The Hogsmeade weekend was looming upon them and while most of the students were looking forward to a day of gluttony and relief from studying, Neville was close to cancelling his date altogether. The happy glow he had felt while dancing with Luna had long since disappeared and was instead replaced by a mental list of things that could possibly go wrong.

"Don't be silly, " Luna had tried reassuring him, "we've practised and you've improved a lot. What matters is that you have fun."

Luna's reassurances hadn't done much to resolve his doubts and the shy smiles that Hannah kept shooting him when he glanced her way during classes did nothing to help.

"I have a bad feeling about the date. " Neville muttered to Luna and they were hunched over their Defense Against the Dark Arts homework in front of the fire in the Ravenclaw common room together.

Luna looked up from her essay and frowned at him.

"Just give it a chance?"

"Luna could you possibly do me a favor?" Neville felt his cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"Could you possibly follow Hannah and I on our date? I'd feel better if you were there. "

Luna snorted in amusement.

"This is a terrible idea, but anything for you. "

This was how Luna found herself trudging through the snow behind them. It was twilight and she had spent the most of the day helping Neville figure out what to wear. The sound of laughter drifted over from them and she felt a pang of loneliness. She wished absentmindedly that she could join them. Stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets, she concentrated on not tripping over.

Neville wasn't having a very good time. The conversation felt forced and his laughter felt fake. He was doing his best to talk about what interested him but Hannah seemed completely indifferent when he talked about pixie eating plants or plants that could make you levitate if you sucked the nectar from their flowers. He quickly switched to asking her questions about her interests but it didn't help much because they had next to nothing in common.

When she finally started talking about quidditch, he latched onto the topic- finally, something he had some knowledge about.

Despite his best efforts, the conversation turned stale and he was overtaken with relief with they finally entered the crowded pub which was having a dance night.

He hadn't been there before and the place was a welcome respite from the chilliness outside. He glanced around and saw Luna enter behind them from the corner of his eyes. Her presence had the same effect a patronus had and the burst of warmth in his chest had nothing to do with the heat of the pub.

"Let's go dance." Hannah said immediately after they'd kept their things on some seats.

"Wh-already? Don't you want a drink first? " Neville was grasping at straws.

"We can drink when we're tired. "She beamed at him.

She led him to the dance floor and he followed, shooting helpless looks at Luna. Luna had ordered herself a drink and was stirring it, she didn't look too happy herself.

Hannah started stepping in time with the music and doing hand movements which didn't resemble Luna's dancing in the slightest. When Neville tried to relax and jump around like he had with Luna in th Room of Requirement, the awkward looks Hannah gave him quickly made him stop.

"Why don't you lead and I'll just copy you? " Neville suggested, at a loss. He could feel his ears turning hot and blinked away the watery eyes that always accompanied any embarrassment.

Hannah tried showing him the foot moments which resulted in him stepping on her foot twice.

"It's completely alright. Although I thought you'd danced before. " Her smile was still plastered on her face, but her voice had acquired a snappish tone.

"I have danced- just not like this. "

"It's okay. Just - try not to get in my way too much then. Here, twirl me. "

Neville had twirled Luna before and in his excitement at finally being told to do a dance move he knew, he twirled her so fast that her hand slipped from his grasp and she ended up crashing into a table, knocking the drinks onto the pale pink dress that she had worn. Hannah burst into tears and rushed to the bathroom with Neville trailing behind her and apologizing profusely.

"Just leave me alone please. " she said before fleeing into the girl's bathroom.

"Don't worry Neville, I'll sort it out." Luna patted his shoulder before following Hannah.

When she came out a while later, Hannah wasn't with her.

"We should leave, I think Hannah is too embarrassed to come out while you're still here. Let's go. "

Neville trailed behind Luna miserably as she ordered two drinks and collected them before heading to a bench outside. It had started snowing and they huddled together for warmth while sipping their drinks. Neville avoided looking at her. He didn't want her to see the shame and embarrassment clearly etched into his face.

"That was terrible. " he finally stated.

"Don't worry, you can always blame it on a Resonating Warbler. " The smile in her voice was evident.

"Thanks for coming with me. I owe you one. "

"Don't be ridiculous, but if you really want to make it up to me, you could buy me some cockroach cluster. "

"Done. Let's go. " Neville felt better already.

Honeyduke's was mostly empty, most students had come and dome their shopping in the afternoon; only the elder students were allowed out so late.

Neville spotted Harry engaged in an intense conversation with Hermione and they picked out candy together. He headed straight to the back of the shop where the cockroach cluster was kept with Luna.

"Hey look, they have new flavors of Popping Knots. I love those."

"I'll buy you some." Neville offered while she popped one into her mouth. Hey eyes lit up.

"Green Apple. Yum. Here try one. "

Neville wasn't sure what came over him. He leaned over and kissed her.

Their eyes were both open, her's widened in shock and his because he'd startled himself too much to remember to close them.

When he finally pulled away, Luna had dropped the bag of cockroach cluster onto the floor and they stooped to pick them up. When they walked back to the castle together, the conversation flowed between them easily. If not for the fact that their fingers were intertwined, it was almost as if nothing had changed.

Harry was glad that he was finally able to spend some time with Hermione. They hovered among the shelves at Honeyduke's and picked out candy for Ron. He'd stayed back at Hogwarts instead of coming with them - something that was highly unusual for Ron to do. But then, he'd been acting off for the last few days. Picking at his food instead of shoveling it into his mouth, and scrawling on his parchment with enough force to tear it- like it had personally offended him.

"Ginny had her date with Michael today. " Hermione began conversationally while adding some Fizzing Whizbees to the bag.

"I heard. " Harry said grumpily , shoving more sweets into the bag. "I don't know what she even sees in him. He's annoying."

"Well, he is incredibly smart, and quite a good quidditch player. Not to mention he's friendly and helps out the first years when they have any problems understanding anything. "

Harry looked even more sullen than he had a few minutes ago, which was a feat in itself.

"So how long have you liked Ginny? Oh, come on, you're not really hiding it are you? " She added when he started to splutter at her.

Harry shrugged. "Doesn't really matter anyway, does it? She likes Corner. Even has another date in the works from what I've heard. "

"I kissed Malfoy. " Hermione wasn't looking at Harry, she was staring determinedly at the shelves.

"What? " Harry spun Hermione to face him by her shoulders. "Hermione he's one of Them. " Harry hissed at her so no one else would hear.

"Don't start with that nonsense again." She snapped. "You have no proof. And you've been saying that for years. And anyway he saved my life. "

She told him briefly about the boggart but he still looked dissatisfied.

"Well he's not going to try anything in Hogwarts, he's not that stupid. Just... Be careful."

"Don't worry, I always am. And it won't be happening again anyway. He's been avoiding me. Should have known he drew the line at kissing mudbloods."

She laughed, somewhat bitterly and they shifted the topic to Ron's strange behavior.

Padma, Blaise and Pansy had declined going to Hogsmede and were instead taking advantage of the empty classrooms to try and teach Pansy how to make friends.

"For Merlin's sake, Pansy, it's not that hard. This isn't working, why don't you just try apologizing sincerely next time you see Ronald." Padma said exasperatedly.

"She doesn't do apologies." Blaise cut in before Pansy could speak. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded loosely across his chest and he'd been watching the whole thing with amusement.

" I don't understand how you can be so bad at making friends though. Or at being nice. Haven't you ever been nice to anyone?"

" I can be nice. " Pansy protested. "I just don't see the point. It's lying. I'm not a 'nice' person. I'm a sarcastic snarky person and I like who I am. And I've never had to make friends before. I've had the same set of friends since childhood. "

"Well it's not working out very well for you, is it? " Padma snapped, clearly annoyed by the lack of progress.

"Has anyone tried being nice to you though? Just try being friends with them. " Blaine suggested.

"Well there's always the Weasley twins... " Pansy suggested.

"This sounds like a disaster in the making." Padma wailed and covered her face with her hands.

" Come on, " Blaise chucked, "how much worse could this get? "

A/N: thank you all for the lovely reviews. You make me smile :) and I sincerely hope that this story makes you smile too. Have a great day.