Potions and Parchment Match

“I thought perhaps we should talk about last night,” Neville said to the scowling girl sitting before the fire in the red overstuffed chair. She had a book in her lap and looked as though she didn’t want to be interrupted.

“I’m busy now, Neville,” she said. He was rude to her last night and she wasn’t going to make this easy on him.

“I am going to visit my parents. I wondered if you wanted to go,” he tried again.

“I’m sure that I will meet them at our wedding ceremony,” she said returning to her book.

Neville sighed. He wondered if all this was worth it or if he should just go and turn his wand in now. Perhaps he could talk to Kingsley and beg for a reprieve. They had gotten along well during the war and were friendly during Order of the Phoenix meetings. Neville perked up at the thought. Maybe he could ask him to be resorted when the next drawing was. He had heard that they would wait two years for the next drawing. Maybe if he volunteered to be stationed at a foreign ministry office that nobody wanted to go to they would cut him some slack. He had already been accepted into the Aurors training class so perhaps after graduation he could go to the far corners of the globe for a couple of years as payment.

“Alright, well I’ll see you later,” he said still lost in his daydream about getting rid of Romilda. Perhaps if he spoke with Blaise he could put a good word in. The entire school was shocked to find out that Blaise Zambini was the illegitimate love child of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Endora Zambini. After the way that Blaise defended him yesterday maybe he would do it.

“Neville! Wait!” Romilda cried following after him. She had expected him to beg and grovel. She didn’t realize he would walk away so soon, and especially without putting any real effort into an apology.

Neville turned and looked at the girl chasing behind him. She was an attractive witch in her own right but she didn’t do much for him. He hated her personality and her bossy controlling attitude. She actually reminded him of his grandmother and he really didn’t relish the thought of spending the rest of his life with her. He thought he could do it for the sake of keeping his wand, but now he had serious doubts. “Yes?” he asked in a resigned voice.

“I’ve changed my mind, I’ll go with you,” she said. Perhaps meeting his parents would give him a good indication of who he was.

Neville stood staring at her for a moment wondering if he should tell her that he had changed him mind but shrugged and said, “Grab your cloak, and we will go. McGonagall said that we could use the floo from her office.”

“I need to change and look presentable, Neville!” she gasped. He didn’t think that she would approach his parents for the first time in her school robes did he?

“I haven’t time to wait, Romilda. What you are wearing is fine. I can assure you, my parents will not notice what you are wearing.”

“But Neville!” she whined.

“I really need to go. Are you coming or not?” At this point he didn’t care any longer. He had resigned himself to begging for a favor from Kingsley or turning his wand in.

She thrust her hands on her hips and glared. “Neville! Why are you being so mean to me?” she demanded.

Neville burst out in laughter. This was the first time in his life anyone had ever accused him of being mean and he found that he liked it. He had spent his life as a doormat letting everyone he knew walk all over him. For once he gave up caring and stood up for himself and now he was mean. He had no idea how to please people and he was done trying. “Your cloak?” he asked.

“You are laughing at me?” she demanded incredulously.

“I take it that means you won’t be joining me? So be it,” he said walking out of the portrait opening.

Romilda stood there with her mouth open for a moment and raced back for her cloak that was lying beside the chair she had been sitting in and followed him out the door. She wasn’t going to let him get away with his treatment of her that easily. She was completely baffled by his treatment of her and wondered what was going on.


The sun was shinning brightly but it did nothing to warm up the cold December day. The school was full of excited students preparing for the winter break and all the upcoming weddings. Several of the older students had gotten permission to leave the school to finalize their wedding plans. It wasn’t a regular Hogsmeade weekend, but the town was still full of Hogwarts students. Draco and Blaise walked along the sidewalk behind Hermione and Ginny who giggled and pointed into windows. Their weddings were already planned and they really didn’t need to finalize any other arrangements, but the four of them liked the idea of spending the day together away from the school.

“Hey, are you guys hungry?” Draco asked. He had woken with a tremendous hangover and consumed a potion to relieve him of the effects, but he had neglected to eat breakfast and he was starving.

Hermione grinned. “Last nights nachos wear off?”

“What are nachos?” Blaise asked.

Ginny grinned. She had eaten them at Hermione’s house before and was just as addicted to them as Hermione was. “They are a wonderful Muggle food that we will not find here,” she said with a soulful sigh.

“Where can we get them?” he asked wanting to please his fiancé.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other and grinned. “Well, there is this Muggle pub,” Draco started.

Hermione laughed. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last night?” she asked.

Draco pulled her into his arms and whispered, “Did you learn any new lesson’s last night?”

She giggled. “I learned that your mum is good at getting you out of trouble!”

“Hey! She wrote a letter for you as well!” he said defending himself.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have needed one if you had just brought me back to the school like you were supposed to instead of taking me back to your manor and having your wicked way with me!” she said blushing.

“If you weren’t so loud, Mum never would have known we were there and we could have snuck out without anyone ever knowing,” he smirked.

“What ever! It was your drunken snoring that led her to your rooms!” she squealed when he tickled her side.

Draco smiled. “My guess it was the wards on the house alerting its mistress that a family member arrived with a guest.”

“What!” she gasped. “Draco! If she knew we were there she could have walked in on us!” Hermione was blushing bright red at the thought of Narcissa walking in on them. As it was, the morning had been terribly awkward with her knowing smiles.

“Love, we went straight to my rooms, of course she knew what we were up to!” he said laughing.

“If you love birds are done?” Blaise said in exasperation. “We’re cold and hungry. We don’t need a bi-play of you sex life,” he said rubbing his cold hands together.

Ginny smiled at him. “You’re just jealous,” she said reaching for his cold hands and placing them between hers to warm them.

Blaise rolled his eyes. “Not like we could get any action in your house with your thousands of relatives showing up!”

Ginny snorted. “Do you know how many times I tried to get you off alone?”

“Each time we touched, one of your brothers had something that they had to show me or tell me!” he cried.

Ginny giggled. “Lucky for you, I only have six of them.”

Ginny, Hermione and Draco all laughed at Blaise’s look of disgust. “How am I ever going to get you alone before our wedding night?” he demanded.

“I think that’s the point mate,” Draco grinned. “You have to wait until your married to shag her,” he said laughing.

“Draco!” Hermione said playfully smacking his arm.

Ginny pushed her body up against Blaise and kissed his lips softly. “Poor baby,” she purred. “Are you feeling neglected?”

He pulled her tighter into his arms and said, “I haven’t gone this long without sex since I was a virgin!” he complained.

Ginny grinned. “I guess our wedding night will go quickly then,” she said.

Blaise playfully bit the side of her neck and said, “I only need one minute, witch!”

“Alright, lets go eat!” Draco said. All this sex talk was making him hard again and he knew that Hermione wasn’t going to return to the castle early just so he could get his rocks off.

“The Three Broomsticks?” Hermione asked.

They all agreed and walked down the street to the establishment. It was fairly busy but they went in anyway. In the back of the room was a table for four and they hurried towards it. It was close to the fireplace and they were all happy to final warm up. “I doubt that they have nachos here,” Ginny grumbled.

“Actually I do,” Rosmetta said smiling at the red head. “So many of the Muggle borns ask for them that I added them to the menu!”

“Really?” Hermione asked with a huge grin.

“Really! We have chicken, beef, or vegetarian.”

“So what exactly are nachos?” Blaise asked.

“How about we get them as an appetizer and then we can order regular meals?” Draco suggested. “This way you can try them and if you don’t like them your not stuck eating them.”

Ginny grinned. “I want my own, and I’m not sharing! I’ll have beef, and with extra sour cream!”

Blaise made a face. “Why would you eat sour cream?” he asked incredulously.

“It’s so good!” Ginny said in ecstasy.

“Well, I’ll just have a beef pie and a butterbeer,” he said.

Hermione and Draco both ordered the chicken nachos and butterbeers and they laughed as Blaise still went on about the sour cream.

“Look, Harry and Pansy just came in! Harry!” Hermione shouted waving at the couple.

They turned towards the four of them and waved back. A second later they stood before the table. “Wow, it’s busy in here today!” Harry said looking around the crowded room.

“We can transfigure the table bigger so that you two can sit down,” Draco suggested.

“Oh please!” Pansy said chattering. “I’m so cold!”

They all stood and Draco quickly enlarged the table with his wand. “Here, Pans, take my seat,” he said moving away. He was sitting directly in front of the roaring fire.

She quickly sat in the offered chair and pushed herself even closer to the flames. “Ahh!” she moaned when the heat hit her back. “That feels so good!”

“Careful you don’t catch yourself on fire, witch!” Harry said eyeing the flames that were dangerously close to her cloak. “Pull your cloak closer to you, or your catch on fire.”

Pansy turned and looked at her cloak and saw that he was right. “Oh!” she said pulling them so that they were tucked under her chair.

“So what are you two up to?” Hermione asked smiling at Pansy.

“Actually, we’re hiding from Ron and Millie. They haven’t stopped fighting all day,” Pansy said in exasperation. “Sorry, Ginny, but Ron is a bit of a wanker, you know?”

“Trust me, I know!” Ginny said laughing. “What are they fighting about this time?”

“You name it, they’ve fought over it today. Ron has informed her that they will be living in the Burrow with your parents and Millie has refused stating that they would be living in her fathers home. It’s stupid, because Millie has her mum’s dower house, but she is just being difficult because he is. Can you believe that he told her that she is to stay home and cook and clean for he and their children?”

Ginny put her hand over her mouth trying to suppress a giggle. “She’s going to kill him!”

“He also told her that she was in charge of the children and that he wasn’t going to be bothered with changing nappies and getting up in the middle of the night with them. He said it was women’s work.”

“Oh gods!” Ginny gasped.

“He also told her that it was her duty to be available for him whenever he was “in the mood”, and that he expected sex at least three times a day,” Harry added helpfully.

The entire table broke out in peals of laughter. “Shall we place a bet on how many more days he will live?” Draco drawled when the laughter died.

“Where did he come up with all of this crap?” Ginny asked in disgust.

“He told Millie if it was good enough for his Mum it was good enough for his wife,” Pansy said eyeing Ginny to see how she would respond.

“Oh gods! If my Mum heard this shite come from his mouth she would hex him into the next century! We did not grow up in that fantasy world! Harry, you know who’s in charge in our house!”

Harry nodded his head and shuddered. He had been on the wrong end of Molly Weasley’s lectures and fury more times than he wanted to remember. He couldn’t believe that Ron would suggest that his mother would tolerate that kind of behavior, or that his father would even try to enforce it. “You know, Ginny,” he said thoughtfully, “You might have a talk with your Mum about this. Perhaps if she knew what he was saying she would straighten him out.” He felt disloyal for suggesting such a thing and betraying his best friend, but he genuinely liked Millie and didn’t want to see him hurt her. No woman deserved to be treated the way that Ron was acting, except perhaps Romilda Vain.

Ginny thought for a moment and grinned. “That’s not a half bad idea, Harry! Mum would definitely set him straight.”

“That is evil, Harry!” Blaise said. He would not want to get on Molly Weasley’s bad side.

Draco grinned. He had never liked the disgusting little Weasel and figured that he deserved what he got. “I would love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation.”

Hermione shuddered. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Molly when she heard what her son was up to. She remembered the howler that she had sent Ron after taking his fathers car without permission. “I almost feel sorry for him,” she said with a sigh. “Almost, but not quite. He is getting a bit obnoxious.”

“Why do you have to be an ass everyday of your life?” Millie demanded.

“Why do you have to be a bloody bitch and argue with everything that I say?” he yelled.

“Are you ever going to grow up?”

“Are you ever going to pull your head out of your arse and act like a real wife?”

Millie saw red and pulled her wand out of her pocket. “I am not your wife, and I never will be!” she shouted.

Ron pulled his out equally as fast and pointed it at her. “Like I want you for a wife, you blood cow!”

“What?” she screamed in outrage. “You are a disgusting little weasel!” she shouted flicking her wand at him and transfiguring him into a red haired weasel. She roughly scooped him up, pinching him as she did so. He hissed and scrambled trying to get away but she held tight. She reached for his wand and managed to shove it into her pocket with her own while still holding onto the furious weasel. She had seen everyone enter the Three Broomsticks and marched to the door.

When she entered she saw the group in the back of the room eating and laughing. When she noticed one was Ginny Weasley she grinned evilly. She marched straight to her and swung the weasel up by his tail. “I have a present for you, Ginny.”

“Oh gods!” Ginny shrieked. “Is that my brother?” she gasped.

Millie grinned. “It sure is! Here, he’s yours. I wash my hands of the little rodent. I would rather live as a squib than live with him!” she flung him into Ginny’s lap and turned and marched out the door.

She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and walked towards the gates of the castle. She could feel the tears pouring down her face as she thought of what she had done. She didn’t regret what she had done to Ron, but she would miss being a witch. She had no idea how to be a Muggle and really did not want to be one.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and thought of all she would miss out on. She didn’t even know if she would be able to go home again. Her home was spelled so that only magical folk could see it. If the ministry of magic took her wand away would she be able to see it? She wouldn’t be able to stay at Hogwarts any longer. The school was for magical students. She wouldn’t be able to shop in Diagon Alley any longer. You needed a wand to enter the Alley. She wouldn’t be able to shop because she didn’t have any Muggle money.

She dropped down to her knees and clutched tightly her arms around her chest. She sobbed with her head in her lap at everything she would loose because of her inability to get along with Ron Weasley. She wanted to make it work. She had even taken Pansy’s crazy advice, but since that night he had done nothing but hound her for a repeat. She had felt dirty and used after and never wanted to repeat it again. She was sobbing so hard she could barely breath and had to lift her head. She saw a bewildered Neville standing before her.

“Millie? What’s wrong?” he asked softly kneeling beside her and wrapping his arm around her. They had never been friends, but they had never been enemies either. Her gut wrenching sobs broke his heart. He had decided against going to visit his parents and decided to go for a walk instead. He had gotten as far as the gates and then decided he might as well go into Hogsmeade and spend one final day there. He knew that if Kingsley didn’t let him out of his marriage he would never again be able to return there, as it was a magical town.

She leaned into his strong arms and continued to sob. He felt so warm and comforting and she cried until she couldn’t cry anymore. “It’s alright,” he said soothingly.

Millie lifted her tear stained face up and looked into his ice blue eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. She wiped her face on her sleeve and tried to pull away.

He held her firmly. “Are you alright?” he asked. She had the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen.

“No, Neville, I’m not alright. My life is over,” she said sobbing again.

“It can’t be that bad,” he said thinking of his own situation and that perhaps it could.

“I just can’t do it!” she sobbed.

“What? What can’t you do?” He wondered what was wrong. Was she pregnant? He knew that witches got very emotional when they were expecting.

“This marriage! I just can’t marry him! I won’t do it!” she sobbed again. “But I don’t want to be a squib!”

Neville closed his eyes for a moment trying to hold his own emotions in cheek. He knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn’t want to marry the witch he was promised to either. “I see,” he said.

“I don’t know how to be a Muggle!” she cried. “I wish that I could marry him, but I can’t! He is nasty and vile and I hate him! But I can’t be without magic!”

Neville knew how difficult Ron could be. He knew that he was rude and sexist and had no idea how to treat witches. He wondered what Ron had done to make Millie feel this way. “I’m so sorry you feel this way, Millie,” he told her softly, still holding her in his arms.

“You have no idea how I feel, Neville! He is nasty and arrogant and I just can’t do it!” she sobbed.

“I know exactly how you feel, Millie. I have to marry Romilda Vain and I care for her as much as you care for Ron. In fact, I was just walking to Hogsmeade for one last look around. I was planning on talking to Kingsley Shacklebolt. If he won’t release me from this marriage I am going to surrender my wand.”

“What?” she gasped raising her head.

Neville nodded. “I can no more spend my life with someone life Romilda than you can with Ron.”

“Aren’t you afraid, Neville?” she gasped.

He nodded. “I am scared to death. I worry that I will never see my friends again; that I will have to leave school before I graduate, not that it would matter if I graduated, as I would no longer have a wand. I would worry that I would loose my home and my inheritance, but you know what I worry the most?”

She shook her head. “What?”

“I worry that I couldn’t go to St. Mungo’s.”

“I’m sure that Muggles have hospitals, Neville,” she said in bewilderment.

“My parents are there. They have been almost my entire life. Bellatrix Lestrange tortured them with the cruciatus curse and they never recovered.” He closed his eyes to the pain. He couldn’t believe that he just told her that. It was one of his most closely guarded secrets and very few people knew.

“Oh Neville!” she cried feeling immediately ashamed. She had worried about trivial things such as shopping and money, and he worried about ever seeing his parents again. “I am so sorry,” she said pulling her arms around him. Together they sat there with their arms around each other finding solace.

“Millie,” Neville whispered softly.

She pulled her face back from his shoulder and looked into his beautiful eyes. “Yes, Neville?” she whispered.

He leaned into her and gently kissed her soft full lips. She gasped and opened her mouth and he took advantage of it. He thrust his tongue into her hot mouth and kissed her with all his pent up passion. He felt her stiffen and then pull him closer and return his kiss. He felt a jolt of desire run through his body and was shocked. He pulled away and heard her cry.

“Neville!” she whispered in surprise. She had not expected that and had been shocked to feel the desire run through her body. She had noticed him over the past year and had found him very attractive, but they had never so much as said two words to each other.

“I have an idea,” he said pushing her hair from her eyes.

“What?”

“Let’s elope.”

She stared at him with eyes as round as saucers for a moment and then grinned. “Now?” she asked.

Neville grinned back. “Yes, now.”

A/N: Now remember, I write much faster with lots of feedback!!! Weren't expecting that, were you? lol... I just couldn't make poor millie marry Ron, and I think that Ron and Romilda deserve each other. I think that I might kill them (ron and romilda) off on their honeymoon as well, what do you think? Every story needs a good death scene???? or perhaps ron and romilda won't get together...what to do, what to do????? lol, laughs evily...