Disclaimer: Wish I owned HP's sexy boys but I don't. Leboo.
AN: Wow. been a while since I posted. I had meant to post this chapter at least three days ago but Opera stopped agreeing with the website. So here I am uploading it now with Firefox. :) Hope I didn't keep you waiting to long. As before, TY to everyone faving, Alerting, and watching me and this story!
NevemTeve - I did renumber them sort of. (I took out all the interludes and put them into their own story. You should favorite it I'll be updating it soon with a chapter on Neville.) Lizzy hair will be covered in this chapter, she screams about it enough to get the point across, hah.
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Chapter 20 - The Breakthroughs
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"Look I don't understand why you are so upset." Neville frowned glancing away from Lizzy. She was standing with him in his room, her hair shorter then Tonk's hair had ever been.
"What she did was wrong Neville. How could you let her curse my hair off!" She shrieked. He had managed to ignore Lizzy while Hannah had been around. Hannah had left earlier that morning and Lizzy had taken him by surprise. He wondered how long she had been standing at his door waiting for him.
"Look, I know Hannah was a bit jealous. But you know anything done to someone can be easily reversed with a bit of magic." He answered honestly wondering why this was such a big deal. He was almost certain a short trip to the infirmary would fix Lizzy up.
She gave another loud shriek her face turning red to match her fuzzy stubble. Neville did have to admit she was very unattractive that way. Her round heart shaped face looked chubby without her long tresses to frame her face. He could see her scalp and frowned. Perhaps Hannah had gone a bit too far cutting her hair so short. "I hate you." She screamed turning away from him. Neville growled his anger bubbling up from some where he couldn't place.
"Don't you turn away from me, we aren't done talking." She halted at his raised voice her hand still on the door knob.
"What is there to say? I know my place."
"What?" He wasn't sure what she was saying. She stayed silent for a moment with her back still to him. He stomped his foot crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," She sighed shrugging her shoulders, "that Hannah is more important than me."
"Of course she is. She's my girlfriend!" He felt a brief overwhelming pain when he finished speaking, as though he had betrayed her somehow. Sweeping the stray thoughts away he turned to his miniature garden. "If thought you meant more to me then Hannah you can go now." He snapped kneeling down to tend to the growing plants.
She said nothing. Though Neville could swear he knew what she was feeling even as she quietly slipped through the door. Her sense of betrayal probably matched his.
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Hermione sat brooding. The large light display in front of her was levitating several shards worth of information. All she had to do with the display that she had conjured was ask a question. She gave a weak laugh. "Ask a question." She insisted to herself. What did she have left to ask? How was she going to narrow down the gene pool of human wizards to find the right point? She had asked all her listed questions and had only managed to narrow down that magic was actually physically manifested somehow. She just couldn't narrow down the part of the body that it was hiding in.
Neville grumbled slamming the door open to Hermione's room. She jumped from her chair nearly falling to the floor. "Sorry Hermione." He murmured taking his usual spot on her bed next to the desk.
"You alright?" She saw how furious and hurt he looked. Why was he here if he looked like he wanted to be alone? Not that Hermione had extensive contact with Neville when he wasn't depressed or self-degrading. She began to mentally steel herself to listen to Neville berate himself again.
"No," She inhaled softly, "Lizzy was yelling at me." She blinked for a moment. Lizzy? When had they gotten so close? She mental corrected herself. Someone yelling at another person could imply a deep relationship or just a violent person. Neville probably just said something that sent the girl off. She was very off sorts since Alexander had cut his ties with her. Why they weren't a dating anymore Hermione wasn't sure.
"I beg your pardon?" Was the best response she could come up with considering what she had actually been thinking about.
"She just went on and on about how cruel Hannah was by cutting her hair. Is she really so vain?" His voice sounded desperate to believe that Lizzy was wonderful. Hermione's eyes narrowed. His voice was very similar when he was talking about his parents.
"Didn't Hannah cut her hair last night?" Hermione said asking the obvious question.
"Yes, what's your point?"
Hermione was glad for a moment realizing she wasn't focused on her project. She could actually think and come to conclusions instead of being at a mental wall. "Well we're magic."
"And?"
"Since when have you ever know a witch or wizard that doesn't use magic to fix something wrong with them?" He was silent for a moment his face of rage slipping into one of confusion. "I mean, if I had to guess. She is either refusing care of it to make a point or all know methods of fixing what Hannah did don't work."
"But Hannah only used a simple hair cutting hex. Easily over come with hair growth spells and potions." He insisted his eyes worried. Hermione wanted to shake her head. He had already come to the conclusion she had in his head. He needed the painful slap of reality she was good at providing.
"Yes, but has Hannah ever cast that hex on a metamorphmagus before? I'm betting there is something that keeps normal physical altering spells and potions from working on them. I mean really, someone in utter control of their body like that? I wonder what else you could inflict on them without actually doing harm…" Her mind suddenly went down a new path of thought she hadn't pursued before. She knew she wanted a job in the ministry. But her constant questions to herself that lead to her seek answers made her question that choice. Perhaps her desires could lay in magical research?
"I'm so thick!" Neville groaned pushing his palms into his face as though he were trying to rub out his eyes. "That's why she's so angry. If she had to grow out her hair naturally that will take ages! Hannah might as well as have disfigured her for all she did, she didn't mean it though! If she had known she would have done something else I'm sure."
Hermione shook her head to focus on Neville. She made certain to mentally remember to write down possible research topics on metamorphmagus later. "Why did she hex Lizzy anyway?"
"Hannah's jealous is all I can figure." Neville said his arms dropping useless at his sides. Hermione pated his shoulder in comfort, the poor boy had no clue. Hannah was a normal bubbly and kind person. She had even fought in the war with them. However, Neville had already been out of reach and sight for over a month. She probably was insecure in their relationship and to come to the party and see Lizzy hanging off Neville like a secret lover. Hermione couldn't blame the girl. Now that she had claim on Ron was she almost certain she'd hex Lavender if the girl got too close. It was her right as Ron's girlfriend.
"Well fair enough. Just tell her what happened so next time she decides to hex Lizzy she'll do something less permanent."
"Next time?" He stared at her in disbelief.
"Girlfriends are jealous Neville. It will happen again trust me." Hermione said thankful Ron never gave her a reason to hex other girls. Though she made no promises in the near future, she would have to survive half of the school year without him. She might not let him in the same building as another female other then family and herself when she saw him again.
"Well, now I have to figure out how to make it up to her." He murmured his eyes going distant.
"Not just yet. You have to help me with this. I am stuck." She admitted a frown marring her face.
"How so?"
"I've determined the magical aspect in wizards is physical somehow, but I can't determine what part is the core so to speak."
"What is it the muggles do? Can't you dissect until you find the answer?" Neville said his eyes trailing silently to the imposing door. Hermione sighed aware that Neville wasn't going to be of any help to her today. His mind was elsewhere.
"Do you even know what dissecting means?"
"No, can't be too bad."
"Imagine cutting a dead person open and looking at their inside. And you don't get to do it with magic. Very messy I'm sure." She said wondering only vaguely what it was like to dissect anything let alone a human. She had never gotten the chance to experience school like muggles for the most part. She wondered if she would ever go back to that world. As it was she was still having troubles with her parents. They weren't too pleased with her for using magic on them. The only reason they were still talking was because they were related. She was positive in the future things would go back to normal. When they could firmly wrap their minds about what she had done to protect them.
"Leave it to a muggle to be barbaric."
"That's it though." She whispered her mind refocusing on the task at hand. She had to be focused, determined, and single minded in her attempts.
"What's it?"
"I have to dissect myself." She turned to the display. It hummed softly the shards of crystals floating in its center. "Sample, Hermione Granger." A single shard floated to the fore front of the group. "Reference potency to golem accuracy." The display quickly faded to a lush green color.
"What's happening?"
"Green means its thinking." She answered irritably as she waited for glowing sphere to return to white.
"Thinking about what?"
"I've taking some basic data shards," She pointed to the small box of crystals sitting at the base of the glowing sphere in an obsidian box. "They house sets of information on specific classes of magic. Each crystal represents the more commonly used spells in necromancy, potions, charms, outlawed blood magics, transfiguration, and much more. If the spell I ask the display to reference is in those shards the display can run a basic routine of the spell inputting my own perimeters where optional ingredients are. It's like a computer."
The display turned white once more awaiting her next command. "What's a computer?" Neville said eyeing the light display with wariness.
"Just watch." She said tartly trying to have patience with him. "Reference material of sacrifice as hair." This time the display turned a pale blue color.
"Results establish a point zero zero two percent chance of a successful golem experiment." The display hummed with a sexless voice.
Neville watched silently as she spoke again. "Reference material of sacrifice as saliva."
"Results establish a point zero five percent chance of a successful golem experiment."
"Reference material of sacrifice as tissue, list results in descending order."
Several moments of silence followed before the sphere of light blazed blue. "Results established. Sample reference connective tissue; seventy-six percent chance of a successful golem experiment. Sample reference muscle tissue; forty-seven percent chance of a successful golem experiment. Sample reference nervous tissue; twelve percent chance of a successful golem experiment. Sample reference epithelial tissue; two percent chance of a successful golem experiment."
Hermione bounced in excitement. "Oh Neville thank you!" She threw herself on him wrapping her arms around him. "You've helped me narrow down the field from the whole body to a series of tissue. I need to do more research on the body. I never took biology," she muttered letting him go. Her mind was already running lists of reference books she would have to pull to understand exactly what parts of the body fell under connective tissue.
"Glad I could help." He grinned though confusion was evident on his face. "How did that thing know so much? Does it have a brain somewhere?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, like I said the shards contain information. I wasn't being specific enough. Some of those shards are the outlines of the human body that have been cataloged. If I had to research the entire human body myself I wouldn't be able to finish my research before the term is over. It's why I had to ask the right questions to narrow down my search. I can do the research now, this magical apparatus was merely to shorten the time it took."
Neville laughed nervously. "You really are the brightest witch of our age 'Mione." Hermione's head snapped in his direction. No one but Harry and Ron had ever called her 'Mione. She wasn't offended. She liked that someone outside of Harry and Ron was being natural with her. She loved Ron and Harry, but she wanted a sense of realness once more. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life in books ignoring the real world to escape the sorrow and Hero Worship.
'No', she mused, 'I won't berate him'. "Thank you Nev." He smiled a toothy grin like she hadn't seen him do in a while. Perhaps she and her friends could get over the war after all.
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Lizzy was quiet as the girls nearby laughed at her. The girls from her charms class had literally gone out of the way to find her on the Quidditch pitch to point at her nearly bald head and laugh. Alexander of course was nowhere to be seen. "Bastard." She muttered to herself ignoring the opened potions book in her lap.
"Nothing matters anymore." She sighed fighting the exhaustion once more. She could physically function without Alexander. That wasn't a problem; foolish mindless bitches that couldn't eat sleep or think without their men were not human. She could not see how those girls had had a life before men. But her split with Alexander, she had lost her balance. She could think, she could eat, she could even do day to day things. But control her temper? She couldn't seem to do that in the least bit. She felt on the verge of tears at the slightest shade of sadness. She looked back and couldn't even see why she had so adamantly screamed at Neville for nothing. He probably hadn't known. Would he even speak to her now?
"Liz?" She jerked from her blind stare at the sky. Neville was standing in front of her with a frown.
"Nev… I'm sorry." She muttered looking down at her book. The book was opened to the Draught of the Living Death. It was an assignment in class not that she actually wanted to brew it, but apparently how to kill someone through potions was typical curriculum across the world for witches and wizards.
"It's alright." He said a smile brightening his face. "I didn't understand what you were babbling about. I do now. I'll make sure Hannah doesn't do anything like that to you again, okay?" He dropped to the grass close to her his back pressed up against the Nocturnus Clan banner. She felt aware of the plain wood she was sitting against.
"Yeah, we're okay?" She questioned shutting her book unwilling to think of what she had been doing with potions recently. He nodded reaching into his robes as a blush began to creep over his face.
"I wanted to make it up to you, this is mine." He stumbled his hands shaking as he pulled a vibrant crimson and gold knitted hat from the folds of his uniform. "It's my house colors, my gran got it for me I have a few like it but… just for your head… I mean if you want it."
She burst out laughing. He was embarrassed to be pointing out her lack of hair. He was trying to be sincere without hurting her feelings. She could take him making comments about her hair as long as they weren't insulting like those tasteless brats just mintues ago. "Oh Nev, it's okay. Just call it like it is. I'm almost bald. That hat doesn't look too bad." She snatched it from his unsure hands before he could reconsider. She jerked it onto her head feeling the sudden stuffiness and slight itch as her scalp adjusted.
"I'd get a wig but I'm not confident enough for one. Besides if Egypt heard she's pitch a fit and come for blood. Trust a model to be vain instead of reasonable." She grinned feeling an odd weight she had not noticed lift. Neville left his hand limp on the ground near her open palm up. She eyed the inviting hand closely.
"So Egypt really is your sister, must be weird knowing someone famous." He said turning away to stare up at the sky. "Looks as though it will be raining soon."
She continued to stare down at his open hand. "Nev that's funny coming from you."
"What do you mean?"
"Egypt is only famous in fashion. You know Harry Potter. He's a hero the world round if for nothing else then being so young when he defeated a very powerful Dark Lord."
"Oh good point, I rather forget how famous Harry is some times. He's so normal…"
"Not your typical money spending, crass bastard, cold witch impressions then? Who did you expect him to be like? Draco Malfoy?" She snickered squeezing her book tightly in her lap. Neville's hand twitched for a moment before he began to drag is discreetly back to his side. She gave up her indecision grasping his retreating hand.
He gave a soft smile still staring distantly off into nothing. "Yes I suppose. I think about it sometimes when I'm feeling particularly unkind. But usually Harry is just one of the guys." He was silently for a moment his hand slipping into a different position to rub the back of her hand. "I was wondering, are you and Alexander still at odds?"
"Yes." She growled her face getting hot. She didn't want to think about him. Not with Neville so close to her. She liked her time with Neville to be relaxed and fun. Thoughts of Alexander were not pleasant ones right now.
"I see. Well maybe we should go to Wandering Way today. You've done all your homework?"
"Yes, we can go. It would be fun, you could even get your hair done." She said her mind still firmly wrapped around Alexander. She wanted his arms around her. In fact she wanted to get laid. She missed her boyfriend in more ways than one. She shook her head violently as she felt tears begin to form.
"Why? I think I look fine."
"Consider it like this," She sniffled unable to hold back, "owe me." The tears broke free as she squeezed tightly on Neville's hand.
"Oh dear." He said shuffling quickly to take her into his arms.
"I miss him."
"I must be doing something wrong. Two girl's crying on my shoulder in one week." He said rubbing comforting circles on her back.
"You're just the gay best friend Nev get over it." She sobbed clutching his robes in her hands. Not that she was willing to say that he felt like so much more to her right now. She wasn't holed up in her room crying loud tears to herself. She trusted him enough to cry in the open in front of him. She trusted him to take her feelings into consideration and cherish them even if he had hurt her so deeply.
"Gay best friend?"
Someone once said that you knew exactly how to hurt the ones you loved. Lizzy shook her head against Neville's chest feeling the heat and press of his body against her skin. He was so much like home to her that she felt like she were going to drown any second as she used his body to chase away her grief.
"I love you Nev." She whined into his chest feeling her heart rip in two. She would never love Neville the way she loved Alexander. She couldn't even picture them romantically, but she also felt as though she would die if he weren't by her side. She didn't understand herself at all.
"It's alright Liz. I care about you too." He answered quietly. Almost too softly for her to hear over she tears and the blood rushing through her ears. If she loved Alexander so much why was it Neville that could rip her apart and not her 'true love' as she had always thought he was?
Alexander glared furiously at the sight of Lizzy wrapped in Neville's arms in the distance.
"Hey boss, we starting practice or what?" Ernie grunted shuffling up by him with his broom in hand. Alexander tried to wipe clean his mind of the scene before him as he turned to his Keeper.
"Yeah, get in the air I have to clear the field of Hogwarts trash."
His keeper snickered in delight. It was no secret to Alexander who in the school was willing to put up with Hogwarts students and who didn't. His team was of the self-centered kind, not that he would try to make them do anything else. He was only their captain, not their father.
Bracing himself he turned back to the scene a silent mantra playing in his mind.
Do not use the killing curse. Neville doesn't need to die.
Do not use the killing curse. Neville doesn't need to die.
Do not use the killing curse. Lizzy wouldn't like it.