Chapter 12

In which Neville has Prospects

Pansy Parkinson awoke to a light tapping noise on her window. She climbed out of bed and quickly pulled the owl inside before all of the heat escaped the room, giving it some croutons to eat while she stoked her fire and put a kettle on to boil. It was a bright new day, and despite how much power Neville had over her self-worth (which she was trying to rectify.) she felt good. Hopeful about the new year, even.

At the hooting of the owl Pansy turned to relieve the bird of it's rather thick looking envelope.

"Now there, sweetie. Don't worry I'll free you of your letter." She pulled off the envelope and read the enclosed note.

Parkinson,

Last evening was a blast. But you seemed a little tense. Take these crystallized lavender sprigs. They have magical stress relieving properties. Not really. It's just a scientific muggle thing. But they still are calming.

Until the next time,

D. Thomas

Pansy couldn't help the smile that played on her lips as she pulled the crystallized lavender from the envelope. She had an admirer. Somebody saw her for who she is and… well, was being bold with her. It was invigorating.

Neville awoke to incessant pecking at his window.

PECK BANG ECHO PECK

PECK ECHO BANG PECK

ECHO PECK BANG BANG

Neville was hungover. He swore on his living Gran's future grave that he would never touch alcohol again if only the banging would stop.

CRASH

Well, at least the banging stopped? The owl crashed through his window and landed on his head. Neville finally gave in and sat up, becoming more aware of his surroundings. It seemed he had made it to his bed but not under his covers. Or out of his shoes. He quickly pulled the note off of the owl and hurled the bird back out of the broken window. Needless to say, he was a little on edge this morning. Grabbing his wand he flung for the window to repair itself while he opened the letter.

Neville,

I look forward to our meeting this day. Sorry to say that I need to push back our time just an hour or so, as my morning has begun slower than expected. But I look forward to seeing your gardens and herbology projects. See you on the noon.

H. Slughorn

Neville cursed to himself remembering that he had scheduled to meet with Slughorn today. How could he forget? What a blessed happenstance that he should push the meeting back. That at least gave him time to get rid of his hangover. Hopefully Pansy would have a potion or something that would help. Neville wasn't really informed when it came to such remedies. It wasn't something he usually had to deal with. Gathering his thoughts and breath he changed clothes, as not to look too done in for, and exited his room into the corridor that led between the professors quarters.

"Aye, Longbottom. Guess you weren't as lucky as some of us last night, then?" Ernie was just coming down the hall towards his room wearing the same clothes from the night before, disheveled though they were. "I guess Abbott perhaps isn't into… what do the muggles call it? A dad-bod?"

Neville ignored Ernie's statements and went to knock on Pansy's door. The sooner she could help him the better.

"Thank you again. I usually hardly drink, I'm not sure what got into me last night." Neville took the vial that Pansy was handing him and drank it as quickly as possible.

"It looked like multiple shots every hour got into you." Pansy couldn't entirely hide the biting note behind her statement. But fortunately Neville was too focused on his potion to take notice. "Feeling any better?"

"Much, thank you Pansy." Neville looked up at Pansy and truly saw her for the first time this morning. She was… wearing colors. A pair of slim fitting jeans and a green v-neck sweater. And, now that Neville was paying attention, he noticed that she had changed out her normal green necklace for a sprig of crystallized lavender on a silver chain. "Hey! You're wearing colors!"

Pansy chuckled awkwardly at the exclamation as she put away the supplies she had used. He watched her as she reached up to put items away on the higher shelves. He liked the color. It made her look younger. More alive. … More voluptuous. Not that Neville really noticed. But he made note from an unbiased standpoint.. As an ex-auror, of course.

"Yeah. Draco made me get them when we went out yesterday. I woke up in a great mood. Things just felt right for it today."

"Oh, is that where you disappeared to yesterday? I was wondering. Are.. you two… a thing again?"

"Oh gosh no." Pansy choked on a laugh as she placed a warming charm on her cold tea. "He just knows how to cheer me up when little else can."

"Well it certainly worked. I don't think I've ever seen you so cheerful." Pansy hid her blush behind her mug.

"Well, I hate to admit it, but you sort of had a point the other day. Going last night was good for me. I made some new friends. I needed that. I'm thankful that Malfoy drug me along."

"Well, take it from me, it certainly looked like you were the one doing the escorting. And I'm glad, though. I'm your friend, and so is Draco, and I'm glad to know that you're getting along with Hannah and Dean."

Pansy couldn't help the befuddled expression on her face, that was too oblivious Neville to notice. How could he have been so aloof to the fact that Hannah hated her still, and that Pansy didn't even speak to her more than was necessary? She guessed Neville really was drunk off his arse.

"Don't you have a meeting soon?"

Neville checked his pocket watch only to announce his own stupidity for having a pocket watch that didn't work.

"Yeah, I should head down. But talk to you later? Yeah?"

Pansy shrugged an assurance she'd come down later and grade papers while he was doing his "gardening" stuff and Neville rushed down to his greenhouses to meet with Slughorn.

It seemed things were heading back to a normal middle ground for their friendship. At least, they were moving forward.

Her heart raced as she crumpled the fourth piece of parchment and threw it in the wastebasket. What on earth was an appropriate response to what Dean had sent her earlier in the morning? She didn't want to be too flirty. But she also didn't want to come across as madam Pince. Why was such a simple thank you note causing her so much anxiety? Neville took notice as she heaved a sigh and pulled out another sheet of parchment.

"Are the essays that bad? That's the third or fourth you've tossed." He was sitting at a workbench on the other side of the greenhouse facing her, but spending all of his time looking down quietly and working on something or another.

"Oh," Pansy's cheeks reddened with the realization that she had spent the last hour writing back Dean with nothing to show for it and exactly zero essays graded. "Well," she countered. "You're terribly quiet today. Did Slughorn's visit not go well?"

"Actually," Neville looked up, paused, cleared his throat, looked back down at his hands, then back up at Pansy before he began to speak. "It went well. Very well. I think. I…" He cleared his throat again before finishing. "Wanted to hear your thoughts on some stuff if you don't mind." His words finally tumbling out over one another.

"Go on." Pansy set down her quill and gave Neville her full attention.

He took a full breath and squeezed his eyes shut looking down, and when he finally looked back up into Pansy's eyes she knew that he was trying to force out his confidence. It worked apparently. The timidness he had shown over the last hour was immediately replaced with assured confidence.

"Slughorn is on the board of the Ministry of Magic's Magical Remedies for Magical Maladies division. They are investing a lot more of their efforts into research this next year. Really trying to drag Wizarding Britain into the twenty first century. This summer they are putting together a team called the MRMMR. Magical Remedy for Magical Malady Research. Don't ask me who is in charge of coming up with these names."

Neville ran his hand through his hair which was just stiff enough to give him a very debonair presence. He crossed his arms and continued.

"Slughorn wanted to see my work, and get a better feel for my knowledge in herbology, because he thinks I would be a good fit for the MRMMR. I would still be able to teach at Hogwarts, and I would be back by the end of August…. Luna and Rolf have already committed to going."

"Going where, exactly?" Pansy interjected.

"Africa. A lot of the magical wildlife there has yet to really be investigated. And I would be gone for two months."

"Neville," Pansy composed herself to mirror Neville's mood, which was oddly stoic for having had such an amazing opportunity laid out before him. "That's amazing! Honestly, Slughorn wouldn't recommend you unless he truly had faith in your abilities. When will you leave?"

Neville uncrossed his arms and started fiddling with the objects on his desk, not meeting her eyes.

"Well, I didn't say yes… I didn't say no, either!" He quickly amended. "But it's a lot to take in. I mean, it would mean leaving Gran alone in Britain. And… leaving Hannah." He stood to walk over to his rose bush and started to prune some of the branches.

The plant had several blooms on it again, and smelled of sweat and soil to Pansy. Something about the plant just didn't sit right with Pansy. It was absolutely beautiful, she couldn't deny it. But the way it would change scents depending on whether or not it had blooms, and the specific ingredients (for lack of a better term) made Pansy uncomfortable. Pansy was a potions master. She knew hundreds of potions by heart and thousands more by association. She had learned the secrets behind ingredients and even what goes in to inventing new potions. While what Neville had made was in no way a potion, it bore specific parallels to amortentia. She brushed it off at first, it being a plant and all. But the more time went on the more suspicious of the plant she became. When the plant was in bloom it smelled just like Neville did to Pansy, just like what attracted her. Soil, manure, and sweat. She wasn't sure how it would work, let alone if there was any grounds for her suspicions. But every time her attention was drawn to it she felt unsure.

"How are things with Hannah, then? Would she not be okay with you taking this opportunity?"

"I'm not sure." He glanced up at her, then back down to his plant. "I mean, we're doing well! But I'm not sure how she would feel about me going. Sometimes I question if she even likes me, then when we're together she is so attentive, and will barely even let me leave. I don't know how she would do without me for two whole months. The longest we have gone is two weeks. I didn't hear from her but once during that time, but then when we reunited…" Neville turned red and cleared his throat. "It will be another two weeks before I'm able to go into town again, with students returning and all. I will speak to her about it then?"

Pansy honestly didn't know what to say. Everything he said only raised her suspicion of what was happening. But how on earth would she approach the subject with him? How could you tell a man that you so admire that the only reason the love of his life is interested in him is because he has been inadvertently dosing her with love potion?

She looked up at him and saw such a sincerity in his blue eyes, she couldn't speak. She nodded that his suggestion was probably the best course of action, and spent the rest of the afternoon speaking as little as possible. Yet when it was time to head up to the castle for dinner, her focus had still not allowed her to grade a single essay.

A/N:

Things are going to get so much worse before they get better...

Please don't hate me.