A/N: I'm going through a crazy Neville/Hannah phase right now. I don't know why. But they won't leave me alone.

Guess what? I don't own Harry Potter.

Happy and Hopeful

Ginny and Luna sat on a couch in the Room of Requirement, waiting for Neville so they could discuss D.A. plans. One problem: Neville was late. And late could only mean bad news.

"Do you think he's all right?" Luna asked anxiously.

"He's only five minutes late. Give it a little while."

The two girls were silent for maybe thirty seconds.

"You're worried, aren't you?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah."

A few more seconds. Then Luna said, "We'll give him until eight-forty five. If he's still late, we get a search party."

"Sounds good," Ginny said. Rather than stare at the clock for the next ten minutes, she summoned a book off the shelf and opened it just as Neville came running in.

"Sorry," Neville panted. "Got caught up in something."

Luna and Ginny glanced at him, checking for fresh wounds. Seeing none, Ginny smirked. "What do you think he got caught up in, Luna?" she asked.

"Obviously not one of the Carrows or Snape, or he'd be injured. So it must have been—"

"Hannah's tongue." Ginny set her still-open book down on the table.

Neville choked and Luna frowned. "Well, I was going to say a Bubble-Headed Colrag. But I suppose Hannah's tongue is plausible too."

Neville protested, "No, I was not snogging Hannah! I was doing Tranfigu—"

Ginny's smile was becoming more and more pronounced. Neville gave up.

"There was no tongue involved," he said stiffly.

"AH-HA!" she yelled triumphantly. "So are you officially together yet?"

* * * * *

"Hannah? Hannah, what's wrong?" He had run across the girl he'd had a crush on since his fourth year crying in the hallway on his way to meeting Luna and Ginny.

"I can't do this. This is for brave people—like you and Ginny and Luna and Harry—not me. I can't do this!"

"Do what?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her into an empty classroom, unwilling for either of them to be caught out of bed after curfew by a Death Eater.

"This whole…bravery thing. I had detention today and…" she swallowed. "They were there."

Neville sucked in his breath. He knew who "they" were: dementors that the Carrows would place into a roomful of students that needed to be punished.

"But didn't you make a Patronus?"

She shook her head and cried harder. Neville gave her an awkward hug.

"I—I couldn't. It wouldn't come…and I was at Mum's funeral…and finding my dad about to Avada Kedavra himself…and Merlin, Neville, I couldn't make one! The damn thing almost made me lose consciousness! I would have been gone if Dennis Creevey wasn't there! And then Dad would definitely kill himself"—and now she was almost beyond hysterics— "and I can't do this, I can't, Neville!"

Neville had never really been good with hysterical females. But he couldn't leave Hannah alone.

"Yes, you can, Hannah. You're much braver than you think you are." Hannah had now managed to completely soak his T-shirt.

There was a shuddering hiccup. Then a small voice. "Really?"

"Really, Hannah. You're a great witch. Even the best sometimes can't beat a dementor. Did you know that the first time Harry met a dementor, he fainted?"

Hannah looked at him. "He did?"

"He did. Do you think he's weak?"

"No. Of course not."

"Then you're not weak either. Just too hard on yourself. If you really work on your Patronus, I'm sure you can make it good enough to last through detentions. You have to think of a really, really happy thing."

Hannah's eyes shone. "Wow," she said. "Thanks, Neville. You're a great friend." And she kissed him on the cheek. "I should go," she said, her cheeks turning red. "I don't want the Carrows to catch me." She left the room.

Neville sat on the desk for the next ten minutes, shell-shocked. Had she really kissed him, or was it just his imagination?

* * * * *

Neville looked up and realized that he'd just spilled it all out without meaning to. "So you see," he said, "it was nothing more than a friendly, thanks-for-being-there-for-me kiss."

"I dunno," Ginny said. "I've cried all over you a few times this year, and I never kissed you."

"Nor have I," Luna said. "And I would say Ginny and I are pretty good representatives of the average teenage girl."

Neville glanced at what each girl had been reading before he came in. Luna had the latest issue of The Quibbler, and Ginny's book was open to The Minotaur's Curse (Make your enemies hear everything in ancient Greek!)

"I would disagree," Neville said.

Ginny snickered. "I would too. But really, Neville, go after her. She'll make you happy."

"But the meeting—"

"We'll do it tomorrow night. If you're not too busy," she grinned.

Neville took a deep breath. "Okay."

* * * * *

Five minutes later, Neville was sneaking back into the empty classroom. Hannah was there, as he'd known she would be, surrounded by silvery Golden Retrievers.

"Hannah?"

She turned, wand aloft, and gave a relieved smile when she saw it was Neville. "Hey. What's going on?"

"I wanted to talk to you," he muttered, staring at her forehead rather than her brown eyes, the brown eyes that were his very favorite thing about her appearance.

"Oh," she said, a blush creeping into her cheeks again, highlighting the dried tearstains. "Is it about the kiss? 'Cause I'm sorry, Neville, I didn't mean to make you feel awkward, it was just kind of a reflex—"

"No, Hannah. It's not about that. Well, it is, but it isn't."

"Huh?"

Neville took a deep breath. Good Godric, was he bad at this. "I like you, Hannah," he finally managed. He winced inwardly. Could I be any more awkward? he wondered.

Hannah was silent. Then, "You…like…me? Like, like-like?"

"Umm..you know what? Never mind. Ignore me." Mortified, he turned to go.

Suddenly, Hannah turned him around and was pressing her lips to his. He responded, wrapping her arms around him. When they separated, Hannah had the most gigantic grin on her face.

"Neville, do you know what I think of when I make my Patronuses? I think of you. You're one of the few people who has always been there, no matter what, and I love you for that."

Neville smiled and threaded his fingers through hers. "You make me happy, Hannah."

"And you make me hopeful."

The End

A/N: Please review. And if you want to read my versions of their wedding and the birth of their first child, please visit my profile. And with the way things are going, expect another Neville/Hannah story soon. Lol.