The next day was Christmas morning, and Briar had spent the better part of the night lying awake. She had felt completely comfortable and safe, yet her mind just wouldn't slow down and allow her to rest.

At some point, she draped the quilt around her shoulders and rose from the couch to approach the plushy recliner that was placed in front of the living room window. She dropped into it and tucked her legs underneath her as she watched the quiet world outside the window. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness hours ago, so now she could clearly make out the outline of the street and the little critters that scurried along across the Longbottom's pristinely kept lawn.

It was clear to Briar that Gran took pride in keeping her yard in tiptop shape, and this made the view pleasing for Briar to look at in that sleepy state. She remained in that chair for the remainder of the night, only falling asleep briefly before Neville gently woke her from her sleep with a gentle touch to her cheek.

She stirred in her sleep and involuntarily hummed in response to his touch.

The soft tips of his fingers stroked her cheek as he murmured, "Love, do you want to wake up?"

At his gentle tone, her eyes fluttered open. She reached up for him and smiled lazily in response to his question, soon tugging the boy down onto the large recliner beside her. He didn't fight her, and he just settled into the chair while Briar snuggled her body into his side. Her arms were wrapped securely around his torso and her face buried into his neck; all of which left Neville completely trapped in the seat.

As her soft breaths evened out against his neck, he decided that he never wanted to leave that moment, even though he knew that they would have to eventually.

Briar had fallen back asleep at some point since her exhaustion was weighing down on her heavily, but Neville just stared out at the beautiful sunrise that had started to poke through the sky that morning and enjoyed the feeling of having his soulmate wrapped up beside him. It was truly indescribable, and he decided he would just have to keep recreating moments like these to forever have the unexplainable bliss that came from being in Briar's presence in the peaceful, early morning hours.

Their moment was eventually interrupted when Gran stumbled into the room. She was coughing up a storm, but the slightest of smiles still fell on her face when she saw the pair's cuddling at the early hour. Without Briar knowing it, Gran was just about as in love with her as Neville was, and this was no easy feat. Gran wasn't an easy woman to impress, but Briar had thoroughly impressed her with Neville's testament to her power.

Gran saw Briar's calm confidence, silent strength, and adorable softness for her soulmate, and all of these things made Gran incredibly pleased that the girl would be a part of their family.

Remorseful to interrupt their moment, Gran eventually greeted Neville, who had been watching her with a small smile, once her coughing fit had subsided. She murmured, "Dear, you need to go visit your parents today. I'm in a fit and mustn't go, but I reckon Briar would be a person your parents would like to meet."

Briar stirred at the sound of her name being spoken without knowing that was why she had awoken. Her eyes blinked heavily as her gaze fell on Neville's nearby face, and a slight grin tugged on her face once again. She whispered, "Hi."

Neville brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear in response, but she could see something was bothering him, even if she was unaware of what Gran had just suggested Neville and Briar do that day.

Her eyebrows knitted together as she stared up at Neville. She wondered, "What's wrong, Nev? You look worried."

When Neville's eyes flashed to a point behind her head, Briar realized that they were not the only ones in the room. She twisted in her seat and gave Gran a sleepy smile. "Good morning."

"Happy Christmas, dear," replied Gran before she broke into another coughing fit. She waved at Neville and choked, "Just go visit them. I'm going to lie down."

Briar looked back at Neville and questioned, "Is she alright?"

Neville nodded. "Yeah, she just coughs a bit sometimes."

A silence filled the space between them again while another question came into her mind from what Gran had said. She placed her hand on Neville's chest as she decided how to best word her question, but he seemed to sense her curiosities without her having to verbalize them. He confessed, "Gran wants me to take you to...meet my parents."

"And you don't want to," supplied Briar. She offered him a kind smile. She didn't want him to think she was offended by this. His parents were a source of incredible pain for him, which Briar knew from how stiff he always seemed to become whenever he mentioned them, and those comments didn't happen often.

He spluttered and shook his head in response, but he pulled away from her slightly, and Briar could sense his discomfort. She let her hand drop since he had shifted away, but she gave him a knowing smile. "It's okay if you don't want me to come, Neville. If it makes you uncomfortable, then I'm not coming."

Neville frowned at the loss of contact with Briar's hand, but Briar assumed this was because he was battling with himself over how to tell her that he didn't want her to meet them.

So, needless to say, Briar was surprised when Neville admitted, "It's not that I don't want you to come because I think it would be nice to have you there, but I'm just...I'm worried that you will be...put off by it."

Briar immediately reached out for Neville. She placed her hands on his cheeks and swiped her thumbs back and forth gently. He melted at her touch, and that's when she murmured, "I would never be put off by or judge your parents, love. They made you, so I already love them."

His eyes were round and large as he looked down at her sincere face. He knew that she wouldn't ever judge them, but a small part of him feared it still. He knew that Gran would belittle him about this if he didn't bring Briar because of his unfounded fears, and he straightened his shoulders at that thought. He was a bloody Gryffindor; he wouldn't let his irrational fears control him, and that was his final decision.

—

Briar and Neville arrived at St. Mungo's not long after. Neville still seemed slightly on edge, and a sadness had begun to weigh down on him as his heavier steps reflected this new weight.

Before long, the pair found his parents' bedside, and Briar instantly noticed the similar features. Neville had his mother's eyes, even if hers seemed slightly unfocused and darted around occasionally. Upon looking at Neville's face, her eyebrows raised slightly as if in recognition, but Neville had told Briar that his parents didn't know who he was.

His mother reached a hand out towards him, so Neville released Briar's hand and stepped closer. He greeted, "Happy Christmas, mum."

She had what Briar could only assume was a faint smile on her face as she reached a hand up and wove her fingers into Neville's hair. She slightly ruffled his hair before removing her hand and staring at him with an almost empty gaze. Her eyes then turned to Briar, and her hand once again lifted gently.

Neville informed her, "She wants to touch your hair."

Briar stepped forward and cautiously dipped her head down to make the reach less for Neville's mum, just as Neville had moments before. She touched the end of Briar's black hair for a couple seconds before she pulled away and looked up at Briar with her head tilted to the side.

From beside her, Neville murmured, "I know you won't understand this, mum, but this is Briar. She's my soulmate."

Mrs. Longbottom just blinked heavily up at her son. She was unable to process what he was saying, and this dragged Neville's shoulders down further.

There was a silence amongst the group for a moment until she held out her other hand that was enclosed into a fist. Neville stuck his hand out, and his mum soon dropped an empty gum wrapper into his hand. His lips tugged into a sorrowful smile before he folded his fingers back to cover the thin piece of paper as if it were a precious jewel.

Neville's expression grew heavy then. His mum had gotten distracted by something on her blanket, so Briar and Neville carefully moved to his father's bedside. He looked up at them in a daze, so Neville just sat down in one of the stiff, hospital chairs beside his bed. Briar followed suit and took the other seat.

His dad seemed to be in even worse shape than his mum. He hardly looked at Neville, and his eyes remained unfocused. His cheeks were hollow and his skin incredibly pale, and Briar felt as though her heart was cracking down the middle at the forlorn look on Neville's face that he was trying to hide.

Briar reached out and clasped Neville's hand in her own. He wasn't doing this alone. He didn't have to face this pain by himself. She was there now, and she hoped to Merlin he realized that.

After a few moments of quiet, Neville's voice scraped out a greeting. "Happy Christmas, dad. I've come to introduce you to Briar. She's my soulmate, and Gran likes her very much already. I think you would have too."

At this confession, Briar's heart fluttered and filled with an unexpected warmth. She felt as though she were eavesdropping on an intimate conversation to hear that, but she knew that Neville meant every word of it. She squeezed his hand gently in support, and her heart swelled when he turned and looked at her with his eyes crinkling warmly.

—

After the two of them left the room that his parents were in, Neville's shoulders slowly sunk. Tears started to slip from his eyes and down his cheeks, but he tried to turn his face away from Briar so that she wouldn't see. Wordlessly, Briar led the both of them to a bench in the hallway, and she tugged Neville's head into her chest as his shoulders started to shake with his cries.

His sobs broke the silence of the empty hallway, and Briar's fingers worked their way through the soft hair at the nape of his neck. For a minute or two, she just let him cry. She didn't want to make any indication to him that it was wrong or weak for him to cry, for she knew how hard it was to unlearn harmful messages like those. So, when she finally broke the silence, her voice barely a whisper, she tried to reassure him of the opposite: his sadness was not something he needed to hide from her.

She whispered, "It's okay, baby. Just let it out."

Just like his gentle voice often made her release more of her emotion, hers did the same to him. Once he had permission to let go, he slowly unraveled all of his hurts on that bench. The sound of his suffering that day brought tears to Briar's eyes too because the pain of watching your love suffer with little to do to help was a rotten feeling, but it was one that Briar would face every day for the rest of her life if it meant that she could always be there for him.

If Briar was being honest with herself, no one's happiness and comfort mattered to her more than Neville's did, and this was something that she was very, very comfortable with.

———