Don't worry even if things end up a bit too heavy Characters: The Longbottom-Lovegood Household (including Swash the Pirate Kitten and Herbert of the Many Teeth) Summary: Far from the Ministry of Magic, it's another world. This is happening at the same time as this scene.
Neville collapsed back on the sofa, stretching full length and letting out a long sigh of relief at finally stopping. Without being able to use his magic for even the most menial of jobs, for fear of accidentally damaging something, and with Faelan still recovering from his bad experience around the full moon, the nursery had never been such hard work. In some respects it was heartening, as it had finally brought home to him how much the business had grown since its creation, but mostly it was just exhausting, and with the plants as lifeless as they currently were, the business might not be around all that much longer. His only consolation was that his was not the only nursery affected, and so his customers had not begun to abandon him. Yet.
Fed up with his negative thoughts, Neville let his eyes fall shut. It only took a few more weary sighs before he was soundly asleep and completely oblivious to the light pressure of reptilian feet making their way steadily up his jean covered legs.
Luna's skipping turned into tiptoeing when she entered the living room and realized that Neville was asleep. She didn't want to wake him; he was working far too hard. It seemed like they all were, having to do by hand what their magic normally did with little effort. Quietly, she knelt beside the sofa, leaned her head against Neville's arm, and smiled at the other member of the family who seemed to have joined him earlier. "Silly Herbert, you're supposed to be in your tank," she whispered, stroking the lizard's head and back and receiving a toothy grin in response. "Though I can't blame you. Neville's a much nicer heat source than warming spells."
The sound of Luna's voice gently roused Neville from his nap. Unfortunately, when he blinked and his eyes sought out her face, the first thing his gaze was drawn to was the mouthful of teeth currently residing on his stomach. Knowing better than moving and risking those teeth being used to hold on, he stiffened instead and drew comfort from Luna's presence.
"How does he keep getting out of his tank?" he asked, voice affected by his clenched jaw. "Could you move him?"
"Obviously, he's smarter than the tank. Which isn't all that surprising, really, considering that his tank doesn't have a brain." Luna slid her hand under Herbert's stomach and lifted him, gently disentangling his claws from Neville's shirt when he resisted her moving him. She cuddled him close to make up for the loss of his napping place. "Who's a smart lizard? That's right, you are!" she crooned to him.
Neville cautiously sat up, watching Herbert carefully in case the lizard tried to lunge at him. It didn't, but it did bare its teeth. "I don't really mind him being a clever lizard," Neville said, rubbing at his stomach. "But I wish he didn't think I was his personal heater." His fingers found a small hole in his shirt from Herbert's claws and he grimaced.
He started when another visitor suddenly jumped onto his shoulder, and then groaned. Why were their pets always attracted to him? They were Luna's animals really. It was like there was some big conspiracy amongst Luna's menagerie to wind him up. Plucking Swash off, he deposited the kitten on the arm of the sofa. "Are Nimue and Gawain asleep?" he asked Luna, leaning around Herbert to kiss her cheek.
Luna turned her face to catch Neville's lips in a quick kiss. "They're awake. They were intent on their playthings, and I thought I'd come check up on you while they were occupied. Goodness knows how long that will last, of course." She rolled onto her toes to stand up without disturbing Herbert. "I should get someone back into his tank anyhow, so I'll leave you to your nap, unless you want to join us in the nursery."
"I'm up," Neville said, standing - a little unsteadily - to prove his point. "If I nap too long I won't sleep properly tonight," he added, repeating his Gran's wisdom. When Swash made another jump at him, he sighed and allowed the kitten to perch on his shoulder. "You should have been born a parrot," he muttered under his breath.
The walk upstairs woke him up some more, and he had a bright smile on his face for his children as he entered the nursery. "Hello, chiblets. What have you been up to today?"
Nimue and Gawain were in their large wooden play pen, piles of what was probably too many toys scattered about them. Gawain had spread his pink blanket over his legs and was examining some new blocks he had been given by Mrs Bramley. Nimue was playing with the transforming cuddly toy that Padma had given her, it still proving to be the best toy ever from the little girl's point of view. Both children looked up at the sound of Neville's voice and yelled "Dada" in greeting.
Luna trailed in as the twins called out, having stopped to replace Herbert before following Neville up to the nursery. She went over to the window and leaned on the sill, gazing out wistfully. "You know, it's such a nice day. Why don't we all go outside?" She smiled indulgently at Nimue. "Nimue will probably find something even more exciting than that plushie of hers. We'll have to watch out for Gawain though, he might convince an ant colony or two to become his personal army."
Neville laughed at her comment. "It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I think your mother is having a bad influence on him. Come then, Sprog," he said to the boy in question, reaching into the playpen and lifting Gawain out. He smiled when Gawain bussed his cheek, and returned the kiss as his son expected. All joking aside, Gawain seem to have inherited an unreasonable amount of charm from somewhere. Neville doubted very much it came from the Longbottom side.
"Now, now, my mother helped raise me, and I turned out just fine. No ant armies yet." Luna lifted Nimue out and settled the girl on her hip, sucking her lip as she continued to ponder while simultaneously attempting to extract a toy that kept changing shape from tiny, determined fingers. "It would be awfully interesting to have an ant army though. Getting into people's clothes, raiding sugar bowls, and ruining picnics... for great justice!"
Nimue's face screwed up when Luna managed to tug her plushie free. "Come now, you don't want it to get dirty. Mummy's cleaning charms would probably ruin it these days, and Daddy's aren't much better off." Luna bounced Nimue a few times and made faces until she giggled. "There we go. Let's see what you can get into out back. At the very least, I think there's a duckling or two to meet."
Outside the sun was hot, but there was also a cooling breeze which swept the last of Neville's weariness away. The twins' excited babbling also helped in that respect. They loved being outside, and Neville thought that was something they had got from him and Luna both. They were bright children, interested in everything around them. Nimue displayed a much more active desire to crawl after the objects of her fascination and explore, but Gawain was also taking everything in, looking carefully around him before deciding what in the garden was the most fun. Neville watched both his children carefully, holding one of Luna's hands in his, his thumb lightly brushing her skin.
"Love you," he said quietly, then raised her hand and kissed the back of it.
He had to drop her hand immediately after, and dash after Nimue, who was getting a little too near the pond. While Neville had put up a low fence when his barrier charms had stopped working, he knew that one could never be too careful when Nimue was determined to look at something.
"I love you too," Luna called after him, seeing no reason to be quiet about such a thing. Since Neville had taken the task of making sure Nimue didn't try drowning herself as her next adventure, Luna followed Gawain over to the garden Neville had set up beside his greenhouse. He was far less likely than his sister to get into something dangerous, if only because it would inconvenience him, but if there was mischief to be made amongst the rows of plants, he would surely find a way. She might have been joking about ant armies, but now that she'd thought of it, she wouldn't put it past him to convince a group of them to steal cookies for him.
When she caught up to Gawain, she noted that his fingers and lips were suspiciously stained red, and he was hiding one hand behind his back while looking up at her with wide, innocent eyes. Luna sighed at the accuracy of her predictions. "All right, young man, what have you got there? Your dad won't let you outside again until you're thirty if you've managed to poison yourself, you know." She pulled Gawain's hand out from behind his back and began prying his fingers open. After she ignored his tragic sigh, he opened his hand, and a mangled, gnawed strawberry fell out. Luna blinked. She might not have gone for a Herbology NEWT, but she did know that strawberries didn't usually ripen in the middle of May. "Where did you get that?"
Any thought of admonishing Gawain for chewing on things in the garden fled as she inspected the strawberry plants. Sure enough, one of them had fruited, dripping with small but fully ripened strawberries. "Neville! Come here! We've got strawberries already!" She plucked one and took a bite, smiling as the sweet juice burst over her tongue.
Neville walked over, Nimue slung over his shoulder, her arms reaching out towards the interesting watery doom he had just prevented her from embracing. Catching sight of the strawberries he frowned. "Unusual," he commented. "Not unheard of, but strange that it's just the one coming out so early. Maybe it's been affected by all the magic cock-ups. Still, at least we've got something for pudding tonight." His eyes alighted on Gawain. "Please tell me you fed him that." Neville groaned. "As soon as he's old enough to understand, he's getting a lecture on not eating from strange plants. They both are. It's that or I ban them from the nursery. Thank Merlin, I only grow edible produce out here.
"Are you getting this, Petal?" he asked Nimue, removing her from his shoulder and holding her up in front of him. She giggled at his stern look, and poked at his nose with her finger. "No respect," Neville bemoaned, before blowing a raspberry on Nimue's neck and making her shriek.
Luna decided that silence was the better part of valor for that topic and ignored it. "Do you think you can manage to keep both of them out of trouble, relatively speaking, for a minute while I go get a bowl for the strawberries?" At Neville's quick nod, she dashed into the house and rummaged around for a mixing bowl to hold the fruit.
Over the clatter, she thought she heard something in the living room. She stopped moving. There it was again, a sort of whoosh-click noise. Her heart racing, clutching the mixing bowl to her chest with her wand held aloft in front of her, for all the good it would do, she crept to the living room doorway and peeked inside. There was... nothing. And then the noise came again, from the direction of the fireplace. She scratched her head with the butt end of her wand and shrugged. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so she headed back outside.
"Sorry it took a bit longer than expected," she said as she approached Neville and the twins. "I think our fireplace is possessed now. That should be interesting."
Neville tried to look as innocent as possible when Luna came back outside with a bowl. Unfortunately, his accomplices bore the signs of their crime smeared around their lips. After licking his own, he grinned at his wife. "Wouldn't surprise me, what with everything else that's been going on."
His smile faltered when he thought of the last Order meeting he had attended, and the different pieces of news and rumours he had heard since. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do for now, and so he shoved his concerns once more to the back of his mind. His time was better spent enjoying his family rather than futilely worrying about everything.
Recovering his smile, he picked another strawberry and rubbed it teasingly against Luna's lips. "Your turn," he invited.
Luna smiled back at Neville, wrapping her fingers around his wrist to hold his hand steady while she bit into the strawberry. "There've been a lot of bad things happening lately, yes, but it's not all bad. Just think, today alone, Nimue didn't drown herself, Gawain didn't charm an anthill, and we have strawberries, in May." She licked the sweet juice from her lips and bent over to catch the back of Nimue's shirt as the girl attempted to dash away after a butterfly. "It will all turn out somehow."