Dean appeared in front of Neville's door with a crack. Checking the number against the directions he'd written down, he decided that he was in the right place. Hope I'm not running too late tonight, he thought. Giving the door a few sharp raps, Dean stepped back and waited.

Neville rushed down the stairs and nearly tripped. He passed his small table and quickly banished the few items on it, wincing when he heard some papers that were on the table hit the wall and scatter in his room. Great.

He took a deep breath before opening the front door and grinning.

"Dean! Long time no see, mate!"

"Damn but it's good to see you, Nev! How the hell are you?" Dean said as Neville stepped back to let him in. Looking around, he whistled. "Very nice! I must be in the wrong line of work."

Neville laughed. "This isn't from my Mungo's salary. This is from my Gran hassling the landlord to give me a good deal. No, St. Mungo's gives me enough to just barely make me stick around." He motioned toward the living area. "I'd give you the grand tour but you're basically looking at it. The only thing you don't see is the two bedrooms and one bathroom I've got. It's a small apartment, but there's only me here and I'm hardly around, so it's fine."

"Hey, I've been reduced to crashing at Gin's place, so I think I'll stand by my last statement," Dean said with a laugh. "So, what have you been up to... besides no good, that is?"

"I'm always good, Dean," he laughed at the disbelieving look on Dean's face. "And you're staying with Ginny and Luna? I bet that's fun."

"It is that... at least when I get to see them for more than a few minutes at a time. What with Gin getting things ready for business, and Luna taking care of her father and the Quibbler, they aren't around much." Dean shrugged. "I guess my running around trying to drum up business and looking into more permanent housing options doesn't help matters much, I suppose."

"Well, when Ginny was still working at St. Mungo's even I didn't see her for weeks at a time. It's like our home away from home, or it was until she left. We'd see each other in the halls or have lunch sometimes." He motioned them into the living room where they sat down. "Thanks for letting me keep the drawing of Mac. I haven't hung it yet because I want a bit more artwork on the walls first. It's in my guest room at the moment. Done any other drawings like that?"

"Of Mac? Not yet, I'm afraid, though I *have* done a few pieces lately that were... interesting," he said with a grin.

Neville's eyebrows rose. "Landscape interesting or 'keep away from the kiddies' interesting?"

"Unless you want the kiddies to have an anatomy lesson, I'd have to say the second." Smiling he said, "In the last couple of weeks, I've done a nude of Alicia, and had Hannah Abbot in just her unmentionables." Chuckling, he added, "I just wish I'd known then what I know now. Those two are enough to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window! Stone foxes, the both of them."

Neville threw his head back and laughed until tears came out of his eyes. "Oh Merlin. I hadn't realized how much I missed living in Gryffindor dorm until now. I miss you all trying to make me blush. It's not going to work, by the way, but that is still hilarious." Neville shook his head and grinned. "A nude of Alicia? Spinnet? That's rather... strange. I just see her as the quidditch girl, not a model. And as for Hannah... you must be lying. Little Hannah Hufflepuff? She posed for you in her knickers?"

Dean laughed. "I speak only the truth! And Hannah came to me for specifically that kind of portrait, believe it or not. The poor thing was shaking like a leaf when she came in. Said she was doing it because her ex wouldn't approve... and was going to pay for it with his money."

Pausing for a moment, he rummaged around in his pocket. Pulling out a tiny parcel, Dean enlarged it and handed it to Neville. "My portfolio - you never know when an opportunity will pop up. Here, have a look," he said excitedly, "just promise me that you'll not let either of them know that you've seen 'em."

Neville carefully opened the portfolio to the first page. There were small children in odd shapes. He turned his head sideways and looked at one of the drawings.

"What in the world are they doing? Trying to turn into pretzels?"

"It's called yoga," Dean said with a chuckle. "It's a muggle discipline that's used for fitness, though there is a spiritual element to it as well. It's Indian, I think. Ali teaches it to children... or she taught it, rather. I did those during her last class. She wanted some mementos and I wanted to sketch the kids, so it worked out nicely."

Neville nodded and turned the page, to see who he assumed was Alicia. He hadn't seen her in years, but she looked... really good. He cleared his throat and turned the page to see a gorgeous landscape. Neville had no knack for anything artistic, but he could appreciate the beauty in the picture. As he turned the page, there was another landscape. Finally, when he turned the page again, he saw Hannah's picture. His eyes widened.

"Holy Merlin, she's grown up, hasn't she? And you say she was doing this to defy her ex? Well, what is she going to do with the picture then? Keep it stored in the attic or something?"

Dean doubled over, laughing. "That she has, mate. I don't know what she planning on doing with it. Maybe she'll give it to this mystery bloke she seems to be all het up over." Shaking his head he said, "Unfortunately for her, she says that he's not interested. Personally, I don't buy it. Seriously, if someone looking like that came to you looking for some loving," he said, pointing at the picture, "can you honestly imagine turning her away?"

"I doubt Hannah Abbott walks around in her knickers, but I get what you mean. I don't know what bloke she's pining for but if it were me, and I wasn't previously attached to anyone, I don't think I'd let her leave the house."

Neville carefully closed the portfolio and handed it back to Dean. "That's some great work there, Dean. If you ever need a place to hang your works, let me know. As you can see, my walls are pretty much empty. I'm not very artistic. Gran had a interior designer fix the flat up for me. I just chose was furniture I thought looked interesting."

"Bare walls or no, this place is amazing." Dean grinned. "If you're ever in the market for a flat mate, keep me in mind, yeah?"

"So, what's the plan for the night?" Dean said as he put away the portfolio, "Shall we go forth and terrorize the wizarding world, or should we just stay here and gab?

Neville grinned at Dean. "Honestly? If you're wanting to get out of Gin's hair, you're more than welcome to take the spare. It's tiny, I'll warn you. Just a small twin bed and we'd share the bathroom, but you're welcome to it. I'm never here, but I'm working on Mungo's giving me more time off. Plus, you'd have places to hang your art. Oh! And you could water my plants!"

"I was wondering how any plants of yours could manage to look so... sad," Dean said with a grin. "And I may just take you up on the offer, provided you're okay with me working here on occasion and the rent isn't too outrageous. I'm getting a fair amount of work, but I'm trying to save enough to buy my own studio space."

"This is only half of them. I had to give some of the others away because if they stayed with me they would have all died. I'd rather they be with someone else than die. And the rent I could care less about. I don't even pay it, because Gran takes care of it for me. She refuses to let me pay it and the landlord is more scared of her than me." Neville snorted. "And don't worry about working here. I told you, I'm hardly here and when I am, I'm either in the kitchen making food or in my room asleep. I'm gone the rest of the time."

"That sounds great, actually. I'd insist on paying something, but we can talk about that later." With a mischievous look in his eye, Dean sat down. "Let's get to the important stuff. How did your date with the lovely Ms. MacDougal go? Well, I hope."

Neville laughed. "I can honestly say I doubt I'll ever have a date like the one I had with Mac ever again. Is this going to be one of those close to, if not, girl talks about what we wore and how cut the other looked?"

"Nah. Just wanted to know if she's as fascinating to talk to as to look at."

"Well, at first we didn't do much talking. I took her to the Leaky, but that was a bad idea. She got into a bar fight. Well, we both did. After that was sorted, I brought her back here and made her dinner and then we watched a movie. We both fell asleep. The next morning I had to go to work as did she. So... that's it."

Groaning, Dean said, "But that doesn't tell me anything about how it *went*. Did you enjoy yourself, are you going to see her again? Y'know... the important stuff!"

"It went... fine, I guess. It certainly wasn't bad or anything. I know she enjoyed herself. Made herself comfortable in one of my old shirts and nothing else. Not that I was really looking at what she was or wasn't wearing, you know," he said hastily, trying to cover his tracks. "I think we'll go out again sometime, when our schedules allow it. She plays every Saturday and since my days off are Sundays, or they're supposed to be, I can stay out as late as I'd like."

Neville squirmed. "So, it was alright. What about you? Anything going in your life female-wise? This can't be Neville-time here. There has to be Dean-time."

"There hasn't been any 'Dean time' in longer than I like to think about," Dean said with a laugh. "It's torture sometimes - I see all these absolutely gorgeous women in little to nothing, and I never get a taste. Life is sometimes cruel and unfair." Shaking his head, he said, "I'm glad to see that you seem to have found someone to spend time with, though."

"Well, Mac certainly keeps me on my toes," Neville said laughing. He glanced at the clock on the wall and grimaced. "I hate to cut this so short, but I have an early shift tomorrow and if I stay up any later I'm going to be dead on my feet. Do you think we can meet up again? I miss having male friends, although Mac could almost count."

Dean grinned. "Somehow, I doubt that." Standing, he said, "No problem, mate. We don't want you falling asleep while you're elbow-deep in somebody's innards, now do we? I'll owl you soon - I've been hanging out entirely too much with women of late, as well. So is it safe for me to apparate directly from here?" At Neville's nod, he smiled. "It was good to see you, mate. Tara!" Dean vanished with a crack.

[Summary]: Dean and Neville have a much-needed male bonding time.