"I'm just saying it's fine by me if you never leave and we can lay like this forever, it's fine by me."-Andy Grammer (Fine By Me)
"What's this?" I asked my dad as I entered the kitchen one morning during the summer. I picked up the fancy gold and white paper lying on the kitchen table.
"We've been invited to Bill Weasley's wedding," my dad said as I read the invitation.
"That was very kind of them to invite us," I said, setting the invitation down and tracing the gold, flowery design with my finger.
"Well, we are practically neighbors, and you're friends with Ginny, aren't you?"
"Yes," I answered. "Ginny has been a very good friend."
"You're friends with Ron, too, aren't you?"
"Yes, I suppose I am," I answered.
"I'm sure it'll be fun. Crowded, most likely. They have a big family, I expect."
"Yeah, plus all their friends," I nodded.
"You might want to make sure there'll be some yellow daisies in the garden," dad said, looking up from the sink where he was washing a pile of Gurdyroots. "They always look wonderful in your hair and we of course want to wear lots of yellow."
"Of course," I answered, heading for the door. "I'll go check right now."
"Oh, look, a garden gnome!" I exclaimed as my dad and I walked towards the tent in the Weasley's back yard. One of the little creatures had just crawled out of the garden and was looking around.
"How wonderful!" my dad said with a smile.
I leaned forward and reached out my hand to gently pat the gnome on the head, but at the last second, he bit me. I retracted my hand and frowned slightly. "Well, that hurt," I said as we approached the entrance to the tent.
"Don't worry, Luna, gnome saliva is very healthy and beneficial."
"I'm sure it is," I answered.
"Luna," Ron said when he saw us. Next to him was another boy with curly red hair.
"Hello, Ron, Harry," I said.
"How did you know it was me?" Harry asked. He lowered his voice. "I'm supposed to be in disguise."
"It was just the expression on your face."
"You look very…bright," Ron noted.
"It's good luck to wear yellow to a wedding," I said.
"One of your garden gnomes bit Luna," my dad said proudly.
"Oh, sorry about that," Ron said quickly. "I can-,"
"No, no," dad said. "I would encourage everyone to get bitten by a garden gnome. As I was just telling Luna, their saliva is very beneficial."
"Er, alright," Ron answered. "I'll show you to your seats then. Neville's here, did you know that?"
"I knew he was coming," I said. "We've been writing all summer, of course."
"I figured," Ron said, "but he's already here. You're seated next to him, actually."
"Oh, that's great," I said happily. "Is his Gran here too?"
"No, he came on his own. He just passed his Apparation test and he's been excited to actually go somewhere, I guess," Ron shrugged.
"Oh, yes," I said, "I heard."
"Well, here we are," Ron said, stopping at the end of a row. Neville was sitting in the middle, looking off in the other direction at the decorations hanging around the tent.
"Thank you, Ron," I said, smiling at him. I started off down the row of seats, having to squeeze by a few people who were already sitting before I got to Neville. Smiling, I sat down and cleared my throat. He jumped and looked at me.
"Luna!" he said happily, giving me a hug. He looked as if he were about to kiss me, but then he saw my dad standing there. "Mr. Lovegood, it's good to see you again."
"I've told you," my dad said with a smile, "call me Xeno."
"Xeno, right," Neville said.
"It's a pleasure to see you, too, Neville," my dad said, with a smile.
"The decorations really look wonderful, don't they?" I said.
My dad and Neville both nodded in agreement. "You both look very bright," Neville said.
"Oh, it's good luck to wear yellow to a wedding," I said. "Have I ever told you that?"
"No," Neville answered, "you haven't."
"Yes, it's an ancient tradition that less and less people seem to be observing," my dad added. "Luna and I seem to be the only ones dressed in yellow here."
"At least we won't get lost," I said. "If anyone's looking for us, they'll be able to find us pretty quickly."
A few minutes after that, the wedding began. Bill looked really happy and Fleur looked beautiful. Ginny was the maid of honor and she smiled at me and Neville when she walked by.
"I really like the dress Fleur chose for Ginny," I said. "It goes well with her hair."
Neville nodded. "So, have you met Ron's Great Aunt Muriel?"
"No, why?"
"She's very…opinionated. And she's not afraid to say what she's thinking. I ran into her almost as soon as I got here. I was talking to Ron and he had no choice but to introduce me to her."
"What did she say?"
"She said 'You're Neville Longbottom? Augusta Longbottom's shy grandson'?"
"And then what?" I asked.
"She actually told me she hadn't seen me since I was very little and I seemed a lot different. I'm not sure if she meant in a good way or a bad way, though."
"In a good way. There's no possible way that you've changed for the worse."
Neville shrugged. "Maybe you think so, but who knows what's going through that old woman's head?"
I shrugged, but didn't get to answer. The same Ministry wizard who had spoken at Dumbledore's funeral was marrying Bill and Fleur and he had just gotten up to speak.
I watched with a smile as the wedding went on and by the time Bill and Fleur were officially married, I was grinning widely. I turned to look at Neville. "Do you think that could be us one day?"
He blinked. "Us?"
"Yes," I answered, feeling slightly disappointed that he looked so surprised at the idea. "You seem surprised."
"What? Oh, no, it's just-," he stopped talking and looked down at the ground. I could see him blushing.
"What is it?" I asked.
He looked back up at me nervously. "It's just that I've already thought of that before."
"You have?" I asked as everyone stood up so that room could be made for the dance floor.
Neville nodded and held out his hand. I took it and he led me to the dance floor. "I've actually thought about it quite a few times," he finally said, blushing again.
"Really?" I couldn't help but smile. It was sweet, really that Neville had thought about the possibility of one day getting married.
He nodded again as we started dancing. "Yeah, I mean, I don't want to be with any other girl but you, Luna."
"You say that now," I said, "but you could change your mind."
"Never," he assured me.
"I wouldn't be mad if you did," I continued. "I would understand. It would just mean that it wasn't meant to-,"
"Luna," he interrupted and his tone made me stop. He sounded slightly hurt. I felt terrible. I usually didn't act so insecure. I wasn't even trying to act that way now. I just knew that things weren't always perfect in reality. My head may be in the clouds a lot of the time, but I'm not completely unaware of things.
"Sorry," I whispered.
"You mean to say," Neville continued, "that you wouldn't be upset at all if we broke up?"
I didn't answer right away. Finally, I took a deep breath. "I didn't say I wouldn't be upset. I said I wouldn't be mad. I wouldn't hate you. If we broke up, I'd be sad, but I'd just keep telling myself that it happened for a reason."
"We're not breaking up," Neville said. "At least, I don't want to."
"I don't want to either," I said with a smile.
Neville twirled me around before pulling me close again. "What if we don't make it through the war?" he asked and I could sense the fear in his voice. It was the first time I had heard fear in his voice since last year and I knew he was still scared no matter how much he tried to act like he wasn't.
I swallowed. I wanted to say we'd both make it, but that wouldn't be true. Like I said, I knew that things in reality weren't always perfect. "If we don't make it, then we don't make it," I said.
Neville paled, but then he composed himself. "Well, let's try our best not to die, then, alright? There's not much else we can do except that."
I nodded. "Of course. I wasn't planning on walking in the direct line of a Killing Curse anyway."
Neville let out a quiet chuckle. "Good, because neither was I."
The slow song morphed into a fast one and I smiled excitedly. "Oh, this is such a good song!" With that, I started dancing. It was a dance my parents had taught me. I stood in one spot, spinning around and flapping my hands in the air.
"Er, Luna," Neville said. As I spun, I could see him standing near me, looking nervous. His hands were in his pockets and he looked like he was unsure of what he should be doing.
"Join in, Neville!" I said.
"But what exactly is this…dance you're doing?"
"I don't know if it has a name. If it does, I don't know it. My parents taught it to me. It's fairly easy."
Before I knew it, my dad was standing beside me, dancing as well. "Very good, Luna dear!" he said. "Come on, Neville, aren't you going to dance too?"
"Uh, I think I'll go get a drink. Do you want anything?"
"No, I'm fine," my dad said.
"I'd like a drink," I said, still spinning.
"What do you want?" Neville asked, backing away. "Butterbeer? Water?"
"Surprise me."
My dad and I stopped dancing a little while after Neville had left. "If we go get a table do you think Neville will be able to find us again?" I asked.
"I'm sure he will," my dad said, leading the way to a table right on the edge of the dance floor. "Right here should be fine. We can keep a lookout for him this way."
I nodded as I sat down. "Have you been enjoying yourself?"
"Yes, I was having a nice little chat with that Weasley cousin with the red, curly hair." My dad pointed across the tent.
"That's Harry, Dad," I told him. "Did you hear me say hello when we got here?"
"No," my dad said, sounding surprised. "I must have been thinking about something else. Is that really Harry Potter?"
"Yes, I expect he's in disguise for safety reasons."
"Ah, of course," dad said, nodding.
Finally, Neville came back with two butterbeers; one for me and one for him. "Sorry it took so long," he whispered in my ear as he sat next to me. "I overheard Muriel talking to her friend." He stopped and looked at my dad, who was busy watching the dancers and tapping his foot to the music, smiling absentmindedly. "She was saying your dad looks like a fried egg."
"A fried egg?" I asked.
"Yes," Neville answered. "I told her it was good luck to wear yellow to a wedding."
"You told her that?"
Neville nodded. "She sniffed and said 'I must have missed that memo'."
"Yes, she must've," I agreed.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the music and each other's company before Ginny came over and took my arm. "I've given up trying to teach Harry how to dance. It may be impossible, actually, so I'm going to have to steal Luna away from you, Neville." She looked at me. "I saw you dancing earlier and I need someone who actually knows how to dance without worrying about what other people are thinking."
"Okay," I said, standing up.
"I'll return her later, Neville," Ginny said.
"Take your time," Neville answered, smiling and drinking from his butterbeer.
Ginny dragged me right into the middle of the crowd of people on the dance floor. It was starting to get dark now and lanterns all around the tent were turning on and making everything glow. It was very pretty.
"How do you do that?" Ginny asked, peering at me as I started dancing again.
"Oh, it's simple," I said. I gave her a few instructions on how to do it and she caught on quickly.
"I couldn't get Neville to do it with me," I said. "I don't think he's much of a dancer."
"Must be a boy thing," Ginny said. "Come on, now I'm going to teach you a few of my moves."
I don't know how long Ginny and I were dancing for. It seemed like a few minutes, but it could have been an hour. It was an example of how funny time could be, playing tricks on people like that.
Another slow song came on and Ginny and I stopped dancing. "Well, I suppose I'd better go find Harry again," Ginny said. "I'll put up with him stepping on my toes because I'm not going to sit down during every slow dance."
"I'll go find Neville," I said, smiling.
As we turned to go in opposite directions, we both froze mid-turn as there was a scream. A second later, I saw why. A wispy white object was zooming towards the tent. It came inside and people moved out of the way as it floated to a stop right in the middle of the dance floor. Ginny and I backed up a few steps, but we still had a clear view of the wispy smoke that I realized was a Patronus in the shape of a lynx. It opened its mouth and spoke in an oddly familiar voice.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." The last few words echoed throughout the silent tent as the Patronus disappeared. When it did, it seemed to leave a sort of darkness behind, even though the lanterns were still lit. It was then that the pandemonium broke out. People were screaming and running as black shapes started flying throughout the tent. It was the Death Eaters.
I lost Ginny in the crowd and assumed she had gone to find Harry. I wandered towards where I had last seen Neville, trying to stay as calm as I could despite the fact that I was being jostled by people trying to escape. I began to walk more quickly as I grew more nervous. The lanterns were tipping over and exploding, sending huge flames into the air. I ducked under someone's arm, trying to reach Neville and my dad.
I gasped as a Death Eater materialized in front of me. I ducked under his arm and tried to run, but he grabbed me by the hair. Flinging my arm backwards, I managed to poke him in the eye. He let me go and I stumbled forward, thankfully right into Neville's arms. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking me all over.
"I'm alright. What about you?"
"I'm fine, but come on, let's get out of here."
"What about everyone else?" I asked.
Neville looked like he hated answering the way he did. "We can't stay and help them all. We'll have to trust that they'll be alright. Now, come on. Your dad's waiting over by the edge of the tent." Grabbing my hand, Neville pulled me around the corner where my dad was waiting anxiously. I reached out with my free hand and grabbed my dad's arm. Once I had, he Apparated the three of us back to my house, where we would be safe.
A/N: I know Neville didn't go to the wedding in the book, but honestly, I don't see why he wouldn't be there and I felt it just fit this story better if he was invited. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think!