For the Song Fic Boot Camp. Loosely based on Open at the Close, by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls, with the prompt Fall.

For Camp Potter, Campfire Songs. With the mandatory prompt from the above song and the optional prompts desert and "No, really, I'm fine."

Word Count: 1956

Rating: T

Warnings: Sensuality, references to sex. One swear word.

At the Close

In the quiet aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville took Hannah's hand and set off without telling her where they were going. He walked with determination set in his eyes, a fierceness that had only come after his year of leading the D.A., and Hannah couldn't help but respect him and marvel at how much things had changed.

But really, they all had changed, and she couldn't wait to get this year from hell out of her mind. "Neville?"

He didn't slow down, or even look at her. "Yeah?"

"Where are we going?"

"I'm looking for, just... here," he said and finally stopped in front of a strangely dressed woman Hannah recognized as Neville's grandmother. "Gran?"

"Ah, Neville. And Hannah, too. How are you doing?"

Hannah and Neville looked at each other for a moment, questions and pain going back and forth between them. They had lost Michael Corner, and little Colin Creevey. They lost Professor Lupin and Fred Weasley. No one was sure yet if Lavender would make it. When neither of them seemed able to speak, Mrs Longbottom continued. "Of course, dears. You've both been more brave than you should have to be. But really, Neville, your parents weren't much older than-"

"Gran?" Neville's voice was assertive, authoritative. "Gran, I don't want to talk about the battle now. Or my parents. I want to talk about Hannah."

Hannah turned to him, confused, and looked back and forth between her boyfriend and his grandmother. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you know where your dad is?"

She sighed. "No."

"Do you have any family you can go home to?"

Hannah couldn't keep the wetness from her eyes. It had only been a few days since the battle; her thoughts were still at Hogwarts and how to make Hogwarts better. "I thought so," Neville responded, letting go of her hand and pulling her close instead. "Gran, I wonder... could she come and stay with us? Just for awhile, until her father comes back?"

Hannah's head was against Neville's chest,but she turned enough to watch Mrs. Longbottom scrutinizing her. "She's a fine young woman, Neville. If she needs a place to call home, we'll provide it for her."

Living in the same house as her boyfriend was becoming increasingly distracting. When they started dating, the romance was only a short reprieve from the maniacal Carrows. Neville was leading an army, and the Carrows were using Hannah against him; she found herself tortured more times than she would care to remember.

Now, with survival no longer an immediate issue and Mrs. Longbottom gone more often than not, Hannah finally felt like she was in a relationship, getting to know Neville outside his role of stand-in lead of the D.A., and she was falling in love.

One Friday morning, near the end of summer, Mrs. Longbottom announced over breakfast that she would be gone for the weekend on business in Paris, and the two of them were expected to keep house. Hannah and Neville spent the rest of the meal unsuccessfully trying not to make eye contact, and Mrs. Longbottom pretended not to notice.

When she left later that afternoon, it was with much pomp. "Goodbye, dear Hannah! Goodbye, young Neville! I will be gone for nearly three whole days!" The couple chuckled and gave her obligatory hugs and kisses and waved goodbye before she Disapparated.

"So," Neville said, turning his gaze to Hannah nearly before the whole of his grandmother had disappeared.

"So," she replied.

"The house looks fairly clean to me for now. Any ideas on how to spend the afternoon?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him unashamedly. One kiss led to another and another until they blurred together like shooting stars. One of her hands snaked its way up into Neville's hair and another worked its way lower, to the hem of his shirt. It was unfamiliar territory; their kisses to this point had been chaste. Clumsily, she found her way beneath it to the bare skin of his back and pulled him closer.

His hands, too, were wandering, and he seemed to follow her lead. She shivered at the touch of his hand against the bare skin at the small of her back, and she mumbled against him, "Is there somewhere else we can continue?"

Neville pulled away long enough to grin, then returned to kissing her, pulling her close but stepping toward her and forcing her into backwards steps. It took far longer to reach Neville's room than she wanted it to, but neither of them seemed willing to pull away. He kept walking until she was against the edge of his bed and fell with her backwards.

Time stopped mattering for the next minutes or hours or centuries as they lay there, not interested in anything but each other. "Do you want to?" he asked sometime later when that was the only option remaining. She nodded. "Are you sure? We can stop."

"No, really, I'm fine," she said, and pulled him close.

When they woke up, it was past sunset, and Neville's naked form was pressed against her side. Hannah had thought that in the first sober moments after speaking, she would regret it, but she didn't, not in the least. This, she decided, this is what it really means to fall in love. It was more pleasant than she could have ever imagined.

"Shit," said Neville when he woke up. "How could I do that to you? And at the first chance I got? Hannah, I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me." He got out of bed, suddenly ashamed of his nakedness, and found clothes.

"Neville Longbottom. I'm not sorry, and there's nothing to forgive. I started it. You asked me if it was okay. I said yes, and I don't regret it. In fact," she added coyly, "I wouldn't mind trying it again."

"No, Hannah, I took advantage and I'm sorry. I need to go."

"Neville, please-" She cried, but her sentence was cut off by the pop of his Disapparation. He left with no goodbyes, with no kisses, with no explanation of where he was going. He didn't come back for twenty-four hours, and Hannah was certain, no matter how spotless Mrs. Longbottom normally kept her home, it had never been cleaner.

When Neville did finally walk through the door with puffy eyes and a hunch in his shoulders that hadn't been there since long before seventh year started, Hannah couldn't bring herself to greet him kindly. "You're back."

"I am, for now."

"What do you mean?"

"I went to London, Hannah. And while I was there, I saw Harry, Ron, and Kingsley all out to dinner at The Leaky Cauldron. Harry saw me and he waved me over and made me join them. He said... he said I deserved to be at the table as much as they did and I should really listen to what Kingsley had to say. While he was talking, it's like all the pieces of the past year came into place and I figured them out. It finally makes sense and the choice has been made. I know what must be done."

"Neville... what are you talking about? You're not making any sense. You're sounding like Harry did when he showed up in the Room of Requirement!"

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be. Kingsley is offering automatic inclusion in the Auror training program to anyone who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"But you don't have the N.E.W.T.s for that! Even if we'd had a normal year at Hogwarts."

"I know. I told Kingsley this, but he said it doesn't matter. Training starts tomorrow, though. You'll tell Gran where I am?"

"Neville! You're being rash. You're making one stupid decision because you think you made another, and that isn't the right answer. At least let me go with you."

"No. I need to face this alone, Hannah. It will be dangerous." He paused, then added in a mumble, "And it has nothing to do with you."

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "If it has nothing to do with me, then why are you leaving all of a sudden?"

"I told you! I ran into Kingsley! He offered me the position!"

"When we were at Hogwarts, you always insisted that you led the D.A. simply because there was no one else. Without Harry, you temporarily filled his shoes. Harry is back, Neville. You don't need to fill in for him anymore. You don't need to pretend to be brave."

"My bravery stopped being an act a long time ago, Hannah. If you didn't know that, you don't know me. You know why I want to be an Auror? Because there are people who died. Michael Corner died right beside me. I watched the life leave his eyes, Hannah. And I can't let their deaths be in vain. There are still Death Eaters to round up and to fight. And I've been done sitting on the sidelines for years."

"You never mentioned any of this before."

Neville shrugged. "You never asked."

Her tough facade melted and she pulled him into a hug, which he accepted stiffly. "You're really deserting me? You have to leave me to do this?"

"I'm sorry," he replied as he pulled away from her. "I'll just go pack my bags."

Though he made no indications that she needed to do the same thing, she felt she had no choice. If Neville just broke up with her - and she believed he had - she couldn't continue living with his grandmother. She'd been here for months. What if her father was looking for her? All of Hannah's concerns about him immediately rose to the surface. Maybe it had been wrong to play it safe when her father might still be in hiding. But Hannah had always played it safe.

Now, even though he was leaving her, she would take his example and fake some amount of bravery until she actually meant it. She'd heard rumors that Hermione was going to look for her parents, soon. It was only fair that Hannah do the same.

Neville left early Sunday morning without a goodbye, and, since Hannah had already packed and there was nothing left to clean, she stayed in the sitting room with a book until the door opened and Mrs. Longbottom walked in.

Hannah knew she had to face her immediately, before she changed her mind. "I've intruded on your hospitality long enough, Mrs. Longbottom. I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I must go."

"Don't speak such nonsense, Hannah! You know you're welcome here for as long as you want."

Hannah sighed, looking bravely into the older woman's eyes. "I have to find my father."

"I understand. But if you ever need a place to stay..."

"I appreciate it, Mrs. Longbottom, but I don't think I'll be back."

"Hannah, I'm sure Neville-"

"Left for London this morning to sign up to be an Auror." Her response was curt, and she tried to keep her expression stoic, or at least unreadable. If a year under the Carrows had taught her anything, it was how to appear strong.

"He'd never mentioned before that he was going to-" She interrupted herself and Hannah watched Mrs. Longbottom's face change; a sad sort of understanding overcame it. "I see. Best of luck, Miss Abbott."

"I appreciate it," Hannah said, and without a second thought, she Disapparated as far away as she could manage and checked into the nearest Muggle inn. She would start the search for her father soon, but for the moment she simply needed to breathe.