Oddities
Neville always thought that Luna Lovegood was a bit strange, not that he was unaccustomed to eccentricities. His Great Uncle Algie used to hold conversations with his favourite pair of slippers; was utterly convinced they talked back too. So when Neville first met Luna wearing, as was her custom, those long dangly bits from her ears and her screw-cap necklace, he raised his eyebrows by instinct.
She was an eyebrow raising girl; that was certain.
He didn't laugh though. Neville knew what it was like to be laughed at.
That was in his fifth year, last year: the year of changes and excitement. Neville had never really known much excitement before then; his Gran meant well, but she was rather strict.
Luna had been a part of that exciting year too. Together with Ginny Weasley, a pretty red-haired girl who had come with him to the Yule Ball in his fourth year, and her brother Ron and his friends Harry and Hermione, Neville liked to think they were his friends too, they formed a motley sort of crew. Dumbledore's Army, they'd called themselves. Others had been a part of it too, but not at the important bits, not at the end.
Neville had been there at the end. Luna too.
He'd always liked the way Luna had immediately supported Harry without question. It was to her credit, even if she did also believe that hubbling-blumdiggers had infiltrated the Ministry of Magic. Neville wasn't quite sure he knew what a hubbling-blumdigger was exactly, but he thought it best to take her at her word.
That was last year of course, when the six of them had been united. Neville thought it was nice to be a part of something like that. It made him feel worthy of his name, of his lineage. He rather thought his parents would have been proud had they understood. His Gran did, she was proud. And that was pretty exciting too.
Things had changed since then. Now he and Luna weren't part of that great something anymore. They were just floating bits in the air; sometimes they'd collide and spin about together, but mostly they just drifted on their own.
The first time Neville really stopped to think about how Luna felt about things changing was the time he bumped into her at the Room of Requirement.
He'd never told anyone that he had taken to going there on occasion. He liked to practice some of the things Harry had taught him in case he ever needed them again. Just in case.
It was a bit lonely in the wide open space, what with all those cushions flung about so that bodies could land on something soft after they'd mastered the impedimenta curse. Neville had been pretty good at that one actually, but there were no flying bodies and laughing students in there now.
He couldn't always get into the room of course; he supposed someone else needed it at those times. Maybe they were there for clandestine rebellions the way the DA were the year before. Probably not, but it was a nice thought anyway. Even still, he had started visiting often enough so that he wouldn't be too rusty if ever the time did change on his galleon coin. It never had though, not since last year. But he liked to check now and then just to be sure.
Neville never expected to see Luna in the room, but on one occasion he did. She was clearly there for the same reason he was; he'd never really thought about whether she missed it too, the way he did. But it was nice to have some company in there, another voice in the echo-filled room. A friend.
He didn't always understand the things she said, but he liked to hear them just the same.
It wasn't so unusual to see Luna in strange places about the school. One time Neville found her in the northwest wing, sitting on the stone floor in the middle of the corridor. That sort of thing wasn't entirely unexpected from Luna. She had smoothed her school robes out like a rug to keep the chill from seeping into her bare legs.
It was nice of her to shift over and share the make-shift rug with him. He wasn't quite sure why they were sitting on the floor, but he fancied she had some reason or another for it. When he asked her the question, she told him it was because someone had charmed her quills to hop away.
He thought it sad that someone would do that to her. He wasn't surprised though; she wasn't like other people he knew. She was different and he liked that about her.
Luna didn't appear to mind about the quills too much. She told him they were sitting on the floor because the nargles were about, a particularly large school of them too. It was mating season, apparently. Neville couldn't deny that he was slightly alarmed at the thought of mating nargles and so ducked his head lower in case they started swooping. Did nargles swoop? He wasn't sure.
Luna would know, though. She talked about them for a moment, quite matter of fact in tone, but Neville could detect a certain trace of whimsy in her voice. Her words made him blush a bit and he thought that was strange too.
On a whim he asked her if she wanted to meet him in the Room of Requirement again. He hadn't quite realised that he'd wanted to ask her until the words popped out. He felt warm when she said yes, though. Her effusive smile and wide-eyed delight seemed out of proportion with the request.
It made him smile all the same.
They sat there for a while, on the laid out robes in the middle of the corridor. No one passed them by. She told him that Harry had asked her to Slughorn's Christmas party. Harry was nice to Luna too. In fact, Neville thought Harry was nice in general.
Neville hadn't been invited to the party though; Slughorn thought he was a bit useless and he told Luna as much. She said Slughorn was wrong, but given how Neville had faired in Transfiguration that morning, he had to disagree.
Luna told him she thought he was wonderful, and he wasn't quite sure what to say. So he thanked her, feeling rather foolish, and proceeded to stare pointedly at his feet. Strange though she was at times, she was his friend and Neville was rather thankful for that.
As it turned out, they did end up meeting for practice on the seventh floor from time to time. It became a sort of ritual, something to look forward to in the long year. She made him laugh and he thought she quite enjoyed it too. It was always hard to tell with Luna though, she never seemed unhappy. And yet, somehow, he thought she must be, at times.
Neville liked to think he was wrong about that though. He didn't like to think of her as sad; it seemed wrong for someone as bright and brilliant as her to lose that sparkly something.
As the year drew on though, Neville had begun to think they were wasting their time with the galleons. He didn't want anything bad to happen, of course; but he thought perhaps the others had forgotten. He and Luna hadn't. She said they should hold on to the coins anyway, just in case. And though Neville didn't really think there was much reason to, he agreed with her anyway.
Luna was right of course, often with funny things like that she turned out to be profoundly wise. One just had to keep an ear out for the pearls of wisdom amidst the stories of conspiracy and all the fantasy. Neville liked the fantasy; he thought things were gloomy enough as it was.
They managed to get gloomier still. It was only by chance that he checked his coin that night, the one when everything changed again, for the worse. He noticed the way the time had changed on the gold coin's face immediately, and he responded with due haste, feeling awash with guilt for having willed the event for so long.
Neville had never really thought he'd experience that rush again: the duelling, the fear, the death. But he did. And it was in the one place that had seemed such a haven to them all.
He was glad he'd practiced though; glad he could be useful again. He knew Luna was too. She was very good with her wand, he knew, and much smarter than him. Most people didn't see that though; they never saw the wisdom in her words. It had taken him a while of course; she wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing.
She was brave too. So was he; much braver than he would have ever believed possible. It was a thrilling realisation amidst the blur of that night. It made him aware that although the school year was ending and the world around them was evolving that he, Neville, would do his bit. Somehow, he wanted to; so did she.
Neville felt sure that no one thought they were capable of much, that they had it in them. That was alright by them though; they were quite accustomed to being doubted.
He saw Luna one more time before they broke for holidays that year, a time that would be fraught with terror and horrible reports. It wasn't horrible that day; he held the memory fondly.
They'd sat on the grassy knoll together by the lakeside, chatting away and pulling tufts of weeds between their fingers. The sun in her hair made it gleam yellow; it made her blue eyes bluer. He asked her what she thought about all the things that were happening and where they were headed. He never knew what sort of response he was going to get from Luna. He had decided long ago that he quite liked the unexpectedness of her responses; they were always much more interesting than anything he could conjure.
In her high and musical voice she told him that she knew that, whatever it was that happened, he would be a part of something big. Something great. He thought she was just being nice, but it wasn't her style to say things she didn't mean, and her tone seemed sincere. He asked her what made her so certain.
Luna said it was because she had a feeling about him.
Neville had a feeling about her too.