I have completely, and totally lost control of my life. So while I have recently found some motivation to write for this fic, updates may come slowly. But I am determined to finish it. Thanks for all who are following this story.

Chapter 8

Jade Plant is a succulent with small white and pink flowers and richly green, round leaves. Also said to be a wealth plant, or a good luck plant.

After leaving Rose's place confused and uncertain about what exactly was going on with his witch, he arrived at Ginny and Harry's overly crowded house to find pure chaos had taken form. And that was saying something considering the amount of time he had spent around the energetic Weasley family in the past. He had never before seen them acting so crazy and loud before. And it didn't take long to figure out why.

He left Ian in charge to open the store on half hours and Neville spent the following week spending what was in his opinion entirely too much time with his friends and their families. He helped with the laundry and the dishes, he played with the joyful kids and even spent a considerable amount of time cradling the surprise newborn twins allowing Ginny and Harry to get some rest. But he had to fight off the rest of the family from hogging the newborns too much. He had always had a soft spot for kids, and it didn't take a therapist to figure out why. Since he was a bit of a night owl, he got his cuddle time in when the rest of the world was resting, and Ginny and Harry didn't complain once. Especially when they found themselves resting peacefully surrounded by the love of their family and their children. Now they added twins, a girl and a boy they named Arthur and Winifred to the fold.

Neville watched all week as Ginny gave Harry a 'hard' time, yet they all knew she was deeply happy with the curve ball life had thrown her. With Teddy back from Hogwart's for the summer, everyone was home and together. With friends coming and going, Neville did his best to stay out of the way but it was hard. Especially with Mrs. Weasley darting about with as much energy as the kids, loudly wondering just when Neville was going to settle down? And he better not think she didn't know about his promiscuous behavior on that north Diagon Alley street.

The truth was he never thought of his behavior that way before. He liked women, and women really liked him. He wasn't committed to any of them, and they all knew that going into it. At first he had been trying to replace Hannah, then it was just his life. Auror training turned into a career, which turned into success, which led him to buy his shop. And all the while he found solace in the comfort of his garden and women.

There was a big part of him, most of him, that felt pure joy for his best friends. He felt genuine happiness for their successful marriages and their growing families. That they had all managed to find a partner to love and cherish, to grow with. His mind flashed to Luna and her beloved Rolf and their twins. Hermione and Ron too, with their two children and the never ending Weasley clan. And now, Harry and Ginny with their new twins bringing their total up to six if you counted Teddy, and while they might be exhausted, they weren't any less excited about it. They all deserved that happiness. After everything that happened, he wouldn't want it any other way. For them.

But it was moments like that, when he held two healthy sleeping newborns in his arms as the rest of the kids ran about playing and laughing, that he allowed himself to think about the truth… that there was this tiny, resentful part of himself that hated Hannah for leaving him. Even knowing it wasn't her choice, that her life was taken from her just as much as it was taken from him too, he hated her deeply. Hated her for his never properly getting over her, for leaving him without a woman to marry and a family to raise.

But as the crow flies, she died and he instead had nothing. Nothing but his shop. And after seven days of nonstop contact with his friends he knew Ginny was seeing far too deep into those truths and he had to get away. Quickly. So he placed little Artie in Ginny's arms and little Fredie in Harry's and bid them farewell, leaving a small potted Jade Plant by the door for luck.

Thump-thump.

Now he walked down Diagon Alley, the key to his home in his hand and the moon full and overhead lighting up the street he called his own. Hannah was a constant beat in his head, a beat he hadn't realized had been gone the last month but had steadily come back over the last week. It was louder than it ever had been before. On some level he knew it wasn't healthy, his behavior when it came to his long since deceased girlfriend. It made him moody and antisocial at the best of times, and drunk and belligerent at the worst. And he also knew he had never truly gotten over it, just buried it so deep he could ignore it most days. Sex helped, and his plants helped more. But Hannah was still there, if you knew where to look.

His chaotic thoughts spread across his mind, becoming heavier with every step he took towards his home. Thoughts of everything he felt he should've had with Hannah, everything she would've given him, a thumping beat that continued to get louder and louder causing sweat to pop along his brow and down his neck. It scared him to know it was worse than it had been in a long, long time. He wasn't sure why or how it had gotten so bad over the week, but it had. Thump-thump.

His heartbeat sped up to match the thumping in its harsh rhythm and his vision blurred at the edges but his backdoor was only a few yards away, the moonlight casting a silvery glow lighting the path between building perfectly. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Behind the door was a dresser, and on top of the dresser was a bottle of Firewhiskey with his name on it. Literally. It was the only thing that could calm the pounding and then he could sleep, if he could just get there, and back to what he was good for. Running his shop. If only he could -

Thump -

And then he heard it. Her laughter. Penny. The sound that had been filling his gardens for the last month. His mind, and vision, was suddenly clear as a picture when he looked up and caught two pairs of violet eyes looking at him from the roof of Rose's shop. He shook his head and looked up again. He had a clear view of one of the neighborhood kids and Penny as she waved from her spot on the roof.

"Hi Neville!" she said enthusiastically.

"Hi Mr. Longbottom."

"Heya Fiona, how is your mother?"

"She's doing well Mr. Longbottom." Fiona said shyly.

"And you Penny?" he grinned. "How'd Ian do while I was away? Kept the fires out?"

"You know it! He managed it all right, but obviously he isn't as good as you are. I tried to guide him to success but it was a challenge."

He laughed heartily and felt himself completely relax, blissfully aware of the sudden silence in his mind. "What are you doing up there?"

"We were looking for holes earlier, now we're looking at the moon, of course." Penny laughed again and it felt like a punch to the heart. "We have snacks if you want to come up and join us!"

He was just about to respond when Rose came through the front door of her shop with a tinkling chime, her braids bouncing off her shoulders as she did. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before giving him a hesitant smile.

"Hey…" she said, standing in front of him, her arms came up like she was going to hug him but she must've changed her mind because she put her hands in the pockets of her jeans and her smile turned shy.

The last time he had seen her, she had been crying and he had been confused as hell. He had raised his wand to dry off her soaking wet clothes and she had flinched, her big brown eyes full of terror if only for the smallest of moments. He had hated that. He would never use magic to hurt another person, not after the pain he had gone through during the war, and not after what his addled parents had gone through before that. And she had been scared of him? It was a punch to the gut.

But now… she looked somewhat happy to see him, if a little cautious.

He slowly, and deliberately, looked over every inch of her. She stood before him, well worn jeans and an attractive yellow top that drew his eye to her chest. He reached out a hand, taking the end of one dark braid between his fingers. The strands were silvery-dark in the moonlight, and soft to the touch. The scent of lemongrass hit his nose and all the confusion he had been feeling about her seemed to melt into the background. He loved the way she smelled, like she had spent her day in her garden under the sun.

"Rose." he breathed.

"How's the baby?" she asked quietly, but with heart in her voice.

"There's two." he laughed. "The healers got it wrong. Twins."

"Really? Wow. Twins… Daphne's sister also went into labor that same night." she told him, her head tilting slightly. "Actually, Astoria had twins too. A girl and a boy."

"Ginny had a girl and a boy. What a funny coincidence." he said, indulging himself in touching her braid. He wondered about her secrets and decided they needed to have a talk.

She was a single mother, trying to start up her own business, and get her daughter through school. Of course she had secrets, he thought. She had lived a whole life before she wound up on Diagon Alley across the street from him. If he played it right, she would probably tell him all sorts of her secrets. Feeling determined, he slowly let go of her braid and gently ran his finger along the edge of her ear and felt awash in pleasure when he heard her suck in a quick breath.

"Hehe… Neville… mama likes it when you do that." Penny said in a whisper just loud enough to reach them.

"Penny! What did I say!?" Rose yelled, looking up and making a cutting motion with her hand.

"Er…" Penny pretended to think about it before saying, "You told us not to fall off the ladder!"

The two girls laughed in unison before disappearing over the edge of the roof followed immediately by little steps going down what Neville imagined to be the previously mentioned ladder.

"I take it it's Friday night sleepover?"

"Save me." Rose mock grimaced. He knew she was happy with the kids around and another stone fell into place.

He smiled slowly, feeling wicked and determined. "Okay, can I sleepover too?"

oOoOo

She wasn't sure what was about to happen when she saw Neville walking down the street at the late hour, she only knew she wanted to talk to him as she rushed down the ladder behind her shop while simultaneously casting the glamour charm on her eyes to turn them brown again. She hurried through her dark shop, still under repair, and came through the front door banging the chimes against the wall in her rush. For all her hurry, she stood in front of him and realized she had no idea what to say. And for all the times she thought of him as a nice man, a good man, their little conversation made her realize something else. Neville Longbottom could be a charming man too.

The last week had seen her and Penny visiting the overjoyed Astoria and Draco Malfoy with their newborns, and that familiar ache Rose was so intimately familiar with had come rushing back the moment little Lyra had been placed in her arms, followed by the fussy Corvus. She spent a few hours holding them, as they slept heavily and soundly, while Astoria preened and spoke about the broken curse that had allowed her to not only keep her life, but have more children as well. Daphne had taken the seat next to Rose and stole Corvus when Rose wasn't paying attention, and teased her about the Jade Plant Rose had left by the baby's room door. And then she asked a question she hadn't ever before. Why didn't Rose have more of her own?

The minute Rose had given birth to Penny, she had wanted more. It was in fact the only major fight her and Phil ever had, one they revisited multiple times. He worked too many hours at the clinic, he didn't want to have more kids when he couldn't put in the time even if Rose was willing to be a stay at home mother. It wasn't the Slytherin thing to do, to reveal exactly how she felt to both Daphne and Astoria as well as the rest of Astoria's lady friends, but she was no longer the same Slytherin and she wanted nothing to do with the games the socialites played because they had nothing better to do than gossip.

So full of longing for a bigger family, and that familiar, yet fading, ache of grief when it came to Phil, she had been more than agreeable when Penny asked if her new friend from the neighborhood could sleep over. And when the moon rose full and tinted orange she couldn't help but chase the girls up to the roof with snacks and blankets.

Stretched out under the night sky with some record of Penny's playing, she felt better and allowed her mind to wander to her neighborhood friend and what he was doing. When, not if because at this point it was inevitable, he found out her secret… exactly how mad would he be? Could he get over it? Could she actually manage to make it up to him? Having had the time to think it over, she decided she wanted to try at least. Was he very angry with her, for the big secret she was so obviously keeping from him? Was he thinking about her at all? Or did they have weekend of fun, and now there was time was over? Would she get the chance...

But these thoughts went right out the window when he leaned in and smiled the smile of the devil at her. "Can I sleep over too?" he asked with such wicked charm she felt a flare of heat tighten her stomach. She could so easily succumb to that kind of heat, and had done exactly that the last time she had invited him in when they were alone. But this time... she had the kids.

She steeled herself and grabbed his collar with a smile. The action made his dark eyes flash with a sexual heat they seemed to invoke in each other, and she knew hers were doing the same thing. But still she held firm.

"No." she said. "But you can come in for a cup of tea if you want."

"All it takes is a foot in the door." he teased.

She mock growled at him. "I have the kids, Neville." she reminded him.

"That's what a privacy charm is for, Rosie." he shot back, but his smile made her toes curl in appreciation and she knew he would behave…

At least for a little while.