The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 65: Everlasting Scars

February 18th, 1997.... Four Days Later

My eyes slowly fluttered open as they focused on the ceiling above me. I didn't know where I was, what had happened, or even what day it was. The ceiling was unfamiliar to me, it was a shade of gray. I furrowed my eyebrows as I slowly sat up, wincing as I did so. I looked underneath the covers and saw that I was completely shirtless, but I had bandages wrapped around my entire torso.

"What the hell..." I questioned quietly to myself, looking around the room some more.

I also noticed that my foot was wrapped in bandages and was placed on a pillow at the end of the bed I lied in. The bed was a bit uncomfortable; I didn't know how long I had been lying there. The room itself was filled with a bunch of colors, even the bed's quilt had a rainbow pattern.

It was then that I noticed music playing softly, and spotted a record player in the corner of the room. I couldn't tell what song it was, but the artist was David Bowie. I glanced underneath the quilt once more to look at my bandaged body. Slowly, the events came back to me, and I found myself in a saddened mood.

I had been attacked again, and quite honestly, I blamed Neville for it. If he hadn't given me that hope, I would have never found myself in this position. I didn't want to take off the bandages, but I knew that I had five large scars down the center of my torso.

"You're awake?" a voice questioned, causing me to flinch and then quickly wince.

I faced the voice and saw Tonks lying underneath a blanket on the floor. I grabbed onto my torso as my panic settled, she had startled me. A smile grew on Tonks face as she yawned, and stood up.

"How long have I been here for?" I asked.

"Erm... you've been passed out for the last four days..." Tonks hesitated, "We put you up here in my old bedroom so you could heal, which is why I've been sleeping on the floor... but don't worry, mum seemed to fix you up pretty well..."

I nodded as I thought to myself. I remembered that Remus was here, and he had asked Andromeda to let him know if I was okay.

"Does Remus know that I'm okay?" I questioned. Tonks tensed as I asked this, and crossed her arms in front of her.

"I dunno..." Tonks sighed, "I'll go call him if you'd like..."

"Yes please..." I said, smiling slightly, "Also... could I erm... get a shirt?"

Tonk's eyes widened as she quickly walked over to the dresser on the other side of the room, "Oh yes... I'm so sorry! Your blouse got ruined by the blood, and well... mum wrapped you up all the way anyways..."

"It's okay," I assured, chuckling slightly, "You can't see anything anyways."

Andromeda had bandaged me from my hips all the way up to my collarbone. I knew that Greyback had cut deep, but I didn't know that it was that deep. Tonks handed me a baggy t-shirt before I threw it over my head.

"Alright, I'm gonna go call him," Tonks hesitated, backing away from the bed, "I'll be right back."

Tonks sighed deeply as she turned around and walked out of the room. I crossed my hands in my lap as I lowered my head and thought to myself again. Honestly, I was pissed off by the entire situation. I was a complete idiot, and thanks to Neville, I learned to never be optimistic again. Fuck looking for the positives in life, honestly, because my life was absolute shit.

In the past year, I had been kidnapped, tortured, dumped, slut-shamed, had my identity changed, disowned, and almost got eaten alive by a pack of hungry werewolves. There was no use looking for the positives in any of that. Sure, I had a couple of friends... but that was it.