Disclaimer: All characters and places mentioned here belong to J.K. Rowling (to whom I wish a happy birthday!). I am merely a visitor at Hogwarts, although, like many of you, I wish I could make it my home and never leave!

The halls were quiet. Everyone was outside, enjoying the first day of sunshine after a rough few weeks of snow and freezing sleet. I was glad. I loved the spring. All sorts of interesting creatures came out, some of which Hermione would say aren't real, but I liked to think that they were. But I wasn't looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks that day. O.W.L.s were almost here, and I needed to study. Every time I'd tried, lately, he had come into my mind.

People said he was a blundering fool. But that wasn't what I saw when I looked at him. He was brave, and handsome in his own way, never ashamed to help people out if they needed it. I didn't really know how he felt about me, although I had a feeling he thought me odd. Most people did, and didn't consider me dating material. Oh, Harry and I had gone to Slughorn's Christmas party, but I know that he only asked me because he didn't have anybody else to go with. I didn't mind. Besides, I had seen him there, and it had made me happy.

I walked into the library, which was nearly deserted, and sat down by the windows, pulling out my Herbology book and notes. I smiled and shook my head, thinking that studying Herbology wasn't going to take him off my mind at all. My cheeks red, I opened the book and bean to read, making occasional notes on a blank roll of parchment. Occasionally, I looked out the window to see students chattering happily, while others used borrowed broomsticks to play a quick game of Quidditch.

I was so focused that I didn't hear anybody near me until he cleared his throat. I looked up and froze.

"Hi, Luna," he said to me. "May I sit?"

"Neville, hi…" I swallowed and nodded once, "Yes, please."

He took a seat opposite me and nodded to my book, "Studying for your Herbology O.W.L.?"

"Yes."

"It was an easy exam," he said. "I mean, if I can get an O in Herbology, everyone can."

I smiled, "I always said you were smarter than you gave yourself credit for."

He looked at me for a while, and I wished I'd done something more to my hair than braiding it down the back. I hadn't even put any makeup on, and now, I was sitting there with Neville. "Thanks, Luna," he said quietly.

I couldn't concentrate with him there, although I really tried hard. He was studying too – it looked like Charms – but I noticed that he also seemed distracted. Why had he come here?

"Neville, would you like to go down to the lake with me? We could study there for a bit."

Wait, what? Where had that come from? Sometimes, I said things without my brain cluing me in on what was coming out of my mouth. Had I just asked Neville to go to the lake?

He looked up from his notes, his eyes touching mine. "Yeah, okay." He smiled.

Wow, he said yes.

We gathered our things and went to our respective common rooms in order to get cloaks, because the day was far from warm. We met in the Entrance Hall – he got there first and stood by nervously as I approached. Why was he nervous? I was the one who liked him.

We were quiet during our walk to the lake. There were kids everywhere there, but we were able to find an empty spot near the shallows, which I cleared of snow with my wand. Little white aquatic flowers grew there, and Neville picked one, handing it to me wordlessly.

I took it and looked at it. It was a delicate little thing, with tiny oval petals set around a golden yellow center. It's dark green stem was twisted, and I knew that it was used in some healing potions. "Thank you, Neville," I said. "It's pretty."

Nobody had ever given me a flower before. That Neville had been the one to do it was overwhelming, and I nearly kissed him. I wanted to, although I had no idea what to do. So I took my Herbology book out of my bag again and started reading, my left hand resting close to Neville's on the ground.

It seemed that every time I glanced down, our hands inched closer together. Finally, unable to take it anymore, I reached out and touched the back of his hand with my index finger, feeling as though fire were coursing through me from the point of contact down to my toes.

Neville started and looked at our hands, "Luna…" he whispered.

"Hi, guys!" came a voice.

Both of us jumped.

"Won-Won!"

I looked at Neville and he looked back at me, several emotions playing on his face. I think I was probably looking the same, especially now that Ron and Lavender were coming to join us.

"Hi, Ron," I said, turning to face him.

He sat down next to me, and Lavender plopped down onto his lap, caring very little about the fact that he was looking less than amused when she did that.

"What are you guys doing?" asked Lavender.

"Nothing," muttered Neville. "I'm going to go."

"No you're not," I told him. "You're staying here."

"Yeah, Neville, you don't have to go anywhere," said Ron.

"We'll just sit here with you, and cuddle for a bit," said Lavender, turning in Ron's arms and beginning to kiss him.

Well… that wasn't really what Neville and I had had in mind when we'd decided to come down to the lake. Quietly, we got up and walked around a little, but the moment was ruined.

His hand brushed mine as we walked, and I could swear that I felt like lightning had hit me.

He hitched in a breath, "Luna… why do you like me?"

My heart hammered in my throat at the question. I couldn't answer immediately, "I just… I just do. You're kind and sweet and brave. People don't give you enough credit, Neville."

He touched my hand again, deliberately this time. "They don't give you enough credit either… the things they say about you."

I smiled, "I don't really care what other people think about me. I don't have a lot of friends, but the few I have like me for who I am, I think."

"We really do," he said. "You're a great person, Luna. You're independent, and you're your own person. Despite what anybody says, you're not afraid to be yourself."

"Yes… but people don't exactly line up to hang out with me."

"I'll be first in line, every day, to hang out with you," he said fervently. "Other people don't have any clue what they're missing."

I couldn't help the small smile that came over my face, and that I felt must have looked ridiculous. "You see what I mean? You're very kind, Neville." I reached out and put a hand on his face, "Don't ever let anybody change you, okay?"

"I won't," he whispered to me.

We were just at the castle doors. And just like that, in front of about two dozen people, Neville leaned down and kissed my lips gently. It was so soft that I barely felt it at first, until my senses screamed at me. Neville had kissed me.

My head spun. My heart raced. My hands shook. Neville had kissed me.

I heard several people snickering, but I didn't care. Kissed me. He had put his lips on mine. I looked up at him and saw that he was looking just as shocked as I felt. Dropping my bag to the floor, and trying not to crush the flower that I still held, I put a hand on his chest and stood on tiptoe to reach him. He leaned down again and our lips met once, twice. He felt warm. And he smelled like some sort of pine. I really liked that.

We pulled away from each other to find that everyone was staring at us. Most of them didn't seem to understand what they had seen, so I turned to them and said, "You all just saw that, right? I didn't just hallucinate it and pass the hallucination to you?"

Neville made an odd sound in his throat like he was trying not to laugh. I looked back at him and smiled before picking up my bag and taking his hand. Together, we walked into the castle and through the throng of people until we arrived at the Clock Tower Courtyard, one of the prettiest places at Hogwarts. There was only one other person there, a third-year Slytherin girl, and she left quickly when she saw us, so that we were left alone.

Neville took a seat on one of the low ruined walls pulling me a little closer to him, "So…"

"So."

"What does this mean?" he asked.

"Well… I like you, and you like me." I said. "I think."

"You think?" he looked amused. "You don't know if you like me?"

"No, I do like you. A lot." I felt my cheeks getting warm.

Neville was smiling, "And I like you too."

I swallowed, "You kissed me." I could barely look at him.

"And you kissed me." His thumb was running over the top of my hand, gently tracing my knuckles.

"Right…"

"D'you… want to try that again?"

I did, actually. "I don't want to be bad at it," I whispered.

He chuckled, "I don't have experience with this either. But… I guess we can learn together."

"That would be nice." I felt so shy that I could barely speak normally.

Neville pulled me even closer to him, and I put my hand on his shoulder. His lips found mine. Warmth and softness and a vague taste of carrot cake. He opened his mouth, and his tongue snaked out to lick my lips. I reacted on instinct and did the same. Our tongues touched, and suddenly, I couldn't breathe.

Over my four and a half years at Hogwarts, I'd seen several people kissing. Most recently, I think that all of us had been delightfully treated by Ron and Lavender's constant snogging, which had looked more like two people eating each other than anything else. I'd had no idea of the electrifying feel of someone else's tongue in my mouth.

I pulled away from Neville, trying to breathe normally. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing too, and had kept his eyes closed. He dropped my hands, only to wrap his arms around my waist and bringing me closer to him until his head rested against my shoulder. I ran my fingers through his hair.

Ginny and Hermione found us like this twenty minutes later. Evidently, people had been talking about us, and they seemed thoroughly excited by the whole business.

"I knew it!" cried Ginny. "I knew you two were going to end up together!"

"She's fancied you for ages, Neville."

Neville looked up at me, "You have?"

I cleared my throat, "Since last year, I guess."

"You didn't tell me."

"I told you, not many people line up to be with me."

"We do!" said Ginny. "And apparently, so does Neville." She grinned.

Neville stood up and hugged me, kissing my cheek in the process. "I really do."

I closed my eyes, loving everything about this moment. I found myself hoping it would never end, because what could be more perfect than being here with two of my best friends and the boy I cared so much about? I pressed myself against him, and heard Ginny and Hermione sighing.

"So much cuter than Ron and Lavender," said Ginny.

Both Neville and I turned to look at Hermione.

"Are you okay?" asked Neville, not wholly insensitive to the fact that Hermione had been in pain for several months.

"Oh yes. I'm very happy for you both, by the way." She sounded sincere, and I smiled at her.

"I don't know if this is anything, but I think that earlier, Ron was trying to get away from her."

"You know, I noticed something like that too. Maybe he's starting to realize that there's more to a relationship than snogging."

"I don't know about that," I said, looking up at Neville and blushing.

He smiled, kissing my lips once and rubbing my nose with his.

"Oh, no, you two have to stop that, it's too cute for words," said Hermione.

"No, no, let them do that! It'll be a nice change from what we've been seeing lately."

"What will?" asked a new voice.

It was Harry and Ron.

"Hey, there you two are. I was wondering where you'd gone off to," said Ron. "What's going on?" He frowned, "And why are you holding her like that?"

Neville looked at him and shrugged once before bending his head down and kissing me again. The shocked gasps coming from Harry and Ron, and the 'awe' noises coming from Ginny and Hermione made me realize just how happy I was.

I hoped it would last.