Nargles and Blibbering Humdingers.

Nargles and Blibbering Humdingers

The dust hadn’t settled on Hogwarts castle before loony Luna Lovegood was tromping down the front stairs, across the now patchy, bloody battlefield that had once been the magnificent front lawn of the school, and into the Forbidden Forest, blond hair flying back from her head as her mud and blood spattered boots carried her over the tumbled earth.

She understood that everyone wanted to be close to one another now that the battle was done, and she thought she felt the same way herself. Fred Weasley had been very, very kind to her, and she was quite sure they had been friends. But all the same, she still felt like she was stuck outside looking in, as per usual, as his family wept and wailed, but all she wanted to do was tell a joke; to remember the good times, rather than living in the terrible, tragic moment.

But she’d never let that ruin her before, not even when her mother had died, and she wasn’t about to start.

The gnarled and craggy trees of the forest rose around her as she walked, and she greeted them like the old friends they were. She liked to think that she had a memory attached to almost every single tree in the forest, but she knew it wasn’t quite true. Not yet, anyway.

A sudden grunt, a hiss and a faint push on her behind snapped her out of her reverie, causing her to spin around, wand drawn and eyes wide. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting to see –perhaps a crumple-horned snorkak (they did have a habit of being pushy,) or a hungry thestral- but it was not a still bloody Neville Longbottom, clutching his wand and glaring down at a small crumpled pile of ash that she thought might once have been a plant.

“Lordy, Luna” Neville grumbled, resting his hand on his knee and taking a deep breath. “I’ve been following you all the way from the castle, calling your name, and you didn’t hear me, and then that started to reach for you,” he took another deep breath and shook his head whilst stomping on the last determinedly writhing tentacle of plant life. “I was starting to worry.”


“Oh no, nothing like that,” she murmured, sliding her wand back into the pocket of her jeans. “I thought I saw a blibbering humdinger, and I thought I should try and catch it for daddy.” she explained awkwardly. Not quite comfortable with the little lie.

Neville laughed, eyes sparking with mirth in that special way that only his eyes could. “I think you’re a blibbering humdinger, Lu” he said, grinning widely at her, radiating happiness, even through the dirt and gore that coated him from head to toe.

If anyone else had said it, Luna would have been inclined to be wary about the meaning of the phrase, but not with Neville. She knew he only had the best intentions, and his teasing was just that; teasing, with no jibes hidden underneath.

“Then you must be a nargle,” she said, suddenly feeling very shy as she tried to remember why on earth she’d said what she had. Maybe it was because he was so distracting to her. All he had to do was smile, or wave, or say hello to her, and all concern for what she had been doing, or had been on her way to do was completely blown away.

Or perhaps a cloud of wrackspurts had migrated to her. It would have explained the sudden fuzziness that seemed to have formed around the edges of her thoughts, making her feel giddy and strangely light.

“Oh, really?” Neville’s voice was a growl, but still sounded light and playful. “I bet no nargle could ever do this,” he said, lurching forward and wrapping his arms around her waist. “Ha-ha! I’ve caught the world’s first blibbering humdinger!” he crowed to the trees as he started to head back to the castle. “I’d better show Hagrid!”

“Oh no, I’m caught!” she cried dramatically, trying to ignore how much she enjoyed the fact that his arms were still around her as he tromped back to the castle. “Whatever shall I do?”
Neville chuckled. “Well, you can submit to my nargle-ish superiority,” he said, grinning down at her and making her suddenly glad for his arms around her as her knees started to feel a little jelly- like. “Or we can kiss, make up and forget this all ever happened.”

“I’ll submit to a nargle when hell freezes over,” she teased, mimicking his earlier words to Lord Voldemort with a wan smile. “So I suppose that only leaves the option of kissing and making up”

“So it does,” Neville agreed, setting her on her feet gently and then stuffing his hands in to his back pockets.

That simple movement struck her so hard in the heart that she almost couldn’t breathe. That breathless moment was so charged enough with an emotion that she couldn’t quite define that she suddenly flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Her action was so sudden that Neville fell over, his arms circling her waist again as they hit the slightly marshy ground below them with a muffled thump. Neither of them noticed, however, as they were rather thoroughly engrossed in the contact of their lips.

It took a few minutes for either of them to come to their senses once the kiss had stopped. Their noses and lips were pressed tightly together, and somehow that made their disorientation worse.

After a few more minutes of rather heavy breathing for them both, Neville opened his mouth to speak, but Luna beat him to it.

“I’m sorry. I sho- I’ll be going now” she said, sounding rather frazzled as she rolled off of his chest and got to her feet, only to have him pull her back down.

“Luna,” he said, flashing her a grin that made her flush from her head to her toes. “That was the best kiss and make up I’ve ever had”

“I have to agree,” she said, suddenly feeling coy. “For a nargle, you’re quite a good kisser.”

This was so good. I always thought they were two of the best characters in Harry Potter. Not because they were particularly good but their awkwardness was so endearing (like in the fourth when Neville returns from the Yule Ball surprised that he'd had fun for once and when Luna said in the sixth how she liked the DA because "it was kinda like having friends").

I was so disappointed when Neville and Luna didn't get together. Thanks for rectifying that mistake