I'm having daydreams about night things... Date & Time: 24 September, 2002 Post Type: Note, Introspection Status: Closed: Complete Character(s): Mandy Brocklehurst, Neville Longbottom, Byron Grant (NPC) Location: Her office, his desk, St. Mungo's Summary: Mandy daydreams, then leaves Neville a note.
Merlin, it was hard to focus on work. Slow in the ward, other things more pleasant to imagine, and a full stomach from lunch did nothing to help. Mandy found herself staring out the window, a quill in her hand dripping ink onto the parchment on her desk.
"Make-your-own-inkblot test?" Byron chuckled, perching on the end of Mandy's desk, and she looked up, startled.
"Make your own... Oh." Mandy smiled, giving her co-worker a sheepish shrug as she cleaned up the ink. "Woolgathering," she added, shaking her head. "Too many patients to go home, not enough to keep me occupied. Not that I'm complaining. Next week we'll be swamped and living on coffee and toast."
Byron laughed. "Yeah, if we're lucky enough to get toast. So what's got you gathering said wool? Or should I say who?"
Mandy gave him a look. "You know who," she pointed out, laying her quill aside. "You're just trying to get me to say it again because you like watching me turn red."
"Well, yeah," he admitted, nodding. "Because that's always amusing. So how is Longbottom, anyway?"
"He's fabulous, just so you know," she said, looking Byron in the eye. She waited for the warmth to flood her cheeks, pleasantly surprised when it didn't.
"Fabulous, is he?" Bryon was vaguely disappointed by the lack of red, but he was pleased to see Mandy's smile. She looked genuinely happy, and he was glad of that. "Well then. I'll leave you to the wool and Mr. Fabulous. Just don't tie him up with it. Oh, and I was supposed to give you this." He handed her a sheet of parchment. "New apothecary pricing for employees, and tea shop changes. Blah blah blah..." He slid off her desk and headed for the door. "Tell Fab I said hi, willya?"
Mandy shook her head, tucking the memo away as Byron left, then turned back to her note. Well, the blank parchment she'd meant to be a note... She glanced out the window again, her mind wandering off to the morning she'd woken up at Neville's, and she sighed. He'd been so gentle. So loving. She wondered just how far they would have gone, given the chance, and realised that there wasn't anything that she wanted more. She wanted him. And she'd planned for it... Now just to make it work...
Well, she was a Ravenclaw. Planning and making things work was what she did.
She toyed with the quill for a moment before beginning to write.
Neville,
Just wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you, right this minute. I've been thinking about you since lunchtime, actually, but right now? Right this minute, doing it again.
I dreamed about you again last night. I'm sure you could guess what we'd been doing.
And I know you said you were busy with those pods. Some pods. Pods, right? Anyway, busy for a few evenings.
So I wanted you to know. You're on my mind.
I love you.
Mandy
She read it through, contemplated not sending it at all, then folded it into a neat square. It slid into an envelope. Neville Longbottom, she wrote neatly, then activated the tiny Floo.
"Longbottom's desk," she said clearly, then sent the note through the little flame, watching it poof out of sight. She wondered how long it would take him to get it and read it. And then chuckled at herself, picking up the apple off her desk and heading to the window. Soon enough.