He was supposed to be the one who told students not to be out after curfew, and now look at him.
But ever since he had killed the snake, Nagini, he didn't really care about things like that anymore.
He had changed.
He was braver, in a way, after the disastrous first two terms, but it felt wierd on him.
Neville felt like a house cat wearing a lion's skin.
He felt like he could have done better at the Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort.
Could he have tried harder, or studied more before his seventh year.
And how was killing a snake helping defeat Voldemort? He knew Harry wouldn't lie to him, but he hadn't told him the entire truth either.
That was when he heard familiar footsteps.
Not the shoes-tapping-the-ground kind, but the kind you made when you walked barefoot on the stone floors of Hogwarts.
Luna Lovegood.
The footsteps started to fade away, leaving the castle, so he stealthily ran after them.
He told himself that he was just warning her to go back to her dormitory, but he couldn't lie to himself.
He wanted to see her.
As he rounded a corner, he had nearly caught up with her.
He could see her now, and he had been right: it was her.
Luna's platinum blond hair streamed over her shoulders like the Yellow river of China.
That was a bit random, he told himself.
He was even thinking like her now!
That was what happened when you hung around Luna Lovegood. You merged with her until she had twisted her way into your very soul.
It was almost scary, but a good kind of scary, if that even made sense.
She pulled a tapestry slightly aside to reveal a small door, barely five feet tall.
A hidden door!
She ducked slightly as she passed through, then headed outside.
He caught the door just before it swung closed, and he silently chased after her.
She was running towards the lake, and he knew that something was wrong.
Luna didn't run. She walked, even when she was late for class.
He had only seen her running twice: in the department of mysteries when they were being chased by death eaters, and during the Battle of Hogwarts.
There were no death eaters here. There weren't even any left.
A mind-striking thought came to him.
Was she going to kill herself?
She wouldn't do it the normal way, that was for sure.
The Luna he knew wouldn't do it at all!
But drowning seemed more like her.
Probably wanted to die without the nargles buzzing around.
Neville was almost there, and he didn't bother hiding himself anymore.
Luna stepped to the edge of land, near the deepest point of the Black Lake.
"DON'T KILL YOURSELF!" he screamed, wrestling her to the ground, pinning her there.
She smiled.
"If you would get off of me, I could explain," she offered.
"Will you kill yourself?" he inquired.
She shook her head, chuckling.
He scrambled to sit next to her, watching her laugh.
She seemed to slightly frown when she stopped laughing.
"Why would you care if I did?" she asked.
That was a good question, thought Nevilled.
He reached into his mind for an answer, but there wasn't one.
So he had to ad-lib.
Neville paused for a moment before saying, "I'm an anti-suicide type of guy."
Luna burst into laughter at the pathetic excuse, and soon he joined in.
"I wasn't going to kill myself," she confirmed when they had grown silent.
"Then why..." Neville trailed off, a bit confused now.
"I was about to visit my friend Danny."
Huh?
"Is he a...a merman or something?"
Luna let out a soft, ghostly laugh.
"He's the giant squid," she explained.
"Oh..."
How could she always make him feel like the old Neville? All shy and unbrave...
But sometimes, just once in a while, he would feel even newer than he felt now.
He liked that feeling.
Ever so slowly, he inched his hand near hers until they were almost touching.
She placed her hand over his, and it seemed like the stars were glowing.
And the moon was nothing compared to her.