Neville's Holiday Woes
Monday the 9th of December
The sun was just beginning to set as Neville stepped out from Honeydukes on his way to meet Luna and Rolf at the Hog's Head Inn. Above him, the winter sky was painted in vivid hues of rose, violet and honeysuckle, so lovely that he was instantly reminded of his last holiday. He could almost feel the sun-warmed sand beneath his feet and taste the rum-spiked drinks on his tongue—until that is, the bitter chill of December set in, clawing its way into his open jacket and reminding him of just how far away the Hawaiian tropics were.
As though to drive the point home and urge Neville on his way, fat, white snowflakes began to drift and swirl around him. Of course, he thought to himself, surveying the flurry with a touch of resignation. It's not that he didn't enjoy the snow, it was just that none had been forecasted for at least another four days, and there were a bunch of Shrivelfigs that he would have had his final class of the day help him to move inside the greenhouse, had he known that they'd have to suffer under a blanket of snow until his return. While Shrivelfigs were incredibly hardy plants, they were also notoriously finicky, and he wasn't looking forward to having to baby them for the next week or so, in order to get back in their good graces.
Sighing softly, he zipped up his wool coat to protect against the cold, tucked a block of Luna's favourite Clotted Cream Fudge beneath his arm, and thanked Merlin that there were only two weeks left until the Hogwarts winter holiday. Doing his best to push the surly Shrivelfigs from his mind, as he hurried on towards his friends.
A minute or so later, he found himself approaching their old stomping grounds. He was quick to shut the door behind himself as he stepped inside and gave a courteous nod to the shrunken heads that hung beside the entrance before heading further into the pub. The atmosphere was lively and Neville found himself smiling, feeling instantly at home amongst the mix of locals and his fellow Hogwarts professors that were peppered around the bar and surrounding tables. A quick scan of the room was all that was needed before his eyes landed on a familiar head of champagne curls, and upon spotting them he made his way back to the fireside seating area where Luna and Rolf sat waiting for him.
They looked to be lost in their own little world, and Neville found himself admiring the two as he drew closer. Snuggled up together, they had yet to notice him, and it wasn't hard to guess why. Rolf had one arm wrapped around Luna's waist with his hand splayed across her hip, drawing her in closer as he whispered something in her ear that was causing a pretty flush to stain her cheeks and her fingers to grip into his thigh.
They were a handsome couple and Neville wouldn't lie to himself by pretending as if there hadn't been moments when he'd desperately wished to be the other half of the whole to not one, but both of them. Luna with her sweet soul, honeyed locks, and cupid's bow lips, had been the source of many a teenage daydream. While Rolf's perpetually ruffled black hair, high cheekbones, and lopsided grins had immediately reminded Neville of the boy who had stolen his heart half a lifetime ago and kept a tight hold of it even these eleven years later. However, Rolf's hazel eyes (or anyone else's for that matter) could never measure up to the brilliant, primordial fern of Harry's.
Flushing as though the rest of the patrons could hear his thoughts, Neville mentally shook himself before softly clearing his throat as an announcement of his arrival. Luna and Rolf separated a fraction at the sound of his voice and glanced up guiltily, as though they'd just been caught messing about beneath the quidditch stands.
Luna, for her part, recovered much more quickly than Rolf, and her features brightened immediately upon discovering who had disrupted them.
"Neville!" she exclaimed happily and stood, rushing into his arms for a delightfully long hug. "It feels like it's been ages since the last time we saw you."
As Neville wrapped his arms around Luna to return her embrace, over her shoulder he spotted Rolf attempting to subtly readjust himself before standing to greet him as well. Unable to help himself, he tauntingly raised a brow when their eyes met and chuckled when, looking like the cat who ate the canary, Rolf winked in return.
Focusing back on Luna, he rested his cheek atop her head, gave her a soft squeeze and rocked her back and forth as he replied affectionately, "Too true, munchkin. Although weeks always feel like years in your absence."
Rolf smiled at Neville's praise, looking at Luna as though she had hung the stars, and for a brief moment, Neville's heart ached as he wished that he had someone who felt the same way about him.
Luckily, before he had a chance to fall too deeply into the pit of despair that he'd been flirting with since his Gran had passed earlier in the year, Luna pulled away from him and held him at arm's length to take him in.
"You know, Neville, I swear that you get more handsome between each of our visits." She said this with such a genuine earnestness that it instantaneously caused a ruddy flush to creep across his cheeks. She then glanced back at Rolf, who was watching their interaction with a lazy smile. "Don't you agree, sweetheart?" she cheerily asked.
"Yes, dear. Nev here is an absolute heartbreaker," he replied with a chuckle and then sat back down to recline against the back of the settee they'd been sharing. Crossing his right ankle over the opposite thigh, he patted the spot beside him in a coaxing motion as he continued, "Now, come back to me and let the poor chap go before his bashfulness causes him to perish beneath your praise."
Neville wasn't sure which he wanted more in that moment, to strangle Rolf or to hug him. But, as they were in public and both were sure to earn him more attention than he wanted, he simply settled for a playful eye roll. Leaning down, he collected a brief kiss on the cheek from Luna and then he dutifully followed along behind her as she led him over to the armchair that they'd been saving for him.
Before taking a seat, he pulled the fudge from beneath the crook of his arm and presented it to her.
"Look what I found on the way over from Hogwarts."
Luna's silvery eyes widened with an excited glow as she took the package from him and examined it with care.
"Clotted cream?" she asked giddily.
"The very same," he replied, unable to suppress his smile at her delight.
"From Honeydukes?" she mused as her fingers ran over the red and gold holiday wrapping.
"Of course."
She looked up at him then with one of her signature smiles. It was so warm and bright that Neville could have sworn she'd figured out how to distil sunlight and he wished for just a moment that she'd share a bottle with him, in hopes that he might be able to pull it out and take a sip when the ever-familiar loneliness that had crept into his life over the past year next decided to rear its ugly head.
"Thank you!" she gushed, and the happiness in her voice lulled him back from the sadness that had begun to creep in. She was hugging the package to her chest, looking for all the world like a kid on Christmas morning as she continued, "You really needn't have gone out of your way."
But Neville simply kissed her temple and collected one last hug as he said, "Of course I did. It's not every day that I'm given the opportunity to buy my favourite sweet her favourite sweets."
"Second favourite sweet," she corrected him quietly, and as she was the only person who Neville had ever confessed to about his years-long, unrequited love, he knew that it was Harry she was referring to, and not the fudge.
His cheeks flamed at her remark, and he was grateful for the moment to compose himself that he was afforded when Luna returned to Rolf's side and began opening the fudge for them to share. Shrugging out of his jacket, he hung it and his scarf on the back of the chair, beckoned the barmaid with a wave of his hand, and then relaxed into the plush comfort of the worn old wingback. Ready to finally catch up with his friends, it was only a few minutes more before he was holding a steaming mug of mulled cider clutched between his hands and was basking in the warmth of spirits, fireside, and friendship.
Luna and Rolf had been away for the better part of the last month on assignment from the Ministry, and Neville was quite excited to hear about their excursions, especially as they often brought back the details of new locations teeming with exotic and magical flora and fauna for him to track down on holiday. This last trip of theirs had been especially exciting for Neville, as Rolf was quite certain that they'd run across a rare species of fiddlehead fern that was believed to be useful in the treatment of those who had undergone prolonged torture by the Cruciatus curse.
Nearly two hours had passed as together they pulled out parchment and quills and began the time-consuming work of copying the sketches and maps that Luna and Rolf had brought along, creating routes and a plan for how Neville could track down the plants over the following spring. After all their plans and the accompanying accoutrements had been stowed away, a calm silence stretched over their cosy little nook and the three friends were finally able to really sit back and relax.
Neville, feeling far happier than he had in months, was sipping on his cider and watching the flames flicker and dance when Rolf amiably spoke up and broke the spell.
"So, mate. Do you have any plans for the upcoming holiday?" Neville heard, rather than saw, the stinging slap that Luna aimed against Rolf's thigh. And he closed his eyes against the familiar rush of loss, as she tutted, and Rolf murmured a confused, "What? What's wrong?"
A beat of silence, where Luna must have mouthed something in reply and then a quiet exhalation of breath, which just as likely may have been a muttered curse of realisation.
"I'm sorry, mate," Rolf said softly. "I wasn't thinking."
Neville grimaced and nodded. But he was afraid to open his eyes and see the all-too-familiar looks of pity that were so common amongst his friends and fellow faculty members. Moreover, he was afraid to open his eyes in fear that these two people, whom he held so dear, would take one look into his and see nothing other than sorrow reflected back at them. It felt as though every time he let his mask slip and shared that vulnerability with others, their first thought was to try and fix him. And Neville didn't want to be fixed.
His sorrow and loneliness didn't define him. They were simply two completely reasonable reactions to the pain of loss and a lack of having anyone to share both that grief as well as his moments of happiness and triumph with. It felt to Neville, whether true or not, as though everyone he had ever loved had either been taken from him or left him behind, and he wished desperately, just once, that somebody would choose to stay.
Still, it had been a long time since he let fear, pain, or sorrow rule him and so, taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and turned to face his friends.
Rolf looked beyond embarrassed, as if he wished the ground might open up beneath him and swallow him whole, while Luna was simply watching Neville with a sad smile of her own. But in her eyes there was no pity, instead, she simply watched him with a look of complete understanding. Afterall, she was no stranger to loss herself.
Rolf, seeming to sense Neville's wary demeanour, straightened up and soldiered on, doing his best to defuse the tension which had sprung forth and reminding Neville of why they got on so well.
"At least tell me that you won't be staying on to chaperone the students remaining behind over the break. I love Minerva, but between her and Hagrid, the two of them will be treating you with kid gloves and mothering you the entire time. It'll only drive you mad."
Neville smiled, truly smiled, at the frankness with which Rolf spoke and he gave a small shrug.
"Between the two of them and Pomona, I'm likely to be blanketed in bubble wrap and rolled through the corridors," he said with a wistful tilt of the lips. Sighing softly, Neville's eyes dropped to his jeans where he'd begun picking at an invisible piece of lint, before resignedly carrying on, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it can be avoided. While I've not yet committed to staying behind, I can't bring myself to go back to Gran's. Not when I know that she'll be gone. And, so far, I've got nowhere else to go."
There was a moment of pause where the three of them digested his confession, each eager to come up with some sort of solution to the problem at hand.
"That's it!" Rolf suddenly shouted with exuberance as he slapped his knee, drawing Neville's attention back across the coffee table that divided them. When he looked up, a dazzling grin was painted across his friend's lips and he was looking enthusiastically at Luna, who briefly appeared to be just as stunned as Neville felt, before a hesitant smile perked at the corners of her mouth. It would seem that both she and he were waiting on bated breath for Rolf to go on.
Rolf was nearly vibrating with excitement when he looked back at Neville and hurriedly explained, "Luna and I are going to be in New York visiting my great aunt for the holidays!"
Neville chuckled as Rolf's cheerful energy began to wear off on him, and entirely missed the look of realisation as it dawned on Luna's face.
"I know. You two told me when I first arrived," he laughed. "I do hope you're not planning on inviting me to come along as your third. That'd be a bit hard to explain to someone of her generation."
He was only half-joking as he said the last, and further missed the expression of panicked worry that creased Luna's brow as she looked frantically over to her spouse.
Luna realised, belatedly, that she had forgotten to let Rolf know that she'd already offered to let Harry use the cabin during their afternoon tea the day previous. And now, here he was, about to extend that exact same offer to Neville. Opening her mouth, she was just about to interject and give them the unfortunate news, when she glanced over at Neville's smiling face and was struck with a wonderful idea.
Neville and Harry had both secretly been harbouring feelings for each other over the years. Feelings which they had both disclosed to her on a number of occasions, and feelings which they both had yet to act on, regardless of how many times she had attempted to gingerly urge them in the right direction. And so, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps a couple of weeks stowed away in a cosy cabin for two, wouldn't be the perfect nudge that they were both in such desperate need of. Besides, she reasoned, even if neither of them were able to summon up the courage to share their feelings with the other, at the very least they wouldn't be spending the holidays alone, throwing matching pity parties.
So, with her mind made up to let things run their course, Luna closed her mouth before either Rolf or Neville noticed it hanging open. The worry which had creased her brow only moments earlier melded into a calculating delight, which when Neville turned to look at her, he mistook for approval of his cheeky jibe.
"No, no, no! Of course not!" Rolf chuckled, none the wiser to Luna's plan. "It's just that since we will be in New York, we won't be able to make it out to my family's cabin in the Cairngorms this winter. We could really use someone to check in on it, and you're more than welcome to spend the holidays there if you'd like a bit of peace and quiet. It really is lovely this time of year. Isn't that right, dear?" he asked, turning his attention back towards Luna.
Excitement bubbled up in Neville, and he was so happy he could have jumped for joy. When his gaze followed Rolf's, an enormous smile had transformed her pretty face and Luna was nodding her approval.
"Oh, yes," she replied contentedly. "It's quite beautiful. You simply never know what types of wonderful surprises will be waiting for you up north."
And just like that, the problem of Neville's holiday woes had been solved.