A/N: Finally returning to writing after a long hiatus. This was just a fluffy one-shot I wrote to practice before launching into a chaptered Fleur/Hermione. It's not great so go easy on me!
The battle was over, the fight was won. People were crowding all around Neville, the boy who no-one had ever expected to amount to anything now standing before them, a hero in his own right.
But one person had always known what he was capable of. He saw her now, hovering on the edge of the Great Hall as people reunited; celebrating the fall of Voldemort yet mourning for the dead. Luna's hair was wild, her face smudged and dirty but the sparkle in her eyes had never faltered, not once through the entire ordeal.
He adored that sparkle. The only thing that kept him going while she was trapped in Malfoy Manor was dreaming that one day he might see the girl with kaleidoscope eyes once more.
Standing here, surrounded by the dead only strengthened his feelings for her. Life was so precious, she could have been gone forever any second, never knowing how he felt about her. This is it, he thought, I've battled Death Eaters, I've killed Voldemort's own snake, his horcrux. There's never going to be a better time.
Summoning all his courage he politely excused himself from his growing crowd of admirers and strode over to where she stood alone. Looking directly into her beautiful eyes he took a deep breath, "Luna, I love you. I've always loved you and I'll never stop loving you and I-I-I, I just wanted you to know."
"I know, Neville."
"You what?"
"Oh, I've always known. I could see it in your eyes. At first I thought you looked at me like that because your head was full of Nargles but then I realised it was love, it's the same expression my father has when he talks of my mother."
Neville was stunned, Luna had a way of disarming people with her odd ways. She leaned in and kissed him full on the mouth and in that moment he knew that this had been worth waiting for, it was a soaring feeling like nothing he had ever experienced. Luna pulled back momentarily and whispered: "For the record, I love you too, Neville."
Across the hall Ron nudged Harry, "I guess Hermione and I aren't the only ones who believe in now or never eh?"
