neville x hannah- 7th year
"Neville, you can't keep doing this to yourself," Hannah chided gently, tenderly brushing at a jagged cut placed right above his left brow with one of the rags she'd stolen from the infirmary months ago. Neville winced when she applied a bit of antiseptic to his cuts; they were running low on supplies, and thus far none of the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army were particularly skilled with healing charms. Hannah was the most proficient by far, but even her skills had their limits.
"It doesn't hurt...that much," Neville mumbled, picking at a stray thread on his sweater. In a sense, his words weren't a total lie; the beatings and curses he could handle...Neville had long ago submitted himself to taking everything the Carrows had to throw at him head on. It was the way they destroyed the hope and resolve of the students around him that crippled Neville; it was in the way that Amycus and Alecto Carrow had proven time and time again to be of the same nature as a Dementor.
"Don't you lie to me, Neville Longbottom," Hannah huffed, her eyebrows crinkling together. She drew away from him, depositing the filthy rag in her first aid kit, studying the bumbling Gryffindor seated across from her. "You continue to defy each and every thing they say, sometimes when they aren't even picking on you in the first place! I know that you're protecting the others, but Neville I--"
"My parents would've done it," Neville said quietly, his eyes cast downward and his face grim. "My mum and dad would have wanted me to stick up for the underdogs...'specially 'cause I was one myself."
Hannah grew quiet, fiddling with her hands as they lay limp in her lap. She knew better than to push when his parents were on the line...specifically since she knew what it was like, living without a parent.
"...You've never been an underdog to me," Hannah remarked quietly. And Neville, who hadn't experienced happiness since this damned war had started all those months ago, felt his lips crack into a crooked smile that nearly caused his chest to ache.
When he looked at Hannah, he saw sunlight; golden yellow, just like her hair. Just like the color of her robes...and just like her spirit.
