Nope (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nope) wrote,@ 2008-09-29 00:15:00 |
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20 Facts About Neville Longbottom (HP, 1314 words, 12+?)
Title: 20 Facts About Neville Longbottom
Rating: 12+
Word Count: 1314 words
A/N: Written for the Harry Potter Random Facts Fest.
Title: 20 Facts About Neville Longbottom
Rating: 12+
Word Count: 1314 words
A/N: Written for the Harry Potter Random Facts Fest.
- Really, it was just like dead-heading (ha ha) the Dragon-roses.
- Anyway, this was what Neville told people, afterwards, the sword clean on the table beside him (why no blood? why?), a pile of food in front of him (so damn hungry, like a first year again, never mind the burns, eat to feel better), a gaggle of admirers (ooh, you're so brave) around him.
- He wanted to bury the (Nagini) (victim) snake, but Harry made them burn (fire fire he was on fire) it (her) instead. In the end they (burned) cremated all the bodies, friends and foes alike. There were speeches, he gave a few of them, and then there was Kingsley asking them to come in (play Auror), help clean up the place and Harry and Ron jumped at the chance, and he said (uh, okay, yeah) yes too.
- Because you got the job done, was the point.
- When he went to the infirmary (after, everything is after now) (instead of St. Mungos) Pomfrey calmly and cheerfully tended to his burns (minor) (he'll need a haircut), calmly and cheerfully saw to his other injuries, calmly and cheerfully informed him that "this one is" (these are) "going to leave a scar", sank to her knees at the bedside (blood on the whites) and shook with silent tears, her hands pressed so tight to her mouth Neville wondered how she could breath. After (after after) a long moment, Neville climbed down and wrapped his arms around her. He did not cry. Not then.
- Pomfrey quit her job less than six months later. It took Neville just slightly less than (one two) three years to finish his. On his last day, when he handed his (gold star) badge in, Kingsley said, quietly, "Thank you", and (Squad Leader) Harry nodded (half-smiled) (squeezed his shoulder), and Ron refused to talk to him for months, but that was just Ron and Neville didn't take it too much to heart.
- Ginny Weasley was his first kiss, even if it was just a thank-you for dancing (blush) (duck head, look away). He lost (gave) his virginity to Pansy Parkinson of all people, two years after the Battle of Hogwarts (capitals necessary); ran into her in a bar in Manchester on a field mission, except Pansy wasn't a Death Eater, just a stupid, self-absorbed, bitch, and somehow they ended up drunk (together) and in some grotty upstairs flat (paisley-puke curtains) and when, somewhere in there, she asked him why (why not? he really didn't know), he said something about always liking flowers and she (sobbed) laughed. When he woke (sprawled at opposite ends of the bed, not touching at all) he realised he had already decided to quit..
- He finished his cases first, though. That was important.
- Afterwards, Neville travelled. Kingsley (Minister Shacklebot) had restored confidence in the British Ministry, and the doors (walls) had been, if not thrown wide (pulled down), at least cracked a little. If you were slow and determined (like a weed, growing through concrete) you could get pretty much anywhere, and he did, going where whim and the seasons took him (leaf on the wind). He took cuttings where he could (portable potting charms) and names and tips where he couldn't and, one time in Egypt, kneeling to examine a fine specimen of Aloe barbadensis, he smelled radishes and looked up to see Luna (oh) (not at all surprised to see him).
- Luna always tasted peppery. They travelled (together) (in parallel) for a while, because it was convenient, and they fell into bed together, perhaps for not better reason. Luna knew her (imaginary) fauna, and he knew his (real sorry for the stinksap) flora, and they both had journals to fill with such things as these.
- "I want to have your baby," Luna said (dreamily) (thoughtfully), sweat-slick and straddling his thighs, her hair hanging down around her face, a nipple hard against his palm, "but I don't want to have a relationship - not like that," and Neville (thrust thrust) considered this and nodded and (thrust) eleven months later she named their son Franklin Oliphaunt Lovegood. Most everyone called him Olly (if they were friendly) or Folly (if they weren't), which, Neville mused, (sweet) (Ravenclaw) Luna really should have foreseen. Then again, perhaps she did. It was hard to tell with (clever little) Luna.
- Sprouting seeds were tended right, or you didn't deserve to plant them.
- He kept the letter from his Gran (vulture hat, vulture hat, I fought off a boggart with a vulture hat), the one that said she was proud (proud!) of him, that he was his parents' son. He kept their old Army coin, worn smooth with (touching habit) constant handling. He had both of them on him when he was called back to England to attend to his parents' (corpses) (cremation) passing.
- Ginny Potter held his hand through the (burning) service and kissed his cheek afterwards. Hermione hugged him. Harry (awkward) touched his shoulder (hand fluttering like a snidget). Ron threw an arm across his shoulders, directed him to the bar, got him drunk, said, "so, Luna, eh?" (nudge nudge wink wink) and danced (terribly) with Gran. That too was Ron. Neville smiled until his cheeks hurt.
- When he showed up at Hogwarts (rebuilt), Minerva stood at the door for a long moment and then sniffed and said "well, you better come in then, Longbottom", had Winky take his bag, and offered him a plate of (dry) biscuits while she read over his (plants and other things) journal and he (absently) (Luna-ly) walked his coin back and forth across his knuckles. Afterwards, she found him a room in a quiet corner, overlooking the greenhouses, and he sat (very still) on the edge of the bed for a long time, just watching.
- A circle has no beginning, Luna wrote. We all come around again.
- That spring, her letter ended P.S. Marrying Rolf Scamander. Neville chuckled (over porridge) and decided he would join the students in Hogsmeade for a congratulatory (commiserating) drink, except when he stepped into the Three Broomsticks (Inn) it was to find Hannah (Dumbledore's Army!) (Princess of the Resistance) (I miss my pigtails) Abbott being trained up by Rosmerta. They stared at each other (for seconds) (hours) before Neville crossed the room in three strides, pulled her into a bear hug, and promptly (embarrassingly) (finally) burst into tears.
- They talked the sun down and the stars up and through much of a good bottle of gillywater, and did the whole thing again the next weekend, and the weekend after that, and on, and Neville was pretty sure he was the one who called it a date first, and pretty sure she kissed him, though she laughed and denied it ever after, and it was slow and careful and full of sudden yawning chasms the years had barely bridged over, but it was (okay) (good) (brilliant) worth it. And they had time. All the time in the world.
- Fifteen years after the battle, and Olly Scamander came to Hogwarts and said, "you're my dad" and Neville said "yes" and Olly said "I'm going to call you Professor Longbottom, though" and Neville smiled and said "okay" and it was. Olly took after his parents a little too much, in good ways and in bad, but they spent the occasional comfortable weekend together in the greenhouses and Hannah set him a room aside above the Leaky Cauldron (which was deemed cool) and took them all to the Muggle zoo (which was deemed weird) (but also cool) where they, somehow, all ended up with cheap plastic matching lockets. Olly kept all their pictures (Hannah and Neville, Luna and Rolf, his stepbrothers) in his, and they both kept his picture in theirs, and wore them always.
- James never did give Neville his parents love, but Neville somehow knew anyway, so all was well in the end.
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