Author: Astoria Goode

Fandom: Harry Potter

Story Title: "We're Gonna Make It If It Takes All Night"

Summary: "And it's just one more thing that he'll be able to add to his patchwork quilt of memories for this night." - Luna/Neville, movie!verse

Characters/Relationships: Luna/Neville

Warnings: Spoilers for the very last movie.

Word Count: 775

Notes: It makes me so happy that Luna/Neville is canon in the movie!verse (I went and saw the movie at midnight, and can I just say that I loved it?) you have no idea. They're my favorite pairing for each other, for sure, though I'm too fond of Lysander Scamander to make them happen in the book!verse. I'll probably write more of them in the movie!verse as soon as I get some inspiration, because I really do love them. Please review, I'd like to know if I got them right or not. (:

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, books or movies, or the lyrics/title that you see here.

we're too far out, we're in too deep

and we've got miles to go before we can sleep

"Where We Belong," Thriving Ivory


We're Gonna Make It If It Takes All Night

The sounds of battle are all around him, coming from every side and bombarding him. The walls of the castle shake, and for not the first time that night the floor shakes from underneath his feet, reminding him once again of just how fragile everything can be.

This will be something that he'll always remember, from the adrenaline that had replaced the blood pumping in his veins to the streaks of color that stained the air on their way to create harm and discord.

Every so often he'll turn around and release a hex or a curse, just to watch his own back, but right now fighting back isn't the first thing on his mind. He just wants- needs- to find Luna and tell her. This night, along with many others in this nightmarish year, has brought his own morality to the front of his mind. Neville wouldn't be surprised if he died at dawn, like he told Harry, but that revelation only made this seem more necessary, more vital.

Neville refuses to die without Luna knowing how he felt about her.

He has to pause a few times to help out his classmates take down a Death Eater or five, but he never truly stops because he just can't. It's the only thing that's important enough to stop fighting for. In fact, love seems to be the thing that they're fighting for.

His parents had it. Neville knows this because of the pictures that he's seen of them, the way that they looked at each other and him. Ron and Hermione have it. And he has it, though it's been more like a secret that he's buried and allowed vines and saplings to grow over than something that he's shared.

But now he's going to unearth it. If he can find her.

For a terrible moment he's worried that she's dead, but she can't be because she's Luna and she was a part of the DA and she just can't be.

He does find her, though, fighting with Dean and Seamus and Ginny. Without a word of explanation takes her hand and takes her into one of the crannies that he's pretty sure that students only used for snogging.

Neville doesn't want to tell her in front of everyone, he doesn't want to have to be watching their backs while he lets her know how he feels about her. It's just going to be the two of them.

He hasn't been this close to Luna in months, hasn't been able to look at her in a long time. Even though she's been fighting there's no grime on her, so unlike himself who is covered in blood and dirt and sweat all mixed together to create a sort of war paint. In fact she's almost glowing in the dark of their hidden little alcove. Not glowing like a star, which would have been altogether too bright for him, but a subtle sort of luminescence, like the moon that she was named for.

Luna is looking at him expectantly, and Neville wonders if maybe she's been waiting for him to say this all night, if not all year. Or maybe even years before. Luna notices everything; it's one of the things that he likes about her.

But all of a sudden his mouth goes dry. He's not a coward, he knows that, but this is another type of bravery.

The floors of the castle shake again, though, which makes him remember that the sand in the hourglass is going down a grain at a time and he doesn't know how much time he has left. "I know that we don't have a lot of time. We both might be dead before dawn. And I just want to tell you that I'm in love with you. And have been for some time now."

"I know," she tells him simply, still gripping his hand. Her eyes are placid, as is the rest of her face. "You didn't have to tell me."

"I know," he says, repeating her words. "But I wanted to."

Luna smiles at that and grips his hand. "I'm in love with you too. But if we don't get out of here soon the nargles will come to ruin our brains. And we need to help our friends." She pulls him outside of the alcove where they were and Neville realizes that she never let go.

And it's just one more thing that he'll be able to add to his patchwork quilt of memories for this night. There would be several, all in varying shades of tragedy, loss, and triumph, but none of them ever glowed quite like that one.