Chapter 3: Innocent Love (Neville x Luna)

Chapter 2: Shy and Whimsical

The second ship is between Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.

Cheers came from the Gryffindors who knew the duo. "Wooo! Go, Nev! Go, Loony!" Harry cheered, the loudest person in the Great Hall. Neville was just blushing fiercely while Luna's head was tilted, as if in thought.

Luna Lovegood:

Luna has often been an outcast in Ravenclaw and Hogwarts, her knowledge being passed off as her being a crazy and weird person when the opposite is true.

Many people in Ravenclaw looked down in shame at this, knowing that they were the people that made Luna an outcast, pushing her out of the familial bond that came with being a Ravenclaw.

Luna has extraordinary knowledge of the world and all her inhabitants. She has a softness and fantasy that not many people can have.

Luna was raised by her mother, Pandora Lovegood, and her father, Xenophilius Lovegood. Her parents always encouraged and nurtured her fantastical mind, and never put her down for who she was.

"It's nice you had such supportive parents," Neville said, smiling at Luna slightly. He didn't honestly know if he loved Luna, she was pretty and kind, but that doesn't mean he loved her. It may sound insensitive, but love didn't work that way. No matter what happens, though, Luna will always be his friend.

Meanwhile, Luna was thinking about her parents, and in particular, her mom. She doesn't have too many memories of her, but from what she does remember, she was an amazing, adventurous, and kind person. Her father certainly loved her and took her death hard. Luna misses her mother every day that she isn't with her.

[LUNA IS STANDING IN A RED SWEATER, HOLDING A BOOK, LOOKING TO HER LEFT WITH HER HAIR IN A LOW PONYTAIL.]

"Aww! Luna was so cute when she was younger!" A girl squealed, causing many of the people sitting around her to wince and try to cover their ears.

"It's true Luna, you were and still are quite beautiful," Neville complemented, and Luna smiled back at him, she knew that he meant it in a platonic way, not romantically.

Luna has been bullied most of her life, but never let it define her. It was when she was nine years old that she went through her hardest challenge. When she was nine years old, her mother was experimenting with a spell, when something went wrong, killing Pandora on the spot, in front of both her daughter and husband.

"Oh, my Merlin!" Many people gasped and covered their mouths in shock, "You saw her… die?"

Luna looked down to the ground, she usually didn't mind talking about death, it was a part of life, but when death affected her so greatly and so emotionally, she had trouble talking about it.

"Yes, my father and I saw her die. It was traumatic for me at the time, but I've learned to cope with it." Neville pulled Luna into a hug, partially understanding how she felt. Neville had lost both his parents, but he was very young at the time, and it hadn't happened in front of him, nor did they technically die.

[YOUNGER LUNA IS SITTING WITH HER MOM UNDER A QUILT BLANKET, HER MOM HOLDING A BOOK THAT SHE AND LUNA ARE READING.]

"Your mother was beautiful, Luna. You look just like her." Ron complimented softly, causing Luna to smile in his direction.

Luna and her father took her death hard and had to get through it together. For a long time, things didn't quite feel right between the two of them, but eventually, they opened up to each other and got closer than ever before.

[A YOUNGER LUNA AND YOUNGER XENOPHILIUS ARE BOTH DANCING AND POINTING AT EACH OTHER.]

"It looks like you and your father have a good relationship," Cedric said grinning, thinking about his father as well. "We always have been close," Luna admitted.

[LUNA IS WEARING HER SIGNATURE GLASSES AND OUTFIT, LOOKING INTO THE CAMERA AS SHE IS HOLDING COPIES OF THE QUIBBLER.]

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ms. Lovegood," McGonagall said. She isn't always the best at noticing something wrong with her students, especially not ones from other houses, but she does still care for them and their wellbeing.

Luna just shrugged, she wasn't used to people paying this much attention to her.

Neville Longbottom:

Neville is a shy Gryffindor who is either made fun of or ignored by most. He tries his best in all that he does, but it's not always enough.

Neville looked down in shame, he knew it was true, but that doesn't mean everyone has to point it out. But it doesn't matter. Neville is working on making himself a better person, so he'll just try to ignore it for now.

Neville is kind, caring for all living creatures, and has a talent for Herbology. He has trouble working up the courage to be as brave as most Gryffindors are expected to be, but once he does, he is one of the bravest people in the school. He will do whatever it takes to keep his friends and family safe.

"That's true, Nev, you stood up against us when we were trying to get into the third-floor corridor, even though we were your friends, and that took a lot of courage and bravery," Hermione said, she had been surprised when Neville had willingly said he would fight them to stop them from breaking the rules.

Now that Hermione thinks of it, she never did apologize for cursing Neville…

"Thanks, Hermione, I was shocked that I had done it at the time," Neville scratched the back of his head, recalling just how he had stood up against them, then what happened after that.

[NEVILLE IS IN HIS PJS, A SLIGHTLY NERVOUS EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE AS HE HOLDS HIS FISTS UP IN FRONT OF HIM.]

"I like your Pjs, Nev."

When he was younger, Neville's parents went against Voldemort and his followers and were tortured to insanity.

Many of the teachers bowed their heads in memory of Alice and Frank, and all that they stood for.

Because of this, Neville was raised by his Grandmother throughout his childhood. And during this time, he never showed any signs of magic or any accidental magic, so some of Neville's family members "tested" him to try and get his accidental magic to act up.

"What?!" Many of the teachers and students were shocked at how Neville had been treated as a child. Especially since he never acted as most children who had been abused would. Neville was shy and meek but wasn't shy at a concerning level.

"Mr. Longbottom, why did you not inform me or the staff of this? We could have helped you and helped stop the treatment." McGonagall was concerned, this was another student that she had no clue had suffered. If she had known about these students' pasts, she would have given them help or someone to talk with.

"I- uh, I didn't know it mattered…" Neville muttered quietly, but no one missed it. "Oh Nev, it does matter! And it matters because it's hurting you!" Harry said, trying to get his message across to the shorter boy, not realizing that he may also need to learn this lesson.

[A YOUNGER NEVILLE IS STANDING WITH HIS GRANDMOTHER, HOLDING A LARGE FROG IN HIS ARMS WITH A NERVOUS EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE, HIS GRANDMOTHER HAVING A HAND ON HIS SHOULDER WITH A STERN EXPRESSION ON HER FACE, LOOKING INTO THE CAMERA.]

"She looks so strict…"

Some of these "tests" included scaring Neville as well as physically harming him to try and get his magic to retaliate against them.

"They shouldn't have been able to get away with that." A Slytherin said, surprising a lot of Gryffindors. "Don't look at me like that! I'm not a monster, no one deserves to be abused." The said Gryffindors looked down in shame, often their prejudice against the Slytherins went too far, and got to the point where they didn't even see them as decent human beings.

One particular time, Neville's Uncle hung him upside down out of the highest tower window, hanging him there until his magic came out. But then something happened, Neville started to slip out of his Uncle's grasp and continued to do so until he fell off the tower completely. As soon as he was about to hit the ground, his magic came out for the first time and saved him from his fatal fall.

"You- you almost died," Luna didn't know how to react, she was terrified at the thought of losing Nev, or never meeting him at all. "Uh, yeah, I got lucky."

[A YOUNGER NEVILLE IS STANDING IN A GARDEN, GARDENING GLOVES ON HIS HANDS AS HE HOLDS A POTTED PLANT IN FRONT OF HIM.]

"Aww! Look at cute little Neville!" A Hufflepuff said, trying to cheer everyone up. This caused Neville's face to heat up, turning redder by the second.

From that day on, his family was grateful and relieved that he wasn't a squib, and pretended that nothing happened before his magic came out or while it happened.

"Really? Those bast-" "Language! Ms. Weasley!" Snape interrupted the youngest Weasley from continuing, "I mean, those people just pretended nothing happened?! They made your life hell!" Neville just shrugged, he was starting to get uncomfortable with the attention.

[NEVILLE IS STANDING IN HIS SCHOOL ROBES, SMILING AT THE CAMERA.]

Overall, Neville has had to go through many hardships in his life but has become stronger because of them.

"Neville, just know that you can talk to us about anything, we won't judge you," Oliver Wood said, he had gotten close to Neville during their time at Hogwarts and had grown attached to the younger Gryffindor.

Luna x Neville:

Luna and Neville are a cute couple who would be the embodiment of innocent and cute love. They would be a power couple and take the world by storm in their magical way.

"I wouldn't imagine it any other way."

[AN OLDER NEVILLE AND LUNA ARE HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER, KISSING.]

"Get a room!" Someone shouted, causing a lot of the muggle-borns and some half-bloods to start laughing.

"Wow, Nev-" "-You've got game!" The twins called out, whistling.

The teachers just ignore their students in favor of watching the book, hoping to finish the chapter and see if the ship was real or not. (There may or may not be bets placed on it…)

[A YOUNGER NEVILLE AND LUNA ARE STANDING IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER, NEVILLE HOLDING A FROG WHILE STARING UP AT LUNA'S HAT, WHICH IS A LARGE LION HEAD.]

"Nice hat, Loony," Draco said, teasing Luna slightly, but in a friendly way. "Your just jealous you don't have one," Harry said, starting a staring contest between the two rivals.

Meanwhile, Michael watched the two with jealousy. Harry wasn't even talking to him, but Draco Malfoy, his enemy, gets to tease him and he's fine with it? What did Michael even do?

[AN OLDER NEVILLE AND LUNA ARE SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER, LOOKING AT EACH OTHER.]

"So, Neville, Luna, is it true? Are you two together?"

Neville and Luna glanced at each other, and Luna decided to answer the question, "No. Neville and I are only friends, we don't like each other like that and never have."

A couple of the staff members groaned, exchanging money with each other.

"Well, now we know."

Published: 3/19/2023