AN: Fluff. Can be read as a sequel to Conversations by the Fire. At first, it seemed a little bit too domestic for Luna, but I hope I fixed that well enough. Luna is definitely too strong-willed to spend most of her time cooking bouillabaisse, but, hey, maybe she'd try it once in a while. Also, all credit to JKR for these characters.
I wonder what a toad might want for his birthday?
This and other various thoughts flitted through Luna's head as she cooked dinner, happy to make a larger amount of food than usual as her husband was coming home that evening for his Christmas holiday. Normally, she would cook a small plate of something for herself, and poorly at that, but tonight she felt creative. A dash of nutmeg here, a pinch of mustard seed there, and voila! Something that vaguely resembled bouillabaisse now filled the pot on the stove.
Perhaps, if I had an enormous bee hive and a garden filled with only one sort of flower, I could control the flavor of the honey that the bees produce.
As she waited for her culinary masterpiece to finish simmering, her mind wandered to the Quibbler and the articles she was currently researching for. Nargles and blibbering humdingers danced through her head as she thought of her latest trip to Norway to research the elusive glowing flowers of Rowena, which, surprisingly, only grew in previously unexplored underground caverns.
If, by chance, I were to get an enormous blue paper clip and wrap it around the trunks of two separate trees, I could theoretically turn it into a combination of a tightrope and a trampoline.
Luna smiled contentedly down at her protruding belly. Pity that it limited her on-site research, but she could, at the very least, continue writing articles and overseeing her few helpers. Perhaps little Amaryllis or Dionysus would be able to join in on the adventures in a few years' time, and, until then, she could oversee summer research. It would be easier this way, unless Neville had any plans on retiring incredibly early. That was impractical, of course, as being a Hogwarts professor paid much better than being editor-in-chief of the Quibbler, but the two of them had never been known for their practicality. Who knew? Perhaps the two would quit their careers in three years to join the floating circus in Athens (Mssr. Buonaparte's Floating Circus, as it were, was a little-known secret kept by a select few wizards. No doubt its secrecy was aided by the fact that so few believed it existed in the first place).
That darned wrackspurt! All I've wanted today was a little bit of peace and quiet, and it won't stop singing.
The wrackspurt was beginning to make her brain go all fuzzy, but, fortunately, it was scared out of its cozy nook in her head by a very sudden whoosh from the fireplace in the next room. Luna all but forgot about the simmering pot of fish stew, as she rushed out into the sitting room to greet the man who now emerged from the fireplace with a slight hacking cough. "Hello, dear," he managed to sputter out between coughs. "Have you noticed how smoky the Floo Network's been recently?" He stopped coughing and started beaming when he noticed the same protruding belly she herself had been smiling at earlier. Of course, she'd let him know about the pregnancy about two months before, but they hadn't actually seen each other, person to person, since the first of September. "Is that…" He swallowed what appeared to be an ever-growing lump in his throat. Luna blamed the wrackspurt. "Is that our baby?" His grin was wide and goofy.
Ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum, ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum… At least it has lovely taste in music.
"Well, technically, it isn't a baby yet," Luna stated matter-of-factly, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek, "but I presume it will be, in time." She laughed as she led him into the kitchen, where the pot of fish and nutmeg and mustard was nearly bubbling over, spilling slightly onto the potted Devil's Snare next to the stove. It wasn't long before the two each had a bowl of the surprisingly delicious hodgepodge of spices and seafood in front of them. As they grew older, they took more time to eat meals together, but to say that Luna was eager to finish her meal tonight would have been a rather egregious understatement.
Ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum, ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum…
Luna smiled as she began to talk to her husband about names for the baby. Though they'd had many conversations through the Floo Network, the topic had somehow managed never to come up. "I've been thinking, Amaryllis for a girl, Dionysus for a boy. I've come up with a few more boys' names, since I'm fairly certain that it will be a boy. For instance, Lorcan, or Ganymede, or…" She didn't bother to finish the list, as Neville was smiling wildly.
Ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum, ladadada dum, bum bum, bum bum…
"Any of those names," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "Any one of them. As long as it's our baby, I'm happy." Luna could feel sparks fly through her body (this time, fortunately, not a side effect of the Floo powder) as the man she had missed so much over the past few months kissed her again, at which point, she knew that names didn't particularly matter right now.
Ladadada daaaa, dada daaaa, dada dot, da dot, da dot, dada dot!