Briar exited the bedroom and focused the last of her energy on closing the door softly. She padded into the dimly lit kitchen with her eyelids drooping. She had just gotten Teddy to go back to sleep, and that felt like a miracle in itself. She and Neville had no idea what they were doing lately, and they just tried to learn as went, but Briar felt as thought she would never figure this out.

She settled into a chair at the kitchen table and dropped her face into her hands. She had no idea what time it was, but judging by the all-consuming darkness outside their kitchen window, she presumed it was likely around 2 or 3 in the morning.

When a hand gently grazed her shoulder, she flinched slightly and snapped her head up to see who had entered the room, but she sleepily smiled when she saw it was Neville. She murmured, "I'm sorry, Nev. I tried to calm him before he woke you up, but I guess that didn't work."

He brushed her hair behind her ear and whispered, "It's alright, love."

She gave him a tired smile before looking outside at the starry night sky. The moon was just a sliver that night, but it still made Briar's heart hurt for Remus Lupin. Even if she hadn't known him long, his wisdom and kindness had left a mark on her, so her eyes watered whenever she thought of his absence.

With her voice cracking, she whispered, "I don't think I'm doing any of this right. I don't know how to care for a child...I barely got to be a child myself."

Neville reached for her hands and pulled her out of the seat. He tucked her against his chest and murmured, "You're doing fantastic. Teddy is lucky to have a godmother as caring and fierce as you."

Briar murmured into his chest, "I wish Sirius were here still. It's always easier when he stays with us."

"I know," Neville soothed. He ran his fingers through her hair and began to softly sing the song that he had always hummed when she was stressed during their school days.

Somehow this made Briar think of the dances they never had at the Yule Ball, so she trailed, "Do you think we could ever...dance? Like we would have at the ball?"

Neville nodded vigorously with his eyes round. He confessed, "I practiced extensively for that ball, and when I closed my eyes and twirled about my dorm...I always pictured it was you I was holding onto."

"I had never been more furious that you had asked Ginny Weasley," laughed Briar.

He sighed into her hair, "Well, I chose you in the end, didn't I?"

Briar placed her hands on his face and giggled, "Of course you did. It would have been an utter mistake otherwise."

"Mhm," hummed Neville as he set one hand on Briar's hip and intertwined his other hand with hers. With a brilliant smile and sleepy eyes directed towards her, he promised, "And I'll choose you every day for the rest of my life."

"You are my life, Neville Longbottom, and Merlin, I wouldn't want it any other way," breathed Briar as the two of them fell into a perfect rhythm in their dance about the kitchen.

Briar beamed up at her brave Gryffindor boy, and she knew that she, without a doubt, believed in love and soulmates when looking into his eyes. No one made her heart swell with joy, her shoulders unravel with peace, and her skin alight with electricity quite like he did.

But, Briar was right in not believing everything the ministry told them, for Neville was her soulmate, but he wasn't her "other half." They were two wholes whose souls were inextricably intertwined and made to find one another's. Their entire beings were drawn to one another in a beautiful display unlike anything Briar had ever thought possible.

Despite everything she had grown to believe in her childhood, her soul had found its home at Neville's side, and she didn't think that could ever change.

———