There was nothing quite as terrifying as a Braxton Hicks contractions. Especially when they were coming from the young muggle woman who was going to give Neville and Hannah her baby. They had waited at the hospital, expecting her to go into labor with the little boy they wanted to take home so desperately. The only thing was that they were no where near ready for the baby. They still had to prepare the nursery for the little babies and Neville honestly couldn't wait to hold them both in his arms.

When it turned out to be a false labor, Neville brought his very beautiful and pregnant wife back to their home and promised to be back in a little bit. He wanted to get some work done before he returned to the Longbottom cottage for the night.

A good ten minutes into his frantic piles of paperwork, his stomach reminded him all of the benefits of actually eating instead of just pacing back and forth with Hannah reminding him to relax. That their baby was going to be fine.

Neville made his way to the empty great hall, smiling at some or the house elves,
"Could I bother you for a sandwich? Just something easy, whatever you can do." He had been a proud member of SPEW when he was in school, and now as the headmaster he tried to keep that respect for the house elves. He smiled when he saw the empty staff table and took a seat to wait for his food.

When his new deputy headmaster joined him, Neville smiled at the other man,
"Long night Dominic?"

Neville took a few bites from his meal, trying to keep his eyes open. The time at the hospital had been so stressful, he had been so convinced that Vanessa was going into labor, he was almost crashing now.
"I spent my day at the hospital with my wife and our friend." He wasn't sure how much Dominic wanted to hear about his upcoming adoption, but he was excited about it. Knowing that in a few short weeks he would be a father to two little children. One out of biology, and one out of pure love. The second that Neville saw the child on Vanessa's ultrasound, he knew that he would be in love with the child. Vanessa didn't want to be in his life, but that wouldn't stop them from loving him or her as if Hannah had given birth to the child herself.
"Not a father again yet, but soon."

His brood was already large, with four children already at the school, one who graduated and now two on the way. Neville and Hannah just loved children and it was something that they should have done a lot sooner.
"What about you? Off doing something exciting and reckless?"

Neville felt a slow smile tug at his face and knew that he would be able to trust Dominic with the information,
"My wife is pregnant, and we're adopting a baby from a friend. Vanessa was having some false contractions, she's not due for a little while longer." People might have thought that they were insane for having two more children when their oldest was eighteen, but they loved children. Neville loved being a father and it was something that he took very seriously. When Hannah first brought up possibly adopting a baby, there was no hesitation in it. They were going to have a wonderful and full family and nothing could make him happier.

He took a bite of his food and knew that two men couldn't be much more different. Dominic was all about illegal races and the thrill from it. Neville had enough excitement when he was a teenager. He had a family, a steady job, he really didn't need any more people shooting spells at him.
"Such the ideal future headmaster for our lovely school, Dominic." He teased, taking a sip from his pumpkin juice. Some people questioned Neville when he picked the Head of Slytherin and the Potion's Master to be his deputy headmaster, but there was a method to his madness.

Neville wanted someone who would balance him out, see things from a different point of view and make him question what he was doing. So far, it had been a good dynamic and he knew that Dominic would be a wonderful Headmaster when the time came. Now that he was expecting two babies so soon, that time might come faster than the Potion's professor realized.
"So long as the police don't come pounding down our doors."

Neville smiled when his long time friend told him that it had to be exciting, not the words that Neville would have used to describe the day. He thought that he would have been able to hold his child for the first time and be able to thank Vanessa over and over for the impossibly selfless gift that she was giving them.
"It's one of the benefits of a magical school. Always seems to know what you need before you do." He thought about all of the nooks and crannies of this school that he got to learn when he was a student. All of the places that he explored and used in order to keep all of the students safe during the Carrow reign.

It seemed like a lifetime ago. When he was seventeen and still thought that the world was broken up into Good Guys and Death Eaters. Given what he had seen, he could understand why. He had grown up with his parents unable to even remember who he was. Their minds destroyed by that Lestrange bitch. His grandmother, who raised him as best she could, passed away when he was young, it was all just too much sometimes. If he didn't have Hannah and his children, the nightmares that still sometimes tore through his body would probably have won by now. When he had his wife in his arms, everything was better. She chased away the demons with her smile and kept them away with her happiness.

"Did you have to speak with the students about something? Maybe a lecture on the severity of muggle law and the various punishments?" He smiled and sipped his juice, knowing that it was getting late by the ceiling. Hannah was probably passed out in their bed already, given up on waiting for him but still slept knowing that Neville would be there by the morning. When he was a new professor at the school, he was one of the first ones to leave the school every night. Hannah had been pregnant with Frank when he started the job, and he didn't want to be away from her for too long. Not with Lucy less than a year old and Frank growing inside of her.

"Or should we save that lecture for when we can show off your mug shot with the lecture? Really cement it in their heads."

He enjoyed their banter back and forth. It was one of the reasons why he selected Dominic to be his deputy headmaster. A lot of the staff members around Hogwarts treated him like he was something special. Or that he did something heroic instead of just what was right. He was sure that if any of them had been in the same situation during the war that they would have done the same thing. Any decent human being that it. Dominic didn't try to put him on a pedastal and Neville loved that. It what just what he needed in his life. Dominic helped him make important decisions about the school that he hoped would greatly help things in the long run. They were getting involved with the Triwizard Tournaments, there was even talk about going to Beauxbatons next for it. A part of him was nervous about going there, after the unknown murderer involved with killing Catherine Charbonneau. Of course that didn't make him any better than the parents who yanked their children out during his time at the school.

Neville laughed when Dominic explained that he liked to pretend that he was a normal professor every once in a while.
"Don't we all, at least you don't have four out of seven of your kids at this school like I do." Seven kids. It still sounded weird for him to say. Even if the two babies weren't even there yet, he loved them both deeply. He loved watching Hannah grow with the baby they made together. He loved being able to know that they were helping Vanessa with a baby she wasn't able to care for. His family seemed excited to have the two new additions. The bedrooms were set for the babies and he knew that the older children would be as excited as Hannah and Neville were once they were there.

"Not many headmasters don't live at the school either." He hadn't lived at the school since his first week of being a herbology professor. Hannah had been pregnant with Frank with a barely one year old, so he didn't have much of an option.

He wanted to be with his wife and help with their children. No one could take that away from him. He laughed, knowing that there could have been a world where he had a mug shot for the help he did with the rebellions.
"Last thing I need is for one of my kids to take all of their lessons from you." He was a protective father above all other things and wanted to see them happy and free from a prison record for as long as possible.

Things for next year. Hm. Neville took a bite ouf his food, thinking while he chewed. There were so many things that they had to discuss for the upcoming year. There were prefects to decide on, Head Boy, Head Girl, all of that stuff.
"I was thinking about who should be our Head Boy and Head Girl." There were a lot of students who would be perfect for the position, and knew that Isis and Kasper were two top students with wonderful track records with their professors.
"Beatrice and I were talking about a Triwizard at Beauxbatons." He knew that his students had a wonderful time with the Triwizard Tournament when they held it, and he was excited to be able to capture that wonder again with them. Help them forget for just a little bit that there was a darkness all around.

"I can only imagine how that's going to go over with the school board." He took a sip of his pumpkin juice, thinking more about what it was going to be like to have all of his students in a school with a homicidal maniac running around. Catherine Charbonneau's killer was never caught, and even though the student responsible was never caught, it also could have been a professor. All of the things that a good Headmaster had to worry about. He would clearly talk things over with all of the headmasters and headmistress. A meeting of the minds between himself, Ian, Vasch and Bea before anything as huge as a Triwizard was decided on.

"Other than that, I think we're set for a quiet summer." He wanted to get everything decided on as soon as possible so he would be able to spend as much time with Hannah during the summer. He wanted to be able to take time away from the school to be with his wife and their two babies. It had been a long time since Hannah had to deal with two babies at once, they were older now and had less energy. Neville just wanted to make things as easy as possible for his beautiful wife.

"Any plans for the summer, Dominic?"

Neville had to balance the largest magical institution in the world. He had to balance a family of five that was about to become a family of seven. He had to worry about adoption contracts and prenatal care and making sure that his wife was getting enough rest and that someone was able to watch The Leaky Cauldron during days when Hannah was having too much trouble getting around.
"Barely, I thought that Mr Kasper Wilkes has a wonderful reputation with the professors and made an excellent prefect. He might be a good candidate." He thought that he was a very well mannered and well rounded student. Not many people would be able to cope with the loss of a parent and not let it effect their marks. Kasper seemed like a logical choice for Head Boy.

"Head Girl, I will admit I'm a little fuzzy on. There are so many wonderful students who would do the job fine." Neville was sure that most of the students who were of age would love to go to Beauxbatons with the Triwizard. They would fawn all over the beeches and the chance to meet exotic new students. When the even had been held at Hogwarts, Beauxbatons swept the competition. Their champion, Sebastien Rousseau ended up marrying one of his nieces that year. Neville would never forget seeing the smile that Mr Rousseau brought to his niece's darkest year. He had happy that the Triwizard could do that for a student.
"Thank you Dominic. Would you be alright holding down the fort here for the first through fourth years?" The fifth, sixth and seventh years would all go with him to partake and watch the games. They would just have to sit in on the lessons from the other schools.

Neville finished up his dinner and should have figured that Dominic would be doing something that involved racing during the summer.
"Well be careful my friend, I couldn't run this school without you." Not just words to keep the other man safe. He really couldn't manage everything that he had in his life without the other man.