Luna and Neville spun on the spot, colourful lines darting around them as they apparated. They appeared, hand-in-hand, with a faint pop on the doorsteps of St. Mungos. Luna stumbled slightly, but Neville tightened his grip around her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. It was whenever he did this that she felt like she truly could melt.
"Alright, they're in the Janus Thickey Ward.. that's not that far," Neville said, craning his neck to look at the gangly, blonde-haired girl we held so firmly in his grasp.
"I can't wait to meet them, Neville," Luna said dreamily, looking into his eyes. "I do hope it goes better than when you met my father."
"No, no, it was great to meet your dad, Luna," said Neville with a wry smile.
"There's no need to lie," said Luna, looking down at her boots. "But thank you for being so polite."
"I'm not lying.." Neville mumbled, but Luna could tell whenever he did. That was her gift, really. She could pick him apart with ease and be able to tell just how he was feeling - well, that was how he saw it, anyways. Maybe he was just easy to read.
He had met Xenophilius Lovegood last Spring, and had been taken aback upon being yelled at for accidently stumbling and falling on their collection of Darigible Plums - or was it Dirigible? Neville never bothered to ask. He had felt uncomfortable the whole time, and he felt even worse when Luna's dad began mentioning the mating habits of bizarre creatures he had never even heard of over lunch.
Neville laughed nervously. "It'll be fine."
"I hope," Luna breathed. "I wish you could have met my mother. She was a very nice woman, and she probably would have adored you, Neville."
"If you don't mind my asking," Neville started, as the two walked into the hospital and waited for a nurse to come over, "Was your father more calmer when your mother was around? Was he not as.. eccentric?"
"Yes," Luna sighed, signing a sheet of parchment with her name as a nurse stopped behind the front desk. "Though he did have crazy tendencies, you know? He had a few.. odd beliefs. But my mother helped him distinguish his craziness from his normal self. But once she.. she left.. so did a great majority of his sanity."
Neville scribbled his name on the sheet before nodding to the nurse and turning on his heels. They were silent for awhile, walking with their hands wrapped around one anothers as they walked up the stairs to the ward where his parents were.
Luna knew that Neville was worried, juding by how he had to constantly adjust his grip around her hand, seeing as the sweat on his palms were making his hand slip. But Luna smiled; she found Neville's reaction to her meeting his parents almost cute. Heck, she found it absolutely adorable!
He stopped abruptly, and Luna bumped into him. "This is it," Neville breathed. "Okay.. you know that.. that they.. um.."
"I know, Neville," Luna said, looking up at him with her wide and reassuring, blue eyes. "And I know I'm going to love them."
Neville pushed open the door with a trembling hand, and Luna waited for the seen with bated breath. When her eyes first landed on Alice and Frank Longbottom, they looked nothing like the people she had been expecting. Neville's mother's hair had grown much longer than it had been in the photograph Luna had seen. It was long, shoulder-length and grayish-brown, flicking out at the ends, and her eyes, though lined with the faintest trace of purple, were a beautiful shade of green.
His father had darker brown - almost black - hair that curled around. His eyes were wide and silvery-blue, sparkling in curiosity as they locked onto Luna and Neville. Alice edged forward towards Neville and tugged at his sleeve with what might have been a smile on her face.
Neville looked over his shoulder at Luna, an unshed tear sparkling in the corner of one of his eyes. "Here," he said, digging around in his pocket and then handing her a piece of wrapped-up candy. "Mum has a sweet tooth, she really likes them.."
Luna nodded. "Hello, Mrs. Longbottom," she said calmly, "I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood."
Alice looked over at Luna and her eyes twinkled. "Here," Luna said, holding her hand out and offering the candy to Neville's mum. "Neville says you like sweets. Take it."
Mrs. Longbottom reached out and unwrapped the sweet, shoving the piece of candy into her mouth and chewing it hastily. Luna wiped one of her eyes with the back of her sleeve; she didn't expect to get so emotional over meeting Neville's parents. She was always the calm and collected one, and yet here she was, welling up over the introduction.
Alice looked over at Frank who was standing wide-eyed at Luna, fiddling with his hands as they analysed the young girl. And then he made a kind-of gesture with his head, something similar to a nod.
Neville's mother turned back to gaze at Luna and then at the girl's empty hand. Reaching out, Alice took it and held it firmly in both of her own. Their eyes were fixed on each other's, and when Mrs. Longbottom pulled away, she left the wrapper in Luna's out-stretched hand.
She knew then that she had gained the approval of Frank and Alice Longbottom.