He paused outside of his room, the mugs of tea and coffee hovering before him. He wondered what he was going to be walking into. Pansy had remembered the torture, what else did she remember? He tried to push do the growing hope in his chest as he pressed against the wood.
Two sets of eyes watched him as he moved towards them. He floated their cups to them as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"What happened?" his gran said first, leaning forward in the armchair. "has everyone gone?"
Neville nodded and took a deep breath. "It looks like Ms Ent didn't believe us earlier as she decided to hire someone to see if Pansy was here and report back."
"If I ever see that woman again, I'm going to turn her inside out!" Pansy growled angrily as she trembled.
"Not if I reach her first," His gran agreed.
"They've taken him away, and me and Ron have set up some stronger wards around the house. We're safe,"
"The bloody cheek of it! I'm going to contact Mr Trevelyan in the morning. I refuse to take this lying down. I'll have her bloody arse disbarred and thrown in Azkaban for this. Trevelyan hasn't let me down yet!"
"But what about my father? He's not going to give up, and I did sign the marriage contract," Pansy said almost desperately as she avoided his eyes.
"Ron said he'll try and get a copy of the contract so that we can see whether we can find any loopholes. We can get Hermione to look at it at the Burrow." Neville suggested, and she nodded. He watched her closely, desperate to know who it was that spoke to him.
"Right, well as there is nothing more we can do tonight, I suggest we all get some sleep, lots to do tomorrow. Oh, Neville. Never lock me in my room again; otherwise, you'll be drinking your food through a straw from now on, there's a good lad." She said with a warning glance at him as she stood up.
"Sorry, Gran," he murmured sheepishly.
"Don't stay up late," She said as she left the room.
Silence fell between them as though there was a gaping chasm between where they sat. So many words left unsaid.
"How are you feeling?" He asked carefully before sipping his tea.
"Better," she replied, looking at her coffee.
"Good," he nodded. The conversation felt awkward as he racked his brain for things to say. He had so many words to say, so many sweet things to utter but all seemed too much for so soon. "I'll leave you to get some sleep,"
"NO," She shouted too loudly, and he stopped. "Please, stay. We need to talk, I just don't know where to start,"
He swallowed feel as though his world was about to fall down that chasm. "We don't have to talk, you've been through a lot."
"You must hate me," She said, and he heard the emotion in her voice. He frowned and moved closer after putting his cup down.
"Hate you? Never! Why would you think that?"
"I forgot all about you, I agreed to marry someone else, I brought chaos and destruction into your home." She laughed, but it lacked humour, "I'd hate me."
"I could never hate you. Never" Neville raised his hand to touch her face but paused as she flinched. "Can I touch you?" He asked. His voice bearly a whisper. She glanced at him for a moment and nodded.
Cupping her face, he felt how cold her skin was. She pressed her face into his palm, closing her eyes at the touch. "Can you remember everything now?" He asked softly.
She nodded, moving her head the tiniest amount as tears escaped her eyes.
"I remember everything," she confirmed.
"You're safe now. I won't let them take you again!" More tears rolled down her flawless cheeks, and he wiped them away with his thumbs. "Don't cry, please. I don't know how to help," he said, his own eyes welling up in sympathy.
"Just stay with me, hold me and don't let me go." She asked, opening her pale eyes. "Please?"
It was the please that broke him. He picked Pansy's cup out of her hands, lay beside her and pulled her close, breathing in her scent as she silently cried into the material of the shirt at his neck. Tears escaped his eyes as he warmed her skin and kissed her forehead.
"I thought I had lost you forever when I saw you at the party," He whispered. Closing his eyes as he tried to keep out the memory.
"You had," she muttered with a sniff. "If my mother hadn't tricked me, I'd be at the Montague's and married before the new year."
"Your mother and aunt have been saving money for you since you were born. If you're disowned, you'll have some money to get by,"
"He won't disown me, not yet. I'm still too valuable to him. Only when I hold no more value will he let me go."
"Then me and your father have only one thing in common." He said as he tilted her chin up to look at him.
"Are you sure you want to compare yourself to my father right now?" She chuckled darkly.
"Only in the case that I'm not willing to let you go!" He said, lowering his face to do something he had wanted to do since parting from her on platform nine and three quarters. He watched her for any hesitation, when he saw none, he pressed on. Her lips were salty from her tears but tasted as sweet as caramel as he touched hers with his own. Like rose petals to his touch, they were soft and cool. He lost himself for a moment as he fell into the kiss, pouring all the emotions from the last few days into it. She moaned beneath him as she kissed him back, touching his neck with her fingertips, unable to do more as he trapped her to his chest with his arms.
Eventually, he pulled away and looked at her, brushing away the hair from her face as her wide, pale gaze watched him. "I have missed you so much!" he whispered.
"Tu es l'amour de ma vie," She whispered back, as she freed her hand to touch his face, her own as open and vulnerable as he had ever seen it. He smiled as her fingers touched his lips.
"You said that you would translate that for me once," he teased gently before kissing her fingers.
"'Tu es l'amour de ma vie' means you are the love of my life," she said tenderly. He paused and looked down at her—his Pansy. And in a sudden and overwhelming wave of joy, he pulled her to him fiercely, holding her tightly as though he could weld them both together so they would never be parted again.
"I love you so much. Non potrei mai amare un altro." He whispered, and she laughed.
"That has got to be the worse Italian accent I have ever heard," He grinned and loosened his grip as he looked down at her. "Your northern accent must really hate those Italian vowels."
"So you, Blaise and your mother have told me. But I mean it, I could never love another. You are my one and only."She smiled and kissed him as she pressed herself closer. "Come on, let's get some sleep. It's very late," She nodded but gripped his arm.
"Please stay, I don't want to be alone," She whispered.
"I am not going anywhere," He smiled as he grabbed the quilt, pulling it over them both.
"Good night, Neville," She whispered into his chest. It was the sweetest words he could hear as he pulled her close and closed his eyes.
"Sweet dreams, Pansy," He replied, and she sighed with contentment as they warmed each other into dreamland.
Neville squeezed his eyes against the light as the birds tweeted loudly outside the window. He blinked carefully as he reached out to hold Pansy. The bed was cold and empty. He forced his eyes open to look around. Had he dreamt it all? He wasn't sure as he lay in his own room. He felt back and rubbed at his face. So much had happened that he was beginning to lose track of what was real and what was in his dreams. He closed his eyes as he remembered the feeling of her skin against his and wondered whether it had just been a vivid memory.
A knock at the door made him look up, expecting to see his gran. When he found Pansy stood there, still in her pyjamas and mused hair, he couldn't help the grin that spread over his face.
Pansy paused for a minute and blushed. "I could stand here and let you look at me like that forever," She admitted as she carried a tray he hadn't noticed before towards him.
"I could stay here looking at you like this forever," he replied as he sat up. "I thought I'd dreamt everything when I found you gone,"
"Nope, it really happened, Your gran is really put out about her door frame, you can still see the cracks."
"I'll take a look in a little while." He said as she sat on the edge of the bed and handed him the tray. He looked down at it, toast and tea. "How are you feeling?" He asked, placing it on the bedside table so that he could devote his attention to her.
"I'm… alright," She said hesitantly. Neville opened his arms, and she moved into them without hesitation, sighing as he encompassed her in his arms. "Now I'm better," She smiled, and he copied.
"Good," he replied, kissing her forehead. "Did you sleep alright?"
"Except for some great oaf stealing all the covers…." She teased before a laugh escaped her and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard "I had the greatest sleep I've had in what feels like forever,"
"Sorry," he offered as he sighed into her hair. She was back and his again. There was such a thing as Christmas miracles. "Have you had breakfast yet?" Pansy shook her head,
"I'm not hungry,"
"You really should eat something, you've bearly had anything since you've been here.
"Fine!" she huffed as she reached and stole a piece of toast from his plate.
"Not in the bed! You'll only complain later about the crumbs," He teased as she pulled away a stood up, her pyjamas parting to flash her smooth stomach as she laughed at him.
"Alright, alright!" she laughed, before taking a bite of the toast. "So what do we have to do today?"
"We were supposed to be going to St Mungo's, but now we're staying home to get the rest of the decorations up."
"St Mungo's?" She asked as she sat in the chair and watched him.
"We usually visit my parents every year," Neville said as he stood up heading to his wardrobe to look for clean clothes. There was silence, and he turned, to see Pansy staring into the distance, her face closed and dark. "Pansy?"
"And you're not going this year because of me?" She asked quietly.
"No, I'm not going this year, because," He paused as he tried to think of another reason. "There's a lot of things to get done, we've got lots of people for dinner this year,"
"Honesty between friends, remember?"
"It's partly true," Neville admitted, looking into his wardrobe as he avoided her gaze. He felt her arms around his waist a moment later and looked down.
"You can go, I'll stay here. I'll be alright."
"I told you last night, I'm not leaving you again, you're stuck with me." He kissed her nose before reaching into the wardrobe to grab some clothes. "Now come on, let's get dressed otherwise, Gran will start nagging." He smiled.
