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Tweak says, "Wanna put your hand there?"

Hannah Abbott (h_abbott) wrote in irreparable,
@ 2010-10-23 22:32:00

Entry tags:

hannah abbott, neville longbottom

WHO: Hannah Abbott and Neville Longbottom
WHEN: Sunday Morning before lunch
WHERE: The Leaky/Hannah's flat, then some nice field area for a spontaneously planned picnic
RATING: Low

Hannah had worked late Saturday night until the pub had closed, letting Lucy spend the night over at her grandparents. While she was rather tempted to owl Neville and ask him to sit for Lucy rather than having the baby spend yet another night away from home, she had found herself unable to ask him to come sit late night and do nothing while Lucy slept. He was a bloke, after all, and a rather nice one at that. She couldn't begin to fathom making someone like that spend a night in caring for someone else's child when he could and likely should be out socializing.

Sunday was her one day off though and she intended to enjoy it. She also had every intention of trying to have Neville come for the sake of socialization. It wasn't like Sunday would be a prime time for a bloke to run out and socialize, so her guilt was significantly less. After heading down to the kitchens and getting some food for a picnic, she packed up a basket and put warming and cooling charms on the appropriate food before sending off an owl to Neville.

Neville,

I'm going to take Lucy on a picnic today for lunch and wondered if you'd like to come along. You can hear Lucy say flower repeatedly if it's any incentive!

-Hannah

With that, she went off to pick Lucy up. There was, as usual, very little fuss. She had already been woken up, fed, bathed, and dressed. Hannah's stepmum really had taken to the grandmother role spectacularly. She returned to the flat to check for a response to Neville and get the food.

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	serpentslayer 2010-10-29 03:02 am UTC (link)
	"Well, you make a living to support her. So that's important." Lucy whapped Neville on the face to get his attention. He turned his head and looked at her. She laughed. He bared his teeth in a rather goofy way. "I'ma get you for that one, silly girl," he said. She laughed even louder, though she didn't really understand much of what he had said. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-10-30 09:53 pm UTC (link)

"I know. I really don't mind it. I just hope I'm not missing too much of her growing up when I'm working. It's... odd. I want the absolute best for her and I want to do all I can to give her that, but at the same time I can't help but feel a little bad when I'm not there to do certain things." It was probably why single parenting was labeled as difficult. It, genuinely, was. Finding the proper balance was utterly impossible.

The slight low of a moment was broken for her by the silly exchange between Neville and Lucy. Hannah grinned, crossing her arms and trying her best to give a stern matron look. It, combined with the grin, probably didn't succeed as well as it could've. "Now, you two, come sit down and eat before I have to get both of you. I know a picky toddler who needs to eat her lunch, at the very least."

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	serpentslayer 2010-10-30 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	Neville set Lucy down on the blanket and sat down beside her. He kept his eyes on her, watching her take in the world around them and explore this unfamiliar setting with each of her senses. "Here you go," Neville said as he turned back to pick up the basket and pass it over to Hannah. "Hopefully nothing was too jostled in transit." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-10-31 02:43 am UTC (link)

"Oh, if it was, you'll just have to eat it." Hannah joked and started to pull various items out, keeping enough space between Lucy and the food as she sat things out. She knew what a little grabber the curious girl could be and the last thing she wanted right then was for her to get a hold of something with a warming charm on it. It wouldn't be bad enough to burn, but it wouldn't be a pleasant sensation. Like most parents, she wanted to help the little girl avoid as much unnecessary pain as possible - and then some.

To further distract, she grabbed a small piece of banana bread out of the basket and put it in front of Lucy on a plate. It was something Lucy loved and, considering the setting, it didn't matter if it ended up getting squished into a crumbly mess while she ate it. Hannah would cut up a few pieces of chicken into very small bites once everything was set out.

She then held out plate to Neville. "Fish, chicken, crisps... banana bread, if you really feel adventurous. I packed enough that I'm sure Lucy would be more than willing to share -" As if to prove her point, the young girl enthusiastically grabbed a piece of the bread and practically threw part of it up in the air in crumb form as she pulled the one handful up to eat it. It made for a bit of a shared mess. Hannah just smiled. "- despite the fact that it seems to be her favorite type of food and the fact that it can get everywhere."

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	serpentslayer 2010-10-31 05:23 pm UTC (link)
	"Wow," he said as she tore into the bread like a little animal. "I think I'll leave the banana bread to Lucy," he said. She was making quite the mess. Neville was just glad it was outside because he couldn't imagine charming this mess out of a carpet. "Well, at least she's enjoying it with all of her senses, right?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-11-01 04:09 am UTC (link)

Hannah laughed a little, nodding. "She'll actually eat a few things on her own without making a mess, but she seems to forget and have more fun playing than eating with the banana bread."

She reached over and tapped on the little girl's leg, then took a bite of food when Lucy turned to look at her. Lucy paused for the briefest of moments, then echoed the motion with a handful of crumbs before going back to giggling and playing with her food.

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	serpentslayer 2010-11-01 04:19 am UTC (link)
	"Monkey see, monkey do, huh?" He laughed. "It's adorable. She learns fast, doesn't she?" Neville reached over and smoothed a chunk of hair that was sticking up on the back of Lucy's head. Her hair was unbelievably fine and soft. Neville was truly smitten with the baby girl. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-11-03 02:58 am UTC (link)

"Monkey - that's rather fitting." Hannah grinned as she reached over and picked a large chunk of crumbs off the blanket and sat it on the edge of Lucy's plate so that she could either eat it or throw it again. The blanket was clean, so either option worked for the slightly protective mother.

"She's a little sponge in every sense of the word. She absorbs everything so fast... and attracts messes."

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	serpentslayer 2010-11-03 05:05 am UTC (link)
	"I wonder how much she'd learn if I started teaching her about plants this early." Neville wasn't completely daft about child development. He knew he couldn't teach her too much right now, but he could start her learning parts names or what plants were toxic. He could bring her pretty flowers and she could be his little herbology protege. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-11-04 04:03 am UTC (link)

"I know she rather likes flowers. It'd be rather lovely if she could get a bit more exposure to plants. Nothing that would eat her fingers or the like, of course. With her, she can randomly grab at things and it can be downright scary if anything breakable is about. I imagine some plants might have the same result." Hannah was still, of course, for anything that would further the little girl's education. Even if it was early, it seemed impossible to really start too early in encouraging things of interest. Still, she trusted Neville with Lucy. "You'd just have to be sure that Monkey didn't grab at anything, which I'm sure you'd be great about."

She relaxed a little and took a few bites of her own food as Lucy actually ate a few of more bites of the bread crumbs. "I've had to put away part of my old frog collection. A ceramic frog or two would've met their death had I not been able to use a charm to fix them. I guess she thinks frogs should be able to hop."

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	serpentslayer 2010-11-04 02:38 pm UTC (link)
	"So I guess I should return the venemous tentacula," Neville said. He was always too nervous to try and make jokes, generally, but Herbology jokes he felt pretty confident about. People still didn't always get them, but at least he enjoyed them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	h_abbott 2010-11-04 08:05 pm UTC (link)
	Hannah laughed, bringing her hands up and putting them on her head in mock worry. "Don't tease me about that. That was the one plant I hated in Herbology." Completely unintentional on Hannah's part, Lucy echoed the dramatic and silly motion of her mother and put her hands up on the top of her head with a rather loud giggle. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	serpentslayer 2010-11-04 09:11 pm UTC (link)
	Neville laughed so hard that he fell on his side. That peel of laughter seemed to delight the baby girl to no end. Neville figured this was why it was a very bad idea to curse in front of small children. Lucy seemed perfectly content to become a brilliant mimic. "You have a tiny copy of yourself, I see," he said, still finding it hard to stop laughing. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-11-04 10:09 pm UTC (link)

Hannah dropped her left hand and slid her right hand down to cover her mouth in an utterly useless attempt to cover her own laughter. She was within her motherly rights to think her daughter utterly brilliant, but even silly little things like this just justified it all the more.

"If only she'd stay tiny like this." Hannah said between laughs, watching Lucy grinning far too much over the laughter she had caused.

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	serpentslayer 2010-11-05 12:08 am UTC (link)
	Neville was finding it hard to resist falling for Hannah. He wanted a little girl just like Lucy and he loved the way Hannah's eyes lit up when she laughed. For the first time in years, there was another girl more beautiful in his mind than Ginny Weasley. Ginny Potter. "Half the fun is watching her grow." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

h_abbott
2010-11-05 03:31 am UTC (link)

Something about that and the idea of her growing up much more made something inside Hannah a little sad. She supposed that was the case with most mothers, since it seemed to be fairly universal that kids were always "my baby" to mums, but Hannah had extra reason to worry about growing up. Growing up, for her, had resulted in losing her mother. Lucy had already lost her father in such a short time; she didn't want Lucy to grow up enough to realize that she was lacking something in just having Hannah and not having a father. Still, regardless of any personal feelings she had, the former Hufflepuff couldn't see herself tying a bloke down in dating. "I suppose so."

Lucy had caught on that the laughter had stopped and, in a rather silly move, repeated the head-covering motion that had started the laughs earlier. Hannah lost it again and reached over, tickling at Lucy's stomach. "You, little Monkey, can stop mocking mummy now."

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