~*~After the Storm~*~
by Hatter of Madness
The final spells had been cast. The remaining Death Eaters had fled. The remaining Order and Dumbledore's Army members (not to mention other allies of Harry Potter) were sitting in the Great Hall. Some were celebrating. Others were resting. Some were resting, though in a more serious manner.
There was a hardly a person in the Great Hall who didn't cry, wasn't injured, or wasn't bleeding. Voldemort's body had been removed from the Hall, and people knew they slowly had to get their lives back in order.
Neville had blood surging down the left side of his face; it almost appeared as though someone had cast Sectumsempra against the side of his head. His mind kept playing back the image of him using Gryffindor's sword to kill the snake for Harry. He had found respect for Mrs. Weasley. She had been the one to cast the spell that killed Bellatrix Lestrange, the mad woman who had tortured his parents to insanity. If it couldn't have been him to finish off the Lestrange woman, he was glad it was Mrs. Weasley.
The castle looked utterly and hopelessly destroyed. So much fighting had gone on in the past few hours that it seemed to make sense. For once, he felt he lived up to his surname; he finally felt like a proper Gryffindor. His body ached from the fighting. His head felt numb and he felt dizzy from loss of blood.
He felt even more dizzy when he saw her coming near him.
Luna Lovegood, with her sheet of silvery blonde hair, her sparkling gray eyes, and her graceful gait, came walking up towards him. She looked relatively unscathed. She sat next to him, glanced at him, and smiled. Neville smiled back. He placed his hands on his knees nervously. He had met Luna on the Hogwarts Express almost three years prior and, at first, was on edge about sitting with her. After being in Dumbledore's Army with her and fighting alongside her at the Department of Mysteries, however, he had realized what a nice girl she was.
He had found himself falling in love with her.
Then, during the heat of the battle, he had asked Harry where Luna was.
The green eyed boy stared at him in misunderstanding. "Luna?" he had asked.
"Yeah," Neville said, a bit too much excitement in his otherwise calm voice. "I'm mad for her! I figured I should tell her since we'll probably both be dead by dawn!" he said, then ran off before Harry could say whether he had seen the blonde girl. Neville had finally found her but, unable to think of anything to say, he had thrust himself at her, grabbing her by the arms, and, seeing her surprised but ever so cute and perplexed stare, kissed her heatedly, then ran off.
He quickly snapped back to reality. Luna was sitting next to him. Not looking at her, he felt rather than saw her move her hand onto his, then she drew back slowly.
"Your hands are bleeding," she said casually.
Neville looked down and saw the deep wounds that were inflicted on the backs of both of his hands. He couldn't recollect how they got there.
"Yeah," he said.
Luna scooted closer then leaned against Neville. "You killed the snake." It was a statement rather than a question.
"Yeah," he said again.
"So I suppose the Sorting Hat was right about you," Luna said dreamily. For a moment he couldn't tell why she sounded like she was in a trance, but then he quickly remembered that she always had that tone of voice. She always sounded deep in thought, even when she was just holding a normal conversation.
"You're the first person to say that," he said, smiling slightly.
"I could never figure out why I was in Ravenclaw, though," Luna said, still leaning against Neville's shoulder. He fought the urge to put his arm around her. He looked at her in amazement.
"Merlin's beard, Luna, are you kidding me?" he asked, only half mockingly. "You're...you're really smart, and unusually perceptive... I think Rowena Ravenclaw would be proud to have you in her house." Neville flushed red immediately, embarrassed of what he said.
"And Godric Gryffindor of you," she said. If she had noticed Neville's red face, she didn't comment on it.
There was momentary silence. Then...
"Luna?"
"Hmmm?"
"What..."
Before Neville could finish, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. He flushed red again. Luna drew back and smiled at Neville, who in turn tried to hide his red face. He flipped his hand so that his palm faced up, then Luna put her hand in his grasp. He gently squeezed her hand. They sat in silence for another few minutes, Luna looking about the room with a transfixed look, much like a small child.
"Marry me, Luna."
"What?" Luna stopped looking around the room and turned to look at Neville. She didn't look any different, just as though she was studying his expression.
"You heard me," Neville said, suddenly feeling as powerful as he did when he was yelling at Death Eaters about the shield around Hogwarts. "You did hear me, didn't you?"
"It's not quite how I imagined a proposal," Luna said as casually as ever. Neville felt as though that was her way of letting him down gently.
"Well, what's your idea, then?" he said anxiously.
"Well," Luna said; again, it seemed she was deep in thought. "From what I've heard...you should be on one knee with a ring or something..." Neville immediately dropped to his knees, looking through the rubble. "Neville..." she said.
"Hold on..." He sifted through what little was left of the school, the rocks and debris, looking for something, anything... "Just a second!" he said as though he was calling across the room to someone. He finally felt his hand hit something and picked up an extremely small stone, then grabbed his wand out of his pocket. "Diffindo!" he said, tapping the stone lightly. The center, a perfect circle, fell to the ground. He held it up. "It's not much," he admitted, "but it's a circle..." He cleared his throat, then raised himself slightly so he was on one knee, and held up the stone for Luna. "Marry me, Luna."
Luna looked down at the black object in Neville's hand; once again, she appeared to be in thought. "That's pretty," she said, "sort of like something I saw in the Quibbler once..."
Neville, who had never once read the Quibbler, said again, "Marry me, Luna."
"I'm still in school," she said, as she was in the middle of her sixth year.
"After."
"Are you serious?" she asked, as though she couldn't believe it.
"Marry me, Luna." Neville was living on her every word.
"And if I do?"
Neville went slightly pink at his next words. "I'd treat you right," he offered.
"You wouldn't call me Loony, would you?"
"When have I done that in the past?"
"True." Luna still did not answer Neville's question.
"Marry me, Luna?" It was the first time Neville had phrased it in the form of a question. He was still on one knee on the ground. She stared at him for a moment, then swept his hair out of his brown eyes.
"Why didn't you ask sooner?"
There was silence for a moment. "Is that a yes?" Neville asked. His heart skipped a beat.
She held out her hand as though waiting for him to put a ring on her finger. "Yes." He then put the makeshift ring on her fourth finger and sat next to her again. As he sat next to her, a quiet applause broke out over the Great Hall, which grew progressively louder as other people joined in. Neville and Luna looked up, seeing most of the people gathered there watching and applauding them.
"WAY TO GO, NEVILLE!" Dean and Seamus shouted together.
Neville was overwhelmed by the response. Luna said quietly, in a mystical voice, "We have a standing ovation."
He placed his hand over her small one, the one with her 'ring' on it. "I love you, Luna Lovegood," he said quietly.
She was quick to correct him, leaning against him once more. "Longbottom."
So, from writing this, I've learned one thing: I suck at writing Lovebottom, Luville, The Government Stole My Toad, whatever you want to call this ship. I'm terrible at it. I read other fanfics on the couple to help me write this one. It was really for my friend's birthday, who has the most beasting birthday for a Harry Potter fan: July 15. But instead I took her to see DH2 (I saw it at the midnight premier...INCREDIBLE. Best first midnight showing ever) and I started to write this cause I wasn't sure what to do before I thought of seeing HP with her lol. So yeah.
-Hatter of Madness