I own none of these characters, they belong to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 1

Study Buddies and New Friends

Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were in the library studying. Neville was helping Luna understand the uses and care of mandrakes while Luna was trying her best to help him with his potions assignment. After a couple hours, Luna still didn't understand how to care for a mandrake and Neville was convinced that his next potions class would be rather explosive.

"If we stay here much longer the Wrackspurts will begin swarming." Luna states in her ever serene tone.

"Merlin's beard!" Neville exclaimed while he looked at his watch, "We'll be late for dinner." this earned him a stern look from Madam Pince.

The pair gathered their things and left the library. As they walked together toward the great hall, they came across a white haired Slytherin boy with two rather dim looking Slytherins on his heels.

"Well, if it isn't Never Remembers Longbottom and Loony Lovegood." the white haired boy said with a smirk.

"Don't call her that Malfoy!" Neville shouted, though even with as much bravery as he could muster it still sounded a bit shaky. Luna continues to look on with a dreamy look on her face like she is watching something flit around Draco's head.

"Or what? You'll curse me?" Draco Malfoy retorted.

Neville began to pull his wand out of his pocket. Unfortunately, Draco was much quicker and he pointed his wand at Neville and said "Locomotor Mortis". This caused Neville's feet to snap together suddenly, landing him on the ground and unable to separate his legs. This caused a roar of laughter from the two boys standing just behind Draco. The trio stepped over Neville and pushed past Luna. Suddenly, Neville hears Draco say "Diffindo" under his breath as Luna's bag tears and dumps the contents all over the floor.

"It seems the Nargles are at it again." Luna said calmly, "Are you alright Neville?"

"I'm fine, but I wish that git would leave us alone." he replied from the floor.

Laughing could be heard from down the hall. Suddenly a pair of red headed twins appeared from around a corner reveling in their most recent prank. When the Weasley twins noticed the two younger students and the plight they seemed to have found themselves in, they greeted them.

"Hi Neville." Fred said.

"Hello Loony." George continued.

"Hello Fred, George." Luna replied giving each a polite nod and smile as she said their name.

"Why do you call her that? Her name is Luna. You haven't even attempted to get to know her." Neville tried to correct them as he got himself propped against the wall with Luna's help.

Unable to come up with a good response, George said, "Come on Fred, dinner is waiting, and Wood wants us well fed and rested for Quidditch practice tomorrow."

Fred gave Neville's words some thought and replied to George, "You go on ahead. I'm going to try and straighten out these curses right quick."

Shrugging, George left for the great hall. Fred turned back to Neville and asked, "Malfoy?"

Neville nodded and Fred spoke up again, "I've got a special prank in mind for him next time I see him. Sorry about George." Fred glanced at Luna and frowned as he said the last bit.

"It's quite alright, his head was just a bit fuzzy from all the Wrackspurts." Luna said, noticing his glance.

Fred cast the Finite Incantatem spell to unlock Neville's legs. After a quick examination of Luna's bag, he cast Reparo and the three of them watched as the bag stitched itself back together. After repacking Luna's bag, they all went to the great hall for their evening meal. As dinner was coming to a close, Fred approached Luna as she was exiting the great hall.

"So..." he started, "I was thinking about what Neville said in the corridor earlier, about how we don't even know each other. I was hoping that maybe you would like to spend a free period with me, you could invite Neville too if you want."

"I would enjoy that very much I think. Tomorrow I have no plans after transfiguration, as Neville will be studying for his potions exam." Luna replied.

"Great! See you then!" Fred exclaimed with a smile before running after George who had just walked by.

The next day, Luna had just emerged from the transfiguration classroom when Fred swooped in and steered her towards the castle entrance.

"Hello Fred, have the Wrackspurts left George alone yet?" Luna asked as they veered away from the crowd of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students.

"I'm not sure, he seems to be acting normal." Fred replied, "What is a Wrackspurt anyhow?"

"They are tiny invisible creatures that fly in through your ears and make your head fuzzy." Luna replied.

"Well in that case, no, they are still buzzing around his head." Fred grinned and chuckled.

They left the castle and headed toward the Black Lake, where they found a bench and sat together while they talked. The discussion topics ranged anywhere from Crumple Horned Snorkacks to Quidditch. They sat there for the better part of an hour until Fred got up and told her he had Quidditch practice.

"I could come with you and watch if you like. I enjoy watching the game, it attracts Snarkleburs*, they enjoy chasing the broomsticks." Luna said standing up next to him.

Fred frowned, "Unfortunately, Wood doesn't let anyone from the other houses watch practice. He thinks they will go blabbing to their house team about our strategies."

"Well that's too bad. I was hoping to see some Snarkleburs, they are such fun to watch. I'll be seeing you then." Luna's eyes showed a slight hint of sadness that betrayed her soft smile.

Fred walked over to the Quidditch pitch, and Luna headed back toward the castle. Once she arrived at the castle gate, she decided to go to the library to see if Neville was still there.

"Oi, where were you?" Neville asked upon seeing her approach, "I thought you were going to try and help me learn the ingredients for the basic love potion."

"I was by the lake with Fred." she replied.

Neville's face turned a slight red as he buried his face into his potions book to hide his jealousy from Luna. She didn't seem to notice and proceeded to open a book to help Neville. After an hour, Neville could satisfactorily recite the ingredients for the potion he was being tested on. After putting away the study materials, Neville bid Luna good evening and went back to the Gryffindor common room to get ready for dinner.

After dinner, Neville went straight to the dormitory and sat on his bed. For the rest of the night, Neville was in thought about how to tell Luna how he feels about her. He knew he liked her a lot, but wasn't sure how she felt about him because of how distant she can appear. Afraid that he might lose Luna to Fred, he didn't sleep very well.

*I decided to create my own invisible creature that likes to chase broomsticks around, they are completely harmless fairy like creatures that just like having fun. I figure that just because Luna doesn't mention them in the books, it doesn't mean that there aren't other creatures published in The Quibbler.

Special thanks goes to iBounce for beta services. You rock!

Let me know what you think!