"Oh Neville, isn't it going to be wonderful?"

"What?"

"The Yule ball! The dancing, the dress robes, the food…" Luna smiled dreamily.

"I guess so. I didn't know you were looking forward to it so much." Luna frowned at Neville's words.

"Looking forward to it? Not really. I'm not allowed to go." Neville was puzzled.

"Why not?"

"I'm not old enough" Luna sighed. "I'm a third year and you need to be a fourth year or above to go. Or get asked by somebody in fourth year or above." Luna fixed Neville with an intense stare as she said this.

"Oh, well, why don't you ask somebody who's old enough to go to take you then?"

Luna seemed to pull a face at Neville's suggestion, but he wasn't sure why. He was doing his best to be helpful. He didn't see why the ball was such a big deal anyway. Uncomfortable robes, too-loud music, and an inability to dance were just a few of the things that put Neville off the Yule ball.

"I suppose I could ask somebody," Luna said mildly.

"Yeah, then you can go to the ball," Neville replied eagerly. "Do you know who you'd like to ask?" He suddenly felt very nervous, although he couldn't have explained why.

"I think so." Luna seemed reluctant to tell Neville more, which seemed odd to him.

Since they had become friends there wasn't much that they didn't tell each other – Luna had confided in Neville about losing her mother. In turn Neville had told Luna about losing his parents, although he preferred to be vague and let her think they were dead, rather than explain the awful truth. His friendship with Luna was nice and simple. He didn't want to complicate it with sympathy or pity or awkward conversations. It wasn't so bad Luna knowing his parents hadn't raised him, because she'd suffered the loss of her mother, but telling her the truth was something Neville wasn't quite ready for.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The more time Neville spent with Luna the more time he spent daydreaming. He wondered why she didn't want to talk about the Yule ball, her uncharacteristic secrecy had piqued Neville's interest.

"Well who is it?"

"Who would I like to attend the Yule ball with?"

"Yeah." Neville nodded encouragingly.

"Why, it's you, Neville Longbottom."

Neville's cheeks turned red faster than Ron's ears do when he gets angry. Luna wanted to go to the Yule ball, with him! Him! He was taken aback, and didn't know what to say. He managed a sort of squeak, and then his cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. If Neville went to the Yule ball, he supposed he would ask Luna. She was his best friend, and she would definitely make the dull evening more interesting. He had noticed that she was a girl too, unlike Harry and Ron, who seemed oblivious to the fact that Hermione was a girl.

"Neville? Are you alright?"

"i'mfinethanks"

"Pardon?"

"I'm fine thanks" he spoke more slowly, although his cheeks remained fiery.

"Good, I was concerned you were being attacked by scarlet thermoths."

Neville's blank look prompted an explanation from Luna, but he was only half listening if he was honest.

He wondered if he ought to ask Luna to the ball. She wouldn't be able to go unless someone from his year or above accompanied her, and she clearly wanted to go. Neville had already admitted to himself that if he went he would probably have asked her, but he hadn't seriously considered how to ask her. Should he just ask her right here, or should he get her flowers, or something like that? He had recently noticed that Luna was becoming quite pretty, and if he didn't ask her soon – if he asked her – somebody else might ask her. Then he wouldn't be able to go with her, but he still wasn't sure if he wanted to go to the ball anyway. Neville groaned. It was all too confusing.

This made Luna look even more concerned, and seemed to reinforce her diagnosis of a scarlet thermoth attack. She was in the middle of suggesting that Neville walk up stairs backwards to confuse them when Neville giggled. It was a nervous giggle, and it quickly became uncontrollable, knowing it was a bad time to laugh made it worse and Neville couldn't help himself.

Luna looked hurt and angry.

"I know a lot of people laugh at me, but I thought you were nicer than they are Neville. I know you don't always believe in some of the creatures that I've discovered with my father, but that never stopped us being friends before. And if you didn't want to go to the ball with me, you should have just said so. I think I'm going to go back to Ravenclaw tower now."

Luna got up and left, while Neville's laughter died very suddenly. He wasn't laughing at Luna! He was just nervous about asking her to the ball and now she thought he had laughed at her. It was just a misunderstanding. To be truthful, he didn't always believe in some of the creatures Luna talked about, but it was part of her charm. If Luna didn't talk about weird things, he'd think there was something wrong with her.

Neville pushed his chair back and jogged to catch up with Luna.

"Luna! Wait, I – I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing at you. I was just nervous," he began studying a spot about a foot to the left of Luna's head. "You were talking, I hadn't even decided, and I didn't want anyone else, but I wanted to do it properly."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Luna seemed puzzled, but his apology had repaired her hurt feelings.

"Go to the ball with me?" Neville squawked.

"That would be delightful," Luna smiled.

xxx

A/N: WRT me calling Neville a bad dancer – I know he dances like Mr Darcy in the films but he keeps stepping on Ginny's feet in the books, so I went with book canon over film canon.

Also, everyone writes about the actual Yule ball when they write GoF fanfic. I thought it would be fun to try something a little different. Hopefully you enjoyed it.