AN: I hope to update this story more but I'm not sure if that will happen or not. It's just easier to write some stories more than others and for some reason this story is harder for me to write. It will be difficult for me to update the closer it gets to the holidays. Oh and on a little side note this story will be long. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.

Luna POV

The first month of classes passed slowly. The only person who talked to me without giggling about my appearance was Ginny Weasley. A pretty sixth year Ravenclaw that I could never remember the name of tripped me in the halls every chance she got. I was covered in bruises from the experience.

I walked down the hall away Professor McGonagall's classroom and passed Harry Potter in the hall. He looked rather pale and sickly and had a handkerchief wrapped around his hand. I opened my mouth to say something but thought better of it.

I shook my head and quickly made my way to the Ravenclaw tower and answered the eagle's question easily before making my way up the steps into the common room. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ever table in the room was covered with books and papers as people studied. I crossed the room and lowered myself into one of the empty, squishy armchairs by the fireplace. Padma looked up from her homework and smiled at me for a moment before going back to her work. She was flipping back and forth between two pages biting her lip hard.

I took a deep breath and pulled the Quibbler out from my back pocket and started to read. Daddy had written about the Minister for Magic and that he was making goblins into pies. I could see that. All Fudge cared about was covering things up that he didn't agree with and he didn't like goblins. Just like Professor Umbridge was afraid of centaurs. I had asked a simple question about them and she had given me a detention so fast it made my head spin. The detention had almost been more than I could handle. At least the blood quill hadn't left a scar. I stared down at my hand and sighed. It was pulpy and bruised.

Suddenly there was the sound of pounding feet up the steps. Evie appeared a moment later and ran over to me her face flushed with excitement, her brown pigtails flying through the air.

"Luna!" She stopped in front of my her breath coming out in little pants.

"What? What is it?" I asked my eyes wide.

"Harry Potter and his friends are making a Defense Against the Dark Arts class!" She said between huge gulps of breath. "Anyone who wants to join needs to go to the Hogs Head on the next Hogsmeade trip."

"What?!" I asked my eyes wide. "But that's two days from now!"

"I know... could you put in a good word for me?" Evie said her hands shaking. "I want to be able to protect myself."

"Of course. I'll do whatever I can."

Neville POV

Dean, Lavender and I walked down the street bundled up with scarves, mittens and hats. It was windy which made it rather cold.

"Come on, lets hurry!" Dean yelled over the wind, wrapping his arm around Lavender's waist. They had been going out since the Yule Ball the previous year.

The three of us all but ran into the Hogs head. The tip of my nose was so cold it hurt. I pulled off my hat and shook out my hair.

The door opened again and a shiver raced down my spine. "Hello Neville."

I stiffened and slowly turned to look at the ethereal blonde next to me. "H-hi Luna."

She slowly blinked her large gray eyes and a vague smile crossed her face. "How are classes Neville?"

"They're going fine," I mumbled running a hand through my hair.

"That's good," Luna said blinking slowly.

"W-Would you like a butterbeer?" I asked turning to look at her.

"That would be lovely, thank you Neville." A small vague smile crossed her face. She leaned against the wall and let out a small breath.

I crossed the room and stopped at the bar. The bartender turned to me and he glared at me as if I was putting him out. "Two butterbeers please."

"Hmmph." He grumbled pulling two dirty glasses out from under the counter. I couldn't tell you why the man looked familiar but he did.

"Thank you," I said placing a few coins on the counter before crossing the room. Luna didn't even look at me as I passed her the glass. She took a long drink and sighed shiver. My hands shook with the want of wrapping an arm around her but I didn't. Luna and I sat down slowly across from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry's eyes got bigger and bigger every time someone walked through the doors.

He blinked owlishly around the room then turned and said something to Ron and Hermione. I turned to Luna but she was absently fiddling with her empty glass. Her cheeks were a bright pink and she kept glancing at Cho Chang who was sitting on my other side.

"Luna is something wrong?" I asked softly, so as no one else would hear.

"I'm fine." She mumbled reaching down into into her empty mug for the cherry at the bottom. It took her a couple times to grab it out but she did and popped it in her mouth.

"Want my cherry?" I asked, passing my butterbeer to her.

"Thank you Neville," she said a ghost of a smile crossing her face. I passed her the drink and smiled as she slowly drank it. Her body relaxed the more she drank and I slowly slipped my arm around her shoulders. She didn't notice which both made me upset and grateful.

"Feeling better?" I asked, and she nodded her eyes sparkling. This was it... I should ask her... to do something... anything... study in the library... "Luna would you like —"

"Shhhhh, Hermione's about to start." She said nodding at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What? How do you —" I started confused but was cut off by Hermione. She stood slowly her cheeks flushed. "Er... well... er... hi..."

"How did you do that?" I whispered in Luna's ear so no one else would hear.

"Magic." She whispered back with a wink.

AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the end makes everyone happy.