Where The Heart Is [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

[Deleted]

To say that the Leaky Cauldron had been a busy place in the last few weeks was an understatement. Actually since the summer it had become more busy than it had I previous times. There were always new faces in the pub some were friendly and others were not. She kept her eyes and ears open for any information that was unusual or that warranted being looked into further. Sometimes it would probably help if she was a legilimens but that was not something that she had the time to learn. However Hannah had been taught occlumency by her husband, Neville. Which actually brings us to another matter completely.

Lately Neville was so busy that now he hadn’t come home in several weeks and it started to make Hannah worry that he was overworking himself and that was never a good thing. Usually he came home at least once a week but not seeing him at all for several weeks was beginning to take its toll on Hannah as well. She always looked forward to those times that he was home. When he was home everything seemed so much easier and well she missed him terribly. Sure this had happened before when Neville was an Auror, which he took up that mantel yet again when Harry had given him full status as a Senior Auror, which was not public knowledge. But of course Hannah knew this. Also his duties as a professor and the deputy headmaster at Hogwarts kept him busy as well. But throw on the assignments and duties from the Order and well you get this.

Hannah was pretty much at home most of the time by herself, since the kids were all at school along with all of their friends and also her husband was there or somewhere else due to everything that was mentioned above. She kept herself busy though with the amount of work that had to be done at the Leaky Cauldron which was a few floors below the flat that they called home. Hannah had been down on the main floor, after one of the barmaids that she had hired had broken several things and made a huge mess…It was hard to find good help these days. And so she had cleaned it up and sent the girl home for the day. It was the second time today that it had happened and Hannah was not very happy, mostly because having to deal with these tedious things stressed her out.

After having another barmaid come in to work Hannah made her way up to their home, hoping beyond hope that Neville was there. She just needed to see him, to know that he was okay and not over working himself. After getting married they had agreed to make sure the other never overworked themselves, since it would stress them and their family out. Reaching the top floor Hannah put her hand on the door which recognized her and swung open. That door was something neat that had been installed when she had taken over as the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron, as an added security measure besides all of the wards that protected their home. Walking into the flat she glanced around and longed to hear the noise that she had grown accustomed to. That noise was that of their children and also that of their friend’s children as well. But that was only something that she longed to hear again. No what caught her eye as she walked through the flat was that Percival, Neville’s megabat was in the fruit greenhouse. That could only mean one thing, he was home!

Walking into the living area she saw the man that she loved more than anything in the whole world. Don’t get the wrong idea, of course she loved her kids but that was and is a different kind of love. “Neville Augustus Longbottom! So after a few weeks you finally decide to come home and grace our home with your presence once more.” Hannah said in a stern tone as she looked at Neville relaxing on the couch. She was happy and excited that he was home, but first she wanted to know why he hadn’t at least sent her an owl or a patronus at all during the last few weeks. Her hands were on her hips now “How come you didn’t write or send me a message at all during these last few weeks?” Hannah asked and looked at her husband who was still sitting on the couch. Her attitude was not something that you wanted to trifle with and in her opinion she had every right to take a stern tone with her husband. If you looked in her eyes you would see that she didn’t mean to sound harsh at all but is how it had come out. No what one would see in Hannah’s eyes was undeniable love for the man that sat on the couch relaxing.

So much stress and worry, how else do you expect Hannah to greet her husband? And of course she is planning on giving him a hug and a kiss but he has to explain first, or at least that is how she sees it.

@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—

She was not happy with him at the moment.

Neville gulped quietly at the use of his full name and the fact that she was deliberately not getting near him. He’d never been much with his words. Decades of practice with children and students had made giving advice and orders easy, and having always been forced into the role of leader or officer had made taking command in operations and combat second nature. Neither of those had come naturally, though he rarely stumbled over his words now. But romantic words had not come with the same ease. Neville communicated his feelings better through touch, and he knew it. Ask him to describe the ways his wife mattered, he’d stammer until his voice faded. But when he held her, it was somehow obvious to anyone looking that there was nowhere else he’d rather be, nothing else he’d rather do, than just sit there with his arms around her until the world crumbled away to ash. And, unfortunately, she wasn’t going to let him sooth her anger through touch. She wanted an explanation. Which, of course, she deserved, but he’d hoped she’d be patient enough to sit down with him first.

Finally, he dropped his eyes from her, head hanging. “I’m sorry, love. I’m being watched at Hogwarts.” Their home was well warded to protect from prying ears, but it was hard to break over a decade’s worth of looking for nosey children, and Neville looked around before continuing. He kept secrets from students, from fellow teachers, from Aurors, when Harry wanted him to. But he’d told Harry straight up, the day he’d married Hannah, that nothing relating to himself would ever be a secret from her. He wouldn’t spill others’ personal secrets to his wife, but everything he did, and the reasons behind his every action and situation, he would tell without hesitation. “The Headmaster put his politics before the students. Maddening enough for me, but you know how much Harry hates a self-serving politician. And you know he must not tell lies when talking to them, so he told Burt exactly what he thought of him. Reynolds responded by trying to weaken Harry’s influence at Hogwarts, which means he went for my job. Not as Herbology professor, mind, but he wanted me removed as Deputy Headmaster. Aaaand Harry responded just the way he always does, trying to do the opposite of whatever his enemy wants. So now Reynolds is questioning my every movement, doing anything he can to keep me from communicating with Harry, and Harry’s doing everything he can to replace Reynolds and make me Headmaster, which is not what I envisioned when I started teaching.”

He sighed, leaning his head back on the couch and looking at the ceiling. “The worst of it is, I can’t exactly get mad at Harry, because he’s right. Reynolds has been doing some…questionable stuff. I can’t even get close to most of it and I’ve got next to nothing on the details. I do know he’s got enough teachers and Ministry officials under his thumb to hinder the Aurors at both sites. He does need to go. And, much as I hate to admit it, I’m probably the only one who can take over the job on no notice. If we didn’t need Hermione to stay in charge of the MLE division, I’d have tried to get her to take the position instead. Merlin knows she’s got more the right to sit in Dumbledore’s chair than I do.” He rubbed at his temples, finally looking over at his wife again and smiling weakly. This whole responsibility and chivalry thing was romanticized beyond belief. Being a true Gryffindor, one that could pull the sword? There was nothing glorious or heroic about it. The core of Gryffindor was sacrifice. He did it because it needed to be done, and he couldn’t ask another to take on a burden that might be too heavy for them if he could carry it himself. “So I’ve been stuck. Your stuff came through to me, but whenever I tried any sort of communication, someone’s always showing up wanting to know who and why and what. I’ve gotten messages to Harry through the Aurors patrolling the school, but….well, the things I have to say to you deserve better than a messenger.”

Neville reached into the neck of his robe and pulled out a chain, a glittering golden Galleon dangling from the end. “This still works though. If you start carrying yours around again, we can send messages that way. I know it’s not the best solution, but at least Reynolds can’t monitor it.” Neville managed another smile, this one more hopeful. Hannah really did deserve better than him. “Forgive me?”

[Deleted]

“I’m sorry, love. I’m being watched at Hogwarts.” Hannah knew that her husband was being sincere and that was good enough for her. However Hannah still stood her ground as she listened to Neville explain what was going on. She knew it would have only been a matter of time before her husband was being watched while at Hogwarts. Hannah looked at her husband following his every movement and taking in everything that he said. It was so much like last time, and then Reynolds having the audacity to try and take Neville’s job. Just who does that man think he is?

Satisfied with the answer that she was given her features softened from the stern one that she had been in only a few moments ago. Hannah walked over to Neville and sat down next to him and smiled at him before she reached up and caressed his cheek and gave him a kiss before she settled down and cuddled into her husband just holding onto him with her head resting on his shoulder. “You are forgiven my love.” She said in reply to the question that Neville had asked her. She was just too happy and sitting here with her husband made all of her previous stress go away. “I understand that you can’t always get messages out and actually I have my coin with me. I grabbed it this morning when I woke up. I figured that if you didn’t come home today I would just send you a message through it.” The old DA coins still worked. The last time Hannah had carried hers around with her was when Neville was gone on Auror business. But now it just seemed stupid that she didn’t carry it around, hence why she had it with her now.

“Neville. Do you have any idea why the kids have stopped writing to me? No matter how many letters I send them I never get any responses back from any of them. The boys have wrote to me during the first part of the year but they have stopped. And then Alice has not written back at all. Did I do something to upset them or are they being watched as well?” Hannah was worried about their kids who hadn’t even responded to any of the letters that she had sent them in the past few months and well Alice just hasn’t written to her at all. Of course Hannah understands that they are growing up and getting caught up in school and life but it was always a nice and reassuring thing to hear from them every now and then. But from what Neville had just told her, Hannah wondered if Reynolds was keeping an eye on her kids as well. But nonetheless she wondered if she had screwed up as a parent.

A single tear slid down her cheek as she thought about all that was happening in their world. Sometimes it was just to much. Right now she felt safe but she still worried for her family and friends. Hannah was a tough person and she would do all that she could to help end these dark times. She was glad that the Order was back and doing it’s job. However she had overheard Seamus and Harry talking the other night when she had visited Longbottom Hill, about some students starting up a secret group. One of the students who led the group was Seamus’ son Ronan and then there were other kids in there all of them she knew quite well. “Love do you know anything about a secret student group that is at Hogwarts? It is being led by Ronan and someone else who I am sure is also a Gryffindor. The reason I ask is because I overheard Harry and Seamus discussing it the other night when I stopped at The Hill to grab some things.” Hannah asked hoping her husband knew who else was in this group, she knew that Ronan Colleen, Dominique, and James were a part of it but she needed to know if her kids were in it as well. Those kids shouldn’t have to fight this war but she wasn’t going to stop them if they had to fight to protect themselves and others. It reminded her too much of the DA.

@superluigi64

[Deleted]

Neville let out a sigh of mingled relief and longing when Hannah forgave him and came closer to him. He hated not being able to touch her. He leaned in to catch her kiss, and took a moment just to savor the feeling of her pressed up to him on the couch, the taste of her lips lingering on his own. Neville loved his job, but he was absolutely looking forward to the day that the two of them shirked all responsibility and just spent every day together like this. They already had a sort-of plan lined up. Alice received a masive share of gold, enough to let her travel the world for years, studying her beloved animals. Philip got Longbottom Hill, with its vast array of greenhouses and gardens. And Henry would have the Leaky Cauldron, where he could spend all day just talking to people the way he liked. And the two of them could move in to the Abbott home and live out their retirement in peace and quiet. At least, that was what Neville hoped to do. Who knew what the future could bring? At least he had this, now, and could take one night away from the stress of the world. Well...almost, anyway. He still had a few things to discuss with Hannah. For the moment, though, he was content to wrap one arm around her and relax. Already he felt better about life in general.

Of course, Hannah had questions about the situation at Hogwarts. Neville was surprised to learn that their children had stopped writing home. Maybe not Alice so much, but Philip and especially Henry didn't like leaving their mother not knowing anything that was going on. Then again, Henry hadn't spent much time around him this year either. Hmm. “Hmm...well, Alice might be a little preoccupied this year. Seems she's developed a crush on James Potter, and...well, I'm sure you know how Jamey is. Thickheaded as his uncle sometimes. But he also found the body on the train, so she's been worried, and frustrated, and embarrassed, I'm guessing. And angry. Jamey might actually be taking a serious interest in someone...but on top of that, I've heard she's actually getting out more often. Seems our little sunflower is spending more time around other people than she used to. She even signed up for a club.” It was quite the step for Alice. Six years spent distancing herself from all but her few close friends, and now she was beginning to open up to new possibilities. It was something he wished to encourage, but he was worried that if she knew he was finding these things out, she'd retreat back into her shell. So he would keep quiet. “Philip...I'm not sure. He hasn't seen me much this year either. And that's a surprise, he always used to come to the greenhouses on the weekends just to mess with the plants, but now I barely see him or Henry outside of class. Henry has been...enthusiastic...about the whole situation at Hogwarts, from what I've seen. Although I know he's helped out a few people by just talking to them. I really think we should consider letting him go to a Muggle college for that sort of thing.” Hermione had mentioned it offhand at one point, but they hadn't really discussed it yet. They had years before Henry could do such a thing either way, but Neville's son had a way with words that he certainly had not inherited from his father. When he wasn't saying things that made people uncomfortable, anyway.

“As for the student organization, I know Ronan's involved, and I'll eat the Sorting Hat if James isn't right there with him. Probably the rest of their little gang too, McLaggen and Shacklebolt. I don't know if our children are involved...though I'd bet Philip is. Alice, I'm not sure. Normally I'd say she's there just because James is there, but like I said, she's been angry with him lately. Henry...who knows with him? I'll try to find out, but if they're half as good as we were, I'll never figure out anyone but the ringleaders. I'm doing what I can to help, but with how closely I'm being watched, I'll just draw attention to them if I do too much. I've tried to teach Ronan a little bit so he can lead better...I can only hope it will be enough.”

Neville smiled and pressed a kiss to his wife's forehead. “Cheer up, love. Christmas is coming soon. You'll have two weeks to guilt them into not ignoring you any more.” He shifted around, wrapping his other arm around his wife and gently but quickly pulled her into his lap, where he liked her to be when they were alone. He ran his hands soothingly over her back as he kissed her. Neville did not underestimate how much work Hannah did in a given day, and was only too happy to rub at tired shoulders, hands, and feet, or traced patterns into her back. “Speaking of Christmas break, I—” And then he paused for a moment. Finally, with an apologetic smile, Neville's hand darted into Hannah's robes, taking hold of her wand and pulling it free. In one smooth motion, he relieved himself of his own wand and chucked them both halfway across the room. He was grinning nervously at Hannah now. “I...umm...I had to make some split-second decisions that I should probably tell you about now. You might not be happy with me when I'm done...”

Please not the Look, please not the Look.