Harry's friends slipped him out of the Hospital Wing and all the way to Gryffindor Tower without anyone the wiser. But it soon became apparent that the reason they'd not encountered any students in the halls was because it seemed most of them were standing in the Gryffindor Common Room waiting for news. Their arrival in the Common Room resulted in a rare occurrence during daylight hours - total silence.
That lasted for thirty seconds before they all started shouting questions about what had happened and where he'd been kidnapped off to. Harry's temper, which was never very cool even at the best of times, was rather frayed with the previous events that night and he was losing his grip on the Beast. However, relief came from an unusual quarter.
For the second time that night, the sound of canon fire filled the air and brought the whole tower to a shocked silence. As one the Lions in the room turned towards the source of the sound and was surprised to see Neville Longbottom standing on the stairs to the boys dormitory. Neville had his wand out and a thin wisp of smoke coming from the tip.
"Enough!" Neville called out. "Give the bloke some space!" Between the noise of the spell and the fact that quiet, shy Neville Longbottom was actually yelling at them, the shocked Gryffindors and visiting students from the other Houses and schools stepped back from Harry and his friends to allow them to pass.
As he passed Neville on the stairs, Harry murmured, "Thanks, mate." Neville flushed with colour with the praise.
"You'd have done more for me," Neville demurred. Harry replied by simply grasping Neville's shoulder in friendship as he passed by. Neville smiled as the rest of Harry's friends passed with their own thanks. But it was the shy smile on the face of his Yule Ball date that made Neville feel the most pleased with himself. The cute red-haired girl had only gone to the Ball out of pity and because their families were close, but now maybe she would see him as him, not an afterthought. It was a nice bonus to helping Harry, a boy that was always nice to Neville even when everyone (including Neville himself) thought he was nothing but a squib.
....
Once in the Gryffindor Fourth year boys' dorm, Ernie and Ron helped Harry onto his bed where he settled with relief. Padma quickly settled onto the left hand side of the bed and grasped Harry's hand. Hermione mirrored her on the other side. Daphne, Ron, and Ernie settled on Ron's bed which was next to Harry's.
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked tentatively. Harry simply nodded. It was a relief to simply lay there. The end of the emotional rollercoaster coupled with his injuries seemed to suddenly such the energy right out of him.
"You scared us," Padma said in a quiet tone. Seeing Harry pop away with Filch and then not knowing what happened to him for hours afterwards was horrible.
"Wasn't me," Harry defended himself in a drowsy voice. "T'was Tommy-boy." He barely got that out before he was sound asleep. While he slept his friends carried on a quiet conversation that was simultaneously relieved with Harry's safe return and concerned with what their friend had experienced in that graveyard.
...
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