A/N: Hey y'all! I'm back from my mission trip in Toronto! It was a lot of hard work but really fun! Including my youth group team from Canada we also worked with people from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Mississippi (just thought I'd let my reader from the US know! :D). Also to answer a review I got from Zoe Snow that I could not PM back: Beauxbatons is only an all-girls school in the movies. In the books boys do attend it (I'm aiming for a good mixture of both movie & book)! Wow, I'm blathering! On to the next chapter…


Neville didn't know what to do. As they turned out of the Great Hall; away from the booming music and boisterous laughter within, a sudden realisation came to him. He was walking alone with the kindest, prettiest, most unique and wonderful girl he'd ever met and he didn't know what to say. This didn't really surprise him since he normally wasn't very good at talking to people at all (much less pretty girls). What could he talk about? The weather? Yeah…that'd be really interesting. What about those peculiar earrings she was wearing that looked like they were made of radishes? No…blokes don't talk about jewelry (not even with girls). What about her oddly brilliant dress and how beautiful she looked in it? Definitely not! Neville felt like he was going to throw up just thinking about that particular conversation starter. But when he felt Luna halt by his side and saw her turn he followed in suit. What awaited him was one of the people he wanted to see the least.

Matthew Turner was running behind them panting with a light sheen of sweat on his brow. His dress robes were a tad ruffled. Neville liked seeing his imperfect appearance.

"Oh, hello Matthew," said Luna serenely. "Were you getting tired of those clingy girls?"

"I was wondering where you'd ran off to!" Matthew was panting as if he'd run a marathon. Neville got the impression that stalking them was the most physical exertion he'd done in the past five years. "Why'd you ditch?"

"Because you weren't paying attention to me," said Luna simply. "So I went to sit with my new friend Neville." She gestured her hand up and down towards Neville as he blushed and met Matthew's gaze. He looked quite put out. "He looked rather distraught and I wanted to cheer him up."

"Listen," began Matthew. Neville could tell that he was about to turn on the old charm to lure Luna back to the Great Hall which would leave him alone in the halls, standing there like an idiot. "I'm really sorry that I haven't paid you enough attention tonight. I was just catching up with some girls I met a few days ago. But I did realise that you'd left, didn't I?" When Luna didn't respond except to give him an icy glare, Matthew cleared his throat and continued. "Why don't you come back into the Great Hall?" His eyes went wide and adoring. Luna's icy eyes turned to puddles as Neville averted his gaze to his now-scuffed dancing shoes. Here it comes, Neville thought.

"It's alright Matthew. I'll come. Neville?" Neville's head popped up at his name and turned to Luna's wide, tender eyes. "D'you want to come with us?" And see Ginny and Luna having the time of their lives with their new boyfriends? No way.

"No thanks. I'll just stay out here." Neville was almost inaudible as he said this, looking at the aglets of his shoelaces. He was so humiliated. Now two girls have ditched him for other guys in one night! But he wasn't enough of a man to stand up for himself and say what was really on his mind. If he was being logical he would tell himself that he wasn't really a man anyways; given the fact that he was only fourteen. But that didn't excuse him from acting like a wimp 24/7! Neville was about to say something when Matthew interrupted his thoughts.

"Well, if you're done mumbling to yourself we'll be off." Neville just realised that he'd been thinking aloud to himself. Wow. If he hadn't shown Luna how much of a loser he was before now, that definitely would've. He blushed for about the fiftieth time that night as he stared at Luna's slight, fragile, retreating figure. She had kept her eyes on Neville and was still staring at him over her shoulder. Her countenance showed concern…maybe even something else, but Neville wouldn't allow his thoughts to go further than concern.

As she finally turned her face towards Matthew again he whispered something in her ear. Neville got sick just looking at them. They really did look quite cute together. Neville was about to turn on his heel and retreat to Gryffindor's common room when he noticed something flash in Luna's eyes he hadn't seen before as she looked at Matthew: hate, fire, loathing.

Luna took slow, deliberate steps backwards towards Neville; not turning her body from Matthew. Neville wondered what he'd said that made her react this way. "Don't you ever," she began as she stopped when she reached Neville's right side. "Don't you ever say anything like that ever again!" Now she was acting much more rough and edgy, like she actually had human feelings. Neville was a bit frightened of this side of Luna, but at the same time he loved this side of her.

"You know?" she continued "I was going to give you another chance because you seemed genuinely sorry and because I like to try to be as forgiving as possible, but you've shown me time and time again that you don't care about anybody but yourself! Calling me Loony and ignoring me tonight I didn't really care about, but insulting him-" Neville jumped away from her hand as she jerked her thumb in his direction, afraid that she might lash out against him next. "-simply because you think it's funny? That's where I draw the line." Matthew backed up as Luna reached under her feathery skirt, pulled out her wand and pointed it at Matthew. This didn't really surprise Neville because he was under the impression that this girl did much more odd things than somehow hide her wand in her dress. "You don't know a thing about him." Neville found this ironic because Luna barely knew anything about him, either. But it was weird. As they were talking in the Great Hall he felt a sort of "kindred spirit" thing going on between them. Maybe she felt it too…

"What?" asked Matthew in an oddly high-pitched voice as he eyed Luna's wand tip pointed squarely at his nose. "I was only saying the truth!" He turned his eyes to Neville pleadingly. "I mean, you'd agree if I said that you weren't the brightest-"

"Petrificus Totalus!" Luna yelled. Neville scrambled backwards as Matthew's body crashed to the floor, face-first, at Neville's feet. Neville stared wide-eyed at Luna. Her eyes were still on Matthew's motionless body and they were now glittering not, Neville realised, with malice anymore.

After they both watched Matthew for a long time; Luna sniffed, took a deep breath and said "Come on Neville." She grasped his hand and quickly walked down the corridor. Neville didn't take his eyes off of Matthew or start walking until he felt Luna tug on his hand. He had to lean down and slightly stumble down the corridor to keep up with her quick pace.

As Neville looked down at their intertwined fingers he felt a lurch of nervousness in the pit of his stomach. He wondered if Luna felt the same way. She did stick up for him back there. But then again, a lot of his friends would've. But none of them would hex his bullies for him, he didn't think. And why had she been crying? Did she have something to hide?


A/N: This chapter did not turn out the way I expected it to at all! But this is where my mind went and I find that the spontaneous plot points that plop into my head are almost always better than the ones I originally plan out. What do you think? Send me a review if you'd like! I will probably only do one more chapter after this, then an epilogue (who else didn't know how to pronounce that when they were younger?). Stay awesome, readers!