Damages
There's a lot of cleanup to be done, now that the war is won. The Auror department is supposed to be tracking down the known Death Eaters and finishing what Harry started, but Neville still takes the occasional off day to help with the reconstruction—there are a number of committees without nearly enough volunteers, and he and his grandmother know what it's like to struggle unsupported. He knows he's endangering his new prestige in the Ministry, but he doubts he'll stay there for long: too many headlines and not enough people to reach out to, if you ask him.
So it's with haste that he accepts Luna's request—who would he be to ignore a friend's troubles? She doesn't ask for anyone else's help, though the rook-house is in shambles and it'll take a lot more than a few Reparos to undo the damage—nobody's but Neville's. For once, it makes him feel wanted—needed, even, if he's pushing his luck.
Since the end of the war and disbandment of the D.A., he hasn't felt very necessary, if at all.
The place has been reduced to a crumbling structure, just a half-frame of a house with a few pieces intact. It's worse that way, Neville thinks, seeing the irretrievable remnants of what's been lost; it's a slap in the face, a bitter reminder of the damage done.
The living room takes longest, but to Neville, Luna's bedroom is the worst of it. Her ceiling has caved in, as have the portraits he never saw in better days; the "friends" link connects them no more, and he feels defeated, even as they reconstruct the room.
They broke the rules—Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione. It was always supposed to be the six of them, together with Neville and Luna, not split up by marriage and halfway paired off. Ginny may lessen the blow of breaking the trio to Harry, but as Neville stares at Luna across her bedroom ruins, their portraits shattered and separated, he can't feel anything but empty.
It's not the real issue, though, Neville knows that much. It's everyone together, and him—alone.
He's already had his moment in the sun.
A/N: I'm taking a short break from Darkly to reevaluate before I start revising Part Two, if you've been wondering why I've been putting up so many one-shots lately. I feel like this one is a little rusty—I wrote it really fast and haven't edited—but I'll be doing enough editing in the near future that this doesn't bother me quite as much as it should. Review, please?