"Hey, Neville?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Will you come help me look for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"
Neville shrugs. "I-I dunno, Luna. Adventures aren't really my thing. Herbology is, and I don't think that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are really Herbology."
Luna laughs at him. "Oh, Neville, that doesn't matter! Come one, it'll be great fun!" She grabs him by the hand and pulls him to his feet, and Neville has no choice but to listen to the racing of his heart and go with her.
AYE**LUV**YOU
Neville walked slowly into Luna's room, not sure if he should be surprised or insanely happy at the pictures of himself, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny strung up across her bedroom. Luna seemed to take the fact that she has friends now a bit overboard, but Neville can't bring himself to mind, or even find it creepy. He had never really had good friends either, and the fact that Luna cares about him so much made his heart nearly burst with joy.
"So, what do you want to do?" Luna asked him happily as she sat down on the floor. She patted a space next to her and Neville shyly sat next to her.
"Whatever you want to do," he said politely.
"No, no, you're the guest, you have to choose!" she said with a small laugh.
"Um... I dunno... want to play cards?"
"Sure!"
AYE**LUV**YOU
Neville couldn't stop staring. How could he stop staring at the strange girl with the weird glasses and the upside-down book? And she could see the strange horse things as well? How?
Suddenly she looked up at him, smiling slightly. He blushed and looked down at his plant. He hadn't realized she was so pretty. Maybe he could talk to her a bit more... get to know her... he supposed someone as strange as her would want to be friends with someone as hopeless as himself, probably. Wouldn't that be nice, having a friend... Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were great, yes, but, well, they weren't quite his friends, somehow. Not close, anyhow. Not as close as he wanted to be.
AYE**LUV**YOU
When Neville heard that Luna had been kidnapped by Death Eaters it nearly tore the heart right out of him. Something about Luna had always seemed so indestructible, immovable, and pure, as if no one would dare to harm her.
And yet, there she wasn't.
Suddenly the D.A. wasn't nearly as cool as it had been when she was around.
There was no one around to warn everyone about the inherent threat of nargles, for example.
There was no one around to lighten the mood when everyone was feeling depressed after a particularly vicious attack by the Carrows.
There was no one to make up amusingly interesting theories about the Room of Requirement.
There was no one to hold his hand and whisper in his ear that it was okay after his latest beating.
There was no one to let him be weak sometimes. He had to be strong, as one of the co-leaders of the D.A. It was hard work, but Luna had always managed to make it easier.
He was so worried about her it was like a constant stomach ache.
AYE**LUV**YOU
Neville leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Luna's lips. He pulled back and looked at her hesitantly. Just because he had killed Nagini earlier that night didn't mean that he was suddenly braver than, say, Harry all of a sudden.
"Luna... I... I like you... Is that okay?"
Luna stared at him for a moment, large blue eyes wide and searching. She stared so long that Neville started twitching and fearing that perhaps she would say that no, it wasn't okay, but then-
"Of course it's okay, silly! I like you as well!" She beamed happily at him.
"You do know that by like I mean... love, right?"
She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips, causing his heart to flutter wildly in his chest. "Of course I know that. I love you too, Neville. I love you too." Each of the last four words was punctuated by a small kiss on his lips. He'd never felt anything so magical in all his time at Hogwarts.
AYE**LUV**YOU
"Where should we look first?" asks Luna, instinctively twining her fingers with Neville's.
"Don't you know where to look?" asks Neville, suddenly getting worried.
"Of course! I just figured you'd like a chance to decide where to look!"
"Um..." Neville looked around. "Maybe we should head out of the castle?"
Luna nodded. "That's a good idea. I don't think Crumple-Horned Snorkacks live in Hogwarts."
"I don't either." Neville agreed, relieved. "So, should we look in the Forbidden Forest?"
Luna's eyes light up. "Oh, good idea! I haven't been there in so long!"
"Okay then, let's go!"
AYE**LUV**YOU
Neville was lost in the battle. It was so hard to tell where he was. His mind only had enough time to see the spells coming towards him, to duck or block, to counterattack, then to keep moving.
He saw a flash of dirty-blond hair and moved in that direction before he even had time to think about what he was doing. His mind had enough thought only for one thing and that thing was Luna. If anything happened to her... whoever had made it happen would die. Neville didn't care if Voldemort himself was the one who had done it; he would kill him.
He fought through the fray, pushing past Death Eaters and Order members and the DA alike, occasionally engaging in combat but only because he had to get through. Where was she? Where was Luna? He had just saw her, of that he was certain, but she seemed nowhere to be found. He considered calling out for her but he didn't have enough room in his brain right now to form words. He felt completely numb and didn't even react as a body fell down in front of him, eyes wide open and staring. He stepped over it and moved on. He needed to find Luna. That was all.
And suddenly there she was. Right in front of him. A Death Eater had her by the collar and was about to cast a spell on her. Neville rushed to intervene but before he could Luna pulled out her own wand and shouted "STUPEFY!" The force of the spell sent the Death Eater flying. Luna dropped to the ground, since the Death Eater had been holding her up in the air, and Neville ran over.
"Luna, are you okay?" he asked frantically, checking her all over for wounds of any kind.
"Yeah," she said with a tight-lipped smile. "I'm fine. Just a couple of harmless cuts and bruises. No reason to worry."
"I'll always worry about you, Luna."
She smiled at him slightly, but then her face fell back to a serious look that really didn't fit her. "Now's not the time to act all mushy and romantic. We've got a war to fight."
AYE**LUV**YOU
Neville sighs and leans against a tree. He feels bone-weary and can't believe how far he and Luna had walked in just one day. Luna leans beside him, seeming just a tad bit less tired than he is.
"I can't believe we've walked this far and still haven't found a Crumple-Horned Snorkack." Luna said. "I thought they would be easier to find than this."
"I can't believe we didn't find one either." Neville said earnestly. Though he had been just as doubtful about the existence of all of Luna's creatures as everyone else, he had come to believe in them just as much as Luna seemed to. "Maybe we should look again tomorrow?"
He and Luna stared at each other for a moment, and then Luna exhaled lightly and looked up into the sky. "You know... I think I'll let the Crumple-Horned Snorkack go free. For a little while, at least. It doesn't deserve to have me chasing after it all the time."
Neville looked at Luna's profile for a moment, then looked up at what she was looking at. "Okay then. I'll go out looking for them with you if you ever look again."
Luna turned to look at him, then smiled. Her hair blew wildly in a sudden wind as she reached out and pressed a kiss to his mouth. "Thank you, Neville."
Neville smiled and kissed her back. "No, thank you."
A/N Okay so this is a birthday gift fic for LifeBlossomsLikeCherries! I hope you (all of you, but mostly the recipient, heh heh) all liked it and don't think I laid it on too thick... I'm just glad that I managed to hit one thousand words with this! My oneshots are usually REALLY short...