Replenished After a Fight in the Snow
By Chinesemoon
A/N: This is a sequel to "Refreshed After a Mud Slinging" and "Improved After a Tumble in the Grass." Haha. I hope you like it (and the others as well)! Please review! =)
Disclaimer: I don't own this so please don't sue me! If you sue me, I'll have no money to buy Vodka, then how would I make up all these stories?!
It was December and the cool air around them was blowing so hard, it would have knocked anyone astray. The wind was howling, and the sun had taken a fancy to hiding behind a dark cloud. Heavenly white snow covered hill to forest to mountain, as far as the eye could see. It had only snowed the night before, leaving the grounds of Hogwarts, picture perfect.
Neville Longbottom really did think Jack Frost was nipping at his nose as he dragged his heavy boot clad feet along in the snow. He almost felt bad about ruining the perfect snow by walking in it. What a pity.
His mind seemed so far away. He was thinking of his day, he supposed. He was thinking of Malfoy and all the other Slytherins. How much they had teased him today, and how much it hurt. He pretended not to care. He pretended he didn't care that they called him stupid, he pretended not to care that they called him clumsy, and he pretended not to care that they talked of his parents. But he did care, very much, he cared. What did those scum balls know about his parents?
They didn't know how his parents were at all. He wanted to just ignore everyone. What did they know about anything? Nothing. Nothing at all. They didn't see him when he went to visit his parents at St. Mongo's. They didn't see him when he was staying awake at night, thinking about them, and what happened to ruin his life. How sorrowful, it all was.
A hand in a bright purple mitten squeezed his own hand. Neville turned his head and gave a forced smile in Luna Lovegood's direction. He felt guilty. Why was he always thinking such awful and depressing things when he was with Luna? She was so happy. Why was he trying to drag himself down, and thereby drag her down as well?
Luna, however, was not affected by his less than cheery mood. She stood, as always, grinning and smiling dreamily. Her hand was wrapped around his, a blue Ravenclaw scarf was tied under her neck, its ends hanging out over her black school robes. The ends of her robes, trimmed in blue, dragged along in the snow. Her blond hair was loose around her face, framing her rosy cheeks.
She licked her icy lips and kicked out some snow that was in front of her. She laughed happily as her foot made imprint into the snowy ground. She squatted down slightly, grabbed a handful of snow, brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply.
"I love the smell of snow, don't you?" Luna said, smiling dreamily, her hand still entangled in his. "It smells so— snowy!"
Neville laughed softly. She was rather odd sometimes, and she didn't try and hide that fact at all. On contrary – she was perfectly happy, living in her own world, not caring or bothering with what other people said. He admired her for that; he wished he could be like that!
Luna sniffed the snow again, sighing as if she were in heaven. She held the snow in her purple mitten and carefully licked a bit of it up. Neville stared at her, as he always did, in shock and amazement.
"Well?" He said, slowly. "How does it taste?"
Luna seemed to ponder on this for a long while. Finally she licked the snow some more, taking the time for it to melt on her tongue. Neville saw her swallow. He blushed and waited for her to answer.
"It tastes quite lovely," She said, dreamily, as if tasting a delicious apple pie.
Neville shook his head. He tugged her along with him, his mind dull and his face blank. It was a nice day out, even with the lack of sun, yet he felt upset inside. Why did he always feel like this? He had no reason for it... but...
People got the better of him sometimes, he supposed.
Luna let out a sigh, a little less dreamy than usually. Neville looked over at her, raising his eyebrows.
"I feel like a rest," Luna stated. She dropped onto the soft snow, and spread out, letting all of her body be engulfed by the white substance. Neville, holding her hand tightly, was forced to do the same.
He lay down in the snow, his capped head becoming cold, despite his grandmother's knitted hat. He stared up at the sky.
"That's enough," Luna said suddenly, pulling herself up and shoving Neville. "Get up Neville!"
She shoved his in the shoulder roughly, shoving him onto his side. He grumbled and sat up, giving her a quizzing look.
"You're down again, Neville," Luna grinned. "Why are you always feeling so sorry for yourself? Perk up!" She scooped some snow up and patted it into her hand.
Neville smiled. He looked at her, sitting there. She was a total image. His heart was skipping beats. Her hair was showing, under her dark blue hat. Her lips were red from the cold outside. The wind was snapping against their faces, biting at their ears. She had cute ears, he decided.
Just then, icy coldness hit him full in the face. Ice cold snow clung to the side of his head, and he looked over at Luna, shocked surprise written across his face.
Luna had a mock look of innocence. "You know what you need?" She said, tilting her head to the side. "Besides a snog with me?"
Shocked surprised turned into embarrassed bewilderment at once. He raised his eyebrows as much as he could muster. Luna didn't wait for him to ask "what?"
"You need a snow fight!" She said, and she threw a handful of snow right at his face once more.
Neville coughed, inhaling snow through his nose.
"Doesn't it smell good?" She squealed, laughing. She laid down quickly, and rolled away from him, as fast as she could, laughing and squealing loudly. Neville stood up quickly, forgetting he was glum, and chased after her, as he always did.
"Ahhh!" Luna screamed, rolling and leaving large tracks behind her. "Can't catch me! I have the speed of a Yitty Higgle!"
Neville scooped up snow, laughing and hurled it at her. Some hit her, and she continued to roll quickly. "I don't give a bloody hell about your Yitty Higgles!" He shouted.
Luna stopped rolled, sat up and gasped. She smiled and pretended to look insulted.
"You will pay!" She shrieked. She threw snow at him. He ran over to her, forgetting the whole world, and grabbed her. She struggled with him, and he beat her down into the snow.
He held her arms into the snow and growled at her, leaning his face close.
"You got me," Luna said, sighing. "You always do in the end."
He stared down at her. Her lips looked cold. Could he warm them for her? He wondered...
He leaned down and kissed her, letting her arms go. She grinned into him, and hooked her arms around his neck. He didn't stop kissing her, as he usually did, when he briefly kissed her in the past. He let it play out. Stars were dancing around his eyes. He felt something too big to ignore.
When he pulled away, for once, Luna had nothing to say. She looked completely innocent, staring up at him, with love written in her pale blue eyes.
"Luna?" Neville whispered, blushing slightly. "We you – can I – will you be my girlfriend?"
Luna's eyes widened. She reached up and pulled him down. She kissed him again sweetly, dreamily, as she was.
"Of course," She replied. "I am ready am."
Neville grinned at her.
"I truly love you Luna," Neville said, blushing as he always did with her.
"I love you too, Neville," Luna said.
As if an after thought she added, "Now you really must let me explain about Yitty Higgles!"
FIN
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