19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 20: Tea and Scones

"Patience, Minerva," Neville said, patting her shoulder, "we're not giving up that easily. Have another scone."

Minerva glared daggers at the proffered pastry, but took it anyway.

"Where is Poppy, anyway?" Teddy asked, taking another scone for himself. "At this rate we'll have to order another plate."

"Already taken care of." Neville grinned. "Madam Puddifoot knows me - she'll bring another tray once this one's done."

Sure enough, the moment he lifted the last scone from the tray, Madam Puddifoot herself bustled over with another to replace it. "A healthy appetite, as always, Mister Longbottom," she said, grinning.

"Only for your scones, Madam Puddifoot," Neville returned cheerfully. "One can never get enough of them." He grinned cheekily at her, and she blushed and bustled away again.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Is there anything that smile doesn't get you?"

Neville put his hand over his heart, as if she'd wounded him. "Only your heart, Minerva," he said.

Minerva threw a scone at him.

"Now, now," Neville scolded, grabbing the scone out of the air - and why hadn't he bothered to show those seeker-like reflexes when he was a student? - "we can't have you thrown out of Madam Puddifoot's - it might endanger my access to the finest scones in all Scotland."

Poppy Pomfrey bustled in, then, cheeks reddened and strands of greying hair escaping her neat bun, saving Neville from Minerva's acerbic retort. "I've finally lost them," she gasped, slumping into her chair. "Ooh, scones! Thanks Nev - you're the best."

"Finally lost who?" Minerva asked. "Was someone chasing you, Poppy?"

"What? Oh, goodness me, no." Poppy huffed a laugh, still slightly out-of-breath. "It was only the students - wanting advice on this and that."

"'This and that?'" Minerva raised a brow skeptically.

Poppy colored. "I... Well, I can't help it if I'm their only source of information, can I? Most of them don't know anything at all about it, you know, and they don't have to be so clueless." Her voice had risen throughout this impassioned outburst, and she lowered it conspiratorially. "Did you know about the back room at Flourish and Blotts?"

Minerva frowned. "There isn't a back room at Flourish and Blotts." She should know - she practically lived there, when not at Hogwarts.

Poppy grinned, cheeks dimpling impishly. "Oh, but there is. It's where they keep all the - " she lowered her voice again, leaning over the table. They all unconsciously mimicked her, until they were huddled so close their noses were nearly touching. " - Special romances and manuals."

"Special?" Minerva could feel her brows rising, and suspected they were nearing her hairline. Across the table, Neville snorted. He, apparantly, had known about this already. Minerva felt suddenly every one of her many years. Even Poppy was younger; though, she reflected, not by much.

Poppy's grin lit up her face, making her appear years younger. "You know. The... nontraditional ones."

Minerva still didn't understand. Perhaps she never would. Maybe she was just too old.

Poppy pulled a frustrated face. "Surely you know - "

"LGBT," Teddy interrupted her. "Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, asexual, poly..."

Minerva flushed hotly. "Oh."

"... They also carry an extensive collection of muggle romances - not to mention the many, many, volumes on every kink you could possibly imagine..."

Neville coughed. Minerva suspected he was trying to cover a laugh. "That's enough, Teddy," he said, mock-severely. "We don't want to give poor Minerva a heart attack."

Surely she couldn't possibly get any redder? Alas, it seemed that she could. "I'm not entirely uninformed on the subject, thank you very much, even if I am an old coot," she said stiffly, "I was married you know. It's merely that I was unaware that this room existed." She leaned closer to Poppy, then. "Does it really?"

Poppy nodded, looking delighted. "I'll show you, if you like. Once we're done here."

Minerva tugged at her collar. This tearoom was far too warm. "Perhaps another day - a non-Hogsmeade weekend, when there aren't so many students swarming about."

Neville chuckled, and the tension was broken. They made smalltalk for a bit, and Neville signaled Madam Puddifoot to bring refills of their tea and the scones. He seemed determined to eat enough to last him until the next Hogsmeade day.

Minerva had just managed to relax, and was about to bite into another scone - she'd had more than enough already, but they were impossible to resist - when Neville looked up from his conversation with Teddy, halting mid-word.

"Hang on, were you really?"

She stared at him. "Was I really what?"

"Married." He rolled the word around in his mouth, as if it tasted strange.

Minerva sighed. "Yes," she said shortly. "Not that it is any of your business."

"But, when? For how long? To who?"

"To whom," she replied tartly. "As to the rest, I believe you will find that it is none of your business."

"But... married. Did I meet him? Do I know him?" Neville stared at her as if she were some new species of magical plant, and she scowled.

"That, I believe, is rather beside the point. Now. Are we going to discuss Misters Malfoy and Potter, or are we going to twiddle our thumbs? If it is the latter, I believe I will head home now. I do have things to do, you know."

Poppy laid a gentle hand on her arm. "Don't go, Minerva, dear. Neville didn't mean any harm. He won't ask any more questions. Will you?" she asked, turning hard eyes on Neville.

"No, of course not," he said, "forgive me. It's none of my business." He steepled his fingers together. "As to Harry and Draco... I'm afraid there's not anything we can do. Not until we know why Draco bolted. He doesn't - Draco doesn't run from his problems. Not anymore. I'm afraid there's more to this than we know."

Teddy sighed explosively. "I just wish we knew what it was! They're perfect for one another - why won't they see it?"

Poppy smiled softly at him. "I think they do see it, Teddy. But Neville's right - there's something else between them. Something dark and deep. And I suspect it's something they have to sort out for themselves."

"Yes, and how are they going to do that if they keep bloody running away?" Teddy scowled down at his plate, shredding his scone anxiously.

"They're young yet, Teddy," Minerva said. "It's hard to see from your perspective, I know, but they've got time to sort this out. Let's leave them be for now. Who knows - they might surprise us."

"And if they keep running?"

Neville picked up the last scone and bit into it, with slightly more force than was strictly warranted. "Then we try something else."