for a moment longer before I lean back to see him, and just when I'm about to open my mouth:"Sev..-", he suddenly holds onto both of my cheeks, pinches them and stretches them a bit while frowning annoyed:"You dared... To shoot me with Depulso without giving any warning. How shameless can you be?". "O-ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch..! I'm sorry!! It had to be done. Other..- Otherwise it would have blew up your cover and I didn't know what else to do!" I try to explain thru the slight pain. He then stops the pinching and cups my face, looking so deep into my eyes:"You really are... Unbearable badger.". With that, he can't hold himself back any longer and pulls me into a deep kiss. It's almost like the very first time we kissed. The electric waves and sparks travels down my whole body and I just melt into it. Severus.