She was absolutely fascinating to him, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. As he watched her eating her breakfast, every little strange and quirky thing she did stood out. For instance, she poured pumpkin juice on her bacon, which she had said to everyone that asked "was good health because the Flambernabs in the juice negate the bacon fat," and soon everyone stopped asking, like they always did. She never seemed to mind though, she was always smiling, sometimes even humming, lost in her own little world completely oblivious to the stares and the snickers.
He wished he could be like that, but he cared too much about what people though. He was constantly making looking behind his back to see if anyone was laughing at him, and he double-checked himself every time he left the loo just to make sure that no toilet paper was sticking on his shoes and even though none ever had been, he was still constantly paranoid. That was the life of Neville Longbottom.
"Neville," someone whispered to him and he looked around to see Hermione giving him an apologetic look "you've got ketchup all down your face." Instantly Neville turned beet-red and grabbed the napkin Harry offered him. He heard someone giggling and looked a little further down the table to Parvati and Lavender, who were staring at him. When they saw him watching they quickly looked away although he could still hear the muffled laughter and see their quivering shoulders. They were nice girls but they wore their hearts on their sleeves and didn't really exercise any self-control over their feelings.
"Don't worry about it mate," Harry told him smiling "I mean, look at Ron!" Neville did so and what he saw did indeed make him laugh. The fifteen year old red-head was shoving forkfuls in his mouth at a time with Hermione and the rest of the occupying table staring at him in disgust and from some people, even a little awe.
"Thanks guys," Neville nodded at them as he grabbed his book bag from his feet "I'll meet you in transfiguration." They waved to him as he left the table but he barely registered that fact, more noticing that Luna had already left the Ravenclaw table. He'd missed her.
Wallowing in his disappointment he left the hall and started to head up the main entrance stairs when Luna Lovegood rushed past him, her long blonde hair tied into a high ponytail and completely barefoot. Stopping what he was doing he swiveled around and saw her slip out the door, into the pouring rain. His concern for her health taking over his shyness, he dropped his book bag at the corner of the stairs and quickly ran after her.
Once outside, he glanced around for her and saw her twirling towards the lake, like she was dancing. Her laughter bounced along the rain, reaching him and he smiled, watching her giggle and whirl around almost as if he were in a dream. She was so beautiful.
He started chasing after her, not even knowing why himself but enjoying the rain immensely. He caught up to her by the lake and stood for a minute, watching her dancing, the rain making her hair curly. It had since fallen out of its hair band and was now loose around her face, whipping it as she spun, but she didn't seem to feel any pain. Soon the downpour was just a drizzle and she slowly faded to a stop, panting slightly at the exertion and she eventually noticed he was standing there, watching her.
"Hey Neville," she didn't seem embarrassed by the fact he'd seen her rain-dancing "long time no see."
"Umm…H-hi Luna," Neville stammered "I'm sorry for…erm…watching you?" he ended it like a question and she just laughed at him.
"That's okay, it might have actually helped," she told him matter-of-factly and his brow crinkled in confusion.
"Helped with what?" His stammer gone, he was excited to be finally talking to her, after such a long time wishing he could get the nerve to do it.
"The Algats," she said as though obvious "they only come out in the rain to people who wish to see them."
"So, what was the dance for?" Neville didn't particularly want to know what Algat's were and he was a little scared to ask in case she became offended.
"Nothing," Luna shrugged "I just felt it was necessary and it's such a nice day." She grinned at him, a set of white teeth shining at him. "Dance with me?" Instantly Neville stepped away, shaking his head but before he could put sufficient distance between the two of them, she grabbed his hand "it'll be fun!"
She started to spin with him, the rain slowly intensifying all of a sudden as though it had never calmed in the first place. Luna threw back her head and laughed and Neville found himself to be enjoying dancing with her. He started laughing himself, the rain pattering onto him, soaking his clothes and ruining his shoes and sure, his grandmother would be furious but in the moment Neville wasn't paying any attention, and even if he was, he wouldn't have cared.
Slowly they came to a stop and Luna sunk onto the grass, pulling Neville with her. Luna had a wide smile on her face that was threatening to take out her ears and her blue eyes were sparkling with joy. Neville saw a strand of hair plastered across her face, and without being able to stop himself, brushed it to the side. Luna still had hold of his hand, and he was glad that it was raining, otherwise she'd notice his sweat.
After a few minutes Luna got up "we'll be late for class," she let go of his hand but didn't leave yet. Looking back down at him she grinned "this was fun Neville. We should do it again some time." And without a second glance, she was running back towards the castle, leaving Neville by himself, staring after her in amazement, knowing that every time it rained he'd go dancing with Luna again if she would have him.
Hmm…I'm not so impressed by this but I just felt in a Harry-Potter-y mood…So I hope you enjoyed it and please review.