A/N: this whole story is dedicated to my Twin, GR. Without her, nothing is possible.
Ambush
Neville meandered along the fifth floor corridor, wondering where in Hogwarts all his friends were. They had just returned to the school to repeat seventh year, and sit their NEWTs - an event Neville was pretending would never happen, in the hope that everyone else would forget as well. But he had hardly seen anyone since, except in lessons. "Neville. I've been waiting for you." He heard a faint and dreamy whisper drifting out of what looked like a painting of a cradle containing a baby goblin, but was actually a door that opened onto a short cut to the Library. As Neville glanced back over his shoulder, debating whether to go back and find out who had been waiting for him, when the ground suddenly disappeared from in front of him.
"Bugger!" he yelled - they had only been back at school for two weeks and he'd already fallen in Fred and George's magical bog, a leaving present for an ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, 'Headmistress' and Ministry of Magic pawn. It was just his luck to be the first to fall in - even the first years had heard of the infamous Weasley twins and how long the smell of their swamp would stay with them . . . unless you happened to know the reversal spell, which the twins had sworn never to tell anyone apart from in exceptional circumstances. Unfortunately, the regularity of Neville falling in (at least twice a month) did not qualify as exceptional circumstances.
"Neville? Are you OK?" an ethereal voice floated down from above. I know that voice, Neville thought, it's Sola. Sola with the sunshine hair and the same sky-blue eyes as Luna. She's quite pretty, but I like Luna better. And although he'd yet to meet her parents, Neville knew that they would be just the same. Otherwise, neither Luna nor Sola would be who they were. Maybe they knew the spell. "Do you need a hand?"
"Fine, I'm fine," The words came out in one big gush. Why did he lose all conscious control over his mouth whenever she was near? "No, don't touch me, I'm covered in Stinksap, you'll get it all over your robes."
"It's alright; my mother grew a mimbulus mibletonia for eight years. It must have been three feet tall when I accidentally killed it. I think there were probably about twenty days in that time when I didn't get covered with the stuff. I'm used to it - even the smell - and I have a good spell to get rid of it" she reached down for his hand and pulled Neville out "listen carefully; I think you might be needing this a lot . . . scourgify sapius" The sap disappeared. Apparently she did. Neville wondered which exceptional circumstances had allowed the twins to tell her the spell.
"Thanks a lot. I get really tired of people telling me I'm covered in Stinksap all the time. How do you know the spell Sola - I mean Fred and George don't exactly share it with everyone - not even me, and I fall in the swamp pretty damn often . . . hey, where's Luna? I mean, I hardly ever see the two of you apart since your' dad collected you from Beauxbatons."
" Luna's talking to Professor Flitwick about setting up a More Able Charms Club, for people who get bored in lessons. Oh, and the twins didn't tell me the spell, my mother invented it. She liked to invent spells, combine them with random wand movements and see what happened. Until one of her spells went rather badly wrong. I was nine."
"I'm so sorry Sola. I didn't know." Neville was rather shocked by this revelation - he'd known Luna for more than three years, and Sola for the past few months, and had simply assumed that their family was complete.
"It's alright, Neville. I never told you, so how could you know?"
"OK then, if you're sure."
"I'm sure." She said definitely. The subject was closed.
"Sola! Wait!" called Ginny Weasley, the fiery red-head who was famous for her bat-bogey hex, as she came barrelling down the fifth floor corridor. "So, do you and Luna want to come down to Hogsmeade with me, Harry, Ron and Hermione? - oh, and you can come too Neville."
"Sorry Ginny - we can walk down with you, but after that Neville and I have to visit my dad's vegetable plot to check on the Dirigible Plums . . . don't we, Neville?"
"What? - Oh, yeah, we do. Sorry, my brain kind of disappeared for a moment there."
"OK, well meet us in the Entrance Hall at eleven o' clock on Saturday, and we'll decide what to do then. I've got Quidditch practice now, bye!" As she ran off, Ginny was thinking; obviously the first he's heard of it - but I thought he liked Luna!
"Sorry, I didn't mean to ambush you there, it's just that dad has been on at me to take someone down to sample the plums - you don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not, why would I? Err . . . Is this a date, Sola?" Neville blurted, then immediately wished he hadn't.
"If you want it to be." There was no emotion in the words, though her eyes were full of hope, yet Neville had a feeling that there was something hidden behind it . . . But he still didn't know what she wanted him to say.
"Oh, well, umm . . . I don't know, Sola - what do you think?"
"It's a date. Oh no - look at the time - I have to go talk to Professor Sprout! She wanted our recipe for Freshwater Plimpie Soup. I have to go!" And
she ran off with only a "See you Saturday, Neville!" tossed over her shoulder as she skipped joyfully towards a door that led to a corridor that only took you outside on Wednesdays.
"Oh no!" thought Neville "I don't even really like her! I wish that had been Luna instead."
In Gryffindor Tower . . ."Is it true Neville? Do you really have a date with that crazy Ravenclaw's twin?" yelled a ginger kid Neville had never even seen before, but thought might be a distant relation to the Weasleys (the standard carroty red hair and million freckles were always a clue), as he stumbled through the portrait hole with his hands over his ears; the Fat Lady was still rehearsing opera for the portrait's Christmas. He hoped she wouldn't persist in breaking everyone's eardrums for much longer.
"What?! I hadn't heard about that!" called Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, as he followed Neville through the hole infinitely more gracefully.
"That's because Sola only asked him out about two minutes ago, just after she pulled him out of Fred and George's enchanted swamp on the fourth
floor." stated Hermione Granger, pulling Neville into the over-stuffed armchair next to her.
"Actually it was more of an ambush." injected another unknown face from across the room.
"Shut up, midget!" Shouted Ron "We want to hear it from Neville, not some tiny first year!"
"I'm in Second year!"
"Whatever!"
"Shut up Ron and leave the little ones alone. You were that annoying once." Ron spluttered, but Hermione simply rolled over him. "You look rather pale - are you alright Neville?"
"What?" Neville shook his head, as if trying to get water out of his ears.
"I said are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Dazed. Terrified. Determined to tell Sola the truth about how he felt, rather than just going along with whatever she said, or wanted. Anything but fine.
"So how do you know so much, Hermione?" interrupted Ron from the other side of her.
"Because Angelina told me, and she heard from Demelza who got it from Ginny that Luna asked Neville out - and now they're going to taste her father's Dirigible Plums on Saturday. And they're walking down with us, you know."
"They are?"
"Yes, Ron, they are."
"I knew that."
"Of course you did," agreed Hermione.
"I did." He insisted.
"Shut up Ron." Harry said simply, trying to flatten his messy black hair in preparation for his date with Ginny later.
"Don't sulk, Ronald. It doesn't suit you."
"I - "
"Anyway . . . How did this happen Neville?" inquired Harry, "I mean, since when did you like Sola?"
"Ummm . . . I don't really. She just ambushed me into going out with her - Ginny can tell you that's true. First I was walking down to Hogsmeade with you lot, then next thing I knew, we were going on a date."
"And you couldn't just say no?" joked Ron
"No, because she didn't actually ask me out. She just said we were going on a date and I didn't even get any choice in the matter."
"Fair enough." laughed Harry
"But I still say you should have refused." mumbled Ron
"Then she probably would have run off in tears!" Neville was experiencing his ever dating dilemma, and he definitely didn't like it.
"Well, I'm not sure she actually likes you Neville." Hermione declared.
"What - she didn't even give the man a chance to say no - I think that probably shows that she likes him Hermione." Laughed Harry, sure that this was one time Hermione was absolutely wrong.
"I really don't like Sola at all. She never does anything for anyone else it directly benefits her. I think she's just trying to make sure that Luna doesn't get Neville, because she knows that would make her sister Happy. And Sola doesn't like anyone to be happy apart from her." she explained
Neville couldn't believe Hermione either. "That's ridiculous. Sola would never do anything like that!"
"Hmmm..."
In the Ravenclaw Girls Dormitory . . .
"Hey Luna!" called Carla Dobson, a fifth year who had recently transferred from Durmstrang because she felt 'academically restricted' there, as she entered the dormitory.
"Yes Carla?" Luna replied in a ringing voice, completely unaware that most of the tower could hear her. She was reading the latest Quibbler , which contained some very interesting material on the habitat of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
"Your sister's got a date with that clumsy Gryffindor - you know, the one you've got a crush on. What's his name?- Nathan, Naylor, Nevin -
"Neville" Luna corrected in a faint voice.