Nothing so Sweet
A/N: Wow, I was almost fast this time, wasn't I? Anyway, I'm not super fond of this chapter but I thought a New Year chapter would be necessary so I'm afraid to say there's maybe too little Neville in this chapter but Susan will make up for his absence (a bit) and we get to learn more about how Hannah bought the Leaky so – all in all – it's not exactly the most romantic of chapters…OR IS IT? *suspense music*
Chapter 10: Fireplace, Fireworks…
The whole place was crowded, Hannah could barely move without bumping into one of her clients; the whole situation made her not only claustrophobic but also extremely annoyed.
"Everything is under control now, boss." Said Doris, one of the extra employees she had hired for the holidays. "Tom says you're free to go if you want."f
Hannah took a look around the Leaky Cauldron; things did not look as if they were under control:
"Is he sure about that?" She said with an incredulous tone. Doris smiled confidently:
"He said you'd probably say something like that and told me to assure you once again that he knows what he's doing and…" the girl blushed slightly, Hannah frowned:
"And what?"
"And that I was to tell you your job is upstairs with the papers and bills and he was the one supposed to deal with people." Doris looked scared as she waited for Hannah's reaction but all she did was laugh out loud and hand the girl the tray of butterbeer she had been holding.
"Well, I reckon he's right, don't you?" She smiled and stretched her arms, yawning. "Then I'm off to bed! Good luck with the costumers, Doris, and Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year, boss. Aren't you staying for the party?"
"Not even if they paid me to, which, by the way…" She pointed to the costumers "…they kinda do." Doris giggled and Hannah started walking upstairs making sure to spot Tom among the crowd and blow him a kiss before turning her back on the party.
Tom, she considered, was an excellent person and, to her, almost like family (they sure bickered like relatives would).
It had come to her as a shock when she had first found out the Leaky was for sale; she was just staying there for a couple of months while looking for a house in Hogsmeade and a better job but the time she spent there was enough to make her realize she'd love to own the place:
"There are a few conditions though." Tom had said with his toothless smile when she showed interest for the first time. "The only reason I'm even selling this place is because I have no family to leave it to but I'd still like to work here, I want to be the barman here until the day I die." Hannah's jaw had dropped. One would think people would have greater death wishes than that. Tom laughed at her expression and patted her hand. "You're a good person, Hannah Abbott and I can see you really do like this place but it takes a lot more than liking to understand how meaningful the Leaky Cauldron is. If you really do buy it, I will teach you everything there is to know about this old building." He had said that with love in his eyes, as if the Leaky Cauldron was a part of him and not only a building or his house. He then took both Hannah's hands and led her to the kitchens, then the basements and attics (there seemed to be four of each) and some of the secret passageways. Hannah eventually grew used to the smells and the noises as she watched Tom for the next month; she finally started to understand what he had meant. So, only a few weeks after their conversation, Hannah bought the famous pub with her heritance money. Till today it was her most impulsive act ever but she was yet to regret it. Every now and then she'd take a wrong turn and find something new about the place and then she'd proud to call the place her home. Of course, after the Ernie fiasco, even the Leaky started to look haunted by ghosts of her past and she was tempted to leave again.
At first, Tom had trained her for all the possible positions she could assume and he was very quick in realizing she should never be allowed around the bar. Firstly because she had so much trouble saying no to costumers that she'd accept every drink they bought her, making her a very drunk barwoman by the end of the shift but the biggest problem, still, was Hannah's lack of people skills. When Tom first found out she had been a Hufflepuff, he had expected her to be ideal for the task of advising tormented incomers but – for some reason he could not explain – in an interval of less than 12 hours, she had managed to end two relationships, cause a mother and son to fight and almost drove a teenager to break his wand and drop out of school. Upon realizing that, Tom forbid her anywhere near the counter again even though – he admitted – that'd be a bit bad for business since her good-looks (his words, not hers) had attracted more costumers than what he was used to.
Hannah beamed as she unlocked the door to her bedroom, she couldn't believe it all had happened almost five years ago; so much had changed.
Her room was pitch dark; she slowly slipped out of her heels and undressed, grabbing a flannel shirt that laid on a chair and putting it on. She didn't mind taking off her makeup, she'd worry about it in the morning; the night was too cold to be enjoyed. She lay down on her bed, feeling the warmth of her sheets around her. That was when she felt something different than her pillows next to her:
"Hello, lover." A voice whispered in her ear. Hannah rolled out of bed and crashed against the floor yelling: "Lumos!" Lumos was one of the easiest spells to do without a wand but it'd be of very little use against a sexual maniac. As lights went on, Hannah desperately looked for her wand but soon recognized the distinct shape of a red-headed woman wearing bright yellow and smiling from ear to ear on her bed.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Hannah screamed, knees on the floor and hands on her bed:
"Oh, Hannah, you're no fun." Susan pretended to be hurt.
"WHAT – THE – HELL?" She burst again.
"I'm happy to see you too, dearest." Susan said waving her off and sitting on the bed. "Now, would you happen to have any food?" Hannah had to wait for her breathing to even out before saying:
"You almost gave me a bloody heart-attack!" Her friend just stared at her, faking innocence:
"Oh, did I? Silly little me." Hannah could tell she was browsing the house for food and not at all concerned about her reaction so she forced her weak knees to stand up and walk towards the fireplace to order room service.
"What were you thinking, Susan? Showing up like this, unannounced…" She picked two trays of food from the flames and served them on the bed. Susan sighed:
"Oh, you know Justin's family, don't you? It's not that I'm a witch…" She took a bite on a sandwich. "It's just that I'm not adequate to their noble blooded name high values." She rolled her eyes at Hannah's pity expression. "He offered to stay with me but I told him to go, we had already spent Christmas together anyway. He can see my pretty freckled face tomorrow if he wants. So I dropped by for a visit." She smirked.
"And what exactly, among all these facts, led you to decide that waiting for me in the dark and then nearly frightening me to death would be a great idea?"
Susan sipped from her tea and shrugged:
"I find it amusing when you're upset."
"Nice." Hannah rolled her eyes and lay next to Susan on the bed.
"So, what are we up to tonight?" She asked, a new smile on her face, her red locks hanging loose around her frame. Hannah chuckled bitterly:
"We are not up to anything. You know how I feel about New Year." Susan frowned and then grunted:
"Ugh. You're impossible! Why can't you give New Year a chance? You've been like this since we were kids!"
"The whole party is an ode to hypocrisy!" Hannah said. "First there's the concept of starting over; there's no such thing as starting over…" Susan started staring at a point on the wall. She had heard that speech at least a hundred times before. "And then there's this utter nonsense about changing. People don't change just because it's midnight! And don't let me get started on how pathetic New Year resolutions are…"
"What about being thankful?" Susan interrupted her in hope to put an ending to the ranting. "Shouldn't we at least celebrate the year that passed?" Hannah perked her eyebrows:
"Celebrate? Celebrate?" Susan took a deep breath. No wonder Tom had forbidden Hannah to take care of the bar. One conversation with her was all one needed to feel like committing suicide. "What's to celebrate? I mean, don't you reckon that being thankful for a whole year – even the bad things – is completely hypocritical? Nobody is happy about every little thing that happens in a year; plus, what about the fear of the year ahead of us? A New Year really puts time into perspective…"
"Aye, Hannah, can't you at least give the poor fireworks a chance?" Susan muttered not bothering to be heard and staring out the window.
"And then we have to face the fact that we do have a whole new year ahead of us with a whole new bunch of problems that will come with it…"
"Stop!" Susan said abruptly, cutting Hannah mid-sentence "Your bitterness is ruining the taste of my champagne. Stop ranting like that."
"Well," Hannah started, defensive. "It's just my opinion." She sounded a bit hurt.
"Yes, I know it is. I've been listening to it since we were eleven." Hannah grimaced. " I was just hoping it'd have changed by now too, since you're all rainbows and unicorns nowadays…"
"I'm what?"
"You know; all cheery and weird." Susan said, pouring herself some more champagne. "Ever since you started dating Longbottom you're all bubbly and glowing and all that sort of thing…"
"I am not dating Neville."
"Is that what the two of you keep telling yourselves?" she turned the glass on her mouth at once. Hannah's eyes narrowed at Susan but she just pretended not to see it. "All I'm saying is that there you are, complaining about how people think they'll change and how they're not supposed to be thankful about bad things when you – out of all people – should be the one thanking the most. For changes and bad things." Susan expression became really serious. "I keep wondering how you would be right now if you and Ernie hadn't broken up, if you haven't got so close to Longbottom…" Hannah sighed; she wasn't expecting that. Even Susan had her deep, considerate moments every now and then. She smiled, thankful for having such a good – even if so evil – friend.
"Coming to think of it…" Susan said with a mischievous grin. "Where is Longbottom? Don't the two of you spend like every waking moment together these days?" Just when she thought her friend had the slightest capacity of feeling anything like consideration towards others…
"Don't be ridiculous! Neville is with his grandmother for New Year. It's not like we have to see each other, alright? We are not a couple." Susan's smile only grew wider at this. She said, her eyes focusing on something behind Hannah:
"Your fireplace;" she pointed at it. "Someone's calling you." Hannah turned around and walked towards the flames. A familiar voice filled the room:
"T-this is Neville Longbottom looking for Hannah Abbott…N-Neville Longbottom looking for Hannah Abb…"
"Oh my, who would ever guess?" Susan said with a smirk and Hannah picked a shoe from the floor to throw at her. She dodged and laughed out loud, her face already pink from all the champagne.
"Hello, Neville." Hannah tried, as formally as possible still flushed because of Susan's obnoxious remarks. "How's everything?" Neville – actually, Neville's head – smiled even though it was pretty obvious he wasn't really fond of fireplace communication.
"Hey, Longbottom, happy New Year!" Susan yelled from behind Hannah, scaring the two of them. Neville seemed a little jumpy for a second but then beamed at her:
"Oh, hello, Bones, a happy New Year for you as well; didn't expect you to be here." Susan chuckled:
"Neither did Hannah, you should've seen her face!"
"I have another shoe here, Susan, and I'm not afraid to use it against you." Hannah threatened. Neville, who had no idea what was going on, looked clueless. Hannah shrugged:
"She's a bit drunk." His eyes widened in surprised as he realized something:
"And you are sober!" He seemed to be lost in thoughts for a moment. "Do you agree it's possible for the fireplace to take me to alternate realities?"
"I see we are feeling bold tonight, Longbottom, aren't we?" She said holding the shoe on her hand so hard her knuckles were white. Neville laughed:
"Sorry, Hannah." He them watched her more cautiously. "You're not only sober…You're wearing pajamas!"
"Always remarkably quick-witted…" She pointed out sarcastically while attempting to cover her legs with her flannel shirt. Neville looked upset:
"Hadn't we discussed this? You were supposed to be having fun tonight not up here, sulking. The only reason I was ok with leaving you alone there is that you wouldn't spend the holidays brooding like this."
"My point exactly!" Susan's voice came from the bed.
"And now the two of you will be ganging up on me?"
"Don't be silly." Neville said. "But you really should try. When was the last time you even saw fireworks?"
"Five years ago!" Susan said as if it were an accusation. "I forced her to watch them with me!"
"What?" Neville could barely speak in his shocked state. "You haven't seen fireworks in five years?"
"What's with you people and this obsession with fireworks? I have seen fireworks, you know? The Weasley's shop is right around the corner in case you haven't noticed!"
"You know it's different" Susan said. "New Year fireworks represent the ending of something and the beginning of others. They are supposed to show us there are good things to hope for."
"Meaning they go against everything I believe then." Hannah said. Neville rolled his eyes but smiled, Hannah thought he looked a bit pleased with himself. It suited him, it wasn't a look she saw everyday:
"I thought you'd say that…" He started. "Anyway, I have something for you. It's a New Year plant! I grew it myself in my personal garden here so it's not as exuberant as the things I grow at Hogwarts…" He handed her a vase with a minuscule yellow flower that looked a lot like a tulip. Hannah seemed a little surprised:
"I always forget how cool fireplace communication can be. It's like a telephone and FedEx at the same time…"
"Like what?" He asked. She made an impatient face:
"Purebloods…" she muttered.
"Anyway, there you go." Neville's habit of presenting her with flowers had been very awkward at the beginning but now, after their fight a few months ago, she had learned to adore whatever plant he gave her. Still, with Susan on the room she felt a need to justify the gift:
"Say, Neville, what's this plant for?" The plants he gave her usually had a function like good luck, tranquilizing costumers or – more than often – curing hangovers.
"What is it for?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, I mean, you said it's a New Year plant…Is it for good luck?" A mysterious grin crossed Neville's lips for a second before disappearing completely:
"Hm, no…This flower…I believe, hm…" He thought for a second. "This flower helps people to win arguments."
"Win…arguments?" She asked, confused but before he could answer anything; they were interrupted by Susan who stood up at once, a bottle of champagne in one hand:
"Enough!" She yelled. "It's five to midnight; I'm going downstairs to enjoy the party." She marched towards the door but stopped between the fireplace and Hannah; pointing the index finger of the hand she was holding the bottle with to each of them:
"My advice to the two of you…" She said staring from one to the other:
"Grow up already!" She threw her arms in the air before bursting the door open. "You're so slow it's getting on my nerves!" She then reeled towards the stairs grunting nonsense about the two of them.
"That's potentially dangerous…" Neville said while following Susan going downstairs with his eyes. Hannah held the tiny vase against her chest and shrugged:
"I hope she breaks a leg or something. She deserves it." They both chuckled. "She's right though, it is five to midnight; I suppose you should go be with your family."
"Yes, I should." They remained in silence for a while until Neville coughed. "The ashes are starting to make me sick anyway; Happy New Year, Hannah." Hannah beamed and scowled at the same time:
"Happy New Year, Neville." He disappeared on the flames and she felt very alone all of a sudden. She crawled back into her bed and waited for her eyelids to feel heavy again. With a wave of her hands, she turned off all the lights and breathed slowly.
Hannah had never liked changes, it was something she had learned from her mother; when she was young and her mother would comb her hair and do the pigtails she used for so long, she'd say that having a trademark was good, that people who were constant, people who were what they were and always stood true to themselves, constants…This sort of people always left marks on everyone. At the age of five, all Hannah wanted was to be someone her mother would admire so she decided she too would be a constant person; she'd try her best never to change her essence. Hannah dreaded New Year and its promises of restarts; she wanted people to remain the same, to never lose the feelings they had, or their beliefs… - ever since she was a child, the changes New Year brought along were never good: at first was her best friend at school who decided she was too cool to be around such a weird kid like Hannah, then she went to Hogwarts and was sent away from her family, then she lost her cat, and then Voldemort came back, and then her mother died until last year, when she lost Ernie; she had never acquired anything good as time went by…She didn't feel like celebrating changes, never.
But then, one day, she found herself begging for something new – and in the weirdest place, for the least expected of all people. She had begged, in tears, to Neville Longbottom for a change. She was eating ice cream and he was just listening, and Hannah wanted changes, not only wanted but hoped for them.
And things did change, slowly in a calm pace – day by day – things she used to feel died slowly inside her, she didn't know exactly how. Being around Neville was weird, fun and more frequently than she'd hope for, awkward. Hannah still hated New Year though, but maybe she could give changing a chance, she thought to herself, just maybe.
She closed her eyes and felt her body relax and then she realized one thing: she was fine. In a long, long time she was completely fine.
But then, an explosion woke her up.
She opened her eyes to see her whole room illuminated which was impossible since she had turned all lights off, she then thought of Susan but she was nowhere to be seen; that's when she noticed the flower on the table next to her bed.
The tiny yellow tulip now shone an intense shade of red. Hannah approached it and watched as a ray of light came out from its center followed by a thousand more and they all exploded on her roof, turning into different shapes of flowers and patterns, showering her with stars.
Her bedroom door burst open to show a very drunk Susan with her arms stretched, crying:
"I'm sorry, Hannah! I shouldn't abandon my best friend on New Year; even you're such a pain about it!" She was completely wasted so Hannah laughed really hard, making her own tears of joy take different ways on her face. Susan finally noticed the explosions on the roof and commented matter-of-factly:
"You've gotta give this to Longbottom; the man got charms, doesn't he?" Hannah stretched a hand to catch some tiny stars and took one last glance on the tulip. She decided she could start liking New Years after all.
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A/N:I think Hannah is in love, thank you very much, lol. However, some of you are dying for them to be together quickly but I should probably warn you that it'll take a lot longer than usual for them to become a couple. This is a long fic (I think it'll have around 20 chapters, maybe a bit less) and Neville and Hannah are complete dorks when it comes to love so don't keep your hopes up. However, for the anxious at heart, I can promise you a kiss for the next chapter! A real one and all that. Anyway, sorry if I didn't answer your reviews or if I answer twice or something, this new reviewing system here confuses the hell out of me.
Anyway, don't you just love how Susan and Hannah are so bad at being Hufflepuffs? They care a lot about their friends and all that but just like Ron and Neville aren't always brave, they aren't always that friendly, you know? :D
By the way, merry Christmas and happy New Year in case I don't update' till then. I'm not a fan of New Years myself though not for the same reasons as Hannah, I guess. Anyway, go review now, go, go! Please : (?