Chapter 28: Caught
Author's Note: Read, enjoy, and review. I hope people are still enjoying this story. I adore Neville.
When Neville came downstairs, Luna was already by the window, drawing, and rather ignoring the breakfast that had been laid out. He helped himself to a bit and brought a plate over to the window for her.
"Good morning, Luna."
"Good morning, Neville."
He set her plate on the windowsill for her and saw that there was a small pile of drawings next to her. At a nod from Luna indicating it was okay Neville picked the pictures up and started looking through them. A number of them were of creatures-mostly things Neville didn't recognize. A few were recognizably the people Luna was sharing the tower with. There was one picture that confused him.
"Who is that picture of, Luna?"
"You don't recognize her?" she asked dreamily.
Neville studied the picture. It was of a girl, maybe ten years old. She had a round face with a big smile. There was a smattering of freckles across the cheekbones and nose. She had ginger hair with flowers in it. The face looked rather familiar, but he couldn't remember anyone with that face and red hair. "I don't know. Who is it?"
"Your daughter."
He sputtered, dropping the papers in his hand. He looked up at her like she'd grown several extra heads and they all might bite him. "I don't have–-I've never–-Just not!" He couldn't form sentences. Luna had drawn a daughter he didn't have? Well, she was mad. Very clearly mad.
She smiled, nodding. "Not yet, no. But some day. The Encante have been buzzing around you like anything all week. Down by the water, in the common room. Pretty much any time the two of you are together. I'm surprised you haven't noticed them."
"Encante?
She nodded. "They're a sort of little sprite attracted by the sort of energy you and Ginny produce."
There really wasn't any sort of response Neville could make for this. Fortunately, he was saved by the arrival of Hermione and Ginny, and quickly went to join them at the breakfast table, excusing himself from Luna and leaving her with her pictures.
"What's Luna doing?" Ginny asked, seeing Neville's rather flustered appearance. He just shook his head, as if to indicate that Luna was just being Luna.
"Where was she all day yesterday?" asked Hermione.
Ginny helped herself to eggs and toast. "When we talked to her last night, she said that she spent the day 'exploring the edges of things.' Where two places come together and things happen more easily. Apparently she expected to find all sorts of creatures at the edge of the forest. I don't know if she found any of the ones she was looking for, but eventually Hagrid found her, a bit concerned she was straying too far. She had tea with him and talked about creatures they'd both seen. How was detention?"
"McGonagall had me scrubbing all of the desks and chairs in her classroom, as well as the floors and blackboard. I was at it for hours. To be honest, I had the best of it. McGongall sent your brother and Harry down to Snape. I'm not sure what chores he had them doing, but they smelled absolutely wretched when they finished. I ended up walking back to Gryffindor Tower alone."
Neville wasn't quite sure, but he thought Hermione shot him a look after she finished talking. What had he done now?
It was late afternoon by the time Hermione managed to pull Neville aside for a moment alone. Ginny had gone off to the loo, and Harry and Ron were working out some of their frustrations at Snape and McGonagall on the Quidditch pitch. Luna had disappeared to wander the grounds again.
Hermione had pursed her lips, looking annoyed.
"What? What is it? You've been glaring at me all day," Neville said, exasperated. What could he have possibly done to get on her bad side?
She got close to him. "When I got back to the tower last night, the Fat Lady was tittering about you and Ginny."
Neville felt the color drain out of his face. "What?"
She nodded grimly. "Apparently one of the other portraits in the hallway saw you two kissing, and as soon as you were inside raced over to tell the Fat Lady. She was still giggling about it when I finally finished my detention and insisted on telling me all about it before letting me in."
Neville put his face in his hands. "Oh Merlin," he gulped. "Do think she told Ron?"
Hermione shook her head. "If she had, you can bet Ron would have let you know it. What were you thinking? Ron's going to blow a gasket."
"A what?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "A gasket is...oh never mind. My point is he's going to be furious."
"Well, if she hasn't told him yet, she might not tell him," Neville said, without much hope.
She gave him that look again. "You know that's not going to happen. The portraits always gossip and the only ones here right now are the six of us and the professors. What are you going to do?"
Neville stood up, crossing his arms. "I'm not going to stop seeing Ginny. We care about each other. Ron can just stuff it if he doesn't like it."
"I wasn't suggesting that––"
Neville looked down at her. "Well, you asked what I was going to do. I don't know how we're going to tell Ron, but what I do know is that Ginny and I fancy each other and I'm not going to let Ron scare me off."
Ginny came down the stairs then. "You tell her, Nev," she grinned, wrapping her arms around him, and noticing his face go rather pink. "We'll deal with Ron when it comes up. It hasn't yet."
Hermione looked exasperated. "That's what I was trying to tell Neville. The portraits are gossiping about you. One of them is going to let it slip."
Ginny looked fairly unrepentant. "Oops."
Neville pulled Ginny closer to him. "Harry already caught us kissing in the library. And Luna seems to have guessed what's going on."
Hermione sighed, looking from one of them to the other. "You both look so happy, I really hope he doesn't kill you."
Ginny lean up on her toes to kiss Neville. "Me too. But I think if it came down to it, we could have him suspended by his ankles from the ceiling until he agreed to behave."
Neville grinned down at her. Whenever she looked at him that way, he knew he was going to be all right.
The bushy haired girl sighed. "I'm not going to say anything. Good luck to you when he finds out."
Ron, Harry, and Luna all made it back inside in time for dinner. Dobby beamed at them all as he readied the table and asked if there was anything else he could do for them.
"Not today, Dobby, thanks."
They all helped themselves to dinner until, grumbling, three of them had to report to McGonagall for detention. Ginny and Neville were left in Gyffindor Tower with Luna again. Neville generally got along okay with Luna, but something about her drawing this morning rather unnerved him.
He didn't stay in the common room long, excusing himself upstairs and claiming not to feel well. Ginny wasn't buying it and followed him up shortly after.
She found him sitting on his bed listlessly.
"Hey, Neville."
"Oh, hi," he said, sitting up.
"Are you okay?"
He thought about just saying yes, and sticking to his story about not feeling well but he looked at Ginny and it was as if she could see right through him. He sighed. "I didn't want to stay down there with Luna. She made me uncomfortable this morning.'
"Why? If she did, I'm sure she didn't mean it." She sat on the bed next to him.
He wasn't sure how to start. "It's stupid really. Let's just forget it."
She gave him the look. "If it was stupid, you wouldn't have dashed away up here to hide." She reached out and squeezed his hand. "It's okay to tell me."
He looked down at where their hands met and felt a little better. "Well, you know she's been drawing all these pictures. Well, she drew one of someone who doesn't exist. And it freaked me out. It's stupid."
She squeezed his hand again. "Should I just go down and look at it myself?"
"No...it's...she drew a girl. She said it was our daughter." The words spilled out of his mouth. He looked up at her anxiously.
Ginny's face was rather blank for a moment. "Oh." She laughed a little. "I guess that was one way for her to tell us that she thinks we're good together." She leaned over and began to kiss him.
And just like that, it didn't seem so important anymore.
Eventually, Neville managed to separate his lips from Ginny's with a great deal of regret. "We're going to be dead if Ron comes back and finds us in here snogging.'
Ginny grinned, "Let him," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him again.
He wormed his way into a sitting up position. "We both agreed that it was better to tell him than to just have him walk in on us. Let's tell him in the morning."
She kissed him one more time and then agreed, sitting up a bit and resting her head on his shoulder. "Fair enough. Let's go back downstairs."
They were sitting quietly in the common room when Harry, Ron, and Hermione came back from their detentions smelling rather foul and with matching tempers. Not one of the three was in the mood for company, and they all promptly disappeared up the stairs to their dorms to shower.
After breakfast, Hermione declared that she was going to shut herself up in the library and try to relax away the idea that she still had three more detentions this week. Harry explained that he was going to the pitch before anyone took away their freedom to get fresh air at times of their own choosing. Luna announced that she was going to listen to the wind.
As the first three headed towards the portrait hole, Ginny and Neville found themselves still at the table with Ron, who was just finishing stuffing his face.
Neville swallowed. This was it. Ron was just pushing back from the table to join Harry on the pitch when Neville finally opened his mouth. His words came out a bit strangled. "Erm, Ron."
"What?"
He took a breath and felt Ginny take his hand under the table. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."
"Your face has gone all funny, Neville. What is it?"
"I like your sister."
"Yeah, Gin's great, isn't she? Her hexes can even make Fred and George turn tail most of the time," Ron said, looking at his sister proudly. Ginny shook her head.
He could feel Ginny stifling a snicker next to him and looked at her. Did she want to talk? Apparently not. "Ginny and I...we fancy each other." He felt Ginny lift his hand and their clasped hands were suddenly visible on top of the table.
Ron stopped short. "No. Just no. Let go of her hand and move away from her."
Ginny looked calmly at her brother. "No. I fancy Neville and we're going to be seeing each other for as long as we feel like. We just thought we'd do you the courtesy of informing you of that."
Of all the responses Ron could have made, they really weren't expecting the one he chose. He lunged across the table and attempted to pry their intertwined fingers apart unsuccessfully. Ginny kicked him in the shins under the table and he sprawled across it, knocking his elbow in the butter dish.
"If you can't be mature about this, I don't see any reason for us to tell you anything," she said. "I told you there was no point in telling him."
The redhead used his hands to lever himself back up into a sitting position. "You're supposed to be my friend, Neville, not..." He made a disgusted face and exited the room, one arm still covered in butter, the other in an orange juice he'd knocked over.
Neville turned to Ginny once the door slammed behind Ron. "I get the feeling I ought to sleep with one eye open tonight. Can I stay with you?"
She chuckled, resting her head against his shoulder. "You're the one who wanted to tell him."
He stroked her hair. "Might have been a bit daft of me. Even if he does murder me in my sleep tonight, I think the last couple of days have been worth it."
She moved her hand over his back, up and down. "Well, I won't let him murder you. Besides, I think if it came down to it...you could take him."
Neville grinned. He'd said as much to Harry. It was good to know someone else believed in him too. After the stress of that morning, they took the rest of the day easy, hiding out in the greenhouses where Ron was unlikely to look for them. The feel and smell of the soil relaxed Neville like almost nothing else could, though, as he looked over at Ginny, with the sun glinting off her hair, he thought she came pretty darn close.
Ron and Harry didn't come to Gryffindor Tower for dinner that night. Ginny and Neville had a pleasant meal with Luna and Hermione, until Hermione went to go round up Harry and Ron from the kitchen and drag them off to detention.
Neville went to bed before the others returned from detention. He figured he could pretend to be asleep when Ron came in and avoid any sort of ugly confrontation.
When Ron came in, he stood by his bed and spoke quietly, but loudly enough for Neville to catch his words clearly. "I know you're not asleep, Neville. You're not snoring. If you hurt my sister, I'm throwing you off the Astronomy Tower. I doubt you'll bounce."
Neville lay as still as possible, hardly daring to breathe, clutching his wand beneath the blanket..
"Good night." With those parting words, Ron got into bed. Neville didn't quite breathe comfortably again until he heard the other boy snoring.
