Transfiguration:
Neville Longbottom waved his wand for what must have been the fiftieth time that morning, muttered the incantation, and held his breath while he waited for the result. Nothing. As usual.
Neville quietly let out the breath he was holding and put his head in his hands. He was ready to just give up. He was a hopeless case. There was no way in the world he would ever be able to turn that frog into a bloody teapot. What would McGonagall do when she found that he'd failed to complete another assignment? Would he be kicked out of the class? He groaned inwardly and covered his face with shame.
Suddenly, he felt a gentle poke on his shoulder. He looked up, confused, only to see the unnaturally wide eyes of Luna Lovegood staring back at him. She had a small smile on her face like always, but her brow was furrowed as if she was worried.
"You're having trouble," she said in a musical tone. It took all of Neville's self control not to roll his eyes. Of course he was having trouble. Why else would he be moaning into his hands?
"Yeah, I guess so," he said tonelessly as he turned away from her and covered his face again. He expected her to go back to her seat, but she started talking again.
"I could help you, you know. I've already transfigured my frog. It's not very hard. But obviously you don't want to talk to me, so I can just leave if you'd like."
Neville looked at her again, shocked as always by her frankness. He blinked twice and said nothing. He needed help, that much was certain. But did he really want it from Loony Lovegood of all people?
He looked towards McGonagall's desk at the front of the classroom. He didn't have a choice. Resigned, he turned to Luna once more and said, "I'd really like some help."
Her smile grew, and Neville felt his stomach give a tiny jolt. What was that? he wondered. He chose to ignore it. "All right, what am I doing wrong?"
"Well, you're waving your wand the wrong way. It's supposed to go in a circle towards the left, not the right. And the circle needs to be smaller."
He nodded, and tried to take her advice. But his circle was far too wide. Luna reached over and grabbed his wand hand, leading it slowly in the correct circle. He felt the same jolt as before, almost like he'd been electrocuted. He stared at their hands in bewilderment while she led him through the circle twice. "Now try it," she said. He shook himself out of his distraction over their hands, and repeated the motion almost exactly like she'd shown him.
"Good," she said happily. "We should work on the incantation. It's 'ranamphoram,' not 'ranphoram.'" She pronounced each syllable meticulously, and he found his eyes being drawn to her lips. He'd never noticed before, but they were sort of pretty. Actually, it wasn't just her lips. Her eyes were pretty too. Sure they were big, but they were a hypnotizing bright blue. Without realizing what he was doing, he continued to examine her face.
"Neville?" she finally said in a genuinely confused tone. "Why are you staring at me?"
"Huh?" he replied stupidly. "I... I... wasn't." What was wrong with him? Why did he keep reacting to her like this?
Unsurprisingly, Luna didn't seem to believe him, but she moved right past the issue like it hadn't happened. She repeated the correct incantation again, and motioned for him to try. He stared at the frog, willing it, practically begging it to become a teapot. He held out his wand, moved it in a small circle, and clearly said, "Ranamphoram."
The frog vibrated slightly at first, and then it began to get bigger and rounder until it was the size of an average teapot. The spout and handle appeared as the head and legs shrank away. Unfortunately, the pot was still light green with a frog skin pattern on the porcelain. Not to mention the faint ribbiting sound it was emitting.
Luna smiled gently, and she started to say, "We could try again if you'd—" but was interrupted by McGonagall announcing the end of class.
Neville sighed, resigned to his poor grade for the day. "Thanks for your help, Luna," he said as he gathered up his ribbiting teapot. After he had handed it in to McGonagall (doing his best to ignore the disappointed look on her face), he turned towards the door only to see Luna standing there waiting for him.
When he had walked up to her, he shocked himself by saying, "I can walk you to your next class if you want." He didn't know what had made him think to say that, but before he could question himself, Luna smiled brightly and looped their arms together. As she led him cheerfully out the door, he caught a glimpse of McGonagall smirking at him, almost knowingly.
He had no idea why.
A/N: This is my first story in months! It's good to be back! ;)
Thanks for reading! This might stay a one-shot, but I'm also considering writing a few more chapters depending on how people like it! :)