XV
The Second Test of the Unexpected Hero

-x- Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood –x-

'How can I just let you walk away
Just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking every breath with you, oh
you're the only one who really knew me at all…'

It was a beautiful afternoon.

The sun had begun to droop wearily behind the crooked silhouette of The Burrow and as the hundred or so wedding guests that peppered the dewy lawn smiled bittersweet smiles of interwoven happiness and grief, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley kissed for the first time as husband and wife.

Sitting on the far left of the crowd with a pleasant smile on his face, one Neville Longbottom felt a small rush of affection course through him as he watched two of his dearest friends finally become united as one in a ceremony that should have been happier than it was. Undertones of bereavement aside however, it had been a beautiful service and now as everyone stood clapping and wiping stray tears from their eyes, Neville started, frightened, when someone walked up behind him and greeted him in a familiarly airy fashion.

'They look so happy, don't they?'

With a slightly nervy twitch, Neville turned to see Luna Lovegood standing behind him, her flowing, champagne-coloured satin bridesmaid gown giving her extravagantly long blonde hair an interesting glow.

'Erm, yes, yes they do,' he replied a little awkwardly, casting a wary glance around as she continued to smile dreamily at him.

'It makes me sad to know I'll never be like that,' she said matter-of-factly with a distinct hint of wistfulness that he'd never heard in her voice before.

'Why, er, what makes you say that?' he asked as the guests around him began to move towards the refreshments and the chair he'd been leaning against disappeared, making him stumble a little.

'People find me too strange,' she said, walking away from him a little as if she expected him to follow, 'I don't really know any boys besides Harry that take me seriously.'

Neville winced. She had such a knack for brutal honestly and it was that about her that made him so distinctly uncomfortable. Truth be told, he'd thought he was getting quite used to her, having spent nearly an entire school year with her as his chief source of company, but it was moments like then that made him rethink this.

'Would you like to dance?'

As soon as he'd said it he'd instantly regretted it. Not because her face had lit up with a happy sort of glow he'd rarely ever seen in a girl, but because it made him feel sort of queasy – nervous even.

'I'd love to,' she replied, beaming as she walked back towards him.

'I, um, well; we'd best wait a little until Harry and Ginny have finished their first dance,' he invented wildly, feeling awful but unable to stop the approving roar of his brain as he continued to stammer, 'i-it'd be rude to interrupt their first wedding dance.'

'Don't be silly,' she said airily, leaning forward and taking a gentle hold on his hand, 'I'm sure they wouldn't mind.'

Seeing no choice but to give in, Neville stumbled after her as she glided serenely through the crowd and stopped on the dance floor a respectful distance away from the bride and groom. Ginny and Harry, surprised but not in the least annoyed, flashed them a small smile each and Luna took this as her cue to place one of his slightly sweaty hands on her slender waist and clasp his other in her right hand.

'A-aren't at least a little embarrassed?' he hissed uncomfortably as the crowd surrounding the dance floor murmured with curiosity, 'Don't you mind the staring?'

'No,' she answered with perfect sincerity, 'it's not really anything different to how people usually treat me.'

There it was again, that excruciating honesty that drove Neville to distraction… being a compassionate soul by nature and understanding just what it was like to be an outcast, it astonished him all the more that she could be so entirely unaware of the daily human practice of lying or sugar-coating one's words to make them less brutal-sounding.

'Besides,' she added as he contemplated taking her aside after this and explaining to her the seemingly foreign concept of tact, 'you're a very good dancer; you make me look less awkward.'

'Awkward?' Neville echoed unbelievingly; of all the things Luna Lovegood was, awkward was not one of them… she was too dreamy and fairy-like to ever be considered awkward.

'Well not so much awkward,' she said, 'but more… out of place.'

That, Neville – rather guiltily – felt, was a much better description, but one that puzzled him further in the context in which it had been used. How could he, Neville Longbottom, ever make anyone look less out of place? He himself was the master of being out of place – he'd practically written the book.

'I know what you're thinking,' Luna said softly, looking straight into his hazel eyes with her own pale blue ones, 'you're thinking that you're more out of place than I am.. but you're not, you know. You're a hero Neville; you helped Harry kill Lord Voldemort.'

His face flushing an intense shade of scarlet, Neville looked down at her modestly.
'All I did was kill the snake.'

'Yes,' she replied, not blinking, 'but Harry couldn't have defeated Voldemort if you hadn't killed the snake.'

'C-can we talk about something else, please?' he asked suddenly, grief suddenly washing over him as he thought of all the people who'd died that day… thought of the bodies he'd spent hours helping Oliver Wood and a few others lift out of the castle.

'Am I making you uncomfortable?' she enquired, a strange expression in her eyes.

'Well, yes,' he breathed with a grimace.

'I'm sorry,' she said quietly, stopping her movement and looking down at her feet in a most un-Luna-like fashion, 'I just wanted to make you realise how brave you are… you can do anything you want to Neville, you just have to realise that you have it in you.'

Dropping his hands from her waist and grip respectively, Neville stared. It wasn't like Luna to be so adamant about anything; it was much more her style to let people figure things out like this by themselves.

'I-you… d'you want a butterbeer?' he asked quickly, anything to get away from her intoxicating and unusual earnest just for a minute.

'No thank you,' she replied moving away from him a little, 'I should go and find my father.'

Turning, she began to walk away, weaving gracefully through the dancing couples that now filled the floor, leaving Neville standing by himself, thoroughly confused and feeling decidedly awkward and out of place.

And then, all of a sudden, the same rush of adrenaline that had surged through him the night of the Last Battle overpowered him in a heady immersion of power and bravery and he sprinted after her retreating form, scattering couples and drinks everywhere.

'Luna!'

Dreamily stopping in her tracks at the sound of her name, Luna smiled slightly as Neville stumbled up to her, his face flushed and his mouth curving upwards in a small smile that showed off just a hint of his uneven teeth.

'D-did you... Luna would you like to come for a coffee in Hogsmeade next week with me?' he asked, breathing heavily.

She studied him for a moment, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly before her face split into a grin. Her pale cheeks flushing with the first hints of a blush he'd ever seen on her, she nodded. 'I'd love to.'

'Oh, that's good,' he breathed out with a sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly with relief.

They stood in a companionable silence for a moment before she interrupted it suddenly, her airy, lilting voice cutting through the air.

'We'll have to drink tea though… caffeine attracts Gnargles, you know.'

A/N: lyrics used - "Against All The Odds" by the Postal Service.

so, i don't know whether gnargles are attracted to caffeine or not but i had to have something for Luna to say and well, gnargles seemed to fit. lol

x