InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm not being ridiculous!"

bl_neville (bl_neville) wrote in bloodlines_rp,
@ 2009-10-05 07:13:00

Entry tags:

angelina johnson, cho chang, dec 2002, greta svindle (npc), loc: private residence (blackthorn), mandy brocklehurst, neville longbottom, peter malotti (oc), type: rp

Till....
Date & Time: 5 December 2002
Post Type: RP
Status: Closed: Complete
Character(s): Neville Longbottom, Mandy Brocklehurst, Angelina Johnson, Cho Chang, Peter Malotti, Greta Svindle (NPC)
Location: Magnolia Manor
Summary: Neville spends a sickly but pleasant day home alone.
Warning: Character death

Neville hadn't slept well last night. It was more worry than illness, though, so he hadn't brought it up to Mandy that morning. He wasn't going to let this bloody disease change his mind about getting married, or Mandy moving in, or any of it...but he was completely terrified that Mandy and the baby were going to catch it now. He'd move to touch her, then hesitate, have to remind himself that she had really good charms in place already. He hadn't quite realised until today just how tiring it was.

She'd made him promise to rest today while she was at work, though, and he'd had a bit easier time resting when he was alone. He'd taken a nap after breakfast, curled up in front of a blazing fireplace. It was the one place in the flat that he wasn't so cold he could barely breath for shivering. There, or in a hot shower, but he still got too dizzy to stand up for long spurts without having trouble. The one he'd managed had been brilliant, though. He'd very nearly washed away all feeling of having been in the hospital.

After a meagre sort of lunch--he still found that he wasn't terribly hungry--Neville sat down at his desk with a few pieces of parchment and wrote some letters. His hands were a little shaky, but they were getting steadily better, too, like everything else about him. He knew it would take some time, but his friends who'd caught this illness seemed infinitely better from their first month, so he was hopeful that Christmas would still be a good time this year.

And soon after that, his wedding.

He wrote to Dean, Seamus, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and everyone else he could think of, suggesting they get together one evening to celebrate Christmas. Nothing fancy, of course, but he thought he'd like a small gathering of friends. Maybe they could even tell everyone about Prawn--he rolled his eyes at himself even thinking about the baby that way, but he no longer tried to fight it--then instead of waiting until after the wedding. He really wanted to tell everyone now.

Setting those aside for sending later, he pulled out another piece and stared at it for a long while. He didn't need to write Mandy a letter, but after all of the others, he wanted to. Their relationship had been conducted in large part by letters, for years, and while he definitely preferred having her in person, there was something nice about having words in such a concrete, permanent form. He was sure she felt the same way about it.

By the time he got to the end of the letter, it was getting late. Mandy would be home soon, likely with dinner, and he wanted to be clean and ready to spend the evening with her. He considered the parchment in front of him, then folded it up and moved carefully to his dresser, pausing once as a dizzy spell hit him. It wasn't as bad as some others he'd had, though, and for that he was thankful. When it had passed, Neville pulled out the little jewellery box where he stashed all important things and put the letter inside. When he was feeling better and able to go back to work, and they had a day apart, he'd leave it for her.

He didn't quite feel up to a shower, but he scrubbed off with a flannel and changed into clean clothes that were meant for something other than sleeping. A check of the clock confirmed that Mandy was getting off work. He felt restless, wanted to do something for her. She had to be exhausted after the stress of the last couple of weeks, even if she didn't actually want to tell him that. He wasn't able to do much, but surely there was something....

Then Neville smiled. There were those little tomatoes she liked so much, growing on the roof of the building. Hopefully the protection charms he had around them to allow them to grow out of season had held; usually he went up every day to check on his little garden, even if it didn't actually need daily maintenance. He was supposed to be relaxing, but that wasn't technically work, was it? It would only take a few minutes.

Slipping on his shoes, he headed out into the hallway, running one hand along the wall to make sure he stayed steady on his feet. It felt nice to be out on his own, without someone trailing after his every move, and he hummed some tune whose name he didn't know. It hadn't looked like it was raining out, and he smiled as he climbed the stairs, looking forward to a few minutes alone with his plants. They always had calmed him, even when times were trying.

The stairs hit a landing and then twisted upward again, and a fresh wave of dizziness hit him about halfway up the second portion. Neville gripped the railing and closed his eyes, willing it to pass. This was one of the worse ones, the ones had usually landed him back in bed, but he was determined. If he could just make it up to the roof, then he'd be able to lounge up there until he felt better.

He managed one step, then another. Then his foot slipped, and he flailed for purchase for a split second before tumbling to the landing below.

(Post a new comment)

bl_mandy
2009-10-05 12:20 pm UTC (link)

Could this day have gone any more slowly? Anything that could have gone wrong had, and by the time her shift was over, Mandy was beyond ready to go. She stuffed work robes into her locker, grabbed her handbag and her coat, and Apparated home without even putting it on. She'd been waiting for to get out of there all day. To get home. Not to the house she shared with Rachel, but to Neville's. It was home now. Or would be, soon enough. It was amazing how quickly she'd got used to the idea, she thought, heading up the stairs to get out of her work things.

Mandy showered quickly, then dressed, throwing a few more things into a bag. She'd been taking clothes and things slowly, a bagful at a time, and had most of the little stuff moved already. She was staying there more often than not anyway, and it only made sense to have everything she'd need. In the bathroom, she tucked a few things into the top, then zipped it shut and headed down the stairs.

She made her way through the kitchen, pulling a dish from the refrigerator. Rachel had made an enormous chicken pie and set half of it aside for Mandy to take to Neville's this evening. "You won't feel like cooking, but he needs to eat, and it's better than takeaway." Mandy had laughed, but agreed to come home and pick things up before going to Neville's. She set the dish into the hamper that sat ready, and she could see that Rachel had added a bottle of her favourite fizzy lime drink, as well as what looked like chocolate cake in a plastic container.

Neville probably wouldn't eat much of it, but she and Prawn could certainly put a dent in the rest.

She shut the hamper, then retrieved her bag and Apparated to the landing outside Neville's flat. She didn't want to startle him by Apparating into the flat, and if he was sleeping, she didn't fancy waking him. He was getting stronger slowly, but he still tired easily, and she knew that would likely last for a while. She didn't mind resting with him, actually…

She moved into the flat, dropping her bag by the door. It was quiet, so she called out softly, "Neville?" No answer told her he was likely sleeping, and she took her basket into the kitchen, putting the pie into the refrigerator and leaving the rest on the counter.

Her feet made no sound on the carpet as she walked into the bedroom. But the bed was empty. The bathroom door stood ajar and she pushed it the rest of the way open, turning on the light. Mandy frowned. "Neville?" It was odd that he wasn't in the flat, but maybe he'd gone across the hall?

She didn't really think so, but she walked back through the bedroom, checking the balcony on the way by, making her way through the flat, checking the table and the countertop for notes, and fighting the growing sense of unease she felt. He'd better not be overdoing things, wherever he was, she thought, walking back through the empty sitting room and into the corridor.

Mandy paused to think. Where would he have gone? Her fingers tapped at the doorframe as she thought, looking down the hall, then back in the other direction.

Of course. The stairway that led to the roof. "You'd better just be sitting in that lounge," she muttered, turning to pull the door shut, then headed up the steps.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	bl_mandy 2009-10-05 12:22 pm UTC (link)
	Mandy noticed the shape on the landing first; the dim light nearly hid the dark stain that lay under it. She went up the next two steps slowly, a knot of horror building in her chest, then froze, one hand over her mouth. Neville… The shape on the landing. Neville. Sprawled in a shadowy tangle of limbs, a pool of darkness under his head. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bl_mandy
2009-10-05 12:22 pm UTC (link)

It felt like forever before she could breathe.

Her breath felt like a sob, and she scrambled up the last steps, dropping to her knees beside him. "Neville!" She knelt over him, shaking his shoulders gently at first, then more vigorously. "Neville. Gods… Neville!"

This couldn't be happening. Couldn't be real. Her wand was in her hand in a flash and she'd cast a charm, a desperate, whispered renervate on her lips, and she shook his shoulder, crying out the incantation again.

"Renervate!"

But there was no response. No breath. Nothing… Only the chill of his skin, and the sticky wetness on her hands. She lifted them in the dim light of the stairwell, looking with horror at the deep red that covered them before falling across his body, clutching handfuls of his jumper.

The hall filled with a low, keening sound, followed by screams that seemed to be coming from very far away.