A/N: Written for the International Wizarding School Championship.
Shout-out to Hemlockconium for Beta-ing! Thanks!
Quick Notes: I made History of Magic the equivalent of History, and DADA something like gym or martial arts.
School: Beauxbatons
Year: Year 1
Theme: High School Muggle!AU
Main Prompt: 7.) Pairing picked by a teammate (Neville x Luna) [Pairing]
Side Prompts: 8.) Standing under an umbrella [Action]
Word Count: 1730
Luna wiped her hair off of her sweaty forehead and sent a strong punch to the target in front of her.
"Good, Luna! Just like that!" A voice sounded from beside her, but she didn't hear it. She was in her own little world, channeling all of her strength into the target. A strong hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it, though, and she turned to see her semi-friend and DA leader, Harry Potter, standing next to her.
Harry had had a rough childhood. His parents had been murdered when he was only a year old and he had grown up in a pretty bad environment, living with his awful aunt and uncle. He'd had numerous run-ins with the serial killer who called himself "Lord Voldemort", who seemingly had it out for Harry. Each time, Harry had defeated him on sheer luck, nerve, and strength. That's why he was the leader of the DA. Their Martial Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge, refused to teach the students anything practical, so Harry had taken it upon himself to do just that. The world was getting slowly darker with Lord Voldemort getting stronger, and if the government wasn't going to teach people how to protect themselves, then who would?
Luna always felt bad for Harry, since things weren't the greatest for him.
"Luna, would you be willing to partner with Neville?" Harry asked, dropping his voice down a few notches so that no one else would hear. "He's not really getting the hang of it, always falls back to defence, and you're a really strong offensive fighter, so you might be just what he needs."
"Sure, Harry, glad to help!" Luna said, smiling. Harry smiled a smile of relief as he watched her skip off to join his friend; Luna was a great fighter and would be a great teacher to Neville.
"Hey, Neville, mind if I join you?" Luna asked the miserable looking boy. Neville Longbottom was not exactly the best in classes and tended to get teased a lot.
Luna felt bad for Neville. She tended to feel bad for people who were outcasts, kind of like herself.
Neville nodded, and took a swing at the target in front of him, missing completely and nearly crashing his fist into the wall. Luna winced; he really didn't get it, did he?
"Can I make a suggestion?" Luna asked softly to the older boy.
"Sure, though I'm not sure if it will help much. I'm rotten at this," he said, deflated from his miss.
"Well, you're standing like this," Luna said, copying his stance. "You might find it easier if you stood a bit wider, bent your knees, and shifted some of your weight to the back foot," she said, standing in the way she found easiest. She quickly delivered a strong one-two punch to the target and kicked it for good measure.
"See? Much easier," she said, smiling and backing away to let the older boy have a shot. This time, he only missed by a few inches.
"Great! Once more, and put some more force into your left arm," she guided gently.
Thwack! Thwack! Neville hit the target perfectly.
"Just like that! You've got it!" Luna exclaimed, high-fiving him.
"Great, Neville! That's one of the strongest hits I've seen tonight!" Harry praised, walking over from where he had been correcting two of
the younger boys.
Neville's cheeks turned pink from all of the praise as he grinned, high-fiving two other members of the DA.
The meeting went on for another half-hour before it ended in an open sparring match. There were strict rules in place to make sure no one got injured, which Luna was quite thankful for. She loved to spar against her friend Ginny, who was a great fighter. Ginny could match a punch for a punch, something she'd learnt growing up with six older brothers.
"Thanks for coming, everyone!" Harry called over the noise as the last fight finished. "Without you guys, this wouldn't be possible! Password for the next meeting is 'Snitch,'"
"Snitch?" someone asked.
"Yeah. Because no one's going to snitch about the meetings. Geddit?" he asked, clearly amused at his own joke. A few people groaned; Harry was not known for his sense of humor. "Anyways, as always, stay safe, keep an eye out and protect each other, and give Umbitch hell!"
People cheered, and exited the room. The DA was held in the gym, so people could use the door to the outside from there.
"Hey, Luna? Can I talk to you for a second?" Neville asked shyly, scuffing his shoe against the polished wood of the gym floor.
"Yeah? What's up?" Luna asked, shifting her backpack around.
"Luna? You coming?" Ginny called from outside.
"One second, Gin!" Luna called back.
"Well, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me with History? I just can't seem to understand all of the revolutions that Professor Binns talks about, and I know that you're really advanced in it," he stuttered out, clearly embarrassed.
"Sure, I'd be glad to help! That is, maybe you could help me with Botany in return? You see, it's planting time this year for our garden, and I was wondering which flowers grew together. And, since you're the best Botany student in probably the entire school, there's no one better," Luna asked.
"S-sure!" Neville exclaimed, excited. No one had ever asked for his help before.
"Well, I've got to go, but I'll text you my address, alright? Maybe we could meet on Saturday?"
"Sure!"
Saturday came with a warm breeze and a cheerful sun shining in the sky. Luna had made a pitcher of lemonade to celebrate the first warm day in a while and had brought out a table and two chairs. She put them on the rock patio that viewed the garden and sat on a lawn chair while she waited. Soon enough, she saw Neville come pedaling up to the house on his bike, and she stood up. He slowed down and rested his bike against the fence, and Luna opened the gate for him.
"Hey, Luna! I love your house! It looks like a giant chess rook!" Neville said, staring up at her house. The Lovegood house was tall and cylindrical and painted black, and the more Luna looked at it, the more she realized he was right.
"Oh yeah, it does! I never noticed that!" She said, pouring them both a glass of lemonade. Neville accepted it with a grateful nod, and drank it slowly, savoring the taste.
When they had finished their lemonade, the pair decided to go over some History for a bit, and when they were done, Neville was nodding in understanding and smiling. For once, all the revolutions were separate in his mind, and he could easily rattle off any amount of facts about any one of them.
Luna was impressed; true, she was super advanced in History and had tutored students in every grade, but she'd never seen anyone pick up a topic and understand it so quickly as Neville had.
"Now, what should we do for the garden?" Luna asked once they'd finished another glass of lemonade.
"Well, what kind of theme are you going for?" Neville asked, sitting up straighter.
Luna could tell that landscaping and gardening was definitely his passion, and found it amusing that his demeanor completely shifted from quiet and shy to excited and ready to take charge.
"Well, I want to do something colorful and with a variety of heights, since usually we go all one color," Luna said, taking out her art journal. "I was thinking that maybe we could do a design based off of one of my paintings."
Neville thought that it was a great idea and agreed wholeheartedly. He opened up her journal and couldn't help but gawk. There were all sorts of paintings, some of objects, some of animals or people (he recognized one as Ginny Weasley), but the ones that stuck out to him were the abstract paintings. He could tell that Luna loved colors, and quickly they both agreed on their color scheme for the garden being yellow and purple.
The pair worked for a while more before deciding on four different flowers: sunflowers, irises, daisies, and lavender. They agreed to meet again next Saturday for planting and more studying, and hung out for a little while more before Neville went home, excited that he would get to spend more time with his new friend soon.
Rain was not exactly what Neville had wanted for the weather that day, but as he stood under his umbrella, watching as Luna dug some holes in the garden bed, he realized that the weather didn't really matter to the blonde girl. She was kneeling in the dirt, rain soaking her hair and clothes, but she didn't even seem to notice. Neville didn't want to distract her or break her focus, so he waited until she looked up and saw him.
Eventually, Luna did, and got up and opened the gate, wiping away a little of the dirt-turned-mud from her legs. She smiled and led Neville over to where the plants and bulbs and seeds were stored. She took his umbrella away, telling him that he wouldn't be needing it anyways. Neville protested a bit, but eventually allowed the slightly eccentric girl to have her way; it was her garden, after all.
The two planted for most of the afternoon, stopping occasionally to throw mud at each other, and when Neville left, he was happy that he had made a new friend. He could sense their friendship blooming, even if he could not predict that it would eventually lead to them helping their friend Harry fight Lord Voldemort twice.
For now, they were friends, and nothing could get in the way of that. Not even the rain.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! If you did, please review! I'd love to hear from you!