Title: Her Eyes

For: This story is a present for FrozenShadow52

House: Ravenclaw

Name: CauseI'mTotallyAwesome/Taylor

Neville knows that she doesn't even know his name, that she is a year under him. But when pale eyes lock with brown from across the Great Hall, none of that matters. He doesn't pretend that he can't hear the whispers of his classmates when they mutter 'freak' and 'weird', and sometimes he even defends her. But mostly, he keeps her in the back of his mind, thinking about her sometimes, but knowing that she wouldn't want him. They're just incompatible.

That is, until he actually talks to her. It happens on the way to Herbology towards the beginning of second year. He catches up with the pale blonde first year as she stumbles, and drops her books on the floor. "Oh nargles…" she mutters, "It must have been the plyxies…" Neville looks at her confusingly. "What're plyxies?" The girl's eyes seem to light us as she and Neville collect her books.

"Plyxies are small and green fuzzy creatures, that live in cornfields, and eat cornstalks. They're really quite gentle, but people usually don't like them because they ruin crops." She says this in a very rushed tone, almost trying to get it out as quick as possible, as if she's afraid that Neville won't listen to her. But Neville is enraptured by her words. "That's really cool." he says. The girl smiles.

"My name's Luna Lovegood." she says, smiling. Neville smiles back. "Neville Longbottom. Your dad edit's the Quibbler, right?" Luna nods eagerly. "My dad is going to write about plyxies in the next issue. I can get you a copy if you want, yeah?" Neville smiles wider. "Yeah, that'd be great!"

"Oh, I have to go, two minutes until the bell rings, and I have to get to potions class. See you soon?" Neville nods, waving goodbye as she skips away.

XxXxX

He sees her multiple times each year, and gets to know her very well. If asked, he can proudly say that her favorite color was pink, that she wanted to be an expert on magical creatures when she grew up, and that she had always wanted to watch muggle TV, but she never got the chance.

When Harry decides to create Dumbledore's Army, Neville is one of the first to show up at the Hog's Head. Luna is there before everyone, chatting with the old man who Neville later finds out is Aberforth. But the second that she sees Neville standing in the doorway, her pale face alight at the joy of seeing him.

"Hi Neville!" she says, and even in her voice, Neville can hear the joy in it. "Hi Luna." He says.

"Have you seen any plyxies lately?" She asks. "No." Neville responds, trying to act like he had actually been looking for them. "Well, they tend not to appear in front of people. They're very shy, you know."

And when Luna talks, Neville loses all sense of why he was at the Hog's Head. All he knows is that he wants to listen to her all day.

XxXxX

After the Battle at the Department of Mysteries, the first thing Neville looks for is Luna. He finds her outside Hogwarts, in the courtyard, reading a thick book that he recognised as "100 Magical Herbs and Fungi". He sits down next to her , and puts his arm around his shoulder. "Hi Luna." he says, and she smiles her vacant smile that he has come to love.

"Oh hello Neville. Quite a day, wasn't it?" Neville nods, and smiles, his eyes glowing with almost-tears. Having to watch Sirius fall throught that veil was pure torture. He felt the utmost sympathy for Harry, as he knew what it was like to lose someone that he loved. Luna seemed to have been affected by this sight also, as the twinkle was still in those bright blue eyes, but it was considerably muted, as if something had sucked them out. This made Neville upset. He wanted to put the sparkle back in her large eyes.

Luna smiles vacantly, and rests her head on the crook of his shoulder, her pale blonde hair spilling out over his chest. "This is nice..." she murmurs, before falling asleep in his arms.

XxXxX

After Harry leaves seventh year, Neville is one of the first to try to restart Dumbledore's Army. After a particularly excruciating Dark Arts class, (In which Seamus called Professor Carrow a "turd" and Lavender was forced to do the Cruciatus Curse on him) they were all in the Gryffindor common room, and Lavender was trying to apologise to Seamus. Neville suddenly sits up, and mentions to the others that they should start up the Army again.

WHen they find the room of requirement for the first time, they find it adorned with banners in the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff colors. They find some defense against the dark arts books, and practice as many spells as they can possible learn, and Neville gets closer and closer to Luna.

XxXxX

The Battle of Hogwarts was over, and the castle was in ruins. Neville finds Luna at the edge of the battlefield, comforting Professor Trelawney. He takes her aside, and looks right into her eyes.

"I. Love. You." He says, and Luna looks right at him and mutters,

"Me too."

FIN