Author's Note- My first HP fan fic! Neville and Luna are one of my favorite couples, JK's only mistake was not putting these two together! This story takes place in the beginning of 4th year, and this is the first time they meet. Luna and Neville are in the same year, which is different from the books, but I don't care. They're both in 4th year, okay?
I know there are some inconsistencies, but I did my research (Thanks HP Wiki!) and tried to stay as accurate as possible. I really tried to capture the "essence" of the characters, I had a bit of difficulty with Luna, thinking it wasn't near "weird" enough for her, but I tried. Please, give me your opinions! I know this is kind of crappy, don't be afraid to tell me! R&R, and Enjoy! If I get enough interest I will continue this story through the end of 4th year, and will probably write a freaking novel.
I do not own the characters, etc.
"Welcome, class," announced Professor Sprout. "I trust you've all had a good summer holiday, but now that we are back at Hogwarts, I will not tolerate any poor behavior. Now will I, Mr. Weasley?"
The red-haired boy sitting in the back corner, who had been talking to his friends during Professor Sprout's usual first day lecture, nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am." He rolled his eyes, but, luckily for him, the professor had moved on and did not see.
"We will move right into our lessons and waste no time. We'll begin by reviewing the things you should have learned in your third year. Now, follow me!" called Professor Sprout, as she escorted the children into the classroom portion of the green house. There were several tall black tables, and at each table, two stools.
"Now, I will assign you your seats, and therefore, also your partner whom you will be working with periodically throughout the year. Nothing has changed since third year, I'm sorry to say that you will once again be seated alphabetically." This was met with various groans from the students.
"Ms. Abbot and Ms. Bell, you are at station one," she called, and continued to seat her class… After a few minutes she got to the L's.
"Neville Longbottom, station eleven," Professor said, with a smile. A tall, lanky boy strode over to his table, and stumbled a bit, which was met by laughs from his fellow classmates. Neville had always been clumsy, and to add to that he had grown a substantial amount over the summer. He was now one of the tallest boys in his year, and it showed that he had not quite adjusted to his new height. He was very shy, had slightly curly, messy brown hair, and was Professor Sprout's best student.
"And Lovegood, also station eleven." A willowy Ravenclaw floated over to the table. She had curly, white-blonde hair, silvery gray eyes, and wore a butterbeer cork necklace and dirigible plum earrings. She was strange, to say the least, but she gracefully sat down at the station, placing her worn out copy of 1,000 Magical Herbs and Fungi on the table-top.
"Hi, I'm Luna," she said, in a dreamy voice.
"Ummm, hi. I'm, uh, um, Neville," said the boy. He was always nervous talking to girls, and for some reason he was especially nervous talking to Luna. His palms were beginning to sweat, and he hastily wiped them on his robes.
As the last students were taking their seats, Professor Sprout made her way to the front of the classroom.
"Okay, class. Pull out your textbooks and turn to page 259. We'll begin by reviewing the puffapod and how to harvest them, and continue on to the other various subjects we have learned about. I expect you to take notes, because this will be on the review quiz that we'll be having tomorrow!"
The class began to ruffle through pages, take out parchment, and the like. Luna pulled out a quill, but accidentally dropped it on the floor. Both Luna and Neville knelt down to pick it up, and their hands touched. Neville noticed her hands were ice cold, but then again, maybe his were just very warm. They both blushed, nervously.
"I've got it," said Neville, hastily grabbing the quill and handing it to Luna.
"Why, thank you, Neville," she said. They both began laughing.
As the lesson started, Neville found himself having trouble paying attention. Herbology was his favorite class, and any other day he would have been alert. He was always greatly interested in the subject and couldn't wait to learn. But, today he couldn't focus on Professor Sprout's words. He found his gaze drifting to his side, to Luna. Her delicate, long, pale fingers brushed a wisp of hair out of her face, and tucked it behind her ear. She was quickly taking notes in slanted, elegant script.
All of a sudden she looked up, and there was Neville staring at her, with a dazed look on his face. Neville turned bright red with embarrassment, and Luna's pale face grew dramatically scarlet. She gave him a small smile and returned to her notes, and Neville quickly forced his attention back to Professor Sprout's droning voice.
For the rest of the hour, Neville struggled to stay focused, but finally the bell rang. He quickly packed up his things, but before he could go, he heard Luna's dream-like voice.
"It was nice meeting you, Neville. See you later!"
"Oh, um yeah, nice to meet you too. Uh, bye," he said, awkwardly. He rushed out of the classroom, but his foot caught on a table leg, and he tripped. Fortunately, he caught himself. He looked back to see Luna giggling. But it wasn't how other people laughed at him, it was different, in some way.
"Bye," she said, with a wave.
The rest of Neville's morning was a blur. All he could think about was Luna. Why did he feel so strongly about her, he'd just met her!? She was just another girl. But he couldn't even convince himself of that, she most definitely was not like any other girl he had met.
At lunch he was abnormally quiet and detached from conversation, even for his shy self. No one noticed, why would they? He was just Neville. He wasn't the famous "Chosen One", star Quidditch player Harry, or the jokester Ron. Well, no one noticed except Hermione Granger. You couldn't slip a thing past that girl! Neville could tell she was worried, and towards the end of lunch, she finally broke down and asked Neville:
"Hey, what's wrong? You don't seem yourself today."
"Nothing's wrong," he lied.
"Don't try that with me Neville Longbottom, I know when something's up. Please, tell me! You know you can trust me."
"I'm fine, Hermione," but just by the way he said it, she could tell something was definitely wrong.
"C'mon… are you feeling okay?" she asked.
"Now that you mention it, I'm feeling a little sick," he scoffed, then headed out of the Great Hall.
After lunch, Neville reluctantly headed to Potions class. He walked down into the Hogwarts dungeons, where the class was held. Even after three years, he still got creeped out going down there. As he entered the classroom, the familiar scowl of the Potions Master, Severus Snape, greeted him. Neville used to be extremely afraid of Professor Snape, and to tell you the truth he still sort of was, but as he passed the teacher, he could barely contain his laughter as he thought of Snape in his grandmother's clothing.
Neville was one of the last students to make their way to the classroom. He looked around, but could not find an open table. Just like the Herbology room, there were two chairs at each table, but every spot seemed to be filled. He frantically scanned the room, but did not look in the back corner…
"Longbottom, take a seat," Snape said in his nasally, monotone, voice.
"Oh, ummm…" Nellie stammered. Suddenly, he heard someone whisper his name.
"Neville, over hear," said the familiar, bubbly, dream-like voice.
"No, no, no, no, no," thought Neville, "it can't be." But it was. He turned around to see none other than Luna Lovegood, and the last empty seat.
"I can't sit next to her, I'll make a fool out of myself!" Neville though, but he had no choice. Where was this hidden Gryffindor courage when he needed it?
"Sorry, Professor," he mumbled, and hurried to take his seat.
"Hello again," said Luna quietly.
"Hi," he replied. Just then, the bell rang and Snape began to speak:
"Wiggenweld Potion, very basic. A healing potion with the power to awaken a being from a magically-induced sleep. Commonly known as an antidote to the Draught of Living Death. Your assignment is to brew this potion. A pop quiz for the new school year, and I warn you it will be heavily graded. You may use your text book, your partner, and your brain, which some of you seem to be lacking. Now, begin."
"So, Wiggenweld Potion," said Neville nervously.
"Yeah, let's get started," Luna stated confidently.
"One problem, where do we start?" joked Neville. Luna laughed, and it was a very light and airy laugh.
"Wow, she's actually laughing at my joke," thought Neville. That had never happened before. A living, breathing, human girl thought he was funny. His nerves seemed to go away, at least momentarily.
"Don't worry, I know just what to do. We need to start off with a pint of horklump juice," she said, "and then seven chizpurfle fangs."
"How do you remember all this?" Neville asked.
"Oh, quite easy. This was one of the first potions I learned, and I use it all the time. Father taught me to brew Wiggenweld, and Draught of Living Death, too. When we go on our expeditions for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack we need to seduce them with the Draught of Living Death, so we can safely study them, you know? They're actually quite nasty creatures, with beastly horns. Somewhat dangerous, and very elusive. But beautiful, none the less. Anyway, when we release them we have to re-awaken them, and we use Wiggenweld, so I've be making it for years."
"That's really cool," said Neville, kind of in awe. He'd never heard of the "Simple-Headed Snack Wrap."
"You think so? Most people call me crazy when I tell them," she said.
"Really? I don't think your crazy, it sounds really neat. What else do you know about them?" Neville asked. Luna was absolutely beaming now.
"Well, they live in the Northern regions of Sweden…" she began, and that's how the rest of class went. Neville would hand her the ingredients for the potion, and she would expertly add them in precise increments, stirring the exact amount of times. And whilst doing this, she would tell him stories of all the magical creatures she and her father believed in. Heliopaths and blibbering humdingers, moon frogs and wrackspurts. Neville didn't know how much of it was really true, but either way it was pretty darn fascinating. And, he was unusually relaxed around a girl, and actually having fun.
"Okay, I think it's done," stated Luna, after throwing in the final ingredient, salamander blood, and giving the brew a final stir. It turned from a ghastly brown color to a rich magenta. "Yep, we got it!" she said with a bright smile, showing her pearly white teeth.
Just then, Snape began making his rounds throughout the tables. He approached Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas's table. Their cauldron was filled with a smelly, orange substance.
"You forgot the powdered root of asphodel, added the moly petals too early and the honeywater drops too late. F," he remarked. He circled the class, grading a rainbow of potions. Lastly, Snape came toward Luna and Neville's table.
"Hmmm," he said. He stirred the potion, and bent over to smell it. "Seems to me that you drafted the perfect Wiggenweld potion, the only of all my classes. Not even know-it-all Granger remembered the sprig of mint. You get a B."
"Wait, what? A B? You said it was perfect! Why?!?" shouted an agitated Neville.
"It's okay, Neville. It's not worth it," said Luna soothingly.
"You received a B because you're a Lovegood and Longbottom. Since you question my authority, you will both be receiving a night of detention. Report here at 5 o'clock tonight and to do expect to be done until 8," he retorted.
"But-" started Neville.
"Longbottom, you know I don't tolerate talking back. That's ten points from Gryffindor and ten from Ravenclaw, too." After Snape had left, the students began quietly chatting amongst themselves, despite Snape's strict class rules. He looked so exhausted from the first day, and he didn't seem to mind.
"Luna, I'm really sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have said anything, then you wouldn't have detention, and Ravenclaw wouldn't have lost points. It's just that you're amazing, and he's too stupid to realize it," Neville apologized.
"You really think I'm amazing?" asked Luna, her lustrous gray eyes staring into his. Whoops, he hadn't even noticed he said that out loud.
"Yeah, absolutely," he said, with a blush.
"You know what? I am more than happy to sacrifice ten points for an excuse to spend tonight with you, Neville Longbottom, even if it may be in detention with Snape."
The remainder of the day, Neville was in a daze. It may sound kind of ironic, but he couldn't wait to get to detention. Finally, A History of Magic was let out. He hurried to the Gryffindor Common Room to study, cramming as much info on the 1726 Goblin Rebellions into his head as it would allow, and trying to master protego, a shield charm. It reached 15 minutes to 5 o'clock, and he excitedly headed to the dungeons. He passed Hermione and Ron on the way.
"Where you goin', Neville, and why in such a hurry?" asked Ron, curiously.
"Detention," Neville replied with a grin.
"To each his own," snorted Ron, and even Hermione couldn't help but laugh.
As Neville rounded the corner, he saw Luna waiting for him at the entrance to the dungeons.
"Didn't want to go in alone," she said sheepishly.
"That's understandable, Snape is a creep. I honestly think he enjoys scaring children," he said with a grin. Luna laughed at his joke, again. Neville liked that.
They strode down the corridor leading to the dungeons, going deeper and deeper underground. Finally, they reached the classroom, and Snape was waiting inside.
"I see that you two have made it on time," said Snape. "As your punishment, you'll be sorting potion ingredients for the next three hours. They get unorganized during the school year, and I didn't have the time to resort them before the summer holiday. This isn't social time, it's painstaking work and I do not want any mistakes."
He led them into the ingredient pantry, carrying 3 large boxes, closed the door, and said lumos under his breath. All the candles lit, and the room was a-glow. There were wall to wall shelves filled with curious concoctions. Everything was slightly dusty, and looked very old.
"Here are the new ingredients we have this year," he said, gesturing to the boxes. "Everything else from previous years is in this pantry, and needs sorting. Place them on the correct shelf, they're all labeled. Combine two half empty bottles to make a full, et cetera, et cetera. Need I go on?"
"No, we understand sir," said Luna.
"Now get to work, there's a lot to do. I expect this done by 8," said Snape, and with that, he left, closing the door behind him.
"Well, let's get to work, shall we?" said Luna, her liquid silver eyes twinkling in the candle light. Neville now noticed just how beautiful she really was, with her wavy blond hair draped across her shoulder, her porcelain skin and soft, pink lips. She was just as tall as him, maybe an inch shorter, and had thin, long, graceful limbs. And here they were, together, in a dimly lit closet… he had an overwhelming urge to kiss her… he even began to lean towards her, but snapped out of it.
"Oh, god Neville, what are you doing!?" he shouted at himself.
"Oh, right. Here's a few bottles of belladonna seeds," Neville said, placing them on their shelf. The sorting was slow work, since they weren't allowed to use magic as punishment, but it was fun with Luna. Heck, anything would've been fun with Luna. She was just so different, not like any other person Neville had met. She was, interesting, to say the least.
"Well, I've talked too much today, so tell me about yourself," said Luna, placing vials of boom berry juice in their appropriate location.
"Well, I like plants," Neville said, kind of embarrassed. Girls usually found a Herbology nerd a bit of a turn off. "That's about all I got."
"That's great! Herbology is my favorite subject," she said excitedly.
"Really? Me too! Well, obviously," he said. They both started laughing.
"What do you suppose we'll be doing tomorrow, in Herbology?" she asked. "I'm anxious to start learning about the Fanged Geranium and Venomous Tentacula, I hear they're quite remarkable."
"Nice, funny, smart, pretty, and she likes plants? Jesus…" Neville thought.
"Hmmm, I think she said something about a review test, just on stuff from third year. We won't be learning about those plants for a while. Professor Sprout takes things really slow," Neville said.
"Phew, I'm glad it is just review. I couldn't focus today for some reason," Luna stated.
"Weird, I neither could I…," Neville said, but he knew exactly why.
After a grueling, yet enjoyable three hours of chatting and sorting various beakers, vials, and bottles, they had finally finished. And just in time, because only a few minutes later Snape walked in.
"Good, you finished. You're free to go, but next time I won't be so lenient."
They walked out, and Neville couldn't resist whispering:
"And he was lenient this time?" They both had to suppress laughter.
Neville walked Luna back to the Ravenclaw common room. They were the only people out, as it was almost curfew, and the corridors were getting dark. As they approached the entrance, Luna turned to him and said:
"I had a great time tonight, in detention. Wow, that sounds weird. But, tonight was even better than fishing for plimpies! I hope we can, uh, do it again sometime, without having to be in trouble, you know? I've never really had any friends before, and tonight was almost like having a friend. And thanks for walking me back, you didn't have to do that."
"I had a lot of fun too. And I like hanging with you, we should definitely do it again, as friends. Oh, and it's nothing," Neville said.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," she said, and with a wave, she turned to go.
"Bye," said Neville quietly, and headed back to his own common room.
"Heya, Neville, how was detention?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, I heard you're a real rebel now that we're in fourth year," joked Harry. Neville never used to get in trouble.
"Detention was great, actually, thanks for asking. I spent three hours sorting potion ingredients, and I loved it," he said, completely honest.
"Well then," said Harry. "Excuse me."
But Neville didn't care about Harry and Ron's jokes, he felt on top of the world. Hermione noticed his unusually good mood. God, that Hermione notices just about everything.
"You seem to be in a better mood than at lunch," she stated, with an icy tone in her voice, coming over to the chair he had sat down in, and few feet away from Harry and Ron.
"Sorry about that, Hermione. I don't know what came over me. It's just, you try to know everything about a person's life, and sometimes they're just not ready to tell you," he said, sadly.
"Ohhh, Neville, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," he said.
"Do you want to tell me now?" she asked.
"HERMIONE!" Neville yelled, but laughed.
"Is it about school?" Hermione continued to question him.
"No."
"Are you really sick?"
"No."
"Is it about a girl?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Ummm, no," he said, but it wasn't very convincing, not even to him.
"It is, it is!!! Who is she, Neville?" Hermione asked.
"No one, no one," he said.
"Come on, I know you're lying!" she said, and playfully smacked his arm.
Neville realized it was over, he was fighting a loosing battle. Once Hermione Granger set her mind to something, nothing would stop her.
"Fine, but I don't think you'll know her," he said reluctantly.
"Ok, who is she?" she curiously asked.
"I met this person, who just happens to be girl. And we're just friends. I don't like her or anything, okay? Her name is Luna," he said.
"Who?" she questioned.
"Luna," he said a bit louder.
"I can't hear you Neville, speak up."
"Luna Lovegood, okay?" he said.
"Ooh, I know her! Luna, Luna Lovegood! You like Luna Lovegood!" Hermione squealed, a bit too loudly.
"No, I do not like her! We're just friends, Hermione, I told you that!" he shouted.
"Wait, Neville here likes Loony?" asked Ron, a smirk on his face. He head listened in on their conversation. "Crazy, Loony Lovegood, who believes in all those made up animals? C'mon Neville, you can do better than that!" Ron and Harry were laughing hysterically.
"Don't. Call. Her. Loony." said Neville, standing up, his hands curled into fists at his sides.
"Stop it you guys, it's not funny!" shouted Hermione, tearfully.
"Neville has a girlfriend, Neville has a mental girlfriend! Who ever thought that would happen?" joked Harry, clutching his side.
"She's not my girlfriend, and she's not mental!" Neville yelled. His ears were turning red with anger.
"Loony Lovegood, barking mad just like her father," Ron said, gasping for air.
That was it, that was the last straw. Neville couldn't take it anymore. He punched Ron, square in the back with all his force.
"Ahhh! God, Neville, calm down. We were just having a laugh," Ron shouted.
"Don't joke about Luna, you git. Not. About. Luna." Neville said sternly, and stomped up the stairs, up to bed, where those enchanting gray eyes stared at him in his dreams.