Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of JK Rowling's fabulous characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOTgive permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Chapter 28

That night Neville gathered up as much courage as he could and knocked on the door of Elsie's bedroom suite, glad that they were having this conversation in Longbottom Hall where his wife had an entire suite of rooms and they could have this conversation in private without it having to be in a room with a bed in it, and where he could trust that the walls were thick enough for absolute privacy and there was nobody else in that part of the house to see him coming or going or disapprove of him being there.

Elsie blushed scarlet as she opened the door and saw Neville there. She was hurriedly tying a matching light dressing robe over long cotton pyjamas in a pretty shade of blue, which she'd changed into straight after dinner for comfort but she had her charms books out and had obviously been sitting studying.

"Can we talk?" Neville asked, hoping she wouldn't be upset at the interruption.

"Umm, please come in," Elsie replied nervously.

"How are you settling in? Is the room meeting all your needs? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable in my home?" Neville asked anxiously.

"It's fine, Neville. The room is very pleasant," Elsie replied blushing.

Neville entered, hesitated then sat down on the settee. He tried to make small talk but nothing came to mind. "How are you?" he asked, honestly wanting to know.

"I'm quite well, nervous about OWLs, do you know when I'll get the results for the ones I've already taken?" Elsie replied.

"I'm afraid I don't remember, it was early August I think, mine came a couple of days after my birthday," Neville replied.

Elsie nodded, "I just wish I knew I'd passed them, maybe I should be studying to resit them in August with my Charms OWL just in case," she said anxiously.

"You said you thought you did well on the exams at the time. I think Hermione would tell you not to second guess yourself and have confidence in what you felt after sitting the exams, rather than letting the waiting get on your nerves," Neville said softly.

"You're right she did," Elsie admitted. "But what did you want to talk about?"

Neville took a deep breath and gathered up his courage, Hermione had pointed out that nothing would ever improve between them if they didn't start communicating openly, and he knew she was right, but it was so hard to do.

"Harry said that Hermione thinks that you're waiting for me to come and ask for sex. I thought that it should be your choice whether you invited me into your bed, but I think now that we need to talk about it because it would be stupid if we were both waiting for each other to ask and feeling like we were being rejected out of a misunderstanding," he blurted out, staring at the rug on the floor, blushing profusely. "So… you know… I'm willing if you want to… but if you want to wait and get to know each other better, that's fine too…"

Elsie took a minute to understand what he'd actually said in his hurried ramble, then nodded shyly but didn't say anything.

"I understand that you're spending as much time as you can studying and I fully support that if that's what you want to focus on, but we never seem to have any time on our own to get to know each other and it will be much harder to do that at school with the other students around all the time," Neville said. "You and Harry and Hermione have become friends and that's great, but I feel that they both know you better than I do. I had hoped you could see me as a friend even if we weren't madly in love with each other but it still feels like were pretty much strangers forced into each other's lives and that's not what I want from our marriage."

"I wish we could have what Harry and Hermione have, they're just so right together and it seems so easy for them," Elsie said in a small voice.

"Me too," Neville admitted. "But they didn't get along for the first two months they knew each other either. They've been best friends since Harry saved Hermione's life in first year, but I don't think they said anything not school related to each other before that. They were inseparable even before their love for each other became romantic so they have six years of solid friendship and knowing each other better than anyone else in the world, fighting for their lives together at least once a year. Hopefully if we work on it in six years time we can have something like that."

Elsie gave a wan smile, "I hope it doesn't take that long."

"Me either, and I hope it doesn't take throwing ourselves into so many stupidly dangerous situations as they have to develop adequate communication and teamwork either. But one thing Harry and Hermione have had, even when things were rough when they first got married and were feeling awkward about it, was that they talked to each other honestly. They told each other what they were thinking and feeling, and they try to tell each other what they want and need from each other. We need to stop avoiding talking to each other," Neville replied.

"Things were rough? How? They seem perfect for each other?" Elsie asked.

"Harry had a girlfriend when we first found out about the law. When Hermione and her friends found the ritual we were all sure they'd be one of the first couples to try it but she flatly refused and broke up with him because she wanted to wait and have a proper wedding, and Hermione and Ron seemed to be dancing around the idea of dating so she tried the ritual with him first. Harry only asked Hermione to protect her from the ministry match. She was his best friend and he'd do anything for her but they'd never been romantic or desired each other like that, it was a big adjustment for them but they talked their way through it and fell in love after being married," Neville explained.

"You think we could do that?" Elsie asked.

"I think it's worth trying, we'll never know what's possible until we make a genuine attempt to get to know each other," Neville replied.

"Do you want sex?" Elsie asked.

"I don't want to force you or to do anything you're not willing to do. You don't owe me anything. I'd like to share a bed, I'm willing to wait for sex until you feel ready, or until we have to start trying to have a baby but I always thought it would be nice to have someone to cuddle up with on the couch or in bed at night and not be alone. I also want to share quarters when we go back to Hogwarts. We need to spend more time together to work on our relationship, and I understand you don't have a lot of free time to cuddle on the couch while you're trying to prepare for your owls. I don't want to disrupt your study time but I feel like we're not getting to know each other the way I hoped we would because the only time's we're together other people are around or you're studying. I want to spend time just being ourselves, and it might be easier to talk at night in the dark too," Neville replied.

"I didn't hate having to share a bed," Elsie agreed.

"I'm glad to hear that but I don't want you to just not hate it," Neville protested.

"Well, I'm not opposed to sharing but it's too hot to wear a long pyjamas all night, every night at this time of year, and cooling charms don't last," Elsie said.

"I don't care what you wear to bed, Elsie. Wear whatever makes you comfortable, and I can cast a pretty decent cooling charm on the quilt, or I'll buy a new summer quilt with permanent cooling runes if you feel you need to wear more clothes than you can without charms to be comfortable having me there," Neville replied. "It's your turn, tell me something that you want from me or from our relationship. What would make you happier about being married to me?"

"Will there be dancing at the parties we're going to?" Elsie asked.

"Yes probably some of them," Neville replied, surprised she didn't know this.

"Can you teach me how to dance? In the books I've read it always sounded like such fun," Elsie asked shyly.

"Sure, I can teach you but you don't need to be good at dancing to enjoy it, you just need to get up and join in and like the person you're dancing with," Neville said grinning. "Perhaps we should have Hermione try to teach Harry as well. Unless you'd rather it was just the two of us." He'd like to do it just the two of them but he also thought they might be less awkward at first with the other couple there. He could always suggest they practice on their own between lessons if it worked out.

"No, having Harry and Hermione there would help but are you telling the truth that Harry can't dance" Elsie asked.

"He's never learned formal dancing. He'll get up and have a go with his friends but the one formal ball he had to lead during the Triwizard Tournament was a bit of a disaster," Neville said.

Elsie giggled. "It's hard to imagine."

"Harry's as human as the rest of us. He's excellent at duelling because he practices it for hours each week, the same as for quidditch. He might have natural gifts in those areas but he works hard to develop those skills. He's never seen much need in learning to dance," Neville replied. "But let's not talk about Harry and Hermione, I'm glad you're becoming friends with them but we need to get to know each other better. What did you want to do after NEWTs?"

"I don't know, I knew I wasn't going to do well enough to get an apprenticeship and Grandfather has always talked about arranging a marriage for me. I think Mum expected me to stay home until then, if I even got to take my NEWTs before getting married, and then to keep house for my husband and have children," Elsie said. "I guess nothing much has changed, except we expected to have a few more years and to be allowed to go out and get to know people now that the war is over before settling down to marry and start a family. I'm not unhappy that Grandfather chose you, you know. I just wasn't ready for him to choose anybody."

Neville nodded. "I hope to get a Herbology apprenticeship," he said.

"Will you still be able to do that now you're married?" Elsie asked nervously.

"Everyone our age is married. They're going to have to accept married apprentices if they want to have any at all. As head of house Longbottom, I don't need to work to support a family so I can afford to take an apprenticeship even if we do have to have a baby. I can afford to hire a nanny as well if you want to work or continue studying, or there's probably already an elf among the Longbottom elves with training in caring for babies and young children," Neville said.

"Um can I think about it for a while?" Elsie asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't expect you to have thought too much about it if you didn't expect to be able to do anything like that," Neville replied.

"Mum is going to want me to come back and spend time learning to run a house and things from her," Elsie said.

"That's fine, if that's what you want to do. It is your choice now, but I'd expect you'd want to spend some time with Gran learning how to run Longbottom Hall once you take over from her," Neville said encouragingly.

"Hopefully that won't be for years yet," Elsie protested.

"You will be the current Lady Longbottom once I turn seventeen next year. The Hall will be yours to manage next summer if you want to do it, though I expect Gran would be happy to continue if you would like her to," Neville said gently, though he had a sneaking suspicion that his Gran had deliberately chosen him a wife that would let her keep charge of the Hall and the family.

Elsie looked terrified at the idea.

-o0o-

Hermione was delighted to add dancing lessons to their curriculum, she was relieved to know there wasn't much difference between the formal dancing in the wizarding world and the waltz she'd learned from her parents as a child but it was Neville who was the true master on the dance floor having taken years of formal lessons from the age of six.

Madam Longbottom had offered to engage a tutor for them, but Hermione encouraged Neville to teach Elsie himself, rather than have her dancing with a stranger. They started off stiff and awkward with each other but Neville soon put her at ease, and she was able to follow his instructions until she could dance with him leading her very nicely, though she still had trouble with Harry who was used to Hermione subtly leading him while trying to make it look like he was leading rather than leading properly himself. Harry's easy laughter at his own expense helped there and she saw it really was possible to have fun without dancing perfectly, or even well.

Hermione also showed her more free dancing that young people normally did in groups in both the muggle and magical worlds, dragging Elsie and Neville back to her house to watch a couple of videos of that sort of move to the music and have fun dancing.

The muggle world, even just the Granger's living room was a real shock to the two wizard raised teens, but Dan and Emma soon made them feel welcome. Hermione cleverly invited them over during the day the first time so she could show Neville around the garden, explaining all the muggle plants to the fascinated amateur Herbologist, while Elsie watched Harry use the microwave, and electric kettle to make the tea and snacks for them all. Hermione was determined to get them used to as much of it as she could before they had to venture out in public to Dean and Leanne's, or Seamus and Parvati's weddings. She talked it over with Harry, Harry was eager for them to watch as many movies as she wanted, since he hadn't had the opportunity to see any before this summer but warned Hermione that they wouldn't believe it was all real until they went out and saw it for themselves.

Hermione thought back to the dancing at the Yule Ball in their fourth year and realised that old fashioned dancing would be better than anything recent so she showed them 'Grease' 'Strictly Ballroom' 'An American in Paris' and 'Hairspray'. The television fascinated the two wizard raised teens and Neville questioned why nothing like this was talked about in 'Muggle Studies', sending Hermione on a rant about how useless the subject was for teaching students anything about navigating the muggle world or blending in and not drawing too much attention to themselves. She determined to show her friend the real muggle world, though warning Elsie that the muggle studies OWL and NEWT exams and examiners were as out of date as the information in class and the textbook, and that she'd been warned by older students that more up to date answers wouldn't necessarily give her a better grade. Having to deliberately answer questions with answers she knew were wrong was why Muggleborns didn't do so well in Muggle studies and had been one of the reasons she'd given up the class.

They had several fun evenings watching movies and laughingly trying to copy the dance moves they saw on them under the watchful eyes of the Grangers.

-o0o-

Daniel had to admit that since Hermione was married to Harry for the rest of her life, he was glad that they had the relationship they did, watching Elsie and Neville try to negotiate their new marriage was awkwardly painful and as much as the Grangers wanted to help the young couple neither adult had the slightest idea how they could.

"Are many of the marriages between your friends like Neville and Elsie's?" Emma asked.

"No, Parvati and Seamus were already dating as were Padma and Terry, Katie and Eddie, and George and Alicia, and they're all getting along fairly well as far as I can tell, though I would've been surprised if Seamus and Parvati would've lasted more than another two or three weeks together if it wasn't for the need to marry and the permanency of the ritual we all used. Dean and Leanne were only friends before their wedding but they have a lot in common and seem to be making the best of it, they're comfortable with each other at least. Ron and Eloise are still a little awkward with each other when the topic of getting married in a few weeks comes up but they're building a decent friendship between them that I think will help them with the transition, even though neither of them really wants to marry the other. I'm sure there are other couples like Elsie and Neville, but they're the only ones of the couples we interact with most that were virtually strangers when they married, all their previous interactions had been supervised by Elsie's parents or grandparents and Neville's grandmother who barely let them talk freely. They have the advantage in that their families arranged their marriage so at least both sides of the family approve, but I guess it's hard getting to know somebody when you're aware that you're already bound together as husband and wife. Maybe it would've been easier in Regency times when people grew up expecting to marry someone they didn't know very well?" Hermione said.

"I doubt it was any easier for most couples, real life back then wasn't anything like the regency romance novels. I suspect that most upper class couples could choose to spend very little time together," Emma retorted. "I don't know that the emotions were any easier but perhaps it would help them to have a more prescriptive formula for talking to each other in public that everyone around them knew and followed, it would at least stop innocent bystanders from being made awkward and saddened by their situation."

"Dean and Katie are getting along well though they're still really only friends who sleep together and are married to each other, there's no romantic feelings on either side, which I suppose is a lot better than one having feelings the other doesn't," Harry said.

"You only think one of your friends are getting along well in their marriage?" Daniel asked.

Harry shrugged. "It's hard to tell from the outside. Other than Neville and Elsie, it's probably Seamus and Parvati I'm most concerned about. Seamus used to have a new girlfriend every couple of months and I don't think that Parvati would have lasted this long if it wasn't for the marriage law forcing them. They were dating casually, and they've known each other since first year but I wouldn't say they were good friends before they started dating and they're not getting a lot of family support from either side. But Neville said that he and Elsie were chaperoned by her parents every time they met before the wedding, and with how shy they both are they'd never even had a real conversation about anything serious. Elsie's mum is still trying to oversee most of their interactions when they're with her family, and Neville's gran set Elsie up in her own suite separate to Neville's," Harry added, collecting the dishes and taking them to the kitchen to wash up.

"I wish I knew how to help them become friends," Hermione said.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with that but I think that they are becoming less awkward, hopefully some time on their own is helping. At least they're spending some time having fun together with the two of you," Emma replied reassuringly. "I can see that they are more comfortable dancing together and talking about the movies together today than they were the first time they were here, so you are doing something right."

"I hope so. I get the feeling that time is running out for them. If they don't start to get to know each other better and start talking and enjoying each other's company then their pattern of interacting with each other will become habit and it will take years to overcome, if they ever do," Hermione said pessimistically.

"You said Elsie was coming back to school with you in September?" Emma asked.

"Yes, but she isn't in classes with our year level. Her mum wasn't very conscientious about making sure she stayed on track with her studies and she's a fair bit behind us in most subjects. She feels really self-conscious about it and I think that if they go back to Hogwarts the way things are now she'll spend most of her time with her classmates and avoid our class which is the one she should be in by age," Hermione admitted.

"What does Harry think?" Emma asked.

"I don't know what he thinks but I know he's worried about them. He and Neville have become much closer since their wedding. Neville's never had a lot of self confidence but he was getting a lot better before his Gran organised this marriage for him," Hermione replied.

"Did he consider making the choice you did and using the ritual you used to choose his own partner?" Emma asked.

Hermione blushed. "Yeah, I don't know whether he and Hannah decided not to go through with it or it didn't work for them," she said awkwardly.

"Hermione?"

"He asked me, but I'd already made arrangements with Harry and he'd already agreed to try it with Hannah. I told him he had no business going through it with her if he was sure enough it wasn't going to work to be asking someone else before they tried," Hermione admitted.

"So he asked you as his back up plan, that's quite insulting," Emma said frowning.

"No, I don't know whether he was going to tell Hannah he couldn't do the ritual with her if I agreed to try it with him, or do it with me first and hope she didn't hear about him trying it with me and keep her as his back up plan," Hermione said frowning.

"So what happened with this other poor girl, did she make a decent match at the Ministry or is she still waiting to find out?" Emma asked.

"She ended up marrying a wizard her parents knew during one of the Hogsmeade weekends, he's a couple of years older than she is but their parents were close at school and they've been friends their whole lives. She seemed happy enough at school, though I've never seen the two of them together and she never mentioned her marriage to me. That's not so unusual Hannah and I have a couple of classes and groups together but we're not that close," Hermione replied. "Ron's fiancée Eloise might know more."

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Stay safe everyone