A/N – I forgot to put this in my author's notes last chapter. Just so everyone is aware, this story will be a little darker than Radishes and Turnips. Please note that I have upped the rating from PG to PG-13.

I realized as I started writing this chapter that I also forgot to put a disclaimer in the first chapter. So here goes. I don't own 'em, you don't own 'em, no one but the fantabulous JK Rowling owns 'em.

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Chapter Two – Back to Reality

"Neville!" a voice cried. Neville grunted and turned over onto his stomach.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" the voice cried again. Groggily he opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn't in his room. So where was he? Neville decided to close his eyes again and ponder that question later.

"Neville, Daddy says if you don't get up now, we're leaving you in Africa," the voice said in a sing-song voice. Neville jumped up, realizing that it was Luna who was calling his name.

"I'm up!" he cried, sitting up quickly. He started to stand up in his small tent but stopped when he saw that Luna still had her head in the tent. "Luna, I need to change," he said, not knowing he was blushing. He was only wearing his boxers at the moment.

A slow smile spread across Luna's face. "Just wanted to wake you up," she said dreamily. "I'll see you in a few minutes." Then her head disappeared from view.

Neville dressed as quickly as possible and went to the fire that had been built for breakfast. Luna and her father were already eating some sort of fruit. Luna handed him a piece as she kissed him on the cheek.

"You need to shave," she said, rubbing his cheek.

"I know," Neville said, grinning sheepishly. "I only need to shave once a week or so."

"Do you have a razor?" Mister Lovegood asked. "I can lend you one if you'd like."

Neville was about to politely refuse when Luna said, "I like you with a stubble. It makes you look older." Neville smiled. He was going to say no because he only knew how to use a razor with a safety blade, making him feel ten years old. He had never shaved with a straight-edged razor before.

"It gets uncomfortable after a while," Neville admitted.

The three of them passed the next hour easily enough. Though Neville was still tired from the Parting Feast the tribe threw Mister Lovegood last night. Neville knew he would never forget the dancing he saw.

"Here's the portkey," Mister Lovegood said, holding out an empty clay jar. Neville put his hand on the jar but Luna looked around sadly.

"I can't believe we didn't find the Kifern Faeries," Luna sighed.

"Don't worry, Luna," Mister Lovegood said cheerfully. "It was just a rumor, after all, and didn't we get a nice vacation out of it?"

"That's true," Luna said. "They must still be in Britain."

"We'll find them next summer, promise," Mister Lovegood said.

Luna put her hand on the portkey, her eyes still wandering the sky.

"Only three minutes," Mister Lovegood said.

Suddenly, Luna shrieked and dropped the portkey. Both Neville and Mister Lovegood cried out and asked what was wrong.

Luna pointed her arms up in the air. "My O.W.L. results!" Sure enough, a large black owl was speeding towards them.

"Bloody hell," Mister Lovegood muttered, picking up the portkey. "Luna, put your hand on the portkey. We have less than a minute."

"But Daddy-"

"No, 'But Daddy'," Mister Lovegood interrupted. "This is the first leg of a very long journey. If we miss this portkey, we could miss the rest."

Luna's lower lip trembled. "All right," she whispered, putting her hand on the portkey. "I'm sorry."

"The owl will find you in Britain, Luna," Neville whispered, putting his free arm around her waist.

"I know," Luna sighed. "I just really want to know."

The minutes passed, and the portkey didn't activate. Luna started jumping up and down, hoping that the owl would make it to them in time.

"What's happened?" Neville asked.

Mister Lovegood shook his head. "Must be a delay in the system."

Just then the owl landed on Luna's shoulder. She hugged the owl tightly, keeping one hand on the portkey. "Would you like to use the portkey with us, Mister Owl?" she asked the owl.

Neville smiled as the owl seemed to nod it's head gratefully. But then Neville didn't have time to think any more because of a tug at his navel.

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With stops in-between portkeys, it took a total of six hours to get back to Britain. Personally, Neville hated using portkeys, as they made him very dizzy. But there really wasn't any other way to get to Africa and back.

The owl traveled all the way with them. Luna decided not to look at the results until they were back in Britain. Neville would have preferred her to look at the results right away, because she kept looking at the owl and sighing.

Finally, the journey was over, and the three travelers ended up in front of Neville's house in Lancashire. His grandmother waved from the kitchen, announcing that she had cold pumpkin juice ready for them. The owl Luna had been holding looked questioningly at the empty owl cage. Neville supposed his gran's owl, Ester, was on a delivery.

"Go ahead," he told the owl, who then flew into the cage and started drinking from the water bowl.

Luna was still holding onto the O.W.L. results. "I can't open them," she said dramatically.

"Luna, you've been waiting forever to see the results. Open them," Neville encouraged.

"I can't," she said, putting the envelope into Neville's hand. "Read them to me."

"Are you sure?" Neville asked.

Luna nodded her head frantically.

"Sure sure?" Neville asked again. Luna could be so dramatic at times.

"Please," Luna begged, her eyes widening.

"If you're sure…" Neville trailed off, giving Luna one last chance to change her mind.

Luna tucked her wand behind her ear and nodded. "I'm absolutely positive," she affirmed.

Neville shrugged and rolled the parchment open. He looked over it quickly and grinned. Luna had done great.

"Eleven O.W.L.S.," Neville said proudly.

"Eleven?" Luna squealed. "What didn't I get an O.W.L. in?"

"Care of Magical Creatures," Neville said.

"Oh, that's okay then. I wanted to drop it to focus on Astronomy, anyway," Luna said contently. "What are the specifics?"

Neville read out loud from the list. "Two O.W.L.S. in Charms, both O's. Two in Transfiguration, E in the written exam and an O in the practical. Two in Potions, both O's," Neville paused to give Luna's eyes a rest, as they were growing wider and wider with each passing grade. "An A in Herbology, E in History of Magic, O in Astronomy and Defense against the Dark Arts. Then a P in Care of Magical Creatures and last but not least an E in Ancient Runes."

"That's…" Neville could see Luna adding the grades up in her head. "Seven O's. Three E's, an A and a P. Not too shabby," she said, looking quite pleased with herself.

Mister Lovegood, who had been listening from the doorway, gave Luna a hug. "Wonderful job, Luna."

"Thank you, Daddy," Luna said, beaming.

"It's time to go," Mister Lovegood said. He put out his hand. "Neville, it was great meeting you. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

"Thank you so much for letting me come along," Neville said, the words tripping over themselves.

Mister Lovegood discretely turned his back then. Luna threw her arms around Neville's neck. "I'll see you in three days," she told him, giving him a quick kiss. Neville nodded and watched Luna and her father floo from the fireplace.

"Come tell me about your trip," his grandmother said eagerly. Neville went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Gran poured him a glass of pumpkin juice which Neville drank almost in one gulp.

Neville started talking about the trip and all the wonderful things he had seen. Just as he was about to tell one of the better stories, his grandmother interrupted him.

"Neville, I completely forgot. I signed you up for Apparation Training. They start in just a few days," his grandmother said casually.

The gulp came without warning. "Apparation training?" he said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "I always thought I would get licensed after Hogwarts."

"Don't be silly," his grandmother scoffed. "You turn of age in just two days. Your father was licensed before his last year at Hogwarts."

Of course he was, Neville thought glumly. He looked down at his hands. Neville was terrified of the idea of apparating back and forth between places. So many things could go wrong. "Okay, Gran. It was just an idea," he said, trying to sound casual.

"Good. I'm sure you'll have fun learning."

"I'm sure," Neville said in a somewhat hollow voice.

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Two days later, Neville found himself in the familiar journey of flooing over to St. Mungo's to visit his parents. For the second year in a row, Neville asked if he could go by himself. As much as he loved his grandmother, he didn't want her hovering over them. He preferred talking about useless things to his parents, or sometimes not even speaking at all.

Neville walked into the ward slowly, trying to glance at his parent's faces before he spoke to them. Sometimes he could tell what kind of day they were having just by looking at their faces.

He was pleased today. His mother was looking out the window, brushing her hair. Well, it was more like she was patting her hair with the hairbrush. But it was much better than her simply staring out the window. His father had a blank piece of paper in front of him and was continually touching a self-inking quill to the paper. Neville couldn't help but wonder what his father wanted to write, but couldn't.

"Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad," Neville said, trying to sound cheerful. He sat down across from his mother. To his surprise, his mother made eye contact with him. It made Neville fairly uncomfortable. His mum had never looked him straight in the eye before. Before he knew it, the moment was over; causing him to think it might have been his imagination.

"I'm seventeen today," Neville said. He always wondered if officially becoming an adult would make him feel any different. It didn't. He felt like the same simple Neville Longbottom that he had been yesterday, when he had only been sixteen.

Neville told them all about Africa and his adventures with Luna there. He reminded his parents several times that they had met Luna over Christmas. More than an hour passed, the usual amount of time he spent visiting. His parents usually couldn't handle more than that.

He said good-bye and slowly walked towards the door, waiting for her to stop him like she always did. She tapped him on the shoulder and Neville turned around. He was much taller than she was, even more so because she stooped over.

Neville's mother grabbed his hand and put a scrap in his hand, and held it for just a moment. Then Neville did something he hadn't done since he was a child. Neville hugged his mother. He put both arms around her waist and gave her a hug. His heart soared when he realized that she placed her arms on his shoulder in an awkward hug back.

It was the best birthday present Neville could have gotten.

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A/N – I kinda went out on a limb with the O.W.L. results. Since we don't know much about them yet (July 16th!) I just did some guess work. Fifth year, students take nine classes, and I think the most number of O.W.L.S. you can get is twelve. So I had Charms, Transfiguration and Potions count for two O.W.L.S. each. I'll probably end up changing it when book 6 comes out.

Speaking of book 6, was anyone else sad to read on JKR's site that Neville and Luna wouldn't end up together? Thank goodness for fan fiction!