I am not JK Rowling. These characters and settings all belong to her.
7. The Present
"Did you – did I – enhance the scent of the Kelpie-Roses?" Neville asked.
The man who looked far too confident and at ease to be him laughed. "I can't tell you everything – I mean tell me everything." He placed Neville's fingers back on the Time Turner.
"You know what to do now?" he checked.
"Of course I do." Neville grinned. "I'm not stupid." He sent the Turner into its spin.
He sat for a few a minutes in the near-dark in the Time Turner cupboard. Then he stood up and took the Turner chain off his neck. He caught a whiff of himself. He really did need a bath.
He looked at the stairs beyond the cupboard. Hannah Abbott, eh? Now was he supposed to go and find her or was she going to find him? It would have been useful to have had a bit more direction from his future self. He took a deep breath. He was just going to have to go out there, clean himself up, and then –
He was knocked backwards into the shelves as something suddenly appeared in the same place where he'd been standing. He picked himself up.
"Oh, sorry," the thing said.
Neville rubbed his head. Was he concussed or was the thing which had just sent him flying none other than the self-same Hannah Abbott who was meant to make his life so wonderful? His shoulders, back and arse hurt like hell; this was not a good start.
"There you are!" she said then, a little resentfully.
"I think I am," he replied.
"We'd better get out of here before Ron bashes into both of us."
"Ron?"
She grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the staircase. "We were looking for you," she said.
"Where?" Neville asked.
Either he really had banged his head pretty hard or she replied "1978."
He looked at her. He looked at her hard. She was certainly pretty, but then most girls were. Most girls were beyond his reach. Luna had always been nice to him. Hannah had never been not nice. Maybe if he kissed her he'd understand what was special about her.
"Can I kiss you?" Neville asked. He flinched and waited for a slap, or at least a shocked rejection. He was still pretty sure that his future self had got it all wrong.
"Please do," Hannah said to his surprise, only then she didn't wait for him to do it, she kissed him herself.
Neville forgot about everything else except Hannah's mouth. It was warm and soft. Their tongues tangled. Time stopped. He could have kept on kissing her forever if they hadn't been disturbed by a thud in the cupboard. Blearily they broke apart and looked over.
Ron pulled the Time Turner from his neck and winked at Neville. "Quick work, Hannah," he said.
"You can talk," she muttered.
"Ignore me, I'm off to the Great Hall to wave at myself and then go and see my grieving mother."
"How can you wave at yourself? I thought we arrived two minutes after we'd left?" Hannah asked.
Ron replied, "It's all rather complicated. Hermione explained it all and I even remembered some of it. As you were." He waved a hand. "Although, frankly, Neville could use a bath. I wouldn't get that close to him."
"I thought you had somewhere to be, Weasley," Hannah grumbled.
Neville didn't notice Ron leaving, because Hannah was kissing him again and that was all there was for a long time.
THE END