I'll Remember

Neville stared at the dusty shelf, a shelf that he hadn't gone near for years now, a shelf that housed all of his memories from the year after the battle, the year that he was with her.

"Come to bed, Neville." His wife, Hannah called from their room.

"Just a minute," Neville called back, "I've got to get ready for work tomorrow." It was a lie. He was already ready for work, in fact, he was getting ready for work when he stumbled across the shelf under the stairs where he had stored all of the pictures and memories of that wonderful year. He could feel tears rushing to his eyes as he looked at the two of them, smiling out of the photographs and waving at the camera and he knew that the tears weren't from the dust that had accumulated there over the years.

He reached out a hand and picked up a picture, the same picture that had resided on their mantel when they'd lived together. He blew off the dust and stared down at the two people in the picture. If you compared the picture to the same two people today, then you never would be able to guess that they had once dated.

She was married to a member of the Department of regulation and control of magical creatures with twin boys that would be about six now, and he was married to the landlady of the leaky cauldron, with a daughter, Alice who would be eight in a few months.

As her prominent blue eyes stared up at him from the photograph, he couldn't help but smile as a tear ran down his cheek as she hugged him from behind. He hadn't seen himself as happy as he was in that picture for years now. He wished he could see her one more time, just to apologise.

"I don't think it's such a good idea for us to be together any more, Luna." Neville said, looking at the ground. Luna blinked at him, confused. "It's just my Gran is really sick, my mother is dead and my dad is going the same way, we have no money and your dad doesn't really approve of us being together. I just think that we should go our separate ways." Neville looked at Luna tentatively, waiting for her reaction.

"I've been thinking the same thing for a while now." Luna said, staring at Neville, her round blue eyes boring holes in his skull. "It's been wonderful, and so have you, but I think it's time for both of us to move on."

"I'm glad that you understand." Neville said, a tear coming to his eye. "I want you to know that I really do love you."

"And I, you," Luna replied, "but you can do so much better than me."

"and you, me." Neville said.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then." Luna said, a tear escaping her eye and rolling down her cheeks. "You are a beautiful person, Neville and I really hope you find someone who deserves you."

"I'll always love you, no matter what." Neville said, "It may not always be romantically, but you were my first love, and first loves are forever."

He leaned in to kiss her, a short goodbye kiss, something for her to treasure now and forevermore but to his surprise, she pulled away.

"I can't," she said, "If I kiss you, I'm not going to want to go and I'll never be able to move on."

"I understand." Neville said, trying to hide the fact that he was disappointed, "I'll miss you."

"I'll always remember you." Luna said, picking up her suitcase which she had already packed before Neville had broken the news to her. "Godspeed"

"Goodbye." He said softly, as the door shut behind her.

Tears rolled down Neville's face as he remembered that night. He thought about Luna from time to time, remembering the love that she gave him, the way that she saved him from the darkness that had threatened to eat him up in the months after the battle.

Even now, years later he had stayed true to his promise, to always love her, despite who he met. He loved her, not romantically, because Hannah would always have his heart, but as a very close friend that wasn't in his life anymore.

He had learned to let go of the illusions that he possessed of her coming back to him for one last kiss. He had never really been afraid to cry, and he had plenty of reasons to cry before, but now seemed an appropriate moment for tears. He slipped the picture out of its frame and placed it in his pyjama pocket.

He wondered if she remembered him and still thought of him fondly like he did, her. Or weather she had forgotten about him completely.

"Are you ready yet, Neville." He heard Hannah call again.

"Almost," He said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. "I can't find my wand."

"It's on your bedside table." Hannah said, foiling his plan to stay under the stairs and look at the rest of the pictures of him and Luna, to remember.

"Oh, I'll be right up." He said, setting the empty frame back on the dusty shelf, and whispering, "I'll remember." As if Luna could hear him, he hoped that wherever she was that she could.

AN: For Sparkling Souls 'Songfic Challenge', HedwigBlack's 'Almost Kiss' competition, 'WeasleySeeker's Flashback competition' and Gamma Orionis' 'OTP Bootcamp Challenge' with the prompt whisper

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Potter on

~The Original Horcrux~