Title: Abbott's Love
Author: Annie Dolnar
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Originally Written: 2009

AN: This story seems to reference other ones I wrote around that time. Once again, why didn't I post this? It's really not that bad. Hmm.

Abbott's Love

Neville:

Neville surveyed the Room of Requirement proudly as dozens of kids practiced different curses, offering pointers every now and then and sending smiles of encouragement toward random classmates. People needed encouragement in times like these.

Close by stood Ginny, who was directing a first year on the correct wand movements and diction for a stunning spell. She caught his eye and sent him a thumbs up, then went back to helping the first year.

Luna was overseeing a little group of people who were casting patronuses, all of whom were doing rather well. She too caught his eye and sent him a smile before congradulating a third year on her owl patronus. He smiled back at her, then turned away to survey the room once more.

Every once in a while he looked down at his watch to make sure they still had time to practice spells and plan their next thwarting-of-Death Eaters. It took teachers about five minutes to change shifts every three hours, so as long as they left during that time, they were usually never caught. Prefects were easier to dodge, especially if you were Ginny, Neville, or Luna- each of them had learned dislusionment charms and used them whenever necessary.

It wasn't long before Neville found his gaze had locked on a particular girl practicing patronuses- a Hufflepuff in his year by the name of Hannah Abbott. Before this year, he had never really acknowledged that she existed. But she was one of those who had come to him or Ginny or Luna in secret, asking if they would reform the DA, as this seemed like a necessary action to take. Those were the ones who led the three to plan a way to recruit members and to restart the DA.

Like Ginny and Luna, she caught his eye. He smiled, trying to cover up his staring, and to his relief she waved back at him, then proceeded to cast a patronus, which took the form of a Labrador retriever.

He was still smiling when he turned away; he couldn't be happier that the DA members were making such good process. When he glanced at his watch, it was with great sorrow that he announced the end of the meeting.

Everywhere, students rushed to get out of the Room of Requirement and back to their common rooms before any teachers or students were to notice. Neville hung back to clean up as they all filed out, waving his wand at everything that had broken or fallen. He didn't notice for a while that Ginny had stayed back, too.

"So… I saw you staring at Hannah Abbott."

Neville turned around so fast that he almost fell down. Behind him, Ginny was standing with her arms crossed, a smirk on her face. Neville went beat red and stared at the floor as though it was suddenly very interesting.

"I-I, um, I was just-"

Ginny cut him off. "Come on. You had this look on your face like you haven't seen a prettier girl in years, and then when she looked back at you, your cheeks went all pink. Admit it, Longbottom. You like the pig-tailed Hufflepuff."

Neville shook his head. "If I did, It wouldn't be that simple," he said sadly, turning his head to stare at some books close by. He walked over and plucked one from the shelves labeled "Defense Against the Dark Arts For Those In Serious Pickles". "We're at war, Ginny," he said, staring sadly at the cover. "It's not like I can just up and ask her out."

"And why not?" Ginny exclaimed, flinging her hands. Neville sighed, put the book back, and looked her straight in the eye.

"Because, for one thing, I'm not nearly brave enough to ask her just yet. And for another, did you hear about what happened to Seamus and Allie? Seamus got into trouble for trying to rescue a third year, and they punished him by making him torture her. Ginny, they promised to kill her if he didn't set the Cruciatis curse on her! His girlfriend! Imagine how painful it must have been for him, to have to torture the one he loved. And I know you and I both know they wouldn't really have killed her, but Seamus didn't. Ginny, please understand! I don't want her to get hurt, and even less do I want to be the one to hurt her."

Ginny shook her head. "You sound like Harry," she said grimly. "All that, 'I can't be with you because Voldemort will try to use you to get to me and it's going to work' crud. Neville, you don't have to go public about it. Nobody has to know but you and her."

But Neville just sighed and smiled wryly. "Ginny, I'm pretty sure that if I put myself into a relationship, people would be able to guess I was hiding something. I'm not exactly good at being subtle, you know."

Ginny looked away from him. "Boys are so stupid," she muttered before walking off. Neville thought she was being a little unfair- after all, perhaps it was that Harry had broken up with her at Dumbledore's funeral. That had been a rather douche bag thing to do. But Neville wasn't breaking anybody's heart- as far as he knew, Hannah saw him only as "one of the three leaders of the DA meetings at the Death Eater thwarting".

Tired, he strode over to the cabinet that served as a door, cast a dislusionment charm on himself, and went off to Gryffindor common room to go to bed.

Hannah:

Patronuses are easy, Hannah thought to herself happily as she conjured a happy looking retriever. It rather reminded her of her pet back home. She looked over and saw Luna clapping her hands in a sort of congratulatory dance for a third year that had finally gotten hers. Hannah had been able to do a patronus since fifth year, when Harry Potter led the DA meetings, but it never hurt to take a break from all the other crud and practice nicer things, to make sure that you still had something happy to think.

Nowadays, life was very different. Umbridge was a baby Koala bear compared to the Caros and Snape.

Hannah smirked at her comparison of Umbridge to a marsupial. Her mother, a proud Australian, would have been proud, even if Umbridge was about as much like a marsupial as Voldemort was to Harry Potter. That's how bad the Carros and Snape were.

She looked over at two people practicing curses. One had accidentally cursed the other's leg to be of as much use as jello, and was trying to fix it. Hannah grimaced, wondering if perhaps Allie was getting Seamus back for Crucio-ing her in detention, but she looked so terrified and sorry that this theory went to the volcanoes faster than you could say "Voldemort". She knew Allie- she was a sixth year Hufflepuff- and she knew Allie cried for days after that incident- not because Seamus had been forced to "punish" her, but because she was afraid they would make her do the same to him.

It was strange, how love still played a part in life at Hogwarts. If they attempted to split a couple up by making them do awful things like Seamus and Allie and the couple managed to stay together, you knew they were truly in love, and it lifted your heart to have this knowledge in you. Love kept people together, kept the students and teachers sane, kept some small amount of peace within the castle walls.

Hannah gazed around as her patronus ran around the room, as though it was hyper from good feeling. Smiling to herself, she let the patronus go as long as she could, then readied her wand to try it again. Though she hadn't ever used it on a dementor, she had the feeling that if someone could think happy thoughts in these dark times, then they could cast their patronus against a particularly grumpy dementor. She also figured that she should know these things, as she had met them personally in her third year and knew how horrible they could make you feel.

She cast her patronus again, thinking the happiest thought she could muster- a memory of going to the muggle Zoo with her mother, and seeing Koala bears and Kangaroos and even a few magical creatures that didn't do anything special enough for muggles to guess anything supernatural about them. The dog ran around the room again, and this time for much longer- this memory was particularly happy for Hannah.

The patronus finally let go with a soft shimmer and Hannah glanced over at Neville Longbottom, who she found was looking at her as well. He turned a little pink and smiled sheepishly. Extremely happy, for some strange reason, Hannah smiled too and waved back at him before conjuring yet another patronus, this one bright and clear- brighter and clearer than any of the others. It stayed up for longer than the others, too. Hannah supposed it was that she was still thinking of the Zoo, but she couldn't figure what the other thing might have been.

While she was speculating this, her patronus disappeared near Ginny, who was looking at her strangely. Hannah turned away, feeling a little uneasy. What was she looking at her like that for? And some part of her, deep down, knew what Ginny knew- but the rest of her just couldn't figure it out. The rest of her was still trying to process what made her so happy that her patronus would become so bright and clear, all of a sudden. And why it would have become so… shaggy. The dog hadn't been shaggy before- it looked clean and groomed.

She glanced over at Neville again. He was looking down at his watch and frowning slightly; he stood up and clapped his hands.

"It's time to go, guys! The teachers will be shift-changing in less than three minutes, which means you have about five to eight minutes to get out of here and go back to your common rooms! Now get going before I have to make you."

The members of the DA immediately began to file out of the room- some of them looked a little panicky and nervous at possibly being caught by a teacher tonight. As Hannah left the room, she glanced at Neville. He looked tired, but he was cleaning up after everyone else. Ginny was standing nearby, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Hannah was a little confused as to what was going on, and a little jelous, though she wasn't sure why, as she walked out of the room and made her way back to the common room.

A year after Voldemort is defeated:

Neville:

"So Neville, how many weddings is this now? Nine?" Harry Potter asked casually, turning away from his girlfriend for the moment. Neville sighed.

"This is the fourteenth one I've been to," he said, glaring up at the altar. He had good reason to be angry- he and Ernie Macmillan were rather at odds with each other. Ernie seemed to believe Neville liked Hannah, and, well, Hannah was going to be married in less than fifteen minutes. He had come for her sake; she had begged him to come along, saying it would mean a lot to her as he was her teacher and friend, and eventually he had to concede- she was giving him the most heartbroken look ever to fall upon such a beautiful face.

He had no idea why she had wanted to marry him. Perhaps it was because her sister had been married recently to Dean Thomas- Dean had invited him to that wedding- or because Allie and Seamus had gotten married, or because Ron and Hermione had gotten married, or because she had been to more weddings than he had in the two months after Voldemort was defeated and felt lonely or something.

He glanced at Harry and Ginny. They had not yet been married- Ginny had only just finished her seventh year at Hogwarts and Harry was working on becoming an Auror- but it was well-known (to Ron's great disgust) that the two visited each other and went on dates rather often. The Prophet never seemed to get tired of their love; they had reporters following their every date.

From what he could see, both of them looked a little uncomfortable and- was that pity in their eyes? Neville didn't need their pity- he needed some way to reverse everything so that Hannah was somehow marrying him instead. Because Ernie was right- he did like her. He had liked her since before Voldemort was defeated, and slowly, that like had turned into love, and that love just kept on growing- even when he was burning with jealousy at her sudden desire, in the middle of Seventh year, to date Ernie. Even when the two became friends and hit a kind of roadblock, where he felt sure they would be nothing more.

Neville shot Harry and Ginny a sad look, but didn't miss Ginny's sudden tug on Harry's sleeve. The two looked at each other for a moment, and then Harry said,

"It's not too late to tell her how you feel, you know."

Neville stared at him for a moment, then bellowed, "ARE YOU INSANE?"

Harry drew back slightly. "No, I just mean-"

"It'll ruin her wedding day, for one," Neville said, quieting down considerably, "and it'll be awkward between us forever- we wouldn't be even friends anymore."

But Harry shook his head. "Unless her and Ernie get a divorce, you'll never get another chance, mate."

"I can't do that to her," Neville muttered, slumping back into his seat. "She loves him, not me. The only thing telling her will do is ensure that I will never be a part of her life again, unless I become some crazy stalker."

It was then that the wedding began. Everyone turned to watch a little girl bouncing along, throwing flower petals everywhere, and a boy next to her with a pillow for rings, trying to keep up with her. Next came the bridesmaids, who gracefully headed down the isle with no problems or skipping or running.

And then there was Hannah.

Neville knew already that she had not gotten the wedding she wanted- a small one, by the beach- one that wouldn't put her too much on the spot. But her not wearing pigtails- not even in buns or curled or something- was the strangest thing he had ever seen. She was wearing a strapless wedding dress, too, and high heels and gloves. He knew she hated all of them. And no veil. Why no veil? Because Ernie found it annoying that he couldn't clearly see her face when she walked down the isle.

But because there was no veil, there was nothing to hide the look on her face- like she was making a mistake and she knew it- like she wanted to run away and hide. Neville knew that look. He hadn't been friends with her as long as Ernie, but long enough to know what that look meant. He frowned at her as she attempted to smile- it came out as a kind of grimace.

Hannah and Ernie stood there while the preist said things Neville didn't care about. Before they said their wedding vows, the priest said those infamous words:

"If anyone objects to this marriage, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

Harry and Ginny glanced at Neville, as though they thought he would say something, but Neville just sat there. He had so many reasons to speak up; so many reasons to prevent this from happening, but he couldn't do it. He didn't really get the chance anyway…

…Because it was Hannah who did the speaking.

She stepped back from Ernie, letting go of his hands, which were holding hers. She looked at the priest, who was looking at her questioningly.

"I can't do this," she told him. "I can't go through with this."

At once, Neville felt as though his wildest dreams had come true, but he immediately bashed his whooping heart back down with thoughts of Hannah maybe having "wedding jitters".

Ernie was frowning. "Hannah, cupcake, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Hannah exclaimed, sounding a tiny bit hysterical. "What's wrong is that I'm standing here in this awful dress and horrible shoes, about to be married, and I'm in love with someone else! And don't you call me cupcake! I hate that name! I'm sick of it!"

The entire wedding crowd stared at her as though she had lost her mind.

"Ever since we started dating, you've been telling me what to do and how to do it! And I thought that was fine; I thought I was in love! And then you proposed, and I didn't have any reason to say no! But, damnit, Ernie, I should have! It was only after this whole wedding-thing started that I found I was having doubts about you. You were always controlling me, like I was a child that couldn't think for herself! You even picked my dress and my shoes and my damn hairdo! And I'm sick of you, Ernie! I don't want your last name, I don't want your money, I DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR WIFE!"

Neville had the strange urge to start clapping. Ernie was moving his mouth open and closed, like a goldfish. Everybody else looked so surprised, they didn't seem to know what to make of the situation.

"And I suppose you want to know, now, who I love? Who I fell in love with, instead of you? Who I love more than I've ever loved another man? Who is the only person that, through the entire planning of the wedding, seemed to care about what I wanted? Well I'll tell you who, Ernie Macmillan!"

Her eyes scanned the crowd and locked on Neville's, and he could only stare back. Her eyes were full of fury that he did not want directed toward him. But after a few seconds her face softened and she finally smiled- a true, genuine smile that Neville knew as a happy smile.

"Neville," she said softly, and she reached down and pulled off her shoes. He just stared at her. "All this time, I've loved you, Neville. Since the start of those DA meetings back in seventh year. But I was so blind and so, so stupid. I thought it was just a little crush. I figured it didn't matter, and when Ernie asked me out, I forgot about it comepletely. And then I saw you again one day, after Ernie asked me to marry him, on the day of the battle at Hogwarts, and I knew, suddenly, why I get butterflies every time I see you. Why my legs feel like jello. Why I'm shaking like crazy just saying all this.

"I'm sorry I never said anything before, Neville. I have to admit, I was being stupid. I thought that I still loved Ernie and that it wouldn't be fair to him if I just up and left him because of another silly crush that had resurfaced… But… Please forgive me, Neville. You- you probably don't love me too, but it doesn't matter anyway. I'm not marrying that idiot," she said, thumb-pointing at Ernie, who was red in the face.

By now, Neville was standing and had been for quite some time. For a moment, the entire room was almost comepletely silent- all you could hear was Ernie's heavy breathing. Then Neville smiled.

"I thought you'd never say that," he said, and there were happy tears pouring down her face. He moved down the row of seats and into the isle with only one thought- to get to her. Hannah seemed to have the same thought. She dropped her shoes, picked up her dress, and jumped off the stage. Neville caught her and kissed her immediately, and she kissed him back.

The room was still dead silent when they broke apart. Then everyone- except for Ernie and his mother and father and some of his other family members and friends- broke into applause. There was a standing ovation. Ecstatic, Hannah kissed him again, a light peck on the lips. Neville took her hand.

"You want to get out of here?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded.

And the two of them walked out of the huge church holding hands, leaving behind them everyone else's lives and on their way to start their own.

Eighteen years later:

"NEVILLE! Come on, Neville, you'll be late! Hurry up!"

It was a warm Monday afternoon. Neville Longbottom was rushing around, trying to find somethings that had misplaced themselves at the last minute. At a glance to the wall clock, he swore. The sorting would begin in fifteen minutes.

Figuring he could floo home later for the things he'd forgotten, he bolted down the stairs and kissed his wife goodbye. "Damn me to hell if I miss my son's sorting over a stupid toothbrush," he told her quietly, making sure their much younger daughter hadn't heard a word. "Goodbye, Bluebell," he called to his young daughter. She didn't appear to be listening; she was picking uninterestedly at her cereal while she watched a wizard use his wand to make bubbles from his coffee.

"Bye, Daddy," she muttered tiredly.

"Floo home when you can," Hannah said with a smile. Neville smiled back at her.

"I'll be back more than that!" he exclaimed, as though the idea of him not being home very often was the most terrible thing he'd ever heard. "I love you guys," he said, taking a pinch of floo powder and throwing it into the fire.

"Love you too," Hannah and Bluebell answered. Neville stepped into the now-green flames.

"Neville Longbottom's office, Hogwarts!"

And with that, he was gone.

Nine years later:

"Do you, Hugo Weasley, take Bluebell Longbottom to be your wife?"

Neville glanced at Ron and saw, to his relief, that he wasn't the only one crying at this wedding. Ron wasn't weeping like old woman, but there were tears in his eyes that he kept wiping at. Neville was doing the exact same thing.

Hannah squeezed his hand and Neville tried to remind himself that it wasn't so bad, as Sam's wedding hadn't been any different. Sam had married Harry Potter's daughter, Lily Luna, and Neville thought he hadn't seen a man cry more in his life.

Well, Harry wasn't that tearful. But his face was bright red and there were definitely tears running down his cheeks.

Hermione was crying, but she was smiling and blotting her face with a blotchy hankerchief. Hugo's older sister, Rose, was crying too. She was sitting with her husband, Scorpius.

Neville's son Samuel had been a little protective over his baby sister, and Neville couldn't blame him-when Hugo approached him and asked for her hand in marriage, the first thing he had wanted to do was punch something, preferably Hugo himself.

One of the bridesmaids, Krysta, was smiling in the direction of Albus Potter. Neville smiled to himself knowingly as he saw the boy's face turn pink as he smiled back.

It wasn't long before the wedding was over.