From One to Another

Luna Lovegoodhad a pretty good life. Except for one little thing. No love. She owned the thirdmost-popular shop in all of Diagon Alley. She was pretty loaded, popular for once in her life, and happy. Everything except for the "L" word. She had no one at the moment. Or for many moments before that. About a forever of moments.

"Nargle Scat." She murmured to herself, lying on her bed at 10:30 on a Saturday night. Now that she thinks about it, her life sucked. She was alone every night, had nothing to do for hours, and was being pressured to get a sturdy relationship with someone and start a family. How could she start a family when she'd only liked two people her entire life? The short one was Rolf Scamander. He was nice. They were close friends, and there just wasn't a spark. Rolf had brought it up one day and Luna had agreed. But the other guy…

Neville Wyatt Nicolai Longbottom was the kindest person that she knew. Ever. Sure, Ginny and the "Golden Trio" were nice, but they were friends with each other already, they didn't need new friends. Neville didn't have good friends, so he and Luna were the perfect match. Theoretically, of course. When they really met, Luna already harbored a fondness for him. She could understand how he felt. When they started the DA, she really got to know him better. When they started getting serious about DA, Luna doing certain things about him. She talked to him more, and he tried to meet up with her more. She partnered up with him more in DA meetings and was he nicer to her. She would have to say that she had a crush on him. Ish. In her Luna-ish way, that meant thinking about him a lot and daydreaming. It was on-and-off for two years.

Luna sighed and got up to go to the Three Broomsticks. She decided she could indulge herself, not having drowned her sorrows in alcohol for a few months. She grabbed her brightly-colored plaid jacket, placed her wand firmly in her hair bun, and walked out into the snowy, bracing air of late November's winter. She lived about 10 shops down from said cheery bar, so she got there in no time. She entered the bar, sat down in front of slightly older Madame Rosmerta, and promptly ordered a gillywater on the rocks. After drinking half of it, and feeling better, someone sat next to her and ordered an Inky Phoenix, dry with mint.

"Hey Luna, fancy seeing you here, how's life for you?" the man said, taking a deep swig from his Inky Phoenix.

"Neville? What are you doing here?" Luna asked, in a higher-than normal voice, still in her own way, surprised at seeing him.

"Doing what I think you're doing, drowning life's little misfortunes in alcohol." He murmured, pressing his glass against his forehead. Luna was rather surprised to see him so different. He was taller, with more muscle, and his dark-brown hair was a little shorter, and a little lighter in color. His eyes were greener, and his face was more worn, a bit tired. But Neville held himself differently, like he had more self-confidence, a bit more pride in him. She could not help but like that.

Luna, not really knowing what to say, giggled lightly, and said "Cheers to that," and clinked glasses with Neville. They sat in comfortable silence, occasionally making conversation about how things have been in the last few years. Neville was a mooncalf farmer as a second job to Herbology professor, and had successfully created a spell that preserved their dung to sell to other farmers. Among other things. Luna ordered another Gillywater and turned to Neville to tell him about her shop. Then, an over-make-upped woman with dyed-blonde hair in a skirt and tube-top came up to Neville and started heavily flirting with him. Randomly. Out of nowhere. In the middle of Luna's sentence. Who did she think she was? She and Neville were talking and she has the nerve to come up and try to seduce him? Obviously Fake-ette had taken a seat next to Neville. When Neville turned to grab a Fizzing Whisbee from a bowl on the counter, Luna saw her slip something odd-smelling into his drink. The few seconds Luna smelled it, she detected the aroma of Gurdyroots, fresh rain, honeysuckle, and something musky, and deodorant-like.

Luna watched in vague apprehension as Neville reached for his drink and took a sip. He sat for a moment, and then started twitching. Twitching very violently and then he started coughing. He coughed once more and . . . passed out.

Luna had quite a mind to slap Desperate & Dippy off after Neville had passed out. She did tell her off though. Luna also calmly told her to go shove her fake boobs and hair somewhere rather unpleasant. But she changed attentions, and moved Neville elsewhere. Her flat was not the biggest place in the world, but she could comfortably live there, possibly with another person. This was now apparently happening.

"Ohhh, good you're waking up." Luna whispered under her breath. Neville's eyes opened, and he looked into Luna's eyes. Luna was about to ask him how he was doing, but the most fascinating expression moved over his face. It was like . . . pure bliss. Luna couldn't explain it, but that look soothed her. She felt it move over her face too. Neville slowly opened his mouth, looked into her eyes and said…

"I love you."

A.N. Newly edited and reposted because that old one suuuucked.