Harry could hear the crying as he snuck through the bushes over to Neville’s yard. There was a large hole in the bottom of the chain link fence that separated their backyards that was covered by the row of bushes along the Longbottom’s side. They were such big, unruly bushes it was hard to even see the chain link fence outside of the thick metal bar on top. One summer after discovering the hole by falling through it the boys marked the entrance by tying some orange string on the spot of the bar right above it. That way they could always find their secret passageway.
Neville’s older cousins were over and Harry knew they’d be quite nasty to him. They always were. And Neville’s grandmother seemed to think that dealing with them was both an obligation and would help build character. Harry knew better. So did Sirius but he never said it explicitly when he thought Harry could hear.
As Harry got to the other side he checked to make sure no one else was in the yard. He wasn’t supposed to be there during ‘family time’ even though they were more family than any of the other Longbottoms. The coast was clear and he found Neville in his usual hiding spot.
Behind the big gnarled Willow where it was hard to see because of the bushes haloing around the back along that fence. He went there to read or talk to his frog Trevor or, like this time, to cry. Harry made a small knocking sound on the tree and Neville whipped his head around in surprise. Clearly a little afraid it would be one of his cousins.
When he saw it was Harry, a new wave of tears rushed forward and he let out a small sob. Harry stepped closer and patted his shoulder. “Scoot up Neville.”
Neville did as he was told and Harry sat behind him with his back against the tree. They’d done this a ton of times so he curled up in Harry’s embrace and just let himself cry. Harry ran his fingers through his fine, soft blonde hair and hummed softly. It was a little while before Neville stopped sobbing and was mostly relaxed and quiet. Still teary but at least less distraught.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“Niall and Triston destroyed the frog castle!” The frog castle was Neville’s magnum opus of Lego creations. It was a huge, wonderful castle built almost entirely out of green and blue and yellow legos. The color scheme was important. He’d placed all sorts of toy frogs in and around it. It really was impressive and very dear to Neville. So it made sense he was so upset his cousins had destroyed it.
“What did your grandma say about it?”
“‘Stop being such a cry baby Neville! It’s just some plastic blocks. You can just rebuild it.’ But I can’t! It won’t be the same! It was perfect and now--now it’s gone.” He gave a sad tearful noise and curled up a bit tighter in Harry’s arms.
“I’m sorry your cousins are such snots and your grandma is… well how your grandma is.”
“A--a---a bitch.” Neville and Harry both looked very surprised at what Neville had said and then looked around to make sure it hadn’t somehow summoned her. “Maybe not that. But just so freaking mean.”
“Sirius always tries to tell her to be nicer to you.”
“I wish she’d listen or… or Sirius was my dad too.” They both sighed sadly and Harry gave his temple a small kiss.
“I know it won’t be the same, but we could build a new frog castle together. I’d love to help this time if you want. I can just be a builder and you can be the brains. Whatever you want Neville. Anything you want.”
Neville sat up and looked at Harry like he was the most brilliant boy in the neighborhood or maybe even the world. “Yes! Yes Harry! Please let’s do that. The two of us could make it even better. Maybe… maybe we could keep it at your house? So when my cousins come over they can’t destroy it.”
“Absolutely. We can make a space for it and you can come over whenever you want to play with it.”
“Let me go get some paper and pencils so we can start planning.” He got up and began to head towards the house.
“Neville! Wait!” Neville turned back quickly and looked at Harry in confusion.
“I just--I just wanna make sure you know there’s nothing wrong with crying. Sirius always says--”
“I know Harry.” The blonde boy smiled warmly and gave a small chuckle. “‘Crying is more natural than bottling it all up. Rather be a cry baby than a ticking time bomb.’” Harry nodded with a chuckle of his own. The two could do anything if they stuck together and listened to people like Sirius.