Birthday Suit

"I'm naked around you, and it feels alright"
- Avril Lavigne "Naked"

Author's Note: I took a less conventional turn with this finale, and I hope you enjoy the "surprise ending".

For the million-and-one time, Neville felt unimportant. Invisble. And that wasn't so far from the truth either - Harry and Ginny were acting like he wasn't even there. He took almost no comfort in the fact that Luna was included in this treatment. He sighed. You didn't need an invisibility cloak if you were Neville Longbottom.

He felt slightly disgusted with himself for the self-pity act. After all, today had been Dumbledore's funeral and he knew that Harry had a lot to deal with. He just felt slightly abandoned. Yes, Ron and Hermione had to do their prefect duties. And it did look as if Harry was telling Ginny something very important. Of course, Luna was in her own world as usual, and if being blantantly ignored bothered her, she didn't outwardly show it. But where did that leave him? He had no close confidantes of his own, and he played second, third, and so on to everbody. Neville was nobody's first, and as much as he tried to shake the horrible thought out of his head, it still hurtfully lingered.

Even his grandmother didn't love or appreciate him for who he was; she was always envisioning who he could be, namely his father. And as much as he admired his father, and his mother too, he didn't want to be him.

Every now and then he would subconsciencely look up and then quickly look away. He wasn't trying to be nosy, he was just a little curious. Harry and Ginny were speaking in low tones that was hard to understand. However, it was becoming increasingly obvious that they weren't having just a normal conversation that they didn't want overheard. They were arguing. Every now and then he caught (without deliberately eavesdropping mind you) and he knew they was saying something about Dumbledore and Hogwarts, though he couldn't piece it together.

"Bull," Ginny hissed loudly enough for him to hear clearly, and he knew that her fire was fully ignited by now, and he was very glad that he wasn't Harry right now.

Harry said something about You-Know-Who and Neville involuntarily winced. Looking over at Luna, he saw she was not unaffected as well. They exchanged glances and he lifted his eyebrows. She was bold enough to stare openly at the two of them. But suddenly, the question of to listen or not to listen became moot at Ginny exclaimed a loud "WHAT!" that filled the tiny compartment until it seemed to shake. Luna and Neville instinctively leapt up and bounded for the door, almost tearing it off of its hinges in their desperation to flee.

When they reached the corridor, they almost ran into Ron and Hermione, who were, most understandably, wearing shocked expressions on their faces. They both had their wands raised and ready for action.

"What happened?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"And why is this door locked?" Ron asked while rattling the handle trying to get it open in vain. He tried Alohomora, but still it would not budge.

Neville wondered who was more likely to lock the door - Harry, who probably didn't want to be overheard, or Ginny, who wanted to make sure that Harry had no way of escape. "Harry and Ginny are in there. They were going on in hushed tones so that we couldn't hear what they were saying. But then Harry must have said something to upset her because —"

"—Because next thing you know, Ginny exploded and Neville and I thought it best if we gave them some privacy," Luna said in such a non-chalant way that it made them seem less like idiots for fleeing at Ginny's temper, though he wasn't sure if that was exactly Luna's intentions.

"So now Harry finally gets to experience 'The Wrath of Ginny'," Ron said sarcastically. He went to press his ear against the door but Hermione stopped him.

"They would've put Silencing and Impertuable Charms around it," she explained to him.

"So what are we supposed to do, just sit here and make bets on who can scream the loudest, which by the way my money's in Ginny?"

"We'll just have to cover for them, I guess," she said anxiously, and he could tell that she didn't like the idea of possibly getting in trouble. "Neville and Luna, can you go to another compartment for now?"

"Of course," Luna answered for both of them. She started down the corridor and he thought it best if he followed.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked her.

"I can go sit with some of my classmates from Ravenclaw. You're welcome to join me, and I'm sure they won't mind. Well actually, they might mind if I sit with them, but they won't mind if you sit with them."

Neville furrowed his brow in confusion. "But they're your friends. Why would they want me to sit with them and not you?"

Luna shrugged. "I'm sure they'd prefer anyone over me. I think they think me a bit odd."

He couldn't blame them. He thought of Luna as less than a friend, but more than an acquaintance. It was not a matter of opinion to call Luna odd, yet he didn't like it when their peers treated her like a total pariah. They were neither close nor distant. They just were and Neville liked it that way.

Nonetheless, he said, "No thanks, I think I'll just find another compartment." He wasn't particularly in the mood to sit with strangers anyway.

She shrugged again. "Suit yourself," she said and slipped into a door. He saw Dean coming down the corridor and waved a greeting.

"What's up Nev?"

"Nothing much. My compartment's suddenly filled up. Can I sit with you?"

"Sure. But what happened that you had to leave yours?" He didn't want to say anything about Harry or Ginny that wasn't his business to say. Fortuneately, he wouldn't have to. Ginny herself came storming down the corrifor and she was clearly upset.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked her in slight alarm. Tears were streaming down her face and her hair was wild. She actually looked pretty scary.

"Dean," she croaked and fled into his arms. He bemusedly comforted her and dragged her down the hall.

Alone again.

If only he had somebody who would always be there for him, and he would be more than glad to return the favor. After so many years in school and he still had yet to make any friends...

Pathetic Neville! he thought.

So lost in his thoughts, he had no idea that he was sharing the corridor with anybody until he came, quite literally, forhead to forhead with Parvati.

"Ow!" They both exclaimed. And then, "I'm sorry!"

"I didn't see you," said Neville.

"Me neither. I was looking for Dean, who was supposed to be looking for Seamus and Lavender."

"Dean's off with Ginny."

"Damn! That means means I have to pay for all the food again! That's why I wanted everybody to hurry their asses up because the lunch trolley is almost here."

He laughed nervously. Parvati was a very beautiful girl and he always felt awkward in her presence. "Where, um, did Seamus and Lavender go?"

Parvati rolled her eyes. "Oh, they're off snogging somewhere," she said. "They're not going together or anything, they just like to snog every once and awhile," she added when she saw his stunned face.

"Well...that's...yeah."

She smirked. "I know."

There was a silence, but strangely enough, it didn't feel very uncomfortable. A lot of people thought Parvati was a ditz just because she hung out with Lavender, but those in Gryffindor knew that she was actually pretty intelligent. Most people liked her because she was smart, pretty and just fun to be around, and Neville felt drawn into her charm.

"Would you like to join me instead, that is, if you don't have somewhere else to be?"

He let out a short laugh. "Hardly." And then he immediately blushed.

Parvati giggled. "Ok then." She took him by the hand and led him inside. "You know, it's a shame we don't know each other better. Times are so uncertain and school's almost over and...I just don't want to say that I missed out, you know?"

Neville gulped. "Yeah, I know."

Was this really happening? He and Parvati Patil having their first private conversation in six years and they actually found a lot to talk about. They were laughing, getting along, and having a good time? They both wished they had started talking sooner. And if he wasn't mistaken (and he very well could have been), it almost seemed like she was hinting at more. He hoped beyond hope that this wasn't a dream.

Because if it was, Neville didn't want to wake up.

Author's Note: Well, I finally finished! I had a bout of inspiration the other night on how to wrap the last part of Naked up, and I thought, yes! why not? Stranger things have happened than Neville/Parvati, which to me translates to te adorably dorky guy getting th beautiful girl in real life, which does happen. Hopefully if you think about that, it might put it more into perpesctive for you, instead of having you think I'm weird for writing such a strange pairing (assuming you do think that, which I might be wrong). Sorry, this author's note is being written 2:30 am and you'll have to forgive me for my rambling note. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the end of the Naked series, though don't be surprised if somewhere down the road something else becomes of it.