Neville walked around the newly rebuilt Hogwarts. If it had been strange seeing Hogwarts' crumbled remains, it was even more strange to see it looking... so new. Many parts of the ancient castle had been destroyed, ripped apart.
"Ripped apart, like so many families now. It's a shame, don't you think?"
Neville jumped and pulled out his wand.
"Luna, I'm sorry, I've just been rather jumpy lately."
She gave him her trademark dreamy smile.
Neville wondered just how much things affected Luna. She'd lost her mother when she was just nine years old. Luna too, had been a victim of the war.
"Victim," he mused, "people would probably say that's not quite the correct term."
After all, Luna had survived, relatively unscathed, despite her imprisonment in the now infamous Wiltshire mansion; Malfoy Manor. Yet, she'd suffered the Cruciatus Curse at the hands of the Carrows, she'd been an active participant in the battle in the Department of Mysteries, the battle when Snape had killed Dumbledore.
"Harry said something about it being more like assisted suicide," he murmured, "Should ask him about that."
And of the course the now legendary Battle of Hogwarts.
"You know," Luna interrupted his thoughts gently, "it wasn't just a battle of a few hours. Students were fighting all year here. Fighting a rebellion. Dumbledore's Army." she smiled.
"Dumbledore's Army." Neville agreed, a ghost of a grin on his face, thinking of how that student group had led to so much more - it was always a rebellion, but it had let to, quite fittingly, love. Arguably the greatest weapon of all.
"Want to go for a walk?"
The couple walked in the Hogwarts grounds, hand in hand.
"Have you thought about what you wanted to do?" Neville asked Luna.
"Get away from it all. Maybe look for some Crumple Horned Snorkacks. Or some Heliopaths - maybe I can find Fudge's old army of them."
"You - you don't want to stay?"
"There's no need now, is there?"
"B-but you don't want to help rebuild."
"Rebuilding doesn't have to be here. Not in Britain. I can help from elsewhere, you know."
"I suppose." Neville replied uncertainly. "Do you want to you know, move - stay together?'
"Not right now, Nev. I'm sorry. I know you don't want to come with me. You wouldn't enjoy it." she looked genuinely sorry, as they stood facing each other, still grasping the other's hands.
"Long distance?" Even as he said it, he knew it wasn't a real possibility.
"I'll probably be un-contactable. Research..." she trailed off.
"Looks like we've come to a crossroad."
"It doesn't have to be forever, Neville. Maybe someday?"
"Someday." Yet Neville knew that, even if he saw Luna again, it would be different. They would each have taken different paths; different paths to a better future.
"Goodbye." Luna whispered, before she pecked his lips and ran off.
Neville watched her figure fade into the distance, feeling an odd mix of emotions - ones totally unfamiliar to him.
Neville entered the Great Hall for dinner that night. There were still many people who had nowhere to go, or couldn't face the memories associated with their homes.
"Luna?" Hermoine asked softly.
"We... we've moved on."
Hermoine simply nodded, needing no further explanation.
Neville got up to make a toast. "To those loved and those lost. To closed chapters and new beginnings. To a better future. A new age!" he declared.
"Amen." those people gathered in the Great Hall, responded, eyes filled with tears. Tears of joy, pain, happiness and longing.
A/N: I know Luna can seem a little OOC, but I think that Luna is rather blunt and straight to the point, she's just got a different way, that I can't quite put my finger on.