Chapter Two: The Best Ones Are Stolen
The chatter at dinner was bright and excited. The first years, while not exactly completely accustomed to the ins-and-outs of Hogwarts, were finally settling in. Teddy Lupin seemed to be trying his best to keep his first years from becoming too overly-excited. The Gryffindor table was ablaze with talk, and Neville smirked to himself as he picked at the pudding before him. On one side, he had the presence of Headmistress McGonagall, and on the other--
Luna reached her spoon in and quickly scooped out a good portion of Neville's dessert. She popped it into her mouth with a mischievous smirk, as if daring him to take it back. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she simply grinned.
"Stolen food always tastes better," she said plainly, waving her spoon about in the air in front of her in an absent way.
Neville's smile twitched up, and his own spoon darted into her bowl of pudding, eliciting her short gasp. He was contemplating the tasty treasure, making much more of a deal out of it than she did.
"Huh," he said, having swallowed at last. "You're right."
"Neville Longbottom," she said, shaking her head fondly and not quite making eye contact, "you are incorrigible."
They let a short pause take them, each laughing silently to themselves as they finished off their own desserts. Taking the spoon from his mouth for the last time, Neville leaned casually on the table, in toward his wife.
"Teddy and I are going to work in greenhouse two tonight," he told her, not quite clandestinely. She ran her finger along the inside of the bowl, sticking it in her mouth and savoring the last taste of pudding.
"Boys and their plants," she muttered, looking far across the Great Hall in thought. She tapped the spoon thoughtfully against her lips. "It has been a while since I wrote to Daddy. I think he's in Romania."
"Romania?" Neville seemed incredulous.
"Researching the Romanian Black-tailed Serpentius. He suspects that with the climate change they might be forced into a different habitat, which would finally give him concrete proof that they exist." She smiled pleasantly, turning back to him. "So, while you boys work with your plants, I'll disappear into the office to write."
"I didn't mean that you--"
"Would you like to put a word in?" She asked, waving laconically at a young girl at the Ravenclaw table. Neville pondered for a good moment. Xeno Lovegood had been at their wedding, said a few enigmatic words and clapped him firmly on the back. They'd stayed at the rook-like Lovegood home for a week for Luna's most recent birthday. Other than the occasional random meeting, Neville could honestly say he hadn't really gotten to know his father-in-law.
He nodded, finally. "My best wishes with his research in Romania. And to keep his eyes open for this particularly rare turnip said to grow near the coast there."
Luna popped up, attentive. "Rare turnip? Oh, Daddy would love that. Would you want a sample should he find it?"
"Absolutely," he returned with a grin he reserved only for her. As always, it made her cheeks burn a lovely bright pink.
The Great Hall had cleared out considerably by the time Neville approached the practically empty Ravenclaw table. Turquoise-haired Teddy Lupin was sitting in a group of four friends, chatting amiably with a boy a year younger than him across the table. A ridiculously pretty young woman with perfect blonde hair sat leaning against his left shoulder, smiling up at him adoringly. The boy across the table looked up at Neville's approach.
"Evening, Professor Longbottom," the boy said quickly, as if the conversation they'd been having was inappropriate for teachers' ears. Teddy and Victorie turned as well, the former looking suddenly alert.
"Evening, Mr. Harrison," Neville responded. He turned his focus to Teddy, whose hair had suddenly become a muted and humble brown. "All set, Teddy?"
"Aye, Professor," he said, grinning. "Greenhouse two ahoy?"
Victorie giggled. Harrison snorted. Neville rolled his eyes playfully.
"All right, enough of that," he said as Teddy stood from the table. "Herbology is a very serious business."
"Right!" Teddy quickly corrected himself, standing straight. "No more nautical jokes, sir!" Despite the brashness of his statement, Teddy's kind face looked almost sheepish, and Neville couldn't help but chuckle.
"Come on, then. I've managed to scare my wife away--wouldn't want your girl scampering off too, would you?"
Teddy blushed bright despite himself, causing Victorie to twitter playfully again. "Weren't we off to the greenhouses, Professor?" he asked in a low voice, and led the way out of the Great Hall.
Neville's heavy, overloaded key ring made a ridiculous amount of noise as he took it from his belt, unlocking the door with a large number two overhead. Teddy was watching the stars.
"Cor..." He muttered. "Never get tired of all that to-do up there. I think you've got the second-best view in the castle, Professor."
Neville pushed the door open, letting the musty smell of flora overtake him. "Odd, I think I have the best. Is that Astronomy teacher putting poison in your head again?"
"Or something from the Potions stores," Teddy murmured as he followed Neville inside. "That last tea break was--" He simply shuddered.
"Would you light those?" Neville asked, waving at the nearby lanterns. He locked the door behind them as Teddy waved his wand at the closest of the light fixtures. As he turned back, he could see the young Ravenclaw with arms akimbo, observing a rather plain-looking bush. The nearer he got, the quicker it shook.
"It still has some growing-up to do," the professor said as he approached to watch. "Tonight it'll probably need a change of soil, a good watering, maybe a light prune. What d'you think?"
"It's awful ugly, isn't it?" He asked in return, cocking his head at the bush. As if it could hear them, it shook with five seconds of fury, then calmed.
"Trust me," Neville said as he walked past the bush and ran his fingers along a voluminous pink blossom that seemed to giggle at the touch. "She'll love it. But only if you treat it right. The Flutterby bush is a temperamental thing, like any woman can be." He reached into a low drawer and pulled out a pair of small shears, handing them to Teddy.
"According to the text," the boy began, as he set the shears down and prepared the new soil, "the bush should be getting on soon. Five weeks at the most, I think."
"Four, if you do it right," Neville said, walking about and checking on the plants. "Aguamenti." A fountain of water sprang from his wand, and the nearby blooms seemed to literally lap it up from the air.
The bush shook hard as Teddy lifted it gently from its old soil. As his teeth chattered, he tried his best to ask his question. "P-professor, you k-k-keep talking ab-bout doing things r-r-right. What'm I d-doing wrong?" He finally placed the wriggling bush in its new pot and began packing in the new soil.
Neville turned his head from the plants he was watering, looking deep in thought, as if finding the right words.
"Try... talking to it. And be nice. She doesn't like being called ugly."
Teddy raised his eyebrows only once, at which his teacher nodded. Mussing his now bright orange hair, Teddy shrugged and picked up the shears.
"Hello... darling," he said apprehensively. The bush shook, but the intensity had dropped inexplicably. Licking his lips, he raised the shears. "You look absolutely spiffing today, if I may say so." The bush's leaves perked up slightly, still fluttering.
"Told you," Neville snuck in with a smirk.
"Well, you adorable little bush, with your pretty little grey leaves, I think I have to prune you now. But don't worry, I'll be gentle." The shaking came almost to a halt, which made Teddy begin to laugh triumphantly. "Have I told you lately that you're a genius with plants, Professor?"
"Don't forget brilliant," he added.
"I'm sure you hear it all the time," the boy said as he pruned away.
An unexpected sigh escaped his mentor, and he turned his head to observe the slightly sagging form of Neville Longbottom.
"I don't actually. Don't get me wrong," he perked up almost instantly, "students like you make it all worthwhile, trust me. But of all the fields in Hogwarts, Herbology is probably most-overlooked."
His words had an unplanned effect, and Teddy's shoulders sagged. His hair slowly turned slick black, and he glanced at the Flutterby bush beside him.
"Teddy? I didn't mean..."
"No, just..." He played with the leaves of the bush, which seemed to like his touch. "My mum was an Auror, and my dad... Well, he had to be one of the best blokes ever, the way Harry goes on. Me going into Herbology, d'you think... they'd be embarrassed?"
Neville blinked incredulously for a moment, then immediately shook his head, shutting off the water from his wand in an instant. "No! Absolutely not. Look..." He pulled up a tall stool beside the bush, where he sat and levered a hand concretely on Teddy's shoulder. "I knew Remus Lupin. He was my teacher, and one of the best ones I ever had. He taught me a lot of things, especially about myself. If I knew just one thing about him, it's that he'd be proud of anything you put your mind to." He squeezed Teddy's shoulder encouragingly. "He didn't get to tell you all that often, but I know he loved you, even if you are an Herbology nut."
Teddy offered a weak grin. "I am a bit of a nut, aren't I?"
"It's a good thing you have me as a professor, then, isn't it?" Neville grinned wide, patting the boy's shoulder and levering himself to his feet. "You keep on with that bush, then, and I'll try to quiet those honking daffodils in greenhouse one."
"Aye, Professor," Teddy responded with a low answering grin of his own. He snipped a frail leaf away from the bush's visage, murmuring, "You are a lovely plant, aren't you?"
When Luna emerged from Neville's office, she wasn't surprised to find the lights still on in greenhouse two. A single daffodil seemed to be serenading into the night, honking gently. She approached on bare feet, skimming toes in the early dew. The letter in her hand could wait to be taken to the Owlery. She felt an urge to check on her husband.
Teddy had left the door unlocked, it seemed, and Neville's heavy key ring hung on the inside knob. The Ravenclaw must have left sometime earlier, for the professor was dead asleep on the table containing a gently swaying Flutterby bush. Luna glanced around for any sign of another human or beast, and approached from behind. His too-long hair had fallen into his eyes and his mouth hung slightly ajar. Her man had seen a long day.
Setting her letter down beside the potted bush, she wordlessly wrapped her arms around him from behind, cradling her head somewhere between his shoulder blades. He grumbled pleasantly, as if only half-aware of his surroundings. His hand fumbled slightly until it latched on to hers, and he squeezed it slightly.
She raised her head to kiss the top of his ear, where she whispered, "Come to bed, you great oaf."
He peeked one eye open, staring at the waterfall of blonde hair that seemed to have surrounded him. Blinking the blurriness away, he sat up with great yawning effort to look her in the eye. She smiled plainly, affectionately mussing his hair.
"All right," he said finally, grunting as he pushed himself to his feet. "Pull my leg..." He waved his wand at the lanterns, having to try three times on a particularly stubborn light.
Once all of them had gone out, Luna surprised him by darting in and purloining a sneaky kiss. He stared wide-eyed into the darkness as she stepped back and poked him twice in the center of his chest.
"The best ones are stolen," she stated simply.
Making sure he had everything off the table, he locked the door and followed her quickly back to his office. The letter could be sent tomorrow.
AN: Yep. I love Teddy Lupin. Also, the question was raised by one of the reviewers that it should be Albus not James in their first year. I know that's how it was in the epilogue, but Teddy Lupin would've been 19 then, wouldn't he? I guess I just supposed that'd be a bit old for a seventh year, and I reeeeeally wanted to write Teddy. BUT if that's not the way it turns out, I'll gladly go back and change it to Albus. Other than that, THANK YOU all so much for your support this far! I'm planning on doing a multi-chap, definitely, but how far I go, I don't really know. But much thanks and much love for the reviews and the faves. Stay awesome, and stay tuned!