Four₪ Searching

"I would just like to take this time to thank everyone for coming out here. If it weren't for you, we would just have a decorated bar and even less money than we started with. But thanks to everyone's generous contributions, our grand total for tonight is twenty-seven knuts, sixteen sickles, and one-hundred-and-thirty-thousand galleons! Everyone give yourselves a round of applause!"

Hannah was grinning from ear to ear as she looked around the room, taking in her success. As the guests all clapped and cheered, her grin widened. They could have just kept going, but there was something else she had to say.

Grabbing onto the microphone stand, she stepped forward again, and the applause slowly died away. "Now, it's an hour until midnight. So if you haven't found your lover yet, you only have an hour left to do so!" She grinned out at them all again; she had never felt so good before. "Enjoy the rest of your night everyone."

Neville watched as she stepped down from the bandstand and rejoined the dance floor with Ernie MacMillian. He had been so busy before looking for Luna that he didn't have time to notice, but she looked beautiful. Her long blonde hair was back in a bun and curls framed her face. Her orange and gold robe was long with bell sleeves and made of a silk-y material. Her mask was plain white with a gold-sequin trim and had three short orange feathers coming off either side.

But what really stuck out was her smile. She had been so stressed the past few weeks that all she had done was frown, it seemed. Now all she could do was smile and laugh as Ernie twirled her around the dance floor.

"Would you like anything to eat?" Neville offered, turning back towards Luna. They had stepped off the dance floor and were just standing there in silence, watching everyone else dancing.

"Oh, no," Luna said lightly. A smile flickered across her face as she stared up at Neville. Her hand still held loosely in his, she swung her arm.

Neville tightened his hold on her hand and beamed down at her. He could see the whole night sky shining in her eyes.

"Would you like to get some fresh air?" Neville asked; it was getting stuffy in the pub. He was starting to sweat—and not just from nerves. He still couldn't believe he was holding her hand.

"I'd like that. But we'll have to be careful not to step on any Blibbering Humdingers, though. They're usually out this time of year…"

"A-alright," Neville said unsurely in reply. He had never heard of a Blibbering Humdinger before and was in the middle of wondering if they were real or not when Luna spoke again.

"My father interviewed someone for The Quibbler once. They said they saw a bunch of them by a lake. Could we check?"

"You want—you want to go in the lake?" Neville stuttered. The water, which was usually quite cold, would have to be near freezing.

"Oh, no," Luna said, laughing lightly. "Just around it."

"Oh." Neville eased considerably. "Okay."

The cool October air felt nice on Neville's skin after spending four hours locked in the stuffy indoors. He inhaled deeply, breathing properly for the first time in just as many hours. With that breath, he had nothing to be nervous about, because, with his eyes closed, he could almost pretend Luna was not beside him, and all his nerves disappeared.

He exhaled and opened his eyes.

Luna was, of course, still there. Her face, almost blue in the moonlight, was turned up towards the sky. Neville found himself staring at her, his eyes absorbing every detail—her slender jaw; the curvature of her nose; the freckle on her neck.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" Luna breathed; she briefly glanced at Neville before staring back up at the heavens.

"Yes, it is," he agreed; his eyes never leaving her face.

She exhaled slowly, her gaze returning to the earth. Her eyes found Neville's and she blinked a few times. Slowly, the corners of her mouth lifted into a gentle smile. Then, wordlessly, she started off down the old familiar path to the castle.

Neville remained still for a moment, just watching as she drifted down the cobblestone street. The moonlight was absorbed by her long, blonde hair, tinting it blue, and her midnight-blue robes shimmered and glittered.

She looked majestic.

"Neville?"

Neville caught up with her, and the two continued on in silence. Every so often, Neville's fingers would brush against her hand and a wonderful shock would be sent through his body.

He was backtracking now.

How was it that he had held her hand—had danced with her—but now the slightest brush of her skin against his was enough to get his heart racing again—for his face to burn?

He'd never have enough confidence…He could be the bravest person in the world, but there was something about Luna Lovegood that made him weak at the knees.

At some point, they turned off of the path and continued to walk along the shore of the Black Lake. Their pace slowed as Luna scoured the ground for Blibbering Humdingers.

"What do they look like?" Neville whispered, his voice piercing the serene silence.

"They are quite extraordinary," Luna whispered back. "They resemble large caterpillars, but they have feathered wings, and usually they are purple. They have very sharp teeth, though, so you should watch out…"

Neville was quite doubtful that such a thing existed, but he didn't voice his opinion and instead settled on searching the tall grass for one of these creatures. He wasn't sure how large 'large' was, but he was prepared for the worst.

"They also have long tongues," Luna added thoughtfully a few minutes later. "They sort of just loll out of their mouths like this." She straightened and demonstrated, her tongue falling out of her mouth and her eyes crossing. Neville threw his head back and laughed, and the sound was soon joined by Luna's own light, tinkling laughter.

"What's the purpose of them?" Neville asked as he caught his breath.

Luna's laughter faded; she looked thoughtfully at Neville before replying, "I don't know…"

"Do they do anything?"

"I'm not sure…no one has seen enough of them to find out. Some say their wings have healing properties though." She smiled brightly and continued her search.

Neville watched her for a moment before continuing as well. He loved how she could believe in something without any proof that it existed—how she could believe when everyone else shot her down. She was extraordinary.

Thinking he heard something rustling in the grass, Neville leaned over to take a look. As he was looking, he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder. Flashbacks of Snape filled his mind and he felt his insides freeze. Slowly, he turned his head.

It was just Luna.

Who else would it be?

She smiled softly at him, but it looked like she was trying to keep her balance. Neville's eyes flicked towards her other hand, which was busy removing the shoes from her feet.

"Lu—"

"Shhh!" Luna breathed, pressing a finger to her smiling lips. Her silver eyes twinkled merrily and she removed her hand from Neville's shoulder, slinking off into the grass in search of the Blibbering Humdinger.

Giving up his search, Neville stretched out on the ground and stared up at the stars. The grass was wet and scratchy, but he didn't mind. After so much rushing around the past few weeks and being stuck in stuffy rooms, it felt nice to just lay there in the stillness.

"Can you find any constellations?"

It was a whisper so soft that it didn't disturb the tranquility. Neville slowly turned his head to face her; she lay beside him in the grass, her long hair fanning out around her head. How had she gotten there? She was so silent he hadn't even heard her. How long had he been laying there? It would take a long time to dishearten Luna Lovegood from her search.

"I was never any good at Astronomy," Neville admitted. There were very few subjects he had been good at, truth be told. It was Herbology that saved him, really. At Potions, he was abysmal. His results in Transfiguration were always dismal. Charms was always a disaster. He couldn't keep his eyes open long enough in History of Magic to do well…Yes, it was just Herbology. Something about the plants spoke to him, and without trying, his fingers knew just what to do.

"It's my favorite subject," Luna said, smiling wistfully up at the heavens.

Neville looked back up at the sky, trying to pick out a constellation that he might know and failing. Of its own accord, his hand searched the grass for Luna's, and he interlocked his fingers with hers. Neither looked at the other nor said a word; they just laid there in silence as the minutes—feeling like seconds—ticked by and nature played its nightly lullaby.

The silence was broken by a loud chiming resonating throughout the town. Twelve times, the clock struck, and each time, Neville winced. How could anyone sleep through that?

"The party's over," he said slowly. He should head back to the Three Broomstick's to help Hannah and Ernie clean up, but he couldn't tear himself from that spot.

Luna, on the other hand, released his hand and jumped to her feet. "I have to go," she said. Her eyes flickered across the lake to the castle, standing prominently on a cliff, its windows glowing welcomingly with torchlight.

"Why?"

"We weren't supposed to leave the pub…I have to go find everyone else…" As usual, her voice drifted lazily about her, and there was no sense of urgency about her presence, though Neville knew she didn't want to get in trouble. Although Luna had no qualms about fighting for what she believed in, despite the consequences, she, like any rational being, didn't want to needlessly get in trouble.

"It was nice seeing you, Neville," she said softly as she walked away from him, backwards. In the pale moonlight, he could see a gentle smile gracing her delicate face.

"Y-you, too," Neville replied shakily.

He could just barely hear her as she calmly walked back towards the village. Sighing, he moved to stand, and his eyes caught on something shining in the grass. Carefully, he moved towards it. Maybe he had found a Blibbering Humdinger?

No, it was just Luna's silver shoes.

He picked them up, letting them dangle from his finger tips, and hurried after her retreating figure.

"Luna?" he called out as he neared her. "You forgot your shoes."

She turned to look at him. "You can keep them for now. I miss walking around barefoot. People don't steal my shoes as much anymore, you know…"

She paused thoughtfully for a moment before continuing on her way. She waved over her shoulder at Neville, but said no more, just left him standing there with her shoes shining in the starlight.

"We did it; we really did it!"

Hannah threw herself down on her old spindly chair, a look of triumph on her face. It was well past three in the morning, and they were all exhausted, but they couldn't go home quite yet—Hannah had insisted that they go back to the office, recount the money, and write down how much they made.

So far, the pile of money was laying untouched, and Neville and Ernie were sitting there, almost comatose, while Hannah continued to yammer on and on about the ball.

"It was just beautiful, wasn't it? And everyone seemed to be having so much fun…It just went really well for a two-week thing, didn't it? I am glad we could book a band on such short notice…I was afraid they'd be horrible, but they were really good!"

"Yes, they were," Ernie agreed flatly. His eyes had practically glazed over; his arms were hanging limply off the sides of the chair he had collapsed onto.

"And everyone was dancing so happily! There were some beautiful masks, don't you agree? I always loved the idea of a masquerade ball—I am so glad it went well…I would love to go to another—one where I was just the guest though. I had a lovely time, but I was so busy making sure everyone else was having a good time…"

"You did an excellent job," Neville mumbled, barely aware of what she was talking about anymore. How could she have so much to say so early in the morning? Neville could barely string five words together.

"And thank you, Ernie, for dancing with me all night. I was so busy getting everything ready that I didn't have time to find a date! I didn't even have time to think of getting one."

This woke Ernie up. He quickly sat forward and stared at her, his eyes wide, his mouth opening, but no words coming out. Neville recognized the feeling on his face—the hurt that comes with being almost used. Neville experienced it the year of the Yule Ball, in a sense. He had known that Ginny hadn't liked him—had been quite infatuated with Harry, of course—but she agreed anyway, just to be able to go. He had assumed that might be the case, but her confirming it—watching him all night, sighing seeing him with Parvati Patil—had only made it worse.

Clearly, by the look on his face, Ernie had assumed that he was Hannah's date, not just some substitute for the real thing.

"You're welcome," he eventually grumbled, falling back down, looking very defeated.

Hannah didn't even seem to notice. Her eyes had fallen on Neville, and her mouth was moving peculiarly, as if she wasn't sure whether to smile or frown. "What about you?" she asked softly. "Did you find a date? I didn't see you much during the night."

Her tone wasn't accusatory, but something about it made Neville feel uncomfortable. He suspected it might be due to the intensity with which she stared at him.

"I arranged to find Luna, so I was with her," Neville replied after a moment, clearing his throat.

"Loony Lovegood?" Ernie barked.

Neville's eyes flashed dangerously and he jumped to his feet. "Don't call her that. You were in the D.A. with her—you know how brave she is. Don't you dare call her that."

Ernie quickly swallowed his laughter, but the corners of his mouth were still twitching. "Sorry, mate," he said, his voice strained. "I didn't mean to offend you—or her! She's lovely—lovely girl."

Neville continued to glare at him, but slowly lowered himself back into his seat. Hannah was still staring at him, searching his face.

"You were with Luna?"

"Yes."

"Oh." She started to twiddle with her thumbs, at long last falling silent.

Neville turned towards his desk and started to fiddle with a pad of paper sitting there. He had started to write ideas of what they could do with the money at the beginning of the rant, but he had quickly given up, too tired to think.

"Are you two dating?" Hannah asked after a moment. Neville looked at her in alarm, a blush quickly creeping across his face. He could feel the tips of his ears burning.

"N-no!" he exclaimed. "We're just g-good friends—good f-friends." His face grew hotter; his eyes were beginning to water from the effort of keeping a straight face—an effort he was undoubtedly failing at, though he could feel nothing but the hotness of his cheeks.

"Oh, okay. I was just curious…"

Hannah didn't look triumphant anymore; she looked exhausted and haggard. Her curly blonde hair was frizzy and falling out of its elegant bun; her makeup was smeared across her face. Her smile had fallen off her face, and her eyes were downcast as if she were searching for it on the floor.

"Lets's just count the bloody money so we can go home," Ernie said grumpily. He reached for the sack Hannah had put it all in and dumped it out onto the floor. "Hannah—you count the knuts, Neville will count the sickles, and I'll count the galleons."

Neville lowered himself to the floor to start counting, but Hannah wasn't quite done yet.

"Did you two have a good time?"

"Yes, we did. You did a great job, Hannah," Neville tiredly replied as he separated the sickles from the large pile of money.

"Thank you…what did you guys do?"

"Talked, danced, ate…" Neville sighed; Hannah's continuous flow of talk was wearing him out. "At eleven we left for some fresh air. We never made it back for the end."

Hannah's eyes just about fell out of their sockets. "You weren't there for the end? That was the best part though!"

"Was it? What happened?"

"Everyone took off their masks, found the person they were looking for, or just some random person, and there was one last dance. Then all the jack-o-lanterns exploded in fireworks!"

"…wasn't that messy?"

"Oh, no. It was fine."

"Okay. Well…that sounds great, Hannah."

He was sincere, but it was tiring saying the same thing to her over and over again. He just wanted to go home and get some sleep. He couldn't believe she had roped him into this.

"What did you—"

"Hannah, can we just count the money like we intended to all along? We are all tired," Neville interrupted. What was this, the Spanish Inquisition?

"Oh…okay, sure," she said timidly. She silently joined the boys on the floor and separated the bronze knuts from the pile. As she silently counted the coins, her long hair shielding her face, Ernie sent Neville a sharp glare which the latter didn't quite understand.

"You got in late last night."

Neville stifled a yawn as he looked over at his gran. She was sitting at the kitchen table, calmly sipping at her tea as she looked over the Daily Prophet. Neville pulled out a chair and collapsed into it. With only four hours of sleep under his belt, he was more than a little tired.

"This came in this morning, too."

Gran passed The Quibbler across the table to him. Neville had started to order the magazine just out of support for Luna, and although there were occasionally some very credible articles, for the most part, Neville had trouble getting into it.

He casually flipped through the pages, barely catching glimpses of the article titles. As he had expected, the pages were filled with the usual bunch of obscure articles about plants, animals, and people who may or may not exist. It wasn't until he reached almost the end of the magazine that he found an article that struck his interest.

Moving Forward
by Maryanne Lovelace

A little over five months after the end of the Second Wizarding War, a lot has been done in an effort to reconstruct the world which has been lost in its wake. Slowly but surely, walls have been rebuilt, businesses have been reopened, and people have started to heal. Memorials have been erected to honor those whose lives were lost to the Dark Lord and his followers—beautiful memorials which, if you haven't seen, you must. The Ministry has finally done something right, tearing down that awful fountain in The Atrium and replacing it with their memorial, which features the names of all who died in the war—on the good side, naturally—though I won't say anymore of it.
So much has been done to reconstruct, but what has been done about the people?
Many Death Eaters have already been put in Azkaban, and many have been sentenced to the dementor's kiss, and others still are being tried. Marcus Flint, a rumored Death Eater, has a court-order coming up, though he insists that he "never was no bloody Death Eater." But what about the rest of them?
Voldemort had so many supporters during the Second Wizarding War—though it is unclear how many acted of their own free will—but only a handful have been caught. What happened to the rest of them? Where are they hiding? Is anyone even attempting to find them?
Although it seems that much has been done to rebuild the community in which we live, there is still so much left to be done before we can say that everything is back to normal—if it will ever be back to normal. This war has left our world scarred, and for many, life will never be the same. But for all of us, life goes on. All we can do is try to help out in whatever way possible—this may mean building up villages, tracking down Death Eaters, or just talking to friends who have been affected. We all just have to remember to move forward—not back.

Neville put down The Quibbler, deep in he just wasting his time, thinking he was really helping out when, by the sounds of it, so many others were doing the same thing? He thought again of George Weasley and was reminded of the pain he must be suffering. Would his time be better spent talking to people and getting them back on track? It was an appealing idea, but he wasn't sure how to do it. Neville had never been known for his social skills; he would probably start rambling and say the completely wrong thing.

"Neville? Do you need something for breakfast?"

"What? Oh I…yes please. Toast and jam is good…"

He lifted the magazine back up and flipped through the rest of the pages, but it was much of the same stuff that was in the beginning. Neville was about to give up when he spotted his name in a small article.

Where Has Harry Potter Gone?
by Arcturus Wolfe

It is a question we have all been asking ourselves these past five months—where has our hero gone? He has made himself completely unreachable—no one knows where he has gone or what he is up to. As usual, The-Boy-Who-Lived is an enigma.
It is rumored, however, that after five months of hiding, Harry Potter resurfaced last night at Longbottom & Associates Nonprofit Relief Organization's Masquerade Ball fundraiser. This cannot be proven, however, due to the masks worn at the gathering. However, since it was hosted by his friend Neville Longbottom, it is likely that he did attend.
When asked whether she had seen Potter recently, supposed girlfriend Ginevra Weasley told reporters to "bugger off."
Has Harry Potter become so isolated that he doesn't even see his girlfriend anymore? And why is he cutting himself off from society—does he have something to hide, or is it something else?
Whatever it is, we all want to know—what's keeping Harry Potter from talking?

Neville rolled his eyes and threw down the magazine. Something to hide? What was this person talking about? They had no idea what was going on with Harry. He probably knew that he'd have no peace and needed to get away. One can only handle so much attention, and Harry probably felt he had had more than his fill. He was certainly just searching for peace and quiet. Unfortunately for him, finding that would prove to be as difficult as finding the Blibbering Humdinger—it might be possible, but he was going to have some hell of a time finding it.

a/n This certainly isn't my favorite chapter...I got stuck several times on it and...I don't know. I liked the beginning, with Neville and Luna. And then the middle section served its purpose, if any of you caught on to what that was. And the end...well it gives some information which can be used for later events.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review-tell me what you think. Thanks so much for reading :)

xoxo