Thorn | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 34: Little One

Briar's heart was pounding. Her father just showed up at the department of mysteries behind Lucius, and she shivered at the thought of him discovering she was there. He wouldn't have any mercy for his only child in that case, and she felt as though she was going to be sick at the thought.

It became chaotic quickly, and Briar was sprinting around the prophecy room, blocking curses that her father was sending her way. She couldn't bring herself to send any at him because she could barely focus on the defensive spells she needed to use to survive. Her whole body was shaking, and she couldn't breathe because she realized that in one horrible moment, her life had become what she always feared.

She was going to suffer the same fate as her mother, except that she wasn't going to survive to graduation.

Briar just barely managed to escape with the others, and she was hyperventilating by the time she collected herself in the unfamiliar room. Neville immediately scrambled across the few steps to get to her and questioned, "Are you okay?"

Everyone knew that her father was just trying to kill them, and no one seemed to know what to say or do about it.

Briar couldn't breathe.

She rasped to Harry, "We need to leave. Now."

Neville reached up to touch her hair and hissed, "Oh no. Your hair is starting to change colors. It's getting darker."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Briar pleaded, "We have to leave. This isn't safe. Please, Harry, come on. We could die."

Harry was ignoring her pleas as he edged closer to the contraption in the middle of the room. Moments later, Harry yelled for the group to get behind him, and Briar felt as if she was dissociating. She couldn't feel her body as she knew that she was beginning to look more like herself, and the death eaters had found them in the strange room.

In the whirlwind of activity, Briar was scooped up by Bellatrix, and she wanted to cry out of happiness that her father wasn't the one holding her. She didn't want to be that close to him when he realized his daughter betrayed him. Briar's eyes drifted over to find her father holding Neville tightly with his wand aimed at the boy's head.

Briar almost cried out. She wanted to scream at her father and tell him to get away from Neville, but her words were lodged in her throat. If she brought attention to herself, her father might figure it out, and she wouldn't be able to do a thing to help Neville.

Briar blinked back her terrified tears and felt the convulsive shakes rake through her body. She tried to block out the horrendous images from that day that kept flashing through her mind, but the chaos of his situation reminded her of the helpless feeling she had after realizing that her mother was gone, and she couldn't do a thing about it.

Just when Briar felt as though she wouldn't be able to keep her panic at bay any longer, Sirius apparated into the room and marched up to Lucius. He snarled, "Get away from my godson." Sirius threw a beautiful punch into Lucius' face, and Briar recognized his form as identical to her own. This brought a small smile onto her face.

Without warning, the other members of the Order landed about the room, and chaos erupted immediately. Lupin tore Bellatrix away from Briar, and she noticed that Tonks was helping Neville just steps away. The scene was difficult to process, but Briar grabbed her wand and then ran to hide behind some of the large boulders at the edge of the room. She crouched there and tried to catch her breath, but then she noticed that her hair had almost returned to its normal raven color, and she became immobilized with the fear of what her face looked like.

She almost certainly looked like herself again. Briar couldn't breathe, and she could feel her lungs scraping as she desperately tried to bring air into them, but she needed something to cling onto. The chaotic sounds of the fight and the knowledge that she was still in considerable danger being in the same room as her father left her feeling utterly lost as to what to do. She couldn't move or think, and she needed something. Anything to cling to.