Ficlet: Time and Place (Neville/Cho)
Jul. 16th, 2009 10:57 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
phil-urich.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
rarepair_shortsTitle: Time and Place
Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Cho Chang
Prompt: Oh, The Insanity
Rating: PG
Word Count: 879
Summary: Cho checks in on Neville immediately after the battle and receives an ill-timed invitation
Author’s note: thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceirdwenfc for her beta skillz! Constructive criticism is loved and cared for.
Link to prompt table: prompt table, go
Cho brushes past them, ignorant to their angry stares and remarks. She is too focused on her own hurt, as selfish as all the others in that room who are so caught up in their own grief that it doesn’t dawn on them until much later that their very savior, hurt and confused, is no longer in the room with them, but is outside the castle making plans for greener pastures than this place that he once called home.
She sees her friend laid out on a broken, singed dining table, his eyes open. The burns on his scalp and forehead are every bit as nasty as she had imagined they would be when she saw the Sorting Hat catch on fire earlier in the evening. There are six other people hovering around him: his Gran, Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood and three girls from Hufflepuff who look like they’ve taken on the part of Neville’s personal bodyguard. Of the three bodyguards only one stands out to her. She is tall with long hair and a scar that runs across her nose.
“How is he?” Cho asks no one in particular.
“He’s fine,” one of his other bodyguards says. Cho glances at the girl. Blonde hair, cheery cheeks set in a frown. The girl’s right hand is resting on Neville’s shoulder. Of the three Hufflepuff girls she seems to be the most protective
“Neville will be fine,” his Gran echoes. It’s said with the same steadfast optimism Cho’s always desired to have since she first met the woman nearly eight years ago. Still, the tone is quiet. It’s a wonder Cho can hear her at all over the sounds of grief and triumph that resound throughout Hogwarts. Rather than dying over the past hour since the fall of Voldemort the noise has only grown stronger with each passing moment.
“Padma and Madam Pomfrey went to get more medicine. Professor Slughorn left for potions and Professor Sprout is getting more ingredients,” Luna lists off, her voice taking on a hollow, far away tone as if trying to remember something, but losing it all together.
Neville tries to sit up, but the girl who’d answered Cho earlier gently pushes him back down. “I can stand,” he says feebly.
“Rest, Neville,” Cho gently coaxes.
“I need a date.”
“For what, Neville?” Cho is more than a little confused by his answer, but she can see Dean mouthing the word ‘painkiller’ to her.
“The Ball.”
“Ball?”
“The Great Ball. Dean knows about it. Tell her, Dean,” Neville said, his eyes closing.
Dean smiles good naturedly despite the odd request, but a simple shrug of his shoulders shows that he has no idea what Neville’s talking about. Neville’s Gran looks just as flummoxed. Luna seems to give it careful thought, but says nothing.
“Seamus and Neville were the first two to actually live in the Room of Requirement. They tried to keep our spirits up by talking about what would happen after the war, but the only thing they could ever agree on was that there would be a Great Ball to celebrate the end of it all,” the taller Hufflepuff girl says.
“Seamus even made us practice dance steps when we didn’t have anything else to do,” the third Hufflepuff girl said with a blush, unconsciously highlighting the small scars she’d gotten from a bout with acne that ran along her cheeks. “They didn’t want us to embarrass them on the dance floor.”
Cho smiles as she sees an image in her mind of a young Neville dancing with her as practice for one of the Ministry’s functions their families had been invited to. Both of them were much too young to actually receive an invitation to dance, but both families had thought it important that they knew some of the basic steps.
“Do you really think they will have a Ball?” the tall girl asks.
“This isn’t the time, Megan,” the blonde-haired Hufflepuff reminds her friend.
“Neville brought it up,” Megan groused. “Besides, this is the first time I’ve had to be happy.”
Cho saw the other girl start to say something, but then she stops and composes herself. “I understand that, but some of the people around you might not feel the same way right now.”
Megan sniffed, but didn’t say another word.
“Neville shouldn’t have to worry about finding a date. He was very brave last night,” Luna said after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.
“The girls will probably be breaking down his door,” Dean said with a knowing grin.
“We don’t have a door to hold them back thanks to Mr. Dawlish,” Neville’s Gran jokes dryly, half amused, half angered by the truth in her statement.
“Cho will come with me. She’s the only person I can dance with,” Neville states matter of factly.
Cho smiles slowly, though the looks of jealousy she gets from two of the Hufflepuff girls are not lost on her. It seems so odd to be answering an invitation to a Ball that may or may not even happen when standing amidst the chaos of this room. She does it anyways. “All right, Neville. I’ll go with you,” she assures him, her hand squeezing his as his eyes close.
Pairing: Neville Longbottom/Cho Chang
Prompt: Oh, The Insanity
Rating: PG
Word Count: 879
Summary: Cho checks in on Neville immediately after the battle and receives an ill-timed invitation
Author’s note: thanks to
ceirdwenfc for her beta skillz! Constructive criticism is loved and cared for.Link to prompt table: prompt table, go
Cho brushes past them, ignorant to their angry stares and remarks. She is too focused on her own hurt, as selfish as all the others in that room who are so caught up in their own grief that it doesn’t dawn on them until much later that their very savior, hurt and confused, is no longer in the room with them, but is outside the castle making plans for greener pastures than this place that he once called home.
She sees her friend laid out on a broken, singed dining table, his eyes open. The burns on his scalp and forehead are every bit as nasty as she had imagined they would be when she saw the Sorting Hat catch on fire earlier in the evening. There are six other people hovering around him: his Gran, Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood and three girls from Hufflepuff who look like they’ve taken on the part of Neville’s personal bodyguard. Of the three bodyguards only one stands out to her. She is tall with long hair and a scar that runs across her nose.
“How is he?” Cho asks no one in particular.
“He’s fine,” one of his other bodyguards says. Cho glances at the girl. Blonde hair, cheery cheeks set in a frown. The girl’s right hand is resting on Neville’s shoulder. Of the three Hufflepuff girls she seems to be the most protective
“Neville will be fine,” his Gran echoes. It’s said with the same steadfast optimism Cho’s always desired to have since she first met the woman nearly eight years ago. Still, the tone is quiet. It’s a wonder Cho can hear her at all over the sounds of grief and triumph that resound throughout Hogwarts. Rather than dying over the past hour since the fall of Voldemort the noise has only grown stronger with each passing moment.
“Padma and Madam Pomfrey went to get more medicine. Professor Slughorn left for potions and Professor Sprout is getting more ingredients,” Luna lists off, her voice taking on a hollow, far away tone as if trying to remember something, but losing it all together.
Neville tries to sit up, but the girl who’d answered Cho earlier gently pushes him back down. “I can stand,” he says feebly.
“Rest, Neville,” Cho gently coaxes.
“I need a date.”
“For what, Neville?” Cho is more than a little confused by his answer, but she can see Dean mouthing the word ‘painkiller’ to her.
“The Ball.”
“Ball?”
“The Great Ball. Dean knows about it. Tell her, Dean,” Neville said, his eyes closing.
Dean smiles good naturedly despite the odd request, but a simple shrug of his shoulders shows that he has no idea what Neville’s talking about. Neville’s Gran looks just as flummoxed. Luna seems to give it careful thought, but says nothing.
“Seamus and Neville were the first two to actually live in the Room of Requirement. They tried to keep our spirits up by talking about what would happen after the war, but the only thing they could ever agree on was that there would be a Great Ball to celebrate the end of it all,” the taller Hufflepuff girl says.
“Seamus even made us practice dance steps when we didn’t have anything else to do,” the third Hufflepuff girl said with a blush, unconsciously highlighting the small scars she’d gotten from a bout with acne that ran along her cheeks. “They didn’t want us to embarrass them on the dance floor.”
Cho smiles as she sees an image in her mind of a young Neville dancing with her as practice for one of the Ministry’s functions their families had been invited to. Both of them were much too young to actually receive an invitation to dance, but both families had thought it important that they knew some of the basic steps.
“Do you really think they will have a Ball?” the tall girl asks.
“This isn’t the time, Megan,” the blonde-haired Hufflepuff reminds her friend.
“Neville brought it up,” Megan groused. “Besides, this is the first time I’ve had to be happy.”
Cho saw the other girl start to say something, but then she stops and composes herself. “I understand that, but some of the people around you might not feel the same way right now.”
Megan sniffed, but didn’t say another word.
“Neville shouldn’t have to worry about finding a date. He was very brave last night,” Luna said after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.
“The girls will probably be breaking down his door,” Dean said with a knowing grin.
“We don’t have a door to hold them back thanks to Mr. Dawlish,” Neville’s Gran jokes dryly, half amused, half angered by the truth in her statement.
“Cho will come with me. She’s the only person I can dance with,” Neville states matter of factly.
Cho smiles slowly, though the looks of jealousy she gets from two of the Hufflepuff girls are not lost on her. It seems so odd to be answering an invitation to a Ball that may or may not even happen when standing amidst the chaos of this room. She does it anyways. “All right, Neville. I’ll go with you,” she assures him, her hand squeezing his as his eyes close.
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Date: 2009-07-18 07:20 pm (UTC)I love this, and the mention of the two of them dancing together as children. :-) Lovely ficlet!
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