It's Not Over Yet

by AlwaysPotterhead

As the sun rises on the day after the battle, the wizarding world finds new life, new love, and a new enemy. Luna Neville!

I stood next to my best friend, Ginny Weasley, and we stared at the ruins of our school and the place I thought of as home. Hogwarts was still standing, but much of it was in rubble due to the Battle of Hogwarts, as people were already calling it. Ginny's shoulders were shaking, her slender form wracked with silent sobs. She had lost her older brother Fred earlier today, or tonight, or whenever it was. Many people had lost someone close to them, and were sad, me included. Classmates, former teachers, people whom I had laughed with and fought side by side with were dead.

"Luna, are you alright?" Ginny asked suddenly, looking at me as I hugged her. My long blonde hair was matted with blood, I had a gash above my eye, something on the back of my leg, and my wrist hurt like hell. But I was fine, compared to Fred, or Lupin, or Tonks..

"Yes, I'm okay." I replied, not wanting to worry her any further. My mind wouldn't stop playing a reel of tonight's events, however. I saw Harry lying limp in Hagrid's arms and although I knew that he was alright, I felt a pang in my chest. It was really thanks to Harry and Ginny that I had made any friends at all, and I loved those crazies. I wonder…will they actually get together?

"Lu?" a familiar voice echoed out and I turned around to look into the chocolate eyes of the only person who ever called me Lu.

"Neville, are you okay?" I exclaimed suddenly, taking in his limp and his face that was covered in blood. He smiled tiredly at me and I noticed that he still had the sword of Gryffindor in his hand. He had been so brave, so daring, standing up to Voldemort like he did. There had been more than one second where I was afraid he would die, and I knew that it would be devastating, that I would be devastated.

"I'm fine, my head stopped bleeding now." He laughed slightly at this. His hair was a bit burnt as well, due to Voldemort's spell. "But…there's something I have to show you, and I don't think you'll like it very much." He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Ginny, into what was once the courtyard. I tried to ignore how much I liked it.

"What's going on?" I asked, suddenly worried. Was Neville more hurt than he had let on? Had Harry, Ron, or Hermione died? Had Crumple-Horned Snorkacks joined the fight and been cursed into extinction? Oh wait, scratch that one. Not possible…they didn't live in England.

"It's…it's your father, Luna." The use of my real name made me even more worried, he only used it in serious situations.

Neville pulled me to the side of a pillar, at the body of a Death Eater in a dark cloak, with the mask still on. I stared at it in confusion. With a wave of his wand, though, the body of the Death Eater moved aside and I saw what it was on.

"My father…dead?" I staggered back, overwhelmed by grief. My dad was a bit crazy, had tried to kill my friends in order to save me, and he was lost without my mum, but he was all I had. "How…when…what?" I couldn't form a clear thought.

"He was dueling this guy, I don't know his name." Neville explained. "A spell hit the pillar behind him and it crashed into both of them, killing them immediately with blows to the head. I saw it happen, Lu, and I couldn't stop it. I'm so sorry." I looked at my friend and I noticed the overwhelming sorrow in his eyes. He thought it was his fault.

"Don't." I said slowly and he shook his head, brushing me away. "Neville, look at me." He looked up and his brown eyes met my blue ones. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this, because there was nothing you could do. You're a hero, and you saved many lives tonight. So you couldn't save one. It's okay, and I don't blame you. So you can't blame you either." He looked surprised at the fierceness of my tone. I knew that I was, but I couldn't let Neville blame himself for this.

"When did you get so…not in the clouds?" he asked. I blushed, unusual for me. It was true that I had been an airhead, not grounded in the slightest. But somehow over the course of my sixth year at Hogwarts and the bad things that had happened, I had started to see the world for what it really was, and not how my father had seen it.

"Somewhere in between getting the word "Loony" cut in my skin and seeing my friends die before my eyes." I stated quietly, knowing that this was true. Neville looked murderous, however.

"The…word...WHAT?" he practically growled. Oh. I hadn't had the chance to tell him about that yet. Not that I was planning to. "Luna Lovegood, tell me what happened." Ooh, he was mad.

Sighing, I tugged down the shoulder of my shirt to reveal a scar just above my heart. "Loony" was crudely cut there. It had been done by Bellatrix Lestrange, in Malfoy Manor, before Dobby and Ron and Harry and Hermione had shown up to rescue us. I hadn't shown anyone other than Ginny, and now Neville. I hadn't told anyone else, either.

"Bellatrix?" he asked, his voice quiet but dangerous. I have to say, it was probably in Bellatrix's best interest that she was dead, because it sounded like Neville wanted to think up ways more painful that plain old death to hurt her. "That twisted, foul-minded, evil bitch." I noticed that he hadn't taken his eyes off of my scar. And, you know, areas around my scar. I tugged up my shirt, hiding it up again.

"I'm okay." I lied. To be honest, I wasn't okay at all. "Do you mind if I stay here for a minute? Alone?" Neville shook his head.

"I'll be back in a few." He said, patting my hand as he left and I finally let the tears pour down my cheeks. I wasn't just crying for my dad. I was crying for Fred Weasley, the guy who had always given me free Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products and who had worked with me until I could successfully stun someone in my fourth year. I was crying for Remus Lupin, who had been my teacher my second year, and who had tutored me privately until I was able to disarm someone. Nymphadora Tonks, who last year had taught me how to change my hair color with a few spells. For all of my friends, and my family, who had died fighting Voldemort.

And oddly enough, I was crying for Neville Longbottom. I still remember the dorky, shy, untalented boy he was when I first met him. I had liked him even then, but as he grew into the hero he was today, I realized that I liked him as more than a friend. But now he was a hero, and I was just Loony Lovegood. I had finally given up hope, the thing that he had said would keep us alive. And until today, I had held out hope that he might like me. Because of the incident earlier in the year. If I closed my eyes, I could see it playing out.

I walked into the Room of Requirement, where we had agreed to hold a meeting on Dumbledore's Army and undermining Snape's regimen. It was November. Ginny had detention, lines using one of Umbridge's old methods, the quill thing. Dean and Seamus were both scrubbing the Muggle Studies classroom, having set off something horrid there, I wasn't sure what. Everyone else was in trouble too, as we so often were. Only Neville and I were there. And I decided to tell him something.

"Neville, I'm scared." I murmured. "What if they kill us? Our families?" Neville had looked at me strangely, because I never showed emotion. It was part of my defenses, I guess.

"Then we'll die. But we won't die in vain. I intend to die fighting, Lu, and take as many Death Eaters as I can down with me. Like Harry said he would." He had replied.

"I miss Harry." I had said then. "And Ron and Hermione. It's not right here without them. Do you think they're alright?"

"Of course they are." He patted my back reassuringly. "Hermione's the cleverest witch I know, Harry's brave, and Ron is…well, he's Ron. They're alright, and we'd know if they weren't. We're going to win this war, Luna. I promise you that."

"How can you be so sure?" I had challenged him, hoping for an answer that made sense.

"Because we have hope, and love on our side." He had smiled at me then. "We have something worth fighting for, and we know why we're fighting. We're good, not out to destroy. And nothing the other side has is more powerful than love."

"Do you have anyone to love, anymore?" That was insensitive of me, I know. "Other than your grandmother, I mean?"

"I have Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny." He hugged me then. "I have everyone in the Order of the Phoneix, and my parents. I have my friends here. And I have you." I had looked up at him and suddenly those eyes of his were closer. And closer. And then his lips were against mine and his hands in my hair. My first kiss. But then he pulled back and left, with no words. And he never mentioned that day.

I jolted out of my memories at the sound of Neville approaching. I frantically rubbed my eyes, trying to hide the fact that I'd been crying. I never cry. I've never cried in my life, until today. What was wrong with me, why was I crying? I felt sadness, of course, but I never cried.

"Luna." Neville sounded scared. He rarely sounded scared anymore, that was frightening. But Voldemort was dead! "Did you run into Alecto Carrow in the battle?." Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were with him.

"I did." It must be important, so I elaborated. "I actually…killed her." Neville groaned, and I looked at him in surprise. Wasn't it a good thing that I had hurt Death Eaters? "And I'm proud of it! See, somehow she got free and I had the pleasure of sending a spell at her, causing her to topple backwards, fall off a balcony, and die."

"Oh no. This is NOT good. This isn't good at all." Neville started pacing, looking harried. I was so not understanding and I looked at Harry for an explanation.

"Alecto didn't die right away." He began. "So we extracted some memories, in the hopes of seeing the identities of other Death Eaters so that we could capture them and send them to Azkaban."

"And unfortunately, we had to witness a few...other memories as well." Ron continued. "It appears that she had an, erm, relationship with Fenrir Greyback."

"As a matter of fact, they were engaged." Hermione joined in and clarified. "Since Voldemort, apparently, only didn't approve of Lupin the werewolf, not werewolves in general. So, Greyback and Carrow were engaged. And Alecto lived long enough for Greyback to see that she was dying. And swear that he would murder whoever had killed her." Oh. That's why Neville was freaking out. I had a deranged werewolf after me. But why was he freaking out so much and not the others?

"Do they know that it was me?" I asked. Neville was still pacing. And freaking. Why was he freaking so much?

"Yeah." Harry sounded worried. "And, I know that you can take care of yourself, but Alecto was one of the more popular Death Eaters. And for some reason, it seems like Fenrir Greyback has become a rallying point for Death Eaters, probably because he's vicious. And so, you're gonna have an entire host of Death Eaters after you."

"Lovely." I said dryly. What else could I say? "If you guys could give me a minute, I'm going to calm Neville down. We'll meet you in the Great Hall." Ginny eyed me suspiciously- that girl knows me too well, and they all left. I walked up to Neville and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Neville, look at me." I said quietly. Sometimes Neville did this, he got worried about people. He was really protective, I don't know why, of people he loved. As friends, of course. "I'm right here, okay? I'm fine."

"Fenrir Greyback, Lu!" he exclaimed. "He's the one who attacked Bill, who turned Lupin into a werewolf. He captured Harry, Ron, and Hermione! He…oh, nobody's told you this…he attacked Lavender Brown and she's still not awake!" I groaned at this information- Lavender was actually one of the girls who had always stood up for me. I liked her.

"Hogwarts is safe now. We're all safe now, and we already defeated them once. We can do it again." My voice trembled slightly, but I didn't want Neville to know that I was scared.

"Luna, I promise that I won't let him hurt you." Neville said. I opened my mouth to reassure him, but he cut me off. "Don't pretend like you're not scared, I know you are. And I promise that I'll keep you safe."

"You keep your promises." I stated, not like a question. He seemed confused at this, so I decided to explain. "You promised me once, in the Room of Requirement, that we were going to win. Because we had love. And you were right, all along."

"I remember." He said simply. "And I'll keep this one too. I'm not losing my best friend to a stinky werewolf turned Death Eater." I laughed at this, trying to ignore the pang at 'best friend' and grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, let's go eat." And with that, I pulled him toward the Great Hall.

Chapter 2:

The next morning, I woke up after having nightmare after nightmare. I know many of us in Ravenclaw hadn't been able to sleep. Everyone in my year and below had vacated the castle when McGonagall had ordered us out, but I had been determined to stay. And Professor McGonagall, knowing that I knew what I was getting myself into, had agreed.

I couldn't stand sleeping in my empty dorm room, so instead I had gone to the common room. It seemed as if everyone else had the same idea. Looking around at the tossing forms, I saw people who I recognized, and then I noticed that some people who had been fighting were missing. Michael Corner was there, along with Anthony Goldstein, but Terry Boot was missing. He had been fighting, though. Padma Patil was also there, but her best friend Su Li was missing. She had died, I had seen her body in the Great Hall.

Marietta Edgecombe was there, with her arm in a sling. That was surprising, I thought she would have stuck with the Ministry. Cho Chang was next to her in a sleeping bag, muttering the word Cedric in her sleep while her hand was wrapped around that of Roger Davies. Penelope Clearwater was already awake, and nodded at me as I passed her. All four of these students had already graduated, but had come back to fight. I walked down to the Great Hall, and I just sat there. At seven, everyone came down for breakfast like usual. But they were all subdued, and I couldn't help but notice absences.

At the Hufflepuff table, I saw Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillian, and a guy I personally disliked, Zacharias Smith. Missing, however, were Wayne Hopkins and Megan Jones, both rather nondescript people in seventh year who had died in the fight against Voldemort. I knew that Justin Finch-Fletchley had been dating Megan Jones, and he was crying.

The Gryffindors had lost the most, I knew, and their table was still the most full. Sitting with Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry was Seamus, Dean, and Parvati. Lavender Brown was still missing. Colin Creevey, although he was underage, had snuck back in. And died. George Weasley was staring straight ahead, the seat next to him looking emptier than I thought possible, with Angelina Johnson patting his shoulder and Lee Jordan trying to talk to him. Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell were both there as well, but Katie looked as if she wasn't feeling very well. Cormac McLaggen was boasting about something, but no one was listening. Oliver Wood, Percy Weasley, Bill Weasley, and Charlie Weasley were all sitting at the table as well, variously injured. Two Gryffindor girls I didn't know had been killed, both seventh years. The table was full of sad faces.

To my shock, there were two girls sitting at the Slytherin table. They looked lonely, and one had to be at least a year younger than me. The older one had a large bandage across her head and the younger had her arm in a cast. I had gotten my wrist fixed last night, it was only sprained, but they looked like they had been hurt. In a split second decision, I rose from my table to talk to them.

"Hi, I'm Luna." I introduced myself, smiling at them. "Who are you?" The youngest looked shocked. Both girls were very pretty, with dark hair and grey eyes, and they looked like sisters.

"Why are you being nice to us?" asked the elder one. "Everyone's ignored us, 'cause of our house. Even Madame Pomfrey was shocked when we came in, because all the other Slytherins either joined the Death Eaters or ran away."

"Because I believe in getting to know people before I judge them." I replied. She seemed nice enough. "And because you guys looked lonely. Why don't you come eat with me at the Ravenclaw table." They nodded and followed me over to my table.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass, Seventh year." The older introduced herself. "And this is my fifth year sister, Astoria. She snuck back in, obviously, not wanting to leave me alone. I decided to fight because what V…v…Voldemort did to Hogwarts was wrong, and he shouldn't have been killing people. Actually, I'm surprised that I'm in Slytherin at all. The only Slytherin trait I even have is cunning. And I'm a pureblood."

"I agree with Daphne." Astoria added, smiling at me. "I really hate the people in Slytherin sometimes, because most of us are narrow minded and cruel. That's why I snuck back to be with Daphne and fought as well. Cause the Death Eaters were wrong. And I hated the girls that my sister hung out with, as well. And well, most of the boys. But Draco was alright sometimes."

"Who'd you hang out with?" I asked Daphne, curious. She rolled her eyes.

"The only girls in my year, sadly. Pansy Parkingson and Millicent Bulstrode and their little clones. Hate them, but I don't know many other people. That Hermione Granger seemed nice, I don't know why Draco hated her so much. He was probably just jealous." She explained. "Cause she came in top so much. "

"I don't have anything against Slytherins in general." I explained. "You two seem alright. Want me to introduce you to everyone else?"

"Won't they hate us 'cause we were friends with Draco?" asked Astoria worriedly.

"Draco and his mom saved Harry's life. They won't hate you." I was glad that they had fought. "Plus, you got injured fighting to help kill Voldemort. They have no right to hate you." With that, we stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table to introduce the Slytherins.

Twenty minutes later, once everyone had gotten over the shock of nice Slytherins, and the other tables had all been abandoned (everyone was now sitting at the Gryffindor table) Professor McGonagall stood up to give a speech. She was now the headmistress, much to everyone's delight.

"May I have your attention, please?" she called. Everyone fell silent immediately. "Thank you. You all fought valiantly and bravely, and we did what we set out to do. After all these years, Voldemort has been defeated, thanks to everyone sitting in this Hall right now, as well as quite a few who didn't make it this far. We will miss those who we lost last night, and over the course of this war, but as our brave Mr. Longbottom so accurately said, they did not die in vain. And they will always be with us in our hearts."

"Now, the castle has unfortunately been…demolished quite a bit. With the help of some of our N.E.W.T. students, we should be able to fix it before the start of the new school term. Many of our seventh year students did not get the education that they needed this year, due to the horrible teaching styles of those idiots, the Carrows. You are welcome to come back and take your N.E.W.T.s and live in your dorm as a special 'eighth-year' class." Many people cheered at her assement of the Death Eaters.

"I am proud to announce that Miss Lovegood is responsible for the death of our hated Muggle Studies professor. However, her brother is still alive, as are many Death Eaters, and they may target Hogwarts again. I assure you that we are fully prepared for something such as this, and that we will rise to the challenge. If you wish to stay over summer and help rebuild the castle, you will be welcome, but we already have many volunteers. Thank you." Cheers filled the hall as McGonagall sat back down.

"Lu, are you going to stay?" Neville asked me, curiously.

"Maybe." I said. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go now, is it?" I sighed. I really didn't want to stay at Hogwarts, not until it was rebuilt. But home would be too lonely without my father.

"Actually, Luna, you do." I jerked my head up in surprise and looked at Harry. "I don't know if you know this, but I was left a house in Sirus's will. Now that it's safe to go back there, I'd like to invite you to come with me. You too, Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, for the summer."

"I'm coming, mate." Ron spoke up. "Are you going back to Hogwarts in the fall?" Harry nodded and Ron grinned. "Excellent, me too. What about you, Hermione? And Neville?" They both nodded and I tried to ignore my heart leaping at Neville's grin.

"I'll come, Harry, of course." Hermione agreed next.

"If Mum agrees." Ginny added. "I don't really want to be in that house right now, with…" her eyes suddenly filled with tears and Ron looked away.

"I'm in." Neville added. "Gran wants to go on vacation after her year on the run. I'd rather stay with you lot. Lu? That just leaves you?" His smile made me soften, and Ginny nodded her head frantically.

"I'll be there." Harry grinned at our words.

"Excellent." He said. We all nodded, but then I stood up.

"I forgot something in my dormitory. I'll see you all in a little while." I said quickly, trying to ignore their curious glances as I ran out of the Great Hall. I made it up two flights of stairs before I collapsed.

I've never been good with dealing with things. When my mother died, I didn't speak for three months. But these people, they had saved my life before. They had taught me how to master my spells, to sneak out, to live a little. And in that second, what was left of my protective, spacey, self dissolved and I wasn't sure if I could handle the grief. I sank to the floor, crying, for at least ten minutes. It hurt, like a knife piercing my chest, but constant.

When I had finally calmed down, I heard the sound of gasping. If there was one thing I was good at, it was calming anyone but myself down. So I stood up and followed the sound into a corridor where I found someone I didn't ever expect to see crying.

"Luna?" he asked, staring at me blearily through the tears coursing down his face. "I can't take it. I can't take the pain. And the loneliness, Luna. It's lonely here. Why did he die? Why did he die and why didn't I die with him? I can't take it here without him." I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks as I took in the crumpled form of George Weasley. The laughing boy I had known was replaced with this utterly defeated man, looking small without his twin by his side.

"I've never not seen him. I've never woken up without him there and I've never gone to bed without talking to him. I've never spent a single day away from him. But this morning I woke up and Fred wasn't there. And I went to bed last night without saying "goodnight Fred." And today….I haven't seen him at all today. He's not here today." George was sobbing harder than I'd ever seen anyone cry before.

"He wrote me a letter, Luna. I wrote him one too, only he'll never read it. It's only supposed to be opened in case of the worst. The worst happened, but I can't read it. Will you read it to me?" I could only nod at George's request as he handed me a white envelope. I opened it and he listened as I read it aloud.

Dear Georgie,

I really hope you never read this letter, because if you do then it'll mean that Voldemort killed me. Or someone like that. But if you are, then I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you all alone. I hope we won, Georgie, I really do. But most importantly, I hope you're okay. You're my best friend, and my partner in crime, and obviously my brother. If I'm gone I'll miss you more than anything. I know that you're probably sad right now. Well, actually, I bet you're hysterical. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were getting someone else to read this letter to you. I hope it's someone nice like Hermione, or Luna, or one of them reading it. I always liked those girls. I know you're like that though, cause I would be if you died. Please don't die, Georgie.

How long until Ron and Hermione get married, do you reckon? I give them three, four years. Same with Ginny and Harry. Listen, George, since I'm gone, I know you like Angelina. Don't pretend you don't. But you were nice enough to let me have her, because that's the kind of person you are. But…go for her. At least try. Tell her I said it's alright, if she says stuff against it cause of her and me.

Keep up the shop, don't give it up. You can do it, maybe Lee can help you. Of course, I expect you to name your first son after me, Georgie. You better. You can bet my buttocks that I'd name my son after you. Tell everyone that I love them and that I said goodbye.

I know I'm not supposed to play favorites in families, but you'll always be mine.

Mischief Managed,

Fred

George nodded his thanks to me, ignoring the tears that were silently coursing down his face. "You gonna be alright, George?" I asked, trying not to cry too hard. "Neville was right, he's not really gone."

"I'll be okay, eventually." He sniffed. "Thank you." I walked away as I started to cry again and bumped straight into…Neville. Of course.

"There you are!" he exclaimed, before getting a good look at me. "Lu, are you okay?" I nodded, wiping my streaming eyes. It didn't stop him from hugging me.

"It's hard, I know." He murmured. "But it'll be alright in the end. It's all going to be okay." I nodded again, trying not to think of the lost ones. It was hard. "And we're leaving for Grimmauld Place tomorrow morning!

Chapter Three:

I'd never been to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, but my first impression of it was slightly gloomy. There were house-elf heads mounted on the walls, and a portrait that screamed at us. When we entered the kitchen, however, there was a fire dancing merrily in the fireplace and room was cheery and cozy. A house-elf was at the oven, baking something that smelled delicious, and he bowed as we came in.

"Master Harry!" he exclaimed. "Kreacher made scrambled eggs with salmon and toast for Master Harry and his friends! He remembers Master Ron's appetite and assures him that there is enough to go around. But who are Master Harry's friends?"

"Hi Kreacher." Harry smiled at the little elf. Ginny had told me stories about Kreacher, but this smiling house-elf was very different from the skulking one in her stories. "Everyone, this is Kreacher. He used to be rather…ornery but he's nicer now. In fact, he fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, on our side. Kreacher, this is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. And you already know Ron, Hermione, and Ginny."

"Kreacher saw Master Neville at the battle. Master Neville is very brave! And Mistress Luna killed that evil Death Eater who was mean to Kreacher and his friends in the kitchens." Kreacher exclaimed, looking up at us with starstruck eyes. I decided I rather liked this house-elf. "Kreacher is sorry for calling Mistress Ginny a blood-traitor brat years ago." Ginny looked taken aback at this.

"It's okay, Kreacher, you didn't know any better then." She replied. "Now how about those eggs?" We all sat down at the table and Kreacher served eggs. I was surprised that Hermione put up with being served by a house-elf, but then I realized that Harry treated Kreacher with complete respect.

"Alright, so I know the house is a mess. Do you guys mind helping me clean it up this summer? I want to make it livable." Harry asked. We all agreed to help, and the summer began. It flew by in a rush of laughter, tears, and cleaning. By the end of summer, the house-elf heads were gone, the portrait was relocated, and the entire house was as cheery as the kitchen. Over the course of it, George stopped by often, to talk to me sometimes. He said I had a calming and comforting effect on him. There were no signs of Fenrir Greyback and on the first of September, I found myself once more in a compartment with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville, headed to Hogwarts for what would be the last time.

It was strange on the train, and Dennis Creevey came to join them at one point. He looked small, and alone. I knew how he felt, and we welcomed him into our fold. Poor Dennis. Neville and I hadn't spent much time alone together over the summer, and I knew that any chance I had was gone.

It was odd, sitting at a table surrounded by my housemates, when I hadn't really been apart from my friends all summer. We talked, and many people wanted to hear about the Battle of Hogwarts. I didn't really want to talk about it. Nobody listened to that, though, so the next morning I gave up on the Ravenclaws and left to join Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

"Nothing's happened." She whispered to me. I looked at her in confusion. "All summer, nothing's happened with Harry. He hasn't even been alone in a room with me. Same with Hermione, she told me. Ron kissed her and then…nothing."

"You two make me glad that I don't have a guy to worry about." I replied. "Seems too complicated, and I don't like anyone, thank Merlin." Ginny, however, wasn't a fool and she gave me a knowing look.

"Sure you don't." she laughed, glancing at Neville. I felt my cheeks heat up and I rolled my eyes at her. "But I don't think that Harry even, I don't know, likes me anymore."

"Don't be stupid." I muttered. "He still likes you, I'm sure of it."

"Then how come he hardly talks to me? He has barely said much of anything to me specifically since the Battle. And even then, he was ordering me to stay in the Room of Requirement." She argued, looking hurt. "It's just…I don't know why! What did I do wrong? Or is he just, you know, not interested anymore?" I couldn't do anything but shrug as she jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall.

"Is Ginny okay?" Harry asked, looking at me. Ron was mysteriously absent, but Neville, Hermione, and I all stared at him.

"Mate, you're either blind even with your glasses or being incredibly stupid." Neville said. I looked at him, shaking my head and laughing. Talk about being blind, he never noticed the girls throwing themselves at him right and left because of his heroics during the battle.

"Honestly, Harry, sometimes you're so thick." Hermione added, rolling her eyes at me. "Boys- they'll never learn." I just laughed as Neville and Hermione got up and left.

"I have no idea what that was about." Harry still looked confused. "I'm going to go, I think."

"Maybe you should talk to Ginny." I suggested quietly. Harry just shrugged and walked off so I ran up to him. "Harry? You need to talk to Ginny."

"I don't want to right now, Luna." He replied. "She's obviously upset about something, and I think I should give her some time." This, strangely, made me mad.

"Harry Potter, you listen to me!" I exclaimed angrily. He turned around and looked at me in shock. I never raised my voice. "You are going to go up to the Gryffindor Common Room, and you are going to talk to Ginny, because she thinks that you don't like her anymore, and give her some answers. Whether or not you want to be with her, she deserves answers."

"Blimey, she doesn't really think that, does she?" he asked. I nodded and he groaned. "I'm such a bloody idiot. Thanks, Luna." With that, he ran up the stairs, presumably to the Great Hall. He was right, he was an idiot.

"That was a good thing you did, Lu." Neville's voice came from behind me and I turned around to see him less than a foot away from me. It took my breath away. "But then again, that's who you are, always looking out for others. Have you ever thought about looking after yourself?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to sound all breathy and girly.

"You've never dated, have you?" He asked. I shook my head. "You ever considered it?"

"The guy I like wouldn't look at me twice." I replied, stepping back and ruining the moment. The last thing I needed was for Neville to know that I liked him. "And I wouldn't want to date anyone else."

"Oh." Neville said, suddenly turning. "I have to go talk to McGonagall about something. Talk to you later, Lu." With that he was gone, and I was sad again. I realized that I didn't just like him, no that would be too simple. I was falling in love with my best (guy) friend.

Chapter Four:

I tried to ignore my feelings for Neville as I went through my days at Hogwarts. The castle was more subdued than it had been two years ago, with familiar faces missing. Nearly all the former seventh years had come back as eighth years, and were in quite a few of my classes. Lavender Brown had made it, thank Merlin, but Colin Creevey was missing. So were some others, of course.

Life went on, I suppose. The evening after I had accosted Harry, he and Ginny appeared in the Great Hall holding hands at dinner. After that, they didn't spend much time apart at all. Ron and Hermione bickered about everything but one evening I walked in on them in the library. Let's just say that they were most definitely NOT studying. Neville went on a Hogsmeade date with Hannah Abbot, but he told me later that it was really boring. I tried not to feel too pleased about it.

The only Slytherin eighth year was the girl whom I had met that day in the Great Hall, Daphne Greengrass. She often ate with her sister, or with me at the Ravenclaw table, or the Gryffindor table depending on who I was eating with that day. This, however, changed one day in the beginning of November.

"So after I said no to the Hogsmeade date, 'cause I really don't like him like that, he got really mad." Daphne was telling me, Hermione, Parvati, Lavender, Astoria and Ginny. "And then he said, and I quote, 'you're lucky that anyone even wants to go out with you and an idiot for refusing. After all, not many people are going to want to date a Junior Death Eater, especially with the way your families have gone downhill. I only wanted to date you cause I heard spawn of Death Eaters puts out easily'."

"What!" exclaimed Parvati, looking furious. "Oh, I knew I hated Zacharias Smith. He's such an arse!"

"What did you do after that?" Ginny asked, intrigued. Daphne just shrugged.

"What could I do?" she said. I opened my mouth to give a list of possible reactions, but she beat me to it. "That was a rhetorical question, Lu." My friends had adopted the nicknamed Neville gave me, but it was just more…special when he used it. "I just walked away."

"Well, I'm going to go over there and give that wanker a piece of my mind. Or at least a piece of my fist." Lavender stood up and marched over to the Hufflepuff table. That girl had really changed since my fifth year, when she had been practically suckered onto Ron. I guess almost dying does that to a person. Even Hermione liked her now.

"Smith!" she exclaimed. He stood up, practically leering at her, and she slapped him in the face. "Don't talk to Daphne, or anybody, that way. And she fought, and got hurt, a hell of a lot more than you did, so don't say she's Death Eater spawn. Why don't you leave her alone when she's obviously not interested in someone as stupid as you?" Zacharias Smith, whom I had never liked either, sneered at her.

"Well, we all know that ever since Ron dumped you, you've been going downhill. Obviously so downhill that you have to pick losers like her for friends." He retorted. Lavender grew angrier, because it wasn't true. "And I bet now that everyone's seen your clinginess, nobody will ever go out with you again."

That was enough for Lavender. She pulled out her wand and hit him with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, a Silencing Charm, and a Bat Bogey Hex, all within the space of twenty seconds. Then she spun smartly on her heel and sat back down next to me. We all looked at her, most of our mouths open.

"What?" she asked. "He deserved it."

"Yeah, but I didn't know you had it in you, Lav." Daphne laughed. She had the habit of shortening everyone's names, which was a little annoying at first, but one got used to it. "Thanks."

"So, everyone," Ginny began, getting out attention. "Did I tell you about my date in Hogsmeade with Harry today? It was really fun. We went to Fr…George's shop and got some-" She broke off suddenly and stared at the entrance, her mouth agape. "What is HE doing here?" she gasped.

We all turned to see a familiar figure standing at the entrance to the Great Hall. The pointed chin was unmistakeable, and the platinum blond hair was easily recognized. It was his face that threw me off. There was an expression of gratitude, embarrassment, and shame, which were three things I never expected to see on the face of Draco Malfoy. Ginny was right, though. What was he doing here, anyway? He was a Death Eater!

"May I have your attention, please?" Professor McGonagall's voice rang throughout the room and we all fell silent. Hopefully she was about to explain what was going on here. "Due to unfortunate events taking place with his family over the past year, Mr. Malfoy here missed his seventh year at Hogwarts and the start of this term. I trust you will all make him feel welcome as one of our eighth years." At that, whispers spread across the room and Malfoy sat down at the Slytherin table, his face red. Astoria stood up.

"I'm going to go talk to him instead of just talking about him." She said. Daphne raised her eyebrows and Astoria blushed a pretty pink. "It's only polite, and I was friends with Draco before all of this happened, remember? You were too, so perhaps you should say hi." With that, she walked across the room and sat next to Malfoy. He smiled at her and they began to talk, seemingly friendly.

"My sister has had a crush on Draco since her third year. She's hoping that he'll fall for her, but I told her not to get her hopes too high. He'll probably never get married, he's never even dated, even thou Pansy 'I'm a freaking princess so bow down to me, people who are less of a pureblood' Parkingson thought they were." Daphne explained in order to answer our questioning gazes. "But I really should go and say hello, even though I hate what he's been working for. Do you guys mind?"

We all said no, and she stood up. She seemed colder, however, talking to Malfoy than she ever was to us. He could tell, and we could tell. They were both gesturing over to us, but they appeared to be arguing. We put our heads together and tried to ignore it.

"Malfoy's crimes as a Death Eater have been forgiven?" Ron asked, suddenly sliding into the seat next to Hermione and kissing her on the cheek. She went pink as we stared at their little exchange.

"Yeah, the Ministry called me in for testimony and I pointed out how the Malfoy's had helped us." Harry said as he sat next to Ginny. It was his turn to get stared at, and both Ron and Ginny gave him a Weasley death stare. I'm pretty sure that its patented, and very effective. Lavender's mouth was literally hanging open.

"You did WHAT?" Neville sounded shocked as he slid in next to me, with Dean and Seamus with him. "After all the stuff he's done and said to us over the past eight years? This is the guy who tried to kill Dumbledore, Harry."

"Yeah, but you forget that I was inside Voldemort's mind." Harry began to explain himself. "The entire time, Malfoy just looked sickened, and horrified at the stuff he had to witness in his own house. Not to mention, he had lowered his wand and wasn't going to kill Dumbledore. Also, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Narcissa Malfoy. And when Ron, Hermione, and I were in Malfoy Manor, Draco lied and said that it wasn't me. All in all, they did quite a bit to help. Lucius Malfoy, however, has a three year sentence in Azkaban. I have no idea how he wrangled that small of a term of imprisonment, but I do know he might even get out early."

"So you actually helped that git?" Hermione spoke up. Everyone seemed to be furious at Harry. "He's tormented so many people. He's a DEATH EATER, for Merlin's sake, Harry! He's part of the group that killed Fred, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, your parents! He has the Dark Mark branded on his left arm. He fought in the Battle…against us. He's made fun of us for six years at school."

Parvati, Lavender, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Ginny, and Dean all seemed to be on the same page. And were all saying various things about Malfoy and how stupid Harry had been to help him. It was rather unfair, I realized, because Harry had made some valid points. And, after all, all Slytherins couldn't be bad. Daphne and Astoria were our friends!

"It was Harry's decision to make, and he made it. I think you lot are being quite mean. It's not Malfoy's fault that he was forced into being a Death Eater by Voldemort. He can be quite scary, you know." I said, shuddering as I thought of the time that I had seen Voldemort in Malfoy Manor. "And Harry's right. The stuff that Malfoy had to see at his own house was the most horrible things, you couldn't even begin to imagine. Maybe he's reformed and you could give him a second chance?"

"Thank you, Luna." Draco Malfoy's voice rang out behind me and everyone turned to stare at him. "I came over here to explain myself, and apologize as a matter of fact."

"Really, Malfoy?" sneered Ron. "Or did Daphne tell you to do that?"

"Actually, it was Astoria." He replied. "But I planned on it anyway. Listen, Wea-Ron. I know you don't like me and you probably never will. But could we at least be civil to each other? All of you?" I was the first to agree, Harry soon after. Parvati and Lavender didn't seem to mind, and Dean nodded, along with Neville. Finally all that was left were Hermione, Ron, and Seamus.

"You've been a prat to me ever since I started here, all because I'm Muggle born." Hermione stated slowly. "Your aunt carved the word 'Mudblood' into my wrist and the word 'Loony' onto Luna's chest. You have the dark mark, for crying out loud!"

"Don't blame me for the stuff Bellatrix Lestrange did. She was a bloody maniac and to be honest, I hated her." Malfoy said quietly. "But I am asking you to forgive me for the stuff I did. The teasing, the almost-murder, the joining the death eaters. You were always clever, Gran-Hermione, surely you can see that I do mean I'm sorry." Hermione just nodded, Seamus following her. Ron sent Malfoy a Weasley death-glare before nodding his head as well.

"Erm, excellent." He said. "I'm going to leave now, cause it's weird being around all of you. Daphne and I were going to go over what I've missed this year." With that, he practically ran back to the Slytherin table.

"That wasn't awkward at all." I said sarcastically, laughing at everyone. Oh, Weasley death glare turned at me, that was fun.

"Luna, I think I liked you better when you were spacey and nice about everything." Ron stated, shoveling mashed potatoes in his mouth. Ginny smacked him on the head. "I was kidding, Ginny, jeez, no need to hit so hard!" Everyone laughed at the hurt expression on his face.

Chapter Five:

Days came and went, and Draco Malfoy's arrival became old news. It was still odd, though, to see him without Crabbe and Goyle, even though I knew that Crabbe had been killed. Draco (as we were supposed to call him now) had mentioned that Goyle was trying to get clearance to come back to Hogwarts, but his family hadn't just walked out at the Battle of Hogwarts, nor had they saved Harry's life, so it was a bit harder for him.

It was the last Friday of November when things got…well, I'd like to say exciting. Everyone was in the Great Hall for dinner. Daphne was helping Ma-Draco, who was still a bit behind on his Charms work, and Astoria was with them. Daphne still spent most of her time with us, when she wasn't tutoring Draco, but Astoria tended to spend more time around him. And I have to say, I think he enjoyed her company.

Since the two Slytherins were gone, we were eating in our group of eight, which consisted of the six Gryffindor eighth-years, Ginny, and I. I had pretty much given up on spending time with the Ravenclaws, although we were still friendly. It started out like a normal meal, until Dean and Seamus started signaling Neville with some type of hand signals. The entire Hall was a bit hyped, because tomorrow was a Hogsmeade weekend, the very one which Zacharias Smith had asked Daphne to go with him too.

"So, is anyone going to Hogsmeade as a couple tomorrow?" Parvati giggled cheerily. Ginny raised her eyebrow at me and I shook my head. She had finally coherced the fact that I like Neville out of me a fortnight ago, and ever since then she had been telling me to tell him. It was driving me crazy.

"Harry and Ginny are going together, of course." Lavender giggled right along with Parvati. "Michael Corner asked me this morning, so I said yes, even though I was hoping someone else would ask. Hermione and Ron are going as well, anyone else? What about you, Seamus? Dean? Neville?" It was a fact that Lavender had the tiniest crush on Seamus. And by tiniest, I mean rather large. Dean shook his head and I thought I saw Parvati's face fall a bit. We all looked to Neville, the only one unaccounted for. He flushed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Erm, I just thought of a thing I forgot in the Common Room. Ron, Dean, Seamus, can you come help me find it?" Harry stood up suddenly. "Neville, you stay here." With snickers, they followed him out of the Great Hall. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her with him. She mouthed 'help me' to Ginny, who stood up giggling.

"I'll go save Hermione. Parvati, Lavender, erm, lend me a hand, will you?" I moved to follow them and Ginny shoved me back down. "No, no, Luna, you stay here and keep Neville company." She winked as she skipped off. I'm not even kidding, she was skipping with her hair swinging behind her. I regretted ever mentioning the fact that I maybe liked Neville to her.

"Do they know something that I don't?" I asked, turning to Neville as I finally decided to acknowledge the crazy way our friends had been acting. He shrugged again, getting even redder.

"Erm, Lu, can I ask you something?" he suddenly sounded more like the Neville Longbottom I had first met in my fourth year, a bit unsure of himself.

"You just did!" I said jokingly, nudging him slightly. He tried to smile, but he just looked like he was about to puke. Ok, maybe the joke was a bad idea. "But you can, of course. You don't need to ask permission."

"I was wondering…if maybe you'd…I dunno…" he was stuttering a bit now, which was really unusual, now that he was a hero and such. He never ever stuttered when he was talking to me, not even when we had first met and he wasn't so…famous. "Iwaswonderingifyou'." It came out really fast, and I couldn't understand a word he had said.

"What?" I said, intelligently. Oh way to go, Luna. That really shows that you're a Ravenclaw. Not. "I mean, I couldn't tell what you said." He took a deep breath.

"I was wondering…actually, I was more like hoping…that this weekend, since, you know, it's a Hogsmeade weekend, you would maybe go with me? To Hogsmeade? I mean, just as friends if you want to go just as friends, 'cause I know you like some guy who doesn't like you or something, but if you'd like to go as more than friends I'd like that. I mean, yeah, that's kind of what I'm asking." He was babbling. "So, will you go with me? As, like, a date?"

"What brought this on so suddenly?" my stupid mouth said before my brain would tell it to say yes. Oh Merlin, he was actually asking me out on a date. Ick, I sounded like one of those preppy girls who all they thought about was boys. Like Lavender used to be. And now I was babbling, only mentally. Oh, Neville was talking again.

"It wasn't suddenly, honestly." He looked really nervous, even more so than he had when he was talking to Voldemort. That was crazy, was it all because of me? "I've been wanting to ask you for ages, but then Dumbledore died, and Hogsmeade was cancelled and we had to fight against the Carrows, and everyone was dying, so it was never really the right time. I understand if you don't want to, though." I smiled at him, he was worried.

I opened my mouth to say that I'd love to when a loud rumbling sound filled the hall. We looked up, startled, along with everyone else. A thin trail of dust fell right over our table from the ceiling, before the doors that lead to the courtyard broke open and all hell broke loose.

Stupidly, my first thought was that I had never told Neville yes or no to him asking me out. My second was that I couldn't believe he had actually asked me. However, what happened next erased all thoughts of Hogsmeade from my mind.

The Great Hall was suddenly flooded with people wearing silver masks and dark cloaks. Death Eaters. One of the first years screamed, and that was when Daphne and Astoria, over at the Slytherin table, jumped into action. They, along with some others from all of the houses, helped herd the smaller kids toward the doors. Someone was screaming "run!"

I felt the heat of a curse graze my ear and I automatically pulled my wand out. Neville was beside me in an instant, as were McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn, and some of the other staff. A shout told me that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had reentered the Great Hall, along with Parvati, Lavender, Dean, and Seamus. Spells were flying everywhere.

Draco Malfoy was running toward the fight and was almost hit by a collapsing pillar. Neville turned his wand to stun him, but I was honestly curious to see whose side he would fight on, so I shook my head at him. To everyone's surprise, Malfoy pulled out his wand and shot a hex at a rather short Death Eater nearby. The Death Eater's hood and mask flew off to reveal Pansy Parkingson.

"Draco, what are you doing?" she shrieked. "Come fight with us, against those losers who only believe in love! We can have power, join us! Join me, and we can be together!" I had forgotten that the two of them had been an item.

"No." his cool voice echoed over the spells being shot. It was really quite dramatic.

"What do you mean? Just because you were away for a year with the Dark Lord doesn't mean that we wouldn't work. And just because the Dark Lord's dead doesn't mean his principles are! Fight for the winning side, Draco, with me. I thought you might, you know, remember that you used to love me." She was practically whining. No wonder Daphne had needed new friends.

"No." he said again, bringing shock from both sides. "And what we had was lust, not love, just like what the Dark Lord stood for was sickening, not stirring."

"Oh, and what made you so high and mighty all of the sudden, Draco?" she hissed. "Did you fall in love with one of the pieces of scum that stayed at this school?"

"Maybe I did." He smiled slightly, but sincerely. I heard a sharp intake of breath from my left and turned to see that Astoria looked like she was going to start crying. Poor Astoria, I knew that she still liked him, but privately, I didn't think she had much of a chance.

"Who then, huh? A Mudblood? A blood traitor?" Parkingson shrieked. Draco just shook his head and smiled again, before sending a hex at her. She shielded it before running off. Suddenly, I remembered where I was and stunned a Death Eater next to me.

It was all too much like the Battle, and I prayed to…whomever there is…that this time around, nobody would get hurt. And exploding hex shot near to me and caused part of the wall to shatter into chunks of stone. I dodged it, but Parvati let out a shriek as a few chunks buried into her arm. I shot spells into the fray, hoping that they wouldn't hit a friend.

"You're such a bitch! Deserter!" Pansy's shriek got my attention. She and Astoria were dueling, and Astoria was slowly losing ground. My friend's dark brown hair had escaped from her usual orderly braid and her petite face was white from fear, but determined. However, the fact remained that she was two years younger and less experienced than Pansy.

"I let you follow me around for years, you and your loser sister! And this is how you repay me, by hexing me? Crucio!" Astoria managed to dodge the Unforgivable Curse that was being shot at her. "Avada Kedavra! Crucio!" She dodged these as well, but now she was up against a wall with nowhere to go.

"Stupefy!" she shouted. Pansy deflected this with a wave of her wand, laughing. "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Crucio!" This time, Astoria was unable to dodge Pansy's curse and she fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Pansy laughed again, cruelly. She shot something else, a nonverbal curse that I didn't recognize, and it missed Astoria's head by a centimeter. The wall behind her shattered in a massive explosion, as Astoria herself would have, had she not gotten lucky.

Astoria slumped down more, and to my dismay I realized most of the wall explosion had hit her. Pansy had a look of triumph on her face as she stared down at Astoria's unmoving form. I ran forward as fast as I could, in the hopes of getting to Pansy before she could do any more harm to Astoria, but I seemed to be moving in slow motion. She raised her wand, gloatingly, and brought it down as time caught up with us.

"Avada Kedavra!" she yelled.

"NO!" a shout sounded at the same time and something-rather, someone- hit Pansy, causing her to fall over and her spell to fly harmlessly over everyone's heads. I looked, shocked, to see that it was Draco Malfoy.

"Don't. Touch. Her!" he yelled, and punched Pansy in the face. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten he was a wizard, because he had resorted to Muggle dueling. Then, he pulled out his wand and shoved it against her neck. I realized that I was the only one really paying attention to this, and, as much as I didn't like Pansy, I didn't want Draco to do something bad.

"Draco!" I shouted. Luckily I got his attention, and he whipped his head towards me. "She's not worth becoming a murderer for, and Astoria needs help. I'll deal with Pansy." He gave an abrupt nod, and raced over to Astoria's still form. I waved my wand and ropes flew out of it, tying up Pansy, before following Draco.

"Astoria…Astoria, please be okay." He was already by her, holding her head gently in his lap and leaning over. He pulled out his wand and tried a spell to wake her up, but it didn't work. He looked up at me, eyes wild. "It didn't work! She's not breathing, what do I do?" He asked me.

"Oh Merlin, how am I supposed to know!" I exclaimed, panicking slightly. "Do you know how to do that Muggle thing…CFR or something?"

"CPR, you mean?" he asked. "Yeah, I actually do. I learned when I was younger, 'cause my mom was afraid of me choking and dying on something when she and Father were on a trip, so she wanted to make sure I could save myself."

"Don't tell me, do it!" I ordered, wringing my hands. Draco gave an abrupt nod and leaned over her. He had his hands on her chest, and was pushing in and out before bending down and putting his mouth over hers. It looked like he was kissing her, but then her chest started rising and falling and I realized that he was helping her breathe.

He sat up after what seemed like ages, and did the pushing thing again. I felt useless, not being able to do anything other than watch. Once a Death Eater tried to attack us, but I stunned him. It felt like we were in our own little bubble, separate from the rest of the battle, trying to save Astoria.

"She's breathing, and her heart is beating, but she still won't wake up." Draco gasped, a minute later, with his ear down near where her heart was. I turned to look at him, and saw that his eyes seemed to be a bit wet. Was he crying? "I don't know what to do next, the classes just said to call an ambulance. Obviously we can't do that."

"Eneverate." I said calmly, pointing my wand at Astoria's head. Her eyes fluttered and flew open.

"Draco? Are you alright?" she asked, once she saw whose lap her head was on. "You look like you're crying."

"I'm fine, now that you are." He smiled at her. "How are you feeling? Do you remember anything that happened?" I resisted the urge to go "aww" at the overall sweetness of the moment.

"Kind of." Astoria squinted, as if trying to see something far away. "I was dueling Pansy and then she hit me with Crucio. And then something hit right above my head, and everything was gone. I thought I was going to die."

"She hit you with Crucio!" Draco exclaimed furiously. He looked as if he was about to jump up and go after Pansy again, but I shook my head at him. "Merlin…I know how bad that must have hurt, Ria." Astoria blushed slightly at the nickname.

"What happened after I passed out?" she asked, looking at me. "Oh, Luna, hi, by the way."

"Pansy shot the Avada Kedavra at you, but then someone, who was apparently very concerned for your well-being, knocked her over, making her spell go up harmlessly." I explained. Draco's cheeks colored a light pink.

"Then you weren't breathing." He added. "And Eneverate wasn't working. So Luna suggested I do CPR, which is a Muggle thing my mother had me learn, and it worked."

"It was really quite heroic of him." I told Astoria. "Oh, he also broke Pansy's nose after she tried to kill you. I was just, you know, making sure nobody killed you or him while he was trying to save you."

"You did all that for me?" I was pretty sure that if Astoria was a cartoon character, she'd have stars in her eyes. "Why?" Draco went even redder and he started stammering.

"You have to be the stupidest person I know, Luna Lovegood." A snide voice rang out behind me, and I sucked in air. "You forgot to disarm me." I turned to see Pansy Parkingson again, twirling her wand between her fingers. Draco and Astoria jumped up, and Draco moved in front of Astoria protectively.

"So, Draco, this is the girl you chose over me?" she scoffed. That girl really needed to let it go.

"Astoria and I aren't together." He muttered, still red. "But I tend to want to save my friends' lives when ugly, maniacal bitches try to kill them."

"I'm not surprised you're not together. She's an annoying, gross, little girl." Pansy smirked at Astoria, who was still standing behind Draco.

"Astoria is a beautiful, amazing, wonderful person, and you're blind, deaf, and stupid if you can't see that." He snarled at her. It was Astoria's turn to blush at this.

"Really?" she said, in a small voice, stepping next to him. Draco seemed to have gotten over his nervousness as he smiled at her.

"Really." He said quietly.

"Ha! He's just fooling you, Astoria, to get to me. Draco is the king of empty words, and he doesn't mean a word that he says about you. He's just using you to piss me off." Pansy laughed gleefully. "He's all talk, no walk, and that's how he'll always be. He doesn't really care about you."

Draco smiled slightly again and turned. In a heartbeat, he pressed his lips against Astoria's, and his arms were around her. Astoria reacted automatically, kissing back and winding her fingers through his hair. Pansy looked furious, but too stunned to even pull out her wand.

They broke apart, both looking rather flushed. Draco's hair was a little mussed up from its usual slicked back position, and Astoria's braid was now hopeless.

"As you can see, I care about her, and I can only hope she cares about me." He told Pansy.

"I do." Astoria added quietly. He beamed at her.

"Alright, as you can see we care about each other." He amended his statement. "And I don't think you know what that's like. Expelliarmus!" he shouted suddenly, and Pansy's wand flew into his hand. Astoria joined in by waving her wand and tying Pansy up again, except this time, she wouldn't be able to get out. I finished by casting a Patronus to tell the Aurors at the Ministry what was going on.

"Erm, I hate to interrupt the not-so romantic moments, but why don't we go help everyone else now that Astoria's alright." I spoke up and the pair looked at me. Astoria, being typical, blushed. I was surprised when Draco did the same, and then I noticed their entwined hands.

"Alright, let's go." Draco said and I started toward our friends, who looked to be in a bit of trouble. "Hey-Luna?" he called. I turned around to see him looking at me. "Thanks." I nodded, trying not to seem shocked. Malfoy saying thank you? That was weird.

I noticed Ginny dueling Bellatrix Lestrange's husband, who was slowly advancing. I ran up next to her, and I have to say, she looked tired. Her lip was bleeding and she had a gash near her eye. I, however, was just stressed, so I shot a stunning spell at him. Lestrange, not realizing I was there, didn't have time to deflect it and fell down.

"Thanks." Ginny gasped, before stunning someone who was coming up behind me. A spell whizzed by my ear and I turned. Three Death Eaters were coming at us at once. I shot stunning and disarming spells left and right, but they just bounced off of them. I was so distracted with stopping these Death Eaters that I wasn't paying attention to the rest of the battle until-

"LUNA!" someone screamed from behind me, sounding like they were being tortured. It took me a minute to realize that the person who had screamed was Neville. I turned to look at him and find out what was wrong when I felt myself thrown backwards. I couldn't help but scream as something raked my face, letting out a burst of white-hot pain, and I couldn't see anything

Hot, disgusting breath was against my neck and teeth dug in. I screamed again, and pain wracked my body. I thought I heard a laugh, and Neville yelling something again, but I wasn't sure. I was fighting to stay conscious, but as Fenrir Greyback attacked me a third time, I ran out of energy and let blackness ebb over me.

Chapter Six:

I think that higher-up Death Eaters are the easiest to stun. Not to sound cocky, or anything, but I really do. They think you're going to pull some tricky, advanced spells at them, so they're caught completely off guard when you hit them with a spell you learn in your first year.

"Alright, Neville?" I turned slightly to see Ron calling out to me. I nod and he grins. "Brilliant. We're going to kick their sorry Death-Eater arses." With that, Ron started dueling with a Death Eater I didn't recognize.

I caught a glimpse of the blonde hair that I would recognize anywhere out of the corner of my eye. Luna. She looked worried, rightfully so. She and Ginny, who looked really tired, were dueling three Death Eaters. They were holding their own, though. I headed over to help them when I saw something that made my stomach drop. A man whom I recognized was slinking up behind Luna- Fenrir Greyback. And he was about to attack. Oh Merlin, I had to warn her. I took a breath, but he jumped to attack before I got the chance to yell.

"LUNA!" the shout practically ripped out of me, in the desperate hope she might get out of the way before it was too late. She turned towards me slightly, a look of confusion on her face. I let myself hope for a millisecond that she would see Greyback and run but no such luck. She was thrown backwards, slammed into a wall, and Greyback raked her with his fingernails. She screamed in pain, and I felt as if I had been ripped in two. I had promised her I wouldn't let him hurt her! I was running as fast as I could, trying my hardest to get to Luna, but I couldn't move fast enough. He was at her neck, biting her, and she screamed again.

"You fucking arsehole, Greyback! Get your teeth off of her and fight like a man!" I yelled the only thing that came to mind. Greyback didn't even pause for a second. He attacked her for the third time, running his claws down the length of her chest and tearing her shirt. Luna didn't scream this time, which scared me even more than her screams. Her body went limp and I knew that she had lost consciousness. I had never heard her scream, or be as scared as she had been right then. Merlin, not Luna!

"You bloody coward!" I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Fenrir Greyback turned to grin at me, before biting Luna once more. I couldn't hear the sounds of the battle around us, but I could literally hear my own anger. "Avada Kedavra!" I heard myself shout. It went about a millimeter above his head, and I realized that I had never shot a killing curse at someone before. I shouldn't have done it now- there was a chance it could hit Luna.

"Crucio!" I yelled again, making it the second Unforgivable Curse I used, and for the first time as well. This hit him, but he only stiffened before turning toward me again.

"Neville Longbottom." He said coldly, his even voice scaring the hell out of me. I tried not to show it. "Well, I guess I could finish you off for dear Bellatrix before I go back to murdering your little friend here. Avada Kedavra!" I ducked the curse and retaliated with one of my own.

"Stupefy!" He deflected my spell easily. "Crucio! Expelliarmus!" I could feel myself losing ground to him. I was tired, seeing Luna get hurt had tired me out more than fighting ever could. Luna. I looked to see her crumpled body on the ground, and it filled me with anger. Luna. How could someone do that to a person who was so sweet, and good? My vision swam with red spots.

I shot curses, furious. Fenrir Greyback was powerful all right, but he had hurt Luna, and I was going to hurt him. I didn't know what I was doing, or what had happened, I just knew that I had to defeat him. I don't know how much time had passed when I felt somebody holding me back.

"Neville, mate, you beat him. Actually, you managed to hex half the Death Eaters in here." Ron was telling me. "Greyback's going to Azkaban for attempted murder, Death Eater-ism, previous murders, werewolf-ization, and..erm…possible murder. " At the last few words, I jerked my head up and stopped trying to hex things.

"What do you mean, possible murder?" I asked. Ron looked like he was about to be sick and he said the words I had been dreading.

"Luna's badly hurt, and unconscious. The Healers aren't sure if she'll wake up."

I opened my eyes to see a pea-green ceiling. Gross- I had always hated that color. Where on earth was I? I sat up and suddenly remembered everything. Fenrir Greyback attacking me, and passing out. I inspected my arms, and legs, to see that I appeared to be fine. It didn't make sense- I remembered that horrible feeling of Greyback attacking me and how much it had hurt.

Looking around I noticed a chair next to wherever I was lying. It took me a minute, but then I realized I must be in St. Mungo's. Why, though, when I was perfectly fine? The door swung open and a friendly-looking nurse bustled in, apparently not noticing that I was sitting up. A second later, Ginny walked in, looking like she hadn't slept with red eyes.

"Can I talk to her? Will she hear me?" she asked the nurse.

"We believe so. It may help her, although at the end of the day there's only so much potions can do." The nurse replied. Who were they talking about? The nurse left, and Ginny sat down on the chair next to me. Was she blind, or just pretending not to notice that I was sitting up?

"Merlin, Luna, you were always the non dramatic one. I guess you're making up for it now." What on earth was she talking about? I was really confused now. "I mean, Neville was freaking out. He went completely crazy on Fenrir Greyback…Greyback should be glad he's not dead and mashed into a pulp by now. The girls have spent the last four hours ever since we found out crying. Everyone's devastated. Astoria and Malfoy are holding hands and comforting each other, by the way. Did you know they got together?" Ginny sighed, and wiped something out of her eye.

"I really hope you can hear me. A coma, I guess, is so serious even magic won't help it. The nurse said that it would be you who choose what happened to you. That you could either stay here or move on, and I was mad. How come people I care about always end up in these situations? First Harry, the guy who I'm in love with, and now you, my best friend. It's crazy." A coma? What on earth was she saying? I stood up, deciding that she must be blind or be having some issues. Maybe she had been hit by a hex.

When I turned around to face Ginny, I saw the weirdest thing. Me. I was lying in the hospital bed, with a bandage wrapped around my neck, something bleeding on my face, and blood soaking through the wrappings that surrounded my entire body. It looked painful, and I was hooked to all kinds of different machines. I glanced down at myself, the me who was standing up, and realized I looked nothing like the me on the bed. Was I a ghost, or something?

I remembered a Muggle book that I had read over the summer. In it, the girl had gotten into a bad accident, but had been out of her body, able to see and hear things, and decide whether or not to stay, or go on. Was it possible that the same thing was happening to me? I could hear Ginny still talking, but I felt myself freaking out. And hyperventilating. I started mentally yelling at myself- Neville was the one who freaked out a ton, not me. However, my body didn't seem to listen, because the world went black and I passed out. Again.

When I woke up for the second time, the first thing I noticed was that it was pitch black outside the window. And that bed-me hadn't been moved, but the bandages had less blood on them. They must have been changed. What time was it? I found a clock and saw that it was Monday, December 2nd, 2:30 a.m. December 2nd! I had been unconscious for four whole days- that was crazy. A nurse came in, checking on me and applying some green stuff to my face. She looked out another small window in the door which I was guessing showed the waiting room and shook her head.

"There's a man out there waiting for you, hon." She seemed nice, and was talking to me. "He's been there since they brought you in, but it's against hospital policy to let a non-family member in without the consent of the person. The only reason they let that nice red-haired girl in a few days ago was because she explained that she was your best friend and you had no family. It's nice to have someone to talk to you." Who was out there?

"I'm not really supposed to do this, honey, but I think that it's the right thing to do. Truth is, the Healers don't think you're going to be able to last another day like this. It'd be cruel to not let this boy in. He told me he's just your friend, but he must be a pretty devoted friend to stay here. He hasn't even slept! So I'm going to let him see you, but you musn't tell." The nurse continued. She turned toward the door and held it open.

"I'm going to let you come in now, but keep in mind I'm breaking a rule here. It's what I can do though, let you say your goodbyes." She called. I stiffened at the word goodbye, before relaxing. I was going to die, and it didn't seem like there was anything I could do about it. I took a deep breath and decided- I was going to see who was waiting, and then I was going to do my best to just…leave. I was going to let go and die.

I was shocked to see Neville walk through, and felt a pang in my chest. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, but the nurse had said he hadn't. He wasn't clean-shaven by a long shot, his eyes had huge bags under them and were red, and he looked exhausted. He stiffened at the sight of my body but came and sat in the chair next to me…well, my body. He picked up my limp hand and held it.

"I'll leave you here." The nurse murmured and left the room. He nodded, and then looked back at me on the bed. He opened his mouth to speak, and then shut it again.

"Lu…" he murmured. His brown eyes looked watery- exhaustion, I bet. "The healers said you could hear people when they talked to you. Can you hear me? Or am I just talking to myself? It's supposed to help. I really hope it does." I settled on the end of the bed. I don't know what prompted Neville to come in here in the middle of the night, but I figured I should probably listen.

"They said you're right on the verge of dying, that you won't live another day in your state. And that even if you do live, you won't look the same. I don't care about that, it doesn't matter. You'll still be the most beautiful girl in the world. They said you might not choose to stay, like Harry did, but that you might go on. Die." He paused, and I heard a sharp intake of breath. His eyes seemed even more watery now. Was he…no, Neville didn't cry. Certainly not over me. After all, I was fairly certain that him asking me to Hogsmeade was just from a dare.

"I don't blame you if you do, you know. It's hard, living. But…please don't go. I…I'd miss my best friend." He paused again and I felt hurt all over again. Best friend. I hated those words. "Lu, don't die. Please, please, please don't die. I…I couldn't take a world without you. You're my rock, the only person who can calm me down when I'm upset, or worried. Granted, it's normally related to you when I'm upset or worried, but still. I mean…Merlin, this is hard to say, even if you are unconscious…I'm not sure I can explain." He took another deep breath, and this time I was positive I saw a tear roll down his cheek.

"All throughout last year, it was horrible. You know that, and I know that. It was dark, and cold, like one of those nights where there are no stars. But then there was also you. And you were like the sun. No wait, that's not right. You were like…the moon. Luna. You lit up that night just enough to keep me from getting lost." Neville was crying, openly crying, but you couldn't tell when he was talking. Did he really mean what he was saying, though? Could he?

"Last year, when you got taken from the train by those Death Eaters, I was so scared. Lu, I was afraid they'd kill you and I'd never see you again. And now I'm like that again, but it's much worse because you're right in front of me, but you look dead. I was never scared for my own life like this, only yours. Yours is more important to me." I closed my eyes, trying to memorize what he was saying. He couldn't mean it, but it was good to hear. There was no way he meant any of it.

"I broke my promise." His voice caught on the word promise. "I broke my promise, and I'm so sorry. If only I could have kept it, kept you safe. But I didn't, and now you're not here, at least not all the way." At this, he stopped talking, and he was clinging onto my hand as if it were life itself. I crossed over to the window and leaned my head against the cool pane of glass. It felt good.

"Do you remember what happened, at all? Fenrir Greyback got you. You screamed, and it was like someone was ripping my heart out of my chest while his claws were ripping at your face. Not that you look bad. Do you know how you look? If you were to ask me, I'd say that your hair is glowing and you're beautiful. Then again, you always are. Perfect, even when you've been beat up by a deranged werewolf. We beat the Death Eaters again, by the way, but this time everyone's okay. Everyone except you. You won't make it…that's what the Healers are saying. But this time last year, Voldemort and the Carrows were saying that you had to listen to them. Don't listen to the Healers, just like you didn't listen to the Carrows. Fight back again." He called me beautiful.

"Do you remember that day in the Room of Requirement? When I kissed you? I do, every detail of it. You never mentioned the kiss after that, and so I didn't either. I should've. I should've told you before now, when it might be too late, but that kiss was magic. YOU are magic." I walked away from the windowpane and towards Neville. He couldn't see me, of course, but I wanted to see his face. See if he meant what he was saying.

"Lu. Luna Lovegood. I love you." I gasped. He…l…what? "It's taken you being on the edge of death to admit this, but I love you. And I always will. I know you fancy some bloke who doesn't fancy you back, so I won't push it. But this bloke's an idiot. I love you, Luna, and I don't want to live a second in this world without you in it. Because it's stupid, and crazy, and messed up here, but the world needs someone like you in it. I need you in it. Please, don't die. Please…" his voice trailed off and I felt my heart shatter. I had accepted the fact I was going to die, but…Neville. I felt a prickling sensation on my hand. It felt like a tear. I wiped my eyes and realized that I was sobbing.

"Lu….please come back." Neville was muttering, almost as if he was praying. He was sobbing really hard now, harder than even I was. "Please wake up, be okay. Be alive. Even if you don't love me back, wake up and I won't push it. Merlin, I'll do anything you want me to do if you just wake up." I sobbed harder. He continued muttering, but this time it was only 'please, please, please' over and over. I couldn't do it. I couldn't just accept the fact that I was going to die and let go of Neville. I would fight, like he had asked me to. I just wished that I knew how.

"Are you ready to let go?" The nurse came back into the room and noticed that Neville was clinging onto my hand. He was still crying. "I know it's hard, but she's not going to make it." No! I wanted to scream it at the top of my lungs. I wasn't going to listen to the nurse, I was going to fight. For Neville.

"I don't want to let go." He said so quietly I barely heard him. "She's only seventeen. Too young to leave. She's never even been on a proper date, or had a boyfriend, or finished school. She's a good person. She doesn't deserve to die." He let out a sob. I had never seen Neville cry before.

"I know, sweetie, I know." The nurse patted his shoulder. "She's still here, in a way. Not gone yet."

"Can I stay with her?" Neville asked. "Until the end, please?" The nurse looked at him sadly and nodded.

"It won't be long now, you know. She's getting weaker by the minute." She told him. He looked even worse than before at this news, but nodded. She smiled sadly and left the room. I wished with all my heart that I could hug him, or at least squeeze his hand. I had to fight, even though I could feel myself growing weaker.

"I'll stay here till the end." He promised. "With you. But please, Lu, please, don't make the end be today. It's too soon." I closed my eyes and thought of the first time I cast a patronus, in the Room of Requirement. The first time I had realized that I actually had friends. I thought of Neville kissing me, telling me he loved me. I pushed against these memories, and my weakness, with all my strength, willing myself back into my body.

"Luna…" he was really sobbing now. Just my name. I pushed harder, hoping it would work. "Luna..." I was getting more tired by the second, but I had to fight. I had to fight because I could see the shattered man holding my hand, so different from the hero who had stood up against Voldemort that day. He was broken, it seemed. I had to do it. I yelled to myself to try harder, and I concentrated all I could on one thing- Neville's hand in mine. I could almost feel it.

"I love you." He whispered again. Those three words gave me my last bit of strength and with them, I felt Neville's hand in mine. Really felt it, not just imagined it. Slowly, I inched my eyes open, my real eyes. My body's eyes. I hurt, searing pain, everywhere imaginable, but I could open my eyes. Neville looked at me almost, as if he sensed something and his wet eyes met mine.

"Luna?" he said questioningly. "Luna! You, you're awake? Alive? Did you….Nurse!" He looked so happy and I smiled as much as my injuries permitted.

"I heard every word." I murmured. I lifted my hand, the only part I could move without hurting myself, and I wiped away a tear that was on his cheek. "Neville…"

"It's alright, I said wouldn't push it, so I won't." he sighed, trying to smile. "But you're alive, and that's the important bit."

"I love you too." I said, suddenly. His mouth literally dropped as he took in what I said. "The bloke who I said didn't fancy me back? It was you. I've liked you since my fourth year, and I love you."

Chapter Seven:

Rushed footsteps punctured the silence that was surrounded by my revelation, and the door swung open to reveal the kind nurse running in to talk to Neville.

"I heard you shout, is everything-Oh!" she gasped, noticing my eyes were open, and put her hands over her mouth. "You're alive! How on earth did you do it?"

"It's all Neville's doing. I had practically nothing to do with it." I explained. He flushed, and the nurse raised her eyebrows at him.

"What did you do?" she asked sternly.

"Talked to her, that's all. She said it helped." He mumbled. I nodded when the nurse looked at me. Ow, moving was a bad idea.

"Are you two together? I don't mean to pry but only very powerful stuff can bring someone back from almost being dead, like you were, Miss Lovegood. Not to mention, this boy here sat outside without eating, drinking, or sleeping for the entire time you were unconscious." The nurse looked a bit uncomfortable asking, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"You didn't eat or drink!" I scolded Neville. "Neville Longbottom, you go up to the visitor's center RIGHT NOW and get some food."

"I wanted to make sure you were alright! And I'm not hungry." Neville protested. I glared at him, and he seemed to shrink down in his seat. "Alright, alright, I'm going." He stood, shakily, and let go of my hand. Reluctantly, I might add. For a second I wondered if sending him to get some food was such a good idea- it involved him leaving the room and letting go of my hand. "I'll be back soon. Don't you go anywhere." With that, he left.

"You are, aren't you?" the nurse continued. "I'm Nurse Andrews, but you can call me Pat. As in Patricia Andrews. Wait a second…you said Neville Longbottom. And your name is Luna Lovegood. As in, THE Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood?"

"There's a THE Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood?" I asked, shrugging. "And as for me and Neville being together…that's something you'll have to ask him."

"The ones who fought against Death Eaters in the ministry three years ago. And Neville Longbottom being the person who stood up to Voldemort and pulled the Sword of Godric Gryffindor out of the sorting hat and killed Voldemort's snake, Luna Lovegood being the person who's dad used to run the Quibbler and whom killed Alecto Carrow. Are you those people? There were never any pictures in the prophet, and they wouldn't tell us how you were hurt, only that it was a werewolf attack."

"Oh…" I was taken aback by this news. THE Luna Lovegood? That was a bit flattering. "Yeah, I guess we are. And Fenrir Greyback is after me for killing his fiancée, and he mananged to get ahold of me. Obviously. Will I…will I transform?" The question had only just occurred to me.

"Well…we don't think so. The scratches were meant to kill, not transform." The nurse shuddered. "Fenrir Greyback is a disturbed person, Luna. Is it alright if I call you Luna?" I nodded my consent. "Well, I'm sorry you got on his bad side. Pray it doesn't happen again. Anyhoo, you'll not want to be around other people and be feeling a bit under the weather, and hungry, on the full moons." Anyhoo? People still said that?

"Is that it?" I asked, hopefully. "Will there be any pain, or anything?"

"Yes, you'll most likely want to take the Wolfsbane Potion. Madame Pomfrey at Hogwarts can brew it for you, and we'll have a shipment sent to your house every month you're not at Hogwarts. Speaking of which, we have evidence that your house was damaged over the course of the past year. Where are you residing now?" Nurse Pat asked. I sighed, I knew that this was going to come up.

"Over the summer I lived at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, in London. I assume I will be returning there or the Burrow for Christmas, and after school ends. I'll call or something for any changes." Pat wrote all this down.

"Ok, Lu, I have food now. Do you want a Cinnamon bun? You used to eat those all the time at school, right?" Neville burst back in the room, his arms full of food. Did the visitor's station really have all that at two thirty in the morning?

"Erm, yes, please." I tried to be polite. It was weird, being polite to Neville. A bit awkward as well. He handed it to me, and our hands brushed. Although he had just been holding my hand for Merlin knows how long, I felt sparks. Literally.

"Nurse Pat, would you like some?" He asked a bit awkwardly, but the nurse shook her head no. "How are you feeling, Lu? Can you move?"

"I feel fine, moving doesn't seem like the best idea though." I said, lying through my teeth. In fact, I felt like I had been run over by a truck, and even taking a breath was exceedingly painful. I didn't want Neville to worry a ton more and not eat again. Merlin, what was that boy thinking?

"Liar…" Neville accused. "You're trying not to breathe much. We both know that you do that when you get hurt." I flushed- how did he know I did that? "You need to go to sleep now."

"I'll go to sleep when you do." I countered. "You can go back to Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts."

"I'm staying right here, but I will go to sleep. As soon as I see you fall asleep." He replied stubbornly. I nodded and closed my eyes. I heard a sound that meant Neville was scooting the chair a bit further away. Knowing him, it was to be polite.

"Nev?" I asked without opening my eyes.

"Yeah?" He sounded worried again.

"My hand's a tad bit cold." I murmured. Neville scooted his chair closer and wrapped his hand in mine again.

"Better?" I smiled at this and nodded. Ow, moving my head really hurt. It was silent for a little longer until Nurse Pat spoke again.

"I was in the ward that worked with your parents for several years." She said quietly. Neville grunted in that guy-speak that could mean anything, but in this case I knew he just didn't want to talk about it. He rarely mentioned his parents. "It's an interesting case, and I'm sorry. I think I get now why you were so upset when I told you Luna here was going to die." There was a long moment of silence.

"I couldn't lose her." He said finally. "And I didn't want to leave her. Not even to go get food, because I was worried that I'd get back and she wouldn't be there."

"You love her." she said, stating it rather than asking the question. There was more silence.

"Yeah." He replied. "I do."

"Does she love you?" Nurse Pat asked.

"I certainly hope so." He said awkwardly. "I think so, I mean, she said, but we're not together, or anything. I want to be, but I don't know if she does."

"I do." I mumbled sleepily.

"Lu, I thought you were going to sleep!" he scolded.

"I am, I was just letting you know. Go to sleep, Nev, or I'll get Ginny to Bad-Bogey you tomorrow." He squeezed my hand gently and I smiled.

"Luna, will you go out with me?" he asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." I teased, still half-asleep. "Course I will, stupid. Now, for Merlin's sake, get some rest!" Neville laughed and I opened my eyes a bit to see him lean back in the uncomfortable looking chair. He really should have gone back to wherever the others were, but I didn't really want him to leave.

"Night, Lu." He mumbled. "Wake up this time, kay?"

"Mmkay." I replied.

When I woke up again (thank goodness that I actually did wake up this time) the room was flooded with light. I managed to move my head just enough to see that the sun was completely up, and that Neville was still in his chair, holding my hand, asleep.

"Took you long enough." Ginny strode into the room, nodding at my hand in Neville's. "We all had bets on how long it would be before one of you finally cracked and told the other."

"And?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"Well, Fred was closest, but…" her lower lip trembled a bit at these words. "After that was me. I bet sometime before Christmas. Fred said end of November, beginning of December." Neville shifted a bit in the chair and mumbled something in his sleep. Ginny smirked slightly.

"It's about time he got some sleep." She laughed. "And apparently he sleep talks, huh?"

"It's just the Nargles." I said automatically. "This room is completely infested with them. No wonder I almost didn't wake up."

"Oh, Luna, we were all so scared!" Ginny gasped, throwing her arms around me suddenly. "Don't you ever, ever, ever do that again. I mean, I've been freaking out at the smallest things and crying on and off, and Neville practically went insane. It was him, right?"

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't an intentional thing, almost dying. And yeah, I know about Neville going almost insane. He came in here, talked to me. And what do you mean, it was him?" I asked, answering all her questions at once.

"He made you decide to come back." She said simply. I shook my head, having decided to keep what had happened, and what he had said to me, between us. "I know you're not going to tell me what happened, or anything, but he did."

"Lu?" Neville mumbled, sounding half asleep. Ginny and I both jumped and looked at him as he opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Ginny. I wondered when you guys would get here."

"Morning. Well actually, it's one o'clock, so afternoon." Ginny nodded at him. "Glad to see that you're finally getting some sleep. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Parvati, Dean, Daphne, Astoria, Draco…it's really weird calling him that, and Lavender are all here, Lu. I'll give you guys a minute and then I'll send one of them in, ok?" I blushed, and Ginny skipped out. After she left, Neville leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

"Feeling any better, love?" he asked, and I blushed more, at both his kiss and the term of endearment.

"I can move my head a little, I think." I said, testing it. Neville leaned down once more and kissed me again, this time on the lips.

"Hey, Nev?" I asked, suddenly shy again.

"Yeah?" he smiled at me.

"You know that thing that you did a second ago?" I wasn't sure where I was going with this, and I don't think Neville knew either, but he went along with it.

"You mean this?" he asked, kissing me again. My heart was beating through my chest practically, and it was like fireworks.

"Yeah, that." I replied, trying not to sound too ditzy. "Would you do it again?"

"What's the magic words?" he smirked a bit, but it was a friendly smirk.

"Does I love you work?" I smirked right back, and he raised his eyebrows at me.

"I don't know, why don't you try?"

"Neville, I love you." I murmured. He leaned in again.

"Yeah, that'll work." He whispered, his lips a hair's length away from my mouth. "And I love you." Then his lips were on mine again, and it was different this time. Less of a small, stolen kiss, than something bigger. Love, maybe?

"Erm…this isn't awkward at all." Someone coughed after who knows how long, and Neville and I jumped apart. Well, Neville jumped, I just laid my head back, before turning it to see Daphne standing in the doorway. "Ginny said to tell you your minute is up and that Neville has to leave to sit with all the other common folk out there, Princess Luna."

"Sorry…" Neville mumbled embarrassedly with a glance towards me as he started out the door.

"Nev, come over here a second." I said quickly, before he could leave. I was feeling a tad bit more confident now, and Daphne raised her eyebrows at me. He walked over and stood over my bed.

"Yeah?" he asked, sounding a bit grumpy. I sat up as far as I could without hurting myself, and he leaned in a little. Right in front of Daphne, I kissed him again and then leaned closer to his ear.

"Love you, Neville." I whispered. "Go sleep some more, you need it." He grinned at me.

"Love you, Luna. And I'm not leaving." He whispered back. "I'll go see if the chairs are comfortable in the waiting room." With that, he left the room, ignoring Daphne's giggles.

"So…how long has that been going on?" she asked me.

"Define going on?" I asked dreamily, sounding more like the old Luna Lovegood than I had in months.

"Snogging, dating, the saying I love you?" she raised her eyebrows at me and I shrugged.

"Well…we kissed once last year. Once." I revealed. "And the rest…that was all really early this morning."

"We were all worried you were going to die." Daphne shuddered at this thought. "You were the first person at school to be nice to Astoria and I because of who we are, not what house we're in, and you were almost dead!" She burst into tears at this thought, and I wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Almost being the operative word there. I'm fine, Daphne, you don't need to worry." I said, trying to comfort her hysteria.

"No you're not!" she wailed. "You can't even sit up more than an inch above the bed! You won't be back till after Christmas, and we won't see you, and there's still a chance you won't recover!" She hugged me, so hard that it hurt, and I patted her on the back, awkwardly.

"I'll be able to sit up soon, and I'm on the mend. Where are you going for Christmas, Daphne?" I asked, suddenly having an idea.

"Well, we never told you this but…" she trailed off suddenly, as if contemplating what she was going to say.

"Yeah? What is it, you can trust me." I prompted, and she shuddered.

"Astoria and I are spending Christmas alone, at our house. Our parents are in Azkaban for support of Voldemort." She said, holding up her head.

"Well, that won't do." I said, automatically. Hurt briefly flashed through Daphne's face, and I realized what she must have thought I meant. "You two must spend Christmas with me! I think I'm going to Harry's again, and he won't mind, I'm sure. We have more than enough room."

"Really?" Daphne asked happily. I nodded. "Oh, we'd love too!" I smiled, glad that I had finally stopped her from crying.

The endless visits fell into a kind of pattern, and although I liked seeing my friends, I was becoming weary of them treating me like I was going to shatter at any minute. Neville was in fact, the only one, who didn't act this way, although he was still extremely protective. He had (somehow) obtained permission from McGonagall to take most of his classes off. He went to school about twice a week, and always brought back my work for me, so I wouldn't fall behind. The days he was gone were always the longest, and loneliest. I was feeling better, and I could move most everything two weeks after I had woken up. I was scarred all across my body, face and neck especially.

I kept asking to go home, but all the Healers and nurses had told me that it was a bad idea, to wait a few days. I didn't think to ask why, but one day I was feeling angrier than usual.

"Lu, are you sure you're alright?" Neville asked, looking at me in concern.

"For Merlin's sakes, Neville, I'm fine! Do you have to ask the same question every ten minutes? You're bloody driving me insane!" I practically growled. Neville's face dropped into a mask that I recognized from every time someone had teased him.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I'm just going to go sit outside now." He turned and walked out the door, and I scowled at myself. Why had I done that?

"Dearie, we have another potion for you to take. It's important." One of the many day nurses came up to me, speaking in a condescending tone. I hated when people did that, but normally I wouldn't say anything about it. Today, though…

"I don't want to take another blasted potion!" I exclaimed. "I'm sick of the nauseating taste, and sick of you lot forcing stuff down my throat. If you won't let me go home, why should potions make any difference?" The nurse smirked- see, I knew she was condescending!- and sighed.

"You all say that at first, but soon you'll need it." The nurse left, and I was left to scowl at the ceiling. I was in a REALLY foul mood. Soon, the sun had set, and I could see the moon through the little window. It was beautiful and full, shining brighter than usual.

Suddenly, a spasm of pain shook my body and I shrieked involuntarily. It hurt as bad as Fenrir Greyback attacking me had. The door swung open and Neville rushed in, having heard me from the waiting room. Even after I had been horrible to him.

"Luna! What's wrong?" he said urgently. I shook my head, not able to talk. A second and third spasm followed and I felt myself jerk uncontrollably as I let out another scream. Neville looked panicked. "Should I find the nurse?" he asked. I nodded, not knowing what was going on. He jumped up and ran out, bumping into Nurse Pat in the waiting room.

"Nurse Pat, Luna's hurt, come quick!" He exclaimed. I could hear the nurse make a noise, as if saying she already knew I was hurt, and I stopped for a millisecond to wonder why my hearing was suddenly so good. Only a millisecond, though, because another wave of pain swept through me. It was excruciating, like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Worse than even the Cruciatus Curse.

"It's the full moon, Neville, dear." She told him. "There's nothing we can do about it, and she was so ornery today that she refused to take her potion. Surely you noticed that she had a bad temper today?" Shoot! I had forgotten that thanks to dear Greyback, I was now going to be experiencing problems each full moon.

"Yeah, she flipped out on me when I asked her if she was feeling alright. She just looked a really pale and I was worried, but she practically spat fire. I knew something was wrong, though!" he revealed. "Can she take the potion now?"

"She could, but it would have absolutely no effect on her. All she can do is wait it out. The full moon tonight was the reason that nobody has let her go home, because we would prefer her to spend her first moon in the hospital. I have to stay out here all night, and attend to my other patients. It might not be very safe to go in there right now." Nurse Pat replied. I shuddered at the thought- I wouldn't hurt anyone, pain or no pain.

"I don't care." Neville muttered, before walking back into the room. "Lu- it's the full moon. The potion you refused to take earlier would have helped but…" His voice trailed off as I screamed again.

"I…heard." I choked out, before clenching my teeth together, promising myself I wouldn't make any more sounds for the rest of the night. I broke that promise about a shriek later. "You…don't…have…to…stay." Every word took a ton of effort.

"I know I don't. But I am. 'Till the end, remember?" he replied, almost cheerily. "Hang in there, Luna, you'll be okay. Is there anything I can do?" All of the sudden the pain stopped as soon as it had begun.

"What are you so cheerful about?" I grumbled. "And…" I thought for a second, and I was hit with an overwhelming craving for…ribs? Strange, I didn't even like meat that much. "Can you get me some ribs? Like, a lot of them?"

"Sure." He smiled, jumping up. I was back to grumpy Luna again, but this time I tried to repress myself. "And I'm cheerful because I found out that my girlfriend isn't actually mad at me for something I did wrong and possibly falling out of love with me, but is instead a part-werewolf who is just weirdly hormonal around the full moon."

"I could never fall out of love with you, and you never do anything wrong. But that statement alone shows just how messed up our lives are." I pointed out, and he chuckled. "Seriously, Nev, I love you. No matter how weirdly hormonal I am." He grinned cheekily and ran out of the room to go get me ribs. Man, did I love that boy right now.

Unfortunately, the moment he left, the excruciating pain returned, times twenty. I really hoped my ward was soundproofed, because I was screaming profanities by the time the fifth wave rolled in. Neville got back into the room, holding my plate of ribs (I really love him sometimes. Like now.) and looked pained.

"It's back?" he asked. I took in a deep breath and whooshed it out. And luckily, the pain stopped again.

"Done, for the moment." I muttered, feeling drained. "Give me those." He silently passed the plate over to me and I tore into them. I probably looked disgusting, but I couldn't help it. They were gone in a matter of minutes. "Sorry, I look disgusting right now. They're a bit overcooked."

"You look beautiful. Is the pain going to come back?" Neville smiled down at me, vanishing my empty plate as he did so. I shrugged.

"I really hope no-Aaah!" I screamed, unable to finish my sentence. It was back, and Neville sat down next to me. When the pain subsided, I was able to speak a bit again.

"You..can…go." I gasped, trying to breathe. He just shook his head and took my hand.

"I'm here for you, no matter what's happening, or how much it hurts to see you in this much pain." He replied. I nodded again, and then shrieked once more.

"I…might…hurt…your…hand." I managed to force the words out of my throat and he just shrugged. The next wave of pain was the worst yet, and by the time it was over, my vision was filled with black spots and I was pretty sure I had been squeezing the crap out of Neville's hand.

The rest of the night passed in waves of pain, and the occasional brief reprise. I had never been so relieved to see the sun rise, because it meant torture was over.

"Lu?" Neville said quietly, as I finally began to breathe normal again.

"It's over now, but what?" I asked, as nicely as I possibly could.

"Next month, take the damn potion."

Chapter Eight:

A week after the full moon, I was glad to be back in Grimmauld Place, which was slightly more crowded this time. Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Daphne, and Astoria had all joined us for Christmas, and I was (finally) out of St. Mungos.

"Luna!" Lavender shrieked, hugging me. "How'd you cope?" I looked at her, confused.

"Cope with what?" I asked, puzzled.

"Last week…the full moon." She clarified. "Stupid Slughorn didn't brew my Wolfsbane in time, 'cause he was too hungover from his damn Christmas Party, and it was hell. I can only imagine it was worse for you. You were too grumpy to take the potion, right? I know I was, my first time." I had forgotten that Lavender, all though almost scarless, was also part-werewolf.

"Yeah, I was. And Neville was there the entire time. It was horrid." I replied. She nodded solemnly.

"I know how you feel." She grinned suddenly. "But we don't have to worry about that right now! It's Christmas!" I laughed at her obvious enthusiasm and suddenly strong arms encircled my waist, and I felt someone's breath tickle my ear.

"You have no idea how nice it is to actually be able to hug you, for once." Neville whispered, before spinning me around and kissing me. It was nice, and I felt tingly from my head to my toes. Wow, I was getting cheesy. "How are you feeling?"

"I was fine." I replied, smiling up at him. When had he gotten so tall? "Now I'm even better." He laughed at this and kissed me again.

"Oi!" Seamus yelled, walking in on us. "You two need to get a room!" Dean, who had walked in with him, laughed at this, and Neville glared at them, before breaking down and laughing along.

"Dinner!" Kreacher's voice rang out from the kitchen and the boys practically killed each other in order to get to the table first. Typical.

Hours later, we were all in the Gryffindor-like sitting room. Harry had apologized for having Kreacher make everything Gryffindor colors, and not Ravenclaw, but I had told him that I didn't mind. In fact, Gryffindor's common room was like my second common room now. Ron and Dean were playing a round of Wizards Chess, (Ron was winning) and Hermione was reading a book. No surprises there.

Harry was talking to Seamus and Neville about something, animatedly. Probably Quidditch, if his excitement had anything to do with it. Ginny was sitting on his lap, occasionally butting into the conversation. Parvati, Lavender, Daphne, Astoria, and I were all talking about Christmas and New Years, and our plans for it.

"Wouldn't it be fun to have a party on New Year's Eve?" Parvati exclaimed. "Like, a real, honest-to-goodness, we're all of age here so let's have some Firewhiskey, kissing someone at midnight party." Lavender and Astoria nodded their agreement, while Daphne and I looked at each other doubtfully.

"Hate to sink the party boat, guys, but Astoria is actually NOT of age." Daphne pointed out. Astoria stuck her tongue out at her sister, but Parvati waved it away.

"Yeah, but she's practically an adult. Plus, Daphne, you're her guardian. Just give your permission and we really don't have any issues." She explained.

"I guess it could be fun. We should okay it with the guys, though, this is Harry's house." Daphne relented. I'd only ever been to Slughorn's Christmas party before, but this should be fun.

"I'm tired…" Hermione stood up suddenly, yawning. "Girls, are you all coming? We're still in the first three rooms on the third floor, right, Harry?"

"Yeah, Daphne and Astoria in the first room, Lavender and Parvati in the second, and Luna, Ginny, and you in the room you shared this summer." He said.

"I'm still tired from last week." I said, standing up. Seamus and Ron exchanged confused glances, but Harry, Dean, and Neville seemed to all know what I was referring to. "I'll come."

"What happened last week?" Ron asked bluntly in that charming way of his. Ha, now in addition to being sappy I was getting overly sarcastic.

"Full moon, idiot." Dean muttered, glancing at Lavender and I. Ron was being thick, however.

"What does that have to do with Luna?" He seemed genuinely puzzled, pissing both Dean and Neville off. And me, and Lavender.

"You're such an arse, Ron." Neville scowled. "Do you even use your brain? It was the full moon a week ago. Meaning pain for those of us bitten by werewolves. As in Lavender and Luna." A look of comprehension dawned on Ron's face, but I was fed up with it.

"I'm going to bed. Coming, Luna?" Lavender said tightly. I nodded and we marched up the stairs. A minute later, Neville caught up to us.

"Sorry about Ron, Lu, he's so thick sometimes." He apologized. "If you need anything, Harry, Ron, and I are in the room right next to yours." I nodded, and raised myself up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

"Night, Nev." I smiled at him. "Sweet dreams."

"Night, Lu." He smiled back, and we walked to our separate rooms. I lay down on my bed, and with a flick of my wand, pulled the curtains shut around it. I heard Ginny and Hermione come in and chatter happily, before falling asleep. It occurred to me that this was the first night since I had woken up that Neville hadn't been there. I drifted off into an uneasy sleep, hoping for a dreamless night. No such luck.

I was back at the Battle of Hogwarts, and Voldemort was laughing cruelly as Neville stood up to him. Harry was in Hagrid's arms.

"They didn't die in vain!" Neville yelled. "But you will! Because you're wrong!" I knew, subconsciously, that now was the part when Harry threw himself out of Hagrid's arms, telling us that he was alive. But there was no movement. Voldemort's face curled up into a sneer.

"Longbottom, eh? Why don't you say hello to your dear parents for me, when you end up wherever their minds are." He hissed. Neville pulled out his wand, attempting to protect himself and everyone else. I tried to help, but I found that my arms and legs were frozen.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted and Neville fell to the ground in a flash of green light, his eyes staring blankly ahead. I screamed, but no sound came out. The scenery around me changed and I was standing in the courtyard again, only this time Voldemort was gone.

I noticed masses of something on the ground, and almost vomited when I realized what they were. Bodies. There was Fred, and George. Hermione stared into space, Ron's body across hers as if he was trying to shield her. Harry and Ginny, holding hands, both dead. Tonks and Remus, Colin Creevey, Dobby. I saw Astoria and Daphne next, with Draco near them. Seamus and Dean were hanging by rope from something invisible, and Lavender was clawed to death, by a werewolf. Parvati, dead.

Lying in the entry way to the Great Hall was what I wanted to see the least. There was Neville, with an eye missing, and claw marks gashing all the way across his face.

"Congratulations, Miss Lovegood." A cold, chilling voice echoed behind me and I turned to see Voldemort. Again, no sound came out when I tried to scream. "We won, thanks to you."

"I…I didn't do this!" I gasped.

"It was a particular job well done for us Death Eaters when you killed Longbottom here. I quite enjoyed it." He nudged Neville's bloody face with his bare foot.

"I didn't kill Neville." I argued. "It had to be a werewolf that did that."

"You did." The chilling voice asserted, and I looked at my hands to see that my fingernails had elongated into claws. I woke up screaming.

"It was just a dream." I muttered to myself. "Just a bad dream." I rolled over and tried to fall back asleep, but as soon as I was asleep, I was plagued with more nightmares until I woke up again. This wasn't working. I glanced at my clock- it was one thirty in the morning. I slid out of bed- I had given up on any more sleep tonight.

Just in case anyone was still awake, I slid my dressing gown on over my nightclothes. They weren't bad, but they showed a great deal of my neck, and the scar on it. Sliding out of the room quietly, so that I didn't wake Hermione or Ginny, I shut the door behind me before realizing that I had no idea what I was planning. Maybe Lavender would know what I was going through, and might even be awake. After all, she too had been bitten by a werewolf. I turned slightly, still groggy from the lack of sleep, and opened the closest door to me.

When I entered the room, I heard a snoring sound and realized that this wasn't Lavender and Parvati's room. Instead, I had accidentally entered Ron, Harry, and Neville's. I flushed, glad that nobody else was awake. I turned to go to leave.

"Lu?" Shoot. Neville was awake. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, sorry, wrong room." I said quickly.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, concerned.

"I couldn't sleep." I told him reluctantly. I didn't want him worried, at all. "I had a couple bad nightmares, that's all. I just wanted to see if Lavender ever had any trouble sleeping after her werewolf bite. Sorry I woke you."

"I was already awake. Worried, I guess." Neville sighed. "Come over here, Luna." I walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. "What were these nightmares about? You can tell me."

"It…" I wasn't sure if I should tell him, but if I couldn't tell Neville, then who could I talk to it about? "Back at the night of the Battle, when you stood up to Voldemort, Harry didn't move. He was really dead, and then Voldemort killed you. And then I saw all of our friends, and then later you, dead. You had been killed by a werewolf, and Voldemort was there, and he said I did it, and I looked and I had claws. And you were dead in all of them, it was horrid." To my dismay, I started sobbing. I buried my face in my hands, overtired and embarrassed.

"Lu." He said quietly, and I felt him place his hands over mine. I shook my head, not wanted him to see my face all swollen, splotchy, and red like it got when I cried. "Luna, look at me." I raised my head slightly to meet his brown eyes. "I'm right here, okay? I'm fine." I let out a laugh at the familiar word that I had said to him so often to calm him down directed at me, but I sounded rather hysterical.

"I know, but it was so scary. And lonely." A fresh wave of tears started, and I hid my face in my hands again. Neville pulled me into his chest and hugged me, letting me sob onto him until I finally stopped. It was strangely comforting. "Sorry." I mumbled again. I could feel my face getting hot, and I got up to go, but Neville pulled me down again.

"You obviously need sleep and you won't get any in there." He explained. "Stay here, hopefully I can help. Least you'll know I'm not dead, right?" I eyed him warily. He squeezed my hand and then got under his covers. "C'mon, Lu, I won't do anything bad." I nodded, and lay down awkwardly.

"Luna Lovegood, you're going to freeze to death like that." He said, faux-seriously. "Get under the covers. Now." I obliged, lying stiffly next to him. It was weird, but then I realized it didn't have to be.

"Nev?" I whispered.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

"I'm still cold." I murmured. He laughed slightly and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest.

"All better?" he asked. I nodded, and he laughed again. "Alright, sleep now." I nodded again, and he held me closer. This time, for some reason, I was able to drift off to sleep with no problems at all. I vaguely realized just how lucky I was to have Neville, and that I might not have been able to cope without him. Thank Merlin that he was here.

Chapter nine:

"Happy Christmas, Lu!" I woke up to see Neville's face above mine as he leant down and kissed me. Yes, I was in his room again, for the fourth night in a row. The first morning, we had both gotten several raised eyebrows and comments, but it wasn't like anything bad had happened. I was simply avoiding the nightmares that always came when I went to sleep.

"Morning, Nev." I murmured tiredly. We had been up late last night at the Weasleys. "Happy Christmas." I tried to ignore the fact that this was the first Christmas without my dad. Wait, actually last Christmas I had been being tortured. "What time is it?"

"Five-thirty in the morning." He informed me.

"What the hell are you doing up at five thirty?" I asked, rolling over to glare at him. He looked a bit hurt, but the hurt face disappeared when I dragged myself up to kiss him.

"Ron likes Christmas a lot." He sighed. "Woke us all up, yet somehow you slept through it. Hermione insisted that we not open presents or eat until everyone was awake, so I came to wake you up before Ron tries to murder you."

"Oh…" I giggled. "Are we going over to the Weasley's again tonight for dinner, or are we just staying home all day?" Neville fell silent and I looked up at him. "Neville?"

"We're going to the Weasley's for dinner but I'm leaving sometime during the day." He said quietly. "I'm meeting my grandmother for lunch and then we're visiting my parents. In the hospital."

"I'm coming with you." I said immediately.

"No you're not. You don't need to see that, or go through that, or anything." He objected. "Plus, the last place you need to go is back to St. Mungos, you just got back from there."

"I'm coming with you, Neville, and you can't stop me." I crossed my arms. Were we really fighting? I hoped not.

"I'm not letting you come! Why do you even want to?" he scowled.

"Because you've been there for me through everything and now I'm going to be there for you! And because I want to meet your mum, dad, and grandmother." I shouted. "And because I love you!" We were less than an inch apart, because I had advanced when yelling at him.

"Well, when you put it that way…" he smiled and I stood on tiptoe to kiss him. "I guess you can come. Sorry for yelling, and stuff."

"S'ok." I muttered, to busy kissing him to say anything else. I don't know how long we stayed there…have you ever heard the term kiss and make up? We were definitely making up from our kind of fight.

"Oi!" the door opened and Ron burst in. Neville and I jumped apart, both going slightly red. He raised his eyebrows at us. "Okay, so first we all heard you two yelling about a hospital or something and then…nothing. I just came up to get you down here so I can have my bloody presents!"

"Sorry." I blushed, and grabbed Neville's hand. "Are we in the living room?" Ron nodded, smirking at Neville. I ignored him and pulled Neville down the stairs. I happened to like presents, quite a lot. In the living room, we met quite a few curious glances, but I also ignored these and sat on the floor next to Ginny, with Neville sitting in an armchair behind.

Three hours later, everyone had unwrapped their presents. Turns out that being the savior of the wizarding world, and his best friends, paid well. Everyone in the room had gotten a thousand Galleons at the beginning of the year, or more in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's case, for keeping up with Dumbledore's Army and such. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a bit of trouble getting into their vaults at Gringotts, because the goblins hated them now, but it worked in the end. Anyways, everyone had a lot of money to spend this Christmas and it had worked out well.

Lavender had given me a beautiful set of cream dress robes, and a lavender (yes, she did that on purpose) party dress, and Parvati's present to me was a set of earrings, a necklace, and bracelets that matched both the robes and the dress. Seamus and Dean had given me a joint gift…a really nice Wizard's Chess set, because I had asked them to teach me how to play. They also gave me a box of condoms, a Muggle thing to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I threw it at their heads, and was quite proud when it managed to hit both of them.

Ron was still chortling at this when he handed me his present, which was a Gryffindor Quidditch jersey (despite the fact I was in Ravenclaw) that had an animated roaring lion on it eating a snake (much like my had, only I didn't have the snake) and said "Luna Lovegood" on the back. When I pointed out that I was still a Ravenclaw, he tapped it with his wand and showed me that it could also turn into a Ravenclaw jersey with a flying eagle. He seemed proud of it, and told me that he hadn't gotten any help from Hermione at all.

Hermione, in typical Hermione fashion, had given me a book. It was an amazing book, though, called "Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find them" by someone Scamander. It had a forward by Albus Dumbledore as well. Harry had given me a nice Quidditch related book as well, because I had asked him to explain it to me a little more thoroughly. Astoria had given me some perfume, and Daphne bought me makeup and styling stuff. Unlike everyone else, though, I still had two presents left.

I tore into the wrapping paper on Ginny's present and I saw something that brought tears to my eyes. Like, actual tears. I was crying way too much lately. It was a beautiful scrapbook and as I looked through it, I saw pictures of us in our fourth year, with the entire Dumbledore's Army, and others. The whole book was filled with pictures. Every so often there would be a pang when I would see one with Fred laughing in it, or Colin waving out at us, or Dobby sweeping into a bow.

"Oh Merlin, Ginny, this is wonderful!" I sniffed. "Where on earth did you get all these pictures? I don't remember you taking any of them…"

"Colin took them all." Her face fell the tiniest bit, and I tried not to let how much I missed Colin Creevey show. He had been a close friend of ours. "After he…after the battle, Dennis gave a bunch of them to me. Said he didn't want to think about it. Colin had taught me how to develop them so I figured I might as well put the skill to use." I reached out and hugged her.

"It's the best present I've ever gotten." She beamed as I hugged her.

"Oh…Ginny, I have another present for you." Harry's voice rang out and everyone turned to look at him. Ginny sent him a questioning glance. I looked to Ron and Hermione, wondering if they knew what was going on. Judging by the looks on their faces…they did. Harry pulled something out of his pocket and dropped down on one knee, holding open a small white box. Ginny's hands flew to her mouth as gasps rang out from all the girls in the room.

"Ginerva Molly Weasley, I love you. Last year was the worst year of my life, because I never saw you and I never stopped regretting breaking up with you at the funeral. I never want to have to be away from you again. Will you marry me?" he asked. Ginny didn't say anything for a minute and we all stared at her staring at Harry. Then, ever so slowly, she nodded.

"Yes." She whispered. I'm not sure why she whispered, but she did. "Yes, I'll marry you." Harry grinned- I couldn't believe he had actually even been anxious about it. He slid the ring shakily on to her finger- it was beautiful. It had a gold band with an emerald set into it, the same color as Harry's eyes. I'd heard Ginny go on about them for ages, but I honestly preferred deep brown eyes. Just as I was thinking this, I felt Neville's strong arms wrap around my waist and I turned to see MY favorite eyes looking at me.

"Well, Lu, I think my present may pale in comparison to Harry's but here it is anyways." He whispered in my ear, spinning me around until I was facing him and handing me a small wrapped…item. I tore into the wrapping paper to reveal a beautiful silver heart shaped locket with swirls on it. When I opened it, I saw a picture of him and me taken on the day I had come home from St. Mungos. He had his arms around me and was whispering something in my ear while I looked up at him. We kissed and then smiled sheepishly at the camera. I think it was Astoria who took that picture.

"Neville, I love it." I smiled up at him and he beamed at me.

"If you go like this-" he gently pressed his thumb into it. "You can see me through this watch. I got the idea from Sirius Black's old mirror that Harry told me about." I loved it even more now. "So even when we're back at Hogwarts and stuff, you can still talk to me when you have your nightmares." He whispered the last part, because I hadn't told anyone other than him and Ginny about them. I felt a pang in my chest when I realized that I would, in fact, have to sleep in the Ravenclaw dormitories.

"Thank you so much, Nev." I murmured. He seemed pleased that I liked it. "I love it. And I love you." I rose on tiptoe to kiss him again and we continued this until Harry cleared his throat at us. Ok, so our friends might be a little sick of the puppy love stage but it was amazing to me. Kissing Neville was like….I don't know…chocolate and butterbeer and heaven and fireworks and that kind of thing all rolled into one.

"Luna, Ginny, I love my new camera! Thank you so much!" Astoria held up the camera that I had bought her- it turns out that she was actually quite fond of photography, and had wanted a camera for a while. "Let's take a group picture, right now!" Some people groaned good-naturedly.

"Kreacher?" Astoria called timidly. I knew she had never asked Kreacher for anything before, and wasn't sure if he would respond. With a crack, Kreacher appeared in front of her, bowing.

"Yes, Miss Astoria?" he asked.

"Could you do me a favor and take a picture of all of us with my new camera?" she asked, wringing her hands together nervously. "Do you know how to work it?"

"Kreacher would be most honored to help Miss Astoria, and yes Kreacher knows how to work a camera. Master Regulus was quite fond of them." He exclaimed. Astoria smiled and came and stood by us. Neville grabbed my hand and I slung my other arm around Ginny's shoulders. The flash of the camera went off and we smiled at it, enjoying the friendship filled moment.

Chapter Ten:

At noon, Neville and I apparated into the Leaky Cauldron to meet his grandmother for lunch. I knew she wasn't expecting me, and I hoped she wouldn't take it bad.

"Neville!" a voice rang out and I saw an elderly lady embrace Neville. "You look tired, boy, have you been sleeping?" I fidgeted guiltily. He was still tired from when he refused to sleep, and I doubt staying up late and me waking him up at midnight almost every night helped much either. "And…who's this?"

"Hello, Grandmother." He said fondly. "This is Luna. Luna Lovegood. She's…" his voice trailed off, because he obviously wasn't sure how to tell his only family. I decided to let him off easy.

"Hello, Mrs. Longbottom. I'm Neville's girlfriend." I stretched my hand out for her to shake but instead she hugged me. "It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard loads over the years."

"All good, I hope?" she smiled warmly, and I decided that I liked her. I nodded. "I've heard quite a bit about you, not only from Neville but from the Prophet as well. Neville failed to mention, however, that you were together." We followed a waiter down to our table and placed our orders.

"We haven't been together for long- it'll be a month on Saturday." He explained, trying not to offend her. "Took her almost dying, of course, for me to get my courage up." Augusta Longbottom raised her eyebrow at him.

"Almost dying? Whatever happened, dear?" she asked, turning towards me.

"In the Battle of Hogwarts, I killed Fenrir Greyback's fiancé and he wants revenge. I'm sure you've noticed the scars all over my face- they're rather new. Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts and Fenrir Greyback attacked me. I was in a coma for four days- everyone was surprised that I even survived." I explained.

"How on earth did you wake up from a coma?" Mrs. Longbottom seemed stunned at this news. I blushed and Neville grabbed my hand underneath the table.

"Erm…your wonderful grandson managed to convince the nurse to let him see me and he talked me out of just giving up. At two o'clock in the morning. Not to mention he had been an idiot and hadn't slept, eaten, or drank the entire time I was out, so I simply had to wake up and take care of him." I laughed slightly. Neville squeezed my hand and gave me a look. One of the good ones that made me feel warm inside.

"He didn't…Neville! No wonder you look so tired!" she scolded him. I laughed lightly and we continued the conversation. An hour later, Neville had paid the bill (I tried to help him, and so did Mrs. Longbottom, but he simply waved off our protests) and we headed to St. Mungos. I tried not to shudder when we walked through the doors- I did NOT want to be back here, but I was doing it for Neville.

He seemed to sense my reluctance, because he grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently. I avoided looking at him, because I knew that he would probably be able to tell how much I didn't want to be back here.

"Luna, you don't have to come. You can disapperate back to Grimmauld Place right now, if you want." He looked at me, this time not arguing with me about it but just telling me- I could go home if I wanted to and he didn't expect it of me to stay.

"I'm coming." I said stubbornly and firmly. I had to prove to myself that I could do this, and I wanted to do it for Neville. "No way am I leaving now that we're already here."

"You're impossible." He groaned. I shot him a glare and he held his hands up as if to surrender. "I love you, Luna Lovegood."

"I love you too, Nev. But don't think that's going to stop me from coming." I smirked, trying to ignore Mrs. Longbottom's raised eyebrows. He circled his arms around my waist and pulled me in to kiss him. I didn't mind...

"C'mon, let's go visit my parents." Neville sighed resignedly. I nodded and we headed toward the floor. It was strange seeing Professor Lockhart there, but the nurse was thrilled to bits when he recognized me. It was then that I saw Neville's mother and father.

Tortured out of their minds. It was horrible, and I knew having felt the Cruciatus Curse first hand many times how bad it truly was. Poor, poor Neville having to see his parents like this.

Neville's POV

Luna held my mum's hand and talked to her about how proud she should be of me, and I had never felt more loved in my life. It was a good feeling, impossible to describe. My grandmother was talking to my father and I was standing there. I saw Luna laugh as she was recounting something to my mum and was reminded of a horrid time…

"Stop it! Stop it!" Luna gasped in laughter as Ginny kept tickling her. "Alright ,alright I give! You're better at magic than me! Happy?" I couldn't help but laugh at the antics of two of my best friends. We were in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, headed home for the Christmas Holidays, and it was the first time we had laughed in a long time.

"Yes, I am." Ginny smirked. "I feel bad, being so happy right now, but I'm also glad, you know?" Luna and I both nodded.

"I think we need a little more happiness in our lives." Luna said seriously. "In other times, happiness can be fake, caused by Wrackspurts befuddling our minds, but now our minds are clear and we can truly tell when we're content." Ginny and I stared at her and she shrugged. "Just what Daddy told me."

"Luna Lovegood, you are like a breath of fresh air. But more amusing." I grinned at her and she smiled back in that special way that made my stomach flip-flop around. I wondered if she ever thought of me in that way, as anyone other than dorky Neville Longbottom, her friend. I know I thought of her as more than just a friend. I had, ever since the D.A. in my fifth year.

Suddenly the train jerked to a stop and Ginny scrambled over to the door of the compartment. I remembered vividly last time this had happened- the Death Eaters had boarded and searched the train for Harry, the idiots. I had told them that he wasn't there, the truth, as it was. What was stopping the train this time?

The door to our compartment flew open with a bang. For a second, the world was still and silent, but then we sprang into action. Wands drawn, Luna, Ginny, and I were standing in a defensive stance. Without even realizing it, I had placed myself in front of them, as to protect them. The disgusting, easily recognizable voice that I feared rang throughout the room.

"If it isn't wittle Longbottom, Weasel, and Loony." Bellatrix Lestrange mocked. My grip tightened around my wand- I wanted her dead so much I could hardly choke back my anger. And I wouldn't have bothered to if it wasn't for the six other Death Eaters behind her. "It's time to play."

"Why are you here?" I asked, trying not to show my fear. "And why do you need six backup to take on three schoolkids?"

"Well, you see, we were afraid you might get angry when we took Loony here by force, but I know THAT won't happen." Bellatrix flicked her hand and in a second, Luna was tied up. I was shouting a spell before I had fully realized what had happened.

"Stupefy!" Bellatrix blocked my stunning spell with a flick of her wand. "Expelliarmas!" She blocked this as well. I was furious. Unfortunately, so were the Death Eaters behind Bellatrix. Spells were bouncing of the windows of the compartment and Ginny crumpled to the floor. Luna struggled bravely against her bonds, but they just got tighter. I was outnumbered seven to one, but I couldn't let them take her!

"Relashio!" I shouted, pointing my wand at Luna as I ducked something that looked like the Cruciatus Curse. Somehow, nobody else on the train knew what was going on, even though I was sure we were making noise. The ropes holding Luna fell off of her and she pulled her wand out of her pocket. It was two against seven for a second until a curse hit Luna and she was thrown into the wall. I wanted to rush over to her and make sure she was okay, but a curse hit me and everything went black.

When I came to a minute later the compartment was a disaster and Ginny was sitting up, looking at me in concern. Luna was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" I asked urgently. "Where is she?"

"You got knocked out, and they took her." Ginny replied, wringing her hands together. The train had not yet started, and I jumped to my feel and ran out of the compartment, to the door of the train.

"Luna!" I yelled, knowing inside that it was no use, and I was too late. "LUNA!" She was gone. Ginny touched my shoulder and I followed her, almost blindly, back into our now too-big compartment. I was pacing back and forth when what appeared to be a hawk suddenly materialized in front of us.

"I hope you said goodbye to Loony, because that's the last you'll see of her." Bellatrix's voice issued from the sickening animal. "She put up a fight, Longbottom, much like your parents. In fact, in the end her mind went, just like your parents, but I decided to do a small mercy and kill her instead of leaving her vegtabalized forever."

The patronus vanished and I stared at the place where it had stood. Turning away from Ginny, I put my face in my hands and sobbed. In that moment, I truly believed Luna to be dead, and I didn't discover I was wrong until much later.

I shook my head, trying to shake myself out of my memories. Not all of them were as good as the time that Luna and I had spent together recently. Luna was still talking to my mother, and I crossed over to sit by my father with Gran. Gran looked at me for a second before heading over to talk to Luna and Mom. I think she knew I wanted to talk to Dad alone.

"Hey, Dad." I smiled. He looked at me as if he knew I was talking to him. "How've you been? I'm doing better than I have been in a while, thanks. It's cause of Luna. My Luna, really. She's really special to me, Dad. Love her more than anything. She's really something special." I smiled, thinking of Luna dancing at Bill and Fleur's wedding.

"Nev?" I turned to see Luna looking at me, wearing her old Quibbler glasses that were supposed to help one see Wrackspurts. "There's…there's a lot of Wrackspurts in here." I smiled at her- it was very Luna.

"Really?" I asked, laughing. Gran looked confused.

"Actually, I think it may be the reason your parents haven't responded to a single treatment all these years. Wrackspurts can be very dangerous." She muttered, looking distracted. I wondered…there was no way that Wrackspurts were real, was there?

"Let me see those…" She handed me her glasses and I put them on. It seemed that the whole air in the room was filled with little vibrating…dots. Honestly, the glasses probably just had a bad spell on them or something.

"I know a spell to get rid of Wrackspurts." Luna looked at me, as if to ask permission. I nodded and handed her the glasses back. If it made her happy to try, then, she could try all she wanted. I didn't think anything was going to help.

She raised her wand and quietly murmured a few words, before turning slightly and repeating the same thing. She did this over and over, a look of fierce determination on her face. I knew that my Gran (and parents) were right there, but I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her fiercely. She had just finished her spell and she wound her arms around my neck and deepened the kiss.

"Well, I do believe that he got his snogging skills from me." A deep voice cut through my delirious brain. Kissing Luna tended to do that to me. I realized a second late that I recognized the voice, from a dream, or a distant memory, and drew back from Luna. Gran had her face in her hands, and was sobbing. Luna's eyes lit up and my mouth hung open. The person who had spoke was my father.

"See." Luna whispered in my ear. "It really was just the Wrackspurts." My father beamed at me, standing up. He knew who I was. My mother joined him. She knew who I was. It was something I had dreamed about my whole life but had never thought would actually happen. And it was all because of my beautiful, wonderful, amazing Luna.

Chapter Eleven:

At midnight, Neville and I found ourselves in the kitchen of the Burrow by ourselves. He was still shocked, I knew, from his parents' recovery, as was I. I mean, I didn't actually expect the spell to work! I thought it must have been more than just…Wrackspurts. Mrs. Longbottom, and Mrs. Longbottom and Mr. Longbottom, had thanked me profusely and I had discovered I quite liked Neville's family. Of course I did, after all, they were his family. And I loved him. We had stayed at St. Mungo's until five, and were planning on going back tomorrow.

"Lu, you're amazing." He told me for the billionth time. "I mean, I have no idea how I can ever thank you for that. It's…wow, Lu, you've outdone yourself this time. I mean, you're just…" He seemed at a loss for words and I stood on tiptoe to help him forget even more.

"Mmm." He murmured and kissed back, in a way that made me almost shiver. This kiss, and the one we had shared in St. Mungo's, were different the usual sweet kisses he gave me. There was an edge, a kind of urgency, to them, and I never wanted them to stop. Of course, I hated when he stopped kissing me no matter what. Unfortunately, he did just that.

"I keep forgetting- you're still hurt." He looked at me carefully and ran his finger along the scar that stretched from my hairline to past my collarbone. I shivered in delight, almost. It felt nice, different than anything I'd felt before. "Tell me, Lu, if you start hurting from stupid Greyback wounds." I nodded reluctantly- I hated when he worried about me so much. It was nice, but I was afraid that he was too worried for someone who was only nineteen.

"Everyone is so thrilled about your parents." I said absentmindedly. Mrs. Weasley had burst into tears when she found out- she and Alice Longbottom were best friends before the incident. She had immediately apperated over there after dinner to say hi, and tell Mrs. Longbottom all that was happening. Unfortunately, the Longbottoms wouldn't be discharged from Mungo's 'till after we were back at Hogwarts.

"And it's all thanks to you, love." He beamed at me and kissed me again- one of the slow, sweet ones that made me melt. "I can't believe you, Lu. Every second you seem to get more and more wonderful." I smiled against his lips.

"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she bustled into the kitchen. "There you two are- no hogging the kitchen!" We both flushed, but although we broke apart, Neville never let go of my hand. "Oh, and Luna dear? I don't think I ever told you how glad I am that you recovered. Ginny simply adores having you as a best friend, and I hate to think of how she would have been without it. Thanks for joining us on Christmas as well, making it a little less…empty with…you know."

Her face fell and I patted the older woman's back sadly. I knew that Ginny and Ron had both cried at least once today, missing their older brother. I had also noticed Harry looking morose- he had spent the last few Christmases with Lupin and Tonks around. It was George, however that everyone was the most worried about.

He had thinned considerably since I last saw him. He had only come downstairs once all day, to eat, and gone back. Although he had gotten gifts for everyone, he hadn't bothered to open his. Sadly, I pulled my hand out of Neville's.

"Nev, I'm going to go talk to George. Okay?" He nodded, understanding. He went off, probably to spend time with the guys who were now out on the lawn drinking firewhiskey and playing Quidditch in the dark.(not the best idea)

I climbed the stairs up to George's room and knocked gently on the door. There was no answer. I knocked again and this time a voice called out.

"Go away." George said. I hardly recognized his deadened tone from the laughing boy I had known.

"George, let me in." I scowled at the door. "It's Luna." Footsteps sounded and the door swung open.

"What do you want, Luna?" he said harshly. The light showed me the dark shadows under his eyes, and the way his clothes hung off his thin frame. I stepped forward and I guess the light from his bedroom fell on me, because he looked taken aback.

"Blimey, Luna, what happened? You look like you've been attacked by a werewolf or something." He gaped. I smiled humorlessly.

"Actually, I was." I informed him. "I was in a coma for four days- almost died too. And since you're obviously not bothering to keep up with the living, I'll let you know that Neville's parents were cured today, Neville and I are dating, Ginny and Harry are together, Ron and Hermione finally got together, and we're having a party at Grimmauld Place on New Year's Eve."

"Fred won." George stated quietly, glancing over his shoulder at a picture of him and Fred that was hanging on his wall. "The bet- Fred was closest. On everyone."

"I know." I told him. He stepped aside and let me in to the room. "Guess who's coming to the party at Grimmauld Place?"

"Who?" He said tonelessly.

"You are." I decided, spur-of-the-moment decision. "You are coming, and you are going to live again. Because sitting in your room dead to the world isn't going to do anything! It's not going to bring Fred back!"

"But maybe it'll bring me to him!" George yelled suddenly. And all of the sudden I realized what his plan must be. Without his twin, he didn't want to live.

"Did that note he wrote you mean NOTHING to you?" I shouted. "Do you think Fred would have wanted you to die? No! I think Fred would have wanted you to live your life for him! Because you have to live for both of you now, and make it worthwhile! How do you think your mother would feel if she lost another son? What about Ginny, and Ron, and Percy, and Charlie, and Bill? How do you think they would feel if they lost another brother? And Harry? Harry's lost almost everyone close to him, and don't deny the fact that you two and Harry were always good friends. I know where you got your start-up loan!"

"I don't care! I don't care anymore because Fred isn't here! I didn't want Fred to die, but he did anyways!" George roared. I was glad- he was showing a sign of life. "I don't want to get up and go to a stupid party of yours, and I don't want to leave this room until I'm dead!"

"That's too bad, because you will!" I was angry, and I knew that Fred and George had placed a silencing charm around their room years ago, so nobody would be able to hear us shouting. Nothing was stopping me from scolding the half-ghost who was in front of me. "I didn't think you were an idiot, George. I thought you were brave- wasn't that why you were in the Order? And the DA? Do you think Fred didn't know he might die? It seems that he did! He didn't want you to die- he told you so himself! Are you really going to go against your brother's last wishes?"

All the fight went out of George and he slumped against his bed. I looked around the room- all of Fred's stuff was still there. It was almost like he was going to appear at the door. George's eyes were watery and without me saying anything, he began to talk.

"Fred and I never fought. Not once. We bickered sometimes, but even that was rare. In our sixth year, at the Yule Ball, I went with Alicia Spinnet while Fred went with Angelina. Alicia and I dated for a long time, until the end of last year. We broke up a few weeks before Dumbledore's funeral." He told me, looking out his window. "Angelina and Fred didn't, but I was happy for Fred. He loved her. She loved him. I had liked her since our sixth year, but Fred didn't know. I liked Alicia, for a while, but there was something that just wasn't there."

"I feel bad, even now, liking Angelina. And to think that Fred knew the entire time… It makes me feel even worse. Alicia and Lee are together now…did you know that? Lee sent me a letter and it said so in it. He wanted to make sure I was okay with it. Angelina writes to me every week. So does Lee. I don't reply, ever. If I replied, I'd have to think, and thinking hurts too much."

"Even moving and looking around hurts too much. Especially today. Christmas- it's a stupid holiday. Fred and mine's favorite." He stared straight ahead, seeing but not seeing. "That and our birthday. Are people still dying?" The sudden serious question took me aback.

"No." I answered truthfully. "I almost did, but I'm alright now." He stared at me.

"Alright. No dying, Luna." He half-laughed and then stopped suddenly. "Why are you here? Everyone is treating me like I'm going to break, and then here you are yelling at me. Why?"

"Because there's no chance of you breaking when you're already broken." I said, surprising myself. "And because you're my friend, George. Back in my fourth and fifth year, you and Fred would always tell people off for teasing me. It was nice. You guys gave me free stuff from your shop, and you would always talk to me in the halls. For someone like me, even those gestures make me care. And now you're letting yourself waste away, and I'm not going to let that happen. You need to get out of this room, and start living again. Write your friends back, because I know they're worried about you. Come to the New Year's Eve party, because we both know you like parties and people and it'll help you keep moving. I'm not asking you to forget Fred, or move on. I couldn't possibly ask you to do that- nobody can. I'm asking you to learn to live without him, because you have no other choice."

"Alright." George said after a moment. I was taken off guard by this sudden statement an looked at him quizzically. "Alright, I'll get out of this room. Alright, I'll go to Grimmauld Place on New Year's Eve. I'll write back to Lee, and Angelina." I smiled, triumphant.

"I except a letter from you at least once a week, and Merlin help you if I don't get one." I ordered him, faux sternly. "Now I'm going to join everyone else and make sure my boyfriend doesn't die by getting drunk then trying to fly a broomstick." At this, George perked up.

"That's something Fred and I always did at parties…" He trailed off. "Thank you, Luna."

"No problem." I walked out of the room, sighing. Poor George.

George's POV

Luna was right, I knew, I had to keep living. It was just hard. There was a hole, a kind-of emptiness in the place next to me, and inside me. Fred was gone, and I was having trouble living. I watched my friend leave the room, and as I went to the window, I saw her skip outside. Neville picked her up and swung her around, making her laugh, and they kissed. I smiled at this- the motion felt unfamiliar on my face. I hadn't smiled since Fred died.

Luna was sweet. I knew that Neville had liked her for a time, after Gin told us what had happened on the Hogwarts Express. I was glad that they had ended up together, and I was glad that Luna was my friend. It was sad, though, that even the smallest gesture of kindness made someone her care about someone. It meant that people weren't very kind to her.

I turned to the desks that were side by side. Fred's had a framed picture of him and Angelina, from earlier that year. There were diagrams and drawings on it too- plans for the store. Mine was oddly empty, sad. It had two piles of letters on it. One pile was from Lee, and the other from Angelina. I hadn't read any of them since two months ago. The last letter I read was one where Lee told me he and Alicia were together. It had been a while, but Lee had mentioned Fred in his letter and it was too hard to continue. And even Angelina's handwriting made me think of all the notes she and Fred had passed in class- the ones that Fred had showed me.

It took a lot more strength that it would seem to cross the room to my desk and pick up the most recent letter from Lee with shaking hands. I opened it, slowly, and began to read.

George

I wonder if you're even reading these letters. Somehow, I doubt it. You've never replied, I know. Still, I like to keep you updated on what's going on, but I've about had it.

You've got to stop hiding, George. You lost your twin. You lost Fred, okay? I know- I know how it feels! Because I lost one of my best friends that day, too! And Angelina knows as well! She lost someone that she loves, and every so often she'll come over here, asking if I've heard from you. And I have to say no.

Did you ever stop to consider that someone besides you is hurting? Fred and you were my best friends, and not only has Fred died, I've lost you too. You're alive, sure, but you dropped off the face of the earth. So while you lost your other half, I lost the two guys who have been my best friends since we were eleven. I know its hard that you lost Fred, and I know I can't even begin to imagine how incredibly horrible it must be. But you never reply. You never even show some sign of life.

Shop's closed, I know. But did you know that? Did you know that Alicia and I are dating, and that I got a job as a Quidditch announcer? Apparently they like my humor. I lied earlier. Angelina doesn't come by every so often, she comes by almost every day. You need to reply.

Lee

I set the letter down, my hands shaking more. Now I felt that overwhelming sense of guilt. Normally it was guilt that I was alive, and Fred wasn't. But now it was guilt that I hadn't looked past myself. And I hadn't responded to Lee. I took out a quill and decided- there was only one thing I could think of to say to my friend.

Lee-

I'm sorry.

-George

I whistled for Hooter, Fred and mine's owl. She appeared immediately and I felt guilty about that too. I hadn't fed her in months- I wondered where she had been. She stuck out her leg, seemingly happy to do something, and I tied the parchment onto her leg.

"Take this to Lee and then come back." I told her, patting her before she flew off. I sighed. I didn't want to see what Lee had said to that, honestly. I only wanted one thing, and I was sure that I would only want one thing my whole life. I wanted my brother back.

I somehow found the strength to move toward Angelina's letters and pick up the most recent one. It was going to be harder than Lee's, I thought, because I had always lo-liked Angelina, and that would mean more feeling. That would mean feeling pain as well as liking, reading her words.

Dear George,

How are you feeling? Obviously not great, because you still haven't written me back. Happy Christmas, by the way. I know last year I was at the Burrow for Christmas, with Fred. Last night was the loneliest Christmas Eve I've ever had, what with my mom having died year before last and my dad having run off when I was ten, and now Fred being gone. Of course, it was worse for you. No twin. Nothing.

George, I'm honestly quite worried about you. It's not like you, not replying. At all. You were always so good with returning letters. Fred was the same, although sometimes I wondered if you reminded him to. I wouldn't be surprised. You two brought out the best in each other, as well as others. I know you're not coping. Neither am I, honestly.

Are you going to the New Year's Eve party? Harry told me about it. Alicia, Katie, and Oliver are all going. I'm going too. If you come, it'll be our old Quidditch team again. Well, except for Fred. His absence will, as always, be gapingly obvious. Please come. I'm this close to coming over to your house myself and talking to you in person. I don't know if you'd welcome me, though. I might remind you too much of Hogwarts, and Fred. I know you're probably avoiding any reminders of that, and I've already mentioned him a ton in one letter. No wonder you never write back.

Regardless of my non-tactfullness, George, please write back so that I know you're alright. Well, obviously not alright, but at least breathing. I want to see you again, and you're not the only one who's lost someone this year. I lost my boyfriend, remember? Please reply, okay?

All my love,

Angelina

I was right- this letter was even worse. It reduced me to tears once again, and I knew a simple "sorry" wouldn't cut it.

Angelina,

I read your letter that you sent on Christmas morning. I don't normally read them, see, but I did this time. You can thank Luna for that. She yelled at me to stop barricading myself in solitude and stuff. Imagine, Luna Lovegood, screaming at me. It would've been funny, but I haven't laughed since…you know. I did smile today, for the first time. I am going to that party, no idea why I agreed to it. You're welcome to come by any time, especially if I'm not replying. You're right, you know. Always are. I'm not coping. I'm still breathing though. For now.

Love,

George

I sent the second letter as soon as my owl came back. It didn't take long until I heard a crack outside my door and a gentle knock sounded. Was Luna back? I opened the door to see Angelina there.

"You replied." She said slowly, as if wondering why she was at my house. I nodded warily.

"I replied." I confirmed. She looked at me, up and down.

"Have you been eating more than half a meal a day? Or sleeping?" she asked suddenly. I shook my head no. "That's not good for you."

"I know." I replied. What was going on here? I decided to live and now Angelina, the girl I had love…liked for years was in at my door.

"George…listen…" Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat. All of the sudden I knew what she was going to say, and reality came crashing in on me.

"I know." I said, simply. She kissed me then, just brushed her lips against mine, and I gasped as a whole new flood of emotions came crashing in. I had been trying to block emotions out since Fred died.

"Can we talk?" She asked. I nodded and she led the way into Fred and mine's room. Maybe Luna was right- I did need to live.

I had never been to a real party, at least not like the one we were having in an hour. It was six o'clock on New Year's Eve, and we had been setting up all day. Lee Jordan had got a lot of firewhiskey, butterbeer, mulled wine, and other alcoholic drinks somehow. We had food around, and music ready. Parvati was bubbling over in anticipation. Us girls had spent the required amount of time getting ready (it was five hours. FIVE HOURS!) and we looked pretty good, if I do say so myself.

"Holy shit, Lu." Neville wolf-whistled as I came into the ballroom wearing my party clothes. I blushed furiously. "You look amazing- and I thought it was completely impossible to look more beautiful than you do on a daily basis. Guess you just proved me wrong." I giggled at this and he bent down to kiss me.

"You don't look so shabby yourself." I smiled at him. Forgive me for sounding like a crazy fangirl here, but he looked so bloody hot that I was trying not to lose it completely. And I guarantee you, it wasn't just the clothes. "What are you doing here?" He shrugged.

"Seamus asked me to double check on the music. It was being stupid earlier." He explained, pointing his wand at the sound system. A song that I had learned to dance to for the Yule Ball came on and Neville bowed. "May I have this dance, Miss Lovegood?"

"Why yes, Mr. Longbottom, you may." I laughed at his adorable dorkiness. He put his right hand on my waist and clasped my right hand in his left.

I don't have any idea how he became such a good dancer, especially from the stories that Ginny told me about going to the Yule Ball with him. He must have improved a lot since then, because he spun me around the room easily, and perfectly. I laughed, carefree, and as the music slowed, he bent to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his were around my waist as I kissed him back.

I don't know why people kept interrupting us, but we were right in the middle of a mindblowing makeout session when someone cleared their throat loudly. I waved my hand at them, whoever it was, as if to say go away, and continued what I was doing.

"Wow, Luna, when you told me you and Neville were together, you didn't mention the long makeout sessions that you tend to have in very public places right when a party's starting. And I thought you wanted me to be here! I'm insulted, seeing as you just told me to go away." A voice that I almost didn't recognize laughed.

Neville and I broke apart reluctantly, before we turned to see someone laughing at us. My face broke out into a huge grin, because I knew for a fact that George hadn't laughed since his brother's death. He was holding hands with Angelina, who was raising her eyebrows at me. I raised mine right back- look who was talking!

"Hey, George." Neville mumbled, slightly embarrassed. I slid my hand into his slightly larger one, trying to tell him he had no reason to be. He seemed to get the message, because he squeezed my hand as if to tell me he did. "It's good to see you up."

"Yeah, thank Luna." He rolled his eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well, we're going to go into another room now- I'm sure I'll see you later." Neville and Angelina laughed at our little exchange as the other two left.

"I suppose that's it for now." I sighed regretfully, yet teasingly. "Come on, we're partially in charge of this party." I pulled him out of the room, trying not to giggle more as he kept whispering silly and sweet things in my ear. By the time we made it into the main room, it was packed with people whom I recognized from Hogwarts.

"Firewhiskey?" Lavender appeared next to me. Neville muttered something about needing to find Seamus and kissed me before disappearing into the crowd.

"Oh, is it good?" I asked, still reeling from the kiss Neville and I had shared in the ballroom. Lavender nodded, sipping from a glass in her hand and offering me another one. "Well, it is a party, isn't it? Why not?" I took the glass and took a sip from it. It was good, surprisingly, even though it burned a bit going down.

"Alright, girls, so do we have a game plan for tonight?" Parvati appeared on my other side. "I want to get Dean to kiss me." She announced. I raised my eyebrow at her- I was getting quite good at that.

"I want Seamus to kiss me." Lavender agreed. "And what about you, Lu? Is tonight the night?"

"I don't think so…" I smiled. "It just doesn't seem right. But I will go near that, if that's what you mean." I had been thinking about this a lot, actually, and it wasn't just the Firewhiskey that made me say that. Hermione, Ginny, Daphne, and Astoria soon joined our little sorority circle, each clutching glasses.

"Ready to party?" Astoria asked, giggling. "Draco just got here, so I'm going to go say hello and give him a drink. He does seem to be a bit uncomfortable with all these people who he was rude to over the years." We waved goodbye as she disappeared into the crowd.

"I just have one rule." Hermione stated, looking at her still full glass of firewhiskey. We all looked at her curiously. "Promise me that, under any circumstances, none of you have sex in a room that someone else is in as well, no matter who you're having sex with.." I burst out laughing and Lavender, Ginny, Parvati, and Daphne joined. Hermione looked deeply disapproving, until she too collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"Promise!" we chorused together, before giggling some more. Hermione looked carefully at the full glass in her hand, something that did not go unnoticed by Parvati.

"Go on, 'Mione." She nudged. "Take a sip." Hermione looked at the glass some more. "It won't hurt, you know."

"What the hell." Hermione shrugged and lifted the Firewhiskey to her mouth, draining the glass in one go. Parvati, Ginny, and Lavender whooped while Daphne and I exchanged glances. I was suddenly very glad that I knew how to make a Hangover potion.

The party passed quickly in a blur of talking, laughing, dancing, drinking, and kissing Neville. The big neon countdown clock that Dean and Seamus had set up ticked away the seconds till midnight. At a minute till, everyone was gathered in the big ballroom where Neville and I had been dancing earlier.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" we shouted. "Happy New Year!" Neville leaned in and kissed me passionately. When we pulled apart, I saw people kissing everywhere. It looked like George had won with Angelina, and Lee and Alicia were getting quite friendly. Parvati and Lavender had both reached their goals for the night. I didn't care, though, because I was kissing Neville again.

"I didn't think we would make it this far." Neville said, after we finally broke apart. I nodded, knowing what he meant. "This time last year, I thought you were dead and that we were fighting a losing battle. But here we are, Lu. Together."

"I know." I said, simply. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

He pulled me in again. Sometimes words aren't enough to express how much I love him, and how I feel when I'm with Neville. All I can say is that I would give up anything I had to just to be with him, and that I never wanted to have to live without him again.

Chapter Twelve:

A lot of people at the party ended up crashing at Grimmauld Place. It was a good thing that it was a huge house, with a ton of rooms that were all cleaned and ready for guests. I knew that someone would have ended up splinching themselves had they tried to apparate while intoxicated.

I was the first person awake, and I had a splitting headache. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and the whole house was sleeping. And packed. There were probably fifty people there. I was in Neville's room, per usual, snuggled against his chest when I opened my eyes. Harry had the curtains drawn around his bed, and Ron's bed was empty. I knew he wouldn't be awake at this hour, and I had no doubt as to where he could be. Hermione had a lot of explaining to do.

I went down into the kitchen and started the Ten-Minute Miracle Potion. It was just a hangover potion that only took ten minutes to make. I had seen the recipe in Witch Weekly a week earlier, and saved it because I knew that we would be having this party. True to the name, I was finished in ten minutes and immediately felt better when I drank some.

Parvati joined me in the kitchen, rubbing her head and groaning. Without saying a word, I handed her a small cup with a bit of the potion in it, and she drank gratefully.

"I hate headaches." She said finally. "That was such a fun party, though. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, I did." I replied. "I think we deserve to party once in a while, after all we've been through."

"I kissed Dean…" Parvati smiled happily. "At midnight. He asked me out after that."

"I'm so happy for you!" I squealed. I really was, because I knew Parvati had liked him since their sixth year, after he and Ginny broke up.

"Yeah…are we the only ones awake?" She was still smiling, lost in the clouds of "I have a boyfriend" land. I nodded, but just as I did this, Lavender came in. She was still wearing the pink dress she had worn last night.

"Morning…" she yawned. "For Merlin's sake, Luna, please tell me that cauldron is full of hangover potion." I nodded again, and handed her some.

"Lav, you were wearing that last night." Parvati said, stating the obvious. "And Dean crashed in our room with me and Daphne- something about Seamus kicking him out. Were you in there?

"Erm…" she flushed. "Yes?" Parvati and I's mouths dropped open.

"Doing…?" I asked to clarify. I mean, I wasn't stupid, I knew what was happening in there, I just wanted confirmation.

"You know…" Lavender blushed again and we both gasped and exclaimed and such. "Yes, it was nice, okay?" She didn't seem so ashamed of it.

"Wait a second!" I exclaimed. "Parvati, you said that Daphne was in your room last night. Does that mean that…?"

"That their room was otherwise occupied by Astoria and Draco?" Parvati finished my sentence for me. "Yeah, it does. As for what exactly they were doing, well, we'll see when she wakes up."

As people began to rise and trickle into the kitchen for some potion, Lavender, Parvati, and I got caught up with all the gossip. It seemed as though not a single person had worried about sleeping in the same room as someone of the opposite gender. Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson all came downstairs together and were laughing as they told me what happened.

"So George and Oliver decided that we should sleep in separate rooms, right, because George and I just got together and Oliver and Katie are just friends, and we didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea, right?" Angelina revealed, while Katie giggled into her shoulder. I nodded. "But we gave up after a while and found a room, but we didn't like…sleep together. So we were all sitting up in the dark, talking about the Battle, and the party, and Fred, and our favorite Hogwarts memories and stuff. And then the door opens, and Alicia and Lee come in, totally hammered and just start making out on the bed. They didn't even know we were in there, and they just went ahead and did it right there!" Parvati, Lavender, and I burst into laughter, and Alicia shrugged.

"Wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last." She smirked, which shut Angelina and Katie up, but just caused Parvati, Lavender, and I to chortle harder. They joined our standing group that was handing out hangover potions. We discovered that Ginny and Harry had been in the same room as Neville and I, just sleeping. And kissing. Ginny joined us as well as Daphne, and Astoria showed up right when the guys finally started emerging.

"So why was Draco in your room last night, Tori?" Ginny asked Astoria, going for the direct approach.

"Cause there was nowhere else for him to sleep." She replied, evading the question rather nicely.

"What was going on in said room?" Alicia decided to jump into the questioning session.

"Kissing." I guess there was a reason for her being in Slytherin- she was rather cunning. "What was going on in YOUR room last night, Alicia?"

"Hot, steamy sex." Alicia replied with no qualms. "What else was going on in yours?"

"Stuff that wasn't quite sex." Astoria folded her arms across her chest. Satisfied, everyone else stopped integrating her.

Almost everyone was awake when I realized Hermione was still missing. I was on the verge of conducting a search party when the footsteps were suddenly audible. For a house crowded with people, it had sure gotten quiet. When I saw the owner of the footsteps, I knew why.

Hermione Granger now acutely knew the feeling of the Walk of Shame. Her hair was frizzy as ever, her dress wrinkled, and a visible hickey was on her neck. She had obviously not been back to her room last night, and while this wasn't a surprise in Lavender's case, Hermione was a different matter entirely.

"Hermione Jean Granger, I cannot believe you fucked my brother." Ginny announced as soon as Hermione drew near to them. She went bright red.

"She did. And it was amazing." Ron drawled as he walked in after her, winking. We all groaned collectively, and Hermione buried her face in her hands. Ron walked up to her, and tilted her chin up gently before kissing her.

"Morning, Lu." Neville came into the kitchen and I blew him a kiss. Hermione raised her eyes at me and I shook my head. She groaned, with her head in her hands.

"Bloody. Stupid." She mumbled. "I'm going to go change." With that, Hermione stormed out of the room. Neville reached for the wireless and turned it up a bit. Not much attention was paid to it until…

"Breaking news!" an older reporter's voice echoed out. "Earlier this morning, Ministry officials discovered the mutilated body of what appears to be a small Muggle girl just outside of Stratford-Upon-Avon. The cause of her death is werewolf attacks, believed to be the work of the notorious werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. Greyback and his followers attacked Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the end of November, and were quickly defeated and captured, with no lasting injuries." Everyone looked angry at this point. No lasting injuries? Yeah, right. Look at me!

"However, they escaped the Ministry of Magic's holding cells late last night. It is not known where they are headed, but it appears as if they are staying close to London, so keep a careful look out. You-Know-Who is dead, but not all of his followers are. Happy New Year!" The reporter's voice faded out and was replaced by Celestina Warbeck. Gabrielle Delacour sent the wireless a murderous glare and pointed her wand at it, until the station changed.

The only sound in the room was the sound of "Can You Dance Like a Hippogriff" by the Weird Sisters playing through the wireless. You could hear us breathing. The fun yet shocked mood had faded in an instant. We had gone from gossiping about who slept with whom to worrying about our lives in what seemed like seconds. Once again, we were all in danger.

"Harry, is this still a safe house?" Ginny broke the silence, turning towards him. He nodded, and the silence desended back in the room. The wireless screamed out the chorus to the Weird Sisters' song, as if it could sense the fear in the room and was trying to change it.