Life Lessons

Two weeks, four days, and one hour. That's how long it'd been since Neville Longbottom's life had changed. Maybe he did have a way of forgetting the simplest of things but he would never forget the moment Rebecca Collins, fifth year Ravenclaw, asked him to have ice cream with him.

They had shared a hot fudge sundae while talking about the little things. He found out that she lived outside of London with her parents and younger sister while both of her older sisters lived in Ireland. Neville told her that he lived with his grandmother but didn't tell her why.

After the ice cream was gone, they walked around Hogsmeade, enjoying the beautiful autumn day. They talked of school; the subjects they liked and those they loathed. Neville had a good chuckle when Rebecca told him that she was horrible at Herbology but did well with Potions.

Their first "unofficial" date ended when it was time for them to go back to the castle. Neville offered to walk her back to Ravenclaw. There they stood outside of the portrait hole in an awkward silence as some of her housemates brushed by and snickered at them.

Neville had wanted to kiss her, just to see what it would be like but something was stopping him. He didn't know if it was his shyness or the fact that he didn't want half of her House to witness their first kiss. Instead he told her goodbye and went back to Gryffindor.

Once he was back to his House, Neville kicked himself for not asking her out on a date. He didn't know what they would do for a date since they were stuck in the castle. Perhaps they could go on a walk to the Quidditch Pitch or somewhere else.

The following day he saw her at breakfast, sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She was sitting by Luna Lovegood and it looked like Luna was telling her one of her stories. He exchanged smiles with her, which Seamus noticed.

Seamus had a million questions for Neville about Rebecca. He wanted to know if she was his girlfriend and if they'd snogged yet. Neville had wanted to smack the cheeky grin off Seamus' face but didn't get the chance to since Lavender came along and pulled Seamus away.

Neville wouldn't see her again until that afternoon. He'd decided he needed to spend some time at the library and finish his Potions essay. When he walked in, Rebecca was sitting in the corner, pouring over a stack of books.

He willed his legs to walk over to her and once he got there, he quietly sat down and watched her. He noticed how her eyebrows knitted together and how she chewed on her bottom lip when she was in deep concentration. He watched as she smiled when she figured out the problem, which brought a small smile to his own face.

Neville sighed and smiled as he thought about Rebecca, while stirring whatever potion he was currently making. They'd been together now for close to three weeks and he liked having her as a girlfriend. Maybe they hadn't kissed yet but he was sure it'd happen sooner or later...

"Mr. Longbottom! What exactly are you making?"

Neville snapped at the sound of Professor Snape's voice. He slowly raised his head and looked at the professor. "W-wound-cleaning potion sir," he sputtered out.

Snape quirked an eyebrow and looked into Neville's bubbling cauldron. "Looks like sludge to me," he drawled out as he crossed his arms. "Perhaps if you'd spend less time daydreaming and more time brewing, you wouldn't have this problem."

"Yes, sir," said Neville as he backed away from Snape. How Rebecca could like Snape so much was beyond Neville's grasp at the moment.

"Five points from Gryffindor for Longbottom's incompetent potion-making skills," sneered Snape as he turned on his heel and stalked back to the front of the room.

Neville groaned inwardly and he swore he heard Malfoy laugh. He quietly cleaned up his work area as the class ended and followed the rest of the class out into the hallway. He was startled to feel a hand on his arm. He turned around to see Rebecca standing there.

"Hi, Neville." Rebecca smiled, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. "How are you?"

"I'm all right," he said as he shuffled his feet and moved his book bag around on his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

Rebecca raised her eyebrows and quickly glanced over at Luna, who was standing beside her. "I have class here now," she laughed.

"Right," said Neville as he blushed and ducked his head.

"Want to meet up later? Maybe in the library?" asked Rebecca as she looked up at him.

"I can after supper," said Neville as the door to the potions classroom swung open.

"The hallway is not a place for spontaneous tea parties," snorted Snape as he towered over the three of them.

Rebecca and Neville looked up at their professor as Luna looked around with wide eyes. "I don't see any tea or tea cups, sir," she said as she turned her wide-eyed gaze toward Snape. "Besides having tea so early in the afternoon is dangerous. My father says---"

"And your father is a dunderhead, Miss Lovegood," hissed Snape. "Five points from Ravenclaw since Miss Lovegood is wasting my time with such foolishness."

Luna furrowed her brow and proceeded to dump her book bag on the floor.

Neville, Rebecca and Snape watched as she pulled out a blue flower of some sort from the pile of books and parchment.

"For you Professor Snape," she said as she thrust the flower toward him. "It'll make you happy."

"Five more points from Ravenclaw," he drawled out as he crushed the flower in his hand before turning toward Neville. "Don't you have some place to be and things to blow up Mr. Longbottom?"

"Yes, sir," said Neville as he stood a quick glance at Rebecca before Snape ushered Luna and her into the potions classroom. He smiled to himself and then quickly left the dungeons.

~*~

After supper, Neville found himself in his dorm room looking for his charms book. He knew he'd last seen it there the night before but now it was gone. After five minutes of searching, he decided to give up since he'd promised to meet Rebecca in the library and he was already late.

He ran through the common room, ignoring Seamus when he asked him where he was going. When he pulled open the portrait hole, Rebecca was standing there dressed in her cloak and wearing a knit cap.

"It's snowing," she said as she smiled. "I love the snow and was wondering if you'd fancy a walk with me?"

Neville hugged his book bag to his chest and looked at her. She looked happy and who was he to deny her the simple pleasure of taking a walk? He quickly nodded his head and ran back into the portrait hole to get his cloak.

When he came back out, Rebecca took his hand and they walked to the castle's front door. They stepped outside of it and jogged down the steps. Neville could tell it hadn't been snowing for long since he still see patches of grass on the grounds.

With their hands linked together, they circled the castle and walked toward the Quidditch Pitch. The snowflakes slowly floated down around them as they continued to walk in silence. Neville let his eyes drift over to her a few times and watched as her breath danced upon the cold air.

"Christmas is coming soon," Rebecca suddenly said as she stopped right outside the Quidditch Pitch, "and it's going to be even better with the freshly fallen snow."

"Right," said Neville as he turned his body toward her. He watched her for a moment as the snowflakes fell between them. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were red from the cold.

"This is so very romantic. Don't you think?" she asked as she looked up at him with hooded eyes.

Neville merely nodded as his fingers lightly brushed across her cold cheek.

She pressed her cheek against his fingers while keeping her brown eyes on him.

He felt nervous, shy and giddy all at the same time because he knew what was about to happen.

Rebecca leaned up toward him as he leaned down. Their lips met halfway and pressed together.

Neville quickly grabbed onto her forearms when he felt his knees start to buckle. A million thoughts went through his head as they both held the kiss and he determined that she tasted like cherry licorice.

She was the first to pull back.

He looked down at her and smiled, wanting to do it again so he carefully placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. He captured her lips again.

The second kiss wasn't as innocent as the first. Their tongues found each other's mouth and danced together. Neville felt her arms link around his neck and for him; this was the single best experience in his schooling career.

"That was nice," said Rebecca after she broke away and caught her breath.

"It was," he quietly agreed.

"We should get back to the castle and get some lessons done," said Rebecca as she tugged on his hand.

Neville didn't want the moment to end and wanted to stay out there with her. But he knew there would be other kisses and he didn't need to be selfish at that moment. "We should," he finally said as he walked back to the castle with her.