“Neville, is that you?”
Neville blinked hard to make his eyes focus on the person who was standing in front of him. Who could he possible know here in the middle of Mexico? He stood up to get a better view.
That did the trick. He could see the face of Susan Bones smiling at him. It took Neville a minute to comprehend the presence of a Hogwarts friend in this new place. Susan must have taken his confusion for disappointment because she began to look horribly embarrassed.
“Hi, Susan!” he finally replied. “I’m surprised to see you.”
Neville looked at the familiar face for a minute. There was something different about her. He realized that the ever-present plait in her hair was gone. Her hair was cut shorter and framed her face very nicely. She definitely didn’t look like a little girl anymore.
“Not that I’m not glad to see you,” Neville hastily added. “I just didn’t expect to see anyone I knew here.”
Susan looked at the ground for a minute and wrung her hands nervously.
“It’s such a coincidence isn’t it,” said Neville encouragingly, noticing that she seemed a little embarrassed. “I mean, us both being in Mexico for a start and then actually running into each other.”
“Actually, I knew you were going to be here,” admitted Susan as she raised her eyes to the sky.
“Really?” asked a confused Neville. “How?”
“It’s a long story,” said Susan.
“It looks like we have plenty of time,” said Neville. “Let’s hear it.”
Her smile was bright again as she explained. “I’m training to be a Healer at St. Mungo’s.”
“Yeah, I heard that,” said Neville.
“Yeah, well, I’m working on a project right now. The Healer I work for may have found a way to advance the Wolfsbane potion so that it stops the transformation of the body as well as the mind.”
”Wow!” exclaimed Neville. “That’s amazing. How far along is it in development?”
“Not very far. We’re still trying to determine whether this new ingredient will integrate with the others without spoiling the whole thing. We’ve been in close contact with Sebastian Thyrsus. He’s helping us.”
“Really? I’m his apprentice and I didn’t know anything about it,” said Neville looking even more puzzled.
“I know. We just started communicating in earnest this past week. He mentioned you in his last letter but said you would be away for a while,” explained Susan.
The puzzled look on Neville’s face had not lessened so Susan plowed on with her explanation.
“I saw Hermione at St. Mungo’s. She was there to see her healer. She got a clean bill of health, by the way. She’s fully recovered.”
“Oh, good,” said Neville distractedly.
“We had lunch and I kind of asked about you,” said Susan as a blush crept up her neck.
Neville expression cleared as he realized that Hermione had been the one to tell her where he had gone. He and Hermione had spent a lot of time together and become even closer friends while Harry and Ron were traveling. He’d miss her now that she was well enough to travel with them. But he was happy for her. Hermione had missed her two best friends, especially Ron, while they were away.
“Hermione told me about this place and the festival,” explained Susan. “All I could think about for the next couple of days was making an altar for my Aunt Amelia and Uncle Edgar. So I decided to take some time off and come down here. I didn’t know if I would be able to find you or not but I wanted to come anyway.”
Neville didn’t know quite what to say to all of this. The phrase “asked about you” kept echoing in his head. Susan was starting to get a panicked look about her so Neville reckoned he better say something.
“Well, I’m glad you did find me,” he said.
Susan broke out in a gleaming smile, which made Neville’s stomach do some very annoying flip-flops.
“Do you want some help setting up your altar?” asked Neville.
“Oh, yes, please,” said Susan. “I have no idea what I’m doing. Especially after seeing the other altars. I’m afraid mine will be rather pitiful.”
“No it won’t. I’m an expert at them now. I had a most helpful tutor,” said Neville as he nodded and waved to the local woman next to them.
Susan pulled out the mementos of her Aunt and Uncle while Neville set up her little table next to his. She looked disconsolately at the small pile of treasures laid out on the table.
“I haven’t got much,” she said sadly, starting to arrange her meager possessions on the table. “I only got here a couple of hours age and it’s all so confusing. I didn’t really know what to buy.”
“It’ll be fine,” Neville reassured her. “Here, let me give you a hand.”
Neville covertly took his wand out again and whispered a Growth Spell to make his papel picado long enough to span both tables. He then took half of his incense, candles and marigolds and put them on Susan’s altar.
Susan looked like she was going to cry from Neville’s show of kindness. The two of them stepped back and surveyed their work.
Susan looked over at Neville. As luck would have it, Neville turned a second later to find Susan looking him up and down. With a barely audible gasp, Susan turned her attention back to the altars. He smiled at the blush that had taken over Susan’s entire face.
Hmmm…very interesting, he thought.
Neville he had seen Susan blush before, but never like she was at that moment. She looked like she wanted to melt into the ground below her. Neville tried desperately to keep himself from laughing. He was usually the one to get embarrassed.
Susan broke the silence by asking, “So, what have you been up to since leaving Hogwarts?”
“Well, as you know, I’ve been working with Sebastian Thyrsus. That work has been very fulfilling and interesting.”
“What do you do when you’re not working?” asked Susan.
“Hmmm…good question. I do a lot of reading. Sometimes I go to museums or the theatre with Hermione. We’ve keep each other company the past few months.”
Neville watched something flash across Susan’s face. He couldn’t quite tell what it was exactly. It was gone too quickly.
“I thought she was going out with Ron,” said Susan trying to sound casual.
“Oh, she is,” said Neville. “But he and Harry have been traveling quite a bit. As you can imagine, they’ve had invitations from all over the world. But Hermione hasn’t really been well enough to travel with them. So when Ron was away, I tried to keep her distracted and busy.”
Susan sighed out loud. “That was so kind of you! It must have helped Hermione a lot. And I’m sure it was nice to keep in touch with people from Hogwarts. I miss everyone so much.”
Susan’s babbling was interrupted by a bell ringing in the nearby church.
Neville looked at his watch and nodded. He saw Susan’s inquiring look and explained.
“The bells will ring every thirty seconds until the sun comes up. They are summoning the dead.”
“You think we’ll see any ghosts tonight?” Susan asked.
Of course, Susan and Neville were quite used to the presence of ghosts from their time at Hogwarts. But neither had run into one since they left school.
“Probably,” said Neville. “I hadn’t really thought about that. It might make for some interesting sights tonight.”
They laughed as they imagined Nearly Headless Nick and The Fat Friar making their way through the festival.
“Look at that family over there,” said Susan pointing to a group of people gathered near them.
Neville watched as an elderly man was telling stories to the children sitting at his feet. The children laughed as their parents smiled and looked lovingly at the portraits of a woman behind them.
“That’s sweet,” said Neville. “Do you have any idea what he’s saying?”
“No,” answered Susan. “I don’t speak Spanish. But it’s not hard to imagine. I’m sure their stories aren’t that different from ours.”
“Probably not,” agreed Neville. “Just with a lot less snow and cold weather.”
Susan laughed at Neville’s joke, which made him feel like the cleverest bloke within miles.
Their conversation continued right along with the bells throughout the night. Even if any ghosts had shown up, Susan and Neville wouldn’t have noticed. They were completely focused on one another. Neville told Susan about the last days with his parents. Susan shared what she went through after her Aunt was killed.
Before they knew it, all was quiet around them. They looked to see the sun barely visible over the horizon. It was morning already. The bells had stopped ringing and people were quietly taking down their altars. Neville and Susan did the same. They were walking toward Neville’s hotel when he broke their comfortable silence.
“I’m glad you came, Susan,” said Neville. “It would have been a long night without you.”
“I’m glad I came too,” she said. “When are you going home?”
“Probably tomorrow,” answered Neville. “All I want to do right now is sleep.”
“Yeah,” agreed Susan. “I’m exhausted. Well, I guess I’ll see you sometime.”
Neville felt like he better grab this chance before it was gone.
“Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
“That would be lovely,” said Susan. “Let’s meet here at six-thirty. My hotel is just down the street. That’ll give us plenty of time to sleep.”
“Sounds good,” replied Neville. “I’ll see you then.”
“Okay, good night then,” said Susan.
“Good night,” replied Neville.
Neville made a small movement toward Susan. He wasn’t quite sure what exactly he would do; he was just drawn to her. Susan mirrored his approach, which Neville took as a good sign. He took a deep breath and moved in for a brief hug. After a moment he stepped away from her. They smiled contentedly at each other, neither apparently willing to be the first to turn and leave.
Finally, reluctantly, Susan turned in the direction of her hotel with a look and wave back at Neville. Neville returned her wave feeling very content with how the night had turned out.