Disclaimer: I don´t own anything except my OCs and the plot.

Chapter 3: With or Without You

For a Saturday morning in mid-September, Neville's forehead was already covered with sweat and had his elbows covered with dirt. Unknowingly to him, there were traces of said dirt not only on his arms but also on his face and clothes.

The reason he was so distracted ─more so than usual─ was because he was currently listening to one of his favorite post-Hannah breakup songs on repeat thanks to the wireless Hermione bought for his last birthday. It had become one of his favorite ways of working in the greenhouses of Longbottom Manor, while he was taking a break from classes and needed time to mope around without the fear of been found by a student.

After his breakup with Hannah, which admittedly hadn't been that bad, he found that working on his precious plants helped him more than ever to maintain a clear head and prevented him from spiraling into depression. Being the only single one in his friend group wasn't that thrilling.

After 5 months of being alone, he could admit that the sadness was more for the loss of the future he thought he would have than for losing Hannah herself. For the last year of their relationship he felt more estranged from her than ever, but he ascribed that to their long distance relationship and the odd work hours both of them had. At the end, he was actually thinking about proposing just so they could live together but, after talking to Hermione about it, she made him realize that if the strongest reason he had for thinking about marriage was so he wouldn't have to make so many floo travels then maybe he wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment. At least not with her.

With his arms full of dahlias, he started singing his favorite part of the song. He wasn't ashamed because the only other living thing in his house at the moment was Tip, his house elf. His grandmother was having brunch with Andromeda Tonks, otherwise, she would've been already screaming at him to stop with the torture that was him singing muggle music. Or rather him singing anything at all.

"My hands are tied, my body bruised…" Neville thought the reason this breakup hurted that much was because Hannah proved to be more courageous than him in some aspects, as she was the one to finally sit him down and talk about all the things that where wrong in their relationship. "…she's got me with nothing to win and nothing left to lose".

That she found another man she was actually having a sex life with probably didn't help anything.

"And you give yourself away, and you give yourself away…" The thing that was more bothersome to him wasn't that she practically cheated on him but that she was actually having sex and he wasn't. He couldn't even remember when was the last time they were together.

At least his Gran was happy. She never really liked Hannah.

Come to think of it, she never liked Luna either. At least not when she was his girlfriend. Now that Luna was happily married to Rolf, Augusta even sent her letters when she knew Luna was traveling.

"And you give..." Neville finished with the dahlias on the first pot and was bending over to grab the second one when an obviously fake cough broke him from his impromptu karaoke session.

"I would say I'm surprised but…" Said Hermione with a smirk she wasn't even trying to cover on her lips and her arms full of baby Leo. It wasn't always that Neville thought Malfoy was a bad influence on his best friend but that moment was definitely one of those times.

"Merlin, Mione." He rose to his full height and grabbed a towel to clean some of the dirt in his hands. "Don't you know not to scare a man in his own greenhouse? Do you even know what kind of weapons I have in here?" he said with a falsely indignant voice.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said while laughing a little bit. "Tip let us in, he said you've been moping again." She threw him a pointed look that Neville was only too happy to ignore.

"But enough about me! Since when did you get back?" He said with a fake smile on his lips while taking his apron off. "Let's go get some tea so you can tell me all about how infuriating your husband is while I take care of my godson." Neville said with a real smile on his face this time. He loved that baby with all his heart. "And where is Scorpius by the way?"

"Oh, he's here, actually. Wait." She turned to the entrance of the greenhouse. "Scorpius, honey! Bring uncle Nev his gift, please!"

Little hurried steps where heard running towards them. Neville turned around to silence the wireless.

"Really, I can't think of a better gift than this brilliant piece of magic you gave me for my birthday." The wireless was actually an invention of Hermione and George and, currently, one of WWW's best sellers.

Ever since she went to live with Draco, one of Hermione's biggest problems was electricity. She was used to listening to music while cooking or even when taking a shower, but since Malfoy Manor was obviously a magical building, her electronic devices couldn't work.

That's the way it used to be for everyone living in magical homes, at least until it affected Hermione Malfoy on a personal level. It took a while but recruiting a little help from George, Hermione found a way to make the magic work on the electronic devices instead of electricity. He didn't really know how they did it, but thanks to them he ─and almost everyone on the magical community─ was able to use the wireless and have a fully functioning telly in his home. Gran was turning out to be a big fan of latin and Indian soap operas.

"Uncle Nev!" Scorpius entered the greenhouse carrying a really small flowerpot with some kind on purple flowers on it, probably shrunk by his mother. "Look what mommy and daddy brought you!" The boy said with a really big smile on his face, presenting Neville his gift.

"Why, thank you so much, bud! Come and give me hug to annoy your mother" He said while Scorpius giggled and jumped so that Neville could carry him. Scorpius couldn't deny he was a Malfoy even if he wanted to, but he was still a five year old boy who didn't mind getting dirty every once in a while. And seeing as Neville's clothes were still covered in dirt, he wouldn't be able to help it. Hermione threw him an unimpressed look.

"It's called a Polygala myrtifolia, commonly known as Myrtle-leaf milkwort." She said while Neville took out his wand to unshrink the flowerpot. She could see an exited glint in his eyes already, it made her smile proudly. "I thought it could be a good addition to your new project, Draco was the one who found it."

"I'll have to send him a thank you note later." Neville said while placing Scorpius on the ground and arranging a space for his newest pet. "I may even be persuaded to help him with your birthday gift this year." He couldn't help the snigger that came out of his mouth. She even snorted.

"Come on, honey, let's get you cleaned up for the tea." Hermione said to her oldest son.

"No, don't worry. I'll take him with me. You can go look for Tip while we make ourselves presentable." Neville said. "I know for certain that Tip was making biscuits just before you arrived." He threw Scorpius a wink. The kid was mad for sweets and it was always a source of amusement when Neville was in the presence of both Scorpius and Hermione's parents.

Fifteen minutes later and they were all seated at the parlor. Scorpius was happily munching on a biscuit while his mother prepared the tea and Neville was playing with his little brother.

"So, what did you rascals got up to while your parents went away?" Neville asked his honorary nephew.

"Oh, don't even get me started." Said Hermione with an angry tilt to her voice. "Do you know what my parents did?!" Neville just shook his head in the negative. "They took Leo to the muggle doctor!"

"What?" Neville did a double check on the baby he had in his arms, a worried frown marking his features. "Why? What happened? He looks fine to me."

"That's because Emma is a good doctor." Said Scorpius. That just confused Neville more. Hermione seemed more annoyed than anything.

"Emma? Who is that?"

"The doctor!" Said Scorpius like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Honey, your uncle doesn't know the doctor. He didn't see her." Explained Hermione.

"Oh" Said Scorpius with a disappointed pout. "But he should! She's pretty." Neville threw a surprised look at Hermione. She just sighed, this wasn't the first time Scorpius said something like that.

"He's been like that all week according to my parents. Apparently, she found out they're dentists and gave Scorpius some candy so he wouldn't have to suffer all week with their sugarless sweets." She said with another dramatic sigh. Neville couldn't help but laugh out loud at that.

"Well, that would explain a lot of things." He said, nodding with a serious expression, Scorpius nodding along with him. "But then again, why did your parents take Leo to the doctor?"

Hermione got into a long explanation of everything her parents went through Monday morning up to the pedatristan? who gave little Leo his consultation. The part that had her more worried than anything was that the baby had a bout of accidental magic mid examination that was so obvious even the muggle doctor took notice.

"Well, if she suspected anything she would have said so by now, don't you think?" He asked Hermione.

"Yes, I know. That's why her appointment with my parents this afternoon has me so stressed."

"Oh" He said with a grimace. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to be there, obviously! See if she is acting odd or something." Hermione said with a resolute look on her face.

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" Neville could see the angry flush coming to her face, so he backtracked. "I mean, you have to do what you think is better." He said nodding unconvincingly.

"Exactly." She said with a confident look about her. And that settled the topic of conversation.

The long time friends continued to talk about other things, mainly Neville's lack of romantic life and his newest work project with muggle flowers and Hermione's vacation.

While he was saying goodbye to his best friend and her sons, he couldn't help but think that however depressing his love life was, he had so many good things to be grateful for in his life.

Hermione was taking Scorpius hand to apparate home when the boy turned around one last time to wave at his uncle goodbye. The happy disposition Neville was desperately trying to maintain was gone in an instant as he remembered how much he longed for children of his own. With a sad and dramatic sigh, he turned around to go back to the only place where he could maintain a semblance of balance. The greenhouse.

"And you give…"