Bring Back The Sun

07. Considering The Swamp

Hold your head high

Don't look down

I'm by your side

Won't back down

You wanted a hero tonight

"I think I may be scarred for life," Ginny laughed, kicking a pebble a few feet ahead of her with the toe of her shoe. "Imagine Hermione and Neville. Is there a more unlikely pair?" She cast a cursory look at Ron and hastened to say in a whisper, "Well, besides you and Luna."

Ron gave her a look which made her giggle behind her hand, "There is no me and Luna."

Luna was walking along a few paces behind them, her nose buried in the latest edition of the Quibbler.

Harry sighed, "I'll be all right if I can just get the image out of my head."

"I know," Ginny agreed, laughing. "I mean, I knew Neville liked Hermione, but does she really fancy him back?"

Ron and Harry both shrugged; Luna caught up to them and said, "I think she does. Opposites attract, after all. Just like with Tramters, the females and the males appear to detest one another, but upon closer looks, it's always the ones who are most different that get together."


No one chose to say that there was no such thing as a Tramter.

"Neville is smarter than he lets on," Ron said after a moment, "I mean, he's really good with Herbology. I suppose all those extra study sessions with Hermione helping him…er…got them interested?"

"You're so articulate, Ron," Ginny remarked lightly, kicking the pebble again. The four of them were strolling around Ottery St Catchpole, as the sky grew darker up ahead. Neville and Hermione had chosen to stay back at the Burrow, Neville would be going home by flu powder in an hour and Hermione wanted to get a head start on The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six.

"You're just lucky you didn't see them going at it," Ron said moodily, "I will probably have nightmares for weeks. I'm not sure I can stay in the same room as him at night."

"Oh, come on, Ron. You're all getting older, it was only a matter of time before you all started dating one another."

"Since when are you so smart?" Ron countered, and Harry could sense a sibling blow-out coming soon. "Since you and Thomas were a thing?"

"Dean and I were never really a 'thing'," Ginny explained, "We only went out once. At the beginning of the summer. We're not together anymore. I'm too young for him, apparently."

Ron nodded knowledgably, "Ah, yes, too YOUNG," he made a show of winking exaggeratedly at Harry, who shrugged it off.

"I'm only a year younger than you, remember," Ginny reminded him, kicking the pebble off the road and into the ditch. "Dean likes older woman. Like Professors."

"Don't tell me," Ron muttered blandly, "He and Professor McGonagall are getting married in October."

"How'd you know!" Ginny yelled, stopping in her tracks and staring at her brother. Luna ran into her back, stumbled and nearly fell before Harry had a chance to steady her. He was staring at Ginny in shock, and Ron had a similar look on his face.

Ron, slack jawed and gawking, yelled "WHAT!?" rather loudly, so that the porch light of the house beside them turned on and an elderly looking woman with a cane came out, her fist raised at them. They quickly walked out of the light and to the other side of the street.

"I was KIDDING," Ginny said, sighing heavily, "Honestly, Ron. Professor McGonagall is about a hundred."

"She's pretty spry for her age," Harry remarked, cocking his head to the side in thought.

"She is," Luna agreed, "I saw her jump a banister land slid down it last year to avoid the swamp Fred and George created."

Ron stared at her this time, looking perplexed, "That swamp was rather cool."

"Yes, it was," Luna said, smiling at him. "I asked for them to make me one in a bottle that I could use to get out of doing household chores."

"Wouldn't that cause MORE chores?" Ginny wondered, beginning to walk again; the other three followed her.

Luna nodded, "I didn't think of that until after I used it."

"That's really a shame," Ron said, clicking his tongue in sympathy.

"Nah," Luna said, laughing, "They gave me the spell to remove it so it wasn't too bad."

Ron smiled at her and lead the way up his front walk. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks, eyebrows raised, both thinking the same thing about Ron and Luna's pending relationship.

When they all went into the house, Hermione was curled up on the couch, a large book in her lap, her nose nearly pressed to the paper. Neville was nowhere to be seen, presumably he had returned home, Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen with Mr. Weasley and the twins were upstairs; judging by the bangs every once in a while, they were working hard.

"It might help if you turned on some lights," Ron said, clicking on a lamp above her.


"Didn't want to loose my page," Hermione muttered, tenderly putting her finger on a word on the page and looking up at them all, squinting.

"You have a wand, you know," Ron reminded her, "You could have just used that."

"Oh yeah!" Hermione said happily, smiling, "I sometimes forget."

"She can't use magic in the summers," Luna said, sitting in a big arm chair.

"Oh, right," Ron laughed sheepishly, "I sometimes forget THAT."

They smiled at each other while Harry and Ginny took spots beside each other on the floor, a few feet away from one another.

"So," Ginny said, looking up at Hermione, "How are things with Neville?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, glancing up from her book again.

"You're dating, are you not?"

"No," Hermione laughed falsely, "What makes you say that?"

"You were snogging," Harry pointed out, and noticed the blush creeping up on Hermione's cheeks.


Ron sat in the seat beside her, "Or was that Trevor you were snogging? I get the two confused."

Hermione glared at him, and stated blankly, "Very funny."

Luna laughed hysterically, "I thought it was."