Happy New Year, Neville.

Luna was walking towards the Ravenclaw common room when she felt a hand on her shoulder - a rough, coarse, yet somehow warm and comforting hand.

"Luna," a familiar voice said. Luna turned around and her heart almost stopped. It was Neville. The object of her affection. Of her love. She willed her heart to keep beating, took a deep breath, and replied.

"Hello, Neville," she said. Although her voice sounded dreamy and distant, she was actually quite nervous; as she always was in front of him.

Neville, the brave, charming seventh-year that had vanquished Voldemort's evil snake, actually stuttered his question. It simply served to endear him even more to Luna.

"W-will you go to the New-the-the New Year's Eve b-ball with-with me?" His cheeks immediately turned red. Luna couldn't catch her breath for a second. Did he just...ask her out? Another deep breath. A bigger effort to calm down.

"Why, of course, Neville." The moment those four words had been uttered, Luna felt tingly all over. She was going. To the ball. With Neville. She knew, now that he was a big war hero, how many girls would be so disappointed at this revelation. She remembered Padma had been ogling him for a while, and smiled at this thought; she did not have him.

Neville's eyebrows shot up in surprise. His overall expression said, 'I didn't expect you to agree...but that's good. You've agreed. What do I do now?'

"G-great!" he finally mumbled. And then, with only the slightest hesitation, he bent down and quickly kissed her on the cheek. For the first time ever, he saw Luna's cheeks turn a pleasant, pale pink.

"Neville-" she said, but he had already turned and walked quickly down the corridor. She sighed, remembered her current situation, and skipped all the way to the bronze eagle-head-shaped door knocker.

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He stood outside the Great Hall's doors, waiting for her. He was dressed in a Muggle tuxedo instead of formal dress robes; simply because the tuxedo had been a gift from his beloved Great-Uncle Algie. A single flower from the newest plant in the greenhouses, the Amouria Maximus, the flower that had been the inspiration for the Amortentia Potion, sat in his button-hole, as Harry had insisted upon. He looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, and his heart stopped at the sight of his date gliding down the stairs towards him. Ron, who had been standing next to him, waiting for Hermione, looked up as well.

"Blimey," Ron breathed, "are you sure that's Loony Lovegood?"

She was almost floating off the ground in a beautiful, sparkly, white dress that had the slightest tinge of blue in it. It ran all the way down to her ankles, so as to not cover the strappy white heels she was wearing. Her silvery-blonde hair was up in a messy bun, but it looked wonderful against her pale skin, as it was fixed with a small, silver, glittering barette. The only thing 'loony' about this ensemble were the earrings; they were radishes, or as she liked to call them, 'Dirigible Plums' but they were silver. Her blue-grey eyes shone with happiness as she reached the foot of the stairs and drifted dreamily towards Neville.

"You look beautiful," Neville said. The same shade of pale pink crept into her cheeks for the second time.
"Thank you," she whispered, "you look dashing as well." She glanced back towards the top of the staircase and continued, "Hermione helped me dress up, actually. She's very nice." Neville nodded, remembering the many times Hermione had helped him in Potions.
"Shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm like they did in old-fashioned Muggle movies (according to both Harry and Hermione). Luna linked her arm through his, and they stepped together into the New Year's Eve ball.

As they walked through the double doors people stopped talking. They stared. Some girls giggled. There were a few gasps amongst the crowd.

Minerva Mcgonagall's clear voice rang out through the Great Hall a few minutes later. "The dances shall now begin. First to dance will be Mr. Harry Potter, Mr. Ron Weasley, Mr. Neville Longbottom and their escorts, Ms. Ginny Weasley, Ms. Hermione Granger and Ms. Luna Lovegood, respectively." Neville turned to Luna and held out his hand. She gently took it and they were whisked onto the dance floor.

Neville could barely remember the steps to the dance he had learnt for the Yule Ball; it had, after all, been three years. Luna didn't know how to dance at all, so she felt like a complete klutz as she stumbled her way through the music. But Neville caught her everytime she fell, and the couple glided around the room with no apparent effort. Neville realized he could hear the voices of the other four friends dancing together whenever he passed them.

He heard Ron whisper to Hermione, "I love you, you know that?"

He heard Ginny murmur quietly in Harry's ear, "I'm so glad the war is over."

And he heard Luna speaking softly into his own ear, saying, "Why me?"
He whispered back, "Later."

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They had danced for quite a long time. Everyone else had moved onto the dancefloor and were twirling around happily, but Neville and Luna had, by this time, sat down together. They had been talking about completely random things; the Gillyweed incident in Neville's fourth year, Luna's fascination with Plimpies, anything and everything. Neville no longer felt awkward in his tuxedo, and Luna didn't feel strange in her dress. They laughed and talked together.

Neville's hand accidentally brushed Luna's, and this crazy tingling spread into both their bodies and hearts, rushing through their veins. Their hearts were beating faster, in rhythm. Neville blushed, and Luna's dreamy look vanished for a second to be replaced with a look of utter joy. Then, randomly, spotaneously, as she always was, as the countdown to New Year's ended, Luna kissed him.

He was shocked to feel her cold, smooth lips on his own, but reacted by instinct, inching closer to her, smelling her faintly grape-scented skin, running his fingers through her hair, loosening her bun and letting her soft, light blonde waves cascade around her ears and face. Their lips moved together as one.

She enjoyed the kiss; his lips had been soft, warm but not wet like she'd imagine her first kiss to be. He felt wonderful; his skin was rough and yet somehow smooth at the same time. He smelled of earth, sunshine and plants, the same smell that she'd take a big sniff of whenever she was in any of the greenhouses; it was such a fresh, healthy smell. She hugged him closer. He followed. Soon they were practically interlinked in each other. They were, however, rudely interrupted by a wolf-whistle and gasps of 'Oh, my.'

They opened their eyes and pulled apart slowly, reluctantly, to see Ron, a look of total surprise and pride flitting across his face; Hermione, clapping her hands together excitedly and smiling; Ginny, hanging onto Harry and laying her head on his shoulder, a glint of happiness in her brown eyes; and Harry, his green eyes wide with both confusion and joy.

"Neville got some action today!" Ron commented, and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow," he said, "they still ache from the Bone-Regrowing Potion, remember?"
Hermione's face fell. "I'm so sorry!" she spluttered, and she turned back to Neville and Luna. "We'll, umm, give you some privacy."

The other four left.

"You still haven't answered my question," reminded Luna, her eyes sparkling as she re-did her bun, silently summoning the hairpins that had scattered onto the seat and floor.
"What question?" murmured Neville, still a little woozy from the kiss. Luna giggled.
"Why did you ask me?" she asked. There was a pause as Neville struggled to find the right words to explain.
"Well," Neville said finally, "I'm in love with you."
Luna was speechless.

"Me too," she managed to whisper, and the two found themselves the next morning somehow holding hands walking down the corridor. Luna nudged him.
"Yes, Luna?" he said. She smiled.

"Happy New Year, Neville."

END