Flowers and Candies

Carmen Black

Story Summary:
Sequel to "Visitor". Neville and Luna meet in Hogsmeade for their first date.

Chapter 01

Posted:
08/07/2007
Hits:
360


Author's Notes: Thanks to Elizabeth for going over this! This piece is a sequel to Visitor. (If that link doesn't work, just see my Author's page.) The story reads fine by itself, but, as I said, this is a sequel.

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"Neville, what are they for?" asked Ron, grabbing a shoe from off his trunk and gesturing toward two minute flowerpots that Neville held in each hand; they were home to two bright plants.

Neville had not been able to decide what flower Luna would like best, so he potted a Smiling Sunflower and a miniature Laughing Forsythia shrub from his own little garden. (Professor Sprout allowed him a square of Greenhouse Two for his own pleasure - she rarely had any student so enthusiastic about Herbology and was only too pleased to let him explore the world of plants.) He looked down at the yellow flowers he held in his palms and smiled.

"Oh, nothing," he told Ron and Dean, who had poked his head out from the bathroom door to see what Neville had. Ron shrugged and laced his trainers.

"Ron, Hermione's already down here," Harry said, popping into the dorm with a book on Quidditch in his hand, "and she says 'Hurry up!'"

"Tell her I'm coming!" Ron shouted. He followed Harry out, and Neville trooped down the stone steps after them, carefully balancing his plants. He did hope Luna would like them.

Luna and Neville agreed to meet at Three Broomsticks instead of in the Entrance Hall, and so Neville made his way to Hogsmeade alone, but not minding it one bit. He hummed, his sunflower smiled at the glowing April sunlight, and his forsythia laughed a tinkling laugh that somehow harmonized with Neville's made up tune. Neville could not remember being so happy to be walking to Hogsmeade, as he generally made the hike alone, planning on a few hours alone. Now he had plants, and soon he'd have Luna.

Luna was already sitting in a booth at the pub when Neville entered, and she waved to him. He noted that today the pin her mother gave her was clipped where one generally sees cufflinks. He made his way over to the table where a bottle of butterbeer awaited him, already opened, and Luna sat smiling broadly, holding a glass of clear liquid in one hand and a tiny onion on a stick in the other.

"I brought you these," Neville said, setting down the plants as Luna gazed at them. "I couldn't choose."

"Neville, they're so lovely!" Luna cried, attracting some attention from nearby tables. The sunflower gave a beam to match Luna's. She picked up its little pot and laughed, a laugh that was echoed by the mini shrub in the other pot.

"I grow some plants in the greenhouse," Neville explained as Luna studied her new flowers with enthusiasm. "That one's a Smiling Sunflower. The other is a Laughing Forsythia."

"A forsythia? How did you know, Neville?"

"What?"

"My mother's name was Forsythia. What a wonderful gift, Neville!"

Neville beamed. "I'm glad you like it. You're mum was Forsythia? That's a rather pretty name."

"Yes, it's one of my middle names. The other is Xenophilia, after my father," she added, placing her sunflower back on the table. "Luna Forsythia Xenophilia Lovegood. My mother and father couldn't choose which middle name to give me, so I got two!"

"Oh," said Neville, honestly interested, though thankful Luna's parents gave her a rather normal first name. "I've only got one, and it isn't a very good one."

"I'm sure it's wonderful! What is it?"

"Rolf."

"Rolf? Neville Rolf Longbottom." She seemed to be trying to taste the name, to discover whether it was a flavor she liked. She smiled and said, "I think it's a lovely name, Rolf."

Neville was at ease with Luna. He barely realised they were on an actual date, he was so comfortable. He thought that perhaps they were drawn together for that very reason - they fit so well, they forgot to be awkward.

"Well, Neville Rolf, I have something for you, too," Luna said, rummaging through a bag. Neville was quite sure he heard the sound of a tangled wind chime as she searched through her worn out bag. Soon, Luna extracted a small red pin with a black figure on it. It seemed to have a horn on its head. Little black letters read: "Believe, And Know You're Not Alone." Neville took it in his hand and smiled at it.

"It's got a Crumple-Horned Snorkack on it," Luna said, and Neville noted she sounded slightly nervous, as though afraid he might not like it. The tone surprised Neville, who had never heard her voice anything but dreamy and sure. He did not hesitate in pinning the little badge on his tie, just in front of the place both he and Luna knew Alice Longbottom's gum wrapper was stuck on the back.

"It's fantastic," Neville said, trying to put as much of his sincerity as he could in those simple two words. Luna looked up, and the smile she gave him was one he would never forget. If he could have single snapshot of any one moment, Neville knew that he would choose right then. Luna's face lit up with sheer joy that can only come from within, and it stuck Neville that she was really a lovely looking girl and an even lovelier person inside. For a second, he felt like standing upon the table and shouting, "Luna Lovegood is my date today, and I couldn't be happier!"

Luna had other ideas, ideas that were probably better if Neville wanted to avoid embarrassment.

"Let's go!" she said, and after conjuring two glass boxes to safely stow her flowers in, Luna placed the potted plants in her large bag (which Neville now spotted had her name stamped across it in fading black ink) and grasped his hand, leading him onto High Street.

"Let's go to Honeyduke's," Neville suggested, and he steered them into the candy shop that was packed with Hogwarts students. "What kinds of sweets do you like?"

"Oh, sugar quills are my favorite," Luna told him.

"I like the chocolates, myself," Neville said, reaching out and snatching two boxes off the shelf. He got in front of the register and paid for them: a box of Honeyduke's Select Chocolates and a box of Deluxe Variety Sugar Quills. Then he exited the store, Luna still holding his hand.

Once back outside, Luna headed toward the side street that would lead them to the scene of the Shrieking Shack. Once in sight of the building, the two students settled themselves on a patch of dusty ground and opened their candies.

"Thank you," Luna said, pulling out a dark pink quill. "This box has all the different flavors Honeyduke's makes!" She placed the quill tip in her mouth and sucked on it, her lips puckering, and her eyes crossing absurdly. Neville laugh and bit into a chocolate only to have the gooey strawberry filling spurt out down his chin. Before he could wipe it on his sleeve, Luna was there with a purple handkerchief, swiping the reddish goo away.

"Luna, I want to make sure you know," Neville said after a little bit of comfortable silence, "that you aren't alone." He touched the pin she had given him. "You aren't alone, you've got me."

Luna looked up from her box of quills, fingers poised over a pure white one. She looked at Neville and met his eyes, saying simply, "I know," and picking up the white sugar quill. She held it out to him and opened her mouth to say something, but before words came, Neville placed a chocolate covered cherry between her lips. She looked rather silly for a moment, her mouth forming an 'O' and her eyes trying to see the cherry she held between her lips. Then she sucked the cherry in and chewed it slowly, silently offering the sugar quill to Neville, who took it and placed it in his mouth like a pipe.

And they sat exchanging candies and the occasional words until it was time to go back for dinner.