a man you haven't seen in years
resurrecting your deepest fears
returns a favor unto himself...
by turning us the other cheek

September 4th 6PM Sunday

The fireplace flashed green and Neville hesitantly stepped out into the living room. His hands were shaking slightly as he offered a bottle of wine to Khalida and small beads of sweat were visible on his forehead. Draco's threats must have really spooked him.

"Hello Neville," I greeted him warmly, "I'm so glad you could make it."

"I'm honored you invited me to your home," he replied anxiously.

"This is Khalida's place," I explained, "She was nice enough to allow me to stay with her. You haven't met Khalida yet have you?" Neville shook his head as he glanced at Khalida. "Neville Longbottom, Khalida List," I said while motioning back and forth between the two, "Khalida List, Neville Longbottom. Now let's eat, I'm starving."

My attempt at levity did its job and the tension in the room thinned considerably. Neville still shifted from one foot to the other like a nervous child, but his hands were no longer shaking and his forehead appeared to be noticeably drier.

"Well children," Khalida said while handing me the bottle of wine, "I have some business to attend to in the city so I'll leave you to your dinner."

"Don't come home to late and stay out of dark alleys," I ordered. She laughed merrily, as did Neville but I doubt he understood the joke. Khalida told me earlier that she was going into London to feed so I wasn't surprised that she was leaving. Neville seemed slightly confused though.

"You're not eating with us?" he questioned. Khalida shook her head and flashed him a wide grin.

"I'm afraid I have prior dinner plans," she stated as she walked out of the living room, "Don't have too much fun without me!"

I sighed in relief as I heard the front door close. Khalida and I were becoming good friends but my dinner with Neville was going to involve a little bit of conversational manipulation and I really didn't need a curious vampire getting in the way.

"Shall we?" I asked as I motioned toward the kitchen.

"Sure," Neville said with a nod, "What's on the menu tonight?"

"Nothing special," I stated, "I'm not the greatest cook but with Khalida's help I was able to whip up some lasagna along with some garlic bread." I mentally laughed at the image of Khalida making garlic bread. In truth she had barricaded herself in the bathroom until the offending substance was safely locked away in the oven. Even then she whined pitifully about the 'absolutely horrid' smell.

"Sounds good to me," he replied as he sat down at the kitchen table.

The table was already set and the meal was laid out. I grabbed two glasses out of one of the cupboards and poured us each a glass of wine. Neville took the offered glass thankfully and began to dig into the meal. I sat down across from him and served myself a small piece of lasagna.

"Wow!" he exclaimed after taking the first bite, "This is really great!"

"Thanks," I replied and my cheeks flushed slightly at the comment, "It's not very difficult to make and like I said, Khalida helped me a lot." Neville shook his head.

"It was still great of you to invite me," he said solemnly, "I haven't had a good home cooked meal since…"

"Since your wife died," I offered and he nodded his head sadly. "Did you read today's Daily Prophet?" I asked nonchalantly and he nearly choked on his wine. "It's okay," I said with a sigh, "I'm not really that mad about it, I suppose it would've come out eventually anyway."

"So it's true!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Afraid so," I replied.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled, "I can't believe I'm eating dinner with Harry's daughter."

"Hey," I said indignantly, "I'm still Jenny Riddle, the girl you met in the bookstore. I thought my father was plain old James Riddle until after he died." Neville nearly fell off his chair. Damn, I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

"So he passed away then?" Neville asked timidly and I nodded silently. "I'm sorry, and don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone."

"Let's not talk about my father," I said quickly in an attempt to change the subject, "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"There's not much to tell," he shrugged. "You already know that I'm widowed and I have two children. And of course you know I teach Herbology at Hogwarts."

"Do you have any other family?"

"None that are still living," he replied sadly, "If it wasn't for Susan's family I don't know what I'd do, they've been so kind to me."

There was the opening I had been waiting for. I felt a tad bit guilty for weaseling information out of Neville, but I quickly pushed that notion to the back of my mind. I poured Neville another glass of wine which he took gratefully.

"Is Susan's family large then?" I inquired casually.

"O yes," he answered cheerfully, "She's got relatives all over the place, even some in America."

"Really?" I leaned across the table toward him, silently urging him to continue.

"That's right," he said triumphantly, "You're from America too, aren't you?" I nodded. "Which part?"

"Minnesota."

"Hmm…I don't know if she's got any relatives in Minnesota," he muttered and the hope I was feeling lessened slightly.

"America is a pretty big place," I admitted.

"Wait a minute," he said excitedly, "At our wedding I remember being introduced to a Marlin Bones, one of Susan's cousins. I think Susan said that he and his wife Debbie lived in Canada."

"Canada and Minnesota aren't the same thing Neville," I said jokingly.

"I know that," he replied while acting slightly offended, "but a few years later at a family reunion we ran into them again and Marlin said he was moving to Minnesota. I don't think he mentioned which city in Minnesota though. Have you ever heard of them back home?"

"Not that I can recall," I lied, "but my father and I didn't get out much. He was a very private person and I'm sure you can understand why."

"Of course," he said quietly. I poured myself another glass of wine and sipped it slowly. Neville held out his glass and I filled it once again.

"Is Marlin a wizard too?" I inquired.

"O no," Neville said sadly, "He was born a squib. I think that may have been why he moved away from London. It was hard for him to be around his family. Susan's family is so deeply rooted in the wizarding world that he just didn't fit in."

"That's too bad."

"It really is," he replied and pushed his half empty plate away from him. "He's a really nice man and his wife is very kind. I think I remember her better than I remember him."

"Do you ever speak to them?" I asked.

"No and I don't think the rest of the family has much contact with him either," he explained, "I think he's only been back to London those two times. After the second war with You-Know-Who I think he was really scared and then when he had a family of his own he didn't want to be associated with anything that might put his wife and son in danger."

"He has a son?" I asked, my ears perking up slightly.

"Yes," he replied sadly, "Luke is his name, I think. Poor kid."

"Does he have health problems or something?" I asked hesitantly.

"Something like that," he answered as he downed the rest of his wine. "When he was around ten or so Marlin wrote Susan's aunt a letter saying that Luke had some sort of brain damage and the muggle doctors didn't know how to treat it. He wanted money to pay for specialists but Amelia told him that he should bring Luke to London and let the Healers at St. Mungo's take a look."

"Marlin flat out refused to let any wizard or witch near his son. I don't know why he was so paranoid about it. We told him You-Know-Who was long gone but he still wanted nothing to do with magic. I don't know what happened to him after that because, as far as I know, no one in the family ever received another letter from him."

"I wish he would've written to me," he admitted sadly, "I would have given him the money and let him do whatever he wanted with it. It's his son after all, it should be his choice."

"Yes," I nodded absentmindedly. My head began to ache and my stomach gurgled and flipped. "I'm not feeling to well Neville," I stated while clutching my stomach, "I hate to have to cut the night short but I'm afraid I have to."

"Are you sure you should be alone?" Neville asked in concern, "What if you need help and there's no one here?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine and Khalida will be home soon," I replied, "I don't think the wine agreed with me for some reason."

Neville and I left the table and I walked him to the fireplace. As soon as he disappeared I bolted for the bathroom and divested myself of what seemed to be everything I'd eaten in the last three or four days.

When my stomach finally stopped having convulsions I laid back on the cool tile floor. Thoughts were flitting through my head at a mile a minute. I clamped my hands over my eyes in an attempt to keep the room from spinning around me. A few minutes later I let my arms fall back above my head and watched a small spider make its way across the ceiling.

"Father," I sobbed as tears rolled down my cheeks, "what have you done?"

"Don't be sad Jenny," Daddy said kindly, "It's not your fault honey, don't cry."

"But why Daddy," I sobbed into his neck as he held me tightly, "Lucas and I just played a few months ago, how could he just forget me?" Daddy's arms tightened around me for a moment.

"I don't know why honey," he replied unsteadily, "I just know that friends sometimes forget other friends when they don't see them for a long time."

"Do you think it was because of what happened with the snake?" I asked in a whisper.

"No baby," he answered with a sigh, "I don't think it was the snake."

"Then why Daddy?"

"I wish I could answer that Jen but I just can't." He pulled me away from him and looked me in the eyes. A calloused thumb wiped my tears away. "Don't worry though baby. You're not alone. I'll always be your friend so you don't ever have to worry about being alone. Neither one of us have to worry about being alone ever because we'll always have each other."

Daddy kissed my forehead softly and pulled me back into his arms. I contemplated the answers he had given me as I sat on his lap, chin rested upon one shoulder. My forehead scrunched up in confusion over his explanation.

I was lying on the floor in Khalida's bathroom once more. The spider had long since disappeared and I was left staring at a blank, white ceiling. My features relaxed as the confusion I felt left me and I asked the ceiling the question that I had wanted to ask my father.

"Then why Daddy," I whispered, "If friends forget friends when they're gone, then why haven't I forgotten?"

"Jenny!" Khalida's voice called out from behind the door and I wondered just how long I had been lying there, "Are you okay?"

I picked myself up off the floor and straightened my clothes the best I could. My eyes were still puffy and red even after I washed my face thoroughly but I suppose there's no helping something like that. I schooled my face into the happiest expression I could muster and opened the door. Khalida took one look at me and pulled me into her arms.

"What's wrong hun?" she asked while stroking the back of my head gently.

"Nothing," I croaked, "Stomach's just a little queasy, maybe dinner didn't agree with me." Khalida pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes. She chuckled softly as she cradled my head in her hands.

"Haven't I told you that you lie just as bad as Gilgamesh?"

"I just don't want to talk about it right now," I sighed, "I'm sorry." Khalida shook her head fiercely.

"No!" she exclaimed causing me to flinch, "Don't apologize. There's nothing wrong with keeping things to yourself. I just want you to promise me something though."

"What is it?" I asked in confusion.

"Wherever your quest leads you," she said softly, "don't leave me behind."

"What do you mean?"

"I do not expect you to tell me all your secrets," she stated, "and you shouldn't expect that I will tell you all of mine. If you ever need to talk, then I will be here and I would hope that you would do the same for me." I nodded in affirmation.

"I just want you to promise me," Khalida continued, "that you won't try to figure everything out on your own. I want you to promise that for my sake and yours, you won't run off and leave me or those that care about you behind." I stared into her eyes and understanding passed between us.

"I promise I won't," I replied softly, "I won't leave you behind, as long as you don't leave me behind." Khalida shook her head.

"I would never leave you behind," she stated firmly. "I know how it feels," she added, her voice trailing off into a quiet mumbling.

"It's because he left isn't it?" I asked and Khalida's eyes became glassy and unfocused.

"He left me behind," she whispered, "He never thought he had anyone he could count on. He assumed that there would be no one there when he needed them."

"But you were there," I offered.

"Yes," she admitted sadly, "I was there."