Visitor

Author's Notes: Plot Bunny received from honestlyronald's generator: "After a nasty Potions accident, Neville gets landed in the Hospital Wing for the night. He gets an unexpected visitor, who he finds is not so Loony after all." Thanks again! Thanks to Elizabeth for the betaing.

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Neville Longbottom lay asleep on a hospital wing bed in the semi-darkness. The only light was coming from the high window to his right - a glowing reddish gold; the sun was rising, slowly and magnificently. The first beams set in thick stripes against the white sheets covering Neville's chest, but had several inches to go before hitting his pale face and surely awakening him.

The hospital wing was quiet, Madame Pomfrey still sleeping in her chamber, and the door to the wing was opened. It made no creaking noise and was closed quite as suddenly as it had opened, having remained ajar only long enough for a thin figure to slip through. She made her way very quietly to Neville's bedside, walking through dusty chunks of morning sunlight. She sat herself down comfortably in the chair that rested beside Neville's head and smiled at the light of a new day as it warmed the back of her head.

She sat there for a few minutes, seemingly content to simply watch Neville sleeping. At one point, she picked up and refolded his Gryffindor tie which had been abandoned for sleep. After another several minutes, however, the sun broke just high enough to cast a glow onto Neville's face and he twitched. His visitor turned her head to gaze out the window again, and her movement momentarily blocked the sun. When she looked back, Neville had raised his hand and rubbed at his eyes. He opened them and started.

"Luna?"

Luna smiled. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you, of course," Luna said. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"No," said Neville. "You didn't. I just - why did you come to see me?"

Luna's smile faltered for just a moment. "Because - well, I heard Lisa talking about you in the Common Room. She said there was a really nasty Potions accident and you were sent to the hospital wing. She heard from Padma, who was talking to Parvati, who said Professor Snape was horrible to you. Is that true?"

"Yes, the potion was thickening really fast and -"

"No," Luna stopped him. "I meant, it is true that Professor Snape is terrible to you? I heard Parvati telling Padma he was your greatest fear in my second year, when Professor Lupin was teaching, remember?"

Neville flushed and mumbled, "I remember."

"It was quite funny, what you did to the boggart Professor Snape!" Luna said encouragingly. "Why are you so frightened of him?"

"I - I dunno," Neville admitted, not very keen on discussing his fears with anyone, much less Luna Lovegood, early in the morning.

"Oh. Yes, sometimes people are afraid of things for reasons they themselves don't even know," Luna said wisely. "I remember I was afraid that there was a Crumple-Horned Snorkack under my bed when I was very small, but really, the Snorkack is quite gentle. It will pass, I'm sure. I think you are a rather brave person, Neville."

"You do?" Neville said, surprise stitched in his words.

"Oh, yes! You joined Dumbledore's Army and you don't care what Professor Umbridge says - it takes bravery to stand up like that."

"I... I suppose so..."

The sunlight flickered, and the pair looked out across the grounds in time to see a winged thestral soaring back into the Forbidden Forest. Luna smiled serenely at it while Neville simply looked at his hands.

"You can see them," Luna said. It wasn't a question, merely her stating something she felt was an obvious fact.

"Yes. I watched my granddad die." Neville had no intention of saying those words, but somehow, he didn't regret them either. He'd never talked about his grandfather dying to anyone except his Gran, and even those talks were very short. Neville went on, "He died of an illness. He was really old, anyway, so I guess it was only a matter of time. My - my Gran and I sat by his bed until he was...gone." Neville paused and looked up to see Luna no longer looking out the window, but directly at Neville. She was attentive, as though drinking in every word Neville said and caring about each letter that made them up. She watched him and listened with a sad smile of deep care and understanding; it was a smile unlike any Neville could recall. It was lovely.

"I was raised by my granddad and Gran," Neville said quietly. He knew what would happen next - Luna would ask what happened to his parents. He waited for it, but the question did not come. Neville almost felt disappointed. He wanted to tell her. He wanted her to be the first person that he ever confided it in. And he didn't know why. Luna watched him patiently with an aura that she knew he wanted to say more. Her pale eyes were not strange or overlarge in the dawn light, simply full of hidden words. Neville met them and wondered if he stared into her eyes for long enough, would he discover those words. Instead, he opened his mouth and said:

"My parents were attacked by Death Eaters when I was a year old. They - they were Aurors, Alice and Frank Longbottom, and they were really good ones, too. After Harry brought down You-Know-Who, the Death Eaters were - they wanted to find him. And they thought my parents... They thought my parents might know where he was, so they tor-tortured them and..."

Luna said nothing, but stood up from her seat and settled next to Neville on the bed, patting his hand with hers.

"I know what it's like to lose a parents," she told him softly. "I can see thestrals because I saw my mother die, many years ago. She was experimenting with spells, and she didn't expect... Well, I was watching her, something I used to do sometimes, and she said to me - and I'll never forget - she said, 'Luna, love, watch this one!' and she looked so excited. But that was the spell that killed her. It was a shame. She really was a wonderful witch."

"My parents are insane." His voice was level until the very last word, where it rose and cracked.

"Oh, Neville, that's dreadful," Luna said, eyes full of concern.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville said so quietly Luna could barely hear him. "Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband and his brother and another man called Barty Crouch Jr. And now..."

"And now they're escaped." Luna bowed her head respectfully. Neville noticed that she was wearing nothing eccentric and her long hair was brushed neatly down her back. The only strange thing Neville could find was a pin with an oddly shaped animal on it, attached to her blue tee-shirt. Luna saw his gaze and fingered the pin.

"My mother gave this to me," she said. "I like to wear it everyday. The girls in my dorm seem to like it; they laugh whenever I put it on."

Neville felt a horrible, knowing pang. The thought of those girls laughing at Luna made him feel angry. He felt pain for her. And, without feeling the least bit foolish, he asked, "What kind of animal is it?"

Luna smiled widely. "You know, you're the first person to ask me," she said. "It's a Mamogaph Flightail. It reminds me of her. My mum."

Neville found himself reaching for his Gryffindor tie and flipping it over. On the back, he had put a sticking charm on a bubblegum wrapper. "My mum gave me that."

Luna touched the wrapper with one finger and said, "That's a very nice way of always keeping her with you."

"She gives me a gum wrapper whenever I visit."

"I think she's giving you a secret message with them."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"'I love you.'"

"I love you, too."

"What?"

Neville let a moan of despair escape from his mouth as he covered his face with his hands and said, "I'm sorry, I meant--"

But what had he meant? He couldn't actually have meant to say 'I love you' to Luna. He'd only met her that year. They didn't share classes. She was so different. So out there and on her own. On her own. She was alone. And so was he. There was only one thing for it.

"I meant," Neville said, unveiling his pink face, "would you like to meet up in Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend?"

Luna's eyes widened considerable and she said, "Yes! I would like that very much!"

Not wanting Luna to get the wrong idea, Neville was quick to add, "As more than friends."

Luna blinked at him. "Do you mean like a date?"

"Yes. Like a date."

"With me?"

"Yes. With you, Luna."

"No one's ever asked me to go out with them on a date." Luna pondered. "No one's ever asked me to go out, not on a date, either, when I think about it."

"So, you want to?"

Luna turned her eyes on him and said, "Of course I do, Neville. Who wouldn't want to go on a date with you?"

Neville blushed again, but this time, pleased instead of embarrassed. "Luna?" he asked, "do you think we could keep this between ourselves? You might not understand, but I really just-"

"I'd like to keep it between us too," Luna said. "That makes it more special."

Neville could not surpress a grin. "It does."

A light turned on in Madame Pomfrey's office. Luna rose from the bed. "I think I should probably leave."

"I guess." Neville didn't want her to go, but watched her head toward the door. "Luna?"

Luna turned to face him with her hand resting on the doorknob. "Yes, Neville?"

"It's a Saturday morning. Why did you come to see me?"

Luna smiled a bright smile and said, "Neville, that's what friends do! And we might be a little more."