Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story is meant purely in tribute to the original work.

The silence was deafening. Neville Longbottom had never seen any Muggle war movies or read any war stories so he was unfamiliar with that phrase. Even so, he was now completely familiar with it. With the battle over, it was strange for everything to be so quiet. There were people moving about and voices speaking. There was also plenty of weeping and the occasional heart-rending wail from someone recently discovering the loss of one dear to them. What was strange to Neville was the lack of explosions, cursing, sounds of spells streaking past, and shouted incantations. Even with all the noise still present, it seemed oddly quiet without the sounds of battle. Neville could swear that his ears were still ringing with the previous ruckus. As he sat, the last of his adrenaline faded and he gradually became aware of every bruise, cut, and ache in his body. Neville looked down at the Sword of Gryffindor in his hand. He couldn't help but muse just what in the world he was supposed to do with this now. An errant vision of the sword mounted on a plaque on his wall was followed by the thought of it sitting alongside an umbrella in a metal can. Neville was pretty sure neither option was acceptable.

There was a light footfall and Neville became aware of a presence taking a seat next to him. He turned to see Luna Lovegood seated on the ruined steps next to him. She offered him a gentle smile which he found quite easy to return given the circumstances and their surroundings. A gaggle of students walked by the two of them and Neville found himself idly observing their passage. His thoughts drifted back to Luna seated beside him. "She looks a bit dinged up but she seems to have made it through the battle just fine", he thought. "Quite a blessing given that I thought the two of us would be dead before morning but here we are alive and…oh my God…" Neville's eyes widened and his thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he remembered what he had thought alongside the grim prediction that he and Luna may not survive the battle. He had even given voice to it! Right in front of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley! Had anyone else heard his outburst? For that matter where were Harry and Ginny now? Neville never did locate Luna during the battle to tell her-"What was it again?" he thought, "I'm mad for her? Where did THAT come from?" But deep down in his heart, Neville knew he had meant every word of his declaration. Well, he wished he hadn't said the "dead before dawn" part but that didn't seem too important at the moment. Neville wasn't completely certain when he had started to fancy Luna but he knew his feelings for her went beyond friendship and just a crush. He was quite sure he loved her. When she had been abducted, Neville was fairly sure his heart had dropped through clear to his feet and shattered. When she got word to him that she was safe, he was filled with such elation that he was sure someone could have told him Trevor had been cooked and served in the Great Hall for dinner and he would not have noticed. When Luna reappeared just before the battle began, it took every ounce of self-control not to sweep her up in bear hug and not let go until oxygen became an issue. However, Neville still found Luna quite a challenge to read. He wasn't sure if she saw him as just a friend or maybe something more. On top of that, his overwhelming shyness had prevented him from pursuing the issue. But somewhere in him he had found a hidden reserve of courage and expressed his feelings out loud. And confronted Voldemort and sliced the head off of a giant snake but Neville was now pretty sure that voicing his emotions had been the greater challenge.

Neville wondered again just where Harry and Ginny were. Had they found Luna before he did? Did they tell her what he had said? Was that why she was now sitting next to him? How long had he been sitting there silent and ignoring her while thinking about her? Neville looked over again to confirm Luna had not walked off during the indeterminate time his thoughts had been racing. Her eyes lifted to meet his and she offered the same warm smile she had earlier. Neville was relieved that she was still there and found himself staring at this shoes once again. "This is your chance to tell her. You wanted to before and now here she is! Where's that Gryffindor courage?" his brain railed at him. "You know you've wanted to for some time now. So get your head out and go for it! You'll never know if you don't try!" Neville knew that his mind was right, he had to tell her how he felt. He took a deep breath and turned to face Luna once more. Her face turned again to meet his gaze. "How does she always know when I'm looking at her?" he wondered, "Does she know? No matter, press ahead!" As he opened his mouth to speak, he found his vision suddenly blocked by a sweater that had seen better days. He looked up to find that it was worn by a young Hogwarts student. A female one. A very pretty female one. And she was not alone. Three girls that Neville thought he might have seen before in the hallways but wasn't sure descended upon him. A brief glance indicated that the group consisted of a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff, and a Ravenclaw. To this day, Neville could not remember the blur of introductions that revealed their names to him. But he remembered the flurry of compliments.

"Neville, you were awesome facing down You-Know-Who!"

"How courageous of you to slay that snake!"

"It's like a faerie tale, you're a knight in shining armor!"

Neville found himself stammering through half-hearted responses for as short a period a time as possible to still be polite. He was mildly annoyed at these girls interrupting him just as he had found his courage to tell Luna how he felt about her. Neville looked past his newfound fans to look for her. Luna was not sitting where she had been before he was interrupted. Neville felt a brief moment of panic as he scanned the grounds before him for her. His eyes locked on her form seated on bench not far from him. Harry was seated next to her and they were talking. "Oh dear God no", Neville thought. "Is he telling her what I said? Please, please, please no", Neville silently pleaded. Luna suddenly pointed to a corner of the ruins and shouted, "Oh look! A blibbering humdinger!" Neville found himself grinning as he knew that although quite a few heads turned to follow her gesture, it was more out of surprise at her outburst than desire to see the aforementioned creature. "That is so quintessentially Luna", he thought. He noticed Harry suddenly vanish from sight. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he realized Luna was only providing a distraction for Harry. It appeared that his secret was safe for him to tell at his convenience. Neville decided his convenience was now.

The girls surrounding him were still chattering away but Neville had blocked out their words. He stood while asking, "Could you ladies please excuse me?" and walked in Luna's direction without waiting for an answer. To be honest, he wasn't overly concerned about what their responses would be. As he approached Luna she glanced up and smiled. "H-hi Luna", Neville hesitantly began, "May I join you?"

"Of course Neville", she responded in her familiar light and airy voice. Neville sat next to her on the bench, carefully setting down the sword and taking care not to sit too close or too far. "You've got quite the fan club there. Is it alright for you to leave them behind and be here with me?" Neville wondered if he heard a hint of envy in her voice or if it was his imagination. He gave her an embarrassed smile and leaned in to make sure his words were for her ears only.

"Don't think I've forgotten who cared about me well before I cut the head off that snake", he answered in a low voice. Luna blushed slightly at his answer and averted her eyes.

"Just to let you know, there weren't any blibbering humdingers. I was only providing a distraction for Harry to slip away. He needed some peace and quiet for little while."

"I noticed Harry vanish, I figured that was your goal."

"I'm just glad I could help. Harry mentioned you were looking for me earlier."

"Did he?" Neville felt another surge of panic. Did Harry tell her why?

"He didn't mention why though. Maybe he didn't remember. Do you remember? I thought you might since you were the one asking." Neville released a mental sigh of relief. "Thank you Harry", Neville thought along with mentally noting that he owed his friend a drink.

"I do actually", Neville began and he mentally gathered up his remaining courage. "Here goes nothing", he thought.

"Oh good!" Luna's face brightened with the knowledge of successful discovery. "Might I hear it?"

"Luna-I-love-you-I-have-for-a-long-time-now-and-I-wanted-to-ask-you-out-on-a-date", Neville spouted in a rush of words. Luna's eyes widened more than Neville thought possible as his jaw dropped in horror.

"Did he just say what I think he just said?", Luna thought.

"Dear God, what did I just do?", Neville thought with abject shock. "Were there any words in that sentence? Oh well, no turning back now."

"I'm sorry Neville, I'm not sure I heard you quite clearly. Could you repeat that?"

Neville took a deep breath and gave it another try. "Luna, I-I love you. I have for a long time n-now and I wanted to ask you out on a date." Neville managed to slow his speech down to a speed that did not require Luna to jog in place to keep up.

"Oh. I thought that's what you said, but I wasn't quite sure. I guess I can understand you when you decide to join your words together." Luna leaned in closer to Neville and focused her gaze intently on his face. For a brief heart-stopping moment he thought she may have been leaning in to kiss him but she stopped shy of that point. Had Neville been more familiar with Muggle medical practices, he may have felt like he was being x-rayed by her eyes. "I don't have my spectrespecs® with me but are you sure you don't have some wrackspurts afflicting your mind?"

"Umm, were those the things that make your brain get messed up?"

"Fuzzy is more like it."

"I have to admit that is one way to describe how my mind is feeling right now."

"I thought that might be the case. There are a few countermeasures that can be employed against them…"

At that point Neville tuned out as he felt his hopes falter. "She doesn't feel the same. I've made an utter and complete fool of myself and ruined one of the few friendships I've had. One of the best friendships I've had to boot. Would Harry be willing to loan me his invisibility cloak? I could really use it about now but he's probably making good use of it at the moment." Before Neville could think of another way to vanish another thought halted him. "She never said she DIDN'T feel the same way. She's just been sidetracked (Not an unusual occurrence for Luna). I just need a way to re-focus her attention." He turned back to face her and sure enough, Luna was still talking. Neville had one idea that might re-direct her attention and he finally decided to throw caution to the wind.

"…so if you are willing to turn those inside out then-mmph!" Luna's eyes widened once more as she found her educational lesson cut short by Neville grabbing her by her shoulders and his lips meeting hers in a very unexpected kiss. It only lasted a few seconds but neither of them was really in a mind to take notes at that moment. Neville pulled back and nervously awaited her reaction. "Well…", Luna started after a few awkward seconds, "…I think we can rule out wrackspurts."

"I think so too. S-sorry for interrupting."

"Oh, not at all. Now that we know wrackspurts are not responsible, I realize I must have been rambling. Do you recall what we were talking about before I started explaining about…oh! Oh dear! You must still be wondering how I feel after you've told me how you feel!"

"Err…yes, I am curious-"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to keep you in suspense! That's very inconsiderate of me isn't it? Here you are telling me something from the bottom of your heart and I…am rambling again aren't I?" Neville simply nodded, words were somewhat difficult to come by at that point. Luna blushed and averted her eyes downward for a moment. She looked up at him rather bashfully through her lashes. Neville briefly wondered if he had ever seen Luna look bashful before. He decided he had not but it was a very endearing look on her. "I rather fancy you as well Neville. I have for quite some time now."

"R-really? You do?"

Luna nodded. "You're one of my best and closest friends. You were my friend when few others were willing to be. You were my friend even though you probably would have been better off not being one."

"I never thought that for moment."

"Thank you for that. I'm not sure when my feelings started to change. But I know they did."

"You've no idea how relieved and happy I am to hear that."

"So am I! There were many times when I wondered if the way you looked at me was just my imagination. Even with all the time that we've spent together and talked, I still find you somewhat difficult to read."

Neville's jaw dropped again. "M-me? Difficult to re…? I was thinking the same thing of you!"

"Really? I've never thought that of myself. I'll probably need to ask some others if they think the same thing." Neville was struck with the mental image of Luna approaching someone like Ginny and stating, "Neville fancies me and says I'm difficult to read. Is that true?", followed by smoke pouring from Ginny's ears as she attempts to process what just came out of Luna's mouth.

They continued smiling at each other as the conversation reached a pregnant pause. They each felt as if a giant "What now?" sign was hanging above their heads. It also seemed that they were well aware that the other was aware of the sentiment. It was Neville that broke the silence first. "So, what do you reckon we should do now?"

"This is rather new to me."

"Same here. I have an idea of what I'd like to do though."

"You have my undivided attention."

"I would like to kiss you again."

"I think that is a splendid idea."

As Neville leaned in again, Luna moved to meet him halfway. This time the kiss did not feel as rushed and Neville was able to savor the sensation of just how soft and warm her lips felt. For her part, Luna was able to relax into kiss since she was not taken by surprise. After quite some time, Neville pulled back just enough to speak, "I think I could very much get used to this."

Luna giggled softly. "I am very sure I could too.", she replied. "However", she punctuated with a quick kiss, "I think you need to be going to the Hospital Wing."

Neville frowned. "I think Madam Pomfrey has her hands more than full with people in worse shape than I am."

"Neville, you need some patching up. Did you know that there's a considerable amount of blood on your head?"

Neville reached a hand up to his head for moment. "What, this? It's mostly dried now. I'll be fine."

Luna stood and extended her hand. "Neville…", she pleaded.

He found it difficult to dispute Luna's wisdom and took her hand as she helped him to his feet. "Don't worry", she assured him, "I'll hold your hand all the way there." Neville managed a half-laugh as she steered him toward the Hospital Wing. His limp promptly reminded him that maybe he did need some mending. As they entered the medical ward, they found that the situation was only marginally better than what Neville had speculated. Despite the workload, Madam Pomfrey promptly swept in from an unseen corner.

"Neville Longbottom, I'm surprised I did not see you in here sooner. And limping! And your head! What took you so long?"

"Sorry Madam Pomfrey", Neville gave a brief glance to Luna, "I guess I was a little distracted."

Madam Pomfrey managed to look both admonishing and approving at the same time. She directed Neville to a cot. "Sit. And next time please be so kind as to not bring weaponry into the Hospital Wing?" She softened her chiding with a tender smile. Neville looked a bit sheepish as he wondered once again what he was going to do with the sword. He figured under the cot was better than nothing. She turned to Luna, "Please make sure he does not wander off.", and stepped away.

Luna and Neville spent the next few minutes taking in their surroundings. Medical wards after a battle were seldom pretty places and this one was no exception. Neville caught Ginny's eye as she was seated on a bed Harry was lying in. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sat nearby and nodded at his silent greeting. Harry was asleep ("Probably the first peaceful sleep he's had in God-knows how long.", Neville thought) while Ginny had a firm a hold on his hand. She offered Neville a gentle smile and directed a broader, knowing smile toward Luna. Neville turned to notice that Luna's smile very nearly mirrored Ginny's. He had the passing thought that he had missed out on some great secret conspiracy. Before he could muse further on the thought, Madam Pomfrey reappeared with a flask. "You'll need to drink this. It'll make it easier for me to work on you." Neville reluctantly took the flask as Madam Pomfrey addressed Luna, "I take it that it would be futile to ask you to leave his side?" Luna simply smiled in response. "I thought so. Just like Miss Weasley over there." Neville sniffed at the flask carefully. He was not expecting a pleasant scent and was not disappointed.

"Don't worry," Luna patted his hand, "I'll be here when you wake." Neville figured he could more than live with that and downed the potion.

Author's Note: This is my very first fanfiction. I've been reading fanfics for quite some time and finally decided to give writing one a try. Constructive criticism would be much appreciated. Flames help no one.