Who: Demelza Robins and Neville Longbottom What: Seeing Neville after the attack. Where: The Hospital Wing. When: Sunday morning Complete/Closed
If I should stay I would only be in your way So I'll go, but I know I'll think of you every step of the way
Demelza had been sitting in the common room, laid out comfortably on one of the couches with her Astonomy book clutched tightly in her hands. She hadn't had the motivation to study lately, but she had been so occupied by the chapter that she hadn't noticed an unfamiliar older man approach her. After a second of his awkwardly standing in front of her, she glanced up at him, nodding when he asked if she was Demelza. She could tell by the look on his face that it was incredibly serious news. Chewing her lip, she waited for the news. When he told her that there had been an incident and the Neville was in the hospital, she didn't know what to think. Her mind first went to Bole, and the awful things she knew he was capable of. She didn't wait for him to say anything else. She jumped off of the couch, leaving her things where they were in the common room.
Once out of the common room, Demelza practically sprinted towards the hospital wing, knocking over a sixth year whom hadn't gotten out of the way in time. Her thoughts were going wild, praying that Neville was okay. Maybe he just wasn't feeling well? She tried to convince herself that was all it was, but she knew from the way the older Weasley had worded the message that it was something much worse than that, despite the fact that he wouldn't tell her what was going on. As she finally made it too the door of the wing, her stomach felt sick and she felt like she hadn't been breathing properly.
When she finally got the courage to go in, Promfrey pointed out Neville's bed. She chewed on her lip and stood outside of the curtained area for a moment. She took a few deep breathes before opening the curtain and sliding in. Demelza gasped when she saw Neville's condition and her jaw dropped, she knew that she shouldn't have reacted like that but she couldn't help it. She bit her lip and hot tears stung her eyes. Quickly she moved next to him, taking his hand in hers carefully.
"Oh, Neville, Baby, what happened?" She asked him softly, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
Neville had his eyes closed when Demelza came in, trying to think of how he could tell her... and how he could leave her. Neville felt tears spring up behind his eyes when he opened them and saw her crying. "Dem... p-please don't cry." He turned his hand over in hers to grasp it. He wanted to wipe the tears away with his other one but he found he still couldn't really move it. "I... D-Dem." He had to look away from her. "I-It was a..." He took a deep breath. "It was a...a w-werewolf. I...I'm a werewolf." Tears were rolling down his cheeks by the time he finished, mostly because he knew he was hurting her, it made his chest hurt.
A werewolf? Demelza's heart stopped in her chest, she didn't know what to say. There was a fear, a few not because she thought that Neville would hurt her, but afraid for Neville and the things that he would be put through. He didn't deserve that. Then a new fear overcame her. "On campus?" She asked gently. She knew the answer, of course there was one on the grounds, there was no other way for Neville to have been attacked.
"Don't... don't cry, Neville." Demelza told him softly, using her free hand to push away the tears that were rolling down his face, despite the fact that she was crying too. She wanted nothing more but to crawl into bed with Neville and just hold them until the both forgot all of the bad things that happened to them. "We'll get through this, I promise. This... this doesn't have to change anything. You're a werewolf. Its not your fault. We'll figure this out." She told him reassuringly. Of course, there was a voice in the back of her head that wanted to yell at him for going out at night by himself when he had no magic and there was a crazed Death Eater (and now a werewolf) on the grounds. There would be time for that later, after she made sure that Neville was as okay as possible. All she could focus on was that Neville could have died, tears rolled a little quicker at the thought.
Neville's lip trembled. It broke his heart to see her like this, knowing what he had to do. "Dem...Demelza. You, we... it has to change. Y-you have to go; find someone who can keep you safe, who can take care of you, who can give you everything you deserve." He closed his eyes, tears running down his face again, much more heavily now. "I-I can't do that a-anymore."
He didn't want to hurt her but he had to. If he didn't do this now he'd never be able to. He knew he could always hurt her, the wolf could hurt her. He'd never get a decent job, he'd never be able to provide for her, give her what she wanted or deserved. "I-I couldn't live with myself if I r-ruined your life."
Demelza just stared. At first, perhaps she thought she hadn't heard him correctly. When she realized that she had, her heart sank and her lip trembled, tears began to fall harder and a small shaky sob slipped between her lips before she could stop it. She dropped his hand, her own moving up to her eyes in an attempt to stop herself from crying.
"Nev... Neville, baby, no." She cried, her voice low and suddenly hoarse. Her throat felt like it was closing up on her, and the distance between them suddenly seemed huge. "You wont hurt me, I know you, you wouldn't hurt anyone. I dont--I don't need protection. I need you. You wont... you wont ruin my life. Please... please don't do this." She begged him, her voice shaky. She stood from the chair she had taken, part of her wanted to run and disappear, to go to Romilda's room and cry for days, but she fought her instincts.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't sit there and watch her hurt like that. "Dem...please. I-I don't want to hurt you any more. You have to go." Even he could hear that he didn't mean it. He didn't want her to go; he wanted her to climb in the bed a curl up next to him and stay with him for the rest of his life. He needed her too. He couldn't stop the tears and his chest hurt so much he could ignore the pain in his arm and stomach and the rest of his body. But he couldn't do that. He was... he was scared. Scared that he would hurt her, that he wouldn't be able to give her what she needed. "I-I'm sorry Dem."
Demelza was practically gasping for breath and her chest hurt. If she hadn't already been panicking and upset, she might have heard that he hadn't meant it, but at this point, she could only just barely hear what he was saying. He didn't want her. He didn't love her. She felt tiny and insignificant and sick. She just stared, she felt like she was drowning in her own tears. She wanted to say something witty, something brilliant that would allow her to leave feeling like the bigger person, but when she opened her mouth, only shakey breaths came out. Biting her lip, she turned on her heel.
"I loved you, Neville." She said slowly. She still did love Neville, even though her heart were in a million broken pieces at that moment, each piece of it was still madly in love with the older man. Taking another shakey breath, she began to walk away.
Neville curled in on himself as she turned. He heard her tell him she loved him...past tense. Obviously what he'd wanted had happened. He did everything he could to remember how she sounded when she said she loved him, even though he hated the way her voice shook and cracked, but he knew it'd be the last time he heard her say it.
He waited until he thought she was gone, though not lifting his head away from his chest to check. "I'll always love you Dem. Forever."