saving him
Neville had lost the ability to be happy. Despite the fact that they won the war, that they were saved and they saved everyone else, he still felt like he had lost. "What's wrong?" asked a familiar, light voice from behind him.
He turned around to see her smiling at him and couldn't resist smiling back, even if it was a bit of a sad smile. "Oh, nothing." he answered.
She stepped up to him and ran a thumb over his forehead. "You're bleeding," she said, not worried, but observing.
"Yeah, Luna, really, I'm fine. Just a scratch." he insisted.
From her bag, she produced a handkerchief and wiped it off. "There."
"Thanks." He was expecting an awkward silence to follow, but instead she filled it with musings about Nargles and radishes and professors and the best ways to tie shoes, as if she knew he needed not to talk but to be talked to, to fill the void. He grinned and even laughed a few times, and when they had reached what used to be Hogwarts, he took her hand.
"Dinner?" he asked. "You, me, Gran?"
"Sure," she said, smiling softly. "Neville?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being brave." she answered, and kissed him as tenderly and softly as if she was a breeze, flowing past him and briefly touching his life.
"You're welcome," he said, feeling like he was blushing. "Er, right, should we go inside then?"
"Okay." she said. "Did you know that there could be as many as one hundred Snarfers sitting on your shoulder right now?"
"Well, that would be awkward."
"Oh, not at all." she said. He was sure there was an explanation of Snarfers, or what they did, or how nice they were, but if he was being honest he simply couldn't remember. He was lost in her face, in her eyes, in her smile, in the sound of her voice. Everything about her screamed 'I am what you need.'
Because sometimes, Neville thought, the things you lose have a way of coming back to you in the end, if not always in the way you expect.
Luna taught him that.
A/N: Written for Cheeky's Weekly Drabble Competition, Easy: Write about a noncanon pairing.
Allie