thank you for all the interest. this is a different, difficult take on luna and neville with adult themes I don't own any characters

Are you ready?

Yes.

Things won't be the same.

I know.

In a large downtown hotel in a major city, a man lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, thinking of the woman he had just met. Wondering if she was the one for him, if he had the courage to move forward.

Neville was a quiet boy who grew up to be a quiet, reserved man. He attended various schools, keeping to himself, being raised by his grandmother after his parents passed away. He had one good friend and his research on plants to keep him company. He met some pleasant people along the way, people who helped him work through his loneliness. After his grandmother passed away, he was on his own. No other relatives. Some people would say he was a nice man, smart, morally strong. Knew right from wrong. He was happy when he was immersed into his research, into his career. He finished his studies with a doctoral in botany, specifically research on cancer curing properties of various plants. He was head of a conglomerate of research labs, in various cities, wrote papers, occasional lectures. He was having a quiet life.

So when he met someone, he thought that he was in love. At least in significant like. She was the first woman he ever actually asked out, who actually ever said yes.

The day did not start off auspiciously. He got up, into a cab, onto a plane into the city. He was attending a conference, not doing any speaking which was good. He hated that. The flight was late, due to weather problems in different cities that made no sense to him, making him miss his connection, therefore he lost his hotel room. Fortunately, the front desk staff helpfully arranged for him to go to a different hotel, calling ahead for him for the front desk personnel to expect him.

He took a taxi to the hotel that was arranged for him. It was now very late so when he entered, the lobby was pretty much empty. Only himself and the woman at the front desk. He went up to her, she didn't look up. Sigh, story of my life thought Neville.

"Hello."

She looked up from what she was doing.

"I'm so sorry sir, I didn't see you. You must be Dr. Longbottom, the other hotel called me and I arranged a suite for you."

She asked for his ID, started to tap things into the computer. Neville watched her doing it. She was pleasant to look at, tall, with longish wavy auburn hair, blonde highlights. A pretty face. She was dressed plainly in a dark blue jacket with a little gold badge that said HANNAH, night manager.

"There you go. How else can I help you?"

"Nothing, thanks. Uh, I guess there isn't a place to eat tonight?"

"Well, there's room service. Or, if you want, I can set you up with something. It's not the usual thing but I'm happy to do it."

Neville looked at her, smiling at him. And he took a chance.

"Why don't you, uh, come out with me and grab a quick bite? You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean…"

She looked at him thoughtfully. He wasn't sure what she saw other then another tired traveler, slightly wrinkled clothes, needing a shower and a change. But maybe she sensed there was something in him, different then the other hotel guests. He didn't realize that he was attractive, that his loneliness caused him to carry with him this sense of searching, something that appealed to women.

"Okay. That would be nice. I should finish here in about two hours if that's okay with you."

"Yes, I can grab a quick shower, change. You can decide where to go?"

She laughed. "Yes, I think I can find something. I'll meet you here in two hours."

Neville smiled. He was hopeful all of the sudden. He didn't really talk to a lot of women, was pretty nervous around them a lot of the time. He was overweight as a child, early teens and never really outgrew that

They met in the lobby, Neville having changed after taking a shower into a dark sweater and tan pants, worried for a moment that Hannah had changed her mind.

She didn't. She had also changed out of her uniform, into a wrap top and jeans. She was sitting in one of the lobby chairs, and got up as soon as he approached.

"Sorry if I'm late."

"No, that's okay. I could have called your room to give you a reminder call."

She laughed and Neville smiled at that.

That was how they spent that first night, Hannah laughing a lot and Neville smiling a lot.

She told him about her family, her large extended family of brothers, sisters, aunts uncles, her closeness to her parents, how she was lonely from time to time because she was far away from them but trying to build up her resume with work at various hotel chains, hoping to get into corporate management very soon. Neville listened, longing for this. He wanted to be part of a big family, liked the idea of Hannah being involved with her family, wanting a large one of her own.

So he went to sleep that night, in his hotel room, thinking that his life had turned. What had started as a mistake, as a blip in the weather, had ended in something positive. He had been handed something he wanted very badly, something he could probably grab hold of if he wanted to enough.

Across the city, opposite the river, in a small house, lay a woman staring at the ceiling. Wondering if it was coincidence that she had just met someone.

Luna was a quiet girl who grew up into a shy, reserved woman. A little strange others would say with quirky ideas. Dreamy, looking, searching.

She had very little family, her own mother passing away when she was quite young, living with her father, who had his own strange ideas of raising a daughter. They were very close, travelled together, he gave her internal strength, self-esteem by telling her she was a wonderful girl who became a wonderful woman. But she was frequently lonely, keeping to herself, not letting people too close. She went to school, went to college, worked at her father's magazine part-time and studied zoology and evolution at night.

It was one of those nights that she was in the library, looking on the computer for the research books she required. She theorized that animals that didn't exist anymore just evolved into different creatures. There weren't too many people who thought this theory was correct so if she could just convince her advisor, she might be able to continue her research in this area. She found a few books that might serve her purpose and went to the lower levels, searching for them.

A tall man was standing right in front of where she needed to be.

"Excuse me."

He turned, looking down at her. Luna noticed that he was a bit taller than her, pleasant looking, cool. Blonde haired, blue eyed similar to herself in a way. Lean, with pale skin and a charismatic air about him.

"You are standing right in front of where I need to be"

"Oh sorry. Is there a book I can help you get?"

"Yes, that one way up there."

"How interesting. May I ask why you are interested in this particular book? Because I can tell you quite a bit about the person who wrote it. You see, the gentleman Newt Scamander used to travel quite a bit, bringing his family around with him, his son, his daughter in law, and their children. It was probably quite fun for the first couple of years but eventually, everyone needs to settle down."

"I see. How do you know so much about Scamander?"

"Hmm, well it could be because I am so interested in his research, or it could be because his life is one I want. But probably because I'm his grandson, Rolf. Rolf Scamander."

Luna looked at him, smiling a little. She liked how he presented himself, liked how smoothly he held out his hand, taking hers.

"If you're interested, why don't I explain some more aspects of my family, say, over dinner tonight?"

Luna said yes. Why not?

They left the library, walking towards a small café where they ate and talked together. Luna was impressed by Rolf's work, his lecturing on zoology and they had actually come across one another in various situations, during the occasional class, lectures, meetings.

Luna went home, went to sleep thinking that she had met the person who really understood her, that for once, she may actually be on the right track to adulthood.

Months passed, then years. Neville had been dating Hannah for two of them. What had started at a chance meeting in a hotel became a friendship which became a love of some sort. Neville met her family, spent time with them, spent time with Hannah, asked her to move in with him and four months ago, asked her to marry him. Things had gone very quickly from friendship to living together to love. It was a nice feeling, being able to tell people that Hannah was his fiancée, that he was spending time with family members. His friend Harry had met her and said that she was very nice, very balanced and probably good for him.

"Too good for you I bet!"

"True Harry. She's great right?"

"Absolutely."

"How about you Harry? Met anyone yet?"

"Nah, not as great as Hannah. I'm happy for you Neville."

The wedding was planned, Harry would be his best man, it was to be in Hannah's home town which made sense to Neville. Hannah had become extremely busy since the moment he asked her to marry him but they no longer spent time talking about his or her work. Well, they never really talked about his work, Hannah saying it was too detailed to her. Meaning boring. Meaning over her head. But Neville understood, he wasn't too concerned. He loved her, he knew that her strengths lay in her relationships. Her family.

He was finishing up everything so that they could take some time away. But there was some important work being done that required his attention, he would need to leave town to coordinate with the lab.

"I only have to be gone for a few days, won't you come with me Hannah?"

"I can't Neville, there's so much to do in these last few weeks. I still need to get gifts for the bridesmaids, write the shower thank you cards, get my wedding dress fitting completed…"

Neville went upstairs to pack, still listening to the litany of things Hannah had to do. He needed to make the flight this afternoon, that way he could be at the lab early the next morning.

He would only be gone for three days, quick visit. Make sure everything was running smoothly.

Luna was in the conference room listening to Rolf finish his lecture. There were quite a few people in the audience, his fame growing due to his publishing of a popular series on animals. It was written quite well, appealing to the regular person rather than the scientific world as Rolf put it to Luna.

She was doodling on her notepad though, not really concentrating on his words. She'd heard this lecture several times, especially when he practiced on her. Her father would say that Rolf liked to have Luna around because she was a foil to his ego. Luna would only smile, knowing that her father really liked him, just wished he wasn't so busy, wished that they would spend more time together. Neither Luna and her father minded being alone though; in fact, it was preferable.

"Luna, I'm going to head back to my place, I've got to get ready for my flight tomorrow morning. Will you be okay going to your place?"

"Of course Rolf. I'm going to catch the train, don't worry."

"I love you darling. We will need to make plans for our wedding day soon."

She smiled, knowing that it would probably be a quick ceremony and reception. She didn't want a big fuss anyway, it wasn't in her nature. She looked at the engagement ring on her left hand. It was a little too big for her and felt awkward there. But she was trying to get used to it.

She went into the restroom, looked at herself in the mirror. There were slight circles under her eyes, she pinched her cheeks to add color to them. Things had gone very quickly for her and Rolf, from dinner to breakfast to fiancée and now what? Luna wasn't sure if she was ready to be a wife just yet. She knew she loved him, in a way. Rolf was comfortable, didn't demand too much from her other than her just being there for him, supporting him. She knew that he loved her, very much. She splashed a little water on her face, washed her hands and quickly opened the door.

Neville stepped into the elevator, having dropped off his bags in the room. Maybe if he hurried, he'd be able to make it to the lab, not do as much the next morning and leave one day early. The elevator had some kind of muted club music in it, some kind of beat, a singer talking about beautiful people. He stepped off the elevator when the doors opened, the music still in his head, not looking where he was going and quickly turned left, running right into someone.

"I'm so sorry." He heard this voice. He instinctively held his arms out, grabbing hold of whoever was in front of him, having run into her pretty hard. He looked up right into the face of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was petite, pale with masses of blonde hair, silvery blue eyes. Her voice ran over him, like a waterfall, drowning him. He was unable to look away.

Luna saw that she had stepped right in front of a very tall, attractive man. Dark hair, slightly shaggy, tousled, like he had just gotten out of bed and run his fingers through it. Lean, wearing a dark jacket and shirt. He was unshaven and when he raised his dark brown eyes to look into hers, it was as if she had struck something, run into a wall.

Neville was still holding her arm, still blocking the elevator door. Finally, he stepped away, moving her to the side. Still clutching her.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't look where I was going." The girl said, in her distinctive high pitched voice. She sighed a little and Neville thought it was the sexiest sound he had ever heard.

"No, no it's me. I wasn't paying attention, I'm the one who ran into you." He replied, Luna listening to his voice.

Neville saw that he was still holding her shoulders, dropped his hands quickly. They moved away from the elevator doors allowing others to step in.

Luna wasn't sure if she was supposed to just smile, than walk away. Probably but something inside her told her to stay exactly where she was standing. Neville wanted to say something. Something witty about running into a beautiful girl, something profound so she would remember him. Of course, nothing entered his mind and he just stood there blankly. So he was grateful when she made the first move.

"I'm Luna" said the girl and she held out her hand. Neville took it and an electric current ran through him as if he had a direct line to her heart. He thought she could hear his pulse beating.

Luna inhaled quickly. A surge of heat ran through her arm, as if she was connected to him somehow.

"Hello Luna. I'm Neville." He gave her a little crooked smile, making her mouth go dry.

Luna subconsciously twisted her engagement ring around, so the diamond faced her palm. Neville ran a hand through his hair and Luna wished she could too.

Neville stepped back and Luna moved forward, about to leave. Regretful.

"Will you have a drink with me?"