"Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.
Isaac shot me a look. "Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. Don't you believe in true love?"

-The Fault in Our Stars

"I don't want to do this, you know," she whispered, even though it was just the two of them.

"I know that," Ginny told her. "And you think I do?"

"But you-" Hannah protested. "Ginny, you're a Gryffindor. And, well, I'm not. I'm not brave, not like you or Neville. Not like—"

"Harry?" Ginny asked immediately.

"Y-you don't mind me saying?"

"You think I'm going to turn into a sobbing mess at every mention of Harry? The Giant Squid would've become less accustomed to water by now."

"Well, and Ron, and Hermione—I mean, your brother..." Hannah said nervously. "And one of your best friends, too."

"They're fine. But you seem awfully..." Ginny let her voice trail off, smirking slightly. "Oh, I don't know... A bit concerned about Neville?"

"Well... Yeah. He's sort of... Why I'm here. You know? I had a bit of a crush on him... Back in fifth year... Joined the D.A. And well... I'm kind of stuck with all of you now. Loyalty and all."

"Hold on, Hannah. Had a crush on him? Past tense?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Well," said Ginny, "best of luck."

"Oh—and, Hannah—?" she called

"Yeah?"

"He and Luna—she's fine, by the way, I know it—there's nothing going on between them. Romantically, I mean. They're just friends. Really good friends."

Hannah did not bother to say that Neville didn't seem to quite agree with that.

"It hardly matters," she told her. "It's not exactly the right time to be, well, you know... Of course you know..."

"Talk to him," Ginny said. "Trust me. It'll work. And it'll help."

"Fine," she said, but regretted it almost instantly.

"Neville?" she called, the second she entered the Room of Requirement, which was actually probably the worst timing one could possibly ask for.

It was, however, successful in getting his attention, though whether this was good or bad was debatable.

"Er, I just sort of wanted to thank you for everything-starting up the D.A. again and all of that... All of that—it's really brave of you."

"It's not just me. Ginny and Luna and everyone—they're great. It's really not all me."

"And, er, if you ever needed help or something, I'd be willing to help. Because, I mean, that's what the D.A.'s about and all, so, well, that's all really."

"Yeah," Neville said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Just stay here, keep doing what you're doing, what we've all been doing. Stay safe. And try to be smart-which I know is a real joke coming from me, but really... Well, this is all we can do."

"Okay."

The advice didn't last long. Maybe it was because when she had spoken with him before, there were others or maybe it was because he realized just how much they needed the help, with Luna gone (though he, like Ginny, insisted that she was safe, despite sounding more and more doubtful with time). Within a week he had walked up to her as she was heading toward her common room, telling her to come to the Room in an hour, telling her there was something they needed her for.

"And don't bring anyone," he added hastily, walking off in the opposite direction.

"So much for staying safe," she told him once there.

"Sorry. But we needed someone to help... And you had offered before..."

"No," Hannah told him quickly, for fear of sounding like she didn't want to help, "it's fine. Ginny here?"

"She's coming," she said, as though he had expected the question and rehearsed the answer. "I got here half and hour ago. We can't all go at once or it'll look like we're up to something."

Hannah almost smiled. "We are up to something."

"But we don't need Snape knowing that—or the Carrows, for that matter."

"Right. So what is it we're up to exactly?"

"Same as usual—graffiti and all of that. Harmless. But it gets the point across. We're still here, fighting."

"I," Hannah stuttered, turning pink, "I don't want to fight."

"I know. You—er—you talked about it with Ginny earlier, didn't you?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"It's fine," he said without hesitation, though his voice dropped considerably. "I'm scared, too. I don't want to kill anyone either. But we've got to do this."

"I know. Just... Promise me—promise me that you'll... That you'll be fine."

"I can't. No more than you can."

"I promise," she said, taking a breath. "I promise to be okay."

Neville bit his lip, but at last spoke. "I promise."

"Okay?" he asked her, once it had started to be over.

"Okay," Hannah told him, because Hannah Abbott was not one to break her promises. "You? Are you okay?"

"Almost," he said. "I will be. I promised."

"You—you don't have to be. But… Thank you."

AN: I am assuming you do not wish to hear my complaints about how this would have been up yesterday afternoon had it not- Well, you would be if I went on, wouldn't you? So in short, I've concluded that I very much enjoy writing canon ships that no one really thinks much about/cares for. (Also that with one TFiOS quote comes half the book.) So yeah, I guess I could go on about the reasons I chose to include the entire quote rather than just "That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway." but I figure you're smart enough and I'm tired enough not to bother. Thanks for reading!

Edit 3/8/12: I thought I posted this on Monday. Apparently not. Sorry!