"The Hunt for the Nargle's Egg"
A Neville/Luna Easter Story
Why is it that the very things I'm always looking for tend to be right under my nose? Okay, so it's not like I'm a particularly absentminded person, but neither am I very perceptive or smart. I never really knew how important some things were to me, and how terrible I'd feel if I lost them. At least that's beginning to change now. All thanks to a rock…and Luna Lovegood.
Let me explain.
This year, for Easter, for the first time since I began at Hogwarts, I had to stay at school. Basically, Gran's sister, my Great Aunt Arlene, had made her house explode. Seeing as my Gran knows a bit more about handling reconstructive spells than anyone I know, she had a job fixing Arlene's house in Ireland, and she suggested that I stay as far away from the wrecked house as possible. I suppose I take after Arlene. She's not the best with a wand in hand either.
Anyhow, almost everyone I knew went home for Easter this year. Normally, being eighteen and of age, I would be out of school altogether by now. But the new Ministry, after we finally defeated the Death Eaters at Hogwarts, ruled that the whole year of 'lessons' had been illegitimate, so everyone was still here, repeating the year they'd been in last year. That would make me a seventh year.
But for Easter break, Gryffindor Tower was pretty much deserted. I could've very well gone home by myself, but without Gran there, and seeing as she still kept her house under total lockdown after last year, there would basically be no point. So here I was, sitting in the common room on Easter Sunday, reading some holiday cards my admirers had written me as a season's greeting.
No, I'm not being a snob. I really do have many female fans now, after refusing to join the Death Eaters, leading an underground revolt last year at school, and not to mention, beheading that huge snake to help the anti-Voldemort effort. But it gets rather embarrassing. I really couldn't tell you how Harry Potter put up with it all for these past eight years.
Anyways, back to the common room. I'm sitting there, and I hear the Fat Lady asking a password of someone standing outside the tunnel, waiting to get in.
"Password?"
"I'm not a Gryffindor, but I would like to see Neville Longbottom, please."
I immediately recognized the airy, light voice from the other side of the portrait. Luna Lovegood. Repeating her sixth year this spring, Luna had been a key ally of mine up until she was taken off the Hogwarts Express at Christmas. She was the second person the Room of Requirement made a hammock for, after me. Alecto Carrow was hunting her down for her 'punishment' after she refused to perform the Cruciatus Curse on a third year who failed a quiz.
"I beg your pardon? Do I look like a waitress?" the Fat Lady protested.
"No—"
I got up and quickly got to the door to see what Luna wanted. Swinging the portrait open, I looked at the Fat Lady. "It's alright, she's a friend," I said.
Luna's ever-present smile grew wider. "Hello, Neville."
I was always uncomfortable around Luna up to that point. I could never quite put my finger on why I suddenly was so thankful she was standing here. Evidently, she was staying in the castle for the holiday as well. Her eyes were wide and hopeful, which wasn't too different from the usual. She'd loosely braided her long blonde hair and was wearing a light purple frock that fell over her in an odd shape. There was no reason to wear school robes on a holiday.
"Hello, Luna," I said. "You here for Easter too?"
Luna nodded. "My dad has gone to Uruguay for the week to see if he can spot a rare kind of Crumple-Horned Snorkack. They say South American Scorkacks have bright yellow horns. Anyways, he doesn't want me home alone, even though I'm seventeen."
I nodded understandingly. Even though we all knew Voldemort was gone, many of us who'd fought couldn't help but be anxious for a while afterward. Rumors were Seamus' mum still had protective charms over her house.
"Well, do you want to go down to the Great Hall for a game of Exploding Snap?" I offered. Luna shook her head.
"It's Easter, and it's very warm out. I thought we could go hunt Nargle eggs in the bushes on the edge of the forest," Luna said.
Nargles. I still didn't know what they were, but from the way Luna sounded, their eggs could've held the Elixir of Life inside.
"Nargle eggs?" I asked cautiously.
Luna grinned. "Easter Sunday is always the peak of their laying season, and my dad always says that if you should find a Nargle's egg, you gain a small bit of wisdom you'd never had before. Dad caught one once, before I was born, but he said he lost it while playing with the gnomes in our garden. One of them stole it. Too bad, too."
I couldn't help but smirk skeptically.
"So, want to join me? I brought a picnic lunch. Winky packed for two."
I considered my options. Either wander out into the Forbidden Forest looking for nonexistent Nargles and their knowledge-bearing eggs with Loony Luna Lovegood, or sit in Gryffindor tower working on a potions essay (two scrolls on the variations of talent-enhancing elixirs). There really wasn't much of a choice as far as I could see. My Herbology homework was already finished. So I decided to follow Luna and her odd sense of optimism into the forest to hunt Nargle eggs and the wisdom they brought.
The mid-morning day was already quite warm as Luna, armed with picnic basket and a smaller pink wicker basket, led me into the forest. She didn't go far in before beginning to stoop down and peek under various types of bush. I just stood still and stared at her as she repetitively looked, dug, flipped her hair out of her face, and repeated. This went on for a good hour before I decided to say anything. It was a curious enough sight as it was.
"Um…what about looking in a rabbit hole?" I suggested. Hey, I WAS trying to play along, after all!
Luna stopped what she was doing and stared blankly up at me, before smiling that unique smile of hers and giggling to herself.
"Silly! Rabbits don't lay eggs!" Luna said.
I growled under my breath in annoyance, something I rarely did before last year. I felt myself being flashed back to the four days it was just her and I before Ginny and Dean showed up in the Room of Requirement on the fifth day. She would keep me up late at night talking about her assorted fictional creatures, and by day she'd be off in her own little world, wondering how Harry, Ron, Hermione, and her father were. Mostly she would just be talking to herself then, however.
I reached into the picnic basket at Luna's feet as she dug under a large mistletoe bush. Winky had packed several sandwiches. I took one that appeared to be turkey and cucumber and bit into it.
But no sooner did I take a second bite when I heard Luna squeal with a strange sound. I spat out the bit of sandwich and leapt back in surprise. Luna jumped up looking ready to have a heart attack. She held what looked like a grayish-violet rock in her palm.
"I….I never thought it possible, but…I…." Luna began saying, tears welling up in her eyes.
"What, that you'd find a rock?" I asked sarcastically.
Luna didn't look too offended. "This is a Nargle's egg, Neville. I already feel the wisdom surging through me! Oh, Dad will be so proud and excited! And we've only been out here an hour!"
"Luna, listen, it's a rock," I said calmly. But Luna seemed to be in denial.
"But this is EXACTLY the shade of color, and shape, feeling, of a Nargle egg!" Luna expressed, not listening to me.
I rolled my eyes. "If you brought me out here to go rock-hunting, then maybe I should just—"
"—NO! You have to stay!" Luna said quickly, stopping me from turning on my heel and heading back up to the castle.
"Why?"
"You need to find one now. It would be unbalanced if you didn't find your little piece of wisdom too," Luna said.
I looked at her. Her optimistic eyes looked right into mine, and I felt even more uncomfortable. She really wanted me to dig through bushes looking for a rock? Oh, excuse me, a Nargle egg?
"Please?" Luna asked. I figured I DID have nothing better to do with my day until the rest of the DA got back from Easter vacation. And I was in no position to give up an afternoon with a friend, eccentric as she was.
Luna extended her hand to where a whole grove of mistletoe bushes were. There had to be thirty or so bushes. I cringed. This was going to be a long afternoon.
After another hour digging through mistletoe with Luna looking down at me, watching my progress, my patience was beginning to dwindle. I realized, if Luna thought a rock was a Nargle egg, then why hadn't I thought about just presenting Luna with another rock an hour ago?
The first rock as big as Luna's was under the next mistletoe bush I found. Scooping it up, I mimicked Luna' excitement and exclaimed that I'd found one. I held it up and let Luna hold it. She looked at it skeptically. She weighed it in her hands and studied it like a Healer would study a patient.
She shook her head disapprovingly and handed the rock right back to me. "No, Neville. I'm sorry but this is clearly a simple rock. But it's not your fault, the two can be very hard to dissimilate."
I couldn't believe it. Luna pulled out her 'Nargle egg' and held it side-by-side with mine. The two looked identical, and I couldn't believe it. I was about to lose my nerve.
"Luna, I'm going back up to the castle. I can't stand this madness anymore!" I exclaimed (rather forcefully, too, I might add).
Luna actually looked hurt. I rarely saw her actually bothered by another person's opinion.
"But Neville, when you find an egg—"
"—Luna, could you PLEASE, from now on, keep your Nargle nonsense to yourself and leave me alone?!" I shouted (I was even surprising myself). "I've had enough! These are BOTH rocks! Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks DON'T exist! Leave me ALONE!" I said, turning away and storming back up to the castle.
Now I wasn't quite sure, but I could've sworn I'd heard the sound of a small, airy grunt and the sound of two moderate-sized rocks being thrown into a mistletoe bush.
Later that evening, the guilt of how hard I was on Luna sunk in. I sat in the library thumbing through a few of the self-updating history books at the picture of myself and Padma Patil on one of the last pages. The caption underneath read: 'Neville Longbottom (left) and Padma Patil two members of the Hogwarts student rebellion group "Dumbledore's Army." Longbottom would also vanquish Nagini, the right-hand snake of Voldemort.'
I normally didn't like looking at that chapter. It made me feel conceited. But nothing else would get my mind off the terrible thing I'd said to Luna. I really felt bad.
Luna had a picture on the next page with her father. The caption read: 'XenophiliusLovegood (left, pictured with his daughter Luna) was the editor of THE QUIBBLER, one of the few magazines the Death Eater's Ministry didn't control. Luna would be captured later, urging Lovegood to turn over Harry Potter in exchange for her safety.'
I sighed and felt my chest grow a little heavier.
Suddenly, I heard a voice from a few rows over begin to speak harshly.
"Loony! Loony Lovegood!" the female voice taunted. My ears perked up and I turned around to see the back of Pansy Parkinson's head. She has on her school robes, and another Slytherin girl with frizzy black hair stood near her. "You're done looking for Snarkle nests?"
Luna's voice (which had been echoing in my ear all afternoon) didn't sound much weaker than usual. Luna was always a lot stronger than she seemed on the outside.
"Pansy, could you let me through? I'm looking for—"
"—Loony Lovegood wants a book!" Pansy's friend mocked in a baby voice. "Sawwy, wittle Wuna Wuvgood! The Flibbery Dumdinger books are in the wittle-kid libwawy!"
As I stood up and attempted to get a closer look, I saw that Luna was a little flustered. She saw me and grew a little redder. Evidentially, she decided to turn around and go back to Ravenclaw Tower.
Pansy called cruelly after her. "She's too scared to even put up a fight! Dumbledore Army FOREVER!" she mocked.
That was it. Poor Luna looked so sad, and Pansy had no right insulting her OR Dumbledore's Army. My heart sank seeing her so sad.
"Shut up, Parkinson," I said bravely. Pansy and her accomplice spun on their heels to face me. Luna halted, but didn't turn. "Funny mentioning the DA in such a negative way. How long did YOU stay and fight?"
Pansy looked quiet. The black-haired girl knitted her eyebrows.
"That's right, by the time Luna was producing Patronuses that were saving Harry Potter from dementors and dueling Bellatrix Lestrange, you were halfway out of Hogsmeade, looking after your own ass!" I sad, almost surprised I'd sworn like that.
Pansy's pug like face scrunched in even more. "You oaf," she muttered.
"LUNA Lovegood has more courage in one finger than you would if you multiplied yourself fifteen times over," I said. "So I really wouldn't be saying ANYTHING about her if I were you."
Pansy and her friend looked beyond pissed, so I walked briskly around them and walked quickly over to Luna. She turned to face me. Her eyes were puffy. But she still looked…dare I say it…pretty?
"Can we talk?" I asked.
Luna smiled. "Of course, Neville."
She took my hand and walked with me out into the hall. Pansy and her friend sounded like they weren't planning to be defeated without a fight.
"Come on out, Longbottom? Running away?" called Pansy. Luna looked in front of us while I looked behind, and she pointed to an opening door ahead of her.
"The Room of Requirement's opening for us, Neville!" she said, dragging me along. The next few seconds seemed to pass in an instant, and I can barely remember them myself, but Luna opened the door, and by the time we were in the all-too-familiar room, the door had been shut, and there was no way Pansy or her friend could get in. I could hear her trying to break in using bombarding spells, but they didn't seem to work.
Luna turned away from me and wandered further into the room. I followed her. "What is it?"
"A real one," she said, pointing to an object sitting on a small table in the center of the room. I looked at the genuine Nargle's egg. It did look a bit like Luna's rock. But I felt something when I looked at it, and I knew this was really true.
"Pick it up, Neville, this little piece of wisdom's for you," Luna said selflessly, gesturing to the egg.
I hesitated and looked at her instead. Luna's red eyes didn't disguise her smile and her evident feelings for me and how I'd stood up to that Pansy Parkinson just for her.
I didn't walk towards the table with the egg. Instead, I walked towards Luna and took her in my arms. Luna embraced me back, not as surprised as I thought she'd be.
"I think I already have my little bit of wisdom, Luna," I said.
Okay, it sounds very campy, but it's true just the same. I didn't need a Nargle's egg to realize I cared for Luna as she cared for me. Hopefully, I would never forget that, and to date, I haven't.
After I broke our embrace apart, Luna looked up at me, glowing. I felt my stomach rumble realizing that I hadn't eaten since that sandwich in Winky's picnic basket.
"I'm hungry…is there any way we can turn this Nargle egg into an omelet?" I asked.
Luna giggled.