fic for magentabear: Restoration (Neville, Luna, G)
Title: Restoration
Author: fannyt
Recipient: magentabear
Rating: G
Characters: Neville, Luna
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: To my recipient, I hope you enjoy it!
--
It had been another hard day. A lot of them were.
Neville wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around himself, sighing quietly when he could see no discernible change from when he had started work that morning. He and Luna were clearing out what had once been Gladrags Wizardwear, moving and sorting rubble. For the first couple of days they had used magic to lift and move heavier timber and parts of wall, but once the largest rubble had been cleared away they had opted to work manually instead. The ruins of the store was like a house of cards, easy to bring down with just one false move, and neither felt certain enough of their prowess with levitation spells to trust the slightly blunter tool that was magic, when they had their very functional hands.
Hogsmeade had been more affected by the Battle of Hogwarts than any of them had realised at the time. The Death Eaters that managed to escape the battle had torn the village apart as they fled. With most of the villagers joining the battle, the place was deserted and no match for the curses and hexes thrown by the fleeing Death Eaters, desperate to avenge in some small, petty way the fall of their friends and comrades. When the shopkeepers of Hogsmeade returned to their homes and stores they found their village burning.
The restoration had been slow and difficult. There had been a long period of mourning after the last battle was done, and a sense of apathy had installed itself for many of Hogsmeade's inhabitants. Most of them had been moved to alternative lodgings and had no immediate need for housing, and trade was wrecked in any case. These and many others were factors that contributed to why the real work did not begin until late September, and when it finally got started it had to be abandoned almost as quickly, with an early winter bringing all outdoor work to an end.
The work had started up again when spring arrived, and had then received many willing hands in the form of Hogwarts students pledging their weekends and evenings to restore their favourite village. The work had first and foremost consisted of clearing out the wreckage, but in some cases the rebuilding had already begun. The broom shop had been relatively spared and was already looking a lot like its old self, and Honeydukes was also well on its way to opening up their popular business again. Another couple of shops had also escaped the initial attack almost unscathed, and had opened again as soon as decency allowed. Foremost among these, to all the volunteers' great delight, was The Three Broomsticks, which treated every volunteer to one age-appropriate drink of their choice at the end of each day.
"I don't think we can do much more here," said Luna, straightening up from where she had been sorting glass, trying to see if she'd be able to repair a window pane. She winced and put her hands on her hips, cracking her back by moving her shoulders back and forth a couple of times. "The sun's setting soon, and once the Skremplings start arriving it will be impossible to work. They sing, you know. Not very well."
"I remember," said Neville, smiling to himself. "You told me about them before, I think. They're the ones with green fur, right?"
"And the large noses, yes. Also, I have to finish my Astronomy essay, so I really think it would be good to start heading back."
"Yes, I think you're right," Neville agreed. "Did you manage to piece together the window?"
"No, I'm afraid not. It was a long shot, of course-it was a lot to hope for, that there would still be enough pieces to be able to repair it. But it was worth a try, I suppose." She flicked her wand at the slivers of glass she had been gathering, Vanishing them quickly. "And it makes for an easier Vanishing. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm done." Neville pulled his wand from his pocket and cast a quick Scourgify over his clothes. It wasn't very effective-he had always been rubbish at cleaning charms-but at least the worst of the dust shook itself off. "I'm not going straight to Hogwarts, though," he forewarned. "Meeting some people at the Broomsticks first."
"Some Hufflepuff people," said Luna, smiling quietly.
There was absolutely no inflection in her voice as she said the words (there seldom was, whenever Luna spoke), but he blushed vividly anyway.
"Among others," he muttered.
"I do think Hannah Abbot is very nice," Luna continued-and it really was as if she was continuing a conversation, instead of mentioning something rather out of the blue. Well. Kind of out of the blue, anyway.
"I never said anything about Hannah Abbot," Neville attempted, still blushing, even though he knew it was a futile attempt. Sure enough, Luna only smiled again.
"But you're meeting her now. You only say 'some people' when Hannah is one of them," she said, matter-of-factly. "Otherwise you tell me their names. I know all of them, after all... Oh, and I think she likes you, too. She smiles a lot whenever people talk about you, and sometimes she blushes. Not as much as you, though," she added thoughtfully, "but then I don't think I know anyone who blushes quite as much as you, except for Ronald."
This was rather more than Neville could handle in one go, and he cleared his throat loudly. "So, let's start heading back, then," he said quickly, starting to pick his way through the debris. "Your Astronomy essay is waiting, after all."
"I'm sorry you're not taking the Astronomy NEWT," Luna said as she, too, started walking carefully towards the front of the shop and the High Street of Hogsmeade. They had been in what had once been the back yard today, and even though they had cleared the way between the front and back of Gladrags somewhat, the way was still not straightforward to navigate. "I'm a bit lonely in that class. The only one I really know is William, and we haven't ever talked much."
"I thought Dean was taking Astronomy," said Neville, and regretted it immediately.
Things with Dean and Luna had seemed-well, strange, ever since the start of school. Neville had at first thought it was only the awkwardness of them sharing classes, when they had previously been in different years. It was a strange feeling they'd all had to get used to, after all. Dean and a few other Muggleborns had been on the run or lain in hiding for the entirety of the year, and would have to take their entire seventh year from start to finish, while Neville and several of the other DA:ers had opted to retake the year properly, since the spring especially had been chaotic for their education. Many professors had started diverging from their curriculum, concentrating more and more on the part of their particular field that was useful for defending oneself-or, in the case of Professor McGonagall, attack others. Many students had felt the need to complete their education (while some, like Seamus, had decided to live with a few failed NEWT:s and left school for work or restoration projects like Hogsmeade). At the same time, several former sixth year students (mostly Ravenclaw, and Luna among these) had made up for the inadequate teaching by home studying over the summer break, and had joined their former elders when autumn arrived. It had made for some strange negotiations of hierarchy for the first couple of weeks, but eventually some sort of equilibrium had reasserted itself. (Neville, despite an upswing in popularity that was to him in equal parts gratifying and somewhat disturbing, had kept on the sidelines, combining a quiet focus on his studies with a growing commitment to Herbology that had eventually segued into an unofficial apprenticeship.)
Dean and Luna, however, had remained in awkward status quo, and Neville wondered why.
Luna hadn't replied to his statement yet, and as Neville looked up, he realised why. Dean and Ron were walking towards them down the High Street, on their way from their own work on Dervish &Banges. Ron waved at them both as they drew up alongside Gladrags, and Dean gave Neville a cheerful salute and Luna a small smile and a wave, then looked quickly away from her. They continued down the street, Ron talking loudly about falling timber.
"Dean and I don't talk so much, these days," said Luna calmly, stepping daintily over a broken plank and onto the safe ground of the street. "Not in Astronomy, either. It's a shame. He is nice."
"But why is that?" asked Neville, joining her as she, too began to walk down the street. "Only last spring you seemed to be really close."
He was remembering Dean taking Luna's hand in the Room of Requirement, shared references to Shell Cottage and a seating arrangement at meal times that almost always had them next to or opposite each other. He had thought-but then, it was hard to tell with Luna, and Dean had never been the one to share his love life. Neville hadn't even known Dean liked Ginny until he found them snogging in the dorm once. (And hadn't that been an awkward affair. He wasn't sure who had been the most embarrassed, but suspected it was him, with Dean a close second and Ginny Cool-As-a-Cucumber Weasley last.)
Still, it had seemed as if Dean and Luna shared something. Whether that was something more romantic in nature, or merely their interest in art, it had come to an end with the start of their seventh year.
"Mm, you know..." Luna smiled. It was hard to tell if it was sincere or not-that was almost always the trouble with Luna. "We spent a lot of time together in Shell Cottage-where Harry and Ron and Hermione stayed, you know, during-"
"I know, of course."
"Well, they were very busy, the three of them, so Dean and I talked a lot, back then. I suppose we became..." She stopped, and seemed to be searching for a word.
"Friends?" Neville suggested, feeling something twist in his stomach as Luna shook her head as if amused by the idea.
"That's a bit strong," she said. "But companions, maybe. We would talk about a lot of things, and I used to really like looking at him when he painted, too. I would have liked to keep talking to him, once we got back to Hogwarts, but... well, you know. It wasn't exactly real."
"Real?" Neville asked.
"The time in Shell Cottage. It wasn't exactly real time. More like," she stopped again, but this time found the word before he had time to prompt her, "a parenthesis. It was nice, though. I would have liked if it had continued into the real time. Real life. Especially since Ginny decided to retake sixth year, and you aren't in many of my NEWT classes-it would have been nice, to still have Dean to talk to."
Neville walked along in thought for a while, silent. He had promised Hannah he'd have a couple of butterbeers with her tonight-well, he'd promised Susan, but Hannah had been standing nearby and smiling very broadly-and it would be a shame to break that promise. But on the other hand...
"You know what," he said, feigning a tired sigh, "I'm absolutely beat. Would you mind if I kept you company while you do your Astronomy essay instead of going to the Broomsticks?"
Luna looked at him. "Hannah will be disappointed," she said.
She's Hufflepuff, she understands loyalty, Neville thought, and out loud he said, "I'm sure my absence won't be that dramatic for any of them. What do you say? I could even raid the kitchens first. The house elves like me-I could probably get us cookies."
There was something brittle about Luna when she said, "Yes, I think that would be nice."
"I'll get some Butterbeer while I'm at it. Make a real night of it."
"As long as I can still finish my essay."
"Of course."
Neville didn't take Luna's arm. She had taken ill to people touching her for a long time after her captivity in the Malfoy Manor, and although quite some time had passed he didn't want to presume she was yet over what had happened to her there. But he smiled at her, and when he a little while later made his quick stop at the Broomsticks to explain himself to Susan and Hannah, he did so without hardly any regret.
One thing war had taught him was priorities, and there were some things that were simply a lot more important than others.
A wail broke the relative silence suddenly, ululating through the air and finishing on a "...ring-ding-diddle-i-de-o, I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath their kilt". It sounded suspiciously like Ernie MacMillan, and Neville recalled from his stop at Broomsticks that he'd looked like he was hitting the Firewhiskey rather hard.
"Skremplings," said Luna calmly. "I told you."
Author: fannyt
Recipient: magentabear
Rating: G
Characters: Neville, Luna
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: To my recipient, I hope you enjoy it!
--
It had been another hard day. A lot of them were.
Neville wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around himself, sighing quietly when he could see no discernible change from when he had started work that morning. He and Luna were clearing out what had once been Gladrags Wizardwear, moving and sorting rubble. For the first couple of days they had used magic to lift and move heavier timber and parts of wall, but once the largest rubble had been cleared away they had opted to work manually instead. The ruins of the store was like a house of cards, easy to bring down with just one false move, and neither felt certain enough of their prowess with levitation spells to trust the slightly blunter tool that was magic, when they had their very functional hands.
Hogsmeade had been more affected by the Battle of Hogwarts than any of them had realised at the time. The Death Eaters that managed to escape the battle had torn the village apart as they fled. With most of the villagers joining the battle, the place was deserted and no match for the curses and hexes thrown by the fleeing Death Eaters, desperate to avenge in some small, petty way the fall of their friends and comrades. When the shopkeepers of Hogsmeade returned to their homes and stores they found their village burning.
The restoration had been slow and difficult. There had been a long period of mourning after the last battle was done, and a sense of apathy had installed itself for many of Hogsmeade's inhabitants. Most of them had been moved to alternative lodgings and had no immediate need for housing, and trade was wrecked in any case. These and many others were factors that contributed to why the real work did not begin until late September, and when it finally got started it had to be abandoned almost as quickly, with an early winter bringing all outdoor work to an end.
The work had started up again when spring arrived, and had then received many willing hands in the form of Hogwarts students pledging their weekends and evenings to restore their favourite village. The work had first and foremost consisted of clearing out the wreckage, but in some cases the rebuilding had already begun. The broom shop had been relatively spared and was already looking a lot like its old self, and Honeydukes was also well on its way to opening up their popular business again. Another couple of shops had also escaped the initial attack almost unscathed, and had opened again as soon as decency allowed. Foremost among these, to all the volunteers' great delight, was The Three Broomsticks, which treated every volunteer to one age-appropriate drink of their choice at the end of each day.
"I don't think we can do much more here," said Luna, straightening up from where she had been sorting glass, trying to see if she'd be able to repair a window pane. She winced and put her hands on her hips, cracking her back by moving her shoulders back and forth a couple of times. "The sun's setting soon, and once the Skremplings start arriving it will be impossible to work. They sing, you know. Not very well."
"I remember," said Neville, smiling to himself. "You told me about them before, I think. They're the ones with green fur, right?"
"And the large noses, yes. Also, I have to finish my Astronomy essay, so I really think it would be good to start heading back."
"Yes, I think you're right," Neville agreed. "Did you manage to piece together the window?"
"No, I'm afraid not. It was a long shot, of course-it was a lot to hope for, that there would still be enough pieces to be able to repair it. But it was worth a try, I suppose." She flicked her wand at the slivers of glass she had been gathering, Vanishing them quickly. "And it makes for an easier Vanishing. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm done." Neville pulled his wand from his pocket and cast a quick Scourgify over his clothes. It wasn't very effective-he had always been rubbish at cleaning charms-but at least the worst of the dust shook itself off. "I'm not going straight to Hogwarts, though," he forewarned. "Meeting some people at the Broomsticks first."
"Some Hufflepuff people," said Luna, smiling quietly.
There was absolutely no inflection in her voice as she said the words (there seldom was, whenever Luna spoke), but he blushed vividly anyway.
"Among others," he muttered.
"I do think Hannah Abbot is very nice," Luna continued-and it really was as if she was continuing a conversation, instead of mentioning something rather out of the blue. Well. Kind of out of the blue, anyway.
"I never said anything about Hannah Abbot," Neville attempted, still blushing, even though he knew it was a futile attempt. Sure enough, Luna only smiled again.
"But you're meeting her now. You only say 'some people' when Hannah is one of them," she said, matter-of-factly. "Otherwise you tell me their names. I know all of them, after all... Oh, and I think she likes you, too. She smiles a lot whenever people talk about you, and sometimes she blushes. Not as much as you, though," she added thoughtfully, "but then I don't think I know anyone who blushes quite as much as you, except for Ronald."
This was rather more than Neville could handle in one go, and he cleared his throat loudly. "So, let's start heading back, then," he said quickly, starting to pick his way through the debris. "Your Astronomy essay is waiting, after all."
"I'm sorry you're not taking the Astronomy NEWT," Luna said as she, too, started walking carefully towards the front of the shop and the High Street of Hogsmeade. They had been in what had once been the back yard today, and even though they had cleared the way between the front and back of Gladrags somewhat, the way was still not straightforward to navigate. "I'm a bit lonely in that class. The only one I really know is William, and we haven't ever talked much."
"I thought Dean was taking Astronomy," said Neville, and regretted it immediately.
Things with Dean and Luna had seemed-well, strange, ever since the start of school. Neville had at first thought it was only the awkwardness of them sharing classes, when they had previously been in different years. It was a strange feeling they'd all had to get used to, after all. Dean and a few other Muggleborns had been on the run or lain in hiding for the entirety of the year, and would have to take their entire seventh year from start to finish, while Neville and several of the other DA:ers had opted to retake the year properly, since the spring especially had been chaotic for their education. Many professors had started diverging from their curriculum, concentrating more and more on the part of their particular field that was useful for defending oneself-or, in the case of Professor McGonagall, attack others. Many students had felt the need to complete their education (while some, like Seamus, had decided to live with a few failed NEWT:s and left school for work or restoration projects like Hogsmeade). At the same time, several former sixth year students (mostly Ravenclaw, and Luna among these) had made up for the inadequate teaching by home studying over the summer break, and had joined their former elders when autumn arrived. It had made for some strange negotiations of hierarchy for the first couple of weeks, but eventually some sort of equilibrium had reasserted itself. (Neville, despite an upswing in popularity that was to him in equal parts gratifying and somewhat disturbing, had kept on the sidelines, combining a quiet focus on his studies with a growing commitment to Herbology that had eventually segued into an unofficial apprenticeship.)
Dean and Luna, however, had remained in awkward status quo, and Neville wondered why.
Luna hadn't replied to his statement yet, and as Neville looked up, he realised why. Dean and Ron were walking towards them down the High Street, on their way from their own work on Dervish &Banges. Ron waved at them both as they drew up alongside Gladrags, and Dean gave Neville a cheerful salute and Luna a small smile and a wave, then looked quickly away from her. They continued down the street, Ron talking loudly about falling timber.
"Dean and I don't talk so much, these days," said Luna calmly, stepping daintily over a broken plank and onto the safe ground of the street. "Not in Astronomy, either. It's a shame. He is nice."
"But why is that?" asked Neville, joining her as she, too began to walk down the street. "Only last spring you seemed to be really close."
He was remembering Dean taking Luna's hand in the Room of Requirement, shared references to Shell Cottage and a seating arrangement at meal times that almost always had them next to or opposite each other. He had thought-but then, it was hard to tell with Luna, and Dean had never been the one to share his love life. Neville hadn't even known Dean liked Ginny until he found them snogging in the dorm once. (And hadn't that been an awkward affair. He wasn't sure who had been the most embarrassed, but suspected it was him, with Dean a close second and Ginny Cool-As-a-Cucumber Weasley last.)
Still, it had seemed as if Dean and Luna shared something. Whether that was something more romantic in nature, or merely their interest in art, it had come to an end with the start of their seventh year.
"Mm, you know..." Luna smiled. It was hard to tell if it was sincere or not-that was almost always the trouble with Luna. "We spent a lot of time together in Shell Cottage-where Harry and Ron and Hermione stayed, you know, during-"
"I know, of course."
"Well, they were very busy, the three of them, so Dean and I talked a lot, back then. I suppose we became..." She stopped, and seemed to be searching for a word.
"Friends?" Neville suggested, feeling something twist in his stomach as Luna shook her head as if amused by the idea.
"That's a bit strong," she said. "But companions, maybe. We would talk about a lot of things, and I used to really like looking at him when he painted, too. I would have liked to keep talking to him, once we got back to Hogwarts, but... well, you know. It wasn't exactly real."
"Real?" Neville asked.
"The time in Shell Cottage. It wasn't exactly real time. More like," she stopped again, but this time found the word before he had time to prompt her, "a parenthesis. It was nice, though. I would have liked if it had continued into the real time. Real life. Especially since Ginny decided to retake sixth year, and you aren't in many of my NEWT classes-it would have been nice, to still have Dean to talk to."
Neville walked along in thought for a while, silent. He had promised Hannah he'd have a couple of butterbeers with her tonight-well, he'd promised Susan, but Hannah had been standing nearby and smiling very broadly-and it would be a shame to break that promise. But on the other hand...
"You know what," he said, feigning a tired sigh, "I'm absolutely beat. Would you mind if I kept you company while you do your Astronomy essay instead of going to the Broomsticks?"
Luna looked at him. "Hannah will be disappointed," she said.
She's Hufflepuff, she understands loyalty, Neville thought, and out loud he said, "I'm sure my absence won't be that dramatic for any of them. What do you say? I could even raid the kitchens first. The house elves like me-I could probably get us cookies."
There was something brittle about Luna when she said, "Yes, I think that would be nice."
"I'll get some Butterbeer while I'm at it. Make a real night of it."
"As long as I can still finish my essay."
"Of course."
Neville didn't take Luna's arm. She had taken ill to people touching her for a long time after her captivity in the Malfoy Manor, and although quite some time had passed he didn't want to presume she was yet over what had happened to her there. But he smiled at her, and when he a little while later made his quick stop at the Broomsticks to explain himself to Susan and Hannah, he did so without hardly any regret.
One thing war had taught him was priorities, and there were some things that were simply a lot more important than others.
A wail broke the relative silence suddenly, ululating through the air and finishing on a "...ring-ding-diddle-i-de-o, I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath their kilt". It sounded suspiciously like Ernie MacMillan, and Neville recalled from his stop at Broomsticks that he'd looked like he was hitting the Firewhiskey rather hard.
"Skremplings," said Luna calmly. "I told you."