Note: Sections of dialogue are taken directly from Order of the Phoenix, and I'm not claiming them as my own in any way.
"What are you talking about? There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here -" Ginny brushed close to Neville's body and he felt a flush unfurl in his cheeks.
Neville had been looking for a compartment to join on the train for ages, but everywhere seemed to be full. Trevor struggled to get free from his hand, and his shoulder ached from dragging his trunk up and down the narrow corridor awkwardly. He mumbled an excuse, the real reason being that he had not wanted to join the eccentric Ravenclaw in the compartment that was empty aside from her. He was awkward enough in group settings; no need to accentuate it by being the only two people sitting in silence with no distractions.
"Don't be silly," Ginny admonished lightly and flashed him a grin, leading him and Harry back down to the compartment door and sliding it open. The young redhead secured them seats as the blonde girl observed Neville closer than he would have liked before moving onto Harry and they shuffled in, lifting trunks and settling into the seats. Neville nearly dropped Hedwig, who ruffled her feathers and fixed him with a glare until well after he had slid her cage delicately onto the luggage rack.
Luna was giving them a surprised look, and Neville thought the permanence of it might mean that her eyes just always looked like that. It was likely, considering she was reading a magazine upside down, had a cork necklace around her neck and had her wand precariously tucked behind her ear.)
"Have a good summer, Luna?" Ginny broke the short silence, pulling Luna's eyes from where they had been fixed on Harry.
"Yes, yes it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she voiced dreamily.
"I know I am," Harry answered instinctively, and Neville chuckled. The noise attracted the girl's attention to him once more and Neville found himself under her pale blue gaze.
"And I don't know who you are," she mused.
"I'm nobody," Neville responded hastily, ducking his head.
"No, you're not," Ginny interjected. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," she sing-songed oddly, disappearing behind her magazine without another word.
Harry and Neville looked at each other, their perplexed eyebrows raised, and Ginny giggled.
Who was this girl?
Neville quickly forgot his pondering of the new girl's oddities after trying to impress the occupants of the compartment with his new plant, which resulted in him coating himself and Harry in Stinksap just in time to embarrass Harry in front of Cho Chang.
"Sorry," Neville grimaced after Ginny vanished the foul-smelling sludge.
Over the course of the next few hours, Hermione and Ron returned from the Prefect carriage and Luna Lovegood had managed to provoke odd silences at her comments and almost died laughing at Ron's story about giving lines to Goyle as revenge for years of teasing at the hands of Malfoy's cronies. She also adored Pigwidgeon.
The word 'odd' was getting a bit overused in Neville's mind.
The Hog's Head was grimy. Not that Neville cared, but he was sure the group of students sitting in the far corner of the old pub were the most business it had seen in decades: a timespan he had hastily estimated by the thickness of the dust on the window ledge farthest from the door. Neville considered the term 'window' and turned away from the glass; he was obviously using the word loosely as no light was able to shine in through it.
Neville walked up the main street with Dean and Lavender, and—after casting a glance over his shoulder to see who else might be joining their furtive anti-Umbridge Defence meeting—knew that Loony Lovegood was trailing behind Cho Chang and her friend, who were following after the Patil twins. The identical girls tittered behind him incessantly, and when he had settled opposite Harry he was relieved that all the chatter died down. There were about thirty students there, a selection from each house, save Slytherin, and all were staring intently at Harry, waiting for him to make his speech. Aside from Luna—who looked as though she might not know why she had accompanied thirty-odd classmates up the hill to a dodgy pub but was happy about the company all the same—people seemed quite focused and air was anticipatory.
As the meeting was brought to unofficial order, Neville got the distinct impression that a few of the people there were in attendance only to hear what Harry had to say about Cedric Diggory's death, and to hear his story about Voldemort in person. Harry quickly shut that down and Hermione eloquently voiced the reasons they had all gathered there.
To stick it to the Ministry, obviously. With the positive by-product being actually able to defend oneself.
Neville shuffled in his chair, throwing in his two cents where applicable and flushing red when he mispronounced 'philosopher' while backing Harry up. Rather unperturbed by his fumble, Luna merely nodded in understanding while others either remained quiet or chuckled at the sheer Neville-ness of his blunder.
In the end, people had started to leave in twos and threes and Ginny left with Michael Corner, who Neville had heard she was dating now. He sighed.
He had tried to kiss her at the Yule Ball last winter; he had kissed her. It had just been bad. He had been so embarrassed that he had avoided her at all costs, and now he couldn't see why. She had spoken to him on the train as if nothing was amiss and she had greeted him today the same as she always had. Although, she had had nearly a year to get over the horridness of it all.
When he turned to see who else was leaving for the main part of town to enjoy the rest of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry, Ron and Hermione were in deep conversation over something and Luna was standing a few feet away just looking at him quietly.
"Do you want to - to go?" Neville said, as he motioned for the door. Luna nodded lightly, giving him a whimsical smile before leading the way out of the establishment. The cool October air gusted about them as they emerged onto High Street and Neville struggled with whether or not to say anything to Luna. "So how've your classes been?" he settled on.
"Oh, quite good," she answered simply. "Dirigible Plum?"
Luna had reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an orangey-rust coloured fruit, holding it out to him as if the timing of her offer made perfect sense.
"Er, no thank you," Neville responded.
The two of them shuffled down the street slowly, Luna's boots treading the cobblestones almost haphazardly as her attention ebbed and flowed on their short trip. She made no more comments right up until they parted ways oddly and went about their own business.
"Goodbye, Neville," she gave him a small wave.
Luna Lovegood was the sort of person who didn't give a phoenix feather about custom or politeness and didn't even seem to register awkwardness in the slightest.
That might actually work well in his favour.
"Ok, I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice," Harry stated surely.
Words Neville dreaded because, as usual, it meant he was the odd man out. Harry quickly covered for him, and decided they would practise on each other for this first D.A. meeting. Neville fought the blush rising in his cheeks; even after so long being the butt of jokes, the odd man out, and the perpetually clumsy one who needed no help from outside sources for public humiliation, he still felt the sting of rejection in these circumstances.
Expelliarmus was the first spell on the docket and the room filled with shouts and spellcasting. Harry of course disarmed Neville in the blink of an eye. When Neville disarmed Harry, albeit while he was looking in the opposite direction, Neville felt quite proud.
It was something.
Though for this it seemed he need not be ashamed; more than half the room seemed to be having trouble in some way. Zacharias Smith didn't seem to be able to hold onto his wand, and Anthony Goldstein wasn't uttering a word to attribute the cause to him. The Creevey brothers seemed to have the force of the spell down but their aim left much to be desired; books jumped off the shelves around them at random as the pair brandished their wands at each other. Ginny was beating Michael Corner into a corner as the poor sod wasn't willing to raise his wand against his new girlfriend.
Neville felt his wand fly out of his hand after surveying the group for a moment.
"Neville, you've got to pay attention," Hermione admonished, bending to pick up the wand she had just relieved him of and handing it back.
"Right, sorry Hermione," Neville ducked his head and took his stance against her and Ron, the three of them taking turns trying to disarm the others.
Their first meeting had resulted in mixed feelings throughout the group. It was somewhat anti-climactic, starting with such a simple spell that obviously people had not grasped before now. But it was reassuring: many had made progress. Neville had managed to make Hermione's wand jump in her hand, and Ron actually dropped his once or twice, though he couldn't tell if that was his spell or Ron trying to encourage him.
"Oops, sorry," Neville stumbled, his hold on his Herbology texts slipping as he turned a corner and tripped over the leg of a study table on the way. A few books dropped and Neville hopped on the spot, his pinkie toe throbbing in his shoe violently.
"It's quite alright." The breezy voice of Luna Lovegood prompted him to look around the books still in his arms.
The blonde girl bent to pick up the fallen books and looked up at him expectantly.
"Hi," he stammered.
"Hello."
Silence.
"Er, I'll just take those." Neville moved to relieve her of his books and nearly toppled his stack yet again.
"I can help carry them. Don't want the bimblesnips to get you again. Where are you sitting?" she asked quietly, her radish earrings swinging happily at her jawline.
"...I'm just over by the window there."
Neville chose to ignore her strange comment about something he had never heard of before and wasn't entirely sure actually existed, and she led the way over to where he had left his bag and homework.
"You would love the window."
"Pardon?" he asked before sliding into his chair and watching Luna settle across the table from him lightly, as if a gentle breeze might blow her in another direction. Neville had the sneaking suspicion she wouldn't have minded.
"You're a heliophiliac, aren't you?" Luna questioned casually.
"A what?" Neville furrowed his brow at the strange girl.
"You love the sun," she answered lightly, looking back out the window. "Just like your plants."
A small smile quirked his lips and Neville let out a thoughtful 'huh'.
"I must've been mental to do this." Ron dropped himself limply onto the bench beside Neville in the Great Hall the morning of the first Quidditch game of the season. The new keeper was slightly green around the collar and his voice lacked the humour it normally held. "Mental."
"Don't be thick," said Harry, laying out cereal for his friend, "You're going to be fine. It's normal to be nervous."
"I'm rubbish," Ron insisted. "I'm lousy. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?"
"Get a grip," Harry growled. "Look at that save you made with your foot the other day, even Fred and George said it was brilliant." He tried to infuse some enthusiasm into the conversation and turn Ron away from being negative over his first game in front of the school.
"That was an accident," Ron grimaced and whispered. "I didn't mean to do it - I slipped off my broom when none of you were looking and when I was trying to get back on I kicked the Quaffle by accident."
"Well," Harry recovered awkwardly, "a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, isn't it?"
Hermione and Ginny slid onto the bench across from the boys, donning red and gold scarves, gloves and rosettes. Neville noted belatedly that Ginny's hair clashed quite magnificently with the Gryffindor red she was sporting, but the confident fourth year could not care less.
"How are you feeling?" Ginny asked Ron, observing his dejected stare that he had directed into the dregs of his cereal bowl.
"He's just nervous," Harry insisted gently.
"Well that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not a bit nervous," Hermione tried to reassure their ginger friend.
"Hello," a familiarly dreamy voice piped up from behind them and they all turned to survey Luna, who had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table wearing a monstrosity of a hat. It was shaped like a lion and gave the distinct impression that it might topple off her head at any moment. Many around them snickered and laughed, and Neville fought the desire to scowl at them all. "I'm supporting Gryffindor." The girl pointed vaguely at her head. "Look what it does..."
When Luna tapped the hat with her wand, the thing gave a very loud, very realistic roar and Neville grinned as the others jumped at the unexpected noise.
"It's good, isn't it?" Luna asked happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway... good luck, Ronald!"
Harry and Ron disappeared a little later to head down to the Pitch with the other Quidditch players, the look on Angelina's face sending a shiver down Neville's spine.
"Come on, Neville," Ginny chirruped happily. "Let's head down and get good seats in the stands."
Hermione, Ginny and Neville traipsed down the hill with the rest of the student body, eager to see the outcome of the game. Following the girls down over some craggy rocks in the path, a great roar came from close behind them and Neville looked up to see Luna waving dreamily at them and trying to catch up. Unfortunately, his divided attention caused him to slip and fall face-first to the grass with a whoosh of air leaving his lungs on impact.
"Oh Neville, you seem to attract those bimblesnips in droves." Luna offered him a small hand and he took it. "You know I've heard pickled beets and stewed plantain can have some affect in repelling them -"
"Oh, thanks Luna." Neville let her warm hand go immediately and brushed dirt from his knees, casting a glance around to see if anyone had noted his tumble over the rocks. A group of Slytherins was pointing and laughing at he and Luna, and when her hat roared again it provoked them into hysterics. Turning away from them and sighing quietly, the pair set off after Hermione and Ginny who had their heads tucked closely together, their discussion punctuated with plenty of hand-waving.
Suddenly, Neville's elbow was bumped roughly a number of times the Slytherins passed by the pair, derisive glares and mean-spirited jests aplenty sent his way.
"The sky is so clear today; the fairies must be quite delighted." Luna pulled his attention away from Pansy Parkinson's sneer.
They hated him, and she didn't care. It didn't faze her one bit.
A/N: So this was written as a challenge to write a couple I had never tried before, and there's another chapter or two to come.
Hope you enjoyed my first part of my first stab at Neville/Luna! Check back soon.
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Cheers