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Neville + Luna- Stars by AnnaT03

The night was young, and so were they.

Neville stumbled along the corridors of Hogwarts— he was lucky to not be caught by Filch at this time; although Slughorn's party had ended, and his shift of being a waiter had too, he couldn't help but explore and walk round the castle for a bit longer.

The castle seemed eerie at night, but it was also beautiful. The torches on the wall cast dark shadows on the worn brick walls of the castle, making the intriguing corridors even more mysterious. His eyes sparkled with the joy of possibly discovering something new in the forever-changing castle, and his blood flowed with excitement in every drop.

He finally settled in a place he usually didn't go to— the courtyard. He sat in one of the large benches in the openings of the castle leading to courtyard, and frankly, he enjoyed the occasional hooting of owls nearby and the soft rustling of leaves overhead. Neville basked in the gentle moonlight and closed his eyes, relaxing—

A groan. Neville's eyes shot open and he reached for his wand as the foreign sound reached his ears. It was unnatural— he wasn't the only one out of bed. For a second he considered running, for Filch and Mrs Norris could be nearby, but then he thought back to the sound he had heard; it wasn't the deep growl of the caretaker, not was it the hushed purring of his foul cat. He stayed alert, watching, listening— then he saw a ghost-like figure on the other side of the courtyard.

The person was obviously a female— blonde locks that were almost white cascaded down the girl's back, and she moved gracefully through the space, kneeling in front of the large tree. Her curly hair blew around her as he breeze came in, revealing rather large and peculiar radish-like earrings that deeply contrasted her pale skin, what with their bright hues of pink, purple and orange. Her dress greatly resembled the moon— it had the same silver shade and seemed to sparkle where the light hit it. Sometimes, Neville heard the soft clink as her shoes hit the cobblestone ground.

He squinted his eyes, looking closely— then, realising who it was, Neville took a risk and called out her name.

"Psst! Luna! Luna, hey!"

The glossy-eyed girl turned; then smiled, floating over to where Neville sat on the cold stone bench. She sat down beside him and flashed him a brilliant white smile. "Hello Neville. I saw you at the party earlier— you had quite a lot of Nargles following you because of the tray of food you were carrying."

Neville grinned uncomfortably— he forgot how peculiar Luna could be at times. Nonetheless, she could also be great company, and on a lonely night like this, it was nice to have a friend to admire the stars with.

"What're you doing here, Luna?" He asked, looking back up at the velvety sky. Stars shone brightly back at them, complementing the silver grey of the moon. Luna sighed.

"Same as you, I suppose. Avoiding the Wrakspurts." Neville stifled a laugh, but Luna did not appear to notice. She stared with much concentration at the stars, intrigued by their beauty.

"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" Neville said softly, studying her closely. "I believe each one of them represents every good and beautiful person in the world."

Luna nodded, but didn't speak. "I don't think Malfoy'll be there, though— he's always been a bully, neither good nor beautiful."

"I doubt I'd be there too." Luna spoke.

Neville frowned. "But why wouldn't you be? You're the smartest Ravenclaw I know— you're quite knowledgeable on Crumpled Snorkaks."

Luna looked at him curiously. "People always take my things... they see it as amusing, find it funny. They also call me 'Looney'— that's not what they call people who are good or beautiful, is it?"

Neville looked away, guilty— he then regretted every time he called or referred to Luna as 'Looney'. In fact, he hated those who thought Luna to be a joke and made fun of her, made her feel as if she wasn't a good, beautiful person.

She was so much more than that.

"You are good, Luna," he said. "Those people aren't; they're jealous of you're pure heart and good will. And how pretty you are, inside and out. They aren't one of those stars, but you're easily worth 10 of them." He watched Luna carefully— a smile broke onto her lips, and her blue eyes seemed to twinkle happily at him.

A sound in the distance interrupted them— Neville grabbed Luna and pulled her away, into an empty, deserted corridor. "I think that was Filch," he whispered, eyes darting around, concerned. Luna just stood there, watching him.

"We should go back to our common rooms," Neville whispered, disappointed that his night of his exploration had to end so soon. "See you around, Luna," he wanted to say, but Luna started her goodbye first.

"I'm glad you think I'm pretty, Neville," her floaty voice said. "You're worth 10 stars, too." She got on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, before waving goodbye and gliding off towards the direction of the Ravenclaw common room.

Neville's face became crimson, skin red-hot where Luna had kissed his cheek. He raised a hand to his face and touched it tenderly. He grinned stupidly to himself as he began to trek back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Watch out for the Nargles, Luna." He said to himself.

~