Who: Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan (NPC), and Neville Longbottom Where: The Abbott Estate, Godric's Hollow When: Very late Saturday night/very early Sunday morning What: Hannah's waiting for news Rating: Low
The couch in the television room was much more comfortable, but the formal sitting room and library of Hannah's house faced the front walk and gates, and that's what she had to stare at, so that's why Ernie Macmillan was sleeping on the blue velvet couch as she sat in an armchair, staring into the darkness in front of her house. There was a loud grunt, and one of the dogs popped up, woken up from the noise; it was Coco, and the dog sleepily turned in a circle three times before dropping back to the floor and closing her eyes. Ernie made another loud grunt as he turned over on the couch; Ernie snored so loudly, Hannah sometimes got his snoring confused with the dogs, but they had been so close for so long, she could tune it out effortlessly at this point. She hated asking Ernie to come over and stay with her when she was lonely or depressed or sick because he would drop absolutely everything for her, just like she would do the same for him--but lately, she felt like she was always screwing up anymore. Not that Ernie didn't seem to thrive on taking care of her. She just wished Ernie wasn't so quick to agree that she was helpless and needed him to guide the way.
It made her think about Neville: he was probably the only man (well, he was a man, not just a boy!) in her life who took care of her without making her feel like...well, like a child needing to be coddled. Anton and Ernie were the same, just that Ernie at least knew that Hannah could fight and be useful. Justin--heck, Justin was barely even speaking to her! And the other boys were content to let Ernie take the lead on her. But Neville was different. He seemed to think that she was so much more, even more than she gave herself credit for. It was like him believing in her so much was slowly, slowly starting to rub off.
And that's why she was waiting up for him, had demanded he come by and show himself to be safe: because she needed him to be okay. For reasons she couldn't even begin to explain, she needed him to be okay. She kept thinking of Mr. Lovegood and feeling her stomach tighten: no, he had to be okay.
Ernie was rumbling out another massive snore, and it concealed the sound of Neville Apparating in front of the gate; Hannah didn't notice him until he was halfway to the door. She stood, nearly knocking over Luna's basket as she ran to the door and threw it open, running out in bare feet to meet him. "Oh, thank Merlin," she sighed, flinging her arms around him and holding tight.