The Courtship of Neville Longbottom

Luna Lovegood appeared to be completely and utterly engrossed in the latest issue of her father's magazine, The Quibbler. However, although the Rufus Scrimgeour article was nothing less than scintillating, she found herself, once again, in the ideal position to observe people.

Luna had realized early in her career at Hogwarts that people didn't pay attention to her much. They tended to leave her to her own devices, and only bothered to really look at her when she was recounting her father's articles. Luna supposed that this was because the articles were so interesting, despite the fact that many people refused to believe them. To Luna, life was more about faith than hard evidence. If she believed it to be true, then it could be. It was really that simple.

The Spectrespecs, which would allow her to see hidden pictures and articles throughout the magazine, a clever gimmick devised by her father, also hid her eyes well. No person who happened to look at Luna
would be able to see whether Luna was studying the Quibbler or dozing off.

For example, at that very moment, Neville Longbottom was staring at her with the most peculiar mixture of anger and pity on his face. He paused for a moment and then sighed as he resumed the search for his toad.

Luna tried to remember if she had done anything to upset Neville. All she had said was that the D.A. had been like having friends. And it had, really. Luna couldn't remember another time when people had been
so friendly and close to her. She closed her eyes behind the specs briefly. Luna was content with a solitary existence, although it had been nice to be around people for a change. She had the distinct impression that her Hogwarts peers, especially her Ravenclaw housemates often avoided her purposely.

She let out a brief puff of air, almost a sigh, and studied Neville as he dug under the seat. A red flush slowly crept onto her face as she began to study Neville's behind, which was wriggling, undignified, in the air. Luna realized and easily accepted her attraction to Neville. She had recognized it as soon as she had seen him on the platform. Neville had physically grown out of his awkwardness, although his confidence had yet to catch up.

Shrugging, she turned her attention to the door, where a striking, dark-haired girl had appeared. Luna supposed that were anything to happen between her and Neville, it would be in due time. She was one for recognizing what she was feeling, not immediately reacting to it. Luna rather liked herself for this reason. She enjoyed thinking and analyzing things.

"You don't have to sit with them."

Luna heard the last part of what the dark-haired girl was telling Harry. Luna shook her head slightly. If the girl was trying to whisper she was doing a bad job of it. Luna recognized the girl as a fourth-year Gryffindor who had always been noisily chatting with her friends as she had passed them in the hallway. She grinned to herself as Harry glared at the girl. Harry had always been one to impulsively display his emotions.

"They're friends of mine," Harry told the girl frostily as he narrowed his eyes. The girl, Luna had been too deep in thought to hear her proper name, lacked the good grace to look apologetic for her rudeness. Her features came together in an expression of utter shock before she mumbled something to Harry and left. Harry scowled down at the floor.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," Luna told Harry matter-of-factly. She assumed it was best to tell him the truth. Luna hoped that her acquaintance with Harry wouldn't lead to the loss of potential friends for him, although the unknown fourth-year hadn't seemed the type of person that Harry would be friends with anyway.

"You are cool," Harry told her. "None of them were at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

A warm feeling flooded through Luna's body. It was similar to the way she had reacted to Neville earlier, but slightly different. Harry wouldn't have said something like that unless he had meant it. Luna pushed her specs down on her nose so she could look Harry in the eye.

"That's a very nice thing to say," Luna said. And she meant it. Luna also didn't bother saying things she didn't mean. It was a large waste of time. As Harry blushed and studied his feet for a moment, Luna noticed that Neville was surfacing out from under the seat. His right hand clutched an angry-looking toad as he attempted to brush off some dust with his left. Luna quickly pushed the specs back up her nose and turned her attention to The Quibbler once more.

"We didn't face him though," Neville said, "you did. You should hear my gran talk about you. 'That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!' She'd give anything to have you as a grandson..." Neville's voice trailed off and Luna noticed his eyes becoming unfocused and distant.

Suddenly, Luna felt a small stabbing pang in her stomach. She almost reacted physically by placing her hand over her midsection. It took Luna a minute to realize that what she was feeling for Neville was pity. Luna opened her mouth to reassure Neville that he was so wrong. His grandmother loved him very much. However, Harry had already changed the subject to his O.W.L. results while shifting in his seat uncomfortably, as if he was at odds with his own skin.

"That's great that you got an 'E' in Transfiguration," said Neville with admiration. "I don't really want to continue it. I guess I'm lucky that I even made 'Acceptable' on it, but that's not enough for my gran."

Luna quickly noted that Neville had opened his mouth to say more, but had stopped himself. She shook her head slightly to herself as the feeling of pity intensified. Neville always seemed on the verge of saying or doing something, but never gathered up enough courage to do it. It was obvious to her, due to her analytical mind, acute perception, and years of 'people-watching,' as she called it, that Neville's grandmother was very proud of Neville. Luna also assumed that Neville and his grandmother would get along a lot better if Neville would only express his opinions. There were many holes in Neville's life, and
Luna pondered them as Neville worried over his O.W.L.s and Harry stared off into space at a point just above Neville's head.

She knew that Neville's parents were both dead. This would also explain why his grandmother had raised him in such a stern manner. However, there was a piece missing. Why was Neville constantly compared to his parents and repeatedly found to be inferior? Luna smiled as she thought of her own father, who reassured Luna every day that he was proud of her and that her mother was too. Luna also knew that she looked a great deal like her mother, except her mother had had a far more striking outward appearance, with her dark hair at odds with her pale complexion.

"You all right, Harry?" Luna heard Neville ask. "You look funny."

Harry did, in fact, have a peculiar expression on his face. It was a vague look of sadness and confusion directed at Neville. Luna looked around the compartment quickly.

"Wrackspurt got you?" she asked.

"I-what?" Harry seemed very confused. Luna didn't understand why, she was always very forthright after all, but she decided to explain.

"A wrackspurt..." Luna trailed off, as she realized her audience was lost. If possible, Harry looked at her with even more confusion. Luna sighed. Harry's upbringing had been less than stellar, and she supposed a lack of magical parents was the reason for him not knowing about a common magical creature like a wrackspurt. She wondered why Neville looked so confused. Surely his grandmother, a witch, had told him about them.

"They're invisible," Luna continued. "They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy." She squinted her eyes and looked around the room. "I thought I felt one zooming around in here." Luna then began waving her arms around. If there was a wrackspurt in here she didn't want to lose her mental facilities. As she protected herself from the invisible creatures, Harry began to talk about Quidditch.

This didn't surprise Luna. It was well-known that Harry loved Quidditch, as amazingly good at it, and, from the looks of his robes, which were not neatly packed in the least, had reached Captaincy this year. Luna was shocked, however, when Neville joined in the conversation. She had always been under the impression that Neville didn't enjoy watching sports, as he was admittedly abysmal at them himself.