Disclaimer: Harry Potter and friends are the creation of J.K. Rowling.
"Do you remember the Hogsmeade weekends?" asks Neville, and everyone laughs and joshes him that they don't, not at all.
Although it's ten years on and much of it does feel like a blur, they still can't just forget Hogsmeade. The way the freezing wind of winter chipped away at them as they fought through it to the Three Broomsticks, where they'd buy some butterbeer that would warm them right up from the inside (only to start freezing again when they went straight back out into the cold), is not something that easily leaves someone, especially when they're filled with the nostalgia that comes when people look back at their school days. They'd all looked forward to going to Hogsmeade, and though the excitement they'd felt about it then now seems as silly as laughing at someone tripping over a banana, they can't forget it.
Harry certainly can't, and even through all the teasing, Neville's looking straight at him, wanting to know his answer.
Well, of course Harry remembers Hogsmeade, from the horrible feeling of everyone being there when he wasn't to the horrible day when he, Ron and Hermione had been saved from the dementors there by Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth. He wonders why Neville is asking him so seriously.
He's never been good at figuring this stuff out, though, and the bright flames of the far too many candles in the restaurant are starting to give him a headache, so he just shrugs and says, "Yeah, I do."
The meet-up of all their old school friends ends soon after and Harry and Neville stumble out, a little drunk. "Want us to go to ours?" asks Ginny, meaning she and Hannah want to go to Harry and Ginny's place for the night. They've had enough of these get-togethers to know that he and Neville like a little time to themselves sometimes, and they like the time together, too, so parting now seems quite natural.
This time, rather than heading to a different kind of drinking establishment, Neville and Harry end up at Neville and Hannah's flat. He says he has plenty of things that are stronger than butterbeer, and tonight, they've both found the reminiscing a little harder than it has been in a while. Perhaps there was something in the wine they had with dinner, but it's no matter. Somewhere between Harry knocking over Neville's vase of fresh roses and them opening the bottle number lost count of they slump casually onto Neville's two-seater sofa, sitting upright at either end of it, their legs entangled anyhow. They're somehow back on the subject of Hogsmeade, and in the midst of their drunken conversation Neville says, "I always wanted to go with you, you know, Harry..."
And Harry stares. "What? Like a date?"
And Neville laughs and says, "Don't be stupid. I just wished we could have been better friends."
And Harry laughs, too, though it's not funny. "You'd probably've been a better date than Cho, though... she just cried all the time, back then..."
"Seriously, I really miss those days Harry," Neville says, remarkably not slurring. "The bad things don't seem so bad from my perspective on them now... I s'pose if me then could see us now, I'd feel better."
"...Yeah," agrees Harry once he's worked out what Neville meant with that last bit. "Yeah, we're doing great. Everything's over - now we have our families and can just move on."
But his smile is a little too strained, and who are they fooling with their laughter, anyway?
If there was something in the wine they drank tonight, then that restaurant must be pretty dodgy, because what happens next has happened before. Sometimes they feel emotions that they can't take to their wives, and this solution is convenient; tonight is the fifth time, and the fact that it's no longer just their legs that are entangled seems quite natural.
The next morning the hangover will keep any guilt they might feel over it at bay.
The only thing they'll regret is breaking the vase. It was Hannah's favourite.
A/N: This is a response to a challenge visions of a scarlet night gave me last year, to write a Neville/Harry with the following prompts: candlelight, bananas, trip to Hogsmeade, roses, butterbeer, "Everyone is at Hogsmeade."
I don't know whether you would have liked this, Alex, but I guess it's my own fault that now I'll never know. I'm sorry that I took for granted that you would be here to read this the moment when I decided it would be convenient for me to post it. I'm sorry if I took you for granted at all, and I think I must have done because I didn't know how much you meant to me until you left.
I would have loved to hear your thoughts on this... now I'll never know.
Regardless... This fic was, is, and always will be written for you.