A/N: This is a companion to A Picture not to forget. It chronicles Harry and Neville's relationship as it develops. It is a series of one-shots, so no set plot, mainly milestones in their lives.

Disclaimer: None of my work belongs to me, it is solely the property of the one and only J.K. Rowling and any other company which has the copyright of Harry Potter, including Warner Bros. Nothing here belongs to me; all the characters are J.K. Rowling's originally, though any new character not part of the Harry Potter series belongs to me.

Title: Snapshots from a life together

Author: hpjkrowling4ever

Telling the Secret

"What did you want to talk to us about, mate?" Ron asked, standing on his tiptoes to brush a cobweb off the wall of the Charms classroom, one of the few classrooms left intact in the Battle.

Hermione was sitting on a chair, her hands absently twirling her wand around. Sparks shot off the end of it at odd intervals, but otherwise she was silently observing Harry, who was sitting on a desk, his legs swinging back and forth nervously.

"It's about my…er…" Harry paused, not sure what to call what he wanted to talk to them about. Sexual orientation or relationship, which one first?

"Whom you're going out with?" Hermione asked shrewdly, her eyes dancing with amusement. Ron started coughing violently from where he was standing.

"Sort of." Harry answered. "You okay there, Ron?"

"If you're going out with my sister, Harry, I don't want to know." Ron said, shaking himself as if to get rid of an unwelcome thought.

"I'm not, actually. I'm not going to go out with Ginny ever again." Harry answered, looking carefully at Ron for his reaction. His best friend only looked a bit befuddled, before he pulled a chair out to sit beside Hermione.

"What do you mean? I thought you guys were going to get back together when everything was over?" Rona asked, gesturing around the room. Harry sighed.

"I realised a few things once I had a moment to think by myself." Harry answered cryptically. Hermione was peering at him in a way that told him that she would have the answer in seconds.

"Is this anything to do with you accepting your title as Lord Black?" Hermione asked. "And Neville accepting his as Lord Longbottom?"

"That helped."

"Come on, mate, we don't have all day, and you're starting to sound like Dumbledore with all these mysterious replies!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Can't you tell that Harry's nervous, Ron?" Hermione hissed. "Come on, Harry, we've been through hell and come back out of it alive together. We've slept in the same bed, you and me; no not that way, Ron, don't be obtuse, we were getting over the fact you left us ("Oh," Ron said, at loss for words). And we've told each other pretty much everything. We're not about to leave you now."

"To be honest, it makes my life loads easier if you're not going out with Gin." Ron observed. "Means I don't get conflicting feelings – should I kill him for going out with my sister or let him off because he's my best mate?"

"Thanks for being so magnanimous, Ron." Harry said dryly. Ron rolled his eyes in Harry's direction.

"So what is it?" Hermione asked.

"I'm gay and I'm in a relationship." Harry rushed out.

There was a very palpable silence in the room. Ron looked utterly flabbergasted, and Hermione looked like she was trying to work out how she had never known this before now. Harry was extremely tense and looking at his friends for any reaction other than surprise.

"That was unexpected." Ron finally said. Hermione chuckled and stood up, walking over to Harry. She pushed him over and sat down beside him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"We're not going to stop being your friends. What were you scared of?" she asked.

"You weren't going to be my friends any longer." Harry mumbled. Ron snorted from where he was sitting.

"That's unlikely." A thought seemed to occur to him. "You haven't had a crush on me, have you?"

"Nah, don't worry." Harry waved him off.

"I don't know whether to be offended or not." Ron said, looking at Hermione for answers. She ignored him and turned back to Harry.

"Who's your boyfriend, then?" she asked.

"Neville." Harry whispered. Ron started choking.

"I was in a dorm with two gay people?" he coughed out.

"Four, actually. Dean and Seamus are going out together."

"Dear Merlin, thank goodness I only found out now." Ron had gone very red in the face.

"You and Neville?" Hermione enquired gently. Harry's face broke into a beaming smile, something neither of them had seen for a long time.

"Yeah," Harry breathed. "He's great; we understand each other perfectly. He's such an amazing person. I can't believe I never noticed him earlier."

"I'm really pleased for you, Harry, I really am. You deserve this and much more."

"Wonder how Ginny's going to take it?" Ron asked rhetorically.

Ginny digested the information very, very slowly. Her eyes looked everywhere except at Harry before they finally rested on him again. She raised an eyebrow and clutched her wand very tightly in her hand.

"You're going out with Neville?" she asked.

"Yes." Harry replied softly. He was standing in front of her, looking like he was expecting her to hex him.

"How long?"

"About two weeks." Harry answered, swallowing.

"Were you leading me on?" Ginny asked angrily.

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "No, Ginny, not at all. I didn't…I mean, I honestly thought you were it for me. But you're not, and I'm sorry that I…well…that I left you hanging for so long after this whole mess ended. I was sorting myself out…and…oh Ginny, we'd never have worked together."

Ginny looked straight at her ex-boyfriend. She loved him, she knew that very clearly. Harry had been her everything for months, the reason she had hung on to hope. Looking at him now, she saw someone who was hurting, angry and in great need of someone who understood him deeply. She saw the way responsibility weighed down on his shoulders. Then she smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. She felt him freeze up before he tentatively hugged her back. She leant her head on his chest, feeling the muscle and strength beneath her.

"The War changed you and me both. There's things that you have to deal with that I can't fathom and that Neville can obviously do better." She said. "Being your girlfriend would have been hard, but not impossible. I do still love you, Harry, and it will take me a while to get over you."

"I'm really sorry, Ginny, I really am." He kissed the top of her head and she laughed against him chest, briefly.

"Only you would feel guilty about finding happiness."

"I'm feeling guilty because I've caused you pain, Ginny. If only I'd worked myself out sooner…"

"Don't start now, Harry James. I know you, and you were the best boyfriend I ever had while I was at school. You were kind, loyal and understanding. And I can't ask for much else. It's difficult, yes, and it's going to take a while. But I'm old enough to know and understand that life's difficult, life's hard and you're not going to get everything you ever wanted." Ginny pushed herself up a bit and kissed his cheek. "I had some of the best times looking over our memories together during the War. But you're in good hands with Neville. I'd know; he and I were the leaders of the resistance in Hogwarts. So I trust you've done the right thing because I know he'd never hurt me intentionally."

"Thank you, Gin. You've no idea how much your acceptance means to me." Harry whispered, breathing out in relief.

"I'm not a child, Harry, and you're not an object I can possess. You've your own thoughts and feelings and if we'd have ended up hating each other if you found out you were gay when were going out. You've saved us a lot of trouble."

"Should I be worried?" asked a teasing voice from the doorway. Neville was leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest, watching Harry and Ginny's embrace with an easy smile. They both jumped apart with guilty smiles.

"I was saying goodbye to my boyfriend, you idiot." Ginny replied. Neville pushed himself off the door and walked into the room to stand in front of Ginny.

"You're not annoyed? Angry? Do you want to punch me?" he asked.

"I want to punch you and Harry for not sorting yourselves out earlier! My goodness, you'd have saved us an awful lot of trouble." Ginny teased, hugging him tightly and then letting him go. "You take care of Harry; he's my brother now so I have sisterly rights to killing you if you injure him."

"I'll keep that in mind," Neville nodded seriously, walking over to Harry and taking his hand, kissing the palm of it. Ginny smiled softly.

"You'll be good for each other," she murmured to herself as Neville's arm went around Harry's shoulders and they smiled a secret smile at each other. "You'll be better for him than I ever could have been."

A/N: Now wasn't that sensible? I've already got these all written, and because I know that Harry/Neville's not a very popular or well-known pairing, I'm just going to muddle my way through updating this. It should make a certain amount of sense, but don't worry if it doesn't. These are mainly to keep me happy. I love writing sappy pairings.