Title: "We Were Soldiers"
Authoress: Mistress Vamp (( mod2682(at)yahoo(dot)com ))
Pairing: Neville/Hermione, implied other pairings
Summary: Reflection of the past.
Rating: R (M)
Disclaimer: JKR owns the Harry Potter fandom. I'm not her. I don't try to be her. If I was, I would have Severus Snape chained in my basement and alas, he still resides at Hogwarts -sighs- I am merely using the characters for my own twisted and perverted pleasures. Eminem owns the lyrics to 'Like Toy Soldiers' used at the end.
Authoress Notes: This is for Bethany (booknerdguru) who requested Neville/Hermione or Blaise/Luna on my 'Challenge Me' post! This is told from Harry's POV. I hope you like this. I will write another more romantic one between them if you wish :-)
Beta: Shannon (shannon730) Isn't she fabulous!
Word Count: 585 ((Does not include – symbols, 'The End' or the lyrics))
Written on: August 1, 2005


It's his birthday today. He would have been 25. We all miss him, but no one as much as she does. I know that despite what she says, she still mourns for him and I doubt she will ever stop. She doesn't have much light left in her eyes, but she does have some. I wonder sometimes what he would think if he knew how she moved on. I wonder if he would be happy or sad. I wonder if he would have agreed with her choice of spouse, or if he would have thrown one of his famous tantrums he was always known for. A part of me believes he would have been proud to know she had moved on, but I also believe a part of him would be upset to know that she still mourns his passing.

It was something none of us could stop. It wasn't a choice we had, or something we caused. It was a war and we were soldiers fighting to survive. We were the young and the brave, but at the same time we were dreamers and people with ambition. We wanted to move on, to focus on what the future held for us, and none of us wanted to think about the possibilities of the outcome, but it was always there. It was always in the back of our minds. Why? Because we were soldiers and that's what a soldier does. They look to the future, yet they know that any moment, the future may never come. And for him, it never did.

She will visit his grave today and he will be with her. He, being the one who helped her try to cope with the passing of a loved one. After all, he faced it when his own beloved fell to the hand of the Dark Lord. They will visit his grave together, but they will go their separate ways to pay their respects silently and in their own way. It surprised us how well the two of them fit together, but in the end, it just seems right. We all lost someone on the battlefield and each time I remember, I just want to scream how unfair it all is.

Today I will watch over their son, Ronald Severus Longbottom. Yes, they named him after her beloved and mine. Did you know I'm his godfather? It's something I'm very proud of. Despite his middle name, I don't doubt he will have his father's clumsiness, especially with potions. He's three years old, but he already hates the idea of mixing things together. He's a perfectionist, too. So much like his mother in that way. Though he is like her, he has so much of his father. He has the blush his father always has on his cheeks, his looks, except that his brown hair is curly on top of his head, much like his mother's. He's a beautiful boy. Ron and Sev would have been proud.

The thing soldiers on the field never forget is that we always have a fifty-fifty chance. We have a fifty percent chance of death and fifty percent chance of life. Neville, Hermione, and I had the chance of life while Ron, Severus, and Ginny had the chance of death. It's through us that they will live on and that their memories will be remembered. All others would ever know of them would be soldiers fighting to save their world, but to us, they would always be our family.

((lyrics have been deleted due to policy))


The End