Chapter 49: Professor Longbottom

Ginny Potter walked into her kitchen, jerked to a halt, then did a double take.

"Stop that!"

"Huh? Stop what?" Her husband turned partially away from the window in an almost lethargic manner.

"….. That! You're doing it again!"

Harry let out a put upon sigh, dropping his chin down towards his chest like a bird, as if grounding himself in order to summon strength. "Doing bloody what again, woman?"

Ginny glowered at him, folding her arms. "You know damn well what. The same thing you did every day that Hermione and my brother were off in Australia! You think either of them spent spring before last staring mindlessly out the window while we were on our honeymoon?"

"Ron probably did," Harry grunted bitterly. "Except he would have been thinking about just you, while wanting to string me up."

Ginny finally had to take her husband by the shoulders and physically move him away from the window. "It isn't as though you're going to be getting an owl from them this time, so stop waiting for one! The point of a honeymoon is that the happy couple gets to go off and be alone. Without anyone else bothering them!"

It was only a couple of days after Ron and Hermione's wedding, and the Christmas holiday. Ginny had this whole week off from practice for the Harpies; Harry, sadly, had to get back to the office. The Boy Who Lived tried to use that as an excuse to move away from thinking about his best mates, now man and wife and alone on some beach somewhere. He sighed.

"I know, I just…. I'm worried about them, is all…."

"You're worried about them when they're in wedded bliss?" Ginny cocked an eyebrow. "Merlin, you must have a lot of Galleons riding on them getting divorced."

"Don't be cute," Harry sniffed. "I've never been a betting man. And anyway, a joke like that isn't the least bit funny. What if you just brought bad luck down upon their heads?"

"I never took you to be a superstitious man, either, but times came change, I suppose," Ginny snorted, turning away. She shook her head, muttering under her breath. "Merlin, if this is how you're going to be when Hermione is in the delivery room, popping out babies…"

Harry heard her anyway. "Hermione's not going to be popping out babies anytime soon," he scoffed. "She'll be too focused on her career."

"Oh, no? That's not what the new Mrs. Weasley told me when we were upstairs primping before the wedding…" Ginny almost teased him in a singsong voice.

At this, Harry started. "What?! Bloody hell – she's…. she's not…."

Ginny burst out laughing. "Oh, Godric! The look on your face….!"

Harry frowned hard. "For Merlin's sake, Gin! I'm not in the mood for your cheek!"

"Who's being cheeky? She's not pregnant now, prat, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to be soon. Maybe even as soon as they get back from their little paradise…"

Harry stewed. "Well, if Ron is that keen on making our Hermione a widow so soon after she's become a wife…"

Ginny gawked at him. "What are you, her Mum? Our Hermione is practical, but that doesn't mean she intends to be forever pure! Wait till I tell her how you've thought her a stuffed shirt in bed…."

"That's what Audrey probably says to her Percy."

Ginny blinked at Harry. "Smart arse," she grunted.

All at once, there was a crash, followed by high-pitched shouting, and seconds later Teddy appeared, waving a fake wand with a light-up tip in one hand (a Christmas present from Ginny) and a Chocolate Frog in the other. Kreacher came pelting after the little boy, letting out a howl of outrage.

"THIEF! BANDIT! Half-breed son of blood traitors and wolves!"

Harry blocked Kreacher's path to his godson, who was now doing doughnuts around and around his aunt and uncle's kitchen table. "Kreacher, I order you to apologize to Teddy this instant!"

Kreacher squirmed physically with resistance, but an order was an order. "Kreacher is sorry, Master…." A beat, and then: "But he tooks all of Kreacher's chocolates!"

Meanwhile, Ginny knelt and finally caught Teddy as he pelted directly into her path, holding the lad fast to her even as he thrashed and squirmed. "Oh, now, look here, young squirrel! If you're going to have any more play dates with me and Uncle Harry, you have to be sensitive to poor Kreacher's feelings!"

"Aw, gee, Aunt Gin-Gin! You mean I gotta mind him?" Teddy pouted.

Ginny nodded. "That's right. Now off you go to wash that chocolate from your face!" Swatting him lightly on the bum, she sent the boy on his way.

A beat, and Harry gave Kreacher a stern look. "Kreacher, you are to go to your room and calm down…. for an hour."

Kreacher could not help but obey, sulking. Harry turned back to his wife, lips playing at a smirk.

"Aunt Gin-Gin?"

She glared at him fiercely, face pink. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

"Godric's Honor! And, um…. am I suddenly in need of a hearing aid to go with these glasses, or did I just hear you stick up for Kreacher unironically?"

"Again, if you tell, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident." Her deadpan didn't stop Harry from chortling as he collected his briefcase.

"Think you can manage staying here with the…..?" He almost said children, then stopped. Technically, one of their charges was not actually their biological child, while the other wasn't a child at all, nor could Kreacher ever, ever be mistaken for one.

Swaying on tiptoes, Ginny kissed him swiftly. "Yeah. Good luck! I know it's hard, having to go back into work between Christmas and New Year's."

"I'll manage. Cheerio, love!" And waving, Harry swept into the foyer and out the front door.

Harry took his time walking to his corner office upon arriving at the Ministry. He nodded to a few of his colleagues, then headed for his desk.

He had barely gotten there before Neville Longbottom came dashing into his office behind him, looking tired.

"There you are, mate! Did you get the most recent post-action report?"

"I just sat down, Neville!" Harry frowned. He absently yet quickly scanned his papers, then his email – in recent years, Robards had encouraged his subordinates to make use of the Muggle technology, at Hermione's prodding. "Ah, here it is!" After only reading a single line, he stared.

"Bloody hell! Medical emergency? You lot got a call-in to the castle?! Is Pomona all right?"

Neville sighed heavily through a weary nod. "She will be, if only just. The old girl has always said they'll have to carry her out of her greenhouses feet up. Today, we and the Healers almost did!"

Harry tssked. "And right after Christmas too! A heart attack is nothing to trifle with. Any word on what McGonagall is going to do?"

"I just spoke with the Headmistress, actually." Neville now appeared very nervous, shifting along the balls of his feet.

Harry sighed. "Ruddy what is it, man?"

Neville straightened sharply. "I will be approaching Robards and informing him that I shall resign, effective immediately."

Harry's jaw dropped, and his heart along with it. First Ron, and now Neville, gone from the Department – and in just a year, nearly to the day! Though with the latter, he had known that this was coming eventually, had for a long time been expecting it, but now that it was here…

"McGonagall has offered me a teaching position, to assist Sprout in the greenhouses. Share her load. I expect I shall be groomed to take over for Pomona, eventually."

Harry nodded heavily, running a hand along the stubble at his chin. At last, he rose, reaching out a hand for Neville to shake.

"Good luck, old boy. When do you think they'll swear you in?"

Neville flushed. "McGon - Minerva was thinking as soon as possible, in time for the start of winter term. She said something about holding it next Friday week, at the castle?"

Harry nodded. "Gin and I will be there. We wouldn't miss it for the world!" He frowned. "Ron and Hermione will only just be getting ready to come back from their honeymoon, though."

" 'S all right. And how are the little lovebirds?" Neville waggled his eyebrows saucily, and it actually made Harry laugh.

"Haven't heard a damn word from them. They held out on me for more than a month before they wrote from Australia four years ago, the romantic fools!"

Neville chuckled and drifted from his buddy's office, probably on his way to Robards to hand in his resignation. In the moment, the Hero of Hogwarts oddly seemed light, somewhat buoyant. "Remember: Hogwarts, next Friday week! It'll be after the first of the year, so…."

"Sure, sure…" Harry waved away, already tired. As soon as Neville had left, he slouched in his desk chair.

A little more than a week later, Harry and Ginny were seated on folding chairs in the Hogwarts Great Hall, amidst a sizable crowd gathered here to watch ex-Auror Neville Longbottom be sworn in as an Associate Professor of Herbology on the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Ginny leaned into her husband from where she was raising her trusty camera above the heads of the people in the row ahead of them, intent on snapping a Muggle Kodak of the moment, on behalf of her best mate. "Our Nev sure seems ecstatic, wouldn't you agree?"

Harry nodded, just as there was some shuffling and murmurs of apology further down their row. When he glanced up, Luna Lovegood and Rolf Scamander were plopping into the empty seats next to him and Ginny. There was a blissfully content smile on the pretty Ravenclaw's face.

"Hullo, you two. Isn't it just grand, Ginny? Our Neville, a Hogwarts professor!"

Harry smiled at Luna gratefully. "He'll be mighty glad you came." Peeking around her, he nodded deferentially in Rolf's direction. "Scamander."

"Mr. Potter." The aspiring magical naturalist now squeezed Luna's knee. "I think I'll rustle us up some drinks, love. There's water being offered; do you want any?"

"Yes, please. Thank you, Rolf." Luna leaned in to peck the former Hufflepuff lightly on the lips; even though he had seen the pair together at the wedding, the sight of Luna snogging anyone other than Neville nonetheless caused Harry to blink in surprise.

"Remind me, when exactly did this start?" Harry leaned into his wife, voice low.

"They've been dating for at least a year, I'd say. Well, that's what I've gathered from Luna's writing to me, at any rate."

He studied Ginny knowingly. "Whatever it is, you seem to have come around to an acceptance of it."

Ginny shrugged. "I only want Luna to find happiness as much as I want it for Nev. Or you."

Harry grinned, proud of her. "Do you reckon a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw could get on well enough to actually date?"

"Don't ruddy know. I suppose so. Anyway, we're going to be finding out." Ginny side-eyed him. "It would be a damn better pairing than, say, a Slytherin getting with a Gryffindor. Ever since the damn Ferret's wedding, I've been having nightmares of you leaving me for Greengrass…" Harry assumed she was making a sarcastic quip, even a joke, but from her tone, he couldn't altogether be sure.

In the interim, Rolf returned with the drinks, fingers steepling in a spider-like way to better juggle all four of the glasses.

"I took the liberty, Harry, Ginevra: care for some refreshment…?"

"I would quite, please and thank you. And it's Ginny," Ginny corrected him, with a lighter tone than Harry would have expected her to give when warning someone off the use of her full name.

"Sssh!" Luna hushed them all excitedly, wriggling in her seat. "It's starting!" Harry observed how her silver eyes stayed trained on Neville like a phoenix, as their mutual friend took the dais and raised his right hand.

"Repeat after me:" Minerva McGonagall ordered. "I, Neville Francis Longbottom, do solemnly swear…."

"I, Neville Francis Longbottom, do solemnly swear…."

"That I will faithfully act as a staff and faculty member with authority at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…."

"That I will faithfully act as a staff and faculty member with authority at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…."

"…. And shall protect its students against all enemies, foreign and domestic…."

"…. And shall protect its students against all enemies, foreign and domestic…."

Ginny cuddled into her husband, beaming at her best friend with pride. "He looks truly professorial up there, huh?" Just at the moment that Neville was finishing taking his oath as a Professor of Herbology, she stood up and snapped the picture.