In the Closed Ward

Chapter 1 – July 30th, 1991

Today was Josephine Lafayette's very first day as a trainee at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Josephine, or Josey as she liked to be called by her friends, was eighteen years old, born and raised in Paris, schooled as Beauxbatons until she was sixteen, and then sent to Hogwarts for her last two years to study to become a healer. Josey was kind, beautiful, intelligent, and independent. Still, despite her training, skills, and natural confidence, Josey was an absolute wreck on her first day. Every time she was asked to answer a question or perform a healing procedure her mind went entirely blank and all she could do was stare in gape-mouthed horror as that damning look of disappointment flitted across her superiors' eyes. Halfway through her first day, Josey was wracked with insecurity and contemplating quitting. When she was told to patrol the Closed Ward and work on her personal interaction skills by conversing with family members of patients, she was convinced that she was being shunted aside like some embarrassment to the profession of healer. It was pure chance, or luck, or fate, or whatever that the first person she talked to was Neville Longbottom.

He was standing between two beds, at the end of them, with his hands at his side. He wasn't crying or talking or shifting uncomfortably like most other visitors; he was just standing, looking. Josey almost decided not to approach the kid, who couldn't be more than twelve, because of his unusual behavior, but quickly told herself that that was absolutely no way to improve in anything. Steeling herself, she began to walk quietly across the ward, debating how to approach him. She had a feeling that the usual 'cheery helper' route wasn't the way to go, so, as she got closer, she decided to just wing it.

She came up beside him and mimicked his posture, except she put her hands behind her back. She stared ahead in silence for a minute, then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him furtively look at her. It only lasted a second, but the nervousness evident in just that one movement brought a smile to Josey's face. Still smiling, Josey produced her own furtive, nervous-seeming glance, but quickly returned to her original position. As she'd hoped, a small smile appeared on the child's face.

Leaning over slightly she whispered conspiratorially, "Hey, I'm Josey. Who're you?"

The boy reddened slightly as she spoke. Josey wasn't very surprised; guys reacted like that to her all the time. Still, she had a sneaking suspicion that the boy reacted similarly whenever anybody talked to him. They boy took a breath and said, "Neville."

Now that they were introduced, Josey turned fully towards him and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you," she said pleasantly.

"You t-too," he said timidly, shaking her hand.

Josey suggested that they sit down in the chairs across the room, and Neville followed her, looking around furtively as if suspecting someone was playing a trick on him. A wave of sympathy washed over Josey as she watched the movements of Neville, wondering what in his life had made him so jumpy. Once they were seated Josey took her first good look at the boy, but as she did so Neville looked down, blushing red, uncomfortable because of her scrutiny, so Josey quickly looked away.

"How old are you, Neville?" Josey asked, wanting to take Neville's mind from her blunder.

Thankfully, Neville returned his gaze back to her, but any relief Josey felt was blasted away by the dark look that crossed his visage as he answered, "I'm eleven today."

Josey gulped, wondering why the hell she could do nothing right today, and out of sheer desperation, asked "Hasn't been the best of birthdays?"

Neville laughed, somewhat bitterly, but otherwise didn't respond. Josey sighed and slouched lower in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. Closing her eyes she said sadly, "Yeah, it hasn't been the greatest day for me either."

There was a second of silence, and then Neville asked, his voice tinged with genuine concern, asked, "What's wrong?"

Josey sighed again and said, "Everything. Today's my first day here and absolutely nothing has gone right. I haven't answered a single question right or been able to do a single procedure and when I look at the patients I have absolutely no idea what's wrong with them!" Josey took a shuddery breath, and, to her mortification, she felt her eyes start to water. "So my boss sent me in here as a punishment and told me to work on my people skills."

Josey snorted derisively. "To get me out of everybody's way is more likely. But, whatever reason I'm here, I can't even do this right! I've totally alienated you, and probably made you feel even worse!"

She covered her eyes with her hands and slid even lower in her chair, now practically laying in it. After her episode there was a shocked silence, and Josey had just convinced herself that Neville had ran out of the ward just to get away from her when she felt a small hand rest on her shoulder. Surprised, she looked up at Neville, only to find him smiling reassuringly down at her. This sign of maturity shocked her to her core. Most guys his age (hell, most guys any age) would just stare dumbly when a girl cried or otherwise needed comforting.

"You're crazy, Josey," Neville said. "I think you've been brilliant. People have been coming up to me all day trying to get me to talk, trying to cheer me up or being all sympathetic, which is impossible because none of them knew what was wrong with me in the first place. All day I've been giving people the silent treatment – only you got me to talk. See? Absolutely brilliant."

Josey peered up at him, finding it only a little abashing that she was seeking comfort from a boy seven years her junior, and asked, "Really?"

Neville nodded, and Josey inexplicably felt better. She sat up higher in her chair, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and said, "Thanks, Neville. I really needed someone to tell me that."

Neville's smile widened and he said, "No problem. I know what it feels like to think that everyone thinks you're a complete failure."

Josey didn't know what to say to that, so she quickly changed the subject. "So, why are you here?"

Neville smile faltered slightly, but he decided not to let what happened get to him anymore, so he didn't let it drop completely. Instead, taking a deep breath, he said, "Well, today's my first day here too. You know how I said today's my birthday?" Josey nodded. "Well, my Gran decided that eleven is old enough to tell me that she's been lying to me for as long as I've been alive."

"What?" asked Josey, stunned.

"Until today," Neville explained sadly, "Gran told me that my parents had been killed during the first war, fighting as Aurors. Today she expanded on that story."

Neville lowered his head and fell silent, though she could hear soft sniffles. This time it was Josey's turn to comfort Neville, laying her hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to tell me," she said softly.

Neville lifted his head and shook it determinedly. Giving her a watery smile he said, "No, I think I should talk to someone, and it's not gonna be Gran."

Josey nodded for him to continue. Opening his mouth, Neville said in the calmest voice he could manage, "My parents were Aurors, that's true enough. They were two of the best Aurors the department has ever seen. But they didn't die during the war; they died right after it ended. A group of You-Know-Who's followers, led by someone named Bellatrix LeStrange, attacked my parents. Bellatrix and her cohorts refused to believe that You-Know-Who had really been defeated and she thought my parents knew where he was, which they didn't. Bellatrix refused to believe my parents as well, and she tortured them with something called a Cruciatus Curse until both of them were completely insane." Neville nodded to the beds he had been standing at earlier, and said, "That's them over there. Frank and Alice Longbottom."

Jose was too horrified to speak, and that turned out to be her saving grace. Her mind was a battlefield of conflicting emotions: horror at the ghastly deeds done to Neville's parents, indignant fury on behalf of Neville for how long he'd been lied to, deep shame about whining on and on about her insignificant problems coursed through her and caused her to blush, and she also felt a profound sense of admiration for Neville for his ability to set aside his problems and comfort her, especially since her difficulties were so much more minor than his. Just as she regained control of her thoughts and was about to open her mouth to say how sorry she was, Neville spoke again, sounding relieved.

"Thanks for not going on about how 'sorry' you are or anything like that. Whenever people find out my parents are dead I always get a big 'I'm sorry for your loss' or 'You're such a strong young man' or some other thing like that. All it really means is that they have absolutely nothing real to say. I'd rather they just stay quiet, like you. That's part of the reason I'm talking to you at all."

"Er," stuttered Josey, completely sideswiped by Neville's comment. "Right."

They sat in silence for awhile. Neville was completely content with the situation, but Josey felt that sitting in silence was probably not what her superiors wanted of her. She was at a loss, however, as to how to restart the conversation, so they went on in silence for what seemed like an eternity to Josey.

"Did you go to Hogwarts?" asked Neville suddenly, breaking the silence and startling Josey, both by the suddenness of the question and because of the drastic change in topic.

"Um…" spluttered Josey, who idly wondered if she would ever regain some semblance of control. "Yes?"

Neville's eyes lit up, and Josey was reminded how young he actually was. She expanded on her comment by saying, "I transferred there for my last two years because their N.E.W.T. level Healer program is world renowned."

"That's brilliant," enthused Neville. "I just got my Hogwarts letter today, too! Gran nearly cried when it arrived." Seeing Josey's confused look, Neville explained, "The family thought that I was a squib for the longest time. I didn't show any signs of magic until my uncle dropped me out of a window."

"Your uncle…dropped you out of a window?" Josey tried to clarify, giving up all hope of every understanding anything again.

"Yeah," answered Neville as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "I bounced."

Josey, desperately wanting a subject she could wrap her mind around, steered the conversation back to Hogwarts. "So, what house do you think you'll be in at Hogwarts? Maybe you'll be in Hufflepuff, like me?"

"Maybe, but…my parents were both in Gryffindor," said Neville timidly.

"Then I'll bet you'll be in Gryffindor too," Josey said confidently, smiling warmly, not really believing her words. From what she could tell about Neville from the few minutes they'd spent together he just didn't seem like Gryffindor material.

Judging by the doubtful look on his face, Neville agreed more with Josey's silent statement.

They started talking of Josey's times at Hogwarts, but, unfortunately, they didn't' get very far before a fellow trainee, Augustus Pye, poked his head into the ward and called out, "Lafeyette! Another set of rounds starts in five minutes! If you're late, you're dead!"

Josey looked at Neville apologetically, but he only smiled and shrugged, saying "Don't worry about me. I need to get home too."

"It was really great talking to you," Josey said sincerely, giving Neville a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Blushing redder than Josey had ever seen, Neville managed only to mumble, "You too, Josey."

Grinning, she gave him another kiss on the cheek and then bolted from the Closed Ward, determined to make her second impression better than her first. As she was bombarded with questions and information, Josey soon forgot about Neville Longbottom, and, as she talked with more patients and more family of patients, his face and story just became one of the multitudes. For the most part, in her first, frantic weeks, Neville stayed forgotten. Still, whenever she worked the Closed Ward she couldn't help but think of him, her first real interaction with anyone in the Hospital. And, a little over a month later, on September first, she couldn't help but wonder in which house he really ended up.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I'm not sure how long the next chapter will take, as I'm working on like three different stories at the moment. But I'll try to get it up as soon as possible, because I really love the friendship I have envisioned between Josey and Neville.