fic for mindabbles: Christmas with the Longbottoms (Neville, Longbottoms, Luna, PG)
Title: Christmas with the Longbottoms, Or Five Times Neville Connected with his Parents
Author: mosaic
Recipient: mindabbles
Rating: PG
Summary: Neville Longbottom has spent the last nineteen Christmases with his parents.
Characters: Neville Longbottom, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom, Luna Lovegood
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoy this, recipient!! To clear up a little potential confusion in my numbering: Neville is a few months old on his first Christmas, one year old on his second Christmas, two on his third, etc. Many, many thanks to my two betas who looked over this for me even though they were crazy busy. You are both awesome.
--
Neville Longbottom has spent the last nineteen Christmases with his parents.
Their first Christmas was nothing extraordinary, but it was wonderful all the same. Frank and Alice owned a small home in Lancashire, near Frank's parents. Alice didn't much care for the arrangement, but as they both worked full time as Aurors, they needed someone nearby who could watch their son. On the first of December that year, Frank and Alice spent the entire day decorating the house. Fairy lights were strung up outside, a large tree was put up in front of the living room window, holly and mistletoe decorated every nook and cranny. The mistletoe was Frank's favorite decoration. The house was absolutely beautiful.
Just before Neville's fourteenth Christmas, he found photographs of that first one. There he was, in pictures yellowed with age: Alice helping him open presents on Christmas morning, being cuddled in Augusta's arms, smearing mashed potatoes on his face. His favorite photograph was one of him and his parents in front of the fireplace, next to the Christmas tree. Pride shone in Frank's eyes as he looked at his son. Alice, leaning against Frank with Neville in her lap, just looked happy to finally have a real family. Neville knew that that had to have been his best Christmas; nothing else would ever come close.
~*~
Neville's second Christmas was the day of his first trip to St. Mungo's. That year, everything in his world had changed. He didn't understand what had happened to his mum and dad; he just knew they weren't with him every night and every morning anymore. He cried for hours on end, nearly driving his grandmother mad. She wanted to keep him from seeing his parents in their new state for as long as possible, but she could not justify keeping him from his parents on Christmas. Frank didn't look at the strange baby the old woman tried to hand him, and Alice was too busy playing with her hair to notice anyone else. No one cuddled Neville that year; no one helped him open presents.
~*~
By the time Neville was eleven, he was old enough to understand what had happened to his parents and why. Understanding, however, didn't make his twelfth Christmas any easier. It was difficult, but he sat boldly in front of his father while Augusta was elsewhere talking to Alice. Neville told Frank, "I'm at Hogwarts now. I'm a Gryffindor just like you are, Dad." Frank said nothing, did nothing. Neville was not surprised, but he couldn't help feeling slightly hurt.
Alice and Augusta came over before Neville could say more.
"Neville, your mother has something for you, I think," Augusta said in an overly happy voice. "Go ahead, Alice dear."
Alice pressed against Augusta in anxiety, but still held out her hand. In it was clutched a small piece of paper.
"Thank you, Mum," Neville said softly. He very slowly lifted his hand and let Alice drop the piece of paper in it. Unfolding the paper, he discovered it was the wrapper of a piece of Droobles Blowing Gum. He turned it over and over in his hand. On the blank side was scribbled something roundish with a point on one end. If Neville looked at it the right way, he could vaguely make out a poorly-drawn heart. His mother had drawn him a heart. Trying to be brave, Neville blinked back his tears.
"Time to go home, Neville," Augusta said.
~*~
"Can I please talk to them alone for a minute, Gran?" Neville asked on his sixteenth Christmas. He and Augusta were on their way to St. Mungo's.
"Whatever for?" Augusta replied.
"I just want some time alone with my parents," Neville muttered as they neared Purge and Dowse, Ltd. "I think I'm old enough."
"Nevi-"
"Please, Gran?" he pleaded. "Just five minutes, please."
Augusta's expression softened as she looked at her grandson. He was growing up right before her eyes. She nodded and said she would wait downstairs for five minutes before joining him. Neville thanked her, and they entered the building.
Once upstairs, Neville sat down in front of his parents behind the drawn, flowered curtain giving them privacy from the rest of the ward. He cleared his throat; it was always hard to start a conversation - or perhaps it was more like a monologue - with them, though it got easier as he went.
"I'm, er... I'm in a new club at school. It's called, er, Dumbledore's Army, after Albus Dumbledore. You remember him? He's the head of the Order of the Phoenix." He paused. Alice and Frank were staring off in different directions, and Neville didn't know how much they were hearing, let alone understanding.
"I have a lot of friends now," he continued. "Harry and Ron and Hermione... and this girl Luna. She's a bit odd, but I kind of like her. Not, not like her, you know, but as a friend. Actually, we started this club 'cause there's a new teacher from the Ministry at school. She's not letting anyone say that You-Know-Who is back. But we're fighting. Well, we're learning how to fight. I'm not very good. I don't think I could be an Auror like you two were." He stopped again and reached forward to take his mother's hand. She looked at him for the first time and smiled as he went on. "But I promise you both that I'm going to do something. I'm going to fight You-Know-Who and any of his followers I can. I know it won't bring you back, but maybe it'll stop someone else from getting hurt."
"Neville," a soft voice from the other side of the curtain said, "Your grandmother's here."
"Thanks, Mara," he said to the nurse. He quickly wiped his eyes so they wouldn't be watering; Augusta did not like it when he cried.
~*~
It was a few days before Neville's nineteenth Christmas. He and Luna Lovegood were sitting together on Augusta's living room couch. They had grown very close during Neville's last year at school, and though they hadn't quite decided whether or not they were "more than friends," they deeply enjoyed one another's company. They didn't see much of each other now as she was finishing her last year of school, but she was home for winter holiday and had come over to visit him for a few hours. She told him how the school was still rebuilding, and he told her about the new job he had started.
In a lull of conversation, Luna suddenly asked Neville what he was doing for Christmas and if he and his grandmother would like to come to her father's house and celebrate with them. He told her thank you, but no; he and his gran usually went to St. Mungo's. But, he admitted quietly, he was nervous about going this year.
"You should probably go, though, Neville," she said. "They'll want to see you."
"I know I should," he responded, leaning his head back on the couch. "I haven't seen them since last year though. And so much has happened I can't... I don't..."
"You haven't seen them for a year?" Luna's eyes went wide.
Neville shook his head. "I couldn't. I wanted to go over the summer, right when it was all over, but I didn't know what to tell them. It was all too fresh. I couldn't rehash it all to them. And then so much time had gone by that it just felt strange to go, so I never did."
She touched his shoulder gently and asked, "Do you want to go see them now?" He nodded, but said nothing. "Then go see them," Luna said with such simplicity and ease that Neville wondered why it had ever occurred to him not to go. Before he could say anything, though, she said, "I'll come with you if you like."
He turned to her and saw the hint of fear mixed with the determination in her eyes.
"Really?" asked Neville. "You would come with me?"
Luna paused a moment, but nodded. "Absolutely."
On Christmas Day, Luna Apparated to Augusta's home to go with Neville to St. Mungo's. She had told her father that she would be spending Christmas morning with her friend, but would return to have dinner and open presents with him. Xenophilius Lovegood thought it was wonderful that she had friends to spend the holidays with and encouraged her to go.
"You'll have to take me to St. Mungo's," were the first words Luna said to Neville that morning. "I've never been. Oh, and Happy Christmas."
Neville smiled through his nervousness. "Happy Christmas, Luna. I can take you fine."
"Is your grandmother coming?" she asked, glancing in the mirror above the fireplace and adjusting her woolen cap.
"She'll join us in about half an hour," he said as he buttoned up his jacket. "She understands that I need some time alone with them."
"Oh, you want to be alone?" Luna tilted her head to the side curiously. "Should I wait here and come with her later?"
"No, no, I meant 'alone' as in without her," clarified Neville. "I do want you to come. I'll need you."
Luna was surprised at the sudden warmth that flooded her from her head down to her feet upon hearing those words from him. But perhaps, she thought, it wasn't his words. Perhaps it was just a Nargle landing on her head. They had a tendency to cause sudden warm feelings before they became dangerous. Threw people off guard that way. She looked up quickly, but didn't see any mistletoe around her. It wasn't a Nargle after all. Smiling, she looked back at Neville.
"I'm ready when you are." She reached out and took his hand in her gloved one.
"Hold on tight," he said and spun on the spot to Disapparate them straight to the lobby of St. Mungo's. They went up to the Janus Thickey Ward, barely aware that they were still holding hands. One of the nurses, hiding her smile at seeing the Longbottom boy with a girl on his arm, got them settled with Frank and Alice and closed the curtain around them.
Luna started immediately. "It's such a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom. Your son speaks most highly of you. He's very proud of you, you know. Dunno if he's ever told you that, but I can see it in his eyes whenever he talks about you."
"You can?" Neville interjected. Luna only smiled. They all fell silent for a moment. Alice was staring at Luna intently, as if she'd never seen anyone or anything like her before. Luna was staring right back at her, looking into her eyes to see if she could read anything in them.
Not removing her gaze from Alice, Luna nudged Neville gently in the side. "Tell them what you want to say," she urged.
"Oh, right," Neville said, shifting his weight in his seat. He swallowed, and proceeded to tell them about his final year at school. He told them about Snape, the Carrows, hiding out in the Room of Requirement, Gran's victory over the Auror Dawlish, Harry, Voldemort, and the last battle when he pulled Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and killed Voldemort's snake. Throughout his speaking, Luna and Alice continued to stare at each other while Frank played with the hem of his sleeve.
"Anything else?" Luna asked after Neville went quiet.
"Yeah, one more thing," he replied quietly. "Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. The woman who did this to you, Molly Weasley killed her. I kind of wanted it to be me, though. I saw her during that last battle a few times, and I wanted to stop her so badly." He shook his head and looked at his hands. "But I couldn't. I was too busy fighting, and I didn't want to stop helping everyone else just to get her. She probably would have killed me anyway." He huffed out a breath that could have been a sarcastic laugh.
"Your mother is proud of you anyway, Neville," Luna whispered. Neville looked up again and saw that Luna had finally looked away from Alice. She was gazing at him now, tears in her eyes, though Luna was hardly ever tearful. "You two have the same eyes. It took me longer to read what was in hers, but it's the same pride that's in yours. If your dad would look at me, I'm sure I'd see the same thing."
Neville's heart swelled in his chest. "Thank you," he said simply and sincerely. He reached out to wipe Luna's cheek where a tear had slid.
Neville had been wrong. His very first Christmas with his parents was not his best Christmas. Sitting in a hospital with his dearest friend on that morning, hearing that his parents were proud of him, was all he could have wanted.
Author: mosaic
Recipient: mindabbles
Rating: PG
Summary: Neville Longbottom has spent the last nineteen Christmases with his parents.
Characters: Neville Longbottom, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom, Luna Lovegood
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoy this, recipient!! To clear up a little potential confusion in my numbering: Neville is a few months old on his first Christmas, one year old on his second Christmas, two on his third, etc. Many, many thanks to my two betas who looked over this for me even though they were crazy busy. You are both awesome.
--
Neville Longbottom has spent the last nineteen Christmases with his parents.
Their first Christmas was nothing extraordinary, but it was wonderful all the same. Frank and Alice owned a small home in Lancashire, near Frank's parents. Alice didn't much care for the arrangement, but as they both worked full time as Aurors, they needed someone nearby who could watch their son. On the first of December that year, Frank and Alice spent the entire day decorating the house. Fairy lights were strung up outside, a large tree was put up in front of the living room window, holly and mistletoe decorated every nook and cranny. The mistletoe was Frank's favorite decoration. The house was absolutely beautiful.
Just before Neville's fourteenth Christmas, he found photographs of that first one. There he was, in pictures yellowed with age: Alice helping him open presents on Christmas morning, being cuddled in Augusta's arms, smearing mashed potatoes on his face. His favorite photograph was one of him and his parents in front of the fireplace, next to the Christmas tree. Pride shone in Frank's eyes as he looked at his son. Alice, leaning against Frank with Neville in her lap, just looked happy to finally have a real family. Neville knew that that had to have been his best Christmas; nothing else would ever come close.
~*~
Neville's second Christmas was the day of his first trip to St. Mungo's. That year, everything in his world had changed. He didn't understand what had happened to his mum and dad; he just knew they weren't with him every night and every morning anymore. He cried for hours on end, nearly driving his grandmother mad. She wanted to keep him from seeing his parents in their new state for as long as possible, but she could not justify keeping him from his parents on Christmas. Frank didn't look at the strange baby the old woman tried to hand him, and Alice was too busy playing with her hair to notice anyone else. No one cuddled Neville that year; no one helped him open presents.
~*~
By the time Neville was eleven, he was old enough to understand what had happened to his parents and why. Understanding, however, didn't make his twelfth Christmas any easier. It was difficult, but he sat boldly in front of his father while Augusta was elsewhere talking to Alice. Neville told Frank, "I'm at Hogwarts now. I'm a Gryffindor just like you are, Dad." Frank said nothing, did nothing. Neville was not surprised, but he couldn't help feeling slightly hurt.
Alice and Augusta came over before Neville could say more.
"Neville, your mother has something for you, I think," Augusta said in an overly happy voice. "Go ahead, Alice dear."
Alice pressed against Augusta in anxiety, but still held out her hand. In it was clutched a small piece of paper.
"Thank you, Mum," Neville said softly. He very slowly lifted his hand and let Alice drop the piece of paper in it. Unfolding the paper, he discovered it was the wrapper of a piece of Droobles Blowing Gum. He turned it over and over in his hand. On the blank side was scribbled something roundish with a point on one end. If Neville looked at it the right way, he could vaguely make out a poorly-drawn heart. His mother had drawn him a heart. Trying to be brave, Neville blinked back his tears.
"Time to go home, Neville," Augusta said.
~*~
"Can I please talk to them alone for a minute, Gran?" Neville asked on his sixteenth Christmas. He and Augusta were on their way to St. Mungo's.
"Whatever for?" Augusta replied.
"I just want some time alone with my parents," Neville muttered as they neared Purge and Dowse, Ltd. "I think I'm old enough."
"Nevi-"
"Please, Gran?" he pleaded. "Just five minutes, please."
Augusta's expression softened as she looked at her grandson. He was growing up right before her eyes. She nodded and said she would wait downstairs for five minutes before joining him. Neville thanked her, and they entered the building.
Once upstairs, Neville sat down in front of his parents behind the drawn, flowered curtain giving them privacy from the rest of the ward. He cleared his throat; it was always hard to start a conversation - or perhaps it was more like a monologue - with them, though it got easier as he went.
"I'm, er... I'm in a new club at school. It's called, er, Dumbledore's Army, after Albus Dumbledore. You remember him? He's the head of the Order of the Phoenix." He paused. Alice and Frank were staring off in different directions, and Neville didn't know how much they were hearing, let alone understanding.
"I have a lot of friends now," he continued. "Harry and Ron and Hermione... and this girl Luna. She's a bit odd, but I kind of like her. Not, not like her, you know, but as a friend. Actually, we started this club 'cause there's a new teacher from the Ministry at school. She's not letting anyone say that You-Know-Who is back. But we're fighting. Well, we're learning how to fight. I'm not very good. I don't think I could be an Auror like you two were." He stopped again and reached forward to take his mother's hand. She looked at him for the first time and smiled as he went on. "But I promise you both that I'm going to do something. I'm going to fight You-Know-Who and any of his followers I can. I know it won't bring you back, but maybe it'll stop someone else from getting hurt."
"Neville," a soft voice from the other side of the curtain said, "Your grandmother's here."
"Thanks, Mara," he said to the nurse. He quickly wiped his eyes so they wouldn't be watering; Augusta did not like it when he cried.
~*~
It was a few days before Neville's nineteenth Christmas. He and Luna Lovegood were sitting together on Augusta's living room couch. They had grown very close during Neville's last year at school, and though they hadn't quite decided whether or not they were "more than friends," they deeply enjoyed one another's company. They didn't see much of each other now as she was finishing her last year of school, but she was home for winter holiday and had come over to visit him for a few hours. She told him how the school was still rebuilding, and he told her about the new job he had started.
In a lull of conversation, Luna suddenly asked Neville what he was doing for Christmas and if he and his grandmother would like to come to her father's house and celebrate with them. He told her thank you, but no; he and his gran usually went to St. Mungo's. But, he admitted quietly, he was nervous about going this year.
"You should probably go, though, Neville," she said. "They'll want to see you."
"I know I should," he responded, leaning his head back on the couch. "I haven't seen them since last year though. And so much has happened I can't... I don't..."
"You haven't seen them for a year?" Luna's eyes went wide.
Neville shook his head. "I couldn't. I wanted to go over the summer, right when it was all over, but I didn't know what to tell them. It was all too fresh. I couldn't rehash it all to them. And then so much time had gone by that it just felt strange to go, so I never did."
She touched his shoulder gently and asked, "Do you want to go see them now?" He nodded, but said nothing. "Then go see them," Luna said with such simplicity and ease that Neville wondered why it had ever occurred to him not to go. Before he could say anything, though, she said, "I'll come with you if you like."
He turned to her and saw the hint of fear mixed with the determination in her eyes.
"Really?" asked Neville. "You would come with me?"
Luna paused a moment, but nodded. "Absolutely."
On Christmas Day, Luna Apparated to Augusta's home to go with Neville to St. Mungo's. She had told her father that she would be spending Christmas morning with her friend, but would return to have dinner and open presents with him. Xenophilius Lovegood thought it was wonderful that she had friends to spend the holidays with and encouraged her to go.
"You'll have to take me to St. Mungo's," were the first words Luna said to Neville that morning. "I've never been. Oh, and Happy Christmas."
Neville smiled through his nervousness. "Happy Christmas, Luna. I can take you fine."
"Is your grandmother coming?" she asked, glancing in the mirror above the fireplace and adjusting her woolen cap.
"She'll join us in about half an hour," he said as he buttoned up his jacket. "She understands that I need some time alone with them."
"Oh, you want to be alone?" Luna tilted her head to the side curiously. "Should I wait here and come with her later?"
"No, no, I meant 'alone' as in without her," clarified Neville. "I do want you to come. I'll need you."
Luna was surprised at the sudden warmth that flooded her from her head down to her feet upon hearing those words from him. But perhaps, she thought, it wasn't his words. Perhaps it was just a Nargle landing on her head. They had a tendency to cause sudden warm feelings before they became dangerous. Threw people off guard that way. She looked up quickly, but didn't see any mistletoe around her. It wasn't a Nargle after all. Smiling, she looked back at Neville.
"I'm ready when you are." She reached out and took his hand in her gloved one.
"Hold on tight," he said and spun on the spot to Disapparate them straight to the lobby of St. Mungo's. They went up to the Janus Thickey Ward, barely aware that they were still holding hands. One of the nurses, hiding her smile at seeing the Longbottom boy with a girl on his arm, got them settled with Frank and Alice and closed the curtain around them.
Luna started immediately. "It's such a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom. Your son speaks most highly of you. He's very proud of you, you know. Dunno if he's ever told you that, but I can see it in his eyes whenever he talks about you."
"You can?" Neville interjected. Luna only smiled. They all fell silent for a moment. Alice was staring at Luna intently, as if she'd never seen anyone or anything like her before. Luna was staring right back at her, looking into her eyes to see if she could read anything in them.
Not removing her gaze from Alice, Luna nudged Neville gently in the side. "Tell them what you want to say," she urged.
"Oh, right," Neville said, shifting his weight in his seat. He swallowed, and proceeded to tell them about his final year at school. He told them about Snape, the Carrows, hiding out in the Room of Requirement, Gran's victory over the Auror Dawlish, Harry, Voldemort, and the last battle when he pulled Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and killed Voldemort's snake. Throughout his speaking, Luna and Alice continued to stare at each other while Frank played with the hem of his sleeve.
"Anything else?" Luna asked after Neville went quiet.
"Yeah, one more thing," he replied quietly. "Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. The woman who did this to you, Molly Weasley killed her. I kind of wanted it to be me, though. I saw her during that last battle a few times, and I wanted to stop her so badly." He shook his head and looked at his hands. "But I couldn't. I was too busy fighting, and I didn't want to stop helping everyone else just to get her. She probably would have killed me anyway." He huffed out a breath that could have been a sarcastic laugh.
"Your mother is proud of you anyway, Neville," Luna whispered. Neville looked up again and saw that Luna had finally looked away from Alice. She was gazing at him now, tears in her eyes, though Luna was hardly ever tearful. "You two have the same eyes. It took me longer to read what was in hers, but it's the same pride that's in yours. If your dad would look at me, I'm sure I'd see the same thing."
Neville's heart swelled in his chest. "Thank you," he said simply and sincerely. He reached out to wipe Luna's cheek where a tear had slid.
Neville had been wrong. His very first Christmas with his parents was not his best Christmas. Sitting in a hospital with his dearest friend on that morning, hearing that his parents were proud of him, was all he could have wanted.