Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. The lyrics and title belong to Snow Patrol.
A/N: For DemigodWiththeBread who requested this story. If you don't like it... well I don't know if I can write this pairing again but I'll definitely write you something else. Much thanks to iscreamdrizzle who gave me the title for this story, a prompt, and lots of encouragment for this fic. Without her this fic wouldn't exsist. Thanks for listening to me whine, you're awesome for that. :D The flowers at that mark the four sections all mean something. Also, I am now offically the worst Teddy/Victoire shipper in the whole world. Reviews are appreciated. :)
Show Me a Garden That's Bursting Into Life
i. hawthorn
Victoire knows that her life had descended into a new sort of pathetic when she ends up crying in her grandparent's garden at her sister's birthday party.
It's not like she had wanted to start crying, but she couldn't help it. Teddy had, even though it had been less than two months since he had broken up with her because it was him and not her, brought his new girlfriend to the party and was acting like the past two years didn't even matter. That he didn't even care that his ex-girlfriend was going to be there. He was acting like he didn't have a care in the world and his arm had been thrown his new girlfriend- whatever her name was, Victoire didn't catch it- the whole entire time.
Eventually she hadn't been able to watch the two of them anymore, and so she had sought refuge in the one place that she felt most comfortable- the garden. Nothing there expected her to be happy, to be smiling and wishing everyone joy. In fact, the inhabitants there probably welcomed her tears.
She'd always liked gardens, where few things were expected of you and what was expected actually made sense; water, food, the occasional curse, it was nice being wanted for just a little bit. While she was in Hogwarts she used to go out to the greenhouses or the Forbidden Forest just to surround herself with plants when she knew that people wouldn't miss her. She knew that most people thought that she went out there to have some kind of tryst with some boy and Victoire had always let them think that. People would always assume the worst and it was better than them knowing that she actually just had a thing for plants. Plants were alive but they didn't assume, the breathed but they didn't speak. In reality they were perfect.
Victoire had always wanted to go into a line of work that had involved Herbology, but her mother had disapproved of it heavily and Victoire knew that she was right to do so. Jobs were few and far between when you wanted to fiddle with plants for the rest of your life. So she had taken a good job at the Ministry and had gotten herself some windowsill gardens in the flat that she had shared with Teddy.
Those were probably gone now, Teddy often forgot to feed his owl even though that could feed itself, and she knew there was no way that he remembered to water her precious plants. They were probably all withered and brown now- just like her heart. Teddy didn't take enough care with the things that were entrusted to him, he never had.
Lost in her own thoughts she barely recognized the crunching of leaves underfoot for what they were until they were right behind her. Wiping her eyes hastily Victoire turned around and offered a shaky smile. "I'm fine," she said, her stomach dropping when she realized that it wasn't Teddy after all.
It was Neville Longbottom. He looked surprised to see here there, but he didn't say anything. Victoire was surprised that she hadn't seen Hannah yet even though Neville- as he insisted they all call him once they graduated from Hogwarts- had been there from the start of Dominique's party.
Thinking about Hannah made Victoire glance down at his left hand, and she noticed that it was woefully bare. Strange. "Okay," he tells her, giving her a small smile in return. They both sit in silence for a little while before Neville finally busts out, "Do you want to come see a rogue Mandrake in your grandmother's flower plants?"
For the first time in a long time Victoire actually grins at something- and she isn't faking it either. Neville just sounds so awkward that Victoire actually finds it kind of funny. He might be a war hero, but underneath it all he's still a nerd with a fetish for plants. He doesn't seem to be what he is, which is actually eighteen years too old for her. He sounds just like a regular person, maybe even someone her age. "That sounds great." They walk in silence for a while, avoiding the tentacles and occasional weed that tries to grab at their ankles, before Neville bends down, inviting Victoire to do the same with a wave of his hand.
She's side by side with Neville, his face right next to her face. It's kind of strange how aware of that she is, even though he's so much older than she is. If Neville notices the attraction he doesn't show it. "How do you think that it got there?" Victoire finds herself asking. "Don't they usually plant themselves in groups?"
"Hmm, I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this myself. I just remembered how much you liked Herbology when you were in school. I've always wondered why you didn't choose a job that had to do with plants." Suddenly Neville sounds all of his eighteen years older than her and she almost forgets that if they both turned to face each other they'd be close enough to kiss.
What in the world is wrong with her? This is Professor Longbottom for Merlin's sake. This is ridiculous. Victoire adjusts her position slightly so that she's farther away from him just so she can think properly. She's never really been attracted to someone before, but she's been with Neville before so she should have noticed this earlier.
Though she's never been this close to Neville.
"Well, you know how hard it is to find a job that had to do with Herbology... and well, working at the Ministry is steady work and that's what I need right now." Neville nods and they're stuck in silence again. "Neville," she finally says after a long silence. They've never really had a conversation with each other that didn't include plants or school and so Victoire's just throwing a rope here and she hopes that he grabs it. "Why are you out here and not at the party."
Neville straightens up and Victoire does so as well, her knees sighing in relief. "I'm not really in a party kind of mood right now, which is probably why your grandmother invited me. It's gotten kind of pathetic, actually. I've hardly left the house since she left. Thank Merlin school's not in session or else I'd probably be a lousy teacher right now."
He's talking in a vein that she can't follow and so she has to stop him from rambling. "Wait. What?"
His eyes fill with pain that makes Victoire's heart go out to him. She can definitely relate to how he's feeling. "Hannah, well..." he clears his throat, "she left me last month. And to be honest I've been moping ever since. Your grandmother invited me here probably because she feels sorry for me. It's been a rough couple of weeks."
"Oh I'm so sorry," Victoire says, with feeling. She reaches out and grabs his hand- the left one that's now very evidently empty- and squeezes it.
"Thank you, but it's okay. Time heals all things after all, am I right?" He tries to give her a smile and he fails dismally. Victoire's surprised that he even tries.
"Of course. I just wish it'd hurry up and heal, you know?" When Neville gives her a questioning look she continues, hurrying on. She hasn't told this to anyone, because the one person that she would have told is the person that's causing the problem, and it's been weighing on her. "Teddy broke up with me two weeks ago. And it's been really hard because I thought that we'd be forever, you know? But he's here with his girlfriend now and..." Victoire trails off, not knowing how to continue.
"And that's why you're out here."
"I've always preferred plants to people."
Neville grins at her then and she surprises herself by grinning back. It's been a while since the last time that she's smiled. "Me too." Suddenly Victoire can see a light bulb going off over his head. "Victoire, would you like to go with me to the Herbologists Are Us convention with me? It's in about three weeks, and I know that you like herbology. I bought two tickets but I doubt that Hannah's going to come so, what do you say?"
Somehow the grin on Victoire's face grows wider. "It's a date."
ii. mimosa
Victoire had absolutely nothing to wear. She'd never really been the type of girl to worry about what she was wearing unless there was some sort of big event that she had to attend, but never before had she had to deal with the frustration of having at least twenty shirts in your closet but not being able to wear of any of them.
"You could just go naked," a voice said, coming from the middle of Victoire's bed. Victoire turned toward her sister and gave her a look that would have frosted hell.
"I could not, and you know it." Victoire looked at the two shirts in her hand- one was purple with a low neckline and the other was blue with three inched sleeves and a v-neck- and couldn't decide. There was so much banking on this outfit, at least to her. "Which one do you think?" she asked, holding out the last two contestants.
Dom looked up and squinted her eyes as she considered the choices given to her. "The blue one, it'll bring out your eyes." Dom snorted after she said that and fell back down again. Victoire dropped the blue shirt and decided on the purple after all. "I don't understand why you're making such a big fuss over this anyway. It's just Neville." Dom had graduated from Hogwarts as well so now they could both call Professor Longbottom Neville. "It's not as if you're going to a club anyway, you're going to be surrounded by a lot of plants. Whoop-de-doo." She made a circling motion with one finger in the air.
"Yes, well..." Victoire said, unsure of how she was going to explain her own behavior. There really wasn't an explanation, and besides, she didn't owe Dom anything. Sure she was greatful that her sister let her move in ever since the apartment that she shared with Teddy had become a kind of no-man's land, but that didn't mean that Dominique was going to become her keeper.
All of a sudden Dom gasped, sitting up in the middle of the bed, looking beautiful even though she had just woken up and her hair was a huge golden mess. She always had been the more beautiful sister, even though she would violently disagree with this fact if you ever told her so. "You like him, don't you?" She looked very pleased with her own cleverness. "Ew, Vic. He's old!" Squealing, she threw a pillow at her sister who sidestepped it with ease and watched as it made its way into her closet.
"He's not that old."
"Yeah, he's only old enough to be your father." Dom scrunched up her nose. "That's sick."
"The only way that he could be my father was if he'd 'fathered' me when he was eighteen years old. Honestly, it's not that big a deal. It's just a little crush."
Dom just looked at her sister a while before replying. "It's never been 'just a crush' with you Vic. It's always been all or nothing." Then she grinned, the almost evil brightness taking up her whole face. "So what's next? Necrophilia?"
"Oh Dom, I swear to God you are the most disgusting sister..." Victoire stopped her tirade when she heard the doorbell ring, a horrible moaning sound because Dom had broken it and never seemed to have time to fix it. That could only mean one thing; Neville was here.
Dom grinned once again, mischief lighting up her whole face. "I'll get it!" she said before Victoire could protest, leaving the room in a blur of short pajamas and blonde hair. Victoire rolled her eyes and looked in the mirror a final time, pleased with herself. Then she walked into the living room, where Dom was standing with Neville, already talking his ear off.
As soon as Neville saw Victoire he brightened. "Hi, are you ready to go?"
"Of course," Victoire said, grabbing her purse from off the couch. "Let's leave."
"Bye!" Dom called, still grinning, even as they closed the door. Victoire had an awful feeling that as soon as she left Dom would be on the phone telling her boyfriend Lysander Scamander her revelation.
There was a pleasant sort of silence before Neville spoke. "You're sister doesn't seem to have changed a bit."
"Of course not, not Dom." Victoire smiled, acknowledging her sister's craziness.
"She never really was good at Herbology, I believe she failed her OWL."
"Oh she did," she reassured him. "With a 'D'. She's never had a fondness for details, she just takes things at face value."
"And you notice details?" Neville asked with a smile.
"Of course." She was noticing details about him right now, like the fact that his eyes had flecks of green in them as well as blue, how he'd let his hair grow long for the holidays, how white his teeth were when he smiled. Focusing on those things as she was it almost as though he wasn't so much older than her after all, even though she knew that he was.
Neville nodded and led her around the corner, stopping at a pub where a portkey was lying on a table. "Since I'm a professor and all I get my own portkey," Neville said with a shrug, not trying to brag about the fact that the convention obviously held him in very high esteem.
She grabbed one end and Neville grabbed the other as the portkey, a beer glass, glowed blue and then they were off, that uncomfortable sensation of being connected to something happening until they were at the front of a big white tent. Adjusting her hair and making sure that all of her 'assets' were in the right place (maybe wearing such a low cut shirt had its disadvantages) she smiled at Neville, who warmly returned the favor.
"So, what do you think it's going to be like in here?" Victoire asked as they walked through the flaps. There was another sheet that held the secrets of the convention as a witch and a wizard went through the crowd, checking for tickets and identification.
"Very green," he responded promptly, and Victoire let out a soft laugh at that. As soon as they were confirmed to be "Longbottom, Neville" and "Weasley, Victoire" they were allowed to walk fully into the tent.
The room smelled lovely, just like the flowers that were hanging in the corner. As Neville had said that it would be the whole entire place was very, very green. Victoire recognized so many of the plants in the room, but there were also quite a few that she couldn't identify. They were all absolutely lovely, at least from quite a distance away.
"So," Neville asked, "what do you think?"
She smiled at him, lifting herself on up her tiptoes like she had when she was a young girl and had been very excited. "I think it's absolutely brilliant!" She turned toward Neville and gave him a quick peck on his warm cheek without thinking. He looked flabbergasted when she pulled away. "Thank you so much for letting me come with you!" She smiled at him then, and she looked breathtaking.
"My pleasure," he mumbled. His cheeks turned peak and she would have thought that to be adorable if she hadn't found him so handsome. It was amazing how she had never noticed before how good looking he was- but of course she hadn't really needed to notice before.
Victoire grabbed his hand then and pulled him along, making sure to stop at every booth and testing out everything as well as watching each and every demonstration for as long as she could before she had been distracted by another blossom or tangled vine.
The whole time Neville had smiled at her enthusiasm, answering any of her questions that he might have had the answers to and when he didn't they asked the nearest person, Victoire drawing them in with her magnetic eagerness.
Each time Victoire turned around she was always pleased to find Neville behind her and she had beamed at him before continuing on. At the end of the night they returned to Diagon Alley and Neville had bought them both ice cream.
To test him Victoire had brought her first spoonful to her mouth in such a way that had always made Teddy start to drool and then things had gotten hot and heavy when they got home that night. Victoire knew that she was pretty and she also knew all of the tricks that would make men notice you the way you wanted them to thanks to her Maman and her Veela nature, of course.
If Neville noticed what she did he didn't notice it obviously but she could see a change of expression in his eyes. Good. "This is wonderful, don't you think?" Victoire asked brightly, picking up some of the ice cream that she had left on her lips with the tip of her tongue.
"Definitely. This was one of the best nights that I've had in a very long time. Thank you, Victoire."
"No problem. I had fun too."
Neville cleared his throat, clanging his spoon on his little bowl of ice cream. "I know that the school term is coming up and I won't be able to come see you all the time since I'll be up at Hogwarts, but I'd really like to keep in touch with you."
Victoire smiled once again, feeling vaguely triumphant. She noticed that she smiled more when he was around. She liked that, liked that a lot. "I'd like to keep in touch with you too. I'm sure my owl will be able to find Hogwarts again."
There was a warmth in her stomach when he smiled back.
iii. hyacinth
Despite the awful weather outside Victoire was very excited to be going back to Hogwarts. She never thought that she'd ever feel this much excitement to be going back to her old school, the place where she had spent seven years of her life, but she was.
Her heart was pounding as she made her way down the familiar path from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, and not just from the walk. She was going to see Neville- Neville- for the first time in months. Ever since the herbologists convention they had been exchanging letters and she had seen him during the Christmas holidays, but it still wasn't enough. She had missed him in the months that followed.
She had never before spent much time with him, but his letters made her want to see him, to actually speak to him and see his expressions rather than just see his words on a page. His divorce had been officially legalized last week and she had wanted to come visit him at Hogsmeade then but she hadn't been able to go.
But now it was the Easter Holidays and since he didn't have to teach Neville had invited her up to Hogwarts to see him. In his last letter he had said that he had something to show her but he had refused to tell her what it was. He wasn't the only one keeping secrets though; she had one of her own to tell him as well.
A month before she had written in to a magazine that had asked its readers for advice about plants and she had been published. She had wanted to tell him as soon as she got the news, but she wanted to tell him in person more. She had a copy of the magazine in her coat pocket and she was ready to shove it under his nose at the first opportunity.
Neville was there, smiling as he waited for her, and as soon as she was close enough she came up and hugged him, inhaling his scent, which was a mixture of muskiness, dirt, and something that she had only smelled on Neville. It was him, and instantly it made her feel incredibly comfortable.
When she was with him, when she was reading one of his letters, she forgot all of her unhappiness, her frustration with her life. He was something that made her happy and she loved that feeling. It was incredibly invigorating.
"I'm happy to see you too," he said. "Let's go to the greenhouse so we can get out of the wind. It's probably going to rain soon."
"Probably," she agreed, and she was thrilled to notice that his hand didn't leave the small of her back as he guided her to Greenhouse Number Four. As soon as she walked in the warm, moist air hit her and she inhaled deeply, loving the smell of her refuge while she was at Hogwarts.
She turned to look at him and she saw him watching her. For a moment she almost forgot why she was there, but he blinked and then suddenly she remembered again. "Wait. Before you show me this new plant or anything let me show you this." With a flourish she pulled out the magazine with her writing inside of it, letting her fingers almost caress the glossy pages. "Do you have any idea what this is?" Victoire asked, shoving the publication underneath his nose, just like she knew that she would.
Neville shook his head and quickly Victoire opened to the page where her words were written and then handed them to him again. Standing on her tiptoes again she watched his face as it turned from confusion to understanding. He read the whole thing quickly, and when he was done he smiled at her. "This is really good."
"Thank you. They said that they might like to use my advice again some time. I was happy when they chose me. It's the closest that I'll ever get to being a herbologist, at any rate." Victoire shrugged like it was no big deal even though it definitely was.
"That's great. I hope they do pick you. Then you could quit your boring job at the Ministry." Victoire frowned at the thought of her job, but then she remembered that she was with Neville and she was surrounded by plants. It really didn't even matter that much.
"So, are you ever going to show me this hybrid species of flower or what? I'll be it's not even real."
"Oh, it's real all right," Neville said, turning around and picking up something that was behind him. When he turned around he had in his hand a pot with quite possibly the most wonderful flower that she had ever seen in her life. Victoire gasped and he smiled at her reaction.
"What's its name?" she asked, gazing down on the white petals that turned darker and darker purple as it went towards the center. She was afraid of touching it, of ruining the perfection of the star-shaped petals.
"The Victoire II. Because it's beautiful, just like you." He said it so simply, as if he hadn't just called her beautiful. It wasn't the first time that anyone had called her that but it was the first time that she had heard it sound that sincere. When she didn't respond her looked up at her, and when his eyes met hers Victoire knew that she had to do something.
She took the flower from him and placed it on the table behind him, and then she jumped up and kissed him on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. As if he had been waiting for her to do this he tangled his fingers in her hair and made a sound deep in the back of his throat.
He deepened the kiss and she was happily following where he led them. In a movement so fast she wasn't even sure that it happened her back was on one of the student tables and he was on top of her, still kissing her.
If Victoire had been able to stop kissing him she would have sighed with contentment.
Even though he was so old you couldn't tell, and his chest was muscular against hers. Obviously his war hero body hadn't quite left him yet. He might have been slightly bigger, but that was because unlike Teddy he was a man. One of Neville's hands began moving up and down the side of her body, the other on her face.
Far too quickly he pulled away, both of them breathing heavily. When he saw where they both were, what a mess her hair probably was, he got off of her quick as a flash of light. There was horror in his eyes.
Victoire looked up at him, straightening up until she was sitting on the table, her feet not quite touching the ground. "What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?" This had to have been one of the best feelings that she had ever had, and when she reached out to touch his arm he jerked away from her, leaving her feeling hurt. He had never pulled away from her before.
"Victoire," he said her name in one breath, as if it hurt to say it. "Please, just go." For once he looked all of his thirty eight years.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"What do you think that I'm talking about, Victoire? For God's sake I almost..." he trailed off and shook his head. "Never mind. Will you please leave?" She could see that he wanted- no, needed- her to go, to leave Hogwarts and him behind.
Tears welling in her eyes she nodded, grabbing her coat. "I'm sorry," she found herself saying, even though she had no idea what she was apologizing for.
When she was walking away she thought that she heard him say, "No, the blame's all mine." But it wasn't. Not even close.
iv. ambrosia
He was out in the garden, she knew he was. She had seen him arrive and talk to her uncles before retreating there, preferring plants to people just like she did. But now she was the one that preferred him to plants, and it was painfully obvious that he didn't prefer her over plants.
After that day in the greenhouse Victoire had given Neville a week to think about everything that had happened before writing to him. The letter had come back with her owl unopened. The next day she had gotten a letter that had basically told her that he didn't want to speak to her anymore, even though it didn't say that exactly. He had been so formal that it was almost like he was talking to a stranger. A student.
When Victoire felt a weight on her arm, pulling her out of her depressing thoughts, she turned around quickly, only to find Dom standing there and looking at her as though she felt sorry for her. She didn't want Dom's pity. She didn't want anybody's. "You should go to him," Dom told her. "He's in the garden."
Victoire raised an eyebrow at her sister. "I thought you didn't approve." And Dom hadn't whenever she had voiced her opinion about their situation, which wasn't often because Victoire hadn't asked for it. But Victoire still lived with her sister and eventually Dom had figured out what was going on.
Dom looked at her feet, for once looking ashamed about something. Drawing a picture on the ground with her toe she said, "I know that I was kind of harsh in the past, okay. But I know that he makes you happy, and I just want you to be happy sis. Okay? Besides, it's my birthday, and I know for a fact that you didn't get me anything. So I want you to get me this for my birthday, okay?"
"I don't know Dom," Victoire replies, biting her lip. "I just don't know."
"Well you'll never know until you try, right? I mean that's what you told me about Lysander, remember?"
Victoire does vaguely remember saying that, but their situations were totally different. Lysander had been in love with Dom for years and she wasn't even sure that Neville liked her anymore. Her sister pushes her towards the garden, the place where they met, a year ago today. "Please?"
Dom just looks at her with her big blue eyes and Victoire knows that she's going to do it. And she actually wants to do it. She wants to talk to him even if he doesn't want to talk to her. "Fine," she says as she walks off, ignoring her sister's squeal of joy.
The crunching of the grass underneath her feet alert him to her presence, but he doesn't turn around until she says his name. "Neville."
"Victoire," he retorts and all of a sudden she remembers how much she missed him, how when he wouldn't talk to her he broke a piece of her heart. How when she kissed him and he kissed back she had been the happiest that she had ever been. The way that he looked when they ventured gardens together, the way that he loved plants just as much as she did.
"What happened, Neville?" Victoire asked, her voice breaking slightly on the last syllable in his name. This is the first time that she's seen him in months and he doesn't even look happy about it. In fact, he looks about as miserable as she feels. "Why did you stop... being my friend?" It's the best way to describe their relationship that she has even though she knows that they were far more than just friends, at least to her.
"We were more than friends, Victoire." He sounds positively ancient and this hurts, this hurts so much that it's not even funny anymore. She can barely stand it.
"I know." She swallows then. "I know. So why, why did you stop talking to me? I know how you felt about me, you can't deny it."
"Victoire, I'm old. And you, you're absolutely gorgeous and smart and funny. One day you'll meet someone your own age that'll make you really really happy and you won't want me anymore."
"I've been with someone my own age and you know that they didn't make me happy before! I was absolutely miserable without you. Don't pull this noble Gryffindor crap on me."
"You just don't understand..."
"Don't understand what?" Victoire demanded. "What don't I understand? That you make me happy and that I make you happy and that there's no one else in the world that I would rather be with? How can I not understand that? God, Neville, I love you."
Present tense, not past.
Victoire could tell that Neville noticed that by the way that his eyes widened. "You make it too hard to stay away from you," Neville informed her, and then all of a sudden she was in his arms again and there wasn't any other place in the world that she would ever be.
Dom ended up getting exactly what she wanted.