Clementine took a step back beginning to walk away, and smiled, "You shouldn't hold me to who I was at sixteen. A lot has changed since then. It's good to see you again, but I've got to check out my new office."
"I'll believe you've chanced when I see it." He winked playfully. "I'll see you at dinner, yeah?"
"Maybe." Clementine did her best to sound aloof. "If I'm not busy."
"I'll save you a seat."
It took about ten minutes for Clementine to navigate the stairs to reach her office. It was a quaint little space full of plants and seedlings, with a bureau desk in the corner. She sat down in her chair and smiled as she breathed in the scent of potting soil and mahogany.
She was pulled out of her reverie to the sound of the door being pushed open and someone loudly humming a familiar tune.
"Double... mmmm... toil and trouble... mmmmm..." Neville Longbottom held a variety of potted plants in his arms. He started carefully arranging them on what little counter space remained available. He had filled the room to the brim with plants, to the point where there was little to no way to move around.
"Do you take song requests?" Clementine snickered as she swiveled around in her chair to look at him.
"AHHH!" Neville screamed, dropping a planter pot on the ground. It broke, covering the floor in dirt and shards of broken terracotta. "Godric, you scared me, Clem! I didn't know you were coming in today."
"I arrived a day early." She stood to help I'm clean up his mess. "I'm surprised McGonagall didn't tell you."
"Minerva has enough on her plate right now. In case you haven't already realized, the school is going through quite a bit of changes at the moment. It's a lot for one witch to handle." Neville wiped some dirt off of his face with his shirt and smiled, "Welcome home!"
Clementine snorted, "It's so Gryffindor of you to consider this place home. At the end of the day it's just a school."
"You loved it here, otherwise you wouldn't have come back." Neville shrugged, unbothered. He knew it meant more to her than she was willing to admit and he wasn't going to push it. "I bet Theo is going to be happy to see you. It's all he's been talking about since the staff meeting where we found out you'd be joining us."
"Did anyone else have anything to say about the news of my arrival?" Clementine did her best to act indifferent, but the crack in her voice betrayed her. All she wanted to know about was Draco Malfoy, but not a single person had brought him up yet. It felt strange, almost as if they were hiding something.
"Should there be?" Neville frowned, obviously oblivious. He was too focused on repairing the broken planter to pick up on the fact that she was digging for information.
"No." Clementine picked a leaf off of her skirt as she stood back up. "I suppose not."
"Oh!" Neville exclaimed, "That's not true. Luna is excited to see you. I had no idea you two were roommates in school until she told me."
"For a while, we were." Clementine nodded. "A lot of the other Ravenclaws found her to be a bit too eccentric, but we got along well."
"That's what makes her Luna." Neville blushed, "What's not to like?"
"Are you two..." Clementine paused, unsure if it were too soon to pry into Neville's personal life.
CITEȘTI
STAY WITH ME | Draco x OC x Theo
Fanfiction18+ "Why are you here, Clementine?" He stared at her as if she were a ghost despite the fact that she haunted all of his dreams. "I didn't come back for you." Her words were cold, but her soft voice sounded sweet like spun sugar. "Because you came...
