DISCLAIMER: I am not profiting from this story in any way, and only the plot is mine in the first place.

POST DATE: October 21, 2007

CHAPTER 7

The next few weeks seemed to blend together as the weather slowly made its seasonal change from Summer to Fall. This was actually Neville's favorite time of the year at Hogwarts, as he got to witness the many colorful shades adopted by the once green foliage around the grounds. His morning walks could almost always be counted upon to take double their usual time, as he would often stop to admire the beautiful sights around the lake.

As Halloween loomed near, a steady buzz of excitement could be felt building throughout the castle. As luck would have it, this year October 31st just happened to fall on a Friday, and the opening of the new quiddich season would be the following Saturday, with the very heated rivalry game between Gryffindor and Slytherin set to start the season out on a very strong note. Indeed, though the four houses got along much better with each other since the days of Voldemort (Well, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seemed to tolerate Slytherin better, anyway), a strong dislike continued to remain between Hogwarts two most decorated quiddich teams.

Since so many festivities were taking place in the same weekend, Lavender had come up with the idea that the weekend should be made somewhat of a special occasion. Agreeing whole-heartedly, Headmistress McGonagall announced to the entire student body the week before Halloween that, much to everyone's delight, not only would classes end after just half a day on Friday, but that the normal weekend curfew would be extended by three hours for all fourth year students and above on Saturday, so that they may attend a party in the Great Hall, honoring whoever should come out the victor of the day's match. This announcement had, of course, only managed to raise the level of excitement amongst the students to a near fever pitch while also exasperating all the teachers, who were barely able to keep order in their classrooms. The only professor who seemed to be handling the whole situation well was Lavender. In all actuality, she was getting just as excited as the students.

As for the aforementioned professor, she and Neville fell into somewhat of a routine after their second encounter in her quarters. Every Saturday (as well as three or four other days of the week, in all honesty), the two would meet to…discuss Lavender's teaching methods, well, as far as the rest of the school was concerned. What the rest of the school did not know, however, is that very little was actually being discussed during these meetings.

After their first few interludes, they had made the rather wise decision to move their meeting place to Neville's quarters, as Lavender's were within the castle walls, and she could be rather…boisterous when she was excited. She remained very adamant that their activities stay very casual, with absolutely no commitments for either of them, and that nobody else was to know what was going on. 'That's bloody perfect, as far as I'm concerned,' thought Neville one morning, as he awoke with Lavender snuggled up to his side, her head using his shoulder as a pillow. 'I've never really thought much about sex, but what we're doing could become bloody well addicting.'

Deciding that they should get up, he leaned forward slightly and planted a kiss on her forehead before whispering to her in a singsong voice, "LAAAAAvenderrrrrrr, time to get UUUUUuuuuup!"

Rather than open her eyes, she chose instead to growl quietly, then burrow her head further into his shoulder before mumbling out, "No up, more sleep."

Her somewhat incoherent reaction cause Neville to rumble with laughter, successfully jostling her awake. Seeing her somewhat unhappy expression, he cheerfully chimed in, "I'm sure your mum has heard that line a few times before."

Taking on a mischievous gleam in her eyes, she stretched cat-like, yawned, then said, "Yes, well, maybe she has, but I can bloody well guarantee there was never a man lying next to me when she said it." Feeling a sense of accomplishment at his slight blush, she quickly rolled over, snuggling her back to him, and grabbed his arm, quickly wrapping herself up.

Once again, Neville laughed at her comical attempt at distracting him from getting up. Turning her over, he leaned in, kissed her on the lips gently, then pulled back and got out of bed, just as she was reaching to embrace him and said, "I figure if we're going to get in a walk and still make it to breakfast, we'd better get movin'."

He heard her mumble, "Tease," before she rolled over to face him. "Alright, alright, I'm gettin' up. Why don't you go tell your bloody plants you love 'em for the day, while I get dressed."

"It's so refreshing to wake up to such…ladylike behavior and language, first thing in the morning," he joked, then ducked to the left to avoid the pillow that came whistling his direction.

"I'll show you ladylike, Longbottom! You know, you morning people should all just be rounded up and shot or something."

Chuckling at her antics, Neville made his way into greenhouse four, where he performed his normal morning duties. After finishing up, he returned to his quarters, finding his muggle sweatsuit and trainers laid out on his already-made bed. "Bless you, woman, you're a sweetheart, you are," he said, as he got dressed.

"Yes, well, don't get used to it. I just figured I owed you, what with what you did last night and all." Blushing slightly and looking at the ground, her voice became softer as she said, "Oh, and that thing you did with the headboard? As far as I'm concerned, you can do that whenever you want."

Smiling to himself while silently thanking Seamus and his rather large collection of naughty magazines during their school years, Neville grinned confidently while singing out, "Oh, liked that, did you? Well," at this point, he casually began inspecting his fingernails, "I don't know if I should do that too often. Wouldn't want you getting spoiled or anything."

Hearing Neville's cockiness, Lavender looked affronted for a second, before quickly lunging at him with both hands, tickling him wildly until he collapsed to the bed, tears streaming from his eyes. While still tickling him, she said, "Look here, Longbottom. Don't go getting a big head on me! I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve, for your information, and I can guarantee you that you do not want to make me decide not to use them."

After she stopped her tickling barrage, Neville raised his hands in mock surrender, while catching his breath. Lying on his bed, with this beautiful creature straddling his waist, a look of superiority plastered across her face, Neville was tempted to say "screw it" to his walk, and have a bit of a lie-in for the morning. Considering that this was still a school day, even if lessons were only going for half their normal times, he thought better of it. Students could be very perceptive when they wanted to be, and if anyone saw her exiting his greenhouse first thing in the morning, everyone would know she was there by lunch.

"I surrender!" he said playfully. When she finally got up, he stood as well. "Come on, the sun will be up soon, and I don't wanna miss the sunrise over the lake. It's a clear morning, so it should be a really good one."

Shaking her head and smiling, she slapped him on the arm playfully and said, "Like I said, you morning people should be rounded up and shot. I think I've seen more sunrises in the last few weeks than I had previously in my entire life! I used to be very content just dreaming about them, just so you know."

Shaking his head at her cheek, Neville opened the door and held it for her, following her out through the greenhouse and into the crisp morning air. Taking in a deep breath and releasing it, he smiled and said, "See? You should consider what I'm doing for you as a gift. I ask you, how wonderful do you feel right now?"

"I'm bloody cold," she responded, once again slapping his arm as he laughed out loud at her discomfort. Feeling the need to turn the tables a bit, a smirk crossed her face as she said, "Speaking of doing nice things for each other, I almost forgot to tell you. You remember the party tomorrow night?"

Neville nodded before saying, "How could I not? My students talk more about that in class then they do the bloody plants. I think I've docked each house something like fifty points in the last week, and I'm one of the more lenient professors when it comes to taking points, mind you."

Smiling to herself, Lavender continued, "Yes, they do seem excited, don't they? And why not, I say. In my opinion, this sort of thing was all too lacking during our time as students. It's good for the kids to have something to look forward to, ya know?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree with you, I've always felt the school should have more in the way of student oriented activities. It's just that…all this excitement can become…tiring, after a while."

Smiling brightly, she took up her best baby voice and said, "Awww, poow widdle Nevnev. Is my widdle man getting tiwed?"

Shoving her playfully, he responded, "Shut up, you."

"Such manners, my-oh-my. How lucky I consider myself to spend so much time in the presence of such a gentleman!" At this statement, they both laughed heartily.

After the laughter died down, Lavender said, "Anyway, back to the original subject. Since you've given me such a wonderful gift by letting my freeze my bollocks off when I should be sleeping peacefully, I just thought you should know, I've returned the favor. I took the liberty of signing the both of us up for chaperone duty tomorrow night."

The smile immediately left Neville's face, as he stopped walking and turned to face her. "What do you mean, 'signed the both of us up'? I don't recall ever mentioning that I wanted to baby sit 160 or so horny kids who are going to be looking for every possible means to sneak off and perform inappropriate acts on one-another. In fact, I distinctly remember telling you how happy I was that McGonagall had not asked me to do it."

"Oh, come on, Neville. You know it will be fun! It's gonna be a party, and," here she gave him her most convincing smile, "no doubt it will be a party in honor of your own house. Why, you'll practically have a responsibility to be there, celebrating with your fellow Gryffindors." Seeing that he was still not convinced, her smile turned predatory as she finished in a breathy voice, "Also, I thought that…well, I know for me, a good party always gets me in the mood…"

Seeing plainly where her innuendo was leading, Neville cleared his throat a few times and began walking again, hoping to hide his blush. Finally, he said, "Oh, well, I suppose it will be fun and all. Yeah, you're right, more likely than not, the party will be for my kids, and I guess it would be rather tactless of me not to make an appearance."

Smirking to herself at her little victory, she said, "Well then, it's finished. The party will start at seven, and we have to be there half an hour early to make sure the house elves have everything in order."

The rest of the walk around the lake was spent organizing strategies on how to keep the students at the party present, accounted for, and most importantly, fully clothed.

The Halloween feast turned out to be rather mundane, as most students were far more interested in the next night's activities. 'Halloween never seems as exciting as it was when Harry was here,' Neville thought to himself, as he began undressing for the night. "Then again, maybe that's not such a bad thing," he said to the room.

"What's not such a bad thing?" purred a feminine, seductive voice from his open doorway. Turning, he saw what appeared to be a very turned on Lavender leaning against his door jam. Smirking slightly, he said, "I thought you didn't want to come down tonight, huh?" He raised an eyebrow mockingly.

"Well, I wasn't," she said, as she walked up to him, fingering the hem of his undershirt. "But, when I got to my room, it just felt so…lonely. I can go back, though, if you want me to…" she let her voice trail off as she spoke.

Wrapping his arms around her, he tackled her to the bed, and then looked deep into her eyes and said, "You'll do no such thing! No, no, now that you've gone and wandered into the lion's den, I suppose you'll just have to suffer the consequences."

Running her nails along his back, she whispered in his ear seductively, "Poor, poor me, whatever will I do now?" These were the last words spoken by either professor that night.

The next morning found Neville and Lavender much in the same position they were in the day before, though this time, sunlight filled the room, as the two had decided to sleep in, what with the late night they were sure to have and all. This time, it was Lavender who awoke first, though she was perfectly content with lying in Neville's warm embrace. For her, getting out of bed meant officially starting the day, and on a Saturday, this should be done at the latest possible hour.

Becoming slightly bored, she took to lightly tracing the lines of Neville's exposed palm. So intent in this activity was she that she nearly flew out of the bed when a low voice rumbled into her ear, "Having fun?"

Seeing her startled reaction, Neville laughed boisterously, earning a somewhat murderous glare from his blonde bedmate.

"You know, you really shouldn't do that to a person. I could have had a heart attack!" she mock ranted.

"Oh, come on, take it easy, I was just funnin' ya," he said. Glancing at the clock, he looked back to her, lifting himself up on one elbow. "Hey, it's almost eight. We gotta get up if we're gonna get some breakfast. They're serving early today, what with the match and all."

Mumbling something under her breath about "No good, heart attack-causing prats," Lavender exited the bed then began the awkward process of trying to fend off the cold while also looking for her clothes. Finding her bra and knickers, she put them on while saying, "You know, it really does get bloody cold in here. If it gets much worse than this, you may just be spending your nights this winter alone."

Neville laughed heartily at this. In fact, he laughed so loudly that neither occupant of the room heard a knocking coming from the entrance to the greenhouse.

"Just where exactly did you toss my jumper, if you don't mind?" she asked, looking rather fed up at her fruitless clothes hunting expedition, her hands on her hips.

Sliding on his own boxer shorts, Neville began to respond, "I don't know, I was sorta occupied at the…" but he never finished that sentence, as, to his horror, a voice rang out from the other side of the door to his quarters, "You'd better be decent, Longbottom, 'cause I'm comin' in!" Not a second later, the door was thrown open and none other than Ron Weasley stormed in, a large box held under his right arm.

If he had planned on saying anything else, Ron never got around to it, as he eyes immediately fixed on the slender blonde wearing only her undergarments, who in turn was staring right back at him. Finally, after a couple seconds of silence, Ron whispered, "Lavender?" Both she and Neville remained motionless.

The thought occurred to Neville that this situation could not possibly get any worse. That thought was quickly wiped away, however, as a very familiar voice was heard behind his tall red-headed friend.

"Ronald! I thought I told you not to just go barg…ing…in?" Stammering out the last two words, it seemed to take her mind a short while to soak in exactly what she was seeing. Finally, her eyes changed from being wide open with surprise to nearly closed into slits, as her stance and posture also changed to that of a person who was entirely unhappy. Looking at her husband, she growled out through gritted teeth, "Ronald, if you wish to remain a man for the rest of your life, you will turn around and face the wall this instant." Though her volume was quiet, her tone was the scariest thing Neville had ever heard, and Ron must have thought the same thing, for when she finished, he turned around so quickly he nearly fell over, and then moved to a corner of the room.

Looking back to the still motionless Lavender, Hermione took on a smile that was anything but pleasant and said, "Why, Lavender, old friend, fancy seeing you…here."

Being addressed seemed to awaken something in Lavender, and she went from motionless to moving at super-speed in no time flat. Seeing her jeans, she quickly threw them on, then gave up trying to find her jumper, grabbed one of Neville's from his closet, picked up her shoes and ran for the door. As she passed, she threw out a, "Nice to see you Ron, Hermione," and then was gone. All this happened in the span of ten seconds.

Immediately turning her icy glare to Neville, Hermione asked in a mock polite tone, "Why, Neville darling, would you mind explaining what that was all about? Because, to my untrained eye," and she paused for a moment, chuckling sarcastically, "it looked an awful lot like you had just got done BLOODY SHAGGING LAVENDER BROWN!!!"

Her yelling seemed to finally awaken Neville from his temporary paralysis, and he noticed for the first time that he wasn't wearing anything other than his underpants. Quickly grabbing a sheet off the bed and wrapping himself in it, he tried to think of the best way to answer her question. "Well, you see, it's a little bit complicated…"

Obviously, that was not what she had wanted to hear, as she cut him off. "Well, it didn't look very 'complicated' to me!"

Standing still for a few seconds, she was obviously searching for what she was going to say next when a feeble voice was heard from the corner. "Uhhh, can I turn around now?"

Looking at her husband, then back to Neville, then at her husband again, Hermione finally threw her hands up in the air and shouted a very disgusted sounding, "MEN!" before turning on the spot and storming from the room. A couple seconds later, she shouted back, "I'll be waiting out here, Ronald. You'd better hurry, or we'll miss our chance to have breakfast with Rose!"

Finally turning to face his friend, Ron's eyes searched the room one last time before his face twisted into a huge grin. "Lavender, huh? Bloody brilliant, mate! Way ta go!"

He was about to stick out his hand for a friendly shake when he cringed while hearing, "I HEARD THAT! YOU CAN JUST WALK YOURSELF UP TO THE CASTLE, RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY!!" Shortly after that, the door to the greenhouse could be heard slamming loudly.

"I see her hormones are still running pretty wild from the pregnancy, eh? Now, what are you guys doing here, anyways?" Neville asked.

"Oh, she's getting better now, though…she still has her days. Anyway, we're here to see the match, of course. Couldn't expect me not to see my quiddich prodigy's first ever match, could ya?" With this, his face took on an expression of superiority. "Well, I better get going; I think I'll be making up for this 'til at least next Tuesday, if I'm lucky. Doesn't hurt to get an early start though, right?" Walking up to Neville, Ron gave him a manly slap to the back and said, "I meant what I said, though; bloody brilliant work, mate. It's about time you got yourself a bird!" Finishing that, he was out the door.

Just as he was about to leave, he turned back and yelled, "Oh, and Nev? Can I leave this box here until just before the match? It's a little…surprise, you know, to show my Gryffindor spirit."

Muttering, "Yeah, sure, whatever," yet not knowing what Ron had said, Neville felt himself being pulled away from his friends voice by his own thoughts.

'What just happened? How could the morning possibly have gone from being so perfect to being such a perfect nightmare so fast? And, bloody hell, the look on Lavender's face when she shimmied out of here; I'll be lucky if she'll ever talk to me again. This is not good.'

Concluding that this morning probably could not have gotten off to a much worse start, he did the only thing he could think to do, and collapsed onto his bed, curling up and praying to any power he could that all this was just a dream.

After coming to the unfortunate conclusion that his early morning shenanigans where indeed not a dream, Neville quickly decided not to go to breakfast. 'I definitely can't look Ron or Hermione in the eye right now, and…oh Merlin, I don't even know what I'd do if Lavender were there.' So, he contented himself with water and what few snacks he had brought from the Great Hall over the past few weeks.

The rest of the morning passed by uneventfully, and before he knew it, it was time for Neville to go to the quiddich pitch. Entering the staff seating area, Neville looked around and released a sigh as he saw that neither Ron, Hermione, nor Lavender had arrived yet. He quickly took a seat near the front of the stands, next to Professor Ardent, the Slytherin Head of House.

"Good afternoon, Longbottom. Ready to lose?" he asked, smirking at his fellow professor. "I must say, while I've never really been much for this whole 'quiddich' thing, having a house trophy at stake does make things rather exciting, doesn't it?"

Not really feeling the energy to argue, Neville merely shook his head in compliance with his fellow professor. Ardent must have taken the hint, for he did not speak to him further.

After a few more moments of silence, Neville heard Ron say from behind, "Hey Nev! Look back here!"

Turning his head, Neville's eyes immediately focused on a very familiar looking hat in the shape of a lion's head, which was currently perched upon Ron's skull. 'Merlin, I'm gonna need a headache potion before this day's over.'

"I borrowed it from Luna! Can you believe I used to think this sweet baby was daft?" exclaimed his very excited friend. Hermione, for her part, seemed to be attempting to distance herself from her husband, sitting at the opposite end of the bench from him. After he tapped his wand to the hat, causing it to roar out loudly, she stood and took a different seat, two rows back. Seeing his wife's actions, he grinned back at Neville, "Oh, don't mind her, she's just no fun! Can you believe she actually tried to talk me out of bring it?"

"I couldn't ever understand why," Neville muttered, turning around in his seat and facing the pitch. By now, almost all the students were seated, and the team introductions would begin. 'Merlin, please, just let it end quickly,' he thought to himself.

Stomp, stomp, CLAP! Stomp, stomp, CLAP! Stomp, stomp, CLAP!

Though it was mostly only the Gryffindors performing this action, the sound of their combined effort reverberated off of every wall in the stadium. It was obvious that the Slytherin team was affected, as they all stared at the Gryffindor stands. Neville couldn't help but smile at what he knew was coming next.

Jonathon Franklin, keeper and Captain of the Gryffindor team, had approached him a couple weeks prior to the match, saying that he felt that the team introductions were too…boring, and that he wanted to know if he could spice things up a bit. Neville thought it was an excellent idea, and after some coaxing to the Headmistress, she agreed as well. While he didn't know everything that was going to happen, he knew it would be interesting.

Suddenly, the stomping and the clapping grew even louder, and Neville realized that this was due to some sort of amplified sound being added to the actual antics of the Gryffindors. "AND NOW…" rumbled the voice of the student commentator, who also happened to be a Gryffindor, "I INTRODUCE TO YOU…YOUR…GRYFFINDOR LIONS!!" As he concluded, music filled the stadium, a song that any muggle student would have recognized as the opening instrumental portion of "We Are the Champions" by Queen.

As the music was playing, Neville saw the Gryffindor quiddich team all take to the air at the same time, then form a single row seven members wide. They then proceeded to sweep just over the heads over everyone in the stands, doing a complete circle around the pitch. Their brooms trailed out crimson and gold smoke, so that a series of crimson and gold strips settled over the spectators. As they passed overhead, Neville noticed that each team member had their face charmed so that the right half was crimson, and the left half gold. All in all, he thought it was a spectacular display, as did the rest of the crowd, who by now where going wild. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were cheering madly at this point. Nobody even seemed to mind when Ron sounded out the growl of his lion hat.

Looking at the Slytherin team, the extravagant introduction seemed to be taking the proper effect, as their players looked confused or downright awed by what was going on around them. 'Well done, Franklin, Well done," Neville thought.

After the players finished their loop, they quickly took their positions and waited for Madam Hooch to toss up the quaffle, starting the game.

As things started, Neville could see that both teams had come to prepared to play. Both seekers zoomed through the skies madly, looking for the snitch, while the quaffle passed from player to player, sometimes being shot at the opposing team's goal, yet never getting past either keeper. Both teams looked to be evenly matched, and the game looked like it was going to be a long one.

After about twenty minutes, with neither team yet to score, an errant pass by a Slytherin chaser landed the quaffle into the hands of little Rose Weasley for the first time. Quickly she zoomed across the pitch, making her way to the Slytherin goal rings. Watching her dodge and duck madly to avoid bludgers being sent her way, Neville's attention was diverted as he saw the entire Slytherin portion of the stands rise to their feet. 'Oh no,' he thought, 'looks like Malfoy prepared his son well. Here we go again.' As this thought concluded, he heard a terribly familiar chorus rang out.

Weasley cannot toss a thing,
She can't pass through a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.

So caught up in the song was he, that he did not notice until afterwards Rose swoop in, fake a pass to her left, fling the quaffle to her right, and deftly score the game's first ten points. The Slytherins all noticed, though, and quickly hushed their singing. 'Well,' he thought amusedly, 'it looks like that song doesn't hold the same power over the next generation.'

As the commentator was announcing her goal, Rose did a low fly-over of the Slytherin stands, cupping her hand to her ear as she did so. 'I'm gonna have to talk to her about sportsmanship, I see,' Neville thought. All other thoughts were blasted out of his head, however, as a deafening roar erupted from behind him. Looking out to Rose, he thought he could faintly see her cheeks tint red slightly, and she quickly stopped her scoring celebration and retook her place on the field.

After another hour and a half of tight defensive play, the game was very low scoring, with Gryffindor scoring four more times while Slytherin scored three. Neville couldn't help but notice, however, that Rose seemed to have no more interest in taking shots at the rings, but rather she took every opportunity to pass to her teammates instead.

Suddenly, the crowd roared to life as the Slytherin seeker shot like a dart towards the grassy pitch, obviously having caught sight of his prey. Following closely behind was the Gryffindor seeker, who also seemed to see the snitch. As both players plummeted to the earth, the crowd suddenly became quiet, the tension of the moment becoming too much for them all. Neville could now see the small golden ball, as it seemed to taunt the ever-so-close players. Just as they were about to reach the ground, the Slytherin seeker wrenched his broom to level out and zoom forward, following his target, while the Gryffindor seeker was in position to do nothing other than veer off to the left. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'It looks like they're gonna win.'

Preparing himself for the worse, Neville was extremely surprised by the quick series of events that took place next. Just as the Slytherin seeker was about to reach for the elusive golden ball, it swerved directly left, leaving him reaching for air. Pulling up to turn around and regain his pursuit, he was nearly knocked off his broom as a blur of crimson and gold zoomed by from the left, the Gryffindor seeker having looped around and swooped in. As luck would have it, the snitch cut in the direction that she was coming from, and therefore flew right into her awaiting hands. So fast did all this happen, that not even the game commentator announced the winning grab until nearly five seconds post catch.

'Well, it was a lucky win, but I'll take it. I woulda hated being at that party tonight if we had lost,' Neville thought. All further thoughts were drowned out by the near continuous roaring of that blasted hat. If it was the last thing he ever did, Neville was going to see that hat dismantled into the smallest possible pieces.

After the on-field celebrations died down, all the players headed to the locker rooms, while Neville made his way to the outside of the Entrance Hall. After about half an hour, he saw players from both teams making their way back to the castle, the Gryffindors looking jubilant, the Slytherins looking…displeased.

While he had waited, he kept an eye out for Lavender. True, a big part of him did not want to see her right now, but another part of him was beginning to worry about her. If she had attended the game, she had not sat in the staff seating area. He wondered if she had just chosen to lock herself up in her quarters until after Ron and Hermione were gone.

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as he saw a radiantly proud Ron Weasley carrying his heavily giggling daughter on his shoulders. She was back in her school robes, and her face had been charmed back to its normal color. Neville wasn't sure he had ever seen Ron look as happy as he did at that moment. He was boasting to anyone who would listen about the "absolutely brilliant" play of his daughter. Walking a few paces behind and shaking her lowered head was Hermione. Though she tried to play like she was not happy with the scene, he could see the tell-tale twitches of a smile at the corners of her lips none the same.

Reaching him, Ron lifted his daughter effortlessly and placed her on the ground before clapping her on the back and looking at Neville. "So, what did you think?" His smile was so radiant that Neville thought he was going to have to squint his eyes when looking at him.

"Very impressive, Rose. How'd it feel to score your first goal?" he asked.

"Really great, Professor Longbottom! I can't wait to get out there and play some more!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Seeing Hermione's frown, Neville chuckled lightly before saying, "Well, that's very good, but remember that it's just a game, and that your studies should always come first."

Seeing both she and her father's faces go slack in disbelief, while receiving an approving nod from Hermione, Neville knew he had said the right thing. "Just a game?" both father and daughter asked at the same time.

Laughing some more, he finally turned to Rose and said, "Well, why don't you say goodbye to your Mum and Dad real quick, then head up to the tower. I'm sure all your housemates are already there getting in a little early celebrating."

Nodding her head, she ran to her Mum and gave her a hug and a kiss, then ran over to her father and giggled like mad when he picked her up and spinned her in the air before setting her down and giving her a big hug. 'She's definitely Daddy's little girl,' Neville thought.

Finally releasing his grip on his daughter, Neville watched her run through the entrance doors to the castle before turning back to his friends. "Well," he said, "it's been great having you guys here, although I suppose I should discourage you from coming to future games. I mean, parental support is great, but we usually don't let parents come to the matches."

Glancing back to his now frowning wife, Ron smiled nervously to Neville before saying, "Oh, don't worry, she-" as Hermione swatted her husband on the head, he restated, "Er, I mean we agreed that we would only come to Rosie's first game. But hey, it was still great to see, right? Kinda like, being part of history, or somethin'."

Suddenly, Hermione stepped forward swiftly and stuck out her hand. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Professor Longbottom," she said, rather mechanically. Seeing that all he was going to get from her was a handshake, Neville ducked his head and extended his own hand. Directly after the shake was over, she spun on her heel and began heading directly for the entrance gates.

"Sorry about that," Ron said, "I guess she's still a little worked up about this morning. Believe me when I tell you that you got the gentle treatment. Anyway, don't worry about it, I'll work on her and have you back in her good graces in no time. Take care, mate." Then, leaning in and flashing a mischevious smile, he quietly muttered, "And don't you two kids go doing anything I wouldn't do!" With that, he also turned and left.

With both of his friends gone, Neville finally turned and headed towards the castle, having made up his mind that he needed to find Lavender. His only hope was that he could get this whole mess sorted out before time for the two of them to report to the Great Hall for the party. 'How awkward is it gonna be if we are on chaperone duty, and can't even look one another in the eye?' he thought. Groaning slightly to himself, Neville began the long climb to the seventh floor.

A/N: Whew, done! Man, that chapter was sooooo much more than it started out being. First of all, for all you quiddich fans out there ready to chop my head off and serve it to me on a platter for my abbreviated game scene, let me just tell you that: first, I didn't think I could write a very good, in-depth quiddich sequence, and second, that's not what I wanted this chapter to focus on, anyways. Now, on to more important matters; how'd you guys like it? You all know that Ron would bethat Dad, there's no denying it. If any of you out there are starting to think that Neville's acting a little too confident around Lavender all of the sudden, well, all I can tell you is this: he's been getting a pretty steady supply of sex from her for almost two months now, and that's enough to add a little weight to any man's trousers, if you catch my drift. At least, that's how I see it. Anyways, like it, hate it, let me know. In other words, REVIEW!!

Cheers!!