DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything HP.
A/N: My lovely reader and constant source of encouragement, Alix Jackson, has asked to see Neville in this chapter so here it is (don't kill me!)! Sorry for kicking him out of the picture for the last few chapters and…Enjoy!
From that moment on, the distance between Mia and Danny seemed ever closer. Danny looked at Mia, taking in her smooth skin, her curly blonde hair, her pink flush lips and bright silver eyes and thought: what is it about this girl that makes me so comfortable to be around her? It had hardly been a year since he found her and yet she had already opened the deepest, darkest corner of his heart. He had never, ever talked about his parents' death to anyone besides Nanny before, and it was always awkward when the topic was brought up. This wasn't the case with Mia though; perhaps it was her kindness and understanding that weakened his instinct to keep his mouth shut.
After their heart to heart, they continued with Mia's birthday celebrations. It was simple, yet Mia had never felt more at home. Nanny actually made a birthday cake with fresh cream and it was absolutely mouthwatering. For dinner, they had dish upon dish of delicacies, with shrimp, fried noodles, steamed fish, spicy fried chicken and so on, all a result of a full day of hard work on the part of Nanny. There was way too much for the three of them to clear alone and so they invited neighbors to come and join them. By the end of the day, Mia was stuffed with food (Nanny kept on giving her fifth helpings of everything), leaving her drowsy and immensely content. Sitting on the couch, she looked around the room with affection. The small house was crowded with their friends from the neighboring houses, all enthusiastic to celebrate Mia's birthday with her, all bringing small gifts of sorts and insisting that she accept them. All these people, who had barely known her for a year, were putting in so much effort to make this day special for her. Especially Nanny. Her lovely, beautiful Nanny who meant the world to her. Happy tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over.
"What're you thinking of?" A voice suddenly sounded right by her ear and she jumped with shock.
"Danny! You scared me! How did you manage to creep behind me without me hearing you…" she frowned at him with mock seriousness.
"'Cause I'm magical like that." He replied, winking at her. She felt a strange heat in the tips of the fingers of her right hand when he said that word. Clenching her hand into a fist at that feeling, she disregarded it as something to do with alterations in the room temperature. "You want to get some fresh air? It's started to get a bit stuffy in here…" She nodded and the two of them slipped out of the house together.
"So, how are you enjoying your special day, hmm?" his eyes twinkled at her and she found herself thinking yes, this boy really is magical.
She grinned at him. "It's great. Thank you for organizing it for me, I've never felt so loved before. What it's like, to have friends…"
He laughed at that. "How can it not be easy for you to make friends? You're so easy-going and friendly and selfless and beautiful…" he blushed when the word left his lips of its own accord. He had always thought of her as beautiful, the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on in fact, but he hadn't meant to say that aloud.
"Pffft. You're just saying this 'cause it's my birthday." She stuck her tongue out at him. Her face became slightly more serious and she said "you're a great friend and person you know. You took me in when I was most helpless, and now you and Nanny are all the family I have left of this world. I meant it earlier today when I said I would stay by your side forever, I don't know where I'd be without you…" she offered him a small smile, hoping that little speech hadn't scared him off.
He responded with a warm smile and she breathed a sigh of relief. "You and Nanny are all the family I have in this world, too." He took her by the arm and pulled her into his embrace, holding her tightly. It was funny how in such a short amount of time they felt as if they had known each other forever already. Over his shoulder, Mia's eyes fell upon a small cozy dessert restaurant.
"Ooh look! There's a dessert restaurant over there! How about we go and have some tofu pudding?" Her eyes lit up at the mere thought of the silky, sugary pudding that melted in her mouth every time she ate it.
Danny chuckled. "I thought you would have been too full of fifth helpings of Nanny's food to be able to have dessert too."
"How can a person be too full to have pudding?" she exclaimed, insulted. "There is no such thing as having no room for pudding." She clucked, berating him for his ignorance.
"Okay, okay, we'll have that pudding." He lifted his arms in surrender. "Whoa, slow do-" Before he had even finished his sentence, Mia had grabbed him by the hand and skipped off towards the diner, dragging him behind her.
It was almost a year since Luna had disappeared. There was not a whisper, not a sound of her whereabouts. Everyone else had given up on the search, thinking the worst had happened. Yet Neville stubbornly believed that Luna was still alive. She had to be alive. He could feel this as clearly as he felt his own heart beating in his chest. She was strong, clever and gentle. There was no way that anything could ever happen to her. Though the search mission had been canceled by the Ministry after 6 months without result, Neville was insistent on continuing, even if he had to do it all by himself.
Occasionally, one or two of the old DA and Order members would take time out of their busy schedules to help him, scouring all the magical villages scattered over Britain. However, he knew that they were only doing this as a way to console him; deep down, they too believed that Luna could not possibly still be alive. If she was, why didn't she try to contact them? Why hadn't anyone seen her if she really had managed to escape from the clutches of the death eaters herself? If she hadn't managed to escape…that thought was too painful to continue. Neville had even gone as far as to look through the medical records kept in muggle hospitals to see if she had been taken in during the period in which she was kidnapped. He stuck 'missing' posters everywhere he could; going back to each and every place time and time again to make sure no one had ripped them off. He hardly slept or ate, losing all the baby fat he had left on his body, earning himself dark circles under his eyes.
Even his strict, no-nonsense Gran was worried for him. Nothing she said or did could stop him from continuing with his search. Several times he had collapsed in the streets he had been wondering through for the umpteenth time, from exhaustion. She knew that every night, Neville cried in his sleep, hugging a lion-shaped hat. She didn't know how he came by it, but, after asking Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny some questions she found that it was a hat worn by Luna to one of the Quidditch matches to show her support for Gryffindor. He had a photo of her laughing by his bedside, and sometimes she caught him just sitting there with an empty look in his eyes, stroking and staring at it. What if that girl never came back? After losing her son and daughter in law to the death eaters, she didn't think she could handle the pain that would be brought on with losing her grandson as well. She may have been hard on him, but deep down, her love and pride for him was so strong it sometimes scared herself. Her dear, dear Neville. She remembered with a smile that time she saw him dueling furiously in the Battle of Hogwarts, that time he stood up to Voldemort himself in front of everyone, fighting with all his might for those he cared for. Where had that boy gone? All that was left was a shell. It broke her heart to see him like this, but what could she do? Nothing, besides watching and hurting for him.
One day, she was about to knock on his door to call him down for dinner when she caught him on his bed in a trance again. It was one time too many and she knew she couldn't let him fall any deeper.
"Neville Longbottom. Stop being so pathetic. Put that photo down this instant, go out and do something useful with yourself!" She snapped at him, wrenching the photo frame from his hands, causing him to yelp with alarm.
Silence followed this statement and Neville did not even twitch in the position he was in. Gran continued to glare at him. At long last, he opened his mouth and spoke. "I-I can't, Gran. I'm sorry. I know I've disappointed you again. But I feel like I can't go on anymore, not since her disappearance. I-I just can't find it in me. I'm so, so sorry."
His eyes glittered, full of sorrow, and Gran's heart nearly tore in half. She went over to him and sat down on the bed too. Her tone softened when she spoke again. "Neville, I'm not trying to be hard to you. You are the apple of my eye and I couldn't have been prouder to have you as my grandson. I know what you are feeling right now; I felt the same way when your parents-" she choked, not being able to continue.
Neville looked at her with wide eyes. His gran had never discussed what happened to his parents with him before, other than to briefly explain why they couldn't be by his side as he grew up. She took a deep breath before continuing. "You have no idea how scared and helpless I felt when your parents were crucioed into insanity. One of them was my son, the other my daughter in law who I treated like my own birth daughter I never had. They were sent to St. Mungo's and I was not told whether they would ever be right again, whether they could fully heal from the extent of damage inflicted upon them. All I had left was you. But I was already an old woman then, and I had no idea what would happen to you if I were to suddenly leave this world one day…"
She sighed. "It was not easy for me. Just like it is not easy for you right now. But, if you really loved her, and she really loved you, you have to be strong for her. She wouldn't want to see you like this. I am not asking you to devote yourself to another relationship immediately, merely to find something to do with yourself instead of wasting your life away in here." She patted him on the shoulder. "Come down to dinner when you're feeling better, okay?"
She left him to his own thoughts after that.
"Oh merlin's beard! My stomach could explode right now!" Mia stretched lazily, as she and Danny walked back to the house. It was already very dark out and she was glad to have Danny by her side. Nanny must be very worried about them right now. Walking faster at that thought, she looked over her shoulder at Danny. "Come on! Nanny is waiting for us."
"Uuuhhh…I don't think I can move anymore." Danny groaned, clutching at his own stomach.
"We have to go faster!" she walked back to him and relented to her usual method of getting him to do anything: by dragging him along.
"Ahhh okay, I'm coming! Who told you to stuff me with all that dessert just now, right after having so much of Nanny's cooking…who's to blame for that huh?" he asked jokingly.
She crinkled her nose at him. "Fine, it was my bad. Now can we get a move on?"
Nanny was sitting on the doorstep, waiting anxiously for them to get home. All the other guests had left and she had even managed to clean the whole house up, yet there hadn't been a peek from the two youngsters. Finally, she saw their silhouette. She was about to yell at them, but then she saw that they were holding hands and bickering with each other. Maybe it's better to leave these youngsters to their own devices. A knowing smile appeared on her face and she quickly disappeared inside.
Mia and Danny entered the dark house. Where was Nanny? They tiptoed to Nanny's room together and let out the breath they had been holding when they saw the lump of her figure under the blankets on her bed. They headed back to the living room. Facing each other, the atmosphere around them was suddenly slightly awkward.
Mia averted her eyes from his intense gaze. "Well..I'll go to sleep now…" She bustled about, pulling her mattress out.
"Here, let me help you with that." Danny moved to her side and reached to take the mattress from her. Their fingers touched, and Mia suddenly felt a jolt up her arm. It reminded her of the way she had grasped his hand just now. She thought of the largeness of his hand, the perfect size to cup over hers comfortably. The callouses that brushed up against her skin, the warmth of his palm. She blushed violently, thanking her lucky stars that the room was still dark.
Danny too paused when he felt their fingers touch. Her fingers were soft and cool, slender in such a way it was a wonder he didn't break them all when they had held hands just now. His fingers lingered on hers a moment too long. He jerked himself out of those thoughts, and carried on with preparing her bed. She was his friend, his family. Nothing more.
"There you go-" He started, straightening up. He suddenly heard her exhale deeply from beside him. Gathering her courage, Mia stood on tiptoe to reach higher and placed her lips lightly on his cheek. "Thank you. And..Goodnight." With that, she quickly lay on the mattress and pulled the covers over herself, too self-conscious to bother with taking a shower first.
Danny froze where he was standing, shocked. His hand found their way to his cheek and he gently touched where she had kissed him. With a silly smile on his face, he went to his own room. Pressing a pillow to his face, he couldn't contain the whoop that erupted from within him.
A/N: So, how was this chapter? I may have dragged it out a bit too much, sorry for boring you guys, but I also wanted to bring Neville back in here a bit more, and I thought these emotions were pretty important for the story. Oh, and this is the first time the 'm' word is used since Luna (Mia) was captured. In case you haven't noticed, she has forgotten all about the magical world and naturally all about her magical powers too. There are no mentions of blibbering humdingers or wrackspurts 'cause they don't exist in her mind anymore (awww). It'll turn a bit interesting later on…Please leave a review; it really would make my day! Thanks for reading! x