"No wizard that there is or was is ever gonna bring me down." -Idina Menzel (Defying Gravity)

"I'd want some peace and quiet if I were you." I was passing by Harry who was sitting down at a table looking as if he were unsure of how exactly he had gotten there.

"I'd love some," he said.

"Use your cloak. I'll distract everyone," I said quietly. Before he could respond, I pointed at the other side of the room and raised my voice slightly. "Oh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger." Everyone turned to look in the direction I was pointing and by the time I turned back around, Harry was gone.

"Luna, dear." I looked up to see my dad limping towards me, grinning happily. I sighed with relief. I hadn't seen him since I had bumped into him earlier. It was good to know that he was alive, although I didn't like the fact that he was limping.

"What happened?" I asked, gesturing to his leg.

"A centaur hit me with his arrow. I think I accidentally got in the way."

"Most likely," I nodded. "Don't you want to get it healed?"

"No, haven't I ever told you that centaur arrows are good luck?"

"No, you've never told me that."

"Well they are, and here is the proof!" He gestured around the room. "We've won!"

"Yes, I know," I answered quietly.

"You aren't saying much, Luna darling." My dad frowned slightly and put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "Yes, just tired."

"Have you talked to Neville yet?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen him since Harry was pretending to be dead. I've been looking for him, though."

"I believe he's sitting with his grandmother." My dad pointed across the room and when I turned to look, sure enough, Neville was there talking with his grandmother. "They look like they're having a very important talk," my dad continued.

I watched as Neville stared down at his hands. Then, he looked up and smiled as his Gran reached over and tentatively patted his cheek. He leaned over and hugged her. She looked surprised at first but eventually hugged him back.

"Dad," I said, turning back to my father. "Neville and I are-,"

"Getting married?"

"How did you know?"

"I noticed your ring," he said. "I noticed it when I saw you earlier, actually, but I didn't want to acknowledge it then and I didn't want you to tell me."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't really the greatest time or place. Besides, it gave me incentive to keep going. It gave me incentive to make sure I did everything I could to live so that I could hear the good news when this was all over. I figured that if we didn't win this war, hearing the good news would make me happy."

I grinned and threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly. He hugged me back and I sighed happily. "We're going to wait until I'm done with school, though," I said as I pulled away.

"Very good idea," my father nodded. "Did you come up with that?"

I nodded. "I did."

"That's my Luna," he smiled, patting my shoulder. He looked over my head and smiled wider. When I turned, Neville was standing behind me, watching us. The sword of Gryffindor was hanging by his side, the tip hitting the ground.

"Hello, Neville," I said, gesturing for him to come over. When he did, I wrapped an arm around him. He put his free arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.

"Mr. Lovegood," Neville said, "how are you?"

"Wonderful," my dad beamed. "And it's Xeno, remember?"

"Of course."

"How are you?"

"Great," Neville answered with a grin.

"I heard the good news."

"You did?"

"He actually figured it out on his own. He saw this." I held up my hand and wiggled my ring finger back and forth so that the ring caught the light.

"Observant," Neville grinned.

"He's always been that way," I said. "Mum used to really admire that about him. She told me so."

"I hope it's okay with you that I asked Luna to marry me," Neville said.

"Of course it's okay. She told me your plan to wait until your schooling is finished."

"Well, Luna's going to go back to school. I'm not quite sure if I am just yet. He paused and glanced at me. "I was talking to Kingsley earlier. He's offering anyone who fought tonight a position as an Auror. No NEWTs necessary. He says that fighting tonight was way more of a skill and character test than the NEWTs could ever be."

"How wonderful! Are you going to take it?"

"I'm definitely considering taking it, at least for a little while," Neville answered. "After that I think I might want to become a Hogwarts professor."

"Herbology?" I asked.

"You got it," he answered, tapping my nose.

"Well, congratulations, Neville," my dad said, "and congratulations to the two of you. I'll be digging out my yellow dress robes before you know it."

I smiled and gave my dad one last hug before he walked off to talk to Neville's grandmother.

"You were having quite a serious talk with your Gran earlier," I said as Neville and I walked out of the great hall holding hands.

Neville nodded. "I told her I proposed and that you like my mum's ring. She's glad. She also said she's proud of me and that I really am my parents' son."

"You were incredible tonight," I said.

"I still don't know how I managed to pull this sword out of the hat, though." Neville looked down at it, frustrated.

"I don't have the answer to that either, but I think I know who will."

"Who?" Neville asked as I began to drag him through the half destroyed castle.

"Dumbledore!" I answered.

"Dumbledore? Luna but he-,"

"He has a portrait hanging in his office!" When we finally reached our destination, the two stone gargoyles that usually guarded the entrance were lying on the ground. "May we go up?"

"I'm not going to stop you," one of the gargoyles said feebly.

I turned to smile at Neville before leading him up the stairs. Harry, Ron and Hermione were just coming out of the office. "Hello," I said, smiling.

"Hi," Harry said as Ron and Hermione nodded in greeting. The five of us stood there for a moment, looking at each other. I can't say for sure, but I'm almost positive that the same thing was going through our minds. We had been through so much together in the past two and a half years. If only Ginny were standing with us now. We were the six people who would always know what it meant to be a part of Dumbledore's Army and the six people that it had meant the most to.

"You all right Harry?" Neville asked.

Harry nodded. "You?"

Neville nodded. "You were brilliant tonight."

"So were you." Harry nodded towards the sword.

"I did what you asked and killed the snake."

"I know. Thanks."

"We were wondering why Neville was able to pull the sword out of the hat. That's why we came up here. We thought Dumbledore might know." I shrugged and looked towards the office door.

"He does," Harry answered. "He told me once."

"What did he say?" Neville asked.

"He said only a true Gryffindor could have pulled it out of the hat."

Neville was silence as he processed what Harry had told him. He turned the sword back and forth as the light reflected off of it. "A true Gryffindor?" he finally asked.

"That's what he said," Harry answered. He smiled and patted Neville on the back before heading down the stairs, Ron and Hermione at his heels.

I turned to face Neville. "A true Gryffindor," I said quietly. "See? You belong in that house, Neville. This is proof that the Sorting Hat put you there for a reason. What you did tonight? That's the reason. You're so brave, Neville. It just took you a few years to realize just how brave you are."

"You knew it all along," Neville said quietly. "How is it that you knew me better than I knew myself?"

I didn't answer right away. Finally, I looked up at him. "I think I just saw what other people didn't and what you couldn't."

"You're oddly good at that," he muttered.

"Thank you," I said and he laughed.

"What are you going to do with the sword?" I asked. "Use it to kill more snakes? Frame it and put it on your bedroom wall?"

"I think I'm going to put it back where it belongs," Neville said, glancing towards the door to Dumbledore's office. "Unless you'd like to use it to catch a Crumple Horned Snorkack, of course." He smirked at me.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Everyone knows you can't use a sword on a Crumple Horned Snorkack. You'll never catch it that way."

"I don't think everyone knows that," Neville said.

I shrugged. "It's common sense, really."

Neville smiled and shook his head. "So back into Dumbledore's office it is."

"I was hoping you'd want to do that."

Neville smiled and picked up my hand again. I stood next to him as he cleaned off the sword and slipped it back into the case that we had taken it from at the beginning of the year. When I looked up, I saw Dumbledore's portrait smiling at us.

"Back where it belongs," I said to the painting. Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"There isn't another place I could even consider putting it," Neville added. "It belongs in the headmaster's office no matter who the headmaster is."

"I couldn't agree more," Dumbledore said. "Although, I did think it looked even better with the blood on it. More frightening."

"Oh," Neville responded, looking slightly guilty now for having cleaned off the sword. "Well, with all due respect, sir, I don't want to kill any more snakes."

Dumbledore chuckled. "And I don't want you to have to. Nagini was good enough."

Neville nodded and put an arm around my shoulders. We both looked at the sword in silence. "Are you sure you don't want to take it and use it on a Crumple Horned Snorkack?" Neville teased.

Dumbledore chucked again. "Of course she doesn't, my dear boy. Everyone knows you can't use a sword on a Crumple Horned Snorkack."

Neville blinked wordlessly at the portrait as I smiled. "That's right," I agreed. "Come on, Neville. Goodbye, Professor."

"Goodbye Miss Lovegood, Mr. Longbottom."

Smiling, I took Neville's hand and led him from the room.