A/N: This story has been sitting, finished, on my computer for a while. Now that school's out I finally decided that I wanted to upload it. There will be at least one other part to this story. This part is Luna's point of view and the next part will be Neville's. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Mummy, who is this?" Lorcan asks, curious about the man who has his arm around a younger version of his mum in the picture he just found under his mum's bed.
Luna looks up from playing with Lysander, Lorcan's twin, and smiles when she sees the picture that five-year-old Lorcan is holding up. She beckons at him to bring it over, pulls both of her children into her lap, and starts to explain.
"That's Neville Longbottom. He was one of my few friends when I was at Hogwarts and we fought together in the war. Unfortunately, I haven't talked to him in years. We were more than friends once but I left to explore with your dad and when I came home he was married, " Luna says sadly, staring at the picture. Luna remembered very clearly when that picture had been taken.
It had been a hot day at the end of July, only a couple days before Neville's birthday. They were out by Neville's garden spending time alone together. The next couple days would be crazy, with Neville's birthday and then Harry's coming up. There would be a lot of partying and not much time for quiet.
A blanket was spread out on the ground and they were laying on it side by side, legs and arms intertwined, Luna's head resting on Neville's chest.
"So, have you got me a birthday present yet?" Neville asks, absentmindedly twirling one of Luna's curls around his finger.
"I wanted to give you a Blibbering Humdinger but I couldn't find one. I think the actual present I got you is better though," Luna says dreamily.
"What is it?"
"I'm not going to tell you," Luna rolls over so her face is right above Neville's. "That would ruin the surprise and I like to surprise you."
"You've never stopped surprising me since the day I met you," he says, rolling both of them so he is hovering above her. He starts to lean down to kiss her but before his lips reach hers Luna wriggles out from under him and darts across the garden.
Neville sits up to see where she disappeared to and sees that four people had appeared in the garden without him noticing. Luna had run over to greet them and now all five of them were walking back to where he was sitting.
Luna, skipping, reaches Neville first. When he stands up she wraps her arms around his waist.
"Surprise," she says, smiling up at him as he puts his arm around her shoulders. He smiles back at her, confused by the sudden appearance of his friends.
Out of the corner of his eye, Neville sees a camera flash. Looking in the direction of the camera flash, he sees Ginny holding the camera and Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing behind her.
"Hey Neville," Harry says, grinning. "Luna invited us here. She thought you would appreciate a quieter party with just your close friends before you have your huge birthday party. And I have to say, I would too."
"So we're celebrating both of your birthdays right now, just the six of us," Hermione says.
"Unless, of course, you two want to keep celebrating alone," Ginny teases them. Neville turns bright red but Luna just smiles and starts to hum a cheery tune.
Luna finds herself humming that same tune later in the night as she looks through old pictures. She comes upon a stack of them from the days following the Battle of Hogwarts. There's Harry, battered and bloodied right after he defeated Voldemort, trying to hide outside the frame of his picture but failing as the people surrounding him push him back into the center. There's a picture of Hermione curled up with her head on Ron's lap in a Hogwarts Express compartment while he strokes her hair, both of them occasionally dozing off. Following that is a picture of Ginny looking tired but relieved as she picks at her breakfast in the Great Hall just before heading home. Finally there's the picture Luna has been looking for: the one of Neville she herself took in a bit of quiet time the day after the battle as they and the rest of the survivors took in the damages and finally let themselves believe that it was over.
The events of that day and most of the battle are a blur to her but there is one memory full of bittersweet happiness that stands out among all the destruction.
"Luna!" she hears Neville scream her name through the shouted spells and explosions coming from all around the castle.
Sensing Luna's distraction, her masked opponent goes to shoot a Killing Curse at her. Before he completes the incantation he is Stunned from behind by Neville.
Neville runs up to her, grabs her arm, and pulls her into an abandoned classroom, where he releases her arm and starts to pace, looking distressed.
"Neville, whatever you want to say, just say it," Luna says, placing her hand on Neville's arm to get him to stop pacing.
Suddenly, he pulls her towards him and kisses her. It's a short kiss, tight-lipped and innocent but there's so much passion and fear put in it that both of them know this is no meaningless kiss.
"I'm in love with you, Luna. Completely, madly in love with you. And I just had to tell you now because we both might be dead by morning," Neville says, in a rush, as soon as they break apart.
"Neville, we're not going to die," Luna says, then walks out the door.
A small smile lights up Luna's face, remembering how she had left Neville hanging by not telling him she loved him back. She knew that by doing that she would give him a reason to fight even harder to stay alive.
The next picture she comes across doesn't bring back quite as happy of memories as the last one. It's another picture of her and Neville in front of the apartment building he had just moved into that day. It was late autumn and they are both in coats to keep the chilling wind from cutting into them. Neville's smile is as happy and carefree as all the other pictures of she and him but Luna can see how obviously forced her smile appears in the picture. Luna shakes her head in regret of what she did to Neville the day this picture was taken. This was the day she left him, a day she's never forgotten-or stopped regretting.
"Neville, do you remember how I said I wanted to travel the world?" Luna asked, standing at the windowsill, looking out at the street below, and stroking the leaves of one of the many plants that rested there.
"Yeah," Neville looked over at her from the kitchen of his small apartment. "What about it?"
"Well...I met a man named Rolf Scamander in Diagon Alley the other day. He's going to search for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and he invited me to go with him and his team. I said I would go and I'm leaving tomorrow."
Neville just stared at her, shocked that she was leaving him. She moved into the kitchen and stood in front of him.
"I've been wanting to do this for so long. It's my chance to prove to the world that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks do exist! Neville, I wish you could go with me but you're starting to create your life here and I don't want to mess that up for you. There's so much here for you and you wouldn't find any joy trekking through the wilderness like that. I know you wouldn't," Luna rambled, trying to get Neville to respond.
He snorts at that, "I'd be happy wherever you are, Luna."
"Maybe for a while but the endless travel would wear on you. You'd miss everyone here."
"I'll miss you more."
"No, you won't. I'm just an eccentric girl that you'll all forget once I'm gone," Luna said, sadly.
"I could never forget you, Luna," Neville took her small hands in his own.
"Well, you should. Find someone else who will make you happy. Someone whose lifelong dream isn't to go chasing something that no one else believes to be in existence. Find someone other than me, Neville. Someone...normal," Luna gently extricates her hands from his grasp and walks to the door.
"I will always love you, Luna," Neville said to her back, his voice revealing the raw betrayal and loss he felt.
"Goodbye, Neville Longbottom," Luna said in response. Then she walked out the door-and out of his life.
Tears stain Luna's cheeks as she remembers that day. She wished that what Neville had said was true: that he would always love her. Unfortunately it wasn't because when she came back five years later he was newly married to Hannah Abbott. He had taken the Herbology teaching job at Hogwarts and Hannah was the landlady at the Leaky Cauldron. They were obviously happy together.
So she left with Rolf again to explore the world. In time she grew to love him, not as much as she had loved Neville but enough so that when he proposed she was enthusiastic in her acceptance. They had a very happy marriage, traveling the world together until Luna became pregnant with Lorcan and Lysander. After that they had settled down at Luna's parents' old house, her dad having passed just a couple years before.
For a while, Luna was content. She had a man who loved her and two glorious, little children who were every bit eccentric as she was herself. Then Rolf had been made a travel offer he couldn't resist, much like Luna had so many years before. However, Rolf's trip was to be much shorter than Luna's had been. He was to return in a couple months time. He did return, but not alive. There had been a horrific accident with the animal they were tracking and Luna's beloved husband had been killed.
It had been over three years since then. She did miss her husband terribly but in his absence her mind had turned back to the man who had been her first love. For the few years she was married to Rolf she had thought of him little, only to wonder how he was and what he had gotten up to in the years since she had last seen him. But now she thought of him near constantly, missing not just his love but his friendship too. For Luna had lost touch with all her old friends when she'd left. As much as she would have liked to reclaim those friendships she had not the time to do so. While her and Rolf's treasures from their adventures left her and the boys enough money to live on so she didn't need to work it was still taxing taking care of her energetic children.
Luna sighs and puts the pictures away, along with the memories of things that had been and would never be again. But as she finally slipped into her lonely bed that night, she set the picture Lorcan had found on her nightstand, next to the framed picture of her and Rolf that also sat there. The two pictures stood as a remembrance of the men she had loved and lost, one by a cruel twist of fate and one by her own foolishness.
Please review. I think Luna might be a little OOC. Let me know what you think.