Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me.
Chapter Seven: Little By Little
Over the next few weeks, Neville fell into a routine. Mrs. Weasley made breakfast for him before work, usually consisting of more food than he could actually eat. Work was interesting, especially since he had been promoted from trainee status a week after the wedding. After work he returned to the Burrow, alternating between losing to Ron at chess and helping Ginny study. Dinner was usually a loud affair, filled with laughter and stories. Neville felt like part of a real family, and he found he enjoyed it more than he would have believed possible.
Soon, Neville realized he had been married for a month. He and Ginny had lost some of their awkwardness, but Neville spent many nights in the twins' room. When he did share Ginny's bed, the worn grey stuffed cat was always in the bed between them. He didn't even feel like he was married, most days. The fact might have slipped his mind entirely if it weren't for two things – the gold wedding band on his left ring finger and Ginny herself, who was always in his thoughts.
One day, towards the end of September, Neville had to work late. When he finally arrived back at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley already had dinner ready.
"Oh, there you are, Neville. Could you go tell Ginny dinner's ready?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly. Neville hung his cloak on the hook and nodded, heading for the stairs.
Ginny wasn't in her room, though, nor was she in "his" room. He continued climbing the stairs, finally reaching Ron's violently orange room. Amid the clutter and Quidditch paraphernalia sat Ginny with tears running down her cheeks. A vaguely familiar trunk was opened on the floor in front of her, and Neville realized she was looking through Harry's things.
"Ginny? Are you okay?" he asked softly. He then remembered that she had visited the Healer-midwife today for a check-up. "How was your appointment?"
"Fine," she said dully as she fingered a bit of silvery fabric. "It's a boy. I decided I didn't want to wait to find out."
Neville smiled widely, but this quickly turned into a frown as Ginny let out a choked sob.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I never used to cry so much…but I can feel the baby move now, and I can't stop thinking about…about…and I know it's not fair because you've been so sweet, but – " She broke off and picked up a book Neville recognized as the one Harry had always flipped through when he thought no one was looking.
A beaming man with dark hair and glasses stood with his arm wrapped around a smiling woman with dark red hair. A giggling baby squirmed in her arms as the man gently poked his nose. Neville turned a few pages to see three best friends dressed in Hogwarts robes and laughing. He saw a copy of the same picture he himself owned, the one of the Gryffindor boys in his year. Flipping to the last page, he found a picture of Harry and Ginny, their arms wrapped around each other as they sat in front of the common room fire. Neville remembered that moment; Colin had taken the picture.
He set the album back in the trunk and pulled Ginny into a hug. "Come on, let's go get some dinner."
Ginny nodded and shut the lid on the trunk. Neville helped her shove it back under Ron's bed before they left the room.
"Thank you for understanding," Ginny said as she wiped her eyes.
Neville took her hand as they walked downstairs. He wasn't quite sure, but he believed Ginny had begun to heal.
Slowly, Ginny began to return to her usual bubbly self. Neville was relieved; it was hard to be around weepy Ginny without growing frustrated or depressed. As autumn continued Ginny truly began to glow.
The Burrow seemed unusually quiet as Neville climbed the stairs after work in late October. He found Ginny seated at her desk, poring over a stack of papers.
"Where is everyone?" he asked.
Ginny looked up from her work, her eyes blurry. "Bill and Fleur both caught some sort of virus at Gringotts, so Mum's at their flat shoving soup down their throats. Dad had to work late, and Ron's out with Hermione. Since Mum won't be here to make dinner, I told Fred and George not to bother coming over."
Nodding, Neville peered down at Ginny's desk. "This doesn't look like homework."
"It's not," Ginny said with a sigh. "I got sick of Potions so I decided to finally have a look at my finances and such. Bill took care of my portion of the will originally, so I hadn't realized just how much money it was."
Neville took the piece of parchment from her and glanced down at the numbers. His eyes widened. "I had no idea Harry had this much money."
"He was the sole heir to both the Potter and Black fortunes," Ginny explained.
"But still…this is…I mean…" Neville mumbled, feeling suddenly poor.
Laughing, Ginny shifted some more parchment. "That was my reaction, too. The thing is, he wasn't able to get a hold of his full Potter inheritance until he turned seventeen. This included the vault with all the heirlooms and such. He divided everything up pretty evenly, look."
Neville unrolled the parchment and cleared his throat. "I, Harry James Potter, being of sound mind and body – "
"That's debatable," Ginny interrupted with a snort. Neville raised his eyebrows but continued to read without saying anything.
"So," Neville said after several minutes, "you got most of his money."
"Yeah. Ron and Hermione got most of the Potter property, and Remus Lupin inherited the Black family home. Fitting, since he's living with an outcast of the Black family now. Fred and George inherited James Potter's old pranking notebook and some gold for the shop. My mum and dad got some gold and most of the Potter heirlooms – the jewels, china, stuff like that. He also managed to find Sirius Black's old flying motorbike, and he gave that to my dad. I thought Mum was going to have a conniption."
Ginny continued to rattle off the contents of the will, which she seemed to have memorized. Neville's attention was drawn to something at the bottom of the scroll. It had been written seemingly as an afterthought, and the ink wasn't quite as dark.
"'To Neville Longbottom,'" he read, "'I leave my christening blanket.' How weird…it's almost as if he knew…"
"Hermione told me that wasn't a part of it originally when she checked it for him last March," Ginny said as she handed Neville a folded bit of slightly faded white fabric with blue trim and embroidery. "It was added later."
Neville ran a hand over the soft, almost fuzzy blanket. He traced the initials embroidered in one corner, feeling as though something was caught in his throat. It looked as though the blanket had been slightly singed on one end and then repaired, and he realized with a small shock that it must have been recovered from the house after the night Harry's parents died.
"You know," he said finally, setting the blanket aside," you haven't told me what you're going to name him."
Ginny looked up, all thoughts of finances seemingly forgotten. "Not Harry. Or Sirius. And that's about as far as I've gotten."
"Well, I've always liked the name Trevor."
"Neville, you had a toad named Trevor, I am not…" she trailed off, finally catching Neville's grin. "You prat!"
She punched his arm playfully, and he responded by softly tickling her side. She ran to the bed to get away, laughing hysterically as she curled up into a ball. Neville tossed Kitty at her, and the ragged grey thing landed on her face. She threw it to one side and pulled Neville down on the bed next to her. He lost his balance, though, and ended up nearly on top of her, their faces mere inches away.
Neville's lips had barely brushed Ginny's before he moved away and scrambled to get up off the bed. "Sorry," he mumbled quickly, straightening his clothes.
Neither of them said anything for several moments, until Neville's stomach rumbled loudly.
Laughing, Ginny combed her hair with her fingers. "There's a nice little restaurant down in the village. We could walk, and then we wouldn't have to cook anything."
Neville was glad for the change of subject. "Sounds good to me. Do you need time to get ready?"
Ginny glanced down at her striped maternity blouse and black trousers and shrugged. "I'm good. I'll just grab one of my brothers' jumpers."
Neville dashed into the twins' room to fetch his Muggle jacket before joining Ginny downstairs. She had donned a lumpy maroon jumper that obviously belonged to someone much taller than her, as the sleeves were several inches too long.
"Ron's," she said ruefully as she rolled the sleeves. "He rarely wears his, as he hates maroon. I don't know why Mum always makes his maroon."
"She always made one for Harry, didn't she?" Neville mused. "I remember him wearing them."
"Yeah, he always seemed to appreciate them more. Probably had more to do with the gesture than the actual jumper," Ginny said softly.
The village of Ottery St. Catchpole wasn't too far, and it was a nice evening for a walk. The country air was crisp and clean, and a gentle breeze caused the fallen leaves to dance lightly around their feet.
"What do you want to do as a career, Ginny?" Neville asked as they made their way down the road.
"I don't know, really. I thought about being a Healer, but that's a lot of extra training. McGonagall told me last year I might have a shot at professional Quidditch, but that never really interested me," Ginny said thoughtfully.
"I think you would be a great Healer," Neville said. "Is there a particular branch of Healing you're interested in?"
"Well, yes," Ginny said, looking uncomfortable. "Hermione told me about this Muggle thing called psychiatry. It deals with mental problems – a combination of counseling and medication. I think we could use that in the magical world…I know I could have after my first year."
Ginny had grown very quiet. Neville really didn't know much about what had happened to her that year, only that it had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets. He didn't press her, figuring it wasn't something she liked to discuss.
"Here we are," Ginny said. She had stopped in front of a small, pleasant-looking building with lacy curtains in the windows. "I haven't been here in years. We came here a couple times for my dad's birthday – it was a big treat for him, going to a Muggle pub."
Neville grinned and held the door open for Ginny. The hostess seated them immediately and handed them small cardboard menus.
"I'll have water, please," Neville replied when asked what he wanted to drink. He had no idea what types of beverages were served in Muggle restaurants. Ginny then ordered something called a Sprite, which he figured she must have heard about from Hermione.
"Would you rather live in the country or the city?" Neville asked as they waited for their drinks.
"A decent-sized city, I think," Ginny said, her brow furrowed. "Nothing like London, but something more than, say, here."
Neville nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Where is Ron and Hermione's property?"
"Close to Oxford, actually."
Neville opened his mouth to respond, but the waitress had returned with their drinks. She turned to Ginny with a pad of paper in her hand.
"I'll have the steak-and-kidney pie, please," Ginny said.
Neville ordered fish and chips before turning back to Ginny. He sipped his water thoughtfully.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. My gran holds this horrible Halloween party every year, and she'll expect us to be there. I haven't gone to one in years, because of school, but I was usually the only person there under the age of fifty," Neville said.
To his surprise, Ginny didn't make a face of disgust. "Are we supposed to wear costumes?"
"You mean like Muggles?" Neville said without thinking. He glanced around, but the small pub was crowded enough that it was unlikely anyone could hear their conversation. "No, it's formal wear. I have the afternoon off tomorrow; we can go to Diagon Alley and find something," Neville said, picking up his fork in anticipation as the waitress set down his place.
"It just seems like a waste to buy a maternity dress robes," Ginny said after the waitress had left. She cut into her steak-and-kidney pie and looked up at Neville. "Not like I'll have much change to wear it."
Neville took a large bite of fish and said nothing. He finished eating rather quickly, but his stomach fell as the waitress returned with the bill.
"Ginny," he whispered, leaning across the table. "Do you have any Muggle money?"
Ginny let loose a string of words Neville was more accustomed to hearing come out of Ron's mouth. She glanced at the bill, then at Neville.
"Give me some Galleons – I got Bill to teach me the money changing spell a couple years ago. I'll just go to the loo for a bit."
Neville slipped Ginny his change purse under the table. She hid it in the long sleeves of Ron's jumper before heading to the loo. Neville felt foolish sitting at the table by himself, so he pretended to drink from the now empty water glass. Unfortunately, he was spotted to the waitress, who came to refill his glass.
"When is your wife due?" she asked pleasantly.
"What? Oh, January," he said sheepishly.
"I don't think I've ever seen you before," she continued. "Did you recently move to the village?"
"No, we're, uh, here on holiday," Neville replied. How long did this spell take? It seemed like Ginny had been in the loo for hours.
"Must be nice to be able to go on holiday like that. It's not even summer," the waitress continued. "Where are you from?"
"Blackpool," Neville muttered. That wasn't exactly a lie – he had grown up near Blackpool.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Neville. This baby is sitting on my bladder, I swear," Ginny said. She flung her arm around his waist as he stood, discreetly dropping his money bag into his pocket.
Neville picked up the bill and counted out the appropriate amount of pounds, leaving a little extra for the tip. He grabbed Ginny's hand and hurried out of the restaurant, only stopping when they reached the outskirts of the village.
After catching her breath, Ginny burst out laughing. Neville was horrified, but the look on his face seemed to make Ginny laugh harder.
"Oh, that was hilarious," she gasped finally. Neville looked at her in disbelief. "I haven't had such fun in a long time. Thank you."
She took Neville's hand again as they walked back to the Burrow. As the sun set over the horizon, she leaned over and kissed him.
A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters in the whole story, so I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews make my day!