Becoming Neville

He woke the next morning snuggled against Harry's back. Carefully he slid away, trying not to disturb Harry, but Harry quickly turned over to face him.

"I've been thinking," he said.

"Oh. H-have you?" All Neville could think of was his morning ritual of trying to conceal his erection from Harry.

"I can't bear to go through another day of servitude to Snape. Can you?"

"Well...but what can we do about it?"

"We're not at school. He has no authority over us. And it's not like we haven't been working hard anyway. I say we reward ourselves. Let's go out and spend a day in the city."

Neville brightened. "That would be great! I can get some more plants from Meriwether's Nursery. I think I need more sage -."

"No, not Diagon Alley. Let's go to London."

"London? You mean - with Muggles?"

A look of consternation crossed Harry's face. "Yes, Muggle London. There's an awful lot of it, you know. How can you have visited St. Mungo's all these years and never been to Muggle London?"

"We just floo there."

"Well, we won't floo anywhere today. We'll take the tube. Regent's Park is nearby, that's a lot of fun. And the zoo! That's the first place I ever talked to a snake."

Harry's mind was made up, and however much Neville was skeptical about the idea, Harry would not be dissuaded. He made it sound really exciting, though, and Neville's curiosity was piqued. Perhaps hanging out with Muggles wouldn't be so bad after all, and Harry certainly seemed to know a lot about them.

With the plan in place, they parted ways in order to get dressed, meeting at the top of the stairs ten minutes later. They carefully crept downstairs and tiptoed their way to the back door. The drawing room door was ajar, and they could see Snape sitting in an armchair with his back to them, reading the *Daily Prophet.* They crept on by, and Harry slowly opened the door, both of the uttering silencing charms to keep it from squeaking. Their charms wouldn't have worked without their wands, but luck was with them, and the door opened silently. They slipped outside, Harry shut the door, and they ran through the backyard and out into the alley, not stopping until they had run to the end of the street, away from the house.

They turned the corner and collapsed against the wall, laughing at their escape.

"We made it!" Harry crowed. "We're free! We're free!"

"That was brilliant! He never even heard us!"

"I wonder what he'll say when he finds out we're not in the house?"

That caused Neville to sober up, and seeing him, Harry said, "Oh don't worry about it. What can he do? He can't take any points from Gryffindor. Anyway Remus will be back tomorrow."

"Right." Neville pushed his hands into his pockets and looked up and down the street. There were only a few people about, jogging or walking their dogs. "So what do we do next?"

"Let's get some breakfast," Harry suggested, grabbing Neville's wrist and leading him down the street as if he knew where he was going.

"But Harry, don't Muggles have different money?"

"Don't worry, I always change some at the beginning of summer and I've hardly spent any so far this year. I've got plenty for the both of us."

They walked on until they came to a busy street, cars whizzing past and people going through their daily routine of work and errands. Neville tried not to gawk, but it was strange being among so many people, and not a single robe or pointed hat in sight.

Harry found a restaurant for them, and they went inside. It looked bizarre: all bright colors and hard plastic tables and chairs. But instead of taking a seat, they went to stand in a line in front of a counter.

"What do you want?" Harry asked him.

"Aren't there any menus?"

"Up there." Harry pointed to a lighted board behind the cashier's heads, with pictures of food and funny names.

Neville scrutinized the bewildering display. "What is that stuff? I've never heard of an 'egg mcmuffin.'"

"Don't worry about it," Harry laughed. "I'll just order for you."

The line moved quickly, and they found themselves at the counter with a cashier who had blue hair sticking out from beneath her cap. Neville wondered if she might be a metamorphmagus like Tonks. When Harry placed their orders, it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language. The cashier was little better. She asked, "Eat in or take away?" and Neville had no idea what she meant.

When Harry opened his wallet to pay, Neville squealed in excitement. "Oh, can I look at the money? I've heard they make it out of paper. How bizarre!"

The cashier gawked at him as if he'd just sprouted horns, and Harry elbowed him in the ribs, smiling to the cashier and saying, "Don't mind him. He's my cousin from Australia."

Her skepticism faded, and she gave him a bored nod. "Welcome to the U.K."

"Thanks," Neville said as Harry pulled him to the side.

The cashier placed little bundles of food wrapped in paper on a tray and pushed it toward them. Harry took the tray and led Neville to one of the hard plastic tables, where they took a seat and unwrapped their food. Neville took a bite of his little sandwich and instantly made a face. "Ugh! What is this supposed to be?"

"It's an egg mcmuffin. Like a muffin, with egg and sausage and cheese."

Neville pried his muffin apart and studied the spongy yellowish substance on it. "That doesn't taste even remotely like an egg."

"Well, it's.... Okay, so fast food isn't the best in the world, I guess."

"Fast food? What does that mean?"

"It means they serve it fast."

He glanced again at his "mcmuffin." "I bet they grew the egg fast, too."

Harry laughed. "All right, all right! We'll go somewhere better for lunch."

Resigning himself to his breakfast, Neville reassembled his sandwich and took a bite. "Can I see that Muggle money?"

"Don't talk about Muggles and wizards, Neville. People might notice," Harry cautioned as he reached for his wallet and pulled out a few slips of paper for Neville to look at.

"Right. I'll try to remember." He inspected the paper. It was certainly very pretty with lovely pictures on it, even if they didn't move. Harry showed him the watermark, which Neville found delightful, holding the paper up to the light so he could study it, until Harry grabbed his arm and pulled it down.

"Cut that out. You look like a tourist."

"Sorry, but it's so pretty. I don't see why they use this as money, though. It seems like it would fall apart after a few years. And couldn't it get torn up?"

"They change the notes when they get old."

"Really? Who gets to keep the old ones?"

Harry looked as if he'd never thought of that before. "I don't know."

"So how many galleons is this worth?" he asked, holding up a note that said *ten.* "And why do they call it a pound? It doesn't weigh a pound. Even those little coins - they're so tiny."

"I don't know. What does it matter?" Harry dismissed. "Anyway, I think we should take the tube to Regent's Park and see the zoo. We can also go rowing on the lake. And you might like to visit some Muggle shops, or we could go to the cinema."

"The cinema! I'd love to see that! Dean's always talking about it. Can we see *The Star War*?"

"*Star Wars,*" Harry corrected. "That's a really old film, it won't be playing anywhere." He paused. "I can't believe you've never seen *Star Wars.*"

"How can Muggles have motion cinema, but their photographs don't move?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. How come wizards have photographs that move, but they don't have motion pictures?"

Neville had to admit that neither of them made sense.

"Is there anything else you'd like to do?" Harry asked.

"Can we drive a car?"

"We're too young."

"You and Ron drove one."

"Yeah, well, we weren't supposed to, were we?"

"All right then, how about an aeroplane?"

"We'd have to buy tickets. That costs a lot of money. Look, why don't you just leave the planning to me?"

That certainly sounded best, as Neville had no idea what the possibilities might be. They finished their breakfast and then headed out to a tube station. Neville was gaining some confidence and gawked more openly at all the strange Muggle things around him.

He was disappointed to learn that the "tube" wasn't really a tube at all, just an underground train. He got stuck going through the gate, and Harry had to rescue him. A great rush of wind heralded the arrival of the trains, and when their train stopped, the door opened and courteously advised them to mind the gap. Neville politely answered, "Thank you," only to have Harry poke him in the ribs.

Seats lined the walls of the train, but some people simply stood, hanging on to poles. The train started before they had found a place to sit, and it accelerated so quickly, Neville was almost knocked off his feet. Harry caught him with one hand while he grabbed onto a pole with the other. "Sorry about that," Neville muttered, but it felt nice having Harry's arm around him. He gained his balance and wrapped both hands around the pole, just below Harry's hand.

The train jerked to a stop, throwing him against Harry once more, to his secret delight. While the train was motionless, Harry nudged him toward a couple of empty seats. Reluctantly he released the pole and they sat down, but when the train took off, he fell sideways, bumping Harry again. He decided he really liked the tube.

They didn't have far to go, and after a couple of stops, Harry took his arm and pulled him to a door. Neville was so excited by all the jostling that he happily chirped, "Good bye!" when the door released them.

He would have been completely lost in the station, but if Harry was lost, he certainly didn't show it. He led them up a very long moving staircase, and they found themselves on a wide, busy street. Harry took off through the crowd, and Neville hastened to catch up with him. "That was great! Can we do that again?"

Harry threw a smirk at him. "You're so easily amused."

They went to the zoo first. Neville had only been to a zoo once in Chester, when he had been young. He was very excited when Harry told him that even the animals were Muggle. He'd always wanted to see elephants and tigers and giraffes. They went to the reptile house, and Harry showed him the exhibit where he had inadvertently set a boa constrictor free and shut his cousin in the cage, before he's started at Hogwarts. With much goading, Harry finally agreed to talk to some of the snakes. They were mostly bored or asleep, so it wasn't very entertaining. But Neville got a thrill from watching the snakes respond to Harry, gawking at him with as much interest as the humans gawked at them. They found that Harry could speak to a few of the lizards, too, though not as well.

After the zoo, they bought fish and chips from a park vendor and sat on the grass to eat. The sun was warm, and they enjoyed watching all the people milling about the park. They went rowing on the lake, and then visited the gardens. Hundreds of roses bloomed in a dazzling rainbow of whites, yellows, oranges, pinks and reds. Even Harry enjoyed it.

They never did find a cinema, but that didn't bother Neville. He had too much fun looking at all the Muggles. In the afternoon they walked along the streets, looking at shops. All of it fascinated him, especially the electronic things. They found an appliance shop, and Harry scarcely managed to tear Neville away from the row of television screens broadcasting a Muggle football match. Telephones and automatic dishwashers and computers and espresso makers - Neville wanted to try them all, and was disappointed to learn that none of them worked in the shop. But Harry patiently showed him each contraption, explaining what they did. Neville thought the clothes dryer sounded particularly useful and wanted to get one for his grandmother, but Harry said they were very expensive. As Neville never could figure out how to convert pounds into galleons, he had to take Harry's word for it.

When they left the shop, Neville noticed a red booth like the one they had used to enter the Ministry of Magic. "Where does that go to?" he asked, pointing.

"It doesn't go anywhere. It's just a Muggle phone."

Neville studied it curiously. "Would that phone work, or is it like the ones in the shop?"

"No, it works," Harry said, and immediately Neville dashed into the booth. Harry sighed and squeezed in with him.

"So how does it work?" Neville asked eagerly. He studied the keypad. "They all have letters on them. Do you spell out the name of the person you want to talk to?"

"Not their name. You dial their number."

"Let's talk to someone! How about Dean? He lives in London."

Harry smirked at Neville's enthusiasm. "All right." He handed Neville some small coins. "Pick up the receiver and put the coins in the slot." Neville did as instructed, and Harry laughed as he held the earpiece in front of his mouth like a microphone. "This way," he corrected, taking the receiver and handing it back to him the right way. "Now push these numbers," and he recited a string of numbers, which Neville punched in.

"That's an awful lot of numbers," Neville observed. "How do you know they're Dean's?"

"Not too many of our classmates have a telephone. It makes it easy to remember them."

Neville listened intently and when the phone began to ring, he exclaimed, "It's making a noise!"

"Yes, it does that. Hang on."

After a couple of rings he heard a click, and a young girl said, "Hello?"

"Someone is talking!" Neville announced to Harry. "But it's not Dean!"

Harry prompted, "Ask for him."

Speaking slowly and loudly into the phone, Neville said, "I, um, I - would - like - to - talk - to - Dean - please,"

"Just a minute," the girl said.

There was silence on the line, and Neville looked at Harry. "Nothing's happening."

"She probably went to get him."

"Oh. Right."

After a minute, someone new said, "Hello."

"I - would - like - to - speak - to - Dean," Neville said again.

"You're speaking to him, mate."

"Dean?" Neville shouted. "Is that you?"

"That's what I said."

"You sound so different! I never would have known it was you. Isn't this amazing?"

Harry snickered into his hand as Dean demanded, "Who is this?"

"It's me!" Neville exclaimed, and Harry thwacked him on the head. "Ow! Harry!"

"Harry?" Dean repeated.

"He just hit me!" Neville complained.

Harry coached, "Tell him who you are, you dolt!"

"Oh, right. It's me, Neville."

"Neville? And Harry's with you? Why didn't he call, then? I expect he knows how to use a phone."

"Oh, yes, but he's showing me how. We're doing lots of Muggle things."

"Really? Where are you guys?"

"We're in a phone booth."

Harry, who had tilted the receiver so he could listen in, said, "We're in London."

"You are?" Dean asked in surprise. "I didn't think either of you guys lived in London."

"We don't," Harry replied. "But Neville's gran is at St. Mungo's, and I've been given a reprieve from the Dursleys."

"Really? That's great. Are you guys staying at the Leaky Cauldron, then?"

"No," Neville interjected. "We're living in a house with Professor Lupin."

"Professor Lupin!" Dean exclaimed. "That's brilliant! I didn't know he lived in London."

"It's been great," continued Neville. "And today Harry and I went into the city, and there was a park, and I ate a McGuffin sandwich -"

"An egg mcmuffin," Harry corrected.

"- and we went to the zoo, and we rowed in boats, but we didn't find a cinema. I wanted to see 'The Star War,' but Harry says they don't have it anywhere. I thought you said you've seen it a hundred times."

"Yeah, on video."

"What's that?" Neville eagerly asked.

"Forget it, Neville," Harry dismissed. "Dean, what have you been doing all summer?"

"Not much. Been watching my brother and sisters. Rotten brats. They want me to take them swimming every single day. I'm turning into a prune."

"Sounds awful," Harry said, but he was smiling.

"I wish I'd known you guys were here. We ought to get together. That would be great."

"We'll definitely ask Remus," Harry said.

"I can't believe you guys are staying with him! How is he? Is he teaching you new stuff for the DA? I still can't believe you guys didn't take Seamus and me when you went to the Ministry."

"That wasn't the kind of field trip you want to go on," said Harry.

"Yeah, well next time don't leave us out. That's what we're learning all this stuff for, right?"

"Right," Harry said, but Neville could see he didn't look very enthusiastic.

"So you have to call me about getting together. You can come over here. I've got all the Star Wars films on video, Neville."

"Great!" said Neville.

Harry grinned. "Talk to you later, then."

"Right. Good to hear from you, mates! Bye!"

Harry and Neville said goodbye, and then there was a click and the line buzzed. Harry took the receiver and hung it up.

"That was brilliant!" Neville exclaimed. "Who can we talk to next? Doesn't Hermione live in London? She must have a telephone, too."

"We'll call her another time. Why don't we go get dinner?" suggested Harry.

After a disappointing breakfast and a mediocre lunch, Harry found them an Indian restaurant for supper. The food was very tasty, and they sat in their booth in a corner and reviewed the events of their day, laughing and giggling.

Neville had never felt so free in his life. His Gran didn't like big cities as a general rule, so the only time he ever went to large cities was when he was in the company of family. Such company definitely limited his chances to explore. And he just didn't understand cities. All he really knew was Chipping, population 642, near where he and his Gran lived. London had so many streets and houses and buildings, not to mention all the cars driving every which way, all of it had always frightened and befuddled Neville. There was something distressing about a city's artificialness. Even Hogsmeade was more than Neville really cared to face, and he stuck with his classmates on the main street on their visits.

But the big city and all the muggleness didn't intimidate Harry, and Neville had enjoyed himself. It was almost like visiting a different country, and to explore such a vast place in the company of just one other person, not to constantly squabble over where they would go and what they would do next, not to have to go slow to match his Gran's pace, or to be dragged along with Dean and Seamus to Zonko's joke shop when he really wanted to linger at Honeyduke's. Harry didn't make him feel stupid or slow, and with Harry as his guide, he gained confidence, wanting to explore further, to see what might be in the shops, or what might lie around the corner. He still preferred the country, and the giant map on the wall at the tube station gave him a headache with all its colored lines wiggling in every direction, and he still couldn't understand why the Muggle paper money was all different colors (and was it five pounds to the galleon, or the other way around?) but he wasn't frightened. He even thought that, given time and practice, he might be able to master the city the way Harry had.

By the time they finally headed home, both of them were exhausted. Neville's feet ached, and his head hurt from being crammed so full of new experiences. When the tube knocked him against Harry, he didn't even pretend to move away. He leaned against Harry, shoulder to shoulder, pressed together at hip and thigh and knee. He told himself it was because he was tired, that if he moved away, he'd only be thrown against Harry again at the next stop. But that wasn't really why. And Harry didn't move away from him, either. And Neville happily sat next to Harry, trying not to grin or to reach for his hand. Just touching him like this was enough.

Far too quickly they reached their stop and trudged wearily back to No. 12 Grimmauld Place. It was quite late, and the sun had already set. They crept through the alleyway and entered the house through the back door, praying they wouldn't run into anyone. Indeed the hallway was empty, and they tiptoed over the carpet, hoping to escape upstairs. But the drawing room door swung open and out stepped Alastor Moody. They froze in place at the sight of him, his magical eye fixed sternly on their guilty faces. Moody shut the door behind him, crossed his arms over his chest, and said, "Well, gentlemen?"

Neville edged behind Harry, who swallowed hard and said, "Good evening, Professor."

The magical eye swiveled to Neville while Moody's regular eye stayed fixed on Harry. "Thought you boys would go AWOL, did you? Have a little excursion in the city without telling anyone, when You Know Who and his minions are out there looking for you every day? Thought that sounded like a lark?"

Harry backed up, treading on Neville's foot. "Well, I...that is, we...."

"Right. A barrel of laughs, you two are. I would have thought you were too old for Hide and Go Seek." He pointed upstairs with a jerk of his thumb. "Off to bed with you. We're having a meeting right now, discussing security measures. You boys will be hearing all about it in the morning. I'm sure you'll find it of great personal interest. Now, get going."

Harry edged his way around Moody's imposing presence, Neville clinging to his arm. Once past him, they headed upstairs as quickly as they could without actually running away. They went to Harry's room, shutting the door behind them. Harry rested with his back against the door, as if to keep out any indignant members of the Order who might try to force their way in and scold them. "I think we're in trouble," said Harry, with typical understatement.

"What do you think they'll do to us?"

Harry considered. "What can they do, really? They're not our parents. They don't have the right."

It seemed like there was something wrong with that logic, but Neville didn't want to try pointing it out.

Pushing himself away from the door, Harry crossed to room to Hedwig. "I mean, we aren't prisoners, are we? We have to ask them before we do anything? Even the Dursleys give me more freedom than this." He scowled, fishing a bag of owl treats out of the desk drawer, and feeding the morsels to Hedwig, who eagerly snapped them up. "What do they expect? We should just stay cooped up here all summer?"

"Harry," Neville interjected.

"This would never have happened if we were allowed to stay at the Burrow."

"Harry," Neville repeated.

Harry stopped and scowled at him. "What?"

Neville licked his lips. "I-I just wanted to say...I had a great time today. Whatever they do to us, it was worth it. Thanks."

Harry studied him, his hostility slowly trickling away. "You're welcome," he said at last. Then he grinned. "I had a great time, too."

Perching on the edge of the bed, Neville said, "Do you really think they won't let us out of the house again?"

"Not without escort, anyway."

Neville wrapped his arm around the bedpost. "I wouldn't mind too much if it was Remus. I bet he'd take us to the cinema if we asked."

"Yeah." Harry toed off his shoes and crossed the room to sit next to Neville. "Still, it wouldn't be the same, would it? It was a lot of fun with just the two of us."

Neville's stomach did all kinds of flip-flops at that. Surely Harry didn't mean what Neville hoped he might mean. But it was still a very nice thing for him to say, and Neville was sure that he must be blushing. Harry had been right, though: if they had been staying at the Burrow all summer, not only would they not have snuck away, but he and Harry would never have started "practicing" together. Neville just couldn't stand out in a crowd, especially not with Ron and Hermione around. No, he could think of far worse fates than being stuck at Grimmauld Place all summer with only Harry for company.

They spent the remainder of the evening in their room, playing Exploding Snap. Neville worried that Snape might come up after the meeting and yell at them, but as the night wore on, no one appeared. It seemed they would have one more night of freedom before learning their fate.

Harry quickly recovered his jovial mood. The prospect of imminent punishment didn't seem to faze him, though Neville reflected that Harry must be quite used to getting into trouble. Neville tried to follow his example and not fret over it, but he couldn't help thinking his grandmother would be displeased.

He couldn't fret too much, however, not when Harry was so cheerful. Not when Harry lay on the bed on his stomach while they played cards and looked up at him through his thick, dark lashes. Not when the neck of Harry's over-sized t-shirt kept gaping open and Neville could see his collarbone in the shadowed depths. He kept thinking about that tube ride, and all the wonderful knocking into Harry, and a shiver tingled straight down his backbone, and he smiled, and Harry looked up with those big green eyes of his and smiled back, and Neville thought he was quite the handsomest boy at Hogwarts, even more handsome than Oliver Wood.

Neville had no idea how long they kept playing cards, but eventually he realized that he was having to talk around his yawns. Nor was he the only one. Harry let out a huge, gaping yawn big enough for Neville to count the fillings in his teeth. Rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses, Harry said, "I guess we ought to go to bed."

"Yeah," said Neville, though he didn't want this wonderful day to end.

They put away the cards and changed into their pajamas. Harry kept an extra set in Neville's room, and Neville an extra set in Harry's, so they were always prepared. They slid under the covers, and Harry wriggled right up next to him, his head on Neville's pillow.

"Are you ready to go to sleep just yet?"

"Not quite."

And Harry closed the gap between them, and they kissed. But Neville didn't allow himself to submerge completely into it. A part of his brain kept alert, so he would notice if Harry started to pull himself off again. Before long, Harry let go of Neville's arm and reached under the covers. Neville was ready. He deftly slid his hand down Harry's stomach and under the waistband of his pants.

Harry froze when Neville's hand wrapped around his cock, and Neville waited to see if he would pull away. But he didn't, and Neville gave an experimental squeeze. Harry gasped, a soft, startled sound that shot straight to Neville's groin. His tongue snaked between Harry's parted lips, and Harry kissed him back. Neville felt warm fingers wriggling into his own pants, and then Harry's hand was on him, and oh god it was the most amazing thing Neville had ever felt, a thousand times more intense than when he touched himself. He squeezed Harry, and Harry squeezed him, and they stroked each other and forgot all about kissing. They just lay face to face, breath hot on each other's cheeks as they gasped and gulped and stroked and shuddered. Neville felt an exquisite pleasure building in his groin, and he buried his face in Harry's neck, panting against his damp skin as he stroked faster, and then the pleasure exploded out of him, his hips jerking, his breath stuttering, and he felt a hot splash on his wrist, and Harry's knees pressing against his thigh.

He slowly let go of Harry and pulled his hand out of Harry's pants, wiping his hand off on his own leg. He knew he ought to move away, the way they always did after, but he wanted to keep his face pressed into Harry's neck, inhaling the tangy scent of him. He licked his lips, and his tongue swiped against Harry's skin, salty with sweat. This couldn't be what normal boys did after pulling each other off, but he'd never been a normal boy, anyway. He just wanted to stay like this, his face in Harry's neck, his thigh between Harry's knees. So he didn't move. He just waited. And Harry shifted a bit but didn't move away. Instead, he raised his arm and draped it around Neville's waist. Neither of them moved, and soon they were both asleep.