Chances, opportunities, and luck

I don't own Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood or any of the other Harry Potter characters. They all belong to JK Rowling. R & R Please. Thanks.

Neville was surprised to see Luna Lovegood again. After all these years, Luna looked beautiful, glowing. Her blonde hair was down to her waist, her eyes shining. She still wore unusual outfits and tonight was no different. Luna was dressed a bright yellow dress robe, with a large sunflower behind her ear. Neville had lost his train of thought, and Harry Potter had to click his fingers in front of Neville's face, saying

"Neville? Neville? What's going on?" Neville shook his head, as if to remove the sight of Luna from his mind.

"Sorry. Um. You were talking about James' first word right?" Neville guessed.

"We stopped talking about that about five minutes ago." Harry followed Neville's eyes, and saw Luna too.

"Wow. Luna looks good after her trip overseas. I wonder if she found any Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?" Harry joked.

Neville smiled weakly. Truth be told, Neville had loved Luna at school. Yes, she had been weird, and was sometimes embarrassingly truthful, but he loved those things about her. She was courageous, fearless, and smart in her own way. He recalled their times together in Dumbledore's Army, how she had fought, how she had, along side Neville, Harry, Ron and Hermione, battled the dark side. Sadly, once Hogwarts had finished, they had lost touch. Luna had left England to work overseas, and search for different creatures. Neville, however, had staying in England, with his friends. He had wanted to work once more at Hogwarts, as a professor, and help the young witches and wizards of tomorrow.

"I might just go and have a talk to Luna." Neville said, suddenly unable to resist this opportunity to be in her presence. Leaving Harry looking bewildered at the sudden end to their conversation, Neville made his way to Luna, passing Draco Malfoy and his wife, Pansy, and friends, Ron and Hermione. Luna was helping herself to a glass of wine, and a cupcake, when she turned and came face to face with Neville. Neville smiled nervously at Luna, still after all these years, he wasn't good at talking to women.

"Neville! What a wonderful surprise!" Luna said, somewhere between dreamily, and excitedly.

"Luna, it's good to see you too. How have you been?" Neville surprised himself by being rather coherent to Luna.

"Good, good. I've just been working on a paper on various different dragons. You?"

"Well, I've been working at Hogwarts at the moment. I teach Herbology" Neville explained. His life, having been less interesting than Luna's, was not documented, like hers in papers and articles, but in grades and teacher's reports.

"Oh really? That must be wonderful, being at the school, helping the young ones." Luna smiled as if she was remembering the days gone by. Neville nodded. His heart raced, his blood was pumping for some reason. His head swirled in Luna's presence, and he blushed for no reason other than Luna was standing close to him. Neville told himself he was being silly. Luna was probably taken or married or something.

Luna sighed. Then she said "Gosh I must say I miss Dumbledore's Army. I've never had friends like that since then". Neville nodded, opening his mouth to explain that he agreed with her, when Luna speaks first.
"You know what I would love to do?" Luna asked.

Neville shook his head. He seemed to have lost his tongue, as well as his ability to speak.

"The Room of Requirement. For old time's sakes"

"Well, we could go now. Just leave this reunion and sneak into the room of Requirement." Neville surprised himself once again, by suggesting breaking the school's rules.

So, they snuck out quietly, and thankfully, no one noticed they were gone except for Harry of course, who merely smiled and continued talking to Hermione. Once they were in the hallway, Luna burst into giggles.

"What?" Neville said, wanting to be in on the joke. Luna just shook her head, and giggled some more. Then she stopped, gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry. It just feels like we're back in school again, sneaking around behind Unbridge's back." Neville laughed too now, knowing what Luna meant. Finally, they came to the blank wall. Neville thought as hard as he could "I need a room to sneak into" over and over. Soon enough, beautiful carved door appeared slowly. Luna opened the door. Then Luna and Neville walked in side. It looked the same as when they used it. Suddenly Neville was transported back to his younger days, when he practiced with others over and over, preparing for the war to come. Luna sighed happily, sitting down in an armchair.

"It looks like it used to. Smells the same too" Neville blushed slightly. Luna still had knack for saying truthful things.

Neville laughed nervously, blushing furiously. He could not think of a thing to say, and suddenly realised that this had been a bad idea. Before he could suggest they go back, Luna stood up, from the chair, and moved close to Neville. Standing in front of him, Neville could see Luna's face clearly. Her eyes were bright with mischievous thoughts. She had an impish smile on her face. Though time had mostly been kind to her, Neville could see tiny lines, beginnings of crow's feet. It was then Neville realised that Luna was no longer the young naive girl he knew at Hogwarts. It was not only her looks that had changed, for she had grown taller, with soft curves, but also her aura. She projected a mature image now, a more serious side. However in this moment, with a playful grin on her face, she almost looked fifteen once more. Luna reached up and tenderly ran her finger down Neville's face. It seemed as though neither of them breathed for a moment. Then Neville leaned down, and kissed Luna, softly at first, but then harder with a sense of urgency. Luna then pushed Neville away.

"I can't do this. I should not have kissed you. I'm sorry." Luna turned on her heel, and flew out the door, away from Neville's sight.

"Wait!" Neville called out, running to the door. But soon, Luna was out of sight. Neville was confused. One minute, he and Luna had been sharing something great, really great. Then Luna just disappeared from the room.

To be continued…….