"I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello." -Hello Goodbye (The Beatles)
I calmly stood by my dad next to the bright red train on platform 9 ¾. I was supposed to be meeting Neville here, and instead of craning my neck to look for him, like most people might have done, I just stood there and turned my head from side to side, watching people walk by.
"Any sight of him?" my father asked.
"No, not yet," I answered. I was actually quite enjoying myself as I waited for Neville. It was giving me the opportunity to people watch. I've always thought just watching people was interesting. Everyone is so different from each other and it's fun and interesting to watch.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by someone calling my name. I turned my head and saw Neville fighting his way through a crowd of people going the other way. Trevor the toad was clutched under one arm and the handle to his trunk was grasped in his other hand.
"Neville!" I exclaimed, turning fully towards him and hugging him when he reached me. He gladly returned it and I buried my nose into his sweater. I had really missed him.
"It's so good to see—oh, hang on." Neville broke off he hug and gave me a reluctant smile as he stepped past me and made a lunge for Trevor.
"You should keep a better hold on that thing," my father said when Neville returned. "If not, he could get snatched up by a Crumple Horned Snorkack. They like to eat frogs sometimes, you know."
"Well, this is a toad. Slightly different," Neville said, holding Trevor up. "But that does remind me, how was your trip to Sweden? Did you find anything interesting?"
"We were specifically looking for the Snorkack," dad said, smiling at Neville. His smile faded, however. "We didn't find any, though, no."
"That's too bad."
"I still took lots of pictures. I'll be glad to show you them on the train, or whenever you feel like looking at them, really."
"I'd love that," Neville said. He grinned and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, kissing my temple. Neville and I had been dating since last December. I couldn't believe it had almost been a full year already. Time had really flown by. It was funny like that. Time, I mean.
"Where's your grandmother?" I asked.
"She should be coming," Neville answered, looking over his shoulder. Sure enough, his grandmother was slowly coming towards them, carrying her typical red handbag.
"Good, you've found them," she said to Neville when she reached us.
"Hello," I said politely, "it's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you again as well," she said with a slight nod. She shook my dad's hand and was about to start up a conversation when the train's whistle blew.
"Well, it looks like it's time for you to go," my father said, giving me a hug and shaking Neville's hand.
"I'll see you soon," I said to dad. I gave Neville's grandmother a wave before turning towards the train with Neville at my side.
"Want me to take your trunk for you?" Neville asked, holding out his hand.
"No, that's alright," I said. "I can manage. Besides, weren't you just holding Trevor in that hand?"
"Oh," Neville said, his eyes widening as he raised his hand in front of his face. He dropped his trunk and turned in a circle. "Where did he get to?"
Someone cleared their throat behind us. When we turned, we saw Neville's grandmother holding Trevor in an outstretched hand. "How many times do I have to tell you not to lose him?" she asked.
"Sorry, Gran," Neville said quietly, taking the toad from her.
"Go on, now," she said, shooing us towards the train. "You don't want to miss the train because of that bloody toad."
With one last wave, Neville hopped onto the train. I followed him, dragging my trunk behind me. "Where do you want to sit?" I asked.
"Wherever there's a free compartment. If there is one," he added.
"Look," I said, gesturing with my free hand. "There's Harry. It looks like he hasn't found a compartment either."
"Let's go say hi," Neville suggested. He walked up to Harry and stood beside him. "Hi, Harry!"
"Neville," Harry answered, sounding relieved.
"Hello, Harry," I said.
"Luna, hi, how are you?"
"Very well, thank you," I answered.
"Quibbler still going strong, then?" Harry asked, noticing the magazine sticking out of the bag draped over my shoulder.
"Oh, yes, it's doing very well," I answered with a smile. "Are you looking for a place to sit?"
"Yeah," Harry answered. "Ron and Hermione have prefect duty, and Ginny…"
"Off with Dean?" I asked. Harry nodded.
"Well, let's go find seats together, then," Neville suggested. Harry agreed and he led the way through the train. As we walked, I noticed many people turning to stare at us, and not just Harry, either. They were staring at me and Neville as well.
"They're even staring at us!" Neville exclaimed, gesturing to me and then to himself, "because we're with you!"
"They're staring at you because you were at the Ministry too," Harry corrected as he found a compartment and began lifting his trunk onto one of the overhead racks. Neville and I did the same before sitting down. I took a seat by the window, as usual.
"What happened at the Ministry was all over the paper," Harry was saying. "You must have seen it."
"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity," Neville said, sitting next to me and placing Trevor on his lap tentatively as if testing him to see if he would escape. He didn't, so Neville looked up again. "She was actually really pleased, though. She said I'm starting to live up to my dad at last. She even bought me a new wand, look!" He held it up and showed it to us.
"That's lovely," I said. "Very nice."
"Cherry and unicorn hair," he said proudly. "We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold. He vanished the next day. Oi, come back here, Trevor!" He dropped his wand and dived under the seat to catch his always escaping toad.
"Are we still doing D.A. meetings this year, Harry?" I asked, raising my gaze from Neville to Harry, who was sitting across from me and watching Neville as well. I began pulling a pair of Spectrespecs from the Quibbler as I waited for him to answer.
"No point now that Umbridge is gone, is there?" Harry asked.
Neville quickly pulled his head out from under his seat. "I liked the D.A! I learned loads with you!"
"I enjoyed the meetings too," I said. "It was like having friends."
"What do you mean it was like having friends?" Harry asked, blinking. "We are your friends."
"And boyfriend," Neville added, raising an eyebrow and smiling.
"I know that," I said, "but going to the meetings was something we could do together."
Before anyone could answer, there was a noise outside the compartment door. There were a group of girls outside who were in the year below me. I didn't really know them that well, but I did recognize them from school.
"You ask him!" one whispered.
"No, you!" hissed another.
"I'll do it!"
One of them, a girl with long, dark hair shoved her way into the compartment. "Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them." She looked over at me, and then at Neville, who was still searching for Trevor under the seat.
I looked at her through my Spectrespecs and almost smiled. Unless I was mistaken, I could sense a Wrakspurt flying around her head.
"They're friends of mine," Harry said in a tone of annoyance.
"Oh," said the Romilda girl. "Okay." With that, she left the compartment, shutting the door a little too forcefully.
"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," I said honestly.
"You are cool," Harry answered. "None of them came with me to the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."
"It's very nice of you to say that," I said, beaming. I wasn't used to getting a lot of compliments.
"We didn't face him, though, said Neville, emerging from under the seat with pieces of lint in his hair and Trevor in his hand. "You did. You should hear my Gran talk about you. She says 'that Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!' She'd give anything to have you as a grandson."
"No, I'm sure she's very proud of you," I told him, leaning forward and pulling some lint out of his hair. "Actually, I'm positive she is. Didn't you just say she told you she was pleased with you?"
"Yeah, but it's just one small thing," Neville said dejectedly.
"Maybe to you," I said.
Harry changed the subject to the OWL results that he and Neville had received over the summer. Neville had already written to me to tell me about them and I hadn't taken mine yet, so I went back to my magazine while they talked.
"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up," a voice said. I looked up to see Ron and Hermione entering the compartment. "Hi Neville, hi Luna," Ron added.
"Hello," I said, giving a small wave.
"What are those?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the Spectrespecs.
I told her and offered her a Quibbler, which came with a free pair, but she declined. I simply shrugged and sat back in my seat.
Ron began to tell Harry something about Draco Malfoy not doing his prefect duties, but I tuned them out again until someone else came into the compartment. A girl who looked to be around her third year stepped inside.
"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter," she said. I looked up to see the girl holding out two rolls of parchment tied with purple ribbon.
"What is it?" Neville asked. The girl shrugged and ran out the door.
"Well, open them," Ron urged.
"It's an invitation," Neville said as he opened the parchment and read from it. He looked confused, so I slid closer to him and read over his shoulder.
"A lunch invitation, how lovely," I said.
"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asked, looking up.
"New teacher," Harry answered. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"
"But why me?" Neville asked. He didn't look as if he especially wanted to go.
"Don't ask me," Harry shrugged, standing up.
Neville looked over at me. "Go," I said, smiling at him.
"I wish you were invited too," he said, standing up and heading for the door.
I shrugged. "It's okay. I don't mind not getting invited, but you go and have fun."
"I'm sure it won't be a single bit of fun," Neville said, shooting me one last smile before disappearing out of sight.
I looked around at Ron and Hermione, still smiling. They were looking back at me, so I widened my smile a little before going back to reading the Quibbler.
"So, you and Neville are still together?" Ron asked.
I looked up to see him and Hermione still watching me. "Yes, it'll be a year in December." I was quite pleased about that fact and I smiled as I said the words.
"That's great," Hermione said.
"Harry says we're not going to continue D.A. meetings this year," I said in an attempt to keep conversation going.
"Well, I guess that makes sense," Hermione said.
"I did like the meetings, though," I said.
"Yeah, they were something, weren't they?" Ron agreed. There was a small pause. "I wonder what that new teacher wants with Harry and Neville?"
"No idea," Hermione answered, shaking her head.
I shrugged and went back to the Quibbler once again. I had about as much of an idea as they did, and I was quite curious, but all I could do was wait for Neville to come back.
"You're back," Ron said about an hour later as the compartment door slid open. It was just Neville. Harry wasn't with him.
"How was lunch with the new professor?" I asked as he sat down. I set the Quibbler in my lap and gazed up at him.
"Odd," Neville answered, sliding the Spectrespecs off of my eyes. "Sorry, I can just see your eyes better now."
"They're blue," I told him.
"I know," he whispered.
"Why was it odd?" Ron asked, interrupting a very lovely moment that was surely about to turn into a very lovely kiss. It was no matter, though. There would be plenty of other moments like that. At least, I hoped so.
"There was a bunch of other people in there," Neville said. "Ginny was there, and a few Slytherins and another Gryffindor named Cormac McLaggen."
"Ginny?" Ron asked, scrunching up his nose. "What did he want with her? What did he want with any of you?"
"It seemed like most of the people there were famous or had famous relatives," Neville said.
"But Ginny's not famous and we don't have any famous relatives," Ron said.
"Slughorn saw her perform a Bat Bogey Hex on Zacharias Smith and he thought it was impressive."
"She was always good at those," Ron said. The train was coming to a stop and Ron stood up to start getting his luggage down.
"Anyway, I'm not famous or related to anyone famous either. At least not someone technically famous. My parents were just well known Aurors. He spent ten minutes asking me questions about them and about myself."
"That sounds uncomfortable," I said.
"It was," Neville agreed.
"He should have been more considerate."
"I don't mind that he asked. He was just curious, but it was rather uncomfortable."
"Is Harry still there?" Hermione asked.
"No," Neville said, looking around. "I thought he was ahead of me."
"Well, he's not here," Hermione responded. "Maybe we should wait for him."
"He's probably gone on ahead, Hermione," Ron said.
I frowned and stuck my Spectrespecs over my eyes again. I wondered if the Wrackspurt I had sensed earlier had gotten Harry. It seemed unlikely to me that he would have just gone on ahead. If the Wrackspurt had gotten him, he would be around the train somewhere, staring into space absentmindedly.
"You guys go ahead," I said. "I want to try and find the Wrackspurt I sensed earlier."
"I'll stay with you," Neville said.
"If you want to, but I really won't be long."
"No, I'll stay," he insisted, taking my hand. "I'd like to actually see if you can find this Wrackspurt."
"Okay," I agreed. I waved to Hermione and Ron. "See you two later."
They waved goodbye and headed off the train while I led Neville in the opposite direction. We reached the opposite end of the train and I opened the door to the last compartment.
"Do you see anything?" Neville asked.
"There are a whole bunch of Wrackspurts in here. They're all gathering around that one area on the floor." I pointed to where the Spectrespecs were showing me the location of the Wrackspurts. Just then, we heard a small noise come from that area. "Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Do Wrackspurts make sound?" Neville asked, sounding nervous.
"No," I answered.
Neville tentatively held out his wand and glanced at me.
"Go ahead, Neville," I said. "I think there's something there. You see, Wrackspurts are drawn to human brains so that they can do their job and make the brains go fuzzy."
Neville moved his wand and with a whooshing noise, Harry appeared, his invisibility cloak flying across the compartment. Neville probably jumped about a mile, but I smiled.
"Luna, Neville," Harry said, standing up.
"Hello, Harry," I answered. "What were you doing down there under your invisibility cloak? Were you trying to attract Wrackspurts."
"No, I—how did you find me?"
"The Wrackspurts," I answered. Your head's full of them. That and the fact that you were lying here invisible is why I thought you were trying to attract them on purpose."
"Why is your nose broken?" Neville asked.
"Long story," Harry answered, picking up his cloak. "I have to go grab my trunk and then we can head up to the castle." He brushed past us towards the compartment we had been sitting in earlier.
"I wonder what happened to him," Neville whispered in my ear as we followed Harry.
"Yes, I have to wonder about his nose. That was definitely not a Wrackspurt."
"More like a fist," Neville answered.
"Or another very strong object," I added. Neville laughed, which made me smile. It was so good to be back at school again. "Feed the thestrals with me on Saturday?" I whispered.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask me that," Neville smirked. Checking to make sure Harry wasn't looking he leaned down and gave me a kiss. He pulled away a little bit and reached up to take off my Spectrespecs. "Okay, as interesting as these are, you're going to need to take them off again. They're kind of frightening close up. You know, like the kissing kind of close up."
"I figured that's what you meant." I gave him another kiss before turning back to Harry, who was dragging his trunk out of the compartment.
"You know, Harry," Neville said as we headed back to the castle, "why is it that you're always covered in blood?"
"Bad luck, I guess," Harry answered.
"It comes in handy if you want to attract certain creatures," I said, "like vampires-,"
"No," Harry said.
"Thestrals-,"
"Only when I need to get to the Ministry on short notice," Harry said with a wry smile.
"And Blibbering Humdingers," I finished.
"Never heard of them, but I don't really want anything blubbering-,"
"Blibbering," I corrected.
"Okay," Harry said. He stopped at the spot where the carriages usually took us up to the school. There were none in sight.
"Looks like we've missed them," I said.
"I figured we would," Neville sighed.
"Looks like we're going to have to walk," Harry shrugged. "Come on, if we hurry we can make it before dinner starts."
"As long as we're in time for pudding," I said. Neville laughed and threw his arm around me as we followed Harry up the path to Hogwarts.
A/N: This is a sequel to my Luna/Neville story, Two Birds of a Feather. It's going to take place during Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. I hope everyone likes the first chapter and don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think!