"Wherever you go, if my heart was a house you'd be home." -If My Heart Was a House by Owl City
On the last night at Hogwarts, a few days later, I was lying on my stomach across my bed. The feast would be starting now, but I wasn't there. Instead, I was making signs listing all of my possessions that had gone missing since the beginning of the year. It seemed that a lot of students liked to play keep away with them, and also hide them so there was no telling where I would find my things.
I stood up, finally having finished, and headed out of my dormitory. I was going to have to miss most of the feast or skip it altogether. I had spent most of the day with Neville and had planned to pack tonight, but decided to make signs once I realized just how many of my possessions were missing.
The hallways were empty as I hung up my signs. Everyone was at the feast. I heard footsteps coming towards me and I looked up in surprise.
"How come you're not at the feast?" Harry stopped beside me and tilted his head slightly.
"I've lost all my possessions," I said with a half smile as I gestured to the sign I had just stuck to the wall behind me. "People like to take them and hide them."
"That's awful," Harry said, sounding shocked that people would do such a thing.
"It's all in good fun," I assured him, "but seeing as it's the last night, I really do need them back."
"Do you need any help finding them?"
I smiled and shook my head. There was a short pause. "I'm sorry about your godfather, Harry." I reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze.
He nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Luna," he said.
"I know how it feels. I told you about my mum, I think…"
"Yeah, you did," Harry answered.
I nodded. "I do still feel sad about it sometimes, but it's not like I won't ever see her again."
"Isn't it, though?" Harry looked confused.
"No," I answered, shaking my head. "You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"
"You mean-?" Harry began.
"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them."
Harry just stared at me and I stared back, a small smile on my face. "I actually thought you'd be with Neville tonight," he said.
"I was with him all day," I said. "I wasn't originally planning on skipping the feast, though, so he's probably wondering where I am. Maybe I'll head down there soon."
There was another pause as we walked a few feet down the hallway, where I hung up another sign.
"Are you sure you don't want any help looking?" Harry asked.
"That's alright," I said. "Anyway, my mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end if not in the way we expect." I happened to look up and see a pair of my shoes dangling from the ceiling not too far away. "I think I'll go find Neville and also see if there's any pudding at the feast." I gave Harry a small wave and turned away.
"Wait, aren't you…?" Harry pointed up at my shoes.
I shrugged. "I'll get them later. I don't think they'll be going anywhere. You see, my feet aren't in them to make them walk away."
"Ah," Harry said, and a ghost of a smile actually flickered across his face before disappearing.
I waved again and turned to head downstairs to the feast. I was beginning to really look forward to having some pudding and of course, seeing Neville again.
As I stood in the doorway of the great hall, my eyes immediately began searching for Neville. Finally, I found him, sitting at the Gryffindor table between Hermione and Seamus. I skipped over to him, ignoring the looks from other people. Hermione saw me coming and slid down a little bit. Wordlessly, I slid into the spot next to Neville and placed the remainder of my signs on the table in front of me.
"Luna!" Neville said happily. "Where were you? I noticed you weren't sitting with your house."
"Oh, I was hanging these up around the school," I said, touching the signs.
Neville's smile faded as he picked up the top one and scanned it. "Your things are missing?"
"Yes, people take them and hide them. It's all in good fun, though and they'll turn up. I've just told Harry the same thing. He was very concerned as well."
"Yeah, because it's not right for people to take your things and hide them," Neville said. "That's stealing."
"Tell a teacher," suggested Hermione, who had heard the conversation.
"They always do turn up," I assured them both, "and anyway, I never know who for sure is taking my things, so telling a teacher wouldn't really be much use." I looked down at the list of missing items I had printed on the signs. "I did find my shoes, though, so that's one less thing I have to worry about."
"But still, half of your possessions must be on here," Neville said. "You'll be looking all night."
"I doubt that," I said with a small laugh. "I bet most of my things will be returned by the time I go to sleep tonight. Everything will be piled on top of my bed. You see, people won't want to keep my things. They have no use for them and since school is over, they'll return them until next year when they'll steal everything again."
"Does this happen every year?" Neville asked.
"Usually, yes," I answered, "but never so close to the end of the school year. That's why I made signs tonight; to hurry the process along."
"I'll help you look," Neville said, determinedly.
"No, it's quite alright," I answered, smiling. "Everything will turn up. I'm sure of it."
Neville stared at me, clearly unsure whether he should listen to me or insist he help me look. "Shouldn't you go sit at the Ravenclaw table?" he asked finally. "It isn't that I don't want you here of course," he quickly added. "It's just that I don't want you to get into trouble."
"I don't think I'll get into any trouble tonight," I said, patting his arm.
"She's right, you know. The only person who really cared about the separate table rule was Umbridge," Seamus joined in from the other side of Neville, "and she isn't here anymore, so lighten up, Neville." He nudged Neville's shoulder and grinned.
Neville's face cracked into a smile and he slid his plate towards me. "Do you want some?"
I smiled back and shook my head. "I'll get my own. You should eat yours. It's very good and I wouldn't want to steal any of it from you."
"I don't mind," Neville said.
"Perhaps you should," I said with a smile. "I would if I were you. This food is always very good and I'm not sure I'd want to share." I smiled even wider to show I was teasing. Well, mostly teasing anyway.
"You're right," Neville teased back, pulling his plate away. "This is all mine and no one else's."
I laughed as Seamus reached over Neville's arm and picked a piece of food off of the plate. Neville protested, but Seamus was already chewing and swallowing.
Leaving Hogwarts always makes me feel slightly sad. I'm happy to be going home to dad, but at the same time, I hate saying goodbye to the things I loved about Hogwarts, such as the thestrals and the school owls, even if it's only a few months until I see them again.
The entrance hall was crowded as students all tried to make their way out at once. Through the commotion, I heard someone calling my name. I turned and saw Neville squeezing through the crowd on the staircase. I stopped in my tracks and a few people grumbled impatiently as they had to go around me.
"What is it Neville? You seem to have something important to say."
"I do," he said as he reached me. In one arm, he was carrying his mimbulus mimbletonia, which had grown quite a bit since the start of the year. The other hand was concealed behind his back. "Will you hold this for a second, please?" he asked, sticking the mimbulus mimbletonia into my arms.
"It looks as if it's grown very nicely," I said, observing the plant.
"It has, but that's not what I wanted to show you," he answered. With his newly freed hand, he reached into his bag. "Did all of your things get returned?"
"Yes, everything was on my bed, just like I had predicted."
"Well, I think you actually might be missing one thing," he said, pulling out from his bag, a slightly wrinkled paper. It was one of the signs I had made.
"No, I don't think so," I said, wrinkling my nose in thought.
"Yes, look," Neville handed me the paper and I looked down at it as the crowd continued to move around us. At the very bottom of the list, in Neville's handwriting, was one word. "Daisies."
"Daisies?" I asked. "I don't have any-,"
Neville interrupted me by pulling his hand out from behind his back. He was holding a flowerpot filled with yellow daisies.
"My favorite flower," I said, reaching out to touch one of the many bright yellow petals.
"Here, take the whole thing, it's yours." Neville handed me the pot and took his mimbulus mimbletonia back. "I grew them myself. Professor Sprout let me use a corner of one of the greenhouses especially for those."
"Did she really?" I asked. "That was very generous of her."
Neville nodded in agreement. "There's more, though. The petals will change color every day. Randomly, though, so you'll never know what color they'll be. It'll be a complete and total surprise every morning."
"Oh how lovely!" I said enthusiastically. "That sounds wonderful. I like that idea. Did you do that all by yourself as well?"
"No, Professor Sprout helped me put the charm on them," Neville blushed. "I haven't learned that kind of magic yet."
"Nothing to be embarrassed about," I said, patting his hand. "Anyway, I know just where to put these."
"Where?" Neville asked curiously as we started walking out the front doors.
"On the windowsill in my room. They'll get plenty of sun there and I can feed and water them every day. I'll also get to see what color they are right when I wake up."
"Good idea," Neville replied seriously. "Oh, but that does remind me…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little bag of plant food. "This is the food you need to give them. Professor Sprout also helped me charm the bag to refill when it's empty so you'll never have to worry about getting more."
"How thoughtful of you," I said, taking the bag from him. "Thank you very much. How long did it take you to grow these?"
"About a month," Neville answered. "They were finally ready last night, so I went down to the greenhouses after the feast to get them."
"Right on time," I said, looking up at him.
"Yeah," he agreed with a small laugh.
Neville and I took a carriage to the train station together with Ginny and Dean. Once we reached the station, we caught up with Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me," Harry said.
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"That even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have."
"Yeah?" Ron said.
"Something worth fighting for," Harry finished.
"Well said, Harry," I told him. He turned and looked at me, a small, weary smile on his face.
We lugged our things onto the train and found a compartment together. Dean went off to sit with Seamus and I heard Ginny promise to catch up with him later.
I sat down by the window and Neville sat next to me. Ginny pulled out the latest edition of the Quibbler that I had given her yesterday and began to read.
"The magazine's been doing really well since your interview, Harry," I said happily. "Dad's thrilled."
"That's great," Harry said sincerely.
"I saw Cho this morning, Harry," Hermione said tentatively. "Things are really over with her?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It didn't work out, but oddly enough, I don't mind as much as I thought I would."
"She's with someone else now," Hermione said. "You don't mind?"
"No, like I said, I really don't mind that it didn't work out," Harry shook his head.
"Who is she with?" Ron asked.
"Michael Corner," Ginny answered at once, still reading The Quibbler.
"But I thought you were dating him," Ron said.
"No, I dumped him," Ginny said. "He was being a sore loser about Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch so I dumped him and he ran off to comfort Cho."
"Oh," Ron said. He looked slightly happy at the news. "Well, you'll just have to choose someone better next time."
"Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas. Would you say that's better?"
"What?" Ron yelped. "Dean Thomas? As in my roommate, Dean Thomas?"
"Yes, unless you know another person by that name." Ginny finally raised her eyes from the magazine and stared calmly at her brother. Neville was laughing into his hand while Harry and Hermione looked mildly interested in Ron's apparent shock.
"You didn't know?" I asked.
"Nobody tells me anything," Ron mumbled, crossing his arms.
When the witch pushing the trolley came by, we each bought a fair amount of candy and shared it amongst ourselves. Neville held up a box of Every Flavor Beans and shook it slightly, a grin on his face. "Hold out your hand."
I did as he said and he poured some of the beans into my hand. I immediately noticed a few banana flavored ones and pushed them to the side of my hand before picking up a green colored one. Neville poured some beans into his own hand and chose a brown one. "I'm hoping this one is chocolate," he said.
"On three," I said with a smile. We counted to three and popped the beans into our mouths. "Hmm, grass," I said, tilting my head. "Not bad."
"Dirt," Neville said, looking disgusted.
Ginny reached over and stuck her hand into the box. "Strawberry," she said happily, looking thrilled that she had gotten a bean with a normal flavor.
"Lucky," Neville mumbled.
"She's actually very scary when it comes to the Every Flavored Beans," Ron whispered. "She seems to know which ones are the most disgusting flavors and never eats them. I can't tell the vomit flavored from the buttered popcorn ones."
"That keeps things more exciting, though," I told him, "so maybe things are better that way."
Ron just shrugged and went back to eating his sugar quill.
"You know, Ron, those sugar quills are the worst possible things for your teeth," Hermione said.
"All candy is bad for your teeth," Ron answered, watching her eat a chocolate frog.
"Yes, but those are entirely made of sugar," she argued.
Ron shrugged again and continued to eat. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes before taking out a book and opening it.
"You know, Luna," Neville said, "I would love to see you over the summer."
"I would love to see you too," I said. "I'm going to Sweden with my dad for two weeks, but that's not until mid-August."
"We'll have to plan to see each other before you leave then," Neville answered.
"That sounds lovely. I've never really spent time with anyone outside of school before. It's just me and dad."
"Isn't that terribly lonely?" Neville looked shocked.
"Sometimes," I shrugged one shoulder, "but I'm very good at thinking of things to do by myself."
"I'll write to you too," he said. "All the time."
"Okay," I said excitedly. "We'll have to write while I'm in Sweden as well. I can keep you updated on the search for Crumple Horned Snorkacks."
"You'd better," Neville answered. "I'm interested to see if you find any."
"So am I," Ron muttered.
"I think we all are," Ginny added.
"I wasn't aware there was so much pressure on me to find them," I said with a smile.
"Oh, no pressure," Neville assured me. "We're just interested. If you don't find any, we'll still be your friends and I'd still be your boyfriend." He elbowed me gently and smiled.
"I would hope so," I answered. "It's quite nice to have friends and a boyfriend. I rather like it."
Neville brushed my cheek with his thumb. "I like it too. A lot."
I smiled at him and he threw his arm around my shoulder, pulling me towards him and planting a gentle kiss on my forehead. I tucked my legs under me and leaned against him.
I wished that the train ride would never end. I didn't want to say goodbye to the friends I had acquired and grown closer to over the past school year, but I knew this wouldn't be goodbye forever. After all, my mum used to say that a goodbye is never painful unless you're never going to say hello again and I knew the only thing that would make parting with my friends easier would be the prospect of one day soon saying hello again.
A/N: Well, this is the last chapter for this story. I'm most likely going to be doing a sequel and continuing this story through the last two years and maybe a little after, so be on the lookout for that.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added this story to their favorites or alerts. You guys are really my motivation for writing and updating quickly so thank you. :)