Chapter 24: Just Another Day in Paradise

Neville was up early the next morning, but it wasn't quite early enough. He had hoped to see his mureux pluma at sunrise, but the sun was already shining in through the windows. He'd missed it again. He got dressed and wandered downstairs, curling up in one of the armchairs by the window quietly, not sure what to do with himself. It was another lovely day out. He didn't quite want to go down to the greenhouses yet without seeing the others…or at least seeing Ginny.

To his surprise, Ginny wasn't the next person to come down the stairs. Luna's voice floated towards him. There she was, padding down the stairs barefoot. "Good morning, Neville."

"Morning, Luna." He had half-forgotten about her arrival yesterday with all the goings-on with Snape occupying his mind. He wasn't sure exactly what to say. "Have…have things been okay at home?"

She moved to lean against the windowsill. "The protective spells make Daddy a little anxious. He's worried they'll keep out the exotic wildlife. We've been fine though. We're planning a trip for the Christmas holidays. He'll be alright."

There was a silence.

She looked out the window. "I like the view from this tower."

Neville looked out of it, down at the Lake, able to see the forest in the distance. "What's the view from Ravenclaw Tower like?" he asked curiously.

"The windows in Ravenclaw mostly look out over the lawns, rather clean and orderly. The Lake looks so peaceful from here, but if you were to just fly down to it and go beneath the surface, there's so much more. It's teeming with life. I'm sure there's no one who knows everything that's in it. With all the magic in this place I'm sure there are things in the Lake that aren't anywhere else. It's old…very, very old," she said softly.

He looked at her, a little surprised by the tone.

She smiled. "There's so much in the world just waiting to be noticed. Or maybe not. Some things are quite happy to go along as they are without an interference or attention." She smiled a little more, looking a little vague. "I'm going to take a walk."

"Breakfast should be here in a while," Neville offered.

She nodded, turning and ambling out of the tower, leaving Neville alone again. She blinked to himself, wondering if she realized she wasn't wearing any shoes, but she was already gone.

Neville watched the sunlight on the water. He didn't know how long he watched it. Eventually he thought he saw a single figure walking along the water's edge.

"G'morning, Ne'lle," Ginny said, yawning in the middle of his name. She stretched her arms over her head, the hem of her shirt rising a bit.

He looked at her, shifting in the armchair, moving over a bit in case she wanted to sit with him. "Hi, Ginny."

She leaned against the window, looking down at the water. "Is that Luna down there?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She came down a little while ago. She went out without her shoes," he added.

Ginny shrugged and looked at him, a twitch of a smile on her face. "She does that sometimes. She says it's better for knowing where she is, and wherever she is knowing who she is."

"What?"

Ginny chuckled, raising her hands in surrender before coming over to sit on the arm of his chair. She leaned sideways a bit, resting her head on his. "Plans for today?"

He took a deep breath and moved his arm so it rested against her back, not quite wrapping around. "Well, I figured I'd see what you might want to do. There's always more to do in the greenhouses. Or we could take another pass at those books from Snape." He could feel her nod against his head as spoke.

"We could save our reading for tonight. It's gorgeous out right now. We could go swimming," Ginny suggested.

"After the Giant Squid and Ron last time?" he asked, skeptical.

She laughed. "I'm sure it'd be fine. First things first though. Breakfast."

There was a crack of imploding air behind them as Dobby appeared, bringing with him plates of toast and scrambled eggs, as well as a kettle of tea, and other breakfast items. "Good morning, Miss Wheezy, Neville Longbottom, sir!" the house-elf said cheerfully.

Ginny slithered off the arm of the chair, and Neville followed her. They greeted Dobby cheerfully and sat down to their breakfast after they assured him they didn't need anything else. They ate quietly for a few minutes before Hermione joined them, a notebook under her arm. She greeted them a little absently, opening her notebook.

"What's that?"

She brushed her hair out of her face. "Notes. I was up late thinking about the Bellatrix Lestrange thing. Trying to look at it logically and see what we can and can't do."

Neville nodded. Trust Hermione to see things rationally.

She grimaced. "Mostly everything just seems to go in circles. But I'm looking for a way out of it."

He nodded again, feeling a bit resigned. There had to be something they could do, something they were missing. He shivered, the thought of Lestrange making him hot and cold at the same time. He was angry, but all the same…Gryffindor Tower felt strangely cold, as if the walls could be looking at him, cold and unfeeling. "I think you were right about going outside, Ginny. I want to work in the greenhouse for a bit, and then maybe swimming."

Ginny grinned, and Neville thought the room felt a little sunnier. "We can put our swimsuits on under our clothes and bring towels down with us. Save us a trip back to the Tower." It sounded like a good plan, and Neville headed back up to his dormitory. Hermione watched him go and then started speaking quietly to Ginny.

Ron and Harry were both still sleeping, though Harry was wearing his glasses, as though he'd considered getting up, and hadn't quite had the energy to follow through with it. Neville found his swim trunks and put them on, still wearing a t-shirt with it, and putting on his sneakers again. He slung his towel over his shoulder. He started for the door and changed his mind, going back and taking his book bag. He could trust Hermione. If she really thought she might be able to come up with something about this situation…he ought to let her try.

She was still at the table, frowning, the end of a plastic pen in her mouth.

"I thought these might help," he offered, setting the bag at her feet. The words fell out of his mouth, stumbling only a little. "Snape gave me these books when I told him I was trying to identify the flower. Yesterday, after I met with him, I thought he'd taken them back…but they were still in the bag. I think there's still something in them I'm supposed to find…"

She looked up at him, and surprise briefly flashed over her face, and then the expression softened. "I know this has been really hard for you, Neville. Thank you for trusting me. I'll do my best to see what I can find." She opened the bag and gently took out one of the books.

"Ready to go?" Neville saw Ginny come down the stairs with a towel over her shoulder, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt over her swimsuit.

"Sure. I was just waiting for you." They left together, and Hermione watched them go, sighing and looking briefly up at the empty boys' staircase before turning her attention to the first book.

Neville was soon elbows deep in dirt, attempting to untangle the roots of a particularly wriggly plant without uprooting it. The roots were used in healing potions, but they were fragile, and plant was highly energetic. It had a tendency to tie its own roots in knots if they weren't seen to regularly and disentangled. The knots ended up choking the roots and killing the plant. Ginny had filled the watering can and was making her way around the greenhouse, trying to remember which plants needed how much water and checking with Neville when she wasn't sure. "C'mon," he murmured. "You don't like being tied up in knots. You want to grow long and straight…leave lots of room for the worms to come through and aerate the soil." He didn't notice when Ginny set down her watering can and just stood for a few minutes, watching him work, listening to him cajole the plant. She couldn't help but smile.

"Can I try?"

He looked up, surprised, almost pulling his hands out of the soil too quickly and disrupting the roots. "This one is just about done. I can show you how to do the next one." They settled on either side of the next plant over. Neville showed her how to loosen the soil around it, slowly working their hands in. "You see, the roots are really fragile, but the plant gets worked up really easily. The roots end up tying themselves in knots, and everything below the knot eventually gets choked off and dies, and the fewer living roots there are to get nutrients…and the plant needs a lot of them. Look at how thick the stem is, and how big the leaves are. It takes a lot to keep it going."

She nodded, slowly working her hands into the soil, finding the end of one of the roots and following it upward, attempting to untangle it and breaking off a small piece. She swore under her breath.

The word sounded funny somehow, coming out of her lips, her hair falling in her face and Neville couldn't help laughing. He had enjoyed gardening with his grandfather. Since then it had been so much of a source of therapy for him, of feeling good at something, good about himself, of taking care of something…he hadn't realized until recently that he could enjoy doing it with someone else again. "The other thing about untangling them is that they break off sometimes. It's okay. They're useful. By straightening them out like this, we give them a chance to grow better and make it easier to remove one of the roots as a long single piece if it's needed for a potion." He looked at her with a bit of surprise, wondering how the topic hadn't come up before, and asked, "What's your favorite subject?"

By the time they'd done enough work in the greenhouse to satisfy Neville, they were both sweating. Neville wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, leaving a streak of dirt there. His muscles were just the right sort of sore for having worked hard for a few hours. They lay sprawled on the grass on one side of the greenhouse, where there was still a bit of shade—it wasn't noon yet. "Hermione might come out to join us. She hadn't made up her mind when we left earlier."

Neville nodded, closing his eyes. He could smell the grass and the dirt around him. Alive. Maybe Luna had a point earlier about how many people missed so much life that was just sitting there, growing and being in its own way.

Ginny propped herself on her elbows, her eyes twinkling a bit. "She had Ron on her mind this morning and was trying to decide whether or not to come out here. She's noticed that he seems to be noticing her…but she's doubting herself since he doesn't exactly seem to be real eager to do anything about it. She's worried that she imagined he was noticing she was a girl. When you went upstairs to change, she was asking me about it." She laughed, laying back down in the grass, putting her hands behind her head.

Neville turned his head and arched an eyebrow. "Well, Ron did finally notice. He said as much back at the Burrow. I don't know if he's planning on doing anything about it. We don't exactly talk about those things…but after we went swimming that day, he basically asked Harry and I when Hermione…" He trailed off, embarrassed.

She chuckled. "Developed? Matured? Grew a pair of breasts?"

He felt his face get a little pink. "Basically."

She tilted her head curiously. "I'm not surprised Ron didn't notice 'til now. When did you notice?"

He groaned, rolling his eyes, not really liking this train of conversation. "Can we not have this conversation?"

She rolled towards him and propped herself up on one elbow. "C'mon," she wheedled. "It'd be nice to know not all guys are as dense as my brother. I won't say a word."

He sighed, his eyes darting over at her briefly before he closed them. "You do understand that I don't like her like that now, right?" he asked, hesitating.

She kept a straight face. "I completely understand."

Neville let out a breath, "Probably during third year?"

Ginny nodded. "Fair enough. Nice to see not all guys are as slow as my brother." She shook her head. "I had a thing for Harry when I was eleven. Seems bizarre that it takes so long for some people."

Neville said nothing, and just nodded.

"Seems weird now that I know him better, to think about how long I had a crush on him." She laughed. "He's like a brother to me." She shook her head, laughing again as she sat up. "Come on. Let's go swimming." She scrambled to her feet, and he followed, just remembering to grab their towels.

Down at the water's edge, Luna was sitting, dangling her feet in, not moving anything except her mouth. She was talking, though they couldn't see much of anything for her to be talking to.

"Hi, Luna." Ginny took her towel from Neville and hung it from the branch of a tree. She pulled her shirt over her head. "How are you?"

She looked up slowly, turning her head to look at them. "Good. I was just talking to the polliworschts."

Ginny nodded as though this was perfectly natural. She kicked off her shoes, and stood on one foot at a time to take off her socks. "Sounds like fun," she said cheerfully, taking off her shorts, so that she stood in just her swimsuit. "If we jump in, are we going to disturb you and the ploll—"

"—polliworschts. No, not at all. It's fine." She kicked her legs slightly in the water and the hem of her pants unrolled a bit, getting wet.

Neville stood self-consciously a moment before taking off his shoes and socks. He pulled his shirt over his head, and followed Ginny into the water, a little ways from Luna, so as not to disturb whatever she thought she was talking to.

Ginny ducked her head under the water and came up, her hair plastered back on her head, getting it all out of her face. They bobbed in the water together for a bit, laughing and talking. The sunlight glinted on Ginny's hair, and Neville couldn't help staring at her a bit while they talked. He doggy paddled a little closer to shore, wanting to be able to stand. She came closer to him, still treading water. He started to ask, "Ginny, do y—"

"No, Hermione, I don't think you're being reasonable!"

"Honestly, Ron, it wouldn't take that much of your time!"

"But I've already written it once! What would be the bloody point in reading it again?"

"The point would be so that McGonagall doesn't knock off three points every time you misspell 'transfiguration' or 'modification'. All you need to do is check your work before you turn it in, and your marks would be a lot higher."

Neville looked up, wondering whether the arrival Ron and Hermione was a gift or a curse. At any rate, Ginny's attention had shifted and she was looking at them with a glance two parts amusement, one part mild irritation. Harry trailed behind them, shaking his head.

Ginny started wading towards the shore, looking at Harry with exasperation as he approached. "How long have they been at it this time?"

"At least an hour. I'm not really sure how they got started."

"This all started because Ronald wanted to copy my transfiguration essay. I told him no, and then I find out he's tried copying it, and didn't even copy it correctly." She shook her head, annoyed, and sat on the ground, looking at Ginny and Neville between her knees, leaning backwards on her palms. Ginny and Neville clambered to the shore and found their towels. Ginny dried off and put hers back on the branch. Neville wrapped his around his waist. He could see Ron grumbling to Harry, probably about Hermione. With a crack, Dobby appeared, bearing a picnic lunch and blanket for them all.

"I'll go get Luna," offered Hermione, seeing the girl sitting some ways off. Ron and Hermione settled themselves as far from each other as possible when they all sat down. Fortunately, Luna decided to tell them all about the polli-whatsits, saving anyone else from having to make conversation to diffuse the tension between Ron and Hermione. Hermione had decided not to talk to, look at, or even comment on Ron, even when he dripped something or other onto his shirt. Instead, she forced an interest in Luna's topic of conversation. Ron opted to grumble something to Neville and Harry from time to time about how ridiculous girls were. Harry alternated between noncommittally agreeing and telling Ron he was an ass. Neville didn't say much. From time to time, his glance strayed to Ginny. She had finished eating and stretched out on her towel in the sun.

Ron was in the midst of an irate monologue when Harry nudged Neville in the ribs and said under his breath, "You might want to put your eyes back in your skull. Eventually he's going to notice."

Neville snickered softly and flicked his eyes at Ron. "Not in this century." Just as well...it might take Neville that long to get over her.

Author's Note: Okay, so admittedly, this chapter was a bit fluffy. Are you going to hold it against me? Does the progression seem fairly natural to you? Please review and let me know what you think. I don't know how many more chapters there are going to be. At least a couple. My original plan had been to take this through to September first, but I don't know. What do you think? Tell me, tell me. Please? I'm having a lot of fun with this story.