 A Softly Falling Rain Ottery's Editor-In-Chief Resident Heartbreaker
She raised up and regarded him with tenderness, smiling. “My mother was very good at healing. I think she had to be out of necessity. Hopefully, I have some of her talent.” she said and began daubing the ointment on him once again.
Neville lay quite still under her careful ministrations. He could feel his heartbeat in every battered part of his body, and he wondered that his face didn’t resemble anything so much as ground beef. For all he knew, it did.
Luna began dabbing his lips with a bitter liquid which stung. Neville sucked in his breath sharply and tried to turn away, but Luna pulled him back gently but firmly.
“It will sting for only a moment, but the swelling is already going down.” Neville looked up at her and nodded, then squeezed his eyes shut as she once again applied the bitter liquid to his lips. After a few minutes, the burning pain subsided, and he could focus outside of himself once more.
He gave his thoughts over to watching Luna. He loved the way the glow from the candlelight caught in her hair, the soft smile on her lips whenever she looked into his eyes, the delicate touch of her hands. He sighed, longing to reach out and touch her cheek.
“Where else does it hurt?” she asked, setting aside the bowl of liquid.
“My ribs, mostly.” Neville said, grimacing.
“Well, then we’ll need to take off your robes so I can tend to them.” Luna said matter-of-factly and busied herself with the multiplying bottles and pots of ointments and potions on the small bedside table while Neville gawked at her in disbelief.
“W-what?” Surely she didn’t mean for him to…but she did. He realized that there was no other way for her to tend to his ribs and wished fervently at that moment that Seamus were there, instead.
Grateful that Luna seemed unable to look at him, he sat up gingerly and tried to pull his tattered robes over his head. Groaning, he lay back on the cot. He simply did not have the strength. When he had rested a moment, he sat up and tried to pull the infernal robe over his head, again.
Panting and out of breath, he was ready to give up when he felt a tug from somewhere outside the folds of the garment, and in a moment he was free of it. “Thanks” he said, looking up at Luna.
Luna, however, was looking at his chest. Tears, like a softly falling rain, ran down her cheeks. Neville followed her gaze and gasped. There was no part of him that had been left unmarked. Every inch of himself that he could see was a livid red, black, blue or purple. Suddenly very tired, Neville lay back and closed his eyes. This was going to be a very long night.
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Your flavour is strawberry. You're a sweet person and a Gryffindor at heart. You
see risks and know they are just another part of life. You are loyal
and hold your loved ones close, their happiness is your prize. ♥ |