My oneshot for the M&MWP competition. Neville/Daphne :)

Neville walked through the doors of St. Mungo's and waved to the Healer at the front desk. She was used to seeing him by now and she simply nodded and gestured toward the hallway that led to his parents' room. Before he turned away from her, she gave him a knowing smile. This wasn't the first time he was seen in the hospital visiting his parents. It was, however, the first time he'd brought a girl with him instead of his grandmother.

Daphne had worn him down and forced him to tell her about his parents. He didn't like to talk about them much. It's not that he was ashamed of them; he had learned a long time ago to be proud of his parents and what they had stood for. He just couldn't stand the look of pity on everyone's face when he tried to explain that they had been cursed into insanity. He also couldn't stand it when people would verbally abuse Bellatrix Lestrange as if that would make him feel better or make it less awkward.

He smiled to himself as he thought about what Daphne's reaction had been when she'd finally gotten fed up with his excuses and his attempts at diverting her away from the subject. She had not looked at him with pity which was refreshing. She heard the whole story with an unreadable face which was unsettling. Then, she made a demand that was utterly terrifying. "Take me to meet them, then."

Neville stared at her in disbelief. "You really want to meet my parents? I mean, they're not the best conversationalists…" He didn't get any further than that before she raised her eyebrows in a way that said she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Neville had heard all the horror stories from the Weasleys about what it was like to bring girls home to their mum. Bringing his girlfriend home to his grandmother had been awkward enough though the elderly woman had softened up in recent years and he noticed that Daphne was like her in many ways. They both were very opinionated and they never sugarcoated anything they said, but they had managed to get along swimmingly, much to his relief.

He thought this would be completely different though. After all, he wasn't bringing a girl home; he was bringing her to St. Mungo's and in spite of the fact that his mum would have no clue what was happening, the thought of introducing her to his girlfriend made his palms sweat. Not only that, but every Healer in the building seemed to think it their duty to stop him and ask who the pretty young witch on his arm was. It was like having a bunch of nosy aunts swarming around to embarrass him. When had the hospital staff become his pseudo-family?

Daphne looked at him through the corner of her eye and gave him that gentle smile that she reserved only for him then, without hesitation, walked into the room full of beds lined up against the wall. Neville followed behind her, shaking his head at what he'd gotten himself into. He put a hand on the small of her back and led her over to his mother's bed.

Alice smiled widely at the pair of them as they sat down in a couple of chairs nearby but didn't say anything as usual. She picked up a crumpled Daily Prophet and began studying the first page and giggled a little before pointing to a picture. Daphne looked at Neville expectantly and he took a deep breath. "Mum…"

Alice looked up and cocked her head to the side, still giving them that toothy smile.

Neville cleared his throat and Daphne squeezed his hand encouragingly. "Mum, this is Daphne… my girlfriend…"

Daphne held out her hand to Alice but instead of shaking it, the older woman dropped a candy wrapper into her outstretched palm. Daphne simply smiled and thanked her. Neville leaned over to whisper in her ear. "That means she likes you."

"Really?" Daphne's gray eyes lit up and Neville was amused that it meant so much to her that Alice liked her, despite the fact that she had no idea who she was. He leaned over and kissed her forehead and then continue the one sided conversation with his mother for a few minutes. Daphne would chime in every once in a while and Alice would only nod and hum to herself a little while shoving candy wrappers in their hands.

After visiting with Alice for half an hour they went over to Frank's bed and talked with him as well. He nodded enthusiastically when Neville introduced Daphne to him but then made no other indication that he was listening. After a few more minutes of this, the couple got up to take their leave. Alice waved at them on their way out the door.

They Apparated back to Neville's house and before he could say anything to her, Daphne went straight to the cupboard in the hallway and pulled out a box from the top shelf and took the lid off. She held out the box for Neville to empty his pockets into. It was already quite full of candy wrappers and newspaper clippings that his mother had given to him over the years. His jaw dropped in disbelief.

"How did you know about that?" he asked.

Daphne just shook her head and grinned. "I pay attention, Neville."

He took the box from her and reached into his pockets and started depositing the most recent gifts from his mother into it. "It's silly, I know," he said, his face reddening with embarrassment.

"No it's not," she said firmly. "It's not silly at all." She put the box aside and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly. "Thanks for letting me meet them."

He laughed at that. "Thanks for forcing me to take you."

She smacked his arm lightly in mock offense, then reached into her bag and pulled out a box similar to his. "I suppose I'm going to need one of these, aren't I?" she asked and began emptying her own pockets of the candy wrappers she'd collected during the visit.

"I suppose you will," Neville agreed.