Author's Note: I had lots of fun writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

By the way, Luna is supposed to be unnaturally temperamental in the jealousy chapters because loveis controlling her emotions! She's a fool in love!

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Chapter 10:

Butterbeers and true confessions

That Friday night, Neville felt depressed. He had finally found out that Luna liked him, but he had blown it. Her meeting with Ernie could have been just as friends, after all. Maybe if he hadn't asked Parvati….

He decided to pay his house-elf friend in the kitchens a visit. After all, it had been a while since he last saw him.

Neville jumped out of the portrait hole; it was around ten o'clock. He didn't care that he was breaking curfew. He was just looking for a chance to get away.

He crept through the halls, trying very hard not to make a sound, until, finally, he reached the portrait of the bowl of fruits. He tickled the pear and leaped sneakily into the kitchen.

There was Dobby, his house-elf friend, who he had seen in the Gryffindor common room once, very late at night. After that, Neville kept coming back to the kitchen to see him.

"Hey, Dobby," he said, waving at the house-elf.

Dobby tripped over his long sweater in his hurry to get to Neville, and came to stand in front of him. "Neville Longbottom, such a great pleasure to see you!"

Neville smiled. "Dobby, would you mind getting me a few butterbeers?"

Dobby nodded his head madly. "Of course, Neville Longbottom! Dobby would do anything for you!"

He ran off to the kitchen's storages and Neville grabbed a chair. He sat down and sighed, thinking about how he had completely destroyed his friendship with Luna. Or… had he?

Before he could finish his mental debate, Dobby came back with three butterbeers in his hands.

"Dobby wasn't sure how many Neville wanted, so he grabbed three," he said cheerfully.

He set down all three in front of Neville. Neville stared at them with wide eyes. He had never had more than one butterbeer at a time in his entire life. Well… maybe tonight was an exception, since he felt so depressed….

Dobby sat down across from him as he opened the first bottle.

Neville pointed to one of the bottles. "Do you want one, Dobby?"

Dobby shook his head. "Oh no, butterbeers have too much effect on us house-elves. Dobby will just sit and watch… maybe talk."

Neville slurped down the first one in nearly two gulps. After he had gotten the very last drop out of the bottle, he set it down hard on the table and gave a sigh of relief.

"So, Neville Longbottom," Dobby said looking at Neville intently, "what brings you to the kitchens?"

Neville looked up and suddenly felt defenseless. The next thing he knew, he was telling a house-elf all about his problems.

He started to tell Dobby about Luna.

"It all started when I crashed into her in the corridor--"

He went on rambling about Luna. He told Dobby all about their experiences together. He talked for what seemed like an hour.

"And-And she just said, 'Yes!' I really wanted to ask her, but… stupid Ernie… stupid, stupid, stupid Ernie!"

Neville was chugging down his second one. It felt great! Almost as if the entire world had been lifted off his shoulders.

Dobby was nodding sympathetically. "Yes, of course, Neville. A girl would be lucky to have you!"

Neville kept going on and on and on. "And then I tried to make her jealous, but it backfired! It backfired, Dobby!" Neville was so flooded with emotions, he was nearly in tears: He was hungrily sucking down the third butterbeer.

Dobby was now nearly in tears, too, trying to relate to Neville. "Oh no, Neville Longbottom! It failed! She didn't fall for Master Neville!"

After a while of this going back and forth, Neville told Dobby he had to go. Or… was it, three Dobbys?

He stumbled out of the kitchen and walked crookedly back to the common room. Well, he was headed toward the common room, except, he got confused and went in the direction of the Charms classroom.

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Meanwhile, Luna had been helping Professor Flitwick grade all of the Charms homework the students had handed in. She was leaving the classroom, and was on her way to the Ravenclaw common room, when… she saw a figure ahead of her.

She hurried forward, trying to see who the person was. He seemed to be talking to a wall….

Luna gasped and ran toward the person. It was Neville. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he seemed to be having trouble standing up straight.

"Neville!" Luna half whispered, half screamed. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Neville groaned, then said, "Too many… too many…. Three butterbeers, Professor… three!"

Luna had no idea why he was calling her Professor, but, frankly, she didn't care. Neville was nearly passing out! Luna grabbed him under the arms and tried to lift him up into a straighter position.

He looked up at the ceiling, confused. "Why's the ceiling purple?"

Luna looked up, too. "It's not."

Neville giggled. "I have a secret."

She looked at him with curiosity, still trying to hold him up, "What is it?"

He smiled and made a gesture for her to come closer with his finger. "Come here. You have to come closer."

Luna slid a little closer to Neville. He whined. "Closer! I have to whisper it!"

She scooted her head and turned to the side, so her ear was facing Neville. He leaned closer and whispered, still giggling, "I like Luna Lovegood."

Luna jumped back, surprised. "Really?" she said, trying to fight back to smile that was forming on her face.

Neville nodded slowing and strangely. "I like her a lot. A lot."

Luna's smile grew wider and she blushed.

Neville kept going. "She's pretty, and smart, and funny, and pretty, and nice… and pretty."

Luna was blushing even harder, now. Neville had just called her pretty… three times.

"And she," Neville said, then paused, as if trying to get his thoughts together, "she knows me. She likes plants. I like plants. She laughs at my jokes… and she's nice to me… and," he said, moving closer to whisper something, "she kissed me. Twice." He pointed to his cheek and said sleepily, "Right here."

Luna opened her mouth to say something, but Neville cut her off.

"And… I'm gonna marry her." Luna blushed a very deep ruby. He nodded and said, "And, when I come home, she's gonna be there, and I'll call her sweetheart, I'm allowed to call her sweetheart after we're married. And she's gonna kiss me every day," He went on, muttering, "Every day," repeatedly, as if it were some sort of vow.

Luna grabbed a slipping Neville and tried to help him regain his balance. "Neville, let's go. I have to get you to the common room. It's nearly midnight."

Neville stood rooted to where he was. "First," he said, sounding as serious as a drunken fourteen-year-old could sound. "Promise me something."

"What?"

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Don't tell Luna."

Luna furrowed her eyebrows, looking confused. But she didn't have much time to think about what Neville had just said: He had just doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"Neville! Neville, are you alright?"

You know, there are a few things Prince Charming's not supposed to do to Cinderella. One of those things is throwing up all over her shoes.

But Luna didn't care for the throw-up: Neville was on the floor, now, nearly passed out. She bent down and quickly wiped the barf off her shoes with the foot of her robes. She placed her hand on the back of his head and tried to lift it up.

"Neville? Neville Longbottom?"

His eyes opened slightly and he said, "I'm ready for the test, Professor." Then, he fainted.

Luna lifted him up, placing one arm over her shoulders, and steered him to the Gryffindor common room.

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Neville shot up quickly. He was on his bed in the Gryffindor tower. How he got there, he had no idea. Then, he saw a blonde head at the foot of his bed. Her back was turned to him.

"Luna?"

She turned quickly around and smiled. "Well, look who's awake and aware of what he's doing." She reached over to where he sat and hugged him. Neville just sat there, eyes wide.

After she pulled away, Neville asked, "How long was I out?"

"'Bout three hours." She said it as if she was just discussing the weather: completely neutral.

He sat up straighter. "It's three o'clock in the morning?!"

"Oh, I didn't mind staying up." She smiled at him.

"Did I get up before now?"

"Well, you got up once to tell me to feed the canary, but," she grinned at him, "I hardly think that counts."

Neville blushed and said, "Yeah… I hardly remember what I even said."

"So," Luna said, the smile receding from her face, "you don't remember anything?"

Neville thought hard. "No. I only remember going to see Dobby, and… that's it. It's all a blur after the three butterbeers."

Luna laughed and sat right next to him. "So, it was only three butterbeers?"

Neville frowned, looking confused. "Well, yeah. But, for me, that's like three bottles of fire whiskey." A new question popped up in his head. "How'd you get me in here, anyway?"

Luna smiled and grabbed his hand. "Well, as it turns out, you had all the passwords written on a sheet of paper in your pocket. I had to lie to the fat lady and say I was a Gryffindor. And when I got in, the only person in the common room was Hermione. She asked me what had happened and I told her about… um, your little performance out there. Anyway, she helped me bring you up to the dormitory. The boys were all asleep, so only me and Hermione know what happened to you… and the fat lady."

Neville gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I'd heard about this from Ron till the day I leave Hogwarts."

Luna laughed and brought her other hand up to his forehead. "Oh, good. Your temperature went down."

He looked at her, puzzled. "My temperature was up?"

Luna grinned and brought her hand back down. "Yeah, I guess that's just another affect it has on you."

"So," he said, "could you enlighten me on the things I said while I was… you know--"

Luna blushed and looked down.

"Oh, come on," Neville pleaded. "Was it really that bad?"

"No… not exactly…." Luna tried to stall for time. "Are those new socks?"

Neville looked down at his feet. "T-That's not important! What'd I say?"

"Well," she said, trying to beat around the fact he'd mentioned marriage, "you said the ceiling was purple, you called me Professor, you… um, you told me you were ready for a test."

"Is that all I said?"

"Um… no. You also mentioned a few other things… you called me pretty."

Neville blushed. "Did I say anything else?"

Luna looked hastily down at her watch. "Wow! It's three thirty! I have to go, Neville. But, you can ask Hermione about what you said, I told her."

She leaned down and kissed his cheek. She then pulled her hand away from his and ran out of the dormitory. Neville barely had time to say goodbye.

Neville slumped against his pillow and slowly let his eyes drift shut. He had a big and confusing day ahead of him.

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Author's (other) Note: Ok, my loyal readers, are you ready for this? Here's a question for all of you out there that I need answered: What color are Neville's eyes?

Now, I need a fact. This information will come in handy in my later chapters. If you know for sure, I want to know, too!! If it's just an opinion, shut your cake-holes and don't tell me. See, I've always thought his eyes were brown, but then I heard that were a light bluish-greenish color. Then I also heard they were blue… and… I FEEL CONFUSED!!

So, if you know, INFORM ME!

If you don't, please review anyway!

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