Where the Heart Is [Redux] [Hannah]

[Deleted]

Neville needed a break.

It had been a hectic few weeks, all together. Work for the Order, work for the Aurors, work for the school. All of it done while staying under Reynolds’ radar, making sure the Headmaster didn’t undermine his work simply because it was his work. Helping the children, helping the other teachers. Neville did not regret a single bit of it, but it was still exhausting work. His encounter with Aurora last night, and then Andromeda in the afternoon, had just ramped things up and added more to his worries, though he knew he had no reason to worry at the moment—Hermione was dealing with that from the Ministry side of things, and he could count the times she’d messed up since they’d met thirty years ago on one hand. Hoo, if that didn’t make him feel a bit old…anyway. Between the work and the patrols and everything else going on, Neville hadn’t been home in three weeks, something he hated. Generally, he spent at least one night each weekend above the Leaky Cauldron with his wife, but there was so much relying on him now. So Neville had resorted to deliberately leaving a gap in his schedule from Friday night until Saturday afternoon, piling extra patrol duties on the Aurors at the castle. He might put aside his own wants to help others, but his family wasn’t a want. It was a need.

He tossed the glittering powder into the fire, watching the emerald flames roar up. Percival, great wings wrapped around Neville’s neck like a leathery scarf, closed his eyes and buried them in Neville’s neck. The megabat was used to Floo travel, but it was hard for an animal to suppress its instinctive fear of fire. Since Floo flames didn’t feel like normal fire, closing his eyes let Percival make the trip without panicking. “The Leaky Cauldron, top floor!” Neville called out clearly, stepping into the roller coaster that was the Floo Network. Seconds later, he stumbled out of the fireplace into the quiet flat over the Leaky Cauldron. Percival chirped, and Neville rubbed under the flying fox’s chin for a moment. “Go on then.” No further words were needed, as a six-foot wingspan unwrapped from him to carry the bat silently toward the door leading to the fruit greenhouse, which opened automatically at his approach. Neville watched him go, before he turned to look around.

Once, this place had been noisier, with the laughter and screams of young children. His own, of course, but others as well, Potters and Scamanders and Finnigans and Macmillans and oh so very many Weasleys. It was unlikely that many of them remembered being here that much, but Neville had sat nearly every child of the former DA on his knee in one of these rooms at some point or another. He’d been named godfather to a dozen of them, mostly unknown to the children themselves, though Hermione kept a list just in case something did happen. Pictures were all over, snapshots of growing children: Alice with her first kitten, Philip getting his first racing broom after joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team, all three siblings together at the table, Hannah’s birthday. Then the picture of his kids with Harry’s and Ron’s, right after Ginny had taken them all to see the Quidditch World Cup, eight laughing, grinning children piled on top of one another.

Neville smiled and let himself flop down onto a big, squishy couch alongside one wall. He looked up at the ceiling and smiled, just relaxing for a moment.

Home.

@hannah

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Hannah had a lovely day full of conversation and hard work. The Cauldrons business had picked up exponentially when she took over years ago, and it didn't seem to be slowing down. This was perfectly all right with Hannah, because she'd rather be busy then spend her days and nights missing her kids and Neville. It had been too long since she had seen her husband last. Although, even an hour was to long for her at times.

She had decided it was about time for her to head back up the stairs to their flat, maybe take a long nap. She was always reachable to her employees, but they were very good at only calling her down when they were in dire need. She was a gracious, yet strict, manager of her business. Still, her employees were like family to her, which was something she needed with her own family gone off at Hogwarts. She walked up the stairs, letting her hair down from the bun she had worn it in for the entire day. She entered the door to the flat, closing her eyes and ruffling her hair over her shoulders. She had done this a hundred times, sort of just drifted to the couch aimlessly and sat down.

But this time, she sat on someone!

Her wand was out in a matter of seconds and she jumped up, pointing it at the person who was sitting on the couch. When she recognized the intruder as her husband, she pocketed the wand and folded her arms across her chest, "excuse me sir, but how did you get into this flat?" she asked with a playful smirk dancing across her face.

@superluigi64

[Deleted]

He’d been home only a few minutes, and was just deciding to get up and head downstairs, when the soft sound of footsteps told him he wouldn’t need to. He smiled in spite of himself and locked his eyes on the hallway , waiting for that magical moment when she walked in. He couldn’t help the anticipation. People like Burt Reynolds and Rabastan Lestrange, things like the murders and this cold war between the Aurors and the Minister made him feel like an old man. His friends, family, and students could make him feel like a young man. But there was only one person in the entire world that could make Neville feel like a teenager again, carefree and happy. Well…he assumed that’s how most teenagers felt, anyway. They had their problems, but nothing compared to what they would face as adults. He was one of the exceptions, having been embroiled in war since the age of 15, but moments with Hannah let him forget that he’d turned down a life of peace to stand on the front lines where he was needed. And there she was. Even flustered from work, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She was everything to him. She was the mother of his children, she was everything he’d ever needed to be truly happy, she was—

Completely unaware that she wasn’t alone in the room.

The former leader of the DA frowned inside of him, annoyed that one of his troops would be so careless as to be walking toward someone with their eyes closed. But that was a small part of him. Most of him was amused. Besides, nobody ever attacked the Leaky Cauldron. The magical wards and defenses were too high, and the Cauldron itself too important to the wizarding world. Aurors would be on hand to defend it long before you could make any progress cutting through the strong magic. And that’s with the assumption that there weren’t Aurors inside. Or one ticked-off Longbottom who could literally have the barstools attacking or. Or the other ticked-off Longbottom and every one of the numerous plants in the area under his command. Besides, the sight of her was just so nice that he couldn’t really get angry. He did grin a little as she turned around and dropped unceremoniously onto his chest. It was like someone flipped a switch in her head. Like a bolt of lightning, Hannah was on her feet with her wand pointing right at him. Neville merely raised an eyebrow as he looked up at her.

“Excuse me sir, but how did you get into this flat?”

Neville smiled innocently up at the blonde. “Actually, I won’t sneak in until tomorrow when you leave the door open when there’s an emergency downstairs. Then I’ll use a Time-Turner to come back to this moment and wait. So technically I haven’t snuck in yet.” He raised his arms up, encouraging Hannah to lay down with him for awhile. He had news to tell her, news that he did hope she wouldn’t be too angry about. Neither of them liked making decisions without input from the other—at least in matters of the home. And the decisions Neville had made in the last twenty-four hours were enough to leave him squirming. He was sure she would understand why, in fact Neville was fairly certain Hannah would agree to all of it. But that she hadn’t had a say in the matter…well. He might possibly be staying tonight on this couch, so he might as well make the most of it while he could. “Hello, wife. A few things came up that we should probably discuss.”

[Deleted]

At Nevilles little innocent smile, Hannah couldn't help but smile back. "What if I don't leave the door open tomorrow?" she said with a little glare, which didn't last long because he was beckoning her to him. She was soon cuddled up with him on the couch, turning to face him. "Hello, darling." Before he could go into detail about whatever it was they needed to discuss, Hannah placed her lips on his in a long and loving kiss. She always hated when they got right down to business. Granted, he wouldn't have brought whatever this was up first unless it was really, really important.

She stopped kissing him, reluctantly, and looked into his eyes. "What's the big discussion?" she asked, a business like tone slipping in. She was ready for whatever he had to say. At least, she thought she was. She wouldn't dwell on listing all of the horrible things that they could need to discuss and instead focused on the positive possibilities. Plus, if it was something terrible he wouldn't have waited for her up on the couch. No, he would have come straight to where she was working and told her that he needed to speak with her right away.

That thought made her feel a little better, this couldn't be anything that bad. Plus, what else could really go wrong? Not that she didn't feel terrible about the murders at Hogwarts, but her kids weren't muggleborns. This meant that her kids had a far less chance of getting killed, at least when regarding the past evidence. Still, she worried. She always worried. Her worry wasn't enough to stop her from doing her work though. She had many people under her roof, all different bloodlines, that she cared for. It was almost more logical for Neville to worry about her than she him and the children.

Neville was a very talented dueler and he was at the school with the kids, she couldn't have asked for a better situation. The Leaky Cauldron was also heavily guarded, including their flat, partly due to the fact that Hannah was so gifted with protective charms. Either way, they were one of the safest families in the Wizarding World. So, then what was going on?



@superluigi64

[Deleted]

Hannah’s kiss was quite enough to distract his mind from the business at hand, and she knew it. Which was probably why she stopped, because it had been so long since Neville had properly had his arms around his wife, he would have been quite glad not to, and she had to know that. The former Gryffindor reached up to tug the blanket from the back of the couch off, letting it settle around the two of them. As comfortable as this was, they might not even make it to bed tonight.

“What’s the big discussion?”

Ah, here we go then. Neville responded by burrowing a little deeper into the blanket and wrapping himself up with Hannah while he rearranged his mind into something resembling coherence again. “Last night, about midnight, I got a visit from Aurora Lestrange. That by itself is a pretty surprising event, she’s done her level best to avoid me outside of taking my class. Shame too, she does love Herbology. Anyway, she came to me asking if I could increase protection on Jamey, since she was afraid her father might attack him. Turns out, her father found out she and Jamey were spending time together. You know Rabastan, of course. Couple years under us, tried to help the Death Eaters, always shows up to the Auror functions acting superior?” Neville did not hold grudges for people based on their names, but Rabastan Jr. was proud of his family’s actions, though he was wise enough not to say so in front of anyone but Neville. He also considered himself rather clever. They all let him maintain this delusion; Harry found it exceedingly useful to know the identity of one of the spies in the Auror department. It really helped lock down the most important information.

“So Rabastan warned Aurora to stop spending time with Jamey. Aurora refused and he used the Cruciatus Curse on her. On his own daughter.” Just for hanging out with a Potter. Neville was not what you’d call amused by this. He was annoyed by the use of that particular curse at the best of times, much less when a Lestrange used it with malice aforethought. “He also used Veritaserum, so he’d know when she agreed to stop speaking with James, she meant it. But she never did back down. As I said, she only came to me to protect James; she intended to run herself, live on her own from that point. But we both know how hard it is to be young and lacking a support network. To work a job to support yourself, while continuing your education, is daunting. But Aurora would also have to deal with the prejudice of her own name and avoid her father’s agents.” He didn’t smile at the offended look on Hannah’s face; as amusing as it was to consider what she was going to do or say to Rabastan at the next Auror function, the gravity of the situation kept him from feeling any humor. “So I gave her a form to let her authorize the Ministry to break her blood ties. And I told her we would take her in.”

Therein lay the crux of the whole thing. The Leaky was their home, where their family had been raised, but at the end of the day, it was more Hannah’s than Neville’s. Her livelihood was below their home, and she lived here more than he did. While the Lestrange girls were still at Hogwarts, Neville would be present at the same time as them at the Leaky, but afterwards, they could be here when he was not. Not to mention, the lion’s share of their income would be more appropriately called the badger’s share; Neville didn’t provide nearly as much as Hannah did in terms of gold. The burden of two more children was something Neville was only too happy to shoulder, but he wouldn’t be the only one shouldering it. “Aurora has a younger sister, a sixth year named Andromeda. I made her the same offer, so she wouldn’t have to just become her sister’s replacement. She hasn’t committed to it yet, she wanted a day to decide who she would live with. But I may be showing up for Christmas with five children instead of three.”

Neville sighed and pressed his lips to Hannah’s temple, squeezing her for a moment. He was lost in thought now, still half explaining it to her, but also talking to himself. “I had to do it. On their own, they would face being judged for their last name, but they wouldn’t have the connections to get Ministry jobs despite that. If a child wants to live better than their parents, to be free of their family’s history and be judged on their own merits, and every door is closed in their faces until they have to go back to the world they wanted to flee, what does it say about our society? If I have the power to stop that, to stand beside them and tell the world that these children will not be judged for crimes they didn’t commit, and I don’t, what does it say about me? They’ve earned a chance to be what they want to be. I can’t let them take the blame for what their family did to mine, their father hadn’t even been born when it happened. I won’t.”

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Hannah kicked her shoes off as Neville pulled the blanket over them, cuddling up closer to him as she waited for Neville to explain what he wanted to talk to her about. She crossed her ankles around his as the story started, holding perfectly still once he got into the heart of it. At the mention of James she tensed up a little, worrying about the same thing Aurora Lestrange was worried about, but she she knew the explanation wasn't quite finished. Hannah could be patient, and listening was one of the things she was best at. Working at the busiest Wizarding Inn had taught her well as to when it was her turn to speak. She nodded as he described who Rabastan was.

At the mention of the man using that curse on Aurora, Hannah bit her lip in sympathy. She wasn't just started to feel sympathy though, the anger was building up in her as well. The anger for this poor girls situation. Her brows furrowed together as well, she probably looked like she was going to get up and hunt this Rabastan guy down herself, but she wouldn't. Not right at this moment anyway. The feeling of wanting to flatten that man didn't last on the surface though, because of the extreme shock she felt when Neville revealed that they were going to be taking Aurora in.

She couldn't decide how to feel more a minute there. He did this without asking her first? But he would only do that if he felt as though he didn't have enough time, or something else like that. So she stayed quiet, letting him continue. Now another girl, Andromeda was mentioned. Sisters. Two more teenage girls under her roof. Two girls who needed their help. Of course Hannah would agree to this- even if she wasn't asked ahead of time. It seemed like a small thing to get in the way of saving these girls from terrible lives.

Hannah sighed almost at the same moment Neville did, leaning into him a little more. She was lost in thought too, trying to decide what she would say when it was indeed her moment to speak. Even through the silence of that short moment she knew he wasn't quite finished. Then the explanation as to why he didn't ask her first came out. She lifted her hand to his bicep and squeezed it for a moment, looking up at his face. He was so passionate, so determined and so dedicated to helping his students any way he could. And wasn't Hannah the same way with her guests at the Cauldron? She understood the need to protect, this is what she did every day.

She still waited a moment before speaking. She just looked up at him, taking in his energy. She had just received a lot of information all at once, information that directly affected her and her family. Alice had a hard enough time getting along with her own brothers...  what would happen if two more siblings joined that? That was the only part that really concerned Hannah. Although, this could be just the thing Alice needed. Some girls around the place.

"I think you did a good thing here," she finally said, her voice was almost businesslike again, "I can't say this isn't a lot to take in... but I'll always respect your decisions, you know that." She paused for a moment longer before using her feet to stroke his ankles slowly, absentmindedly. "What are they like? The girls, I mean," Hannahs heart was still beating a little strangely from the shock, and her anger toward Rabastan had nowhere near subsided, but she felt like talking about the girls could help. It could help her make sense of everything.



@superluigi64

[Deleted]

This was why he loved his wife. She could take his inability to not help when others needed in stride—no, more than that, she supported it, supported him. Neville had no regrets about living his life in the service of others, and having a wife who was of a like mind meant more to him than he could possibly put into words. It made it possible to get up and stand on the front lines every day. And honestly? He was looking forward to that amazing day when they left it all behind. When he gave up his greenhouses and his job as a teacher and Auror, and all he would have to do would be to tend a little orchard and a garden and occasionally dispense advice to grandchildren. When she passed the Cauldron on to another and the only thing she had to make was the occasional pitcher of lemonade. When they left the Wizarding world behind and only their friends would find them, sitting together with nothing but time on their hands. When the inn and the mansion were all given away, and their home was a little cottage out in the middle of nowhere.

Neville looked up at the ceiling as he contemplated her question. “I can’t say I know them personally all that well. Both of them have made it a habit to avoid me as much as possible. What I do know is that Aurora enjoys Herbology, listed Healer as her career choice, took torture rather than stay away from Jamey, and then asked for help for him and not herself. Other than that, she seems rather reserved and controlled—you remember some of the Ravenclaw purebloods. But I’ve never seen her be unkind to anyone.” Or heard of it, all things considered. How anyone could have bought the rumors that she was the killer was beyond him. If she was clever enough to hide being a killer under her kind attitude, she was clever enough not to start while she was in school. A fully-fledged St. Mungo’s healer could so so much more damage than a student looking to get lucky and catch younger kids off-guard. “Andromeda’s out to distance herself from her family name. She gets good grades, I know Aguillard tagged her for the Slug Club. She wants to be an Auror and she’s got the grades to back it up—better than I had, anyway. She’s also pretty good friends with Philip, to my knowledge. You might send a letter to him asking about her.” Surely that was enough information for now, right? He shouldn’t overload his loving wife with too many new things to process at once, especially not the things that might make her mad at him. It was only right.

…damned Gryffindor chivalry.

“Andromeda and Aurora don’t get along. I can’t tell how deep it goes though. And given how surprised Andromeda was to hear what happened to Aurora, I feel like a lot of it is based on false assumptions on her part. But it will be an issue, either way.” And…and there was just one more issue. One tiny little set of details. And this one might just peak his wife’s annoyance with him. Hannah was a kind and loving person, but she was very much not a fan of her family being uncomfortable in their own home. “Also…okay, please understand, if these had been any other children, I would have tried to find them a different home in the order. But only our name can protect someone wearing the Lestrange name. So…remember how I said Aurora was punished for spending time with James? I don’t know their relationship. What I do know is that Alice is nursing a pretty heavy crush on Jamey. And I know what the school thinks their relationship is. So…that’s a thing.”

“……and Aurora is also a Ravenclaw.” Which, of course, gave Alice a low opinion of her to begin with.

…please not The Look. Please not The Look.

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Hannah listened intently as he described what he did know about the girls. She found it an interesting twist that he didn't even know them very well and yet he still invited them into their family. That just proved that he really didn't care about who the person was. As long as someone needed his help he would be there, just like Hannah was. She tried to picture if those girls would be likely to have anything in common with Alice, but she was distracted by the explanation that the sisters didn't get along. She frowned at that thought-that was the last thing she'd want. Sibling relationships were one of the most important things in Hannahs book and she was already dealing with her own kids not being friends. Maybe she could try and help these girls and they would be more receptive to her advice then Alice is. She'd have to remember that. Along with every other detail he was giving her. But that wouldn't be a problem, Hannah had a good memory from years of practice. She never wanted a customer to return to the Inn and not have their name remembered.

But then the real troublesome news came out. Alice has had a crush on Jamey most of her life, Hannah knew that. Alice had just sent Hannah a letter asking her to "Assure that James Potter won't be anywhere near the Hill". She had claimed in her next letter that it was simply because she didn't want to deal with Jameys 'big head' during the Holiday. That whole conversation was starting to make a lot more sense now. Since it was clear something very serious was going on between Jamey and Aurora and her being in Ravenclaw house-this was bound to cause some serious discomfort for Alice.

This was when Hannah really started to feel her blood boil.

She gently moved to sit up, leaning against the arm of the couch and bending her knees in front of her. She kept her eyes on the ceiling for a moment, letting the silence just linger for a minute. Two minutes. Maybe three.

See, Hannah hasn't really ever been an angry person, no. She wasn't one to scream or yell, that rarely happened. But when Hannahs more negative emotions ran high, she was able to remain as still as a stone. For as long as necessary to make you feel more uncomfortable than you would ever think was possible. This was one of those times. She furrowed her brow, letting the tension in the air get a little bit more dense before she finally turned down to look at him.

The Look, as Neville would refer to it as, is hard to explain. Imagine a face that looks so sweet, that it's almost enough to give you a toothache. Now throw in a raised eyebrow on one side, a slight glare and slightly pursed lips. Go ahead and mix in a few other things too, as long as they look gives you chills up and down your spine-and not the good kind. No, that's a whole different look.

"Are you trying to tell me, sweetie," she started, lifting her left hand a little reaching over to fix the collar of his shirt, "that you've invited someone into our home that our daughter highly dislikes if not hates?" The Voice was a whole other ballpark. If The Look wasn't enough to make you want to fall on your knees and beg for forgiveness, then the voice would. It dropped maybe two octaves or so from where she normally conversed and every word was pronounced with perfect diction-as if every sound was a stab.

@superluigi64

[Deleted]

Oh no, The Look was coming.

Hannah went still and contemplative for a few minutes, during which time Neville burrowed down deeper into the couch and forced himself to relax. He knew she was waiting for him to get fidgety, but this time he wasn’t going to do it. As much as he feared Hannah’s wrath, it was because the real reason was that he made her angry at him over something. And it hurt Neville, to make anyone feel bad or angry like that. But no amount of anger Hannah was feeling was going to compare to the betrayal Alice would feel when she found out. That was going to be so much worse. But it wasn’t about him, or Hannah, or Alice. It was about Aurora and Andromeda. He had to be strong. So today, he would not cow under The Look.

No matter how much he might want to.

So while his wife curled up on the end of the couch, Neville waited for the inevitably threatening question. And waited. And waited some more. And controlled his breathing—Auror training was good for a lot of marriage-related things, as it turns out. And exercising the patience he had cultivated all his life. And waited some more. And then—yep. The Look. Resolute as he was, Neville flinched when she finally gave him that smile. It was a smile Neville often compared to that of a Sphinx—Hannah was about to ask a question, and if you got it wrong, you were very much dead. And she expected you to—oh Merlin, The Voice. She was fixing the collar of his shirt like she wanted him to look his best for his casket tonight. That quiet, slightly threatening tone had preceded more than one drunk getting thrown out of the Leaky onto their rear ends. Neville sighed at her question and paused for just a moment himself, but then he sat up and turned to face her, crossing his legs under him, and met her glare. Today, Neville was going to do something he’d only done once before when Hannah was angry with him. He was going to defy it. Because this time, it was too important to just cave in.

“No,” he responded quietly. He didn’t raise his voice, because this wasn’t an argument—and even if it was, he and Hannah were quite capable of being calm and not having a yelling match. But his voice was also steady, because he wasn’t backing down on this, either. “I invited someone into our home who needs help, that our daughter happens to be jealous of. And not for anything that can be considered Aurora’s fault.” That was the key difference here. If Alice had a legitimately good reason to be angry with Aurora, that was one thing. But no matter how much she might be crushing on James, he could not let her jealousy take away a chance to help someone. “There’s no other answer, Hannah. There are a dozen families in the Order who would take them in if we asked, but how many wouldn’t be resentful of it? And what good would it do for the sisters themselves? They’d still have the stigma against their name, even if Harry could take them in—and between Jamey and Ginny, you know he can’t handle something like this right now. It has to be me. I’m the only one in the world that can shame our people into ignoring the Lestrange name and looking at the girls themselves.”

He sighed, dropping his eyes and running a hand through his hair. This was stressful, and though he could hide it from others, he couldn’t hide it from the mother of his children, the love of his life. “I know it’s going to hurt Alice. And I hate it. But I’ll deal with that. I’ll talk to her once we’re all home and settled in. Our little Sunflower’s a good girl. She may not like it, but I think she’ll understand in the end. And at least we have that big Christmas surprise waiting for her.” Luna agreeing to take Alice with her on a month-long tour over the summer was going to be a very big deal for her. And Neville and Hannah had really gone out of their way to make sure her Christmas would be extra special for it. “And if she doesn’t forgive me…I’ll just have to live with the decision I’ve made.”

Though he couldn’t quite keep his voice steady at that last part.

[Deleted]

As Neville sat up, Hannah readjusted a little so that she could face him easier. She was a little shocked when the word 'no' came out of his mouth, but she didn't say anything. Just like any other discussion she knew when it wasn't her turn to speak. They also had an understanding that they had to let each other explain themselves, no matter what the discussion was. If he was going to say no, he had a good reason for it. She felt guilty for feeling annoyed when his explanation started to unravel, but that didn't take away her worry for Alice. Alice was a first priority for Hannah- but if Alice couldn't learn to overcome a little discomfort in order to help those in need then what were Hannah and Neville raising their kids to be? No, this was a good opportunity to teach her some good things, even if it was going to be hard and uncomfortable for a while. Plus, Alice and Aurora were both seventh years so it wasn't like they had to do this for a long time.

Harry really couldn't be of much help right now. What with Ginnys condition and Jameys trauma, not too mention that he was Head Auror which took up a great deal of his time. No, Harry had a different position in the Order. He had to focus on all the little details and tell everyone what he thought would be the best course of action. How could he do that when he had so much on his plate already, plus two girls? Hermione and Ron barely had time for their own kids, let alone two more. And they rest of the Order was mostly young people who weren't even married let alone knew anything about teenagers. Heck, Victoire had gone to school with these kids! The idea of handing them off to one of them was ridiculous.

She felt her heartbeat start to slow as his point was driven home. It was true, Neville was the best person to stand up for the Lestrange girls. In fact, if anyone else took the girls in they'd probably worry what Neville would think-but since it was Neville doing the actual deed, no one could really put a negative spin on it. When the stress this was bringing upon him really started to show, Hannah moved closer to him. She took one of his hands in hers and resting her other elbow on the back of the couch, reaching up to brush her fingers through his hair. He was right, Alice would probably understand once they talked and maybe after she fumed about it for a while. Plus, Alice was going to be excited about her trip with Luna, maybe that would take her mind off things for a while. That wasn't until the summer, but at least Alice could focus on that.

"Darling," she started, her tone completely different than it was a moment ago, "she'll forgive you. I know she will," she leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his temple. Then she wrapped both of her arms around his shoulders and held him to her chest, squeezing him for a moment. "You're very brave, you know. Those girls are going to be just fine here. I'll make sure of it." And- so like Hannah- she was already planning the meal she'd make for the girls first night at the cauldron.


@superluigi64

[Deleted]

The feel of her hand in his hair helped. Neville relished in the touch. In all of the world, Hannah was almost the only person he could show his insecurities around. Luna was another, and Ginny was, at times, the third, though that avenue was gone now, in light of the attack on her. But Luna was hard to get ahold of at the best of times, and Ginny and he both had too much to do for the Order these days. Harry, Ron, and Hermione shouldered just as much as he did, if not more, and since Neville was kind of the ‘fourth wheel’ of the trio, it was hard to complain to any of them. But he had no secrets with Hannah, and that meant emotionally too. He leaned into her touch, soaking in her words. She had been angry, was probably still more than a little frustrated with her stupid selfless git of a husband, but all it took was seeing how much he was already worrying to have her back on his side. Neville needed that. He doubted he would have lasted in a marriage with a woman who couldn’t sense when he was punishing himself and choose to let that be enough.

When her arms slip around his shoulder and pulled him closer, Neville wrapped his own around her midsection, hands on her back, and just pressed himself to her, relaxing into the touch, the warmth of her skin, the faint scent of spices and soaps that always followed her around. Neville would do everything he could to protect the world, but in the end, it could all burn as long as he had this woman with him. “I love you.” The statement was simple, but Neville meant every word. He wanted to push Hannah down right now, crawl up beside her, and stay there all night. But he wasn’t going to, not yet anyway. It was simply in his nature to put the wants and needs of others above himself. He was always appy to do so for his wife, even under normal circumstances. And these were not normal. Right now, she absolutely deserved his attention and affection.

Neville could lift a hundred pounds of fertilizer on each shoulder and carry them up three flights of stairs. Hannah weighed basically nothing to him. So it was with very little effort that he pulled her to him, slipped one arm around her shoulders and the other beneath her knees, and lifted her into a bridal carry, standing up and spinning once with her. “So what should we do tonight? Dancing? Hit a restaurant? Catch one of those Muggle movies and frame the tickets just to offend your least favorite customers?” He pulled her closer to him, with that goofy grin that he’d had since before the scars and fame, the grin that was reserved for his friends and family only. A night out with Hannah wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen, not at all. “Come on, I’ve got a big hole to climb out of here, so tonight it’s whatever you want.”

[Deleted]

Hannah could Neville be angry with Neville for long. Not that she was really angry with him... more so that she was just annoyed that the situation had to be this way. Really the person who needed the attitude adjustment was Alice, but she had been this way her entire life. Hannah knew that Neville would try his best to reason with her. Hannah would be the support if Alice was feeling frustrated, and she would try her best to prove to her daughter that she understood how hard this was for her. Together, Neville and Hannah would be able to work this out with Alice, she knew that.

Hannah softened her grip on Neville a little as he wrapped his own arms around her. She laid her head on his for a moment, just enjoying the fact that they were together once more. She kissed the top of his head as he told her he loved her and smiled against his hair. "I love you," she replied, her voice sure and unwavering. If there was one thing in the world that made any sense to her, it was the love she felt for the man in her arms and the love he felt for her. In moments like this she felt like the rest of the world could just melt away and she could easily be just a lovesick girl again.

The moment of stillness was suddenly interrupted by her husband lifting her off the couch and standing with a spin. She let out a short little laugh as they spun. Once they had stopped she wrinkled her nose and gave him a little glare. It didn't last long though, for soon he was suggesting date night activities and pulling her close with that silly smile that always made her laugh. She understood where he was coming from, of course, what with all the self punishment he was giving himself earlier for the possibility of upsetting Alice. They both needed a night out together. She nuzzled her nose against his for a moment before contemplating what would be the best activity. "Hmm... well, I do love offending those nasty people..." she mused, seriously considering how hilarious that action would be.

"We could do a little stargazing?" she suggested.

@superluigi64

[Deleted]

Hannah actually gave the idea of seeing a Muggle film some thought, which didn’t really bother Neville, but did surprise him. It wasn’t that Muggle movies were bad, but the two of them had jobs and lives that kept them almost entirely in the Wizarding world, and information that Muggles took for granted were foreign concepts to them. They weren’t entirely ignorant of their nonmagical brethren, but there was simply too much culture, knowledge, and technology that they didn’t know much about. A lot of films went over their heads, thought medieval pieces and “magic” films occasionally came out that they could enjoy.

However, Hannah then asked if they could go stargazing. Neville smiled and maneuvered his hands, squeezing his wife between his arms just a bit while he extracted his wand and gave it a wave. A pile of blankets came flying into the room and stopped beside them, hovering expectantly. “Far be it for me to turn down my lady’s request. Stargazing it is.” Another wave of his wand raised a spiral staircase from the floor to the ceiling, which opened up to the roof. The roof had a few things on it: Moonblossom plants, which thrived best under direct moonlight; a telescope for the children to use for Astronomy; a firepit for warmth and occasionally for cooking. But there was plenty of space for them to spread out a blanket or three and lie down.

They might even do some stargazing, time permitting.

(Suzie, your call to end now or not ^^)

[ADMIN DEE]

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