Neville's Redeption

HI!!! OMG, almost a year since I updated. Wow. All I can say is no one reviewed and I forgot about poor Neville and his libido. Also, real life sucks here!

So, here's another chapter, but I'm focusing on Princes in Exile right now while I'm in and out of the hospital with my son.

Love, Mar

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Saturday came far too slowly for Neville’s peace of mind. They’d not had Potions again because Slughorn had been feeling unwell and Hermione wasn’t certified to teach their level of class. Officially. She had been re-teaching Snape’s lessons to her Gryffindor classmates since their first year.

Neville was awake before the alarm went off, dressed and waiting in the Common room by seven in the morning. He was too nervous to eat breakfast, and watched his classmates file out for their morning meal. This was his first date!

At eight forty-five, he headed down to the main entrance and down to the gates. Filch waited there with his Sneakoscope, checking for hidden magical items besides wands. Neville waited and watched until he saw her coming out of the front entrance with a couple of girls from Ravenclaw. She’d thrown a light cloak over her Muggle jeans and jumper. The stark white of the sweater made the blackness of her hair stand out that much more, the blue sheen of it shone in the morning sun. He smiled as she got closer.

Breaking away from her House-mates, Mary rushed over to Neville and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck to draw him down for a kiss, a kiss that awakened parts of Neville that he’d just gotten to calm down!

“Hi. I missed you,” Mary whispered against his lips. He hugged her tighter and kissed her again, his hand sliding down beneath her cloak to cup her hip lightly.

“Hey, you two, break it up! Bloody children, thinking with their hormones and not their brains. Don’t know how the lot of them every graduate with their thinking gettin’ done by their genitals.” Filch shooed the two of them apart. He allowed them and the two Ravenclaw girls to leave the grounds after them. Neville took her hand halfway to Hogsmeade, hearing the giggles behind him, but determined to ignore the girls. Harry was right, girls travel in packs, like wolves, or Hippogriffs.

“I—I have to pick up new parchment and quills, then I thought I could take you f-for some tea? If, you know, that’s alright with you?”

Mary smiled at him; well she hadn’t stopped smiling really. “Oh, I have to get a couple of new books, but other than that, I’d like that. How have classes been this week?”

“Barely noticed then, actually. All I could think about was today.” Neville blushed and ducked his head down. Mary laughed and squeezed his hand.

“Me too,” she whispered back.

They walked slowly, purposely allowing the Ravenclaw girls to pass them until they were the only students on the path. With a wicked gleam in her eyes, Mary pulled him off the path and into the woods. He hurried after her, his hand still encased within hers.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going in far.”

“Do you know what lives in here? Giant bloody spiders, centaurs, bugs of all shape and size and Merlin knows what else Hagrid finds in here!”

Mary laughed and pulled him behind her. Neville sighed in resignation and followed her. After a couple of minutes, they ended up in a clearing. Mary pulled her wand out and a small basket from beneath her robes. With a swish and flick, she had a full-sized picnic basket resting on the ground between them. She smiled and started to set out their picnic, Neville helping her spread the flannel blanket over the cool grass.

“I snuck down to the kitchens last night and asked the House-elves to make us something. I hope you didn’t eat a big breakfast.”

“I barely ate,” he admitted as she started to take the food out of the basket, lifting the stasis charm she’d cast the night before to keep the food safe.

“Me neither.”

Neville looked around at the small clearing. Sun shone through the treetops, autumn leaves falling around them, floating to the ground at their feet. He bent over and picked up a red and gold leaf, twirling it around and admiring the beauty of it, appreciating it as he silently longed for summer to keep its hold on nature for a short time longer. Mary finished putting out the dishes and sighed in satisfaction.

“You know, the forest isn’t all that horrible in the daytime. I come in here all the time, and this is my favorite place of all. It’s quiet and sometimes the small animals come in and I feed them. I don’t get to do that living in Diagon Alley.”

“I guess you wouldn’t.” Neville watched her kick off her shoes and sink down to the edge of the blanket. After a moment’s hesitation, he did the same, sitting across from her. His nervousness returned, and he didn’t know what to do first. Did he serve her? His deportment lessons with Grandmother never involved the etiquette of picnicking in the woods. She took the choice out of his hands when she reached over and grabbed a chicken leg and started to fill her plate.

“I’ve never been on a picnic before.”

“I’ve never been on one with a boy before. Mum and I hallways go on them in the summer, when she’s not stuck in the shop, at least.”

“What kind of business does she have?”

“She’s an apothecary. She can’t talk. The first time the Dark Lord was around, Death Eaters cut out her tongue. She and I use sign language to talk.”

“I’m sorry about your mother.” Neville muttered.

She smiled at him, her head cocked to one side.

“Well, dig in. It’s not going to keep for long now that the freshness charm’s been lifted.” Mary blushed, remembering the way she’d felt the last time they’d been alone together, when they’d touched each other in the alcove outside her Common Room.

They ate, talking about their classes. They avoided the subject of the revival of Voldemort, both of them having been hurt too much by the Dark Lord’s followers the last time. They laughed together about how Pansy’s hair had turned Weasley orange after Peeves ‘accidently’ dropped a charmed water balloon on her head in the Great Hall, and wondered if she’d gotten the dye out yet. The Slytherin girl still hadn’t returned from the infirmary, refusing to go back to classes until her hair returned to normal. By the time the sun was far above in the sky, they had eaten their fill and Neville lay with his head in Mary’s lap, with her sitting against a nearby tree. She had cast a warming charm over the two of them and they just sat, her fingers brushing through his short dark hair.

“What happened to your father, Mary? You’ve told me about your mum, but nothing about him.”

“I… I don’t think my mother knows who it is. She doesn’t talk about the Dark Lord’s first reign very much. And since she’s Muggleborn, I think she may have been, you know, forced.” She looked away from his caring gaze, having never told anyone this much about herself before.

Neville reached up and stroked her cheek until she turned back to him. “Mary, it doesn’t matter to me. I was just making small talk.”

“You’re this Pureblood icon, Nev. It’s kind of intimidating.”

He sat up and frowned back at her. “What kind of shite is that? Hell, until my uncle dropped me out a window and I bounced, everyone despaired of me being a Squib. I’m no icon. If Harry’s parents hadn’t been the one V-Voldemort went after 16 years ago, I’d be the one with a scar. It’s bad enough neither of us had parents to raise us. Pureblood, Muggleborn, half-blood, none of it matters, Mary.” He leaned forward and captured her partially opened mouth in a gentle kiss. His hand stroked down until he cupped her left breast inexpertly, his thumb rubbing across her puckered nipple.

“Oh!” Mary pulled away slightly, breathing her surprise across his lips. He laughed and kissed her again, a little harder. “Does this mean we’re dating, Neville?”

“Yes! A-as long as that’s what you want, love?”

Mary laughed and launched herself at the Gryffindor, wrapping her arms around his neck. Their combined weight and momentum knocked them down to the blanket, their hands tangling with each other’s as they groped beneath shirts until Neville stilled with Mary’s hand cupping his erection through his jeans. He had to put a stop to it; they still had to go into the village and meet up with their classmates, which he couldn’t do if he came in his pants again.

“Wait. Let’s meet in the greenhouses after dinner tomorrow. We still have to go to Hogsmeade.”

“Bugger Hogsmeade.”

“Well, if we continue, oh god that feels good,” he moaned as she stroked him through the material of his pants. If anything, his cock got even harder. “If we keep going, I’m going tocuminmypantsagain!” he hissed and pulled his waist away from her roving, curious hand.

“What?”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“Fine. It’s getting late anyway.” Mary stood quickly and turned away from her new boyfriend. Grimacing in discomfort and displeasure, Neville followed her to his feet and pulled her back into his arms. He hugged her close and pressed his lips against her ear, blowing into it with every exhalation.

“The last time you touched me, I came in my underwear and had to walk back to Gryffindor tower all wet and sticky. I wasn’t looking forward to doing that all around Hogsmeade, too.” Instinctively, and remembering watching an older Prefect doing it to his girlfriend three years before, he nipped her ear and pulled away. He grinned at the cherry red color of her face.

“I guess we better get everything and head into town.”

“I’ll help. It was a wonderful picnic, Mary, thank you.”


Fifteen minutes later, carrying a shrunken picnic basket on her arm, Mary and Neville entered Hogsmeade. A few of their friends watched them walking hand in hand.