rp log: cho and neville Who: Cho Chang and Neville Longbottom (appearances by Ally too!) When: Backdated to a few days after Neville arrived Where: Stephen's House What: They share a living space.. therefore there must be talking. Status: Logged, Complete
Thank goodness for Floos. It made it so much easier to bypass the cold weather settling over the country and made her trip home as quick as could be. Cho stepped out of the fireplace, hugging a large stack of books to her chest with a smile. She loved this house. She loved coming home and knowing Stephen wouldn't be too far behind her if he wasn't home already. It was much nicer than living alone in her tiny flat.
"Stephen?" Cho waited for a response and when she didn't hear anything set her books down on a small table in the living room. It wasn't all that strange for her to be the first one home and Cho saw this as a chance to spend some time with Ally.
Shrugging out of her robes, Cho kicked off her shoes and headed upstairs to Ally's room. Well, it had started out as one room, but involved into a bedroom and a playroom. It wasn't as though they didn't have the space to spare.
Neville had been in his room when he had heard a female voice calling out for his new 'master', Stephen. Though he had been told he could walk around and be in any room that he so desired, the idea of being in someone else's home without them being there seemed wrong, so he had stayed inside in the room that was now his.
He walked over to the door and placed his ear against the wooden surface. She seemed to be heading towards the child's room, Ally, he think she was called. He turned the doorknob and pull the door open, just enough to put his head out in the hall. He looked over his shoulder for a couple of seconds, eyes on the very comfortable bed, before deciding to go say hello. It would, after all, be impolite of him to ignore their presence, something that his grandmother would have throw a fit over if she had been here.
"Hello?" he said, and moved slowly down the hall, heading towards Ally's room.
Cho was met with a bouncing, giggling little blonde girl the moment she opened the door to Ally's bedroom. It was impossible not to smile when greeted like that. With a bright smile, she dismissed the sitter and knelt down to wrap Ally up in a big hug.
"Hi, sweetheart. Did you have fun today?"
"I coloured!" As though there was something else she would have done with her day. Still, Cho beamed and gave her another hug.
"Did you? How about we go downstairs and you can colour at the kitchen table while I get dinner ready for Stephen, okay?" Ally nodded and Cho stood up, smiling at the little fingers wrapped around one of hers. However she managed to live without this darling was beyond her.
Cho and Ally moved into the hallway and that is when Cho spotted Neville. She knew, of course, he was in the house, but since his arrival, she hadn't crossed paths with him yet. Cho stopped short, not expecting him at that particular moment. She knew exactly where she stood with a large group of people... a group Neville was a part of.
"Erm. Hello, Neville."
Neville had seen them before they noticed him. He stopped, suddenly feeling uncertain if this was a good idea or not. He should have stayed in his room. He leaned up against the wall with his side, arms crossed over his chest. "Chang," he said in a not so kindly tone.
He looked at the little girl, and his eyes immediately softened. He sighed, what was in the past should stay in the past. "Cho," he corrected himself, and offered her a weak but apologetic smile.
"Hello," he said and kneeled down in front of the girl, wincing slightly in pain as his knee hit the carpet. He was still in the healing process, but he figured that he would be completely well within the next couple of days. Or as well as one could be after having endured something like that. "You must be Ally. I'm Neville," he said, smiling gently, and held out his hand for the girl to shake.
Wincing just slightly at Neville's tone, Cho looked away for a moment. Expected or not, it wasn't something she wanted to hear in her own home. Stephen's home, that is. Stephen was so kind and loving that he always expected others to be the same way. Cho knew different, however. Some pasts were never going to be forgiven.
However, when Neville corrected himself, Cho softened and offered Neville a small smile. She very much doubted he would ever like her, but it was important to Stephen that everyone in his home got along and Cho was going to do her best to ensure that happened.
As Neville knelt down, Cho watched with a careful eye. Perhaps she'd have Stephen bring the Healer by just to make sure Neville was healing correctly. Once he greeted Ally, Cho laughed softly as the little girl hid her face inside the folds of Cho's skirt. She lifted a hand to lightly stroke Ally's blonde hair and spoke gently to her. "Sweetheart, that's not polite. Say hello to Neville. He's going to be living here with us from now on."
Ally peeked out from Cho's skirt and considered Neville for a long moment. She looked down at his hand and back to his face before giving Neville a little smile. Reaching out she wrapped her fingers around Neville's thumb and shook it carefully. "Wanna colour?"
Neville couldn't help but laugh at her question. It was childish but in an adorable kind of way. "Sure," he said and nodded. He got up from the floor and looked undecidedly at Cho for a couple of seconds. They ought to talk, he reckoned, but he never personally had a problem with her and to be honest, he wasn't quite sure what to really say to her. And he figured that it might be time to get over the past -- she and Stephen had after all been nothing but kind to him.
"So," he said, eyes on Ally but talking to Cho nevertheless. "How's Hogwarts?" He looked at the former Ravenclaw, now Hogwarts professor. It was weird just talking about his old school, and memories of sitting in the common room or hanging out with his friends in the dormitory came to him so fast that he almost felt dizzy.
"Nearly the same as it was when we were still in school. Some things never change, though have Headmaster Snape in charge makes certain things a bit different. Gryffindor students are looked at more harshly than before and there are obviously fewer students in attendance than there use to be. Aside from that, however, it's very much the same." Cho spoke easily enough as they moved towards the stairs, Ally's hand still snug in hers. Cho truly did love her work, even if her students gave her a headache from time to time. Not to mention the Headmaster.
Pausing at the top of the staircase, Cho held up her hand to Neville to indicate he should stop. Pulling out her wand, Cho transfigured the staircase into a large slide, much to Ally's delight. The little girl squeal and clapped her hands. Cho had to smile. Indulging Ally with a bit of fun was one of her favourite things to do. "Go on…" Cho watched with a fond smile as Ally slid down the slide, giggling the entire time. As she tumbled to the carpet at the end of the stairs, Cho turned her gaze to Neville with an amused smile. "I don't suppose you want a turn before I change it back?"
He just nodded as she talked about Hogwarts, finding himself not caring as much as he thought he would when hearing about his old home. It felt like his stay at Hogwarts was in a completely different lifetime.
He walked with them to the stairs, not really paying much attention to his surroundings as he probably ought to, however, the minute she pulled out her wand and transfigured the staircase into a large slide, his eyes darted to the wand and for some reason couldn't look away again. He had never been the greatest wizard, but he still, as many others, felt like a piece was missing without the wand. He swallowed. What had she asked? He forced himself to look away from the wand and focused on the slide instead. Did he want a turn on the slide? Though it would probably be better for the pain in his leg he still turn the offer down, "No, thank you."
"It was just a joke, Neville." Cho caught the look on his face and frowned slightly, not sure what caused it. She was about to ask when Ally yelled from the bottom of the stairs for them to hurry up. Focusing on the little girl, Cho headed down the staircase and picked Ally up easily. "In a rush, are we? Excited for Stephen to come home?" Ally nodded, her blonde hair bouncing around. "So am I." Cho kissed her cheek and set the little girl back down before walking towards the kitchen.
Once in the large kitchen, Cho went through the pantry, looking for something to make. While she wasn't a bad cook, she wasn't as good as Stephen. Still, she liked making him dinner from time to time. It made her feel as though she was contributing something to the house.
"Ally-love? What should we make for dinner?"
"PANCAKES!"
"No, Pancakes are for breakfast, not dinner. Neville? Do you want anything in particular?"
He entered the kitchen, ten or so feet behind them, not entirely sure himself why he was keeping such distance to the two. He hadn't been in Azkaban that terribly long, heck he had heard of wizards and witches being in there for months, maybe even years, yet he still found it hard to adjust to being free again. Well, almost free, but he figured this was the best he could get in this society.
His eyes had been directed towards the window, though he hadn't really been focused. The outburst of Pancakes made him look at the females. He smile, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. He looked, really looked at Cho, and he couldn't help but notice how well she fit into this kitchen as if she had been living here for years.
"Oh, I don't know," he said and shrugged. His head titled slightly to the side as he looked at Ally, giving her a toothy smile. "Though Pancakes do sound good."
"See Cho?!" Ally bounced up and down and smiled. It was the hardest smile to resist. Cho always thought of herself as immune to the pleas of children, but not this time.
"All right, all right. I'll make pancakes. Just don't count on them being as good as Stephen's, okay?" Using her wand, Cho flicked it around the kitchen, summoning all the ingredients needed for pancakes and turned the stove on. She loved cooking without magic, but with Ally underfoot it was nearly impossible.
Sitting down at the kitchen table (Cho avoided the large dining room most of the time, it was so formal) she pulled Ally into her lap and smiled at Neville. "Are you comfortable here? Ally and I went out and got what we thought you needed, but if there is anything else, please let me know. Stopping by the shop is easy enough after school ends for the day and I don't want you to hesitate to ask."
He placed himself on one of the kitchen chairs, legs crossing over the ankles underneath the table and hands placed on top of it, fingers tapping rhythmically against the wood as he watched Cho charm the objects to do her bidding. The kitchen was nice, larger than the kitchen at his Gran's house, but still really nice.
"Oh," he looked away from the magically moving objects and gazed at Cho. "Yes," he said, voice barely audible. He cleared his throat, "Yes, everything is good. Far better than I had imagined it would be." He offered her a smile, and looked fleetingly at Ally before returning his eyes to the stove. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten pancakes. Sometime before everything went wrong, he assumed.
"I don't know what I had expected," he said, finding it suddenly easier to talk. Could be because of the homelike feeling he got from sitting in the kitchen. "But this certainly wasn't it. I had, I think I had... somewhere else..." shrugging, he left the words hanging, fairly sure that Cho would understand what he meant. He had dreaded ending up at someone like Bellatrix Lestrange's home, which he knew he would probably never have survived.
"Anyways," he said, finding himself speaking a lot more than he had done in months. Once again he blamed it on the homey feeling, but decided that it wasn't too bad, the talking that was. "Stephen said I could have visitors?" Neville had no idea if Cho knew this, but hoped that it had been alright to ask.
Cho understood well enough. As dinner prepared itself behind them, she lightly played with Ally's hair while she spoke to Neville. "I'm glad we could rescue you from that place." Her face fell for a moment, imagining her father in the same place Neville had just escaped from. She would give anything to free him as well, but that was impossible. She could only hope that her father found as forgiving of a home as Neville had. Somehow, though, she doubted it.
Neville's question brought Cho away from her thoughts. "Visitors? Oh, yes he did mention that. You'll understand how careful we will have to be and I'm afraid it can't be too frequent." She could only imagine the people Neville would want to see and, to be honest, had no desire to see any of them.
"One of us will have to be here at all times, of course. It might be for the best if that person is Stephen, rather than myself."
He noticed the way she seemed to be far away in mind. And he couldn't help but imagine how differently his life could have turned out had Stephen not gotten him. "I am too."
He listened as she explained about the visitors and nodded, aware of the fact that he could not be without supervision. He wasn't completely sure what had happened to Stephen's previous slave, but he had a feeling that his friends were involved. "I understand." An apologetic smile. Cho was right, his visitors would prefer Stephen, no doubt about that. "Then I'll talk to Stephen about it?"
He didn't like the feeling of not telling Cho who he wanted to see, but it also seemed weird to tell her that he would like to see Ginny and she him. He tried to ignore the nagging feeling and instead focused on Ally. The little girl really was adorable, and he could easily understand why both Stephen and Cho were smitten with her. He hadn't known her all that long and already he was starting to get comfortable around her, as if this was normal.
Cho nodded and tried to not focus on the fact that people who hated her would soon be in her home. She could refuse, of course, but Cho knew she wouldn't. She understood what it meant to stick by your friends no matter what and wasn't about to deprive Neville of that.
Still, she didn't have to like it.
"Why don't we eat and talk of something else?" Best to just forget the subject all together for awhile. It was, after all, Stephen's house and he was Neville's owner. Cho forced a small smile on her face and turned to the stove focusing on the pancakes rather than the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach.