Ficlet: The Backtrack (Neville/Cho)

[phil-urich.livejournal.com]

Title: The Backtrack
Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Cho Chang
Prompt: Window in the Wall
Rating: PG
Word Count: 657
Summary: Neville visits his parents shortly after Cho finishes her term at Hogwarts
Author’s note: thanks to myownmuggle for beta-ing my story. title taken from Between the Buried and Me song of same name.
Link to prompt table: prompt table, go


 
Neville’s eyes focused on a sparrow that had set down on a branch just outside the window of his parent’s room.  It was one of his little tricks for forgetting the fact that he was in a room with the husks of what had once been his parents.  He’d picked up a few habits like this over the years.
 
“Cho wrote me,” he said slowly.  He wasn’t completely certain why, but he’d always felt that the slower he spoke, the more likely his parents might understand what he was saying.
 
“She said that she’s settled into her job.  She doesn't really know that many people there yet, but she's made a few friends in the Magical Flora division and they're always looking for interns.  I thought I might apply after school.”
 
His mother hummed a little, and just out of the corner of his eye he saw his father nod impatiently, as if waiting for him to get on with it.  It was the closest he’d come to actually feeling like he was a having a real conversation with his parents.
 
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea though.  Gran says its rubbish to think too far ahead with,” he paused, wondering how to best word things so as not to possibly upset his parents, “everything that’s happening.  I thought I’d tell you about it though.”
 
Neville cleared his throat. He was rapidly running out of topics of conversation, and talking about Cho had only made him a bit more depressed than he'd been when he first walked in here.
 
“Seamus and Dean, they’re my roommates, remember?  Um, they had me go to Hogsmeade with a couple of different girls this past year to help take my mind off Cho, but it didn’t really work out.  The girls, um Patricia Bletchley and a girl named Belle, I think…  I can’t really remember her name, but they were both very nice girls.  Belle or...she was very pretty.  I don't think I could see either one of them though.  I think I'm still holding out hope for Cho," he admitted. 
 
"I think sometimes that if I can prove myself to her, if I got a job and had my own flat, that she'd see me differently than the way she does. That she might give me a chance." Neville sighed and looked at his father.  “Is that stupid, Da-“.  He sighed again.  He’d always had a hard time saying that.  “Is that stupid, Dad?”
 
His father gave him a look as if seeing him anew, while his mother continued to hum along to a tune Neville recognized from previous visits.  He sometimes liked to imagine that the tune was one she sang him when he was small, but when he’d told his Gran that she had told him she didn’t recognize the tune either.
 
“I think this next year will be good for me.  Gran says it will open me to new possibilities and new people.  I think I’d rather have the old people, really, but Gran says I need to be more open to new experiences.”
 
“It wouldn’t be so bad sometimes if I could hear what you had to say,” Neville said as he looked his Mum in the eye for the first time since he’d entered the room.  “I wish I could hear your opinions on my life sometimes and just know what it is you think about me and what I’m doing.  I wish you could meet Cho.  I think you’d like her.”
 
Neville’s father made a harsh grunting noise and then went quiet.  His Mum smiled at him and said nothing.
 
“I’ve got to go now, but I hope…” he said, not sure at all what he hoped for them.  “I’ll be here next week.”
 
He stood up and patted his mother’s hands and then nodded briefly at his father.  His father didn’t like to be touched. 
 
“Goodbye,” he said and then left.

Comments

[miss-morland.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Neville! I think you did a great job of showing his feelings here. :-)

[phil-urich.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reviewing! Neville's definitely in a rough spot here and I wanted to show that he's still going through it.

[darth-gojira.livejournal.com]

You know, I was about to write this exact fic (word by word from the summary), but you did better than I ever could

[phil-urich.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the kind words. I'd still love to see your take on it as well though. I love seeing different takes on the same scene because each take is unique to the author's skills and how they go about writing it.

[captainpookey.livejournal.com]

Oh! :( This was terribly sad, but full of hope, and my heart goes out to Neville. His situation always sucked, and he deserves so much better. You did a great job getting across Neville's emotions here.

[phil-urich.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I feel so bad for Neville sometimes because I wonder who he talks to about what's going on at school and I wondered what it must be like for him to talk to his parents about these things and not really get any sort of answer back. I'm sure in some ways it helped him become more of an independent person, but at the same time I'm sure it hurt a lot.