A/N: Okay, I guess it's officially not a oneshot. I couldn't very well leave Luna and Neville without their "get together" at Hogsmeade. It's been a while since I read the books, and I don't have any of them with me to reference as I am not living at home right now. Harry Potter Wiki has been a great help though! Next chapter will probably be much longer… hopefully.

Chapter 2

Fanged Geraniums

Neville sat in Snape's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, his eyes drifting shut, as the professor paced the front of the silent classroom. The scratching of quills across parchment had provided some pleasant white noise to lull Neville into a light sleep. Neville had thought he was safe from the tortures of gloomy Professor Snape. However, since Slughorn had come to Hogwarts to teach Potions, Snape had willingly given away his seat as Potions Master for a chance to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts. Thus, began a living hell.

Not that Neville minded learning to defend himself against the Dark Arts. After all, his involvement in Dumbledore's Army had really helped Neville in performing defensive spells. Without the DA, he might not have made it through fifth year.

And then there was the battle at the Ministry. That experience had given Neville a real taste of the Dark Arts. That taste was very real. And very dangerous.

What did affect his interest in the subject, though, was Snape's constant droning voice going on about all things defensive in accordance with the Dark Arts.

Neville had a hard time sleeping the night before. Although he was trying hard not to over think the fact that he was going to Hogsmeade with Luna tomorrow, it simply wasn't working. Never before had Neville been so forward. Though at the time, he had not meant for the invitation to seem like a date. He didn't fancy Luna. Honestly, he didn't. She was a kind girl, a bit strange, yes, but he suspected they could be good friends.

But as he lay in his bed, he couldn't help but wonder if she expected their meeting… get together… outing… to be a date. It wasn't. Certainly not. That was quite unknown territory for Neville. Awkward as he was, he wasn't sure he was ready to venture into the murky waters of dating.

Eventually, yes. Neville did want to have a wife and a family at some point in his life. He sort of expected it to just happen. Some great girl would come along and it wouldn't matter that he was awkward, or that he had absolutely no experience talking to girls. When the time was right, Neville expected that everything would fall into place.

"Mister Longbottom", Snape's nasally voice startled Neville out of his slumber and his head shot up to see the dreary professor standing in front of his desk. "The next time you decided to fall asleep in class you will find yourself in detention", Snape paused for effect, "I believe Professor Slughorn has cauldrons that need to be cleaned of Bundimun Secretion*".

"Yes, professor", Neville said, sitting up taller. However much he hated Snape, he hated his detentions more.

Luna lingered in the astronomy tower long after classes had ended for the day. She found it was a good place to think when she had something on her mind. From the view at the window seat where she was perched, Luna could see the expanse of the Hogwarts grounds. Her eyes traveled a path across the acres of greenery. Many times had she fallen asleep on those grasses, possibly more than she slept in her four-poster bed in the Ravenclaw dormitories.

At the moment, Luna was considering her encounter with Neville on the grounds a week prior. His invitation had both surprised and pleased her.

It didn't happen often that Luna was invited to something. Lately that had been changing though. Since her involvement with the DA last year, Luna believed she had become friends with Harry. Or he made it seem as if they were friends by addressing her in the hallways. He was polite and quite agreeable, Luna thought. Being friends with The Chosen One, it seemed, had its benefits.

At any rate, Neville's invitation was greatly appreciated. Luna suspected her and Neville would have lots to talk about between Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Nargles. Briefly Luna wondered if Neville was interested in those sorts of things. He had seemed to enjoy her story the other week… or had she misread that look in his eyes? If she had, it could be that Neville would not enjoy talking about the many qualities of Nargles. And that would be quite a problem. She wondered what a boy like Neville would like to talk about.

Herbology! Of course, Luna thought, internally chiding herself. Luna's repertoire of plants was limited compared to her extensive knowledge of magical creatures. Herbology was a mandatory course for the first five years at Hogwarts. Still, Luna worried her knowledge in this area was lacking as she had taken to day dreaming in Professor Sprout's class as of late. She supposed a trip to the library was in order.

Luna sighed as she stretched out across the seat, leaning back against the stone wall of the small alcove. The brick was cold and hard against her back. Her book bag was propped against a stool, the flap open and sagging against the stool leg as her books peeked out from inside. Reaching down, she pulled out Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, the required text for her Care of Magical Creatures class. Her fingers expertly flipped to the page on Fire Crabs. Her essay wasn't due until next week, but Luna found them so interesting. And frankly, she would rather finish her Care of Magical Ceatures homework before she set to work on her paper for Snape…

Later that evening, Luna nestled into a chair by the fire in the Ravenclaw common room. She was once again reading the Quibbler, though without her Spectrespecs. She hadn't been able to find another pair since hers had flown away the other day. The same day Neville had listened to her go on and on about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

Luna regretfully noticed how many times her thoughts seemed to lead her back to the boy with the hazel eyes. It dawned on her that perhaps she thought of him so often was because that kind of interaction had never happened to Luna before. She had talked. And he had listened. He didn't laugh at her, or mocked her. Others, like Harry, had tolerated her interest in things like Blibbering Humdingers. But she sensed that they weren't truly listening to her. She has a strange feeling in her stomach when she finally realized the reason her thoughts had lingered on Neville. It was a good feeling, she decided.

Yawning, Luna climbed the stairs to the dormitories. She needed to be well rested for Hogsmeade tomorrow. Dropping The Quibbler onto the stack of herbology books she had taken out from the library, Luna wondered if she had read enough to carry on a conversation with Neville. Perhaps she should read a bit more on the Fanged Geranium. Neville had probably had some exposure to that plant, being a year ahead of Luna in his studies. She picked up her copy of Flesh Eating Trees Of The World and fell back across the comforter, her mind already soaking up information on various dangerous plants.

A/N:

*From Harry Potter Wiki: "The Bundimun Secretion or Bundimun Ooze is a magical substance, produced by the Bundimun, known to be an extremely acid substance that could rot a building's structure. When diluted, the secretions of the Bundimun are known to be used in some magical cleaning products"

Hogsmeade next chapter! Let me know what you think by reviewing please!