The Various Usages of Tremulous Truffulas

Neville nervously adjusted his bow tie again, willing it to work itself out properly. He really shouldn't be this nervous; after all, this was just Thanksgiving dinner with old friends who'd known him for years now. He hadn't seen them in a few weeks, so he was looking forward to catching up on their latest news. Giving himself one more look-over in the mirror and deciding this was the best he could hope for, he set out for Harry and Ginny's house in Godric's Hollow.

Meanwhile, the kitchen at Harry and Ginny's was fluttering with activity; fortunately, Ginny possessed the same cooking skills as her mother did, and everything was going quite smoothly. She simultaneously levitated some salt and pepper shakers through the air towards the turkey and stirred the butternut squash soup, while Ron tried to "help" by staring confusedly at the manual can opener—Harry still had the habit of keeping a few muggle implements around—and knocking it against the side of the kitchen counter. Hermione was working on boiling the vegetables, and as she stood next to Ginny, they talked animatedly.

"Do you really think it will turn out well?" Hermione asked Ginny. Ginny gave her a look. "Of course it will! It's practically too easy. It'll be perfect."

Hermione grinned at her. "Well, I do hope you're right," she said, taking the can opener out of Ron's hand and using it to open a can of cranberry sauce while Ron watched avidly.

In the dining room, Harry was setting the table, with the help of Dean and his new girlfriend Anna, who Dean had met through his work as an Auror. When Neville arrived, Harry opened the front door to discover him standing there with a large, odd-looking plant in his hands.

"Hi, Neville," Harry greeted him. "Er, what is that you've got there?" As they made their way back towards the dining room, Neville expounded on the various properties of the plant and Harry remembered why he normally refrained from asking Neville questions about plant life. Ron, having been shooed out of the kitchen by Ginny and Hermione, greeted Neville with a handshake and a pat on the back, and Dean did likewise and introduced Anna to Neville.

Ginny and Hermione emerged from the kitchen, carrying some of the food and the rest following along behind them in mid-air.

"Oh, Neville, you're here! Excellent!" Ginny grinned, setting down the turkey platter. She shared a conspiratorial glance with Hermione.

"Why do I get the feeling those two aren't just excited about the meal?" Ron muttered to Harry.

"Trust me; you don't want to know," Harry replied, shaking his head resignedly.

"Is this everyone?" Dean asked Ginny as everyone started settling down at the table.

"No, there's still one more...she should be here any minute..." Just then, they heard a soft pop of someone apparating into the kitchen. "Oh, that must be her," Ginny said excitedly.

Everyone was stunned silent for a moment when Luna Lovegood appeared from the kitchen wearing some combination of evening wear and scuba gear.

"Hello, everyone," she greeted in her customary, airy voice, waving at them all happily. "I hope you don't mind me apparating, Ginny...I thought I detected some wrackspurts by the front entrance so I thought it would be best to avoid them."

"Is that what the scuba gear is for?" Ron asked her. "To...defend against the...uh, wracksparts?"

"Wrackspurts," Luna corrected. "And no." They all waited for her to tell them what the scuba gear was for, but it became evident that that was all she had to say.

"Why don't you have a seat over here, Luna?" Hermione said, leading her towards the end of the table where Neville was sitting awkwardly.

"Oh, hello, Neville," Luna said, as she sat down opposite to him and everyone started digging into the food. "Is that plant yours?"

Neville nodded in response. "It's just a tremulous truffula, though...not too interesting, really...I just brought it because I need to put it in the Herbology room and I didn't have time before coming here..."

"A tremulous truffula! That's quite an important plant, actually. Did you know that if you boil down and inhale its essence right before you go looking for crumple-horned snorkacks, you'll be able to sense the creatures when they come near?"

"R-really? I...didn't know that," Neville said, looking thoughtful. He seemed to have forgotten for the moment that crumple-horned snorkacks were imaginary creatures and was more confused as to how he hadn't known something important about tremulous truffulas.

"Yes, many plants have properties that most people are not aware of," Luna nodded. "I am sure you know a lot about tremulous truffulas, but if I didn't tell you what they're used for, you could have easily missed encountering the snorkacks. We should discuss these special plants sometime."

"So, Luna," Ginny began, a twinkle in her eye, "doesn't Neville look quite dashing in his suit this evening?"

"Subtle," Harry whispered to Ginny, leaning towards her across the table. "Really subtle." Ginny shot him a stern look coupled with a grin before turning back towards Luna with an expectant expression.

"Yes, Neville looks lovely, even though he seems to have had some trouble with his bow tie," Luna said matter-of-factly.

"And wouldn't you say that Luna's look this evening is just as...er, unique and special as always, Neville?" Hermione asked a minute later, upon being elbowed by Ginny.

"Um, yes, it's great," Neville said, uncertainly.

"Thank you," Luna said. She regarded him serenely for a moment and then did the same to Ginny.

"Neville," she began, "if you could come with me for a moment, I'll help you sort out your bow tie." She pushed her chair back and got up, gesturing towards the powder room. Neville got up and followed her there. He thought he heard some giggling from Hermione and Ginny from the table, but he didn't know why.

In the powder room, Luna shut the door behind them. "Neville, we need to discuss something," she said, beginning to fiddle with his bow tie. Neville just stood there, dumbfounded by the entire situation. "It would appear that some of the others think it would be a good idea for you and me to be dating."

"W-what?" Neville stuttered. "Dating?"

"Yes," Luna replied, in that same serene voice. "Ginny in particular seems quite convinced that would be a good idea. I think we should go along with it for the rest of dinner, don't you? Pretend we are a couple? We wouldn't want to disappoint Ginny when she is putting so much effort into us."

"I...suppose that would be all right," Neville said, becoming less and less clear about what was going on.

"Terrific!" Luna said, clapping her hands. "Your bow tie is fixed now. Shall we go back?"

Neville nodded mutely and followed her back out to the dining room. When they sat down at the table, Luna clasped Neville's hand across the table and gave him a warm smile. Neville gave a tentative smile back to her. Beside Luna, Neville could see Ginny beaming, alternating between glancing at their clasped hands, looking at their faces, and nudging Hermione on her other side. "What did I tell you?" he heard her whisper to Hermione. "It's perfect!" So, Luna had been right after all – this whole thing had been planned from the start!

At the end of the meal as everyone started to disassemble and then head for home, Luna took Neville aside once more.

"You know," she started, "it wasn't so bad holding hands, was it?" Neville shook his head in agreement. It wasn't bad at all; in fact, he had rather enjoyed the change from not knowing what to do with his hands when he wasn't busy using a knife and fork with which to eat dinner.

"What would you say to getting together tomorrow to talk about plants and maybe try holding hands some more...but with fewer people around than this time?" Luna asked, enthusiastically.

Neville was nervous. This proposition actually sounded quite pleasant – most people started tuning Neville out when he started talking about plants, and Luna was offering to discuss plants with him. Sure, what she knew about plants he wasn't likely to read about in any books, but nonetheless, her stories would be interesting if nothing else. And the hand-holding sounded good also.

"Yes, that would be great," he said finally, his smile less tentative this time.

Luna grinned. "Tomorrow, then!" she said, giving him a hug.

Later that evening, once all their guests had departed and the dishes had been cleaned up, Harry and Ginny sat on their couch. Harry regarded the content smile on Ginny's face and couldn't help laughing. "Enjoyed your little matchmaking exercise, did you?" he asked.

"Little matchmaking exercise?" Ginny said, giving him a mock-indignant look. "I'll have you know I thought about this a good, long time and I knew it would work like a charm."

"Work like one of Neville's charms, maybe," Harry said, still laughing. "You really think the two of them will make sense to each other?"

"I'm sure they will. I mean, the two of us have made it against all odds...wars, stubbornness, misguided hero complexes..." Harry gave her a warning look at that last and she grinned impishly at him.

Harry groaned, rolling his eyes. The fondness in his eyes gave him away, though, and as he looked into Ginny's own eyes he decided he'd let her win this round. Besides, ever since sixth-year when he had found the two of them sharing a Hogwarts Express compartment, he had vaguely and secretly always thought that Neville and Luna would get along remarkably well if it ever got down to that. He had a strong feeling that he just might be right.