Chapter 9- One of Our Own
Leanette
When I woke up I didn't even realize that I had fallen asleep. My eyes were sore and, when I looked in the mirror, red from crying.
As I quietly peeked in Neville's room, he wasn't there so he must have been downstairs.
Creeping down the stairs I heard Neville and his Gran talking. "…She's still asleep?" That was his Gran.
"Yeah, I feel bad for her, I hope bringing her here didn't just hurt her more." Neville answered.
I know I'm eavesdropping. Not usually one to do that, but they're talking about me, wouldn't you do the same in most cases?
There was a moment of silence.
"You two are lovely together."
"Gran!"
"Neville, I say what I see. And I see a very lovely couple there."
"Gran, we're not like that. We're just… friends."
She made a thoughtful little humming noise. "For now."
Deciding that was my cue, I walked in to see Neville and his Gran sitting at their kitchen table, mugs in their hands and a third sitting on the stovetop.
"Your mug is over there dear." His Gran pointed, thankfully not mentioning my red and puffy eyes.
After we had finished his Gran's tea, he offered to go for a walk.
"So… Are you okay?" He asked as he stuck his hands in his coat pockets as the snow crunched under our shoes.
The last thing I remembered was just crying into his shoulder. Now it was a bit awkward, my best friend seeing me cry.
I nodded numbly. "Yeah, thanks for… you know, comfort."
He nodded. These days he had grown so much he basically towered over everyone, especially me. Like I said, I'm just about an inch above his Gran and Neville's quite a few inches above his Gran. Basically, I'm short.
"I'm glad we're friends Leanette." Neville said softly.
"Me too." I told him truthfully. "Why say that so suddenly though?"
He sighed. "Our parents fought together, I think it's cool how we're fighting together too… Also, we've been through the same stuff, you're one of the few people I feel I can really tell anything to."
"Same." I smiled and he returned it, looking relieved almost that I was okay with what he said.
Sweet Neville. Always so shy and kind, though he's really grown from first year, and not just physically. He's grown more confident and this year he was practically a hero.
An awkward silence hung in the air seeing as neither of us really knew what to say next.
"So… Uh- I'm really sorry we weren't able to break you out." He finally spoke, referring to when I was locked in the dungeons.
I shrugged. "It's not your fault. I got myself in there. Not on purpose… but you know. They let you out after a while."
I tried to say it in a casual tone, but in all honesty I think that might have made it worse seeing as Neville got a sort of panicked look on his face.
"How bad was it?" He asked timidly.
"You saw me when I came out. I told you all the story." I sighed. "Not the best, but those other two, Kayla and Darius, were pretty nice. It would have been much worse if I was alone in there." I attempted to somehow make him feel better about it.
He was silent so I decided it was my turn to say something again. "Thanks for taking that curse for me a few days ago."
"It was nothing." He said simply.
It seemed kind of funny how he just brushed it off like it was nothing. My best friend took the bloody Cruatius curse for me and he acted like it was simply holding open the door for me.
About five days later we were back on the train to Hogwarts, the school of psychotic Death Eaters. Okay, so obviously it wasn't really called that, but the way it was run now it might as well be.
"Keep safe you two." Neville's Gran hugged us both goodbye, real concern written all over her face and through her voice.
"We will Gran." Neville muttered. "You too."
She nodded and just sent us on our way, clutching Neville's letter as if it were the only thing keeping her from death.
Later we sat down in our compartment, looking wearily around for anyone from the DA, seeing as many other students didn't come back after Christmas.
"Luna!" I grinned, seeing the blond girl skipping down the aisle into our compartment.
She gave us each a hug before handing us both a copy of the Quibbler.
"Thanks. I needed something to read." I smiled as she sat down next to Neville's leaving me space to stretch out across the rest of my side.
Suddenly things didn't look so grim. Luna was always happy, she never let anything get her down. I guess you could almost call her inspiration for me.
As I was reading, I noticed a particular article by Xenophilius Lovegood. It spoke of the problems at Hogwarts, how Harry Potter was still nowhere to be found, giving the world another chance, and… wackspurts. I quote, 'We can only pray that the wackspurts continue to invade the Death Eaters' heads, leaving them ignorant and allowing us to win the war.'
Satisfactory to me.
Just about half way to Hogwarts the train suddenly stopped again, just like when we first went to Hogwarts this year.
"This is trouble." Neville groaned as Luna just sat contentedly looking out the window.
We heard gruff voices and the slamming of compartment doors being ripped open drawing closer.
"You. Come with us." A tall man in black robes opened our compartment door with another man standing behind him and pointed at Luna.
Luna seemed about to stand before I jumped up. "Hey, what did she do? You can't just take her."
"Move aside girl." Was the man's only response.
I scoffed, standing my ground.
The man just grunted and shoved me down onto the seat next to Neville. Neville put his arms around me, whether to protect or restrain me I don't know… Maybe both.
The first man pulled Luna out of the compartment while the second man grunted and looked at the Quibbler magazines. He then picked them up and ripped them before throwing them on the floor.
"Why did they take her?" I mumbled when the train began to move again.
Neville finally let go of me and sighed, picking up one of the torn pages of the Quibbler. "I'm guessing because of this."
He held it up and I saw that it was Xenophilius Lovegood's article that I was reading earlier.
"They took her." I murmured. "One of our own…"
He just nodded silently. After all, it was probably only a matter of time, but that still didn't help the situation.
"You think she'll come back?" I asked.
Neville sighed again. "I doubt it…"
The end of the ride soon came, and Neville was right. Luna wasn't coming back.
Author's Note- I wanted to suggest that they had a thing for each other but… I'm not sure if I actually want a romance with them. So does anyone think that there should be?
Thanks to Arcticmist and The Eliminator for reviewing!
