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Can You Make It, Round 8 - Neville Longbottom

Friends Competition - S6, Ep23 - A Proposal

Ways To Say 'I Love You' - 17. "Watch your step."

Are You Crazy Enough - 205. Joy

Hogwarts Assignment - Astronomy - Uranus - A fic set in winter.

Writing Club - Showtime - 4. Fixed.

Writing Club - Themed List - Black Cat

Around The World in 31 Days - Namibia - Neville Longbottom

Word Count Without AN - 1160

Icy Proposal

"I'm fairly sure I'd rather face Nagini again instead of this," Neville muttered, making Harry chuckle.

"Nev, you've got this," Harry assured his friend, patting his shoulder. "You've got the ring, you know Hannah adores you, and you've got a very romantic plan. What could go wrong?"

"Ice, Harry. That 'romantic plan' includes trying to get down on one knee, on ice. What can go right, is probably the better question."

When Neville looked up at Harry's face, it was to see his friend slowly turning red in an attempt to hold his laughter. He thought he should probably give Harry credit for trying.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Just… You'll be fine. Stop worrying so much. Hannah loves you, and when it all boils down to it, that's all that really matters."

"How did you feel when you proposed to Ginny?"

Harry stood up, wrapping his cloak around him to protect against the snow outside. "Honestly?"

"Hmm."

"I thought I'd rather face down Voldemort again."

With a final squeeze to Neville's shoulder, and a wish of good luck, Harry was out of the door and off down the Alley.

Neville shook his head. He really should have picked better friends when he was a child.

When Neville floo'ed into Hannah's home that evening, he wasn't surprised that as soon as he stepped out of the fire, her black cat, Sooty, wrapped himself immediately around Neville's feet.

At this point, Neville wasn't sure if the cat liked him, or just enjoyed making him fall over. Picking up the little cat, Neville spelled away the excess dirt from the fire and headed out in search of his girlfriend.

"Hannah?"

"Almost ready," she called from the bedroom, making Neville smile. She was never ready on time - he'd learnt after their fifth date to always tell her to be ready twenty minutes before they needed to be anywhere.

He took a seat in the kitchen, helping himself to one of the freshly baked cookies on the table. If nothing else, she baked a damn good cookie.

"Hey! Those are for the Christmas get together with the DA!"

Neville shrugged, swallowing what was in his mouth before he replied, "I'm a member, so it's fine."

Hannah shook her head at him fondly.

"Are we going?"

He glanced over what she was wearing, glad she'd followed his instructions. She was wrapped up warm, thick trousers covering her long legs and a scarf wrapped around her neck. The hat she wore had ear flaps, and she was holding gloves in her hand.

"Yep. Come on, we'll apparate, it's quicker."

Hannah wrapped her arms around Neville tightly, burying her face against his neck. Neville gripped her tightly and concentrated on his destination.

"Ice-skating?" she squealed, her eyes lighting up as she looked at the rink. There were a few couples already skating in circles around it, and Neville swallowed nervously. He'd tried to book the rink so it would be private but had been quickly refused.

Not that it would have been really private. An outdoor skating rink was always bound to attract the masses of London.

"Shall we?" he asked, swallowing his nerves to offer her his arm.

This was Hannah. They'd been dating for over a year. He had no need to be nervous. Repeating that in his mind, he quickly paid for the boots and, after helping Hannah into hers, put his own on, strapping them tightly.

Thankfully, he could ice skate. Nothing fancy of course, but he could move around the rink without holding onto the sides, and more importantly, without falling over.

Apparently, the same could not be said for Hannah.

As soon as their feet were on the ice, her legs splayed from under her like Bambi, and if Neville's reflex to hold her wasn't so fast, she'd have ended up with a very wet bum.

Hannah giggled helplessly as Neville helped her to stand, before guiding her to the side to grip hold of the rail.

"It's not as easy as it looked," she said through her laughter, making Neville smile. He showed her the movements she needed to make with her feet, and after a trip around holding onto the side, he offered her his arm once more and guided her out onto the ice properly.

After a few close calls, she seemed to get the hang of it, and soon, they were skating around in large circles with the others, talking quietly.

When Hannah's cheeks were red with cold, and she began subtly shivering occasionally, Neville knew it was now or never. Slipping his gloves off and stowing them in his pocket, he took Hannah's gloved hands into his and pulled her directly into the middle of the rink.

While she frowned at him in confusion, Neville took a deep breath, praying to Merlin that he wasn't about to make a gigantic ass of himself, he dropped to one knee.

Hannah gasped, her hand raising to his mouth.

He pulled the ring box from his jacket pocket, opening it up to reveal the diamond ring Harry helped him chose.

"Hannah, when we started dating, I never knew that you'd come to mean so much to me so quickly. You fit seamlessly beside me, into every aspect of my life, and I can only hope that I do the same for you. You make me glad to wake up every morning. I love you. Will you be my personal sunshine for the rest of my life, and marry me?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" she shouted, tears falling freely from her eyes as she clumsily pulled her left glove off to allow him to put the ring on her finger.

Neville smiled widely at the joy on her face as he slid the ring onto her finger, before standing up to press a sweet kiss to her lips.

Wrapping his arm around her, they skated to the edge of the rink with applause from the other people on the rink ringing in their ears.

"Watch your step," he murmured, holding her hand as she stepped off the ice. He could feel the ring he'd just placed on her finger and the smile only widened on his face.

He'd done it!

They snuggled on the sofa in front of the fire, Sooty asleep over Neville's legs.

"Sooty approves of you," Hannah murmured, eyeing her cat. "As soon as he started waiting for you in front of the floo, I knew you were a keeper."

Neville laughed, pressing a kiss to her temple.

When she suddenly groaned, he glanced down to see a frown appearing on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Harry is going to be unbearable, isn't he? He fixed us up, you know he's going to take the credit for this, right?"

Neville laughed. "He helped me pick the ring as well."

His laughter only grew louder when she hit him with a pillow.