The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 12: Dragons and Dittany

September 28th, 1995

At exactly 7:00am, Hermione's alarm awoke the entire fifth-year girl's dorm.

"C'mon, Hermione! Just a couple more minutes!" Parvati whined from the other side of the room.

"Yeah! What Parvati said, Hermione!" Lavender whined, joining in.

"Erm... no!" Hermione scoffed as she hopped out of bed to turn her alarm off, "If I allow a couple more minutes, then it's going to turn into hours, and I'll miss my classes!"

"Okay, but I can miss Transfigurations." I slurred, half asleep.

"No, you can't!" Hermione said coldly as she threw my sheets off of me, "GET UP!"

I screamed and jumped as the cold air hit my body. Quickly hopping out of bed, I snatched my bed sheets back from Hermione.

"HEY!" I shouted, "WHY ONLY ME? WHY NOT THEM TOO?"

Lavender and Parvati quickly glanced at each other before leaping out of bed and heading for the bathroom, locking the door behind themselves.

"Now look!" I whined, "They've got first picks for the bathroom, so I'm going back to sleep."

I collapsed on my bed, pulling my bed sheets up to my neck as I fell back into my slumber. Hermione groaned annoyedly before snatching them and disturbing my sleep once more.

"'MIONE!" I screamed, "LET ME SLEEP IN PEACE!"

"Come on, Dawn!" Hermione beamed, holding my bed sheets in her arms, "We're turning items into dragons today in Transfigurations! Isn't that exciting?"

"No," I said coldly, glaring at her, "Now can I please have my bed sheets back?"

Hermione shook her head, "You can have them back once you've finished getting dressed. And regardless of what you say now, I think you'll enjoy today's Transfigurations lesson, Dawn!"

"Yeah sure... I'll enjoy it if McGonagall lets me turn you into a dragon," I spat rudely as I stumbled out of bed and over to my wardrobe, "Maybe the dragon version of you will let me sleep past seven o'clock in the morning!"

While muttering under my breath about Hermione and how early it was, I got ready for the day. Once Lavender and Parvati left the dorm, I took all of my things to the bathroom. All students were required to wear their robes, but considering how nice the weather was today, I wore a Gryffindor sweater and matching black skirt. I brushed out my hair, and pinned the front strands back.

"Dawn, I don't see the need for you to wear all of that makeup," Hermione shrugged as she grabbed her books and placed them in her rucksack, "You're still pretty without it!"

I frowned as I pointed to the bags underneath my eyes, "I wear makeup because of these... If you'd let me rest for another hour, instead of trying to be the first at breakfast everyday, I wouldn't have to wear so much makeup!"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she headed over to the door, "Whatever, Dawn. Meet me downstairs when you're done. Don't take too long please! You know Ronald and Seamus will eat all of the rolls if we're not there first!"

"Yes! I'm aware!" I chuckled before starting my makeup.

Ten minutes later and I finished. My makeup routine was simple: concealer, blush, mascara, eyeshadow, and some lip gloss always sufficed. After cleaning everything up, I applied some of Neville's dittany to my scar, hissing as I did so.

It's been twenty-one days since my last detention session with Umbridge, and my scar stung worse than ever; only the bleeding has stopped. The Dittany momentarily paused the stinging, but it always came back. I didn't know what Umbridge's quill had done, but whatever it did, it was everlasting.