Gentlemen Kiss Brunettes (Romance, G)
Title: Gentlemen Kiss Brunettes
Summary: Neville walks Susan back to her dorm after a D.A. meeting.
Rating: G
Notes: byronyraven actually gave me this prompt eons and eons ago and I'm just now finishing it, so this is for her. It's Neville/Susan, because I'm always saying the world needs more Neville/Susan and I forget to write any myself. Warning: may be sweet and fluffy enough to rot your teeth.
Neville sat down wearily at the Room of Requirement's only desk, which had been unceremoniously pushed against the wall in the D.A.'s haste to begin their lesson. He looked around. Cushions were scattered all over the floor and bat droppings littered the room, a result of the overenthusiastic Bat-Bogey Hex that Dennis Creevey had aimed at his brother (Colin would be spending the night in the hospital wing, or at least until the whites of bat eyes stopped blinking out of his nostrils).
Other than that small incident, however, it had been a good hour or so. One of the Hufflepuff second years, a lanky blonde girl whose slightly exotic name Neville could never remember, got better every week, and had finally gotten her aim down well enough so that bookcases no longer had any cause to jump out of her way when she unsheathed her wand. To Neville's amazement, a group of Ravenclaw sixth years had managed to completely upgrade the Butterfingers Hex so that you not only kept dropping things but so that your fingers really began to coat themselves with butter. One of the Gryffindors, probably Dean, had found a loaf of bread to eat with the butter in the Room and crusts were poking out of the dustbin.
Yawning, he considered, but never actually began, getting up again to tidy up until he heard a quiet, feminine ahem. He turned in his chair and saw Susan Bones, shyly lurking at the entrance, which was funny, because he couldn't remember ever seeing her be shy for as long as he'd known her (which, granted, was only a year and a half, and only as a good friend for the latter six months, but still). He stood up quickly. "Hello, Susan. What's the matter?"
Susan smiled apologetically. "Did I interrupt you? You were looking quite thoughtful." He shook his head. "I came back because I, er, forgot my book." She pointed towards a bookshelf at the opposite end of the room. On the very middle shelf, just at Susan's height, there was a purple paperback lying on its side, standing out from the black, foreboding tomes lined up in threatening perfection behind it. "Sorry. Normally, I'd just wait, but it really is a very good story and I'd like to get back to it."
"Oh?" Neville, though not an avid reader, was vaguely intrigued, merely because this was Susan and he was always glad to have an excuse to speak to her, even if sometimes while doing so he stumbled over his words or said really, really stupid things. Hopefully that wouldn't happen just now. "What is it?"
Here Susan colored slightly. "Oh, it's nothing you'd read, I don't think."
"No, probably not," he agreed, "I don't read a lot. But what's it about?"
Susan hesitated before explaining, "Well, there's this girl… and she's very rich and she lives in a castle and she's, you know, basically the beauty of the world but a Veela falls in love with her, but she doesn't love the Veela back, and, you know what, it sounds really stupid now that I'm putting it into words."
"It's one of those Veela romances, isn't it?" asked Neville, trying not to chuckle even the slightest bit. Susan blushed, shrugging in a way that said But it really is good. "It just sounds like the sort of book you'd be reading," he continued.
He'd actually not meant it offensively but only as an observation of Susan's notorious-amongst her friends anyway-propensity towards unfeasible romances, but she smiled ruefully. "I suppose it is," she said. "Oh, well, for a Hufflepuff like me, it's-"
Neville interrupted her, his voice almost sharp, or it would have been if he was in the habit of speaking sharply, demanding, "What do you mean, a Hufflepuff like you?"
Susan shrugged. "Oh, it's just that Hufflepuffs are rumored to be devoted supporters of tree-hugging, bunny rabbit fanciers, and cat show hosts, you know? We love rainbows, too, and are often seen frolicking in the meadows with woodland creatures. I guess… if you saw a Ravenclaw reading this, you'd be surprised, but a Hufflepuff is allowed to."
Somehow, Neville had a thought that Susan had come back to the Room of Requirement with a lot more on her mind than her abandoned book.
"You know, there's a lot more power in being a Hufflepuff than you think."
"I know that, and you know that-who else?" Susan didn't exactly sound bitter, but she didn't sound happy, either. "I mean, there're no expectations in being a Hufflepuff. You, though, you're a Gryffindor through and through."
"Yeah?" He paused. "Um, how?"
"Well, only a Gryffindor would have the courage to revive the D.A. like you have.
Especially when we all need it so much, not just to, you know, defend ourselves-but, things like, hm. I'm not so scared anymore. And I've made so many friends." She patted his arm. "Like you, for one."
A grin broke out, and Neville blushed heartily. "Thanks," he said, unwilling to look into Susan's eyes.
"Of course," she beamed back at him.
She crossed over to gather her book to her chest, hugging it tightly. Neville couldn't see the title, and, when she swung her long brown hair into her face, couldn't see Susan's eyes, either.
"Um, so, yeah. Well, the meeting was really great today."
Neville swallowed. He was nervous again. Why? He didn't have an actual reason to be. "Was it?"
"Yeah, I think teaching, you know, the minor hexes was a really good idea. Even the silly ones, like the hyperactivity one, and the Butterfingers Hex, because nobody's really going to expect things like that coming towards them." Susan smiled. "I can see it now. Like using the Bat-Bogey hex: 'Watch out, You-Know-Who, you've got bats in your nose!'"
"Oh, I don't know. If Ginny Weasley were fighting him, that might work."
Susan laughed. Her hair went back and Neville could see her face again, which was inexplicably pinker than before. "You're right! And if Padma Patil was fighting him-"
"Well, I don't think he'd be sitting down for a while. You'd better watch out you're not ever on the wrong side of that curse. I was, once."
"Really? What did you do?"
"I tripped in the hallway and knocked all the books out of her arms, and she thought I was a Slytherin trying to steal her research for McGonagall and hexed me before she saw who I really was." Neville looked down, toeing the floor.
Susan looked up at the clock behind Neville. "I think I should go. Hannah and Megan are probably freaking out. I'll be surprised if they haven't sent out a search party."
"Right, well, the Gryffindors probably think Dennis Creevey's hex got me, too, or something. If you want me to walk you back…"
She looked up at him as if he was her personal savior. "I'd really, really love that."
"All right, then." He reached the door before she did and held it open for her. "After you, of course."
Susan stepped through it, smiling widely. As they started for the Hufflepuff Cellar, she told him, "That's so sweet, the way you do that. You'd get any girl you'd like with that."
"Doing what?" asked Neville, blushing at the compliment even though he was genuinely confused.
"Oh, you know, the opening doors-and the way you stood up when you saw me. Very gentlemanly."
Neville chuckled a little. "It's just because Gran would've killed me if I didn't do it for her. I guess it's sort of second nature now."
"Well, she taught you well."
They were quiet as they walked down the corridor. Neville thought that it wasn't really awkward silence. That was different: he'd done things like this before, walking girls to their dormitories, and it had always been silent but awkward. Except in Luna's case, and then it was chatty but awkward. But even though Neville appreciated this comfortable silence, he was still feeling a bit nervous for no real reason at all.
Suddenly, Susan turned to Neville. Her eyes were shiny, but he didn't think that was a good thing. "You managed to persuade a couple of Slytherins to come," she said.
It was true. Theodore Nott, who never said a word to anyone during meetings, had begun attending, along with younger students, such as Malcom Baddock and Emma Dobbs. Their presence had not been welcomed by most of the other students, particularly the Gryffindors, but they hadn't yet stopped coming. Neville nodded in answer to Susan's comment.
"I wish they'd all do the same," she continued quietly. Her hair had swung forward again. Neville wished she hadn't stopped plaiting it, because as pretty as she looked with it flowing free, he rather wished to see her face at this moment.
"Me, too," said Neville. "And I wish the others wouldn't, you know, leave out the ones who do come."
Susan shrugged. She brought up a hand to push her hair behind her ear, and Neville could see her eyes. They were still shiny. Hesitantly, he said, "Susan… what's the matter?"
"I came across Pansy Parkinson just now. I really did forget my book, so I told Hannah and Megan to go ahead. But when I was passing the loo, Pansy Parkinson came out and she started-she was talking about my auntie-and Hannah's mum…"
Neville stopped. He grabbed Susan's hand and stopped her, too. She seemed to be surprised by this, but didn't voice her shock. "What did she say?" asked Neville.
"Just about-that-she said it was-oh, I don't think she knew what she was talking about, I think she was just scared herself, because, you know, no one's seen Malfoy for months. I think she'd been crying in the loo, you know. It must be really hard on her, because usually she doesn't say things like this-"
"Susan. It isn't good for you to justify it when people are nasty to you."
She took a deep breath and said, "She said it was a good thing people like my auntie had died, so that nobody was in anyone's way."
Neville suddenly wanted to hurt Pansy Parkinson very badly. Unfortunately, Pansy was still a girl, albeit a nasty cow of an excuse for one, and there was nothing he could really do.
"And then when I tried to hex her with one of the hexes we just learned, I couldn't, because I was so flustered, you know, and she said I was really just a squib, and they kept me here because my family happens to have a lot of money. But that's why I was in Hufflepuff, I didn't have enough magic to fit anywhere else."
"That's stupid," said Neville loudly, and startled even himself. "You shouldn't take what she said to heart, Susan. You're a really good witch, you really are."
"I splinched myself last year during Apparation lessons."
"So did Pansy. Didn't you see that?"
Susan giggled a little. "Did she? I didn't see that."
"And anyway, Apparation is difficult, isn't it? I don't even know if Hermione got it totally right the first time. So that's not a very good example." Neville tugged on Susan's hand, and they began walking again.
Her smile left her. "But I'm horrible in Transfiguration, and in Herbology-"
"But you're the best Hufflepuff in Charms, aren't you? And I don't think anyone's better than at you in Care of Magical Creatures. You should have taken the Magical Creatures N.E.W.T., you know, even if Hagrid is the professor."
"My auntie didn't want me to," explained Susan. Neville, remembering the way his Gran had not wanted him to take Herbology, grinned widely at this.
"Know how that is," he agreed. "You should have taken it anyway."
"Maybe," she said. "Anyway, thank you."
Neville shrugged, and it was quiet again. When they had were near the corridor in the Entrance Hall that led down to the kitchens and to the Hufflepuff Cellar, Susan said very shyly, "Neville, you're still holding my hand."
He was actually surprised when he looked down between them and saw that this was, indeed, true. "I am," he said blankly. He began to let go, but Susan squeezed it.
"No, don't. It's good," she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Very."
They passed the gigantic picture of fruit that guarded the kitchens, and then stopped at a relatively large trapdoor in the floor, which was where the Cellar was. Susan turned to Neville.
"Thank you," she said, smiling. "For the book, and for the walk, and for-for being so sweet and things."
"You're welcome," said Neville, feeling a bit bewildered because this had never happened before. Not the way Susan's hand was still warm in his, or the way her bright eyes were smiling at him just now.
"Neville?" said Susan, and she let go of his hand. He would have been sorry about that if she hadn't reached up to touch his cheek, or stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss right near the corner of his lips. He thought for a moment that she had meant to kiss his cheek and had just missed, but then, she moved over and kissed his lips for a brief second before pulling back.
She smiled shyly. "Thanks again."
He grinned back. "You're welcome," he said, because he didn't know what else he could say. They probably would have stayed there smiling very stupidly at each other if Hannah hadn't popped her head out the trapdoor just then.
"Oh! Susan. I was just going to go looking for you."
"Told you," said Susan affectionately to Neville.
Hannah looked between them and giggled a little, and Neville could feel himself turning red. "I could go back down if you like."
Susan looked away and down at her friend. "Oh, no. That's okay. See you tomorrow, Neville?"
Neville nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
"Good night."
"Good night."
Susan disappeared down the trapdoor, and Neville had one thought. Gran had been right about something: Being a gentleman paid off.
Summary: Neville walks Susan back to her dorm after a D.A. meeting.
Rating: G
Notes: byronyraven actually gave me this prompt eons and eons ago and I'm just now finishing it, so this is for her. It's Neville/Susan, because I'm always saying the world needs more Neville/Susan and I forget to write any myself. Warning: may be sweet and fluffy enough to rot your teeth.
Neville sat down wearily at the Room of Requirement's only desk, which had been unceremoniously pushed against the wall in the D.A.'s haste to begin their lesson. He looked around. Cushions were scattered all over the floor and bat droppings littered the room, a result of the overenthusiastic Bat-Bogey Hex that Dennis Creevey had aimed at his brother (Colin would be spending the night in the hospital wing, or at least until the whites of bat eyes stopped blinking out of his nostrils).
Other than that small incident, however, it had been a good hour or so. One of the Hufflepuff second years, a lanky blonde girl whose slightly exotic name Neville could never remember, got better every week, and had finally gotten her aim down well enough so that bookcases no longer had any cause to jump out of her way when she unsheathed her wand. To Neville's amazement, a group of Ravenclaw sixth years had managed to completely upgrade the Butterfingers Hex so that you not only kept dropping things but so that your fingers really began to coat themselves with butter. One of the Gryffindors, probably Dean, had found a loaf of bread to eat with the butter in the Room and crusts were poking out of the dustbin.
Yawning, he considered, but never actually began, getting up again to tidy up until he heard a quiet, feminine ahem. He turned in his chair and saw Susan Bones, shyly lurking at the entrance, which was funny, because he couldn't remember ever seeing her be shy for as long as he'd known her (which, granted, was only a year and a half, and only as a good friend for the latter six months, but still). He stood up quickly. "Hello, Susan. What's the matter?"
Susan smiled apologetically. "Did I interrupt you? You were looking quite thoughtful." He shook his head. "I came back because I, er, forgot my book." She pointed towards a bookshelf at the opposite end of the room. On the very middle shelf, just at Susan's height, there was a purple paperback lying on its side, standing out from the black, foreboding tomes lined up in threatening perfection behind it. "Sorry. Normally, I'd just wait, but it really is a very good story and I'd like to get back to it."
"Oh?" Neville, though not an avid reader, was vaguely intrigued, merely because this was Susan and he was always glad to have an excuse to speak to her, even if sometimes while doing so he stumbled over his words or said really, really stupid things. Hopefully that wouldn't happen just now. "What is it?"
Here Susan colored slightly. "Oh, it's nothing you'd read, I don't think."
"No, probably not," he agreed, "I don't read a lot. But what's it about?"
Susan hesitated before explaining, "Well, there's this girl… and she's very rich and she lives in a castle and she's, you know, basically the beauty of the world but a Veela falls in love with her, but she doesn't love the Veela back, and, you know what, it sounds really stupid now that I'm putting it into words."
"It's one of those Veela romances, isn't it?" asked Neville, trying not to chuckle even the slightest bit. Susan blushed, shrugging in a way that said But it really is good. "It just sounds like the sort of book you'd be reading," he continued.
He'd actually not meant it offensively but only as an observation of Susan's notorious-amongst her friends anyway-propensity towards unfeasible romances, but she smiled ruefully. "I suppose it is," she said. "Oh, well, for a Hufflepuff like me, it's-"
Neville interrupted her, his voice almost sharp, or it would have been if he was in the habit of speaking sharply, demanding, "What do you mean, a Hufflepuff like you?"
Susan shrugged. "Oh, it's just that Hufflepuffs are rumored to be devoted supporters of tree-hugging, bunny rabbit fanciers, and cat show hosts, you know? We love rainbows, too, and are often seen frolicking in the meadows with woodland creatures. I guess… if you saw a Ravenclaw reading this, you'd be surprised, but a Hufflepuff is allowed to."
Somehow, Neville had a thought that Susan had come back to the Room of Requirement with a lot more on her mind than her abandoned book.
"You know, there's a lot more power in being a Hufflepuff than you think."
"I know that, and you know that-who else?" Susan didn't exactly sound bitter, but she didn't sound happy, either. "I mean, there're no expectations in being a Hufflepuff. You, though, you're a Gryffindor through and through."
"Yeah?" He paused. "Um, how?"
"Well, only a Gryffindor would have the courage to revive the D.A. like you have.
Especially when we all need it so much, not just to, you know, defend ourselves-but, things like, hm. I'm not so scared anymore. And I've made so many friends." She patted his arm. "Like you, for one."
A grin broke out, and Neville blushed heartily. "Thanks," he said, unwilling to look into Susan's eyes.
"Of course," she beamed back at him.
She crossed over to gather her book to her chest, hugging it tightly. Neville couldn't see the title, and, when she swung her long brown hair into her face, couldn't see Susan's eyes, either.
"Um, so, yeah. Well, the meeting was really great today."
Neville swallowed. He was nervous again. Why? He didn't have an actual reason to be. "Was it?"
"Yeah, I think teaching, you know, the minor hexes was a really good idea. Even the silly ones, like the hyperactivity one, and the Butterfingers Hex, because nobody's really going to expect things like that coming towards them." Susan smiled. "I can see it now. Like using the Bat-Bogey hex: 'Watch out, You-Know-Who, you've got bats in your nose!'"
"Oh, I don't know. If Ginny Weasley were fighting him, that might work."
Susan laughed. Her hair went back and Neville could see her face again, which was inexplicably pinker than before. "You're right! And if Padma Patil was fighting him-"
"Well, I don't think he'd be sitting down for a while. You'd better watch out you're not ever on the wrong side of that curse. I was, once."
"Really? What did you do?"
"I tripped in the hallway and knocked all the books out of her arms, and she thought I was a Slytherin trying to steal her research for McGonagall and hexed me before she saw who I really was." Neville looked down, toeing the floor.
Susan looked up at the clock behind Neville. "I think I should go. Hannah and Megan are probably freaking out. I'll be surprised if they haven't sent out a search party."
"Right, well, the Gryffindors probably think Dennis Creevey's hex got me, too, or something. If you want me to walk you back…"
She looked up at him as if he was her personal savior. "I'd really, really love that."
"All right, then." He reached the door before she did and held it open for her. "After you, of course."
Susan stepped through it, smiling widely. As they started for the Hufflepuff Cellar, she told him, "That's so sweet, the way you do that. You'd get any girl you'd like with that."
"Doing what?" asked Neville, blushing at the compliment even though he was genuinely confused.
"Oh, you know, the opening doors-and the way you stood up when you saw me. Very gentlemanly."
Neville chuckled a little. "It's just because Gran would've killed me if I didn't do it for her. I guess it's sort of second nature now."
"Well, she taught you well."
They were quiet as they walked down the corridor. Neville thought that it wasn't really awkward silence. That was different: he'd done things like this before, walking girls to their dormitories, and it had always been silent but awkward. Except in Luna's case, and then it was chatty but awkward. But even though Neville appreciated this comfortable silence, he was still feeling a bit nervous for no real reason at all.
Suddenly, Susan turned to Neville. Her eyes were shiny, but he didn't think that was a good thing. "You managed to persuade a couple of Slytherins to come," she said.
It was true. Theodore Nott, who never said a word to anyone during meetings, had begun attending, along with younger students, such as Malcom Baddock and Emma Dobbs. Their presence had not been welcomed by most of the other students, particularly the Gryffindors, but they hadn't yet stopped coming. Neville nodded in answer to Susan's comment.
"I wish they'd all do the same," she continued quietly. Her hair had swung forward again. Neville wished she hadn't stopped plaiting it, because as pretty as she looked with it flowing free, he rather wished to see her face at this moment.
"Me, too," said Neville. "And I wish the others wouldn't, you know, leave out the ones who do come."
Susan shrugged. She brought up a hand to push her hair behind her ear, and Neville could see her eyes. They were still shiny. Hesitantly, he said, "Susan… what's the matter?"
"I came across Pansy Parkinson just now. I really did forget my book, so I told Hannah and Megan to go ahead. But when I was passing the loo, Pansy Parkinson came out and she started-she was talking about my auntie-and Hannah's mum…"
Neville stopped. He grabbed Susan's hand and stopped her, too. She seemed to be surprised by this, but didn't voice her shock. "What did she say?" asked Neville.
"Just about-that-she said it was-oh, I don't think she knew what she was talking about, I think she was just scared herself, because, you know, no one's seen Malfoy for months. I think she'd been crying in the loo, you know. It must be really hard on her, because usually she doesn't say things like this-"
"Susan. It isn't good for you to justify it when people are nasty to you."
She took a deep breath and said, "She said it was a good thing people like my auntie had died, so that nobody was in anyone's way."
Neville suddenly wanted to hurt Pansy Parkinson very badly. Unfortunately, Pansy was still a girl, albeit a nasty cow of an excuse for one, and there was nothing he could really do.
"And then when I tried to hex her with one of the hexes we just learned, I couldn't, because I was so flustered, you know, and she said I was really just a squib, and they kept me here because my family happens to have a lot of money. But that's why I was in Hufflepuff, I didn't have enough magic to fit anywhere else."
"That's stupid," said Neville loudly, and startled even himself. "You shouldn't take what she said to heart, Susan. You're a really good witch, you really are."
"I splinched myself last year during Apparation lessons."
"So did Pansy. Didn't you see that?"
Susan giggled a little. "Did she? I didn't see that."
"And anyway, Apparation is difficult, isn't it? I don't even know if Hermione got it totally right the first time. So that's not a very good example." Neville tugged on Susan's hand, and they began walking again.
Her smile left her. "But I'm horrible in Transfiguration, and in Herbology-"
"But you're the best Hufflepuff in Charms, aren't you? And I don't think anyone's better than at you in Care of Magical Creatures. You should have taken the Magical Creatures N.E.W.T., you know, even if Hagrid is the professor."
"My auntie didn't want me to," explained Susan. Neville, remembering the way his Gran had not wanted him to take Herbology, grinned widely at this.
"Know how that is," he agreed. "You should have taken it anyway."
"Maybe," she said. "Anyway, thank you."
Neville shrugged, and it was quiet again. When they had were near the corridor in the Entrance Hall that led down to the kitchens and to the Hufflepuff Cellar, Susan said very shyly, "Neville, you're still holding my hand."
He was actually surprised when he looked down between them and saw that this was, indeed, true. "I am," he said blankly. He began to let go, but Susan squeezed it.
"No, don't. It's good," she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Very."
They passed the gigantic picture of fruit that guarded the kitchens, and then stopped at a relatively large trapdoor in the floor, which was where the Cellar was. Susan turned to Neville.
"Thank you," she said, smiling. "For the book, and for the walk, and for-for being so sweet and things."
"You're welcome," said Neville, feeling a bit bewildered because this had never happened before. Not the way Susan's hand was still warm in his, or the way her bright eyes were smiling at him just now.
"Neville?" said Susan, and she let go of his hand. He would have been sorry about that if she hadn't reached up to touch his cheek, or stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss right near the corner of his lips. He thought for a moment that she had meant to kiss his cheek and had just missed, but then, she moved over and kissed his lips for a brief second before pulling back.
She smiled shyly. "Thanks again."
He grinned back. "You're welcome," he said, because he didn't know what else he could say. They probably would have stayed there smiling very stupidly at each other if Hannah hadn't popped her head out the trapdoor just then.
"Oh! Susan. I was just going to go looking for you."
"Told you," said Susan affectionately to Neville.
Hannah looked between them and giggled a little, and Neville could feel himself turning red. "I could go back down if you like."
Susan looked away and down at her friend. "Oh, no. That's okay. See you tomorrow, Neville?"
Neville nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."
"Good night."
"Good night."
Susan disappeared down the trapdoor, and Neville had one thought. Gran had been right about something: Being a gentleman paid off.