Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 2. The Magic of the Night continues.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

16/04/18 Beta by alix33, Thank you.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

It is nice to be able to turn a sad bitter incident from canon into an extraordinary Harmony moment.

- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -

While Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall, another pair of eyes watched them go. He was sitting on the same bottom step that Hermione had collapsed onto, and had been there since the end of the second dance of the evening. Sadly, he didn't need to cast a Notice-Me-Not charm, for not being noticed seemed to come naturally to Neville Longbottom.

He had witnessed the stupid jealous bitter anger of the redhead git and his bad mood vibes had ruined Neville's first ball. He had been surprised when Ginny Weasley had told him to ask her to go to the ball with him. He was not sure with Ginny being Ronald's little sister and all, and he had seen how Ginny looks at Harry, like all the time. But you didn't say no to Ginny Weasley, and so to not disappoint her, he had practised his dancing for many hours alone.

But it had been of no use.

One look at the angry git and feeling the bad mood vibe that surrounded him like a dark storm cloud, and Neville developed two very big left feet. He was so nervous that he had stepped on Ginny's toes so many times during their first dance that she surrendered, stopped the dance, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed the arm of a cute Durmstrang wizard and disappeared to the other side of the Great Hall, far, far away from the stupid jealous git and his dark mood.

So Neville did what he did best and took up a seat to watch others have fun. Or at least try to, but the dark mood of the jealous git was as effective as a whole dread of Dementors were at sucking the joy out of the ball. He had witnessed the bitter fight Ronald had picked with Hermione and had seen the look of satisfaction on the vindictive git's face as Hermione left in anger. What the stupid tosser had said was enough to start a blood feud between Viktor and the half-wit.

Sadly, Neville saw the final confrontation in the corridor that had left Hermione collapsed on the bottom step in tears. He agreed with her one hundred percent, Ronald ruined everything for everyone. He heard the high-pitched scream of the git but couldn't see what the idiot had done and heard as the git ran away. He was about to go over and try to comfort Hermione when he sensed a presence of someone under a Notice-Me-Not charm and Hermione stopped crying. He assumed it was Harry so he remained where he sat alone and just watched the space where Hermione had disappeared. Sure enough Harry appeared and asked Hermione to go the ball with him. Neville smiled as he watched them walk arm in arm into the Great Hall. They made a great couple and he could never understand why they put up with the loud, greedy, jealous, lazy git.

Then Neville noticed another young witch who was sitting alone on the same bottom step but on the other end against the wall. She seemed to have a wistful smile as she watched Harry and Hermione go, but her dress looked a little odd, like it was made out of a white bed sheet wrapped around her and her feet were bare. But seeing Harry have the courage to ask Hermione to the ball, had embolden him to ask the shy witch if she would like to go to the ball with him.

Neville stood up and walked over to the dark blonde witch and held out his hand. "Hi, I am Neville Longbottom."

The dark blonde witch looked up cautiously to see the kind blue eyes and held up her hand warily. "Hi, I am Luna Lovegood."

Neville took hold of her hand. "Hello, Luna, would you like to go to the ball with me?"

"Oh, er?"

Neville was so nervous that he took that for a 'yes' and lifted the petite witch to her feet, only for her to desperately grab her white bed sheet dress that was wrapped around her before it fell to the floor.

At that moment, the three Gryffindor chasers were returning to the Great Hall after refreshing themselves in the girls' bathroom and had seen the whole thing.

Katie Bell thought it was the bravest thing Neville had ever done and asked. "Who is this princess, Neville?"

Neville turned the three chasers glad for the distraction as he had no idea what was happening to Luna's dress. But Neville passed the first test of friendship with flying colours. The test of loyalty to his new friend. "Oh, this is my date, Luna Lovegood." And turning to Luna he continued. "And Luna, this is Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet."

Luna shyly smiled a hello, as Neville introduced her to his friends. As a Ravenclaw, she knew them as the Three Wicked Witches of Gryffindor, such was their notoriety and skill on the Quidditch pitch, and she would love to have them as her friends.

"Well, Princess Luna needs a pair of princess slippers." Katie said as she waved her wand to summon two crystal dishes from a table and transfigure them into the most exquisite crystal high-heeled slippers and placed them on the floor in front of Luna.

Luna looked at Neville who smiled encouragingly as he still held her hand while her other hand held up her bed sheet dress. She looked at the three smiling Gryffindor witches and detected no hint of deceit or guile. Then she looked down at the exquisite crystal slippers. In all her sad time at Hogwarts no one had shown her any friendship, except for an odd house-elf called Dobby, who was always telling her fascinating tales about the Great Harry Potter and had ensured that when she had been locked out of the Ravenclaw tower, barefoot, without clothes and her wand, that she had a clean white bed sheet to wear and lots of hot chocolate to keep her warm. And now this shy wizard had asked her to the ball and his friend had transfigured a pair of exquisite crystal slippers for her.

With Neville still holding her hand to steady her, she carefully stepped into the crystal slippers. They fitted her feet perfectly and were far more comfortable than the cold stone floor.

Angelina Johnson spoke next. "And Princess Luna needs a princess gown to wear to the ball." She waved her wand and transfigure Luna's bed sheet into a white satin off the shoulder strapless long flowing gown that hugged her petite figure and flared from the waist into a full length beautiful princess ballgown.

Luna had never seen such a beautiful gown and as Neville lifted her arm up she twirled around to watch how the beautiful ballgown seemed to float.

Alicia Spinnet spoke next. "And Princess Luna needs to have a princess hairstyle." She waved her wand at Luna's hair and it twisted itself into a beautiful French braids and finished with a French twist at the back with some curls hanging down to frame her face. Very similar to what Hermione had done.

Katie spoke at last. "And Princess Luna needs a tiara." And she waves her wand to summon a third crystal dish and transfigure it into a beautiful crystal tiara as it floated onto the front of Luna's head and sparkled as it slipped into her hair.

All Neville could say was. "Wow!" Very slowly as Luna really did looked like the most beautiful princess he had ever seen.

"Now run along you two, have fun and don't forget midnight." Katie warned.

"What? Tonight?" Neville asked.

"No, tomorrow night, silly." Katie replied with a smile. "The enchantments will last until then."

"Enjoy this night." Angelina smiled. "And make it special."

While Princess Luna smiled her first real smile at Hogwarts as she gave a graceful curtsey to thank her three new friends as her prince charming, Neville, led her into the Great Hall for her first ball, arm in arm. Luna couldn't wait to kick up her heals in this beautiful ballgown.

The three fairy godsisters high fived each other as they took pride in their handiwork. They had noticed the sad state of the young Ravenclaw witch but were powerless to intervene, house autonomy and all that, not that Gryffindor didn't have its own issues with Cormac McLaggen and Ronald Bilius Weasley. But now Luna has a Gryffindor boyfriend, she will be now under the protection of the Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and things will change.

Then they heard a deafening crash above them and a distant loud angry. "Who, the bloody hell, put that there!"

Followed by a deep sneering cheerful voice. "Detention! Again! Weasley!" And gleefully added. "And another one hundred points from Gryffindor! Yahoo!"

And they fist pumped together. "Yes! This night is just getting better and better."

The Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were so sick of the redhead moRon accidentally wandering through the pink door into their change room while claiming he was looking for Harry, and they knew the house point system was abused by the slime-ball professor, but the more points Snape took, the angrier the kitty would be when she caught up with him and she might just finally do something right. They smirked as they watched their Head of House run out of the Great Hall to find out what had happened to all of the Gryffindor house points and she was followed by the headmaster intent on protecting his Potions professor from a most painful death.

And they fist pumped together again. "YES!"

Arm in arm the cheerful three fairy godsisters sashayed into the Great Hall and watched as Neville and Luna started to waltz to the music. Slowly at first but with growing confidence and smiles. Thankful that all the attention was on the other couple dancing gracefully in the center of the Great Hall, and no one recognised who the new mystery young couple was.

Except for three very happy fairy godsisters and they wouldn't tell anyone.

Then the Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor found their dates for the night and wanted to dance but they noticed that everyone seemed to be held spellbound as they watched the only other couple dancing in the middle of the Great Hall. They saw their young seeker float across the floor arm in arm with the only witch who could keep up with him. They marvelled as Harry's flying skills and grace and daring were transformed into a waltz that perfectly brought out the passion of the music and it was breathtakingly beautiful to watch as all the witches swayed with the soaring melody and the way Hermione's gown floated and moved.

Sadly, the music slowed and stopped as the waltz ended while the young couple alone in the middle of the Great Hall slowly circled each other as they have done every day for the last three years and they stared into each other's eyes. Slowly at first, they moved closer together until their lips gently touched.

Then their lips touched again as his arms went around her waist to hold her tight while her arms went around his neck and her hands went into his messy black hair as the kiss deepened. While a great cheer went up and witches swooned around the Great Hall as they felt the passion of that kiss and there was a loud gong sounding as if the castle celebrated the moment.

Not that Harry and Hermione noticed, they were in love.

From her position on the floor where the three fairy godsisters had swooned to, Katie noticed that Neville and Luna's lips were gently touching too.

After a moment that seemed to last forever, the band returned and started to play again as everyone moved onto the dance floor to celebrate the night as they danced around the young couple still kissing passionately in the middle of the Great Hall. Later Harry and Hermione danced a sizzling tango that left scorch marks on the stone floor while the mystery couple was almost as hot.

Neville was so happy that there were no mistakes in the tango, not like all the mistakes he had made in life. Its simplicity is what made the tango so great. If he made a mistake and got all tangled up with Luna, they could just tango on. While Luna loved to dance with her magical creatures, this was so much better! And Neville hasn't stepped on her toes once! Luna was so happy her smile lit up the Great Hall.

Without professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape or Ronald Bilius Weasley to ruin the night and end the ball, it went on and on until the band finally fell asleep at 4:00 AM, Harry and Hermione were too buzzed to sleep and went up to top of the Astronomy Tower with Neville and Luna to snuggle and watch the stars until the dawn.

That and a little gentle lip touching.

Okay, okay, a little more snuggling and a lot of gentle lip touching.

While a certain very happy house-elf kept them warm with blankets and lots of hot chocolate.

- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -

Thank you for reading.