Continues in the middle of the battle. Sorry for the wait.
Neville couldn't be sure of much between the fighting and chaos, but he was sure when he saw her. He would never forget what she looked like. Even in the midst of a battle.
He had seen her before in the Room of Requirement but he was scared. Scared to talk to her. What if she hadn't felt the same way anymore? What had happened to her?
She had sent him and Ginny an owl when she had been released from her prison but there weren't many details, it was too unsafe to send anything by owl. You never knew what would be intercepted.
When he had gotten the letter, he had felt his heart begin to beat again. His breath finally released itself, allowing him to live. He had been reckless when she was gone, he had realized suddenly. Doing idiotic things and almost getting himself killed. Only his blood status had saved him several times.
He had been fighting a Carrow, a bit of symbolic payback. Then he saw her. He became reckless again. Before he knew what he was doing he blasted a spell—he wasn't even sure which—off in their way and hoped it subdued them—it did.
He ran to her. She was dueling with someone he didn't even see. He threw off the same spell—he only knew because it subdued them as well—and stopped in front of her.
She smiled at him, as if no time had passed. "Hi Neville."
He wasn't aware of the people around him. Wasn't aware of the battle. He wasn't even aware that there were several loud crashes around him.
His face twitched into a smile. He wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't sure if he could.
"I missed you too." She said in her all knowing voice, because of course she knew. Not because she was in Ravenclaw, not because she knew practically everything—though she would never admit it—but because she wasn't a fool. She could see it on his face and he could see it on hers.
They didn't need to speak, just needed to look.
It had mostly been that way, he suspected. From the moment he met. Though it may not have been obvious. It had though, in the Department of Mysteries.
He remembered it clearly. The Death Eaters had made a lunge at Ginny, because she was the smallest and Bellatrix had recognized him. She hadn't said anything yet but she had leered at him. As they encircled Ginny, he felt the smallest touch and warmth spread through him.
He knew it was Luna, because for some reason she was warm. She was like sunshine, he had noticed. Always bright and illuminating. Not always around but always there when you needed it. Her hand desperately clung to his clammy one.
He had felt cold as she slipped away from him but now that she was back with him, he never intended to be cold again.
He wasn't sure of how long they stood there staring, it felt like hours but it was possibly only seconds. However, all too soon, he realized that there was a fight going on and the more he sat here staring at her, the more danger she was in.
He quickly grabbed her hand as she had done to him so many years ago and pulled her along with him despite her many protests. She was staying with him as long as he could get her too.
She later clutched his hand when they saw Hagrid carrying Harry. He knew if he looked at her she wouldn't betray her emotions but he could feel her squeezing his hand so tight that it was going to cut his circulation.
Then as he had stood, to do Harry's last and dying wish, she made a sobbing noise—so quiet, he was positive only he had heard it—as he forced her to release her grip on him. She desperately tried to pull him back by his shirt but he felt her pulled away by someone.
He briefly wondered who it was and instantly assumed that it was Ginny because they were closer than anyone he had ever known.
Then as he pulled out the sword and reached for the snake, he realized, wondrously, that he was mad for her. He was in love with her. She was the only one who ever made him feel remotely wonderful, and remotely normal. Better yet, she made him feel better than normal. Like he was a Gryffindor, like he deserved it. Like he was important.
Most of all like she loved him as well.
It seems ridiculous that he realized this in the span of a second of him chopping the head off a snake. Suddenly, as all hell broke less, above all, all he wanted was Luna.
He stumbled around, quite dizzy from actually having the sword fall on his head but as the crowd separated and Harry made his final stance, she was pressed against him, holding onto his arm tightly. He looked at her several times to see her pale, sweaty skin. Yet she still looked amazing, albeit a little sick.
Regrettably, he was separated again from her in the crowd, when they went towards Harry. Though, he finally heard her yell out in the crowd about some crazy animal he had never heard of. He quickly, ran to her and pulled her away.
This time she did not protest but smiled at him.
He did not know where he was pulling her. He didn't even care. All that mattered was that she was with him.
She tugged him into a classroom, one that had previously been inhabited by Firenze as he taught at the school—he had been chased out earlier in the year when Snape had taken over. The plant life in the classroom had died off from the cold of the dementors and lack of upkeep. However there was a light amount of grass layering the floor.
"Luna." He whispered, holding the bottom of her jumper as lightly as possible. "Are you—?"
"Fine Neville." She whispered as well. He wasn't sure of why they were whispering, it just felt wrong to speak aloud. "Never better actually."
She placed her hands on his arms and pulled him closer.
They were completely alone, he had been with her in every possible way before, and had just stuck it to one of the darkest and most powerful wizards of all time and yet, he was scared of her.
She pulled him closer, if possible and he reached his arms around her waist and their lips touched delicately.
Afraid to do more than she wanted he pulled away slightly. "What's wrong Neville?"
He shook his head. "Nothing, I'm just—worried, I guess."
She opened her mouth to speak but before he could stop himself he began to blurt out questions. "Where were you? What did they do to you? Did they hurt you? Did they—I mean—I don't—"
"Neville." She said quietly and rubbed her hands across his shoulders. She sighed. "They hurt me but nothing permanent and no they didn't, though I'm sure some of them thought it. I could hear them through the vents…"
He grabbed her jumper and clenched his fist around it while gritting his teeth. Despite her caddice speaking of it, he couldn't help them thinking about trying to touch her. The woman he was in love with.
"They said bad things." She said though she didn't seem evidently bothered by it. "But if they even came near me, Ollivander and Dean would through a riot. Bellatrix would come in and talk about the waste of an afternoon most of the time and they'd get into it before totally abandoning the idea. A few other times, Snape was there and he would somehow distract them. They weren't exactly the brightest. There was this one close time with Fenrir—the werewolf. Voldemort decided to come at that exact moment to…well…speak…with Ollivander and then Harry and Ron showed up. They took us to Shell Cottage, it's Ron's brother, Bill's house and he's married to Fleur—remember her? Either way, they were wonderful letting me stay there most of time."
Neville nodded and had slightly released her jacket. He hoped he had cursed any of those bastards who had tried to go for her. He especially hoped that they were dead. Or in Azkaban, that was probably worse for them.
"Luna, I want to tell you something." He said gulping nervously.
She nodded at him encouragingly. "Yes, Neville?"
"It's just, when I was out there. Killing the snake and all, I sort of realized something. Nothing bad but its just in the minute—well seconds really—I just realized that, well I mean, I think I do, pretty sure. It's not like I've ever had anything compare it to but I've never felt so sure in my life—"
"Neville, are you alright?" She asked him. "You do have quite a large bump forming on your head."
"That's just from the sword falling on there. Coming out of the sorting hat while you're wearing it, isn't exactly a good thing. But that doesn't matter!" He suddenly shouted.
She jumped and he shook his head angrily.
"Damn, this is coming out all wrong Luna. I'm just going to start over. I mean I think that would be best but I'm sure it's not like you're going to forget this. Damn, why can't I stop myself—"
She suddenly placed her hand on his mouth and he froze, shocked by what she had done. Thankfully though, it had stopped him from spewing nonsense.
"I love you too, Neville." She said in her infinite wisdom.
He smiled underneath her hand. That, in a nutshell, was why he loved her. She wasn't scared to say the scariest phrase in the world when he couldn't even say one word of it.
"I don't know about you but I would also like it, if when we went back out there, you were my boyfriend." She smiled at him, not even in the slightest bit concerned that he might not feel the same way.
He reached over her hand and removed it but never let it go. "Luna. You are—"
She smiled even wider. "I know."
He pushed her back to the desk closest to them and kissed her languidly. He reached to pull off her jumper but she placed her hands over his.
"Did I do something wrong?" He asked quickly. He couldn't believe he had messed it up so quickly.
She laughed her beautiful earthy laugh. "No, but you're hurt. You need to go to Madam Pomfrey."
"She has way worse things to deal with Luna." He said. "Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and those are only the people we know! Did you see Lavender, she's going to need all her attention—"
"Neville." Luna said and pushed him towards the door.
He groaned and sighed as he followed her. As they reached the infirmary, he realized that Madam Pomfrey did not even look breezed by the amount of people there. Professor Slughorn was walking around handing potions to those that needed and smiled brightly at him as Luna and he passed.
"Neville Longbottom!" Madam Pomfrey shouted as she saw him. "What took you so long? Are you limping?" She cried outraged. He looked at Luna and was positive his face was as red as Ron's hair.
Luna however was unfazed and simply squeezed his hand that was intertwined with his.
"Over here now!" She stomped as she brought him to the half of the room that was hidden by tall curtains.
Inside, he saw Ron and Hermione talking quietly and had both been treated. They both periodically looked over to the bed in between them where Harry was sleeping soundly with an empty potion bottle latched in his hand.
Most of the Weasleys were saddled on beds, the others were sitting in chairs next to the rest. Though, he noticed, all their eyes turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Madam Pomfrey sat him down on a bed and he fought with her quietly until she agreed to allow Luna to sit alongside him on the bed. She quickly tended to his wounds and Luna leaned against him as she finished.
Ron looked at him with a similar gleam in his eye but quickly looked away. Harry moaned and muttered in his sleep and Ginny stroked his hair silently.
"They ran out of dreamless draught." Ginny whispered to him while shaking her head. "He came into the infirmary and started throwing up. They had to give him something to go sleep but I'm positive he's having nightmares."
Hermione muttered something under her breath and crossed her arms across her chest.
He thrashed suddenly and Mrs. Weasley jumped in her bed and looked at him expectantly.
"Mum…Dad…Sirius…Remus…" He said quietly.
"He's been muttering their names over and over." Ginny said.
Luna suddenly sat up against Neville. "Where's my dad?"
Ron averted his eyes.
"We've already sent for him." Mr. Weasley said. "Kingsley went straightaway to Azkaban to release the prisoners that shouldn't have been there and to place the Death Eaters there."
Luna nodded. No longer worried about her father, and knowing he'd be with them soon and placed herself back against Neville, tucked under his arm.
"Longbottom." Madam Pomfrey said as she returned with a potion. "Drink this; it'll help your head."
He nodded and realized suddenly that he had a splitting headache and almost swallowed the potion whole.
He got very drowsy and didn't hear Madam Pomfrey speak about side effects as he suddenly fell asleep.
When he woke the room was empty and he felt the empty spot of Luna at his side. He turned and saw Harry still trashing around in his sleep and Ginny had fallen asleep in a chair by his side. The rest of the Weasleys and Hermione had vacated and he shot up at the immediate silence.
He stood up and walked over to the infirmary door, expecting Madam Pomfrey to tackle him before letting him go. However, no one stopped him.
He walked around and looked for anyone but the castle was silent and empty. As he looked at his watch, he realized it was very early and no one would be awake.
"Neville!" He heard a sharp whisper. He turned and saw Luna.
He smiled. He liked that she had instantly found him. "Where'd you go?" He asked.
"My dad got here in the middle of the night and we went home to survey the damage to the house. Most of the Weasley's went with us to help us rebuild." She said as they absent mindedly started walking. "They were very kind, despite the immediate loss. Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, George and Percy went back to the burrow though, and Ginny stayed with Harry. They went back already and Ron and Hermione are coming back soon to get Harry and Ginny but they have to wait until the potion for his sleep wears off so they're waiting back at the burrow."
He reached down for her hand. "Why did you come back?"
"For you, Neville." She said confused.
"That's what I hoped. What did you tell your father?" He asked.
"The truth." She said once again confused. "What else?"
He shrugged. "When are you going back?"
She shrugged. "When I need to."
He looked up and realized that they had made it to the Gryffindor common room. He hadn't even realized where they had been walking.
"Victory." Luna said to the Fat Lady, who didn't even open their eyes before letting them in.
"How did you know?" He asked her. He hadn't even known they had changed the password.
"Ginny happened to mention it when we were talking last night." She said. "You fell asleep very quickly. Madam Pomfrey said you shouldn't have taken the whole bottle."
He turned red as she led him up to the boy's dormitory. "Oh. My bad."
She giggled and he smiled. She stopped in front of the door and kissed him passionately. Her hand was on the door knob when he released her lips again. "Luna, we don't need to—"
"I know." She said with a repetitive smile.
"What about—?"
"Everyone is in the infirmary, or in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall thought it would be better if they all stayed together. House unity and all."
Neville nodded and pressed his lips back to hers as they stumbled through the door.
He was no longer worried about the awkwardness of the moment. He just needed to be closer to her. As close as possible.
He quickly ripped off her top, and silently noted that she had changed since he had last seen her. Then he pressed his lips to her neck as she reached for his belt buckle, evidently, uninterested in all other parts of his body.
He thrust into her as they stumbled into his bed and he barely registered to pull the curtains closed in case of any stray students.
He realized she was yet again wearing a skirt and that quickly helped any softness that remained in his lower regions. He quickly pulled off her knickers while she pulled off his trousers and pants. She lifted up her skirt and he quickly thrust into her.
He knew he wasn't going to last long but he knew this was good. Them together. That was all he ever needed.
"Luna." He moaned and she whimpered underneath him.
"Neville please." She gripped his shoulders tightly and arched into him. "Faster."
He went faster and deeper before releasing with her. He honestly thought he had died and gone to heaven. But was rather glad that he didn't.
Luna sighed contently and snuggled besides him. "I love you Neville."
He smiled. "I love you too, Luna. And all your wrackspruts." He mumbled.
She laughed tiredly. "You mean nargles."
He smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist. He honestly had no idea but he did know that he loved Luna.
At the moment, that was all that mattered.
So sorry about the delay, but I wasn't feeling it for a while but then when I saw the movie and saw *spoilers* that David Yates approved of N/L I thought I should finish this. I know it's not as long or as dirty ;) as the last one but this was supposed to be more lovey-dovey. Alright that's it! I'll try to update more of my stories later and I hope you enjoyed DHP2. Now I shall go cry myself to sleep.
Please review! They help the gaping hole only new HP can fill.