A/N: One again, if you're not caught up on 'It is the Cause, My Soul', this little drabble might contain spoilers.

THE SEEKERS - 3 - GLOXINIA

"Longbottom."

Neville made a non-committal noise, his focus on the small plant in front of him which appeared to be wafting gently, though there was no breeze in the room. Theo cleared his throat, "Longbottom. There's a girl in the kitchen."

At that the other man looked up, frowning slightly before he smiled, "Of course. Sorry, forgot to mention it. Professor McGonagall said Luna's going to come and help with the refinements to the charms potions you're designing."

Theo raised an incredulous eyebrow, "The girl in the kitchen, who is wearing a necklace made of acorns, is going to help refine my potions?"

Hearing the tone of disbelief Neville straightened, deciding that he could probably complete his notes on Sopophorous shrubs later. "She's a little quirky," he said, "But she's brilliant at charms, so you should probably give her a chance." He gave Theo his best reassuring smile, silently wondering what on earth McGonagall was thinking giving the quiet, sarcastic Slytherin Luna as a lab partner. Over the past few months Neville and Theo had built up a comfortable rapport, and from what he had come to know of the other wizard Neville was fairly sure that his precise, analytical way of working was about to be turned on its head.

Theo's lips thinned, but he turned on his heel to return to the kitchen. Neville hurried after him, nervously wondering what Luna might have managed to get up to in Theo's absence. Upon entering the large, bright room Neville was relieved to see the blonde witch sitting quietly at the table, poring over a sheaf of notes that Theo had made in his neat handwriting. Her hair appeared to have been charmed to float in a nimbus about her head, and with the combination of this and the acorn necklace that she was wearing, Neville had to admit that he could see why Theo had been alarmed to find her among his experiments.

Luna looked up as the two wizards and smiled dreamily, "Hello Neville. Have you persuaded Theo to trust me yet?"

Neville glanced to the side to see that Theo was eyeing Luna warily, nibbling on his lip. "I'm sure that you're perfectly capable of doing that yourself, Luna," he said slowly, nervous of putting himself in the middle.

The girl cocked her head at him, and Neville saw her eyes gleam with mischief, "I guess I'll have to be." She transferred the look to Theo, "I've been looking forward to working with you for ages. My mother told me all about you."

Neville looked back at Theo again, just as the other wizard frowned in confusion, "Your mother?"

Luna nodded, rising from the stool and leaning to rummage in her bag, "She said you'd be sceptical at first, but when I told you about the ideas I have for incorporating hardening and levitating charms into your strength potions you'd start to come around."

Theo's frown deepened, but when he spoke the scepticism that had made Neville so nervous earlier seemed to have gone, "With the spells attached to ingredients or incantations made over the potion as it brews?"

Luna stood up and gave him a quizzical smile. "Ingredients, silly. Saying them over the potion would just turn your cauldron into a solid block of floating stone. But you knew that." She was holding a small plant pot, which she held out to Theo. "My mother told me I should give you this."

Neville folded his arms, lifting one hand to hide his smile as he saw the plant that Luna had given Theo. The tawny-haired wizard stared from the tiny, flowered shrub in his hands to the witch stood before him, smiling vaguely and bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Did she say why?"

Luna blinked at him, then shrugged. "No-o. I was only nine when she died and she said I would understand when the time was right."

The confusion on Theo's face warred with something darker, and Neville was reminded that his mother, too, was dead. Finally Theo cleared his throat, "Do you – do you understand now?"

The smile that Luna directed at him was utterly radiant, and Neville almost felt guilty for intruding on the moment when she stepped forward, planted a light kiss on Theo's mouth, and then slipped past them both, calling over her shoulder, "I think so."

Theo's cheeks flamed as he looked down again at the plant, its dark purple flowers, with their white-edged petals, undeniably lovely. Finally he looked up at Neville, "What…what just happened?"

Neville didn't try to disguise his grin, "Gloxinia. Her mother was a Seer, you know."

(Gloxinia is believed to symbolise love at first sight)