"Hi, Luna." Neville replied, smiling. He'd grown taller since he was seventeen. Well, yeah. Luna had to remind herself, He's nineteen now. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." she said through numb lips, stepping aside.

"I don't get a hug?" He asked, spreading his arms out. Luna permitted a brief smile before stumbling forward into his outstretched arms. She found that she was completely comfortable there.

"I missed you." She murmured. "You were my best friend."

"I hope I still am." he squeezed her more tightly, then released her. He stepped back to take a look at her.

"You look good."

"So do you." She smiled. "What have you been up to for the past two years?"

He grinned slightly. "Working at the ministry. Making my gran proud. Doing stuff I don't want to do. But now, I've decided to chase after my own heart."

He looked Luna directly in the eye as he said this. For some reason, a shiver ran up her spine. "Starting with...?"

"Finding you, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Well, you first."

First.Nobody had ever sought her first.

"They're all here."

"Yes, I know. I went to your house, but it was in repair. What happened?"

Luna quickly explained the accident with the Crumple-horned Snorkack horn, and Neville grinned and shook his head. "The workmen said that your dad was in St. Mungo's, and you were here. So Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are here, as well?"

"Yes, and George too."

Neville unexpectedly hugged her again. "I've missed you all so much." He stepped back again. "I heard about Fred."

Luna tried to smile. "He's up, singing on the moon with the Lunars now."

Neville smiled, too. "Lunar. That's that moonslug."

Luna's smile was real this time. "You remembered!"

"Luna?" Ginny called. "Who was at the door?"

Ginny came into the room, closely followed by Harry. Ginny screamed, causing Ron to fall out of his chair. Harry ran forward to hug Neville. "Good to see you back here, mate!"

Ron came in, too. "Neville! Where have you been?" Ginny hugged him, and once Hermione came back, with George, they all sat down in the living room.

Luna summoned their bowls of soup with her wand. She filled another one for Neville, and they all tried to squeeze in somewhere. Ginny was sitting on Harry's lap in one of the armchairs, Ron, Hermione, and George took the sofa, and Neville and Luna sat on the loveseat.

They all sat and listened as Neville told them his story.

"Gran wanted me to be an auror after the war. So, to please her, I worked a year and a half in the office. I didn't enjoy it much; I liked working against Lord Voldemort, but I think I'd rather work in Hogwarts. So I put my foot down. I told gran, I didn't want to follow her dreams any more. I wanted to follow my own. And she said she'd been praying for the last six months that I'd have the courage to tell her so."

"So she knew?" Ron interrupted. Neville gave a dry laugh. "Oh yes, she knew."

Luna smiled and leaned her head against her best friend's shoulder. It felt so good, so right, to have him back here.

"You can always stay here, mate, for as long as you want." Harry offered.

Neville sighed in relief. "That would be great."

"I've moved rooms." Luna spoke up. "I thought George-"

"I'm going back to the shop."

Everyone gaped at George. "No, no, you can't!" Ginny said, standing up. Harry pulled her back down.

George shook his head. "I've spent too much time moping. I'm going to stay here tonight, long enough to pack my bags, and then I'm going to stay at the flat above she shop."

"Luna." Hermione said, hesitantly. "We really haven't many rooms... would you and Neville mind sharing a room?"

Luna smiled happily. Some time to catch up with Neville! "Not at all." she grinned. "I can show him my collection of Fermius Frigingley Fireplants."

"They're Mestropolis Platnaroots." Hermione whispered to Neville.

"Why don't you show Neville his room?" Ginny suggested. "He can get settled. Speaking of, Luna, have you seen Neville the gnome lately?"

"I haven't been able to talk to him." Luna confessed.

"There was a gnome poking around in the garden this morning. He kept on mumbling 'Looney' so I supposed he was looking for you."

"Thanks." Luna smiled at Ginny. "I'll just get Neville settled then go looking for him."

She flicked on the light at the end of the stairs and lead Neville up three flights.

"Neville the gnome?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, yes." Luna replied as she opened the door. " It seemed like a suitable name for him."

Neville began laughing and pulled her into another unexpected hug. "I've missed you, Luna."

This time, Luna felt something odd, like somebody had dropped a frozen gurdyroot down the back of her shirt. "I've missed you, too." she managed to gasp. She pointed to the right bed and faintly flew down the stairs, ignoring the surprised looks from Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and George.

She collapsed in the garden underneath the willow tree; the one that the Twin's old bedroom overlooked. A scurry in the bushes caught her eye and she looked. Neville crawled out a moment later. "Luna Lovegood?"

"Yes."she answered, wiping her slightly running nose on her sleeve.

"Are you all right?" he asked, gouging her expression.

"I'm fine." she replied, a defiant tone in her voice.

"I see."

"My best friend, Neville, come back. You want to meet him?" Luna asked. Neville nodded enthusiastically. "Neville!" Luna hollered as loud as she could. She had no idea why she was so annoying sometimes. Usually it was because of the look on Hermione's face when she acted so. Luna could just picture Hermione inside the house, wincing and holding her ears.

Neville was outside in seconds. "Yes?"

Luna couldn't keep the grin off her face from seeing him. "Hi."

He looked jubilantly annoyed. "Is that it?"

Luna laughed. "No. Guess."

"You have a gnome named after me and you wanted me to meet him."

Luna's mouth dropped open. "How did you know that?"

Neville pointed up. "My window is right above you. I could hear every word you said. And you told me that you named a gnome after me."

Neville the gnome was gone. Perhaps he had gotten bored with the proceedings, or spotted a particularly delectable-looking worm. Either way, he wasn't there anymore.

She leaned against Neville, overwhelmed with his return. "I love you." she murmured.

He stiffened. "What?"

"You're my best friend. I love you. I love you, I love Ginny, I love Hermione, I love Harry, I love Ron. I love all of you."

He relaxed. "I love you, too."

Something strange happened to her when he said that. Her brain went all fuzzy and she lost focus looking at his innocent, clear gray eyes.

"Neville, we have to move, a Wrackspurt just got my brain for a second." she said, pulling his arm. "I want to show you something."

He obligingly held his arm out and she gripped it tightly. He gasped when she turned on the spot and apparated with a loud crack.

xoxoxoxoxo

"Professor?" Luna asked, timidly. She still hadn't become accustomed to calling Professor McGonagall by her first name.

"Please, call me Minerva." Professor McGonagall said easily, pouring each of them a cup of tea.

"Well, I heard you were looking for a Herbology teacher and-"

"You think Mr. Longbottom would be quite suited for the job."

"Oh, yes." Luna said, earnestly. "I do think so. He had an O on everything he ever did in that class, you see."

"Yes, I do remember him getting outstanding remarks in every aspect of Herbology through the years." McGonagall peered at Neville, who was sipping his tea very comfortably, over the top of her spectacles. "And does Mr. Longbottom think that he would prefer this job?"

"I do like working with other children." Neville considered it. "But don't you reckon- think, sorry, professor, that I'd be too young?"

"You have graduated school with a N.E.W.T in Herbology, and you have an uncanny knack for understanding students, so, yes, I do believe you'd be fine."

"Then I'd like it." Neville smiled.

Luna leaped up, quite startling both Professor McGonagall and Neville, and upsetting her cup of tea, to hug Neville. "Oh, wonderful, wonderful!"

Neville patted her on the back, quite unnerved. "Why don't we walk in the gardens to talk?" he suggested.

Luna shook her head. "No, there are too many Wrackspurts floating around in gardens. Let's walk around the lake."

McGonagall stood up as they left the class room. "We will see you on September first, Professor Longbottom."

"Thank you, Minerva." Neville replied.

"Yes, thank you, P- Minerva." Luna said, slipping her arm into Neville's, who looked surprised but pleased.

"Neville, how have you truly been?" Luna asked as they headed down the staircase. "You haven't told me much."

Neville sighed. "I suppose I have to tell you the entire thing."

"I expect it, yes." Luna frowned as they reached the front doors. Neville waved his wand and they opened. The pair set off at a slow pace around the grounds.

"All right, I suppose I'll start from the very beginning." He furrowed his head, thinking hard as they moved closer to the Quidditch pitch.

"I attempted to restart the Order of the Phoenix. There were still many of Voldemort's close followers loose, and quite unhappy with Harry Potter. Once they's figured out that Hermione, Ron, Ginny, me, and you had a hand in his downfall, they had decided to set out against us. I managed to gather together a few people; McGonagall was a big help. We got back into Number 12, Grimmauld Place, and I sent myself up to get Rodolphus Lestrange. Bellatrix's husband, you know. Well, he put up quite a nasty fight, but in the end, we got him into Azkaban. And of course, there was a lot of work to be doing after the war. Rounding up Dementors, restoring order, healing the injured, burying the dead."

"I knew nothing of this, neither did the rest, we could have helped-" Luna began, but Neville placed one finger on her lips. She fell silent.

"No, you couldn't. We kept you there for a reason. Harry Potter would be much better protected with you four. Well, seven, if you count George and Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. But the cleaning up wasn't the hard part.

"Not long afterwards, I sent myself into the mountains, alone. The giants who had survived, and there weren't many, had to be warned of the downfall of Voldemort, in case they tried to once more wreak havoc on the land. I would have taken Hagrid, of course, but I was not sure how his reception would be, given his last visit to the Giant's land, and he was on his honeymoon." Neville's face twitched.

"But I managed to get there, fine. There were probably only about fifteen giants left- the rest had been taken care of by either the Acromantulas, or Grawp, or wizards and witches. I stayed in a mountain to the left, plotting ways to approach their camp."

Luna let out a little squeak, but made herself be quiet as Neville glanced at her. He wove his hand tightly into hers, and she leaned against him, letting herself fall into the story. She could almost see him camping out in a cave in the mountain, clamboring over rocks, dirt and sweat sticking his hair to his forehead.

"I had no need to worry, however. When I first arrived, I realized that they were in no order to fight against me. Their clan had fallen apart. It was thirteen females and two males, and one of the males was very, very sick. The other was as gentle as a giant can be, and instead of killing the other male, nursed it. Perhaps he realized that the giant population was dying out.

"I spoke to them carefully. The sick one was able to translate, and he repeated what I told them. I said that I was here in the memory of Albus Dumbledore, and that he had passed away. A few seemed to understand the loss. I also told them that the Wizard called Lord Voldemort had passed away, and that the cause of this was a greater, good wizard by the name of Harry Potter had come.

"They seemed pleased by this. I told them Harry Potter was a friend of mine, and that if they pleased, the giants may roam any mountains in the area. I told them that we were all for United Creatures Rights. They seemed to take a liking to me. They told the translator to ask me to stay, and they berated me with questions, about life after the war, about Harry Potter, and about..." he hesitated, then seemed to decide to tell the truth. "And about you, Luna."

Luna shook her head. She'd been so caught up in his story, it felt strange coming back to the real world. "About me? How would they know about me?"

Neville made a strange motion with his hand. "Oh, you know, stories get back to the mountains. But they mostly knew about you because I used your name often. They loved hearing about you. About the girl I lo- love to have as a best friend." he stammered.

She tugged him down to the ground beneath the willow tree. "Well, why me? Why not Hermione, or Ginny, or Harry or Ron?"

"Because I-" He stopped. "Because I love you."

"Thanks." she snuggled into his side. "I love you, too, Neville. But honestly, what is the reason?"

"That is it. I love you."

And suddenly, Luna grasped the concept of his words. Her head started ringing, her mouth felt dry, and the ground seemed very far away. She could blame this on a Wrackspurt, but to be honest with herself, she knew this wasn't it. Besides, Wrackspurt's didn't much like water.

"What do you mean by that, exactly?" she asked faintly, pulling a bit looser from his grasp. He wouldn't let her.

"I'll show you." He said softly, leaning towards her, pulling her chin towards his with his hand. She had just the time to wonder where on earth all this confidence had come from before he kissed her.

Luna had never been kissed before.

She realized this as he held her, and as the prickle of heat spread up her spine. Never had a boy held her like this. She'd never even had a boyfriend. And before Neville, nobody had ever told her they loved her. Not even her father, although she supposed he meant well.

Her eyes were open, she realized next. She shut them quickly, and moved her arms awkwardly so they were draped on his neck. They felt like a million pounds, she thought, but her head felt like it was floating. She hadn't quite decided whether it was a good feeling or not.

But he was kissing her.

He broke the kiss just as Luna realized she was running out of air. She stared at him, and he looked straight back with his gray-blue eyes, and nobody had looked at her like that before. Nobody had looked at her like they wanted her so much it hurt, like they needed her to live, like they... like they loved her.

"That's what I mean by that." Neville said, breathless.

And Luna realized a third thing.

She had really, undeniably, liked that kiss.

A/N: oooooh cliffie! Yes, she liked it! I've always loved LunaxNeville, I don't care that JKR said that Neville never gets married and Luna marries that Rolf guy, can't she see that they're perfect together? You know, I used to think JKR was a guy... okay, now I'm getting off topic. Review!