Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Something New

Chapter Seven

It had only been a few weeks since Albus' birthday and, in spite of the fact that neither of his other children were talking to him and Molly was still refusing to acknowledge that she'd been in the wrong with her reaction to Harry's new relationship, Harry was happier than he'd been in… well, in what felt like forever.

He and Neville just seemed to fit together, and as the spring was drawing closer, along with the end of the school year, Harry found himself wondering what they would do during the summer. Would they live together? Would Neville want to take some time apart to do other things? He didn't know, and the thought was… discomforting, but not as worrying as Harry thought it maybe should have been.

He thought that he loved Neville, and he knew that Neville, at the very least, liked him very much.

"And you were so relaxed a few minutes ago," Neville murmured, his words spoken in a tone of lament from underneath of Harry. "What happened to get you so tense all of a sudden?"

They were cuddled up together on the couch, Neville idly stroking his fingers along Harry's spine with one hand while holding a book with another. Harry had been listening to the wireless, and drifting in and out of a nap.

"Thinking about summer," Harry said. He tried to make himself relax again, to let his muscles loosen and return to their practically-liquid state. It worked, mostly. He shifted so that he could look up at Neville without craning his neck and offered him a sleepy smile.

Neville returned it, then pressed his lips to Harry's in a quick, gentle kiss. "What about it?"

"What happens then?" Harry wasn't used to having to ask questions like that. He was used to being married, to the assumption that days would be spent together, or at least, the majority of them would.

"We could always alternate houses, if you'd like to spend the entire time with me," Neville mused. "Maybe we could go on vacation to France or Italy, see some of the sights there." Then he smiled, the expression a little sly, a little teasing. "I could finally introduce you to my grandmother as the person that I'm dating."

Harry winced. "No," he begged, not even remotely kidding. Augusta Longbottom was a terrifying woman, more terrifying than Molly by far. And things with Molly had just gone so very badly during their last interaction. What if Augusta hated him as much as Molly now did?

"Okay, okay," Neville said quickly, soothingly. He set his book down on the coffee table and used his now free hand to stroke Harry's hair. "It's okay. We won't do that." He still sounded amused, though.

"What if she hated me?" Harry asked.

"Gran thinks you hung the moon," Neville said immediately. "If anything, she'll be frustrated that you're wasting your time on someone like me."

Harry's lip curled up into a small snarl. "Let her say something like that," he muttered. He shifted upwards so that he could comfortably kiss Neville, then settled back down with his head on Neville's shoulder. "I'd have a thing or two to say to her about that."

Neville's laugh was quietly affectionate. "I bet you would," he murmured. Harry felt his lips press against his forehead. "But it doesn't matter, because we're not going to go and visit with her any time soon, are we?"

"Not that I was planning," Harry said easily. "But…" He swallowed. "Not that I'm looking forward to it, but if meeting her is something you'd really like me to do over the summer, we can talk about it."

"We're nowhere near the summer," Neville answered. "We'll talk about it later, perhaps when we get closer than we are now. How does that sound?"

Harry let his eyes drift closed. "Sounds good," he said. A song that he liked came on the radio, and he smiled and hummed along, and Neville picked up his book once more.

The rest of the evening passed in a lazy, contented silence.

ooOOooOOoo

Harry's week went well, with no incidents between the students that he had to document, not even the first year Slytherins and Gryffindors. Why Minerva kept putting the two groups together even after all these years baffled Harry, and normally there was some kind of trouble, but there was none this particular week. By the time the week ended, Harry nonetheless was more than ready for a break.

He tried to get Neville to join him on a broom once more, but Neville was having none of it. "C'mon," Harry pleaded. "I don't want to go by myself. Think about what the kids will say!"

"They might ask you if we're having relationship problems," Neville teased. "Maybe they'll even offer you advice. You know, some of the girls are actually pretty relationship savvy."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "I don't need relationship advice from Hogwarts students!" he protested. "Please, Neville?"

Neville just shook his head again. "I'm not going flying with you," he said. "But if you want, I'll come out and watch you fly."

"Wouldn't that be boring for you?" As much as Harry wanted to fly, as much as he wanted Neville to go with him, he didn't want to force Neville into a situation where he was going to be bored for most of his day off. That wasn't fair to Neville at all.

"Not really," Neville said. He stood and stretched, then grabbed his book, a journal of herbology. "I can read this just as well outside as I can in here. And it's a lovely day out there, so maybe we could do a picnic lunch?"

"We're going to gross out some of the students," Harry pointed out. But he smiled and ducked his head, a light blush spreading over his cheeks. "I'd like that, though."

"Excellent," Neville said. He leaned in and kissed Harry on the cheek, then took a step back. "Why don't you head out and get yourself into the air to burn off some of your very restless energy, and I'll go see about a picnic lunch. Maybe we could see if Teddy wants to join us?"

Harry beamed at Neville. "That would be great!"

Neville's returning smile was softer, more gentle. "I'll see if I can't find him on my way outside. Now go fly, you."

Harry left their room… no, it was still his room, Neville still had his own room, with a spring in his step that couldn't even be dampened by the fact that he and Neville technically didn't live together yet. It was easy to forget that they'd only been together for a few months, and, in the scheme of things, that really wasn't that long.

Harry felt like it had been forever, and not in a bad way. It wasn't that he regretted his time with Ginny, but… but now that he was with Neville, he could see where things had gone so very wrong between himself and Ginny. They'd never really been compatible. Ginny was too adventurous, which sounded ridiculous for the Boy Who Lived to be saying, but Harry had never sought his fame, and he would have been perfectly happy to be a househusband for the rest of his life. It had been Ginny's urging that had seen him becoming an Auror, moving up the Ministry chain, and he really, when he thought about it, hadn't been happy at all.

Harry brushed the thoughts aside as he entered the bright sunlight of the warm Saturday afternoon. It was beautiful out, as Neville had said. It was warm, but not too warm,and there was a lovely breeze blowing in that probably meant they'd be getting a storm of some kind before the end of the day, but for now… for now it was wonderful.

Harry headed for the pitch and found it, unsurprisingly, occupied by a fair number of students, half of whom perked up as soon as he hopped onto his broom. The other half didn't seem upset to see him out there with them, and Harry was okay with that. He didn't need all of his students to be absolutely ecstatic at the sight of him, after all.

It was enough that he could make a few of them happy, and that he could improve the flying of some of them. He was finding, more and more, that he genuinely enjoyed teaching flying, and he absolutely loved refereeing the Quidditch matches. It was so much better than teaching Defense, no matter how good he'd been at that.

He couldn't have said how long he stayed up there with the students when he finally noticed Neville sitting a little bit away from the pitch, with a nice blanket set up, reading his book. Truthfully, Harry wasn't entirely sure that he would have noticed had Teddy not rocketed gleefully between him and the student he was assisting with a fear of diving.

"Lunch is here, Harry!" Teddy called as he shot between them, and then his godson's cackles faded into the air above him as he continued higher and higher.

Harry sighed and, with a goodbye to the students in his impromptu class, he began his descent. He knew that if he didn't, Teddy was just going to barrel through them once more on his way back down. Sure enough, Teddy dove past him, only to slow down once he realized that Harry was already on his way down to the ground.

"Having fun?" Teddy asked once they'd both touched down.

Harry just shook his head, laughing quietly. "Of course," he said cheerfully. "How about you? How are your classes doing?"

"Busy." Teddy's grin was bright, practically incandescent. "I'm loving it. I think it's the most fun I've had since I left Hogwarts as a student. Minerva and I met yesterday after classes let out, and she said she'd be happy to keep me on as a professor if I'm interested."

Harry stopped and turned to Teddy. "That's really great news," he said warmly. He gave his godson a hug, and didn't let go when Teddy wriggled in his arms with an embarrassed protest. "I'm your godfather. It's my prerogative to embarrass you in front of everyone, especially your students," Harry said placidly. "And especially when I'm proud of you."

Teddy went still, and then he wrapped his arms around Harry in a quick hug. He pulled back, and this time Harry let him. The smile on his face was just a touch embarrassed. "Thanks, Harry," he said and ducked his head, a bit shyly. "You know how much it means to me that you're proud of me."

"Of course I do," Harry said. He slung an arm around Teddy's shoulder and headed in the general direction of Neville, the blanket, and lunch.

Neville was watching for them both with a grin on his face, wide and highly amused. "You two are ridiculous," he greeted them. "Come, sit, eat food before it all gets cold."

Harry sighed as he settled on the blanket next to Neville. "Don't house elves understand that picnic food should be able to get cold without spoiling?" he asked with a sigh. The food that house elves made was always so very good, but also so elaborate some of the time, and picnics were the last thing that should be done with elaborate food.

"I don't think they've mastered the art of cooking for picnics yet," Teddy said cheerfully. He waved the plate in his hand, ceramic and very breakable, as a demonstration. "Maybe they just don't know about paper plates, though. Just think, Harry, you could revolutionize Hogwarts by introducing them to disposable china."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Or I could not," he muttered. He took a plate of his own and put a small amount of roast chicken, steaming hot, and some vegetables on it. Then he leaned against Neville, ignoring the way that Teddy made a face and the way that he heard a few female voices letting out excited squeaks, and took a bite of his food.

That was all he managed before a shadow appeared over them. Harry looked up to find himself staring into his oldest child's face, which was contorted into what Harry could only call a grimace.

Harry sighed and sat up. "Hello, James," he said quietly. "What can I help you with?"

James glanced at Teddy, then at Neville, his grimace turning into a frown. "I was wondering if I could talk to you." He looked down at the ground. "Maybe by yourself. Without… him." The venom in his voice was clearly directed at Neville, judging by the way that he glared at him as he said the word.

Neville immediately shifted back, away from Harry. "That's not a problem," he said quietly. He went to stand up, but froze when Harry gripped his hand.

"Listen, James," Harry started. Then he stopped and cleared his throat. "You can be mad at me all you want for divorcing your mother, even if I don't quite think it's fair of you to continue to hold that against me when it was a mutual decision. You can be as mean as you want to me about the divorce, and that's fine. But you really need to stop being angry at the one person who hasn't done anything wrong in all of this."

James opened his mouth, then shut it with a snap. "I'm not angry at Professor Longbottom," he muttered. He wouldn't meet Harry's eyes, just stared at the ground.

"You're certainly acting like you are," Harry said sharply. "Now, Neville and I are dating, and he's… he might very well be a part of my life for a very long time. If you can't handle that, I'd rather you just go."

"I didn't come to fight about this!" James snapped. He looked up, and his cheeks were pink with either rage or embarrassment, or a combination of both. "I came to…" He cleared his throat. "I wanted to apologize," he muttered.

"Jamie, that isn't how you start an apology," Teddy said, laughing. He hadn't moved at all from his spot on the blanket, and probably had never intended to.

"I know it isn't!" James looked back down at the ground, scowling. "I didn't mean to be rude or anything, I just really wanted to talk to my father alone, okay? Because he deserves an apology, because I've been an ass, and I didn't want to humiliate myself in front of everyone here. But since everyone's apparently trying to take everything I say the wrong way, I guess I'll just say it: I'm sorry, Dad."

Harry sighed and stood up. He pulled James into a hug, which his son didn't resist. "It's okay," he said gently. "I'm not going to lie and say that you didn't hurt me with your attitude, but we'll be fine." He didn't say that it might take time, because that wasn't what his son needed to hear at the moment. He just needed for Harry to accept his apology, and Harry could do that. As long as he didn't use that as license to continue to insult Neville.

James let himself be held for a minute, then pulled back. "Professor Longbottom?" he asked quietly. "Can you forgive me for my earlier rudeness?"

Neville smiled at him. "Of course I can," he said calmly. "I understand that you and your siblings are going through a difficult time, and I know that you must be confused. Consider it forgotten."

James nodded. "Thanks," he muttered. He glanced at Teddy. "I'm not apologizing to you," he said, a teasing lilt entering his voice.

Teddy just rolled his eyes. "Watch it, brat. I'm a professor now; I could kick your ar—"

"Teddy!" Harry yelped, and glanced meaningfully in the direction of the still-giggling students.

Teddy fell silent, his own eyes widening. "I hate being a role model," he muttered, following Harry's gaze. He turned his nose into a pig snout and stuck his tongue out at the girls, causing their giggles to turn into full-blown laughter.

James shifted awkwardly, drawing Harry's gaze back to him. "Right." He swallowed. "Well, that's what I came to say, and I've said it, so I think I'm going to head home. I've got a lot to do before the start of the week and I—"

"Or you could stay and eat lunch with us," Harry said quickly, interrupting his son. He glanced at Neville, who nodded. "We have plenty of food, and I'd like to catch up with you and see what you've been up to."

James hesitated. He glanced at Neville, then at Teddy. "Are you sure it's okay?" he asked. He didn't move to sit down.

Teddy jumped up and slung an arm around James' shoulders. "Come on, brat, sit and eat with us."

James still hesitated, but when Teddy shoved at him, he settled gingerly on the blanket like he was frightened that it would bite him. "Sure," he said, a bit uncertainly. He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I can join you for lunch."

"Good," Harry said, and tried out a smile. It worked, but it was a bit shaky. "We have chicken and vegetables and… what else do we have?"

"A feast," Neville answered.

"Don't the house elves know what picnic food is like?" James asked, clearly exasperated as he was handed one of the lovely, breakable plates.

"We were just talking about that!" Teddy said, laughing. "I was telling your father that he should introduce them to paper plates and the like, and he'd change their worlds."

"Oh yeah, Dad, that's a great idea!" James exclaimed, taking up the topic with enthusiasm.

Harry just groaned. Why had he thought that having James join them for lunch was a good idea? His oldest son was more trouble than any of his students, and knowing him, he'd have Harry believing that it was a good idea to go to a Muggle store for paper plates by the end of the meal.

Even so, it was a good meal, and Harry was glad to have his oldest child back in his life.

ooOOooOOoo

"James came to see me," he said quietly to Neville, later that day. They were in their rooms once more, curled up together on the couch. "He came to see me, and to apologize."

"I know," Neville murmured back. He pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead. "I'm very happy for you, Harry."

Harry sighed and squirmed closer. "I didn't think he would," he confessed. "I thought that Albus would be the only one to stay in my life, and I…" He let out a small, shuddering sigh. "I'm just really happy." He buried his face in Neville's neck so that his boyfriend couldn't see the tears that were welling up in his eyes.

He'd really thought… it had been heartbreaking, to know that two out of three of his children had hated him. And now that he had James back… well, he was just hoping that Lily would come around. Her anger, her hatred, was just as frustrating as hers and James' had been together. He'd thought it would get better, but that wasn't the case.

"It's going to be okay," Neville whispered to him. Harry realized that he was taking in hitching breaths, making his tears more obvious than he'd wanted them to be. "Everything's going to be fine, Harry. Your daughter will see reason once she moves past her hurt and anger."

Harry exhaled forcibly and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah," he said. He stayed cuddled in Neville's arms for what felt like a small eternity. Once he felt a bit better, he sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, everything's going to be okay."

Neville smiled at him and brushed his bangs from his eyes. "Good." He leaned forward and kissed Harry quietly, chastely on the lips. "Now that you're feeling a bit better, why don't you go see what Minerva wants from us? A house elf dropped off a letter from her just a few minutes ago."

Harry frowned. "And I didn't hear them?" he asked, even as he got off the couch. How out of it had he been? He'd thought he'd been relatively alert, but maybe not if he hadn't heard the popping.

"They were very quiet," Neville answered, amused.

Harry wrinkled his nose at him, then picked up the note. "She wants us to meet her in her office as soon as we get this note. She takes great care to add a note saying that we aren't in trouble or anything like that, and this is only going to be a friendly chat." He scowled down at the note. He didn't like the sound of that. It sounded an awful lot like a trap.

"You don't want to have a friendly chat with Minerva?" Neville asked. He got off the couch and crossed to Harry. "We have those with her all the time."

"Yes," Harry said, drawing out the word. "But she doesn't normally ask us to meet her specifically for a chat. I think it's a trap."

Neville burst into laughter. "Why would it be a trap?"

"I don't know," Harry said, feeling a bit defensive. "I just think that it doesn't sound right, and that she probably wants to talk to us about something important or she would have waited until she ran into us at a meal or something."

Neville shrugged and hugged Harry for a second before releasing him. "Maybe it is important, but important doesn't mean bad." He shook his head and headed for the door. "I really am glad that you got out of the Aurors, Harry. I think it made you paranoid."

"Voldemort did that a long time before the Aurors could," Harry muttered. He followed Neville from the room, though.

The walk to the Headmistress' office wasn't a particularly long one, and Harry found himself sitting in a chair next to Neville in short order.

Minerva stared at them both over her desk, her lips twitching into a smile. "Harry, why on earth do you look like you're standing in front of a firing squad?"

Harry sighed. "Because I feel like you're about to ambush us with something," he muttered. "Neville already told me how ridiculous I was being, but I can't change the way I'm feeling."

"I was telling him that I'm glad he's not an Auror anymore, because it's made him paranoid," Neville said, and patted Harry's hand when Harry shot him a betrayed look. "I'm also glad he's not teaching Defense anymore. Flying's been much more relaxing for him."

Harry shook his head and sighed. "I do like teaching flying," he said. "Thank you for that."

"Oh, it was my pleasure, I can assure you," Minerva said. "Now, gentlemen, as it happens, I did call you hear for a reason, but I wouldn't call it a bad reason. I just… had a thought that I wished to share with the two of you. An… opportunity, that you might be interested in."

Harry's eyes narrowed. That sounded… suspicious. "What sort of opportunity?" he asked warily.

Minerva just laughed at him. "Like I said, it's nothing bad. It's just that, as Headmistress, I'm privy to certain information that the house elves gather. Normally, they're reporting to me when students don't sleep in their beds, but I suppose they thought that professors needed to be reported as well. To that end, since Neville hasn't slept in his bed in… well, in quite some time now, I thought it might be prudent to mention that we offer larger quarters for married staff members."

Harry blushed violently, and glanced at Neville to find that his boyfriend was blushing just as badly. "We're not married," he finally stammered.

"We haven't even had that conversation yet," Neville added, just as shakily. He glanced at Harry and opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head.

"I'm aware that the two of you aren't married," Minerva said with a nod. "But it does seem rather silly to make the house elves continue to clean two sets of rooms when one of them is only in use long enough for Neville to grab his things and take them to your room, Harry."

Harry nodded slowly. "I see your point," he said. "But I think that Neville and I should probably talk about it more ourselves before we make a decision one way or another."

Harry loved the idea of moving in with Neville, but what if Neville didn't? What if Neville liked having his own space away from Harry that he could retreat to if he needed to?

"That's fair," Minerva said. She glanced down at her desk, a small smile on her face. "Why don't the two of you take some time to think it over, and get back to me, say, in a week? Or sooner, of course, if you make a decision quicker than that."

"We'll do that," Neville said quickly, and stood up. He glanced at Harry, then headed out of the room.

Harry felt his heart drop. Neville hated the idea. He offered Minerva a shaky smile, then turned and practically fled the office.

ooOOooOOoo

They didn't talk about it until after dinner, when they were back in Harry's rooms and Neville was reading. Harry hadn't been able to bring it up before then, and Neville didn't try either. He still wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it at all, but now that the idea had been given to him, Harry found that there was nothing he wanted more, other than for Lily to stop being angry with him.

He cleared his throat. "So. Moving in together," he said, a bit shakily.

Neville put his book down. "Yeah, that was a bit unexpected." He laughed, the sound more high pitched than normal. He was clearly nervous, judging by the way that he wouldn't meet Harry's gaze.

Harry swallowed. Neville really didn't like the idea, not if he was acting like he might have before their fifth year. "We don't… I mean, I can see why she made the offer, but it's not something that we have to do," he muttered, dropping his gaze.

He wanted to, though, and the thought that Neville didn't want to was a painful one.

"Right!" Neville didn't sound particularly happy, in spite of the cheer he was putting in his voice. "I mean, Harry, it's okay. I understand that you're still… it hasn't been as long for you since things ended with Ginny as it's been for me, so I get that you're not interested—"

"I didn't say I wasn't interested," Harry interrupted, his eyes widening. "I just… I don't want to push you or anything. I know I'm kind of high maintenance, and things around me, with the kids and all, they're such a mess that I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to…"

"Harry, I don't mind your mess at all," Neville said. He stood up and crossed the room to kneel in front of Harry. "Cards on the table. Is this something that you want, moving in together?"

Harry swallowed. "You say that you don't mind, but what if you change your mind?" he asked, his voice small. "I don't… I mean, what if you change your mind and you don't have anywhere to retreat to and you wind up hating me and—"

"There is nothing in this world, short of you becoming a Dark Lord, that could make me hate you," Neville said clearly. "I l…" Neville took a deep breath and visibly steeled himself. "Harry, I love you."

Harry's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He gave up on trying to speak and instead slid off of the chair and into Neville's arms. He clung to him for several minutes, unable to speak, and when he finally could, he whispered, "I love you too."

Neville's arms tightened around him. "Good," he whispered in Harry's ear. "Then, since we both love each other, and since I think we both want to move in together in spite of our fears, do you think we should give it a shot?"

Harry laughed, the sound a little soggy. "I'm pretty sure I've made stupider decisions for worse reasons in my lifetime," he said, and leaned up for a kiss.

Neville met him halfway, and they spent the rest of the night curled up together.

They told Minerva their answer in the morning, and she didn't even have the decency to look surprised. She just smiled at them both, wished them well, and told them that their new rooms wouldn't be ready for a few weeks, but they would be able to move before the end of the school year.

Harry couldn't have said whether he was more nervous or more excited, but either way, he was happy.

A/N: And here I am, a little over a month late, with a new chapter. My only excuse was that April and May were both difficult months for me in the real world, and I was slacking off. I'm still slacking off, which means I can't promise that this story will update every week until it finishes, but I swear that it will be done before the end of summer.