Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter One Hundred Nine

Kefira wasn't sure what Neville had said exactly to her father, but it definitely seemed to work when it came to settling Cardel's nerves somewhat. Still, there was plenty of tension within the household mainly because everyone was frightened of what was to come. Even Bandile and Sedi couldn't offer insight when it came to what they should all expect. It was just something they were going to have to wait and see what would arise. Meanwhile, Neville remained in the Walsh home, as much as his grandmother wanted him home, she seemed to side with the idea that Neville would probably be safer in the company of muggles for the time being.

And while Neville kept a calm face around everyone for the sake of everyone keeping their sanity, inside, he was completely a nervous wreck. His body shook with jitters whenever he was alone with his own thoughts, knowing that out there, outside of the Walsh home there was such a storm coming that it made his body ache. It was the fear that correlated back to when he had first learned that the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters had escaped because there was still the fear that Bellatrix would go after Frank and Alice, looking to finish the job she had attempted to start and finish so many years ago.

It left him mostly feeling sick to his stomach, to the point where he was hardly eating during the meals that Alana provided. At night in the room the family had provided him to stay in, he found himself tossing and turning in such terrible ways that he was always exhausted the next morning. But that night, his mind grew exhausted from the internal battle of fighting off nightmares and it could no longer save him from the horrors that had manifested themselves deep within the darkest crevices.

The tossing and turning began right away as soon as he had placed his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. He didn't expect to fall asleep so soon, but it seemed the dark thoughts were on a mission to make his night a living hell that evening. As soon as he fell asleep, he entered a dream state or rather a lucid nightmare as he found himself walking the corridors of St Mungo's.

The corridors were dark and not a soul was in sight, it also didn't help that it was eerily silent as Neville walked along and no matter how long he felt like he had been walking, it seemed the corridor never seemed to end. Just as he was about to call out, Neville looked ahead only be blinded by a red light that seemed to flood around him. He covered his eyes for just a brief second until he heard the sounds of screaming.

It was high-pitched, causing Neville to cover his ears until he looked up again, only to see his mother on the ground ahead of him. She was squirming on the ground, screaming as her body contorted in a painful manner. Neville immediately attempted to run over to her, but it seemed like he was just running in place because he didn't get any closer to her.

"Mum!" he called out to her frantically. "Mum!"

He went for his wand but he didn't have anything on him and no matter how hard he tried to push through whatever barrier was stopping him, he couldn't break through. Seconds later, there was the sound of another crash and Frank came flying out, crashing into the wall and hitting the floor. He didn't move, just remained lifeless on the floor next to his wife that still screaming.

Neville called out to each of them, he called out to whoever was hurting them to please stop, that he would do anything.

Suddenly, Alice was released from her torture and fell completely still beside the heavy breathing that Neville could hear. However, there was also the sounds of footsteps clicking against the floor, leaving the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. He figured it would be foolish to call out to whoever was approaching because he would be facing them soon enough and they were obviously not friendly. 

Of course, he turned out to be more than correct as his eyes widened in horror as they came to settle on Bellatrix as she walked out of the room in the corridor. She smiled in his direction, a smile belonging to a woman gone mad before she made her way over to Frank's body and gave the man a strong kick to the side. He didn't even move and as she laugh, she then made her way over to Alice, hovering over her.