A/N: This is my first fanfic. Hope you like it! It takes place at the begining of Luna's fifth year at Hogwarts, so she is 15. Neville is 16 and in his sixth year.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A Stray Wind
Luna Lovegood stretched out on a picnic blanket reading the Quibbler in the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A gentle breeze carried strands of her dirty blonde hair up into the summer air. The scratchy wool blanket beneath her rose slightly at the corner as the wind caught the material. Stocking-clad feet nestled into the blanket to keep it on the grass while her attention was kept with the magazine. Her eyes quickly drawn across the page. Her shoes no where to be found, for most of the time, Luna could not find them herself, often opting to go without footwear. Laughter floated to her keen ears as she continued to read the odd tabloid. Witches and Wizards around her enjoyed the afternoon in a similar manner, picnicking and lounging about on the grass.
Loony Lovegood. That's how she was known to the witches and wizards at Hogwarts. They disregarded her slightly eccentric taste in clothes, dreamy, far-off stare and strange beliefs for, well, loony. Truth be told, not many of them had taken the chance to get to know her as Ginny had. No, that wasn't true, Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, seemed quite nice to Luna. His friends Ron and Hermione were pretty swell people, she supposed. And Neville. He seemed alright too.
There lay Luna, minding her own business as she read a particularly interesting article on the eating habits of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Her Spectrespecs were slightly skewed across the bridge of her nose as she brushed her tosseled hair out of her eyes to get a better look at the magazine.
A sudden gust of wind sent her wavy hair across her face, tickling her nose and cheeks. Pages of the Quibbler fluttered in the wind as the unseen force rapidly flipped the pages. Her Spectrespecs were ripped off her face and carried up towards the sun with a strong gust of wind, the sunlight catching the blue and red plastic of the lenses as it floated by. Surprised, Luna's grip on the Quibbler slackened, and it, too, was carried off along with golden autumn leaves from the ground. Luna shot up from her position on the ground, bounding after the Quibbler as onlookers laughed at her attempt to salvage the tabloid. Luna's butter beer cork necklace bobbed against her jumper as she ran after the bloody magazine. Her dirigible plum earrings clinked against their clasps, making a melodic ding ring through her ears. The Quibbler dropped to the grass for a moment before the pages crinkled and flapped in the wind, somersaulting in dizzying circles. Only a few feet from the dog-eared issue, Luna swooped, arm outstretched, ready to snatch it from its nest of leaves. Suddenly it was lifted up again, the pages flailing in the blustery weather.
"Accio Quibbler", said a voice from behind Luna. The Magazine was ripped from the air current and traveled back through the blowing wind, like a salmon swimming upstream. Luna chided herself for not thinking of using the spell, remembering that her wand was still snugly resting behind her left ear. She turned, following the path of The Quibbler with her eyes to discover its retriever. "Luna. I guess this is yours", came the voice of Neville Longbottom.
Luna's eyes snapped to the wizard clasping The Quibbler. She briefly wondered if he said that because she was the only one at the school who read the magazine. It's true that Luna rarely cared what people thought of her, and she surprised herself when such a thought popped into her mind. Not only did Luna support the theories and writings of the Quibbler (after all, the article on Sirius Black made it so obvious that the acclaimed murderer was actually Stubby Boardman), but she also found it to be the only source of information on Moon Frogs, Heliopaths and Wrackspurts. The fact that her father was the editor may have also been a contributing factor to her interest in the magazine. As Luna shared the same interests and beliefs as Xenophilius, The Quibbler became something for the two to bond over.
And so Luna didn't mind the stares she got from other students. She was simply being herself the only way she knew how. Part of her suspected that Neville was a kindred spirit in that respect. Though Luna had only been introduced to Neville last year, she knew he had been mocked by his peers for his awkwardness and love of Herbology. Yet that hadn't stopped him from advancing in his studies of the subject and earning respect from Professor Sprout.
True, the two had been part of the battle at the Ministry of Magic at the end of her fourth year, so Luna knew at least he was a capable wizard. "Yes", Luna huffed in response, slightly out of breath. "Thank you. That's very kind of you", she said honestly. Neville handed back her copy of The Quibbler.
"It's nice to see you again, Luna", he said with a solemn look. Luna sensed that he was thinking of their time together at The Ministry, when they were surrounded by death eaters and the situation seemed most dire. What Luna remembered most about that night were the voices, whispering behind the veil that took Sirius. It was as if people stood just beyond the archway. If you pulled it aside, would you catch a glimpse of them? But no, Sirius had fallen through, never to be seen again.
"It's very nice to see you too, Neville. Did you have a good summer?" Luna asked, genuinely interested in his response. She felt as if their adventures together at The Ministry warranted that they might be friends. And Luna didn't have many of those.
"Spent most of it with my Gran", Neville replied, shrugging his shoulders. Luna suspected that mean his summer hadn't been as exciting as hers. Neville spared her the boring details of his summer by asking her the same question.
"I think it was pretty successful", Luna answered seriously, "My father and I spent some time in Sweden looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."
"And did you find any?" Neville seemed genuinely interested. Excitedly, Luna began to explain the migrating patterns of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, and the tracking methods her father and her used to observe them across the Country. Luna noticed how Neville's attention stayed with her and her throughout her story, how his eyes stayed locked with hers. She noticed for the first time that his eyes were hazel. Warm… and friendly, she decided.
"We never did actually see any, of course. They're very sly creatures. And shy too…" Luna trailed off.
Neville thoroughly enjoyed Luna's story of how she traveled across Sweden in search of this mythical creature. Though he wasn't entirely convinced of their existence, he was open minded to the idea of them. Especially because he knew Luna had received a lot of scorn from other students for her beliefs in certain magical creatures. Neville had decided last year that he quite respected Luna for her allegiance to Harry and her actions in The Ministry last school year. He felt bad that he had dismissed her in the halls before they were officially introduced. Neville wasn't sure what made him say the next words he said. It could have been guilt for once thinking her strange or curiosity for the girl he found he wanted to get to know better. Whatever it was, Neville found himself smiling as he said them. "Luna, are you going to Hogsmead next weekend?"
A/N: Please review and let me know what you think!