Author's Note: Hello! As always, thanks for reading!


Hannah Abbott had already disappeared on her friends twice. The first time was during their sixth year, when her mother had been murdered. Apparently, Hannah had learned, her mother's status as a muggle-born witch with any semblance of power in the Ministry made her a target for the Death Eaters. And Norah Abbott, who usually went to work accompanied by her husband, had made the mistake of going in early and alone on one late September morning. Hannah hadn't had much of a choice in that disappearance, though. It was her father and his parents who had chosen to keep her home from Hogwarts.

"It's too dangerous out there," her father had warned. She remembered being scared by how raw his voice sounded.

The next time that she'd disappeared had been entirely her fault. After finishing her education she was left with no obvious direction in her life. The only thing she had was a standing invitation from her maternal grandmother to go and stay with her in Belfast awhile. Taking her Nana up on that would keep Hannah mostly outside of the wizarding world, just for simplicity's sake. But honestly, instead of deterring her from accepting the offer, that fact made Hannah want to go even more. The wizarding world had already taken so much out of her, had taken her mother away from her, so taking a break from it...it felt right at the time.

Hannah hadn't exactly enjoyed either of those disappearances, though. Both were filled with feelings of isolation and depression. Even so, as she approached the door of 12 Grimmauld Place, thoughts of pulling a third disappearing act flit through her mind.

Susan's presence at her side made Hannah feel guilty for those thoughts despite their brevity.

"Ready?" Susan asked, beaming at Hannah.

Hannah nodded, mustering a smile. The sounds of loud music and an even louder combination of voices emanated from the house. She felt off balance on the narrow steps, as if the heels of her booties were hanging off the edge even though she knew they weren't.

Susan knocked on the door the same way she did whenever she visited Hannah, the three crisp knocks each amping up Hannah's heart rate.

The door swung open but no one was there. At least, that's what Hannah thought until she looked down and found a grizzled house-elf staring up at them. He appeared quite old, at least as old as the most elderly elves she'd met in the kitchens at Hogwarts, and wore a simple black tunic and, strangely, a silver locket.

"Er, hello there," she said.

"Welcome to Master Harry's birthday," the elf croaked, barely audible over the raucous sounds that seemed to be coming from every part of the house. He shuffled back so that they could enter, quickly shutting and securing the door behind them.

Hannah was taken aback by how grand the house was. It had a massive staircase that seemed to go up at least three floors, and another staircase before them that must have led down to a basement. The walls had rich scarlet wallpaper with an intricate pattern—at least as far as Hannah could tell. It was currently covered by multiple layers of streamers, which also hung above their heads and off of most surfaces.

The little house-elf gestured towards the end of the hallway. "Drinks are served in the kitchen. Master Harry asked Kreacher to send his guests there first. Master also said to say food is in Master's dining room." He was about to say something else, but stopped as he watched someone approaching them.

"I've got it from here, Kreacher. Thank you."

Ginny was bounding down the stairs, beaming at Hannah and Susan. She wore tight jeans and an embellished tank-top, her red hair falling prettily around her bare shoulders. "We tried to give him the night off," she said by way of greeting, nodding to the spot where the house-elf had just been but had since disappeared from. "He wouldn't hear of it though. I think he still gets nervous about having guests." She reached the bottom of the stairs and swept them into a hug. "Thank you for coming! It's so great to see you both!"

"Great to see you too! And congrats on everything!" Susan enthused.

An opening hung in the air and Hannah felt like she waited a beat too long to take it. "Yeah," she finally agreed. "And this house is amazing."

"Thanks!" Ginny said. She looked around, admiring the surroundings with pride. "We just redid it. It was Harry's godfather's and needed a lot of work." She started walking down the hall and motioned for them to follow. "I mean, we'd done a lot already, just to make it livable for the past few years. But now we really wanted to make it our own."

Ginny pushed through a door into the basement, revealing a large but narrow kitchen. Hannah was beginning to think that everything in this house might just be long and narrow and grand. As they stepped inside a burst of laughter came from the far end of the room. There sat a large group, including George Weasley, Lee Jordan, and Angelina Johnson. There were also a few other older DA members and Harry himself. Harry looked up as they approached, sending an easy grin in Ginny's direction and then, after a small delay, noticing Hannah and Susan. He got up to greet them and Hannah stifled a laugh, immediately seeing that he was a little off-balance and in what must have been at least a tipsy state. It wasn't that he was drunk, but Hannah had been working at the pub long enough to recognize when people were on their way to drunkenness. In fact, looking around the room, it seemed that everyone there was already in the same boat.

They exchanged greetings with Harry, catching up minimally and telling him happy birthday.

"Thanks!" he said. He gestured towards the end of the room where he'd just left, "George and Lee are bartending, but I've gotta warn you, everything they're making is strong."

Hannah smiled. That seemed accurate.

She and Susan got drinks and then went upstairs. Ginny had told them where there were snacks and that a bunch of people were in the drawing room dancing. Hannah took one sip of her drink and, as the alcohol burned the back of her throat, she told Susan, "I need snacks if I'm going to finish this."

"Didn't you eat after your shift?" Susan asked, coming to a stop on the ground floor's landing. She sipped her drink as well, but was seemingly unaffected by it.

"Didn't have time," Hannah said. She'd managed to get the night off by switching shifts with one of the other servers, Sam Fenwick, but when he was late she was forced to work into her original shift time until he finally arrived. Then she had to rush to get ready for the party and, in her haste, hadn't found any time for dinner.

"Alright, but then I want to go dance," Susan said. She was smiling hugely and Hannah was happy for it. Susan worked so hard, giving her all to her job in the hopes of making it her career, and deserved to have this night for pure fun. Hannah just hoped that she wouldn't be the one to dampen her friend's enthusiasm.

The girls entered the dining room and stood for a moment, taking in the scene. Hannah was immediately drawn to the huge table whose surface was covered by a wide variety of foods. She hadn't eaten in so long, her stomach growled just looking at it all. Not to mention the masterpiece of a hippogriff-shaped cake that she wanted a closer look at. But Susan elbowed her and nodded at one of the corners of the room, where a small group sat together. She saw Ernie immediately, and reached back in her mind to try to think of the last time she'd seen him. All that she found in that process, though, was guilt. Also sitting there were Ron, Hermione, Oliver Wood, and Neville.

Hannah reached down to tug at the skirt of her dress. Her mind flashed back to that night a few weeks ago, the last time she'd seen Neville, and to their conversation. Maybe "conversation" was a bit generous for their small exchange, but nevertheless Hannah's thoughts were caught on the moment when her stomach had flipped. That night had been such an anomaly, a detour from the everyday that she wouldn't mind taking again.

Neville's eyes landed on the two of them.

Then again, Hannah thought, detours can also be quite scary.

"You go ahead," she told Susan. "I'll come over after I grab a plate."

"Okay," Susan agreed happily. She moved airily over to the group. Hannah watched out of the corner of her eye as she moved to the table. Ernie sprang up to greet Susan. Hannah piled a plate high with prawns, tiny fish fingers, mini Yorkshire puddings, and, to make herself feel better about everything else she'd selected, some sliced vegetables. Another glance at the group in the corner showed that Susan had brought over two more chairs, one of which was obviously meant for Hannah, and was speaking to Hermione animatedly while Ernie and Oliver were apparently wrapped up in their own back-and-forth which Ron and Neville seemed to only be half paying attention to. Ron was absentmindedly playing with one of Hermione's curls and Neville snacked on his own plate of food, staring into his empty glass.

Hannah fidgeted with her dress again before approaching the group.

"Hannah!" Ernie said brightly, halting his conversation with Oliver when she reached them. He stood and hugged her as best he could over the back of his chair, an action that resulted in one arm wrapping around her shoulders and the other just patting one of her arms.

"Hello, Ernie," Hannah said. She moved to the empty chair next to Susan as soon as he let her go.

She greeted the rest of the group and then waited for them to get back to their discussions. But that didn't happen.

"How long has it been since we saw each other?" Ernie asked her.

"Too long," she said. She offered a small smile, hoping that the apology it held was received.

"You'd think you'd gone into the Muggle lifestyle again," Ernie joked.

The others all turned to look at Hannah, some dramatically and some with an amount of subtlety she was grateful for. Susan even turned, but rather than interest Hannah thought that it was probably out of concern. They both loved Ernie, but they'd also both been the victim of his mouth before and knew what it was like. Hannah sipped her drink.

"So, how's everyone's night been so far?" Susan said.

Hannah stared down at her plate but sent silent thanks her way.

"Wonderful," Hermione said quickly.

"It's been great to catch up with people," Ron added.

Hannah extended her silent gratitude to them as well, taking a bite out of one of the puddings.

"I've gotta admit, I felt rather old," Oliver said with a laugh. "I can't keep up with everybody."

Ernie spoke up then. "It does seem like everyone's been enjoying themselves, imbibing and all."

There were laughs all around, even if they were forced.

Another awkward lull fell. Hannah looked up and just caught Neville looking at her before he turned away. He glanced back down at his empty glass and then stood up. "I'm going for another drink," he said. "Anyone care to join me?"

"I don't think that will be necessary," Hermione said. She nodded in the direction of the door.

George and Lee were both entering the room, each using one hand to carry large platters full of shot glasses and the other to drag Harry along behind them. Harry was smiling but pulled against their grasps playfully. Following that trio was Angelina and, it appeared, everyone else who was at the party. As they all crowded into the room Ginny brought up the rear.

"Time for cake!" she shouted, moving to stand near the hippogriff-shaped confectionary.

"And shots!" Lee added.

Hannah saw Ginny roll her eyes, but smile nonetheless.

Everyone stood and accepted the empty shot glasses that George and Lee were passing out. As soon as she grasped it, Hannah watched the glass fill with an amber liquid: firewhiskey. She glanced over and noticed that Susan's glass was full of a clear liquid that must have been gin, her preferred drink, while Ron's was darker, like bourbon. She smiled looking down at her own shot again. They were clever devices, perhaps something that was being developed as a new product for George to sell. She couldn't help but think that the Leaky Cauldron would benefit from them if there were a way to track what their users drank.

"To the boy who lived!" George shouted.

Everyone downed their shots. Hannah felt the warmth spreading through her immediately. She wanted to lean into the buzz that would soon build, to loose herself in the night. Yet she frowned down at the shot glass as it refilled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Someone nudged Hannah's arm and she turned to find Hermione.

"There's non-alcoholic cider downstairs. The glass can also refill with that, so long as you think about it," Hermione said.

Hannah glanced down at the deep red liquid that Hermione held.

"Or you could do wine," Hermione added, seeing her gaze. She offered a broad, easy smile before carefully turning and moving the few feet back to be by Ron's side. She leaned on him comfortably, her cheeks flushed.

Hannah smiled. Who would have thought she'd live to see a tipsy Hermione Granger?

"To the Chosen One!" Seamus Finnegan yelled.

Hannah watched everyone else begin taking their shots before downing hers as well. She concentrated her thoughts just as Hermione had instructed. The glass still filled with amber liquid, but it was lighter this time and free of the harsh scent of alcohol. As Hannah sniffed at it, attempting to be subtle, she caught a fruity scent instead.

Ginny motioned to the cake, which now had a large candle burning on the hippogriff's outstretched claw.

"Can we do this before any other shots please?"

"Well we could, but—"

"Oh shut it," Ginny said, laughing as she cut off George who mocked being hurt before falling into laughter as well.

She stretched out her hand to bring Harry over to the cake.

A chorus of "Happy Birthday" broke out. It wasn't exactly melodious, as some people slurred the lyrics and many used different tempos, but it did the trick. Everyone cheered as Harry blew out the candle and then watched in awe as a miniature fireworks display broke out above the cake.

"You'll be able to buy those soon," Ron announced as several guests oohed and aahed.

"Could you not advertise during the party?" Ginny said, receiving rude hand gestures from both of her present brothers.

She frowned at them until Harry kissed her.

Hannah's thoughts flashed back to a letter she'd received during what should have been her sixth year. Susan had written to her often then, and once it was a letter full of news from the castle. Of particular interest at the moment was the rumor that Harry and Ginny had snogged in front of the whole of Gryffindor house. Apparently not much had changed.

Ron cleared his throat as the kiss lingered. Harry and Ginny broke apart, each a little red in the face. Ron raised his glass and the rest of the room followed suit.

"To Harry," Ron said, "My best mate and soon to be brother."

"To Harry!" the room exclaimed.

The rest of the night was a fast-paced blur of movement, shouting, and food for Hannah. She danced with Susan, she ate cake while chatting with her dear friend Justin Finch-Fletchley, and she felt the joyful freedom that comes from being tipsy with people you love.

The drawing room became a sweaty jumble of bodies all moving to the beat in sloppy unison. Seamus tried to hop from the couch to a piano bench and fell in the process, landing with a hard thud that could be felt through the floor but not heard over the music. Susan's hair was a mess and Hannah reveled in seeing her normally careful friend be so carefree. It made her wish that she could be at the same level, but even with the cake she wasn't sure her stomach could handle much more drinking. And besides, with that many drunk people in one house there needed to be some who were at least mostly sober. That, it seemed, was left up to Ginny mostly. Hermione was tipsy but not the mess that most others were. Luna also seemed unaffected but, Hannah reasoned, that didn't necessarily mean anything. The only others she saw who weren't entirely gone were Angelina and Terry Boot.

At one point Susan stopped dancing to wipe her brow.

"Do you want to go get some water?" Hannah asked, shouting over the music.

Susan shook her head.

Hannah frowned. "I think we should go get water."

"Okay," Susan conceded.

They left the room and started down the stairs, with Hannah aiming for the basement kitchen.

"Oh no," Susan said, her hands clutching the railing tightly as she stilled.

"What is it?" Hannah asked.

"Stairs're 'ard," Susan said.

Or maybe the kitchen wouldn't be an option. Hannah put her arm around Susan's waist and helped guide her down to the dining room. It was empty in there aside form the house-elf they'd seen earlier, who was straightening the table. Hannah deposited Susan in a chair and then moved to the table. She found two glasses and quickly performed a cleaning charm on them before muttering, "Aguamenti," and dispensing water from her wand. She took one glass and a plate of quickly assembled food to Susan and then returned to the table to take her own water and to get a plate full of prawns for herself while attempting to ignore the odd carcass of the hippogriff cake.

They sat in silence, eating and rehydrating. Hannah felt her head getting clearer as she ate, the tipsiness leaving her little by little until she was barely buzzed. Susan meanwhile, appeared to be getting sleepier as she ate. Her blinking got slower and her head began to lean to one side.

"Susan?" Hannah said.

"Wha?" Susan said.

Hannah frowned. "I'll be right back," she said, moving towards the door. She found Ginny in the drawing room, dancing with Harry. She explained the situation and the two girls left the room to go back to Susan.

"It's no problem," Ginny assured her. "There are already people sleeping in our spare rooms—Pravarti hardly made it past the cake. We can just apparate her up, or walk with her, whichever's easiest."

"I don't think she's in a state to apparate honestly," Hannah said, trying to fend off the sickly images of what would happen if they attempted that route.

When they got to the dining room they found Susan curled up on top of two chairs that were situated next to each other. Both let out small bursts of laughter.

"Susan?" Hannah asked. "Susan? We're going to take you up to a bed. You can spend the night here, okay?"

Susan made a noise of assent and began to sit up. Hannah and Ginny both helped her up and then started the process of guiding her upstairs. By the time that they reached the staircase they weren't guiding so much as pulling and maybe lifting slightly as well. Hannah remembered admiring the staircase earlier, unable to recall why as she pulled her friend up it.

"Unfortunately," Ginny said as they reached the second floor landing, "All of these rooms are already taken and we have to go up another flight."

"How many rooms do you have?" Hannah asked, realizing a moment later that perhaps that had been a little blunt.

Ginny didn't seem bothered by it though. "Eight," she said. "It used be nine, but we turned the one on the first floor into a study. Which feels a bit foolish now." They shared a small laugh, both shaking slightly under Susan's weight. "I'd use magic to do this," Ginny said, "but these stairs are so narrow. I'm worried I'd run her into something."

"Don't worry about it," Hannah said. Besides, Ginny was definitely stronger than Hannah was, and as such was doing more of the work.

Eventually Ginny led them into a cheery little bedroom on the third floor. They settled Susan in and left, but not before Hannah wrote a note to Susan recapping the situation so that her friend would, hopefully, not be worried when she woke up alone in a strange room.

"You're really alright letting so many people stay?" Hannah asked Ginny on their way back down to the drawing room.

"We've got the space, and the food," Ginny said with a shrug.

When they did get back to the core of the party, they found that even more people were in need of assistance.

"You don't have to help," Ginny said.

Hannah shook her head, "No, I don't mind."

So that was how the rest of Hannah's night went. As the party dwindled she and Ginny, Hermione, and Angelina helped people on their way, either to one of the bedrooms upstairs or to the fireplace in the basement kitchen, which was the only one in the house connected to the Floo network.

It was a little past 2 in the morning when everything finally seemed settled. Harry, Ron, and Neville all sat at the kitchen table, each one half-asleep, while Hermione got a jumpstart on cleaning up the various pieces of rubbish that had gathered in that room.

"Well I think that's everyone sorted," Ginny said. She turned to Hannah. "Thank you so much for your help."

"Of course!" Hannah enthused. She was tired, exhausted really, but very happy with her night.

"You're Flooing home, right?" Ginny asked, she walked over to where Neville was slouched, shaking him gently. "Neville, come on, let's get you back to your gran's."

"Yeah, I am," Hannah said.

Ginny continued her attempts to wake Neville. "Neville come on!"

"Alrigh," he slurred. He stood up, and promptly tripped as he attempted to walk forward.

"Not you too," Ginny said.

"Mrs. Longbottom won't be happy to see him like that," Hermione said, frowning.

"But all of the beds are already taken. And the bloody couches!" Ginny said. She sighed, steadying Neville as he attempted to walk again. "You weren't supposed to get so drunk," she chided him, but there wasn't a response.

Hannah spoke with the same brashness that had guided her over the last several hours. "I could take him back to the Leaky Cauldron. There should be a room open."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

Hannah nodded, "Yeah, it'll be fine."

"Bless you," Ginny said.

Hannah moved over to them and took Ginny's place, trying not to think too much as she slid her arm around Neville's waist and pulled his arm over her shoulder.

"If you get sick on me," she muttered, "I'll return the favor."

She managed to get to the fireplace and was about to ask for the Floo powder when Ginny gave her a small bottle.

"It's a little tonic for the hangover he'll have tomorrow," she explained.

Hannah pocketed it but raised an eyebrow at Ginny. "You just happened to have this?"

"I might have brewed some in preparation for tonight," Ginny said. "Err, well, I guess tomorrow really."

Hannah laughed, "So you wanted it to go like this."

Ginny shrugged, smiling. "Maybe not as messy as it ended up being," she said, "But I wanted everyone to have fun."

Hannah smiled back. "Well you definitely succeeded."

Hannah's smile didn't last long when she made it back to the inn. She had stepped out from the fireplace into the empty pub and then lugged Neville with her in search of Tom, who somehow always seemed to be awake and somewhere near the bar.

"Tom?" she called.

Neville seemed to only barely be conscious, his body weighing her down. He muttered something nonsensical.

"It's alright," Hannah murmured back. Then, finally seeing Tom emerging from the kitchen, she called out to him. "Please tell me there's a room available."

Tom took in the image in front of him before saying, "You already have a room."

Hannah's face went ablaze, "My friend needs one."

"We're all booked," Tom said, but his face lacked any form of seriousness. He looked downright amused. "Isn't that the Longbottom boy?" he mused.

"We've had open rooms for the past month," Hannah said. She wasn't in the mood for some kind of joke or discussion.

Tom sighed, "Hannah, I promise, we're all booked. A big party came in today and took all four open rooms."

Hannah sighed right back at him, shifting uncomfortably under Neville's weight.

She turned and started for the stairs. "Thanks Tom," she called over her shoulder. But when she looked back at the bar, he wasn't there anymore.

They made it halfway up the first flight of stairs before Hannah gave in and used magic. It wasn't ideal, this stairway was also kind of tight and she still felt slightly off-balance, but it was the only way. And she almost did it without incident, until she reached her door and tried to set him back against the wall, resulting in his head knocking against it with a loud bang.

"Shit," she said, rushing over to steady his body.

"Fuck, " Neville said in a garbled voice.

His breath fell onto Hannah's cheeks and she was suddenly more aware of how close their bodies were. Although maybe aware wasn't the word, she'd been aware of that since the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. Now she was more…affected by it. The weight of his body leaning on hers made her mouth feel dry.

Hannah pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she struggled into the room and finally deposited him onto the bed. She quickly snatched her yellow blanket out from under his shoes, tossing it onto the armchair, before pulling a spare quilt out from the basket she kept under the bed and spreading that over him.

"Goodnight Neville," she said. She turned to look back at her room and was left wondering where she was supposed to sleep now.


And I thought the last chapter was long… Thank you so much for taking the time to read! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a doozy for me to write. Special thanks to everyone who has shown support for this fic! It means the world to me that people want to follow this story. Your support really helps me to push through the rough parts and get my writing done, which was very much needed this time around. Thank you!