Summer was for visiting my grandmother – it always had been. Even now, at 18, it was still the same. I had arrived last night, tugging my suitcase behind me and ready to occupy her spare room for the next couple of weeks until I packed to head off to university.

"Is anyone in?" a masculine voice called out. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly; that voice sounded awfully familiar but I couldn't quite place where I had heard it.

Heading towards the front door, I was greeted by the sight of a man who was standing rather awkwardly on the doorstep. I cleared my throat, not letting myself get thrown by how handsome the man was – he was a stranger who had decided it was perfectly alright for him to walk into my grandmother's home. I had told grandma a countless number of times that just because you lived in the countryside, it didn't mean that it was alright for her to leave her front door unlocked. But the stubborn woman never listened, claiming that everyone in the small village knew her and knew not to cross her.

"Can I help you?" I asked, crossing my arms as I assessed the admittedly handsome stranger, eyes trailing calculating up and down his form.

"I'm looking for Mrs Taylor?" he trailed off, raising his eyes to mine and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. My name left his lips, startling me. "Is that you?"

"How do you know –"

"Neville, my dear," I heard grandma call as she walked in from the garden, instantly making her way to the front door. She embraced the stranger, or perhaps, the not so unfamiliar man. "I'm glad your grandmother sent you over."

"She said you needed some help," he explained, eyes drifting over towards me as he spoke.

Grandma looked between the two of us with a mysterious smile. "Why don't leave you two to catch up?" She patted my cheek as she headed further inside the house and called from over her shoulder, "Come and find me when you're finished."

"I thought you needed his help," I protested, not quite able to wrap my head around the fact that this man was Neville Longbottom of all people.

"It can wait."

"Right," I agreed, looking back to Neville and gesturing for him to come in. "Would you like some tea or something?"

"That would be great." He cleared his throat, following me as I headed into the kitchen. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages?"

"Grandma spent the last couple of summers in my house," I explained, switching the kettle on as I moved around the kitchen. Neville leaned against the counter, watching me as I moved around the kitchen. Right, the tea. Clearing my throat, I said quietly, "I almost didn't recognise you."

"I have changed a bit," he said a little shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I'm still me, still the same Neville."

"You're right, you are," I agreed, putting a tea bag into each of the cups and pouring the boiling water into them. He might have looked a little different, but his mannerisms were still the same. He was still the same old Neville. "Although," I eyed the healing scar on his forehead, "I am a little curious about how you got that scar."

"This thing," he trailed off, hand rising to cover the scar that disappeared into his hairline. "It's nothing."

"What's the matter?" I teased, stirring some sugar into each cup, "Did you get into a fight or something?"

"Something like that," he agreed solemnly, taking me by surprise. Adding milk to the tea, I handed Neville's off to him and watched as he brought himself back to reality. Smiling self-consciously at me, he raised the cup to his lips.

"So," I dragged out the word to think of a safer topic to guide the conversation back to. "You've graduated from that boarding school right?" He nodded his head as I leaned against the counter beside him, turning to face him. "What's the plan for after school then?"

"I'm thinking of becoming a police officer, of sorts."

I furrowed my eyebrows, realising how cautiously he had shrugged the sentence together. "Police officer?" I repeated with a hum, "I always considered him more of a teacher."

"A teacher?" He shrugged, "Maybe eventually. What about you? What's your plan?"

"My plan?" I took a sip of my cooling tea, "I'm heading off to university at the end of summer."

"To study what?"

"To become a vet." Setting my cup aside, I raised my eyes curiously to his, "I've always loved animals – the same way you love your plants. And speaking of your plants, are you still learning about them?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, "They've become more of a hobby." Draining the last of his tea, he set his cup down on the counter, "Thanks for the tea, I should probably get around to helping you grandma."

"Did you remember me now?" Grandma asked as she walked into the kitchen, eyeing the cups on the counter, "And you didn't even make your grandma some tea? You see a handsome man and forget all about me?"

"That's not it," I protested, watching the way grandma shared a wink with Neville who flushed a little.

"Well, I can't have you keeping him to yourself – I need him to do some heavy lifting for me." With that, grandma looped her arm through his and started to pull him out of the kitchen.

"I guess I'll catch up with you later?" he asked from over his shoulder, "Maybe we can get a drink or something?"

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed, seeing the way grandma grinned at me. I decided not to bring it up any further.

Only, the chance to get a drink or do anything with Neville was suddenly snatched away from me. He headed into London the very next day for the training required to become the 'sort of' police officer. Grandma had asked me to send some homemade jam over to Augusta Longbottom's house where I had overheard her saying to someone that he was going through his 'auror' training.

Whatever that was.

I ran into Neville, coincidentally yet again, two years later following our first reunion. It had been completely by chance, I had been at the village post office, gathering grandma's parcels when I had bumped into someone. The parcel went tumbling from my hands, almost falling to the floor only to land into the arms of the person I had bumped into.

"I'm so sorry," I apologised, looking up into the face of the man who had caught the parcel. "Neville?"

"It's good to see you again," he said with a grin, refusing to hand the parcel to me when I moved to take it back from him. "I'm guessing that this is important?"

"It's grans," I explained, dropping into step beside him as we walked out of the post office and towards our grandmother's homes. "It's something that she's been waiting for, for a while and if I dropped it and it's something important then she'll kill me."

He nodded in understanding, "Grandma's can be a bit ruthless."

"They can." I glanced up at him, quirking an eyebrow, "So, how's your training going then?"

"Ah, I decided that being a police officer isn't for me." He grinned boyishly, stealing some of the breath right from me. "I've taking your advice actually, I had an interview for a teaching position at my old school – I'm just waiting to hear back from them."

"I'm sure you'll get it." Setting a hand on his arm, I squeezed it reassuringly, "You'll be a very talented teacher."

"What about you then? You've just finished your second year of university?" I nodded, smiling in greeting to some of the village inhabitants as we turned into the street that grandma lived on. Neville looked down at me, asking with slight hesitance, "So you're here for the whole summer then?"

"That's the plan. I'm going to be here to help gran for most of the holiday."

"Me too."

I looked up at Neville, raising an eyebrow, "Are you sure? You ran off without a word last time."

He looked a little ashamed, adjusting his hold on the parcel. "I didn't have time to tell anyone. I needed to get back to London quickly and –"

"Relax Neville." I rolled my eyes, nudging him slightly. "I was only teasing you."

"I kept wanting to contact you," he went on to explain, ducking his head slightly when I glanced up at him. "But then one thing after another kept popping up and I couldn't. Then there was something else that I needed to deal with and then I needed to change careers and then –"

"You don't need to explain it to me," I insisted as we came to a stop in front of grandma's house. Crossing my arms, I eyed him playfully. "I know that you're just trying to let me down easily."

He was growing increasingly flustered, colour creeping up his cheeks, "That's not it, at all I –"

"I'm sorry," I said amidst giggles, "I can't keep teasing you or you might have a heart attack or something. Anyway, if you're here for a while then I guess I'll see you again sometime."

"Definitely," he said softly, grinning down at me rather endearingly. "I was thinking about that before I came back home, maybe –"

"Yes?" I prompted when he trailed off. From the way that he was speaking and the way he was suddenly avoiding my eyes, I had an idea of what he was going to go on to say. Now if only those words or something similar would leave his mouth, then we could arrange something.

"The thing is," he stopped abruptly again, tilting his head downwards to look at his shoes.

"Neville?" I ducked down a little, bringing my eyes in level with his. "What is it you want to say?"

"The last time I was here, we couldn't follow through with our plans," he trailed off, leaving he meaning hanging and waiting for me to fill in the rest.

But I was having fun seeing him squirm a little. What could I say; it was charming and reminded me so much of the boy that I spent my childhood summers with. This Neville standing in front of me looked a little different from that boy, he had a different aura from him, but through and through he was still that fumbling boy. Only in a more confident package.

"And what plans were they?"

"We agreed to go for drinks?" he cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "Unless you don't want to go for a drink anymore?"

"No, I do," I assured him with a smile, holding my arms out for the parcel. He handed the parcel off to me, the smile on his face growing, "But let's actually set up a date this time so you can't bail of me again."

"I won't," he stated firmly with a grin that was overwhelming infectious. "How about I pick you up on Friday at 4?"

"It sounds like a date," I agreed, stepping towards him to close the distance between us.

Rising to my toes, I pressed a kiss to his cheeks before hurrying up the path and into my grandma's home. I glanced out of the window to see Neville tuck his hands into his pockets and head off with a grin.

Neville Longbottom – who would've thought?

Neville arrived at grandma's doorstep on Friday, at 7 on the dot to take me away. Alright, so maybe he had arrived a little early and grandma had pulled him inside the house and teasingly told him that being seen as eager wasn't always a good thing and he had been held hostage by my grandma until exactly 4 o'clock.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked, peering into the front room where Neville was sat beside my grandma, discussing something.

"I guess I'll have to relinquish your date back to you," grandma said with the a teasingly smile, patting Neville on his knee as she rose to her feet. "I can't remember the last time a handsome man came to visit me with flowers."

"You got me flowers?" I asked as grandma drifted past me. Neville rose to his feet, holding up said flowers in his hand.

"I didn't know if they're still you're favourite," he said a little sheepishly, extending the bouquet towards me, "But they were your favourite when we were younger."

"Oh, they're beautiful," I grinned, taking the flowers from him and raising them to my nose. "They're still my favourite. I'm slightly shocked you still remember that."

"Why would I forget?" He rubbed the back of his neck, colour rising to his cheeks. Clearing his throat a little, he brought his eyes back to mine, "Maybe we should get going?"

"Give me a second, let me just put these in some water."

I left the room momentarily to put the flowers into a vase that was filled with water. Setting the flowers on the kitchen counter, I walked back into the front room to find Neville with his back to the door. Clearing my throat to announce my presence, it was obvious that I startled Neville who hurried to return something to his pocket. Dismissing my curiosity, I smiled at him as he turned to face me.

"Should we go then? I'm worried that gran might walk down the stairs with something else to say that'll only embarrass the both of us."

"That's a fair shout," he agreed as he walked towards me, offering his hand when he came to a stop beside me.

I looked down at his hand for a moment before putting my hand in his. Neville grinned at the action, linking out fingers and then we were off. Walking out of the house, we walked in a leisurely pace down the street.

"I thought you might prefer to walk," he explained as we passed his car, "Take a look around as we walk towards the coffee shop?"

"You thought right." I smiled, looking up at him, "I'm so used to walking into town that it'd be weird to take the car."

"I'm glad I got it right." His relief was obvious and I laughed a little in response, wondering why he was so nervous about. Giving him a smile, I swung out joined hands as we walked into town. "I was walking through town yesterday and saw that our favourite coffee shop was still open and –"

"Stop second-guessing everything," I nudged him, watching the way he chuckled a little self-consciously at my words. "You're probably the man that knows me the best and I trust you, so just relax a little Neville and try to have fun?"

"I have fun whenever I'm around you," he admitted, giving me a little shove in return. "I think that's what was the hardest part about being away from home for school – you weren't there."

"Well who told you to go to an invitation only boarding school?"

"Well maybe it was better that way," he trailed off, seeing the curious look I was giving him. "If we went to school together then maybe you would still be seeing me as a friend?"

"You clearly had no idea about the massive crush I had on you when we were children," I remarked casually as we headed into the coffee shop.

"You had a crush on me?" he repeated incredulously as we sat down at a table. "Really? How did I never notice?"

"What can I say? You were a really oblivious child," I shrugged as one of the waitresses approached us to take our order.

After placing our order, Neville hesitated, hand hovering over my hand that was resting across the table top. I raised my eyes to his, silently prompting him to take action. He took the hint, settling is hand on top of mine.

He let out a deep chuckle, shaking his head slightly, "Godric, I must have been completely oblivious."

I watched him curiously, "Godric?"

Neville, as if caught making a big blunder, winced and shook his head as if to wipe it away. He squeezed my hand, smiling at me. "It's nothing."

"Then why does it seem like it's something?" I teased, trying to ease him a little.

"Maybe because it is something?" he said quietly, eyes dropping to the table as I pondered over his two contradictory statements, "But I can't tell you yet."

"Don't bother giving me that apologetic look." I rolled my eyes as he started playing my fingers, "You were always so secretive about your school so I'm just going to assume it's got something to do with that."

"It does."

"Then I won't pry."

He smiled, clearly relieved as he looked up at me from beneath his eyelashes. "I will tell you everything eventually. We just need to be a little more serious and then I can tell you everything."

"I'll wait a while then."

"Good." He grinned, pulling his hand away from mine as our drinks were brought to our table. "Because I plan on being with you for a very long time."

I couldn't help but giggle when he grew flustered by his own admission. "It's alright Neville – I plan on being with you for a long time too."

He only grew further flustered, ducking his head to hide the red that assaulted his cheeks. It didn't work, I could see it all. Or rather, I could see his flaming ears.

"Neville?" Reaching across the bed, the mattress was still warm from where he had been lying down only moments ago. Sitting up, I pressed my back against the headboard and rubbed my sleep filled eyes. Looking around the room, I frowned, not seeing him anywhere in sight.

Sliding off the bed, I headed towards my bedroom door, ready to search for my boyfriend who had disappeared in the middle of the night. Snagging my night gown from behind the door, I tied it around my waist as I padded through the apartment. Smothering a yawn, I furrowed my eyebrows when I saw him standing in front of the door to my new apartment, waving a stick of some sort in the air.

What the hell was he doing with a stick?

With a small sigh, I walked towards Neville, pressing my hand between his shoulder blades. He jumped as if startled, rushing to hide the stick behind his back and the action was reminded me of our first date where he had done the same thing.

"What are you doing in the middle of the night?" I asked quietly, yawning again.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked, leading me back towards the bedroom.

"I believe I asked you first," I pointed out.

"I had a nightmare," he said dismissively, as we walked into the room.

Shrugging out of my nightgown, I hung it up and asked over my shoulder, "Again? Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, sliding into bed with his back against the headboard and patting the space beside him. Walking towards the bed, I settled into bed, mirroring his posture.

"Neville?"

"It was nothing special." he assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you," I paused, biting my bottom lip as I turned into his side.

"What is it?" He peered down at me.

"The – the stick you carry around with you, what is it?" he tensed at my words before taking a deep breath to release the tension from him.

"I was going to tell you eventually but I might as well tell you now," he said the words quietly, shifting away from me slightly to pull the same stick out of his pyjama pockets. He held the stick out for me to see and I realised that it was unlike any stick that I had seen before.

"Neville, this is –"

"It's my wand," he said slowly, eyes glued to my face to gauge my reaction.

"You're joking," I exclaimed, all of my sleepiness leaving me.

"Yeah, I am," he said weakly and I pushed away from him.

"You had better tell me the truth right now, Neville Longbottom," I warned, eyes narrowed.

"The truth is that I'm a wizard and that this is my wand."

"Let's say that I believe you for a second," I started slowly, "Then what the hell were you doing when I found you?"

"Placing protective wards," he explained steadily, "They'd alert me when someone unwelcome steps into your apartment and I'd apparate over in a heartbeat."

"Protective wards? Apparate?" Repeating the foreign words, I looked down at the wand that was lying forgotten on his lap. Raising my eyes to his, I declared, "Prove it."

He rose to the challenge, taking a hold of my wrists and pointing his wand at them. Before he could say anything else, Neville looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

"Do you trust me?" There was mischief dancing in those eyes.

"Of course I do, you stupid man."

His lips curved up into a rarely seen smirk as he pressed his wand to my wrists and whispered a quiet, "Incarcerous."

Thick rope appeared from thin air, binding my wrists together and before the surprise at seeing the ropes appeared from thin air could take over, Neville tug at my wrists. He pulled me into his chest, smiling down at me as I thumped him on the chest with my bound wrists. Releasing me moments later, he took a hold of my wrists again.

"Emancipare." Just like that, the bindings released and Neville took both of my hands. Raising my wrists to his eyes, he checked them over for any signs of chafing.

I pulled my wrists away from him and the action made him raise his eyes to mine. Swallowing soundlessly, I settled down for the beginning of a long tale. "I want the full story. From the very beginning."

Neville complied, explaining a new world to me as best as he could. He spoke of magic, wizards and a boy with a scar. He told me of a war that he'd been forced to fight whilst he was nothing more than a child and I knew then, without him telling me, where the scar that spanned across the whole of his back had come from.

"So," he said eventually once he had explained it all to me. "What do you think?"

"I always knew you were one of the bravest men in my life," I said eventually, taking his hand in mine and pressing a kiss to the back of it.

"I'm really not –"

"You fought in a war at the age of 18, led a resistance group against the 'death eaters' who tried to take your school from you and overthrew one of the darkest wizards of all time."

"It was the right thing to do," he shrugged, making me roll my eyes.

"Only you would reduce the sheer bravery needed to do what you did and dismiss it as nothing." I narrowed my eyes playfully at him, "Is there anything else you've been hiding from me?"

"No, but there is something else I need to tell you."

"I'm afraid to ask," I said with a sigh, gesturing to the wand lying on the bed, "If it's to do with your wand –"

"It's more to do with my telling you about my wand – I need to head to the ministry tomorrow and register the fact that I told you about magic."

"Because you're not supposed to tell me?"

He nodded, "That and there's consequences that I need to explain. If we happen to split up – I risk the chance of having my wand snapped and my magic bound."

"But that's horrific. It's all because you told me about magic?"

"The magical community is very strict on who does and doesn't find out about magic." He cleared his throat, "There's also a chance that you'll be obliviated and any memory you have of magic, of me, will be wiped away."

"So it seems like we're in this for the long run then?" I injected lightly, understanding how severe the situation was should we ever split up. But, I didn't see that happening any time soon.

"I guess it does." He grinned suddenly, "Who knows how long it'll be until you change your surname."

My mouth parted slightly as I grabbed the pillow from behind me to hit him on the chest with it. "If this is your idea of a proposal then you'd better think again. You've told me about magic and I expect nothing less than flowers and birds to pop out of that wand of yours."

His smile grew wider as he picked up his wand, twiddling it between his fingers. His eyes stared back mischievously at mine.

"You're joking – there's spells for that?"

"Well technically one's a charm."

My final lecture of the day had come to the end and I was ready to head home and spend the rest of the day in my bed. God, I was shattered. Walking out of the building with one of my friends by my side, I chatted mindlessly to her as I pondered the welcoming prospect of going straight to sleep.

"Isn't that your boyfriend?" She asked, gesturing to a man that was leaning against a car parked outside of the building.

"It is." Looking over him curiously, I raised my eyebrows questioningly when Neville met my eyes with a smile, "But I have no idea what he's doing here."

"He's probably here to pick you up and whisk you away somewhere for the weekend." She gave a wistful sigh, heading off towards her accommodation, "I'm going to go so I don't have to play the part of the awkward third wheel."

"I'll see you on Monday," I called out to her retreating back and she waved without looking back to let me know that she'd heard me.

Turning back towards Neville, I hurried to his side. With a smile, he pushed away from the car to take my bag from me. Opening the passenger door, he gestured for me to get in and I did so without a word, eyeing him curiously.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you," I started slowly as he put my back in the trunk and settled down in the driver's seat. "But what are you doing here?"

"There's somewhere that I need to take you," he explained, putting the car into gear.

"Where is it?" I couldn't help but be curious, and the curiosity only grew more when Neville didn't answer my question. His only response was to raise my hand to my lips before he drove off. "Or can't you tell me?"

"It's not that," he denied, "I can tell you but I guess it'll be self-explanatory once we get there."

"If you say so." Eyeing him suspiciously, I turned my eyes back to the road.

We made the familiar journey to my apartment and I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. Was this the place where he needed to take me? Seeing the disappointment on my face, Neville smiled reassuringly before exiting the car and motioning for me to do the same.

"I picked you up because I knew you'd head to bed before I would arrive at your apartment and well – I wasn't going to apparate with you on a campus full of muggles."

"Apparate?" I repeated curiously as we headed inside the building and up to my apartment to dump my belongings. "So, the place where we're going is in the magical world?"

He nodded in agreement, "It's a place called St Mungo's."

"St Mungo's?" Returning to his side, I waited for him to do whatever this apparition entitled.

"It's a hospital."

"A hospital?" My eyes looked over him from head to toe, "Are you hurt? Did something happen during –"

"It's fine," he reassured me as he wrapped an arm around my waist, "I want to introduce you to someone and well, you'll see when we get there. Now, hold on tight."

I allowed Neville to apparate me away, the tugging in the pit of my stomach was an uncomfortable feeling and I came to conclusion that if I never apparated again then it would be too soon. Sticking close to Neville's side, I let him lead me towards a slightly run down department store wondering where exactly this hospital was supposed to be. But I said nothing, even when Neville prompted me to step through a bloody window. Upon arriving to the other side, my eyes widened slightly as I looked around what was clearly the hospital Neville was talking about.

He took my hand, smiling reassuringly down at me before leading me to the fourth floor. According to the sign on the wall, this floor was for Spell Damage. Neville didn't wait around for long, he led me through the floor and towards something called the Janus Thickey Ward. Stopping beside the desk in front of the ward, Neville spoke briefly to the witch behind the desk who rose to her feet and started to do something to the door.

"The door's usually locked," Neville explained before I could ask anything. "This ward – it's a long-term residence ward."

"Long-term?" I glanced curiously up at Neville who took in a deep breath, gathering himself before giving me a reassuring smile.

He squeezed my hand and I wasn't sure whether the action was meant to give me strength or an attempt to gain strength from my presence. Regardless, I squeezed his hand in return and that was it before Neville led me into the ward and we approached two of the beds. My eyes first looked over the greying man who was busy staring vacantly at the wall in front of him before turning to the woman whose hair had gone completely grey – whilst she herself looked too young for such a thing to happen. Her resemblance to Neville was striking.

I looked up at Neville, trying to confirm my suspicions when he stepped towards the older couple. "Mum, dad, I'm back."

He settled down into the chair between the two beds and gestured for me to sit down beside him. The older couple showed no signs of recognising Neville but turned to listen to him as he spoke of what he had been up to since he had last visited then – only a week ago. Taking Neville's hand, I listened to him speak, leaning my head onto his shoulder as I reflected back to what I knew of his parents.

Neville had been honest, he had told me about his parent's careers and how he had originally wished to follow in their footsteps by becoming an auror. He had told me how they had been tortured to the point of losing their minds by four death eaters on the very night that Voldemort had stolen Harry Potter's parents from him. His voice gradually trailed off and my voice took its place as I spoke to Neville's parents about what a brave man their son was and always had been.

By the time visiting hours came to an end, we rose to our feet and prepared to leave. Mrs Longbottom reached out to take Neville's hand and Neville, as if he knew what she wanted, held out his palm for her. She dropped something into his palm and whatever it was, it made his head snap up to stare into his mother's eyes. Mrs Longbottom met her son's eyes with a smile, blinking away a few tears and before I could say anything, Neville had pressed a kiss to my temple and ushered me out of the ward.

"Are you alright?" I asked cautiously as we headed towards the lifts.

"I'm fine," he assured me, looking down at whatever his mother had handed him. He held it open to my gaze, showing me his mother's engagement ring. "Actually, I think I'm perfect."

"Well," I said, my throat feeling as if it was clogged by unshed tears, "There's no flowers or birds, but this is better."

He slipped the ring onto my finger, pressing a kiss to my hand after he did so. "Really?"

I beamed up at him, rising to my toes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. "Really."