Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: What do you do with a NOTP? You bury it in a collection. Thankfully, together is not synonymous with happy or healthy.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 10); MC4A
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 10 – Assignment 7
Subject (Task No.): Advanced Warding (Task #04: Write a story set at night.)
Space Address (Prompt): 4B (Eggs)
Word Count: 599

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Shell of a Life
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"Do you ever think about what might have happened if something had been different?"

Neville didn't know what he had been expecting when he had asked the question. Honestly, he hadn't thought about actually asking the question at all. It had just slipped out as they had laid in bed, the darkness of the night tucked around them like the coverlet. Hermione's latest cat curled up between them. Neville thought this one's name was something like Duck or Swan or Goose—he was confident about the fowl theme but nothing else.

What kind of husband was he that he couldn't remember the name of his wife's cat? Even if his memory had never been very keen, he should at least know that much, right? It was common curtesy and simple logic. He lived here. Hermione lived here. So did any of their pets. He should know the beast's name, especially since he was fairly certain it was plotting to eat him, possibly while he was still alive.

"Neville," Hermione answered, sounding as impatient as always, "It's half past ten. We both have to be up early in the morning. Don't you think we should be sleeping? Working through thought experiments can wait."

"Right," Neville agreed. "Sorry."

He didn't understand how Hermione could still call seven o'clock early. He got up at five every day. It was the only way that he could have any time in his little greenhouse before he had to head into the office. To be fair, Hermione did not usually have to be up that early, as she was very efficient at working through her morning routine, allowing her to sleep until eight and still get to work on time.

Not that anyone would complaint if the Minister of Magic was late for work.

No one cared about the quiet man handling booking for the entirety of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, even if he used to be a war hero before he couldn't hack being an Auror. Neville showed up. He did his job with the same plodding enthusiasm as he had the last twenty years. He clocked out and stopped by the Janus Thickley Ward for a visit with his parents, accepting the bubblegum wrappers his mother still pushed into his hands. He came home to cook a dinner that he would eat alone because for all that Hermione was efficient getting out the door of their little house, she was never as good at leaving the Ministry.

Then he would find himself in this exact same place, in the dark with his wife of the same twenty years wondering where everything had gone so meaningless.

"I just wonder sometimes," Neville explained, barely aware of having spoken at all. Maybe this was all a dream he was having. Maybe he was locked in his own version of the Janus Thickley Ward, screaming to be heard. Maybe this was just the universe where things went a little bit sideways. Maybe he was trapped inside an egg like a baby dragon just longing to break free. Maybe he didn't really exist at all.

"Everything seems deeper than it really is when the lights are out," Hermione said with a huff. She rolled over to turn her back to him. Neville wondered how he had ended up marrying her. He couldn't seem to remember the thoughts he had before doing it. He must have loved her, because he had always sworn that he only marry for love just like his parents had. "Sleep, Neville. No more thinking."

"Sorry. I just…I just wonder sometimes, is all."