A/N

Year Five Chapter Seven

Neville was there when Hermione woke up, like always. It had been two weeks since The Order had brought them back to Hogwarts, she had continued to get better and despite the sideboard full of potions she still had to take regularly she was now staying awake for most of the day and sleeping better at night.

Hermione was weak and drowsy but she was healing, he had been there when Madam Pomfrey had spoken to her about her scar and told her that it was permanent and although it would fade slightly over time the aggressive purple marking would not diminish in size.

She had tried to be brave 'seems silly to get upset about it when worse things have happened' she had said and then apologised for the first few traitorous tears that had fallen onto her cheeks and he had held her tightly, the embrace pulled the sobs from her body. When anyone else was there she pulled herself together, in front of him she let herself break just a little.

After Hermione had fallen asleep yesterday he quietly asked the Matron if he could move her bed to the back of the ward 'because she doesn't want people constantly gawking at her as they go past' he'd lied. Madam Pomfrey appeared to be suppressing a smile as she gave him the green light.

When Hermione had awoken that morning her eyes had flicked around her new location until understanding seemed to dawn "you had them put me in the Longbottom suite" she smiled.

He nodded "There are loads of visitors here, you ready to see some people?"

She began to move herself to sit up and he reached forward to help adjust her pillows, when she indicated she was ready he got up to pull back the curtain and Mrs. Weasley came bustling in talking at a mile a minute lamenting Hermione's weight, how pale she was and a million other things. As Ron's mother went to sit in his usual chair he made to leave.

"Neville" he turned around "would you stay?" Hermione asked tentatively.

He walked back to her and climbed into the bed next to her, he was sure Mrs. Weasley looked as if she would say something but at the last moment she suppressed it. As the visitors continued they shuffled closer to each other and over time he could feel her slowly relax against him. He wondered how he could tell her that he wanted to be able to sit with her like this for the rest of his life.

Hours later and finally the last visitor was gone and he and Hermione sat to eat lunch. Neville found that he wasn't really all that hungry, his mind thought back to how nervous he had been when he was preparing to ask her to the Yule Ball. He would rather have done that again ten times over that what he had to do but there was no getting away from it, he knew he had to tell her and it had to be now.

"Hermione can I talk to you about something?" he blurted

"Of course" she replied politely putting the remains of her sandwich on the table by the bed and looking up at him expectantly.

Neville exhaled shakily and willed himself to get through this without major incident or misunderstanding "First, this is going to come out all wrong, I'm not as good with words as you and well anyway..." best to get a caveat in their first "You helped me find my toad when we first met and I thought you were a bit of a snotty cow" she laughed at his description "then you reached to hold my hand when you were scared in that boat and I think in some way I've wanted to hold your hand ever since".

Hermione's wide eyed expression reminded him of an animal he'd seen once at a zoo, a bush baby he thought it was called, he waited for her to say something to interrupt his words but she was uncharacteristically silent.

"I … I love you Hermione... Not some image of you, not the girl that took all day to get ready at the Yule ball, though she was nice too" he laughed nervously, hoping she would understand his meaning and not be insulted "You… you with your insane hair and loud opinions and colour coded revision notes" he reached forward to grip both of her hands and was relieved when she didn't pull away.

"I love you because you always saw me, I become the best I can be when I'm around you and if that just means we remain friends then I can try to be happy with that but I love you and I want everything"

Hermione went to speak but her breath hitched, she unhooked her fingers from his leaning forward from her crouched position on the bed to place both hands on his arm, the gesture seemed consolatory but she began to speak, her voice thick "I love you too… I don't know from when exactly... When I finally realised, it felt like I had felt it always... You're the best person I know"

Neville smiled tentatively at her not able to process everything yet, his hands shook as he reached into his pocket retrieving a black velvet box and handed it over to her.

As she opened it he babbled "It's a piece from my house collection, my dad gave it to my mum on her seventeenth birthday… I'd be honored if you'd wear it, but you need to understand what wearing it means… You can think about it if you…"

"I know what it means" Hermione whispered looking at the necklace on the soft cushion almost reverentially.

"You do?" he asked shocked.

She nodded "it's a declaration of intent, formally it means that...you think you might want to well… someday... Well it's serious" she finished finally her face flushed.

He nodded "told you I was a bit more old fashioned than you thought" she beamed at him

"Neville it's so beautiful… Err would you mind if I… can I wear it now?"

"If you want to" he answered calmly though his mind was screaming with triumph. He moved to place the necklace around her neck while she held her hair out of the way. When he dropped it against her skin it fell just above the swell of her breasts covering the beginning of the mark that Dolohov had left her. The chain itself was platinum and the stone was ruby surrounded by diamonds, it suited her.

As he moved back, after securing the clasp he realised how close their faces were, he could feel her shallow breaths against his cheek and moving cautiously he dropped his forehead to to hers and just breathed her in for a few minutes, willing his heart to stop the attempt to break out of his ribcage.

He pulled away slightly to be able to see her eyes, keeping one hand cupped around the back of her neck "I love you Hermione Jean Granger" he spoke quietly.

He searched her eyes and thought he could detect the smallest amount of water at the outer corners then carefully, falteringly, he dropped his face for their lips to meet. Her full lips felt slightly chapped as he pushed against them softly, chastely. After a few blissful moments he pulled away and pushed his forehead back onto hers.

"Does this mean were dating" she blurted, her cheeks pinking as soon as she realised what she had said.

He moved to sit next to her on the bed, pulling her into his side and reveling in all the simple touches that were half an hour ago forbidden to him being possible now. He measured his response "well yes if you want but it's a bit more than that, it means my intentions are more… well what... But... I know you Hermione and I know how focused you are on making sure Harry sees this through and it will make it difficult but this means" he pulled on the necklace "that I will be here when this is all over, I will still be yours and I will make sure /you never experienced anything like this again. Because you need someone to put you first and I will do that"

"Thank you for understanding I... would you mind if we didn't tell people for now" his face must have given away that he was not particularly in favour of that idea "It's just, with Sirius dying and everything it just feels a little disrespectful now and I…"

Neville leant forward to kiss her lips smiling against her skin, this means of stopping Hermione's worry monologues he could definitely get on board with.