1Luna quickly recovered from the shock of such contact, and really the only contact she'd ever had with a boy before. She discretely turned her head from Neville's hand as he went to tuck a piece of her straggly blonde hair out of her face. She stared blankly at him for a moment, unsure of what to do next. She had so many thoughts racing through her mind, thoughts that she rarely saw inside her own head. She wanted to pounce on Neville and mirror Ginny and Draco, she wanted to smack him for daring only to touch her face, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to hide behind something interesting to read, but most of all she just wanted this unbearable awkward silence to end. So she decided on the latter. Luna stood up, retrieving both halves of her magazine before tapping them quickly with her wand. She shoved the newly repaired paper and her helmet in her trunk just above where she had been sitting next to Neville just moments ago, who was very appealing at the moment. Luna actually shook her head, and quickly returned back to her normal self, flashing Neville a friendly, eye-glazing smile just before taking her place next to him again. Neville also came to realize what had just happened all at once, his face turning crimson once again.
"Er- So... What's that hat thing do?" He asked in a very choppy voice that was much higher than his usual, somehow feeling slightly more comfortable with Luna sitting beside him again.
A bright smile spread across Luna' pale face, she was terribly happy to have someone interesting in the contraption. "I invented it over summer holiday. Inventing is becoming sort of an obsessive hobby of mine really. I find it very entertaining to think and make things that no one else has before. Oh, anyway, this records your thoughts and memories into two different containers of course." She said, seeming very proud of herself. Neville only gawped at her with his mouth slightly open. Luna had the sudden urge to lean forward and kiss him, but easily refrained as she heard Draco mocking her in the corner by mumbling a high-pitched "of course" that was muffled by Ginny's mouth. Luna found it quite simple to ignore those types of comments, as she heard them all the time.
"Does- Does it work?" Neville asked, seeming not to hear Draco.
Luna lowered her eyebrows. "Of course it works." She said, a bit of anger threading through her voice. "Do you think I'd just be wearing it for show?"
"Well..." She heard Draco mumble again from the corner, but was pleased to see Ginny smack him on the arm.
"I-I'm sorry, I really didn't mean..." Neville said shyly, looking down to his feet as Luna stood to get her helmet again.
"You apologize a lot, don't you?" She said as more of a statement than a question as she stood on tip-toe to reach her headgear.
" 'Mazing you're not more popular with the ladies, mate." Draco said, his face seeming quite more puffy than usual. Ginny had finally disconnected herself from his face, but he still had his arm around her waist as if she were captive. Gin wacked him in the arm again, but was reduced to giggles as he tackled her.
Luna rolled her eyes and she returned to her seat next to Neville, helmet in hand. She looked down to her own knees as she noticed Neville's face redden deeper than it had been before. "Don't pay any mind to him, Neville. I'm sure there's plenty of girls interested in you." She said quietly.
Neville looked up in surprise. "You think?" He asked hopefully.
She looked up into his face and smiled, "I know of at least one." She said, blushing. Something she rarely did.
Neville stared at Luna, first confused, then embarrassed, then flattered, but then settling on embarrassed again. Luna obviously could tell what was going through her mind, his face was such a shade of red that you would have thought he was about to faint from holding his breath. Luna froze inside as she realized what she had just said. She cleared her throat and went about flipping various switches, lights, and buttons on the helmet. Neville was very interested in her. Invention.
"See this lense thing here, it'll play the thoughts or memories, depending on which flip you switch, I mean which switch you flip..." Luna said, closing her eyes as she corrected her mistake. "...It'll play it on the wall or wherever." She said smiling.
"That's brilliant. Have you been recording the entire train ride?" He asked, observing as she flipped switches, and shook the hat as if trying to get it to work.
"Yes I have, it only ever stops when its not on someone's head." She said smiling airily as the helmet made that same loud buzzing sound.
"So what's the sound for?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I just thought it adds to the whole mysterious invention thing, don't you?" She asked, tilting her head sideways.
"...Off her bloody rocker..." Draco piped up from his place on top of Ginny back in their little universe of a corner. Luna rolled her eyes (another habit she had picked up over the summer) as her smile faded. "Well, I thought it did anyway." She said quietly.
"I... I- I think it does as well. Draco's just a Troll's ass, that's all." Neville said before he could close his mouth. His and Luna's eyes both widened at this comment, and were both directed to Draco and Ginny in the corner... Both of whom were staring at the frightened boy in disbelief. Neville expected Draco to reach for his wand and perform some kind of very painful spell, but was pleasantly surprised when he just burst into laughter, Ginny doing the same. Neville almost fainted from the adrenaline rush his fear gave him, but kept himself conscious as he looked back to Luna who was smiling widely at him, her big grey eyes seeming to dig into his soul.
"Seems he really fancies you, Luna." Ginny said, recovering from her laughter, Draco agreeing.
Neville and Luna both sat staring away from each other for a bit, unaware of the level of blushing each were doing.
"She... um... Don't be offended by Ginny, she was just joking..." Luna said quietly, breaking the five minute silence.
"I... wait what? Why would I be offended?" Neville asked, his voice choppy again.
"She doesn't know you're dating Hermione Granger..." Luna said, picking at a piece of spello-tape that was ungluing from her helmet.
"What!" Neville said a little too loudly in a very high-pitched voice. "No, no I'm not... We're not..." Neville stuttered clumsily, his cheeks reddening again.
"Really?" Luna said more cheerfully.
"Really..." Neville said, in awe that someone could think Hermione would actually date him. He was quite startled when the compartment door slammed open again.
"Dammit Ron! She was too young!" Hermione was shouting at him, Harry following close behind them, apparently trying very hard to control his laughter. "Oh shut UP Harry!" she shouted angrily, stomping one of her feet as she said it.
"What'd you do?" Ginny asked, looking up from Draco's face.
"Nothing!" Ron piped, as if he had been asked the question a million times.
"Must've been something, Hermione said Dammit." Ginny laughed cautiously.
"All I did was ask a first year girl if she wanted to come back with us for the rest of the ride." He said, shrugging his shoulders innocently to more of Ginny's chuckles.
"Barely! I don't know what the hell he said, but whispered SOMETHING to her that made her eyes about pop our of her sockets!" Hermione shouted, pacing the cabin.
"What did you say?" Draco asked, seeming highly interested.
"Nothing!" Ron said as Harry burst into laughter.
"Harry, what did he say?" Ginny asked with a puppy face.
Harry stepped over Draco's legs and bent down to Ginny's ear, whispering something nobody else in the cabin could hear.
"RON!" She shouted, "And this was a first year?" Ginny shouted again as Harry and Ron both burst into laughter. "God, you're so immature!" Ginny said, rolling her eyes.
"What did he say?" Hermione asked. Ginny blushed and refused to repeat it to her.
"Will you tell me?" Draco asked in a sexy voice, and Ginny laughed before telling him. She must have expected him to react the same way she did, because she seemed very startled when he burst into such laughter as Ron and Harry.
Luna had been completely unaware of anything that was going on in the cabin, she had been staring at Neville the entire time, who had been shifting his eyes to different people the entire conversation.
"Neville..." She said quietly. "Neville..." She said a bit louder, as he was unable to hear her over the laughter?
"Hmm? Oh, yeah?" Neville asked, remembering Luna was sitting beside him.
Luna smiled brighter, and started to say "Will you be... AHH" She jumped from her seat as something cold jumped down her shirt.
"Trevor!" Neville shouted, standing up with her.
Everyone in the cabin looked up as Luna started bouncing around, trying to get Trevor out of her shirt. Somehow, he had become stuck under the strap of her bra. She tried unsuccessfully to retrieve him, her hands shaking from being startled.
"Oy, let Neville get him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind..." Draco chuckled from the corner.
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked quickly.
"He fancies her, just before you guys came in they were using up all their energy to keep from pouncing on each other." Ginny said, giggling as Luna still tried to get the toad out of her bra, Neville standing beside her (blushing again I might add), doing all that he could do to help his toad, which quite obviously was nothing at the moment.
"Go on Luna, let him help." Ron laughed.
Luna glared first at Draco, then Ginny, then Ron... But at the moment it was a bit impossible to be intimidating with her hand down her shirt. Finally, she caught on to the creature, and handed him to his owner. She picked up her helmet from the floor, and fell into her chair. Neville slowly and calmly sat next to her, throwing sideway glances at her to see if she had any reaction to him being next to her. She seemed exhausted as she stared hopelessly out the rain-splattered window.
"Sorry Luna..." Neville said, after the conversation on the other side of the cabin started up again.
"You're apologizing again... What for?" Luna asked curiously, tilting her head toward Neville.
"Well... For Trevor jumping down you br-shirt." He said, pink tinging his cheeks.
"Its not your fault, and nobody was harmed, so there's really nothing to apologize for, is there?" Luna said, as if she didn't understand.
Neville lowered his eyebrows in thought, then looked back to Luna. "No, I suppose there isn't..." He thought. "You were saying something before Trevor..." He faded off.
Luna's eyes widened as she remembered what she was going to say. "Oh... No, I don't remember." She lied, looking back to the window and closing her eyes. She was just about to fall asleep when she heard Hermione yell "RONALD WEASLEY!" Obviously someone had told her whatever Ron had said to the first year. Luna was thinking about trying to get some sleep when she realized the train was slowing down. She hadn't noticed the heavy weight on one of her shoulders until she tried to sit up. She opened her eyes to find Neville sleeping beside her. Ginny and Draco were no longer in the cabin, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry were just opening the doors to go off probably to help the first years with instructions.