Luna Lovegood stood in her room, preparing for her wedding. This is it, she thought to herself, as Ginny Potter helped adjust her veil. This is what I’ve always wanted. She sighed. If it’s what I’ve always wanted, then why is it making me feel so down and have second thoughts?

“Ginny,” she said timidly, turning to look at her friend.

“Hold still a second,” Ginny replied, brushing a lock of Luna’s long, blond hair behind her ear. She then took the eye-shadow pad resting on Luna’s bed. Luna closed her eyes obligingly as Ginny applied yet another layer of pale blue eye-shadow to Luna’s eyelids.

“Ginny, don’t you think I’ve been made up enough?” Luna asked wearily, wondering if Ginny would be like this if she wasn’t pregnant with her and Harry’s first child. “Rolf won’t mind how I look.” Her stomach lurched as she said Rolf’s name.

“Just one more touch of lipstick,” Ginny said, reaching for the lipstick tube.

“Ginny, please,” Luna began, but Ginny was already applying it to her lips.

“There you go,” she said, smiling at her handiwork. “You look absolutely beautiful, Lunes. Rolf is going to absolutely love you.”

Luna smiled weakly at her, wondering now if she should ask her best friend what she desperately wanted to now, before she really sealed off the rest of her life to being with Rolf.

“Ginny,” she began in a puzzling tone, but at that moment, Ginny thrust a mirror in front of her face.

“What do you think?” she asked excitedly.

Truthfully, Luna thought that she didn’t even look like herself anymore. She wasn’t used to wearing makeup, and rather liked her reflection without it better. But, she answered otherwise. “I think it looks wonderful. Thank you, Ginny.”

“Not at all!” Ginny replied enthusiastically. “Besides, you know I love helping with weddings; I can’t wait for Hermione and Ron’s. He’s bound to ask her any day now.”

“You mean, after all this time, he still hasn’t asked her to marry him?”

“No,” Ginny answered. “Git. I thought he would at least have sense enough to ask by now.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I know Hermione will be thrilled once he does finally ask her. I don’t know how many times she’s told me she wants for him to at least show her in some way that things are moving forward.”

“Yeah,” Luna said quietly.

Ginny noticed her tone and asked, “Are you okay, Luna? You sound… I don’t know what; odd, I guess.”

“Ginny,” Luna began, sitting down on her bed. Ginny made to pull her up, but Luna stood again before she could begin a tirade about dress wrinkles and how awful it would be. “I’m just wondering. Is it really right for me and Rolf to be getting married?”

“What are you talking about?” Ginny said. “Of course it is. You love him, and he most definitely loves you. You’ve been together for three and a half years now.”

“I know,” Luna said, sighing. “It’s just… sometimes, I still find myself thinking about me and Neville. You know, from the school days and after for a while. What went wrong with us?”

Ginny sighed, sitting on the bed. “Obviously, you and he weren’t meant to be, Luna. It was your relationship in school, and for about a year afterwards, but, I guess you and him aren’t supposed to be together.” She shrugged.

“But, Ginny, what if we were?” Luna asked worriedly. “He was one of my first real friends. He was my first love. What if, today, I’m about to make the biggest mistake of my entire life?” She put her head in her hands.

“Don’t cry,” Ginny said. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”

Luna looked at Ginny with what she hoped was an evil look. “There are more important issues than makeup right now.”

Ginny laughed. “Okay, you’re right. Just don’t cry.”

“I’ll try not to,” Luna said. “But, come on Ginny. This is serious. I’m about to change my entire life by saying two simple words, and what if they’re the wrong two words to say?”

“Well,” Ginny said. “Do you think they’re the wrong words to say?”

“I don’t know,” Luna replied, her voice becoming panicked. “I’m beginning to think I should’ve really tried to win Neville back after he broke things off. I mean, what if our relationship was supposed to be like Ron and Hermione’s where it’s broken off for a while and then comes back again? What if I’m not supposed to be with Rolf at all?”

“Er, well,” Ginny began. “Have you talked to Neville about any of this?”

“No,” Luna replied. “And, now, I’m really wishing I had, instead of just keeping it to myself all this time.”

“There’s still time,” Ginny said. “You don’t walk down to Rolf for another forty-five minutes.” She began to stand up; Luna helped her. “Thanks. Anyway, I can go get him right now for you, if you want.”

“Could you, please?” Luna asked. “I won’t cry while you’re gone, I promise. But, I can’t promise you I won’t if he does come with you.”

“Okay,” Ginny answered. “I’ll go get him.” Lifting her pale blue dress up, she hurried from the room, leaving Luna with a bit of time to collect her thoughts, and arriving back minutes later with Neville Longbottom, dressed in navy blue dress robes, looking nervous and shy- as Luna remembered him from when she’d last seen him face to face when he’d broken up with her.

“Hi, Luna,” he said nervously. “You look, um, diff- beautiful.”

Luna smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Neville.” She stepped forward to hug him, but he backed away awkwardly. She stepped back as well.

“So,” Ginny said from where she stood by the doorway, breaking the silence before it became too awkward. “I’ll just leave you two for now, and go wait.” She left, closing the door quietly behind her.

“Ginny said you wanted to talk to me about something,” Neville said, taking a seat on the bed.

“Well, yes,” Luna answered quietly. “Of course, it could be a bit- never mind. Um,” she faltered. “I don’t exactly know how to say any of this; it’s really… difficult, I suppose.”

“What is it, Luna?” Neville asked, surveying her expression.

“It’s, well, um,” she answered, becoming flustered, her breath becoming short.

“Lune, calm down,” Neville said, standing up without thinking and comforting her. “What is it?”

“I-,” she began. “I’m beginning to seriously wonder if we should’ve ever broken things off; if maybe what I’m doing today is a huge mistake.”

“Luna,” Neville said, stepping away; he felt Luna tremble slightly as he stepped back, but he remained where he was, not wanting to instigate anything from her- especially on her wedding day. “Listen to me. We are over. I’m really sorry for it, but it’s true. You’re with Rolf, and I know you’re happy.”

“And, how do you know this, Neville?” Luna asked, struggling to keep her voice steady. “How do you know that I’m perfectly happy with Rolf?”

“Because, Luna, you’re marrying him,” Neville said, running his hand through his hair. “And, according to Ginny and Hermione from the times you’ve talked to them about him, he’s all you could think about.” Luna heard his voice nearly crack when he said the last part; she knew this was hurting him like it hurt her.

“Neville, whatever they told you-” she began. He cut her off.

“Don’t tell me it was a lie, Luna,” he said, looking hurt; it tore at Luna’s heart to see him like this. “I know that everything you said was the truth, because you don’t lie; and, if you do, it’s never well, not at all.”

“What about you then?” she asked, surveying him disbelievingly. “And, even if I did say that, it may’ve been true, but maybe in a different sense. Maybe I didn’t mean what it was that I said in the way that you think I did.”

“Then how is it that you meant it, Luna?” Neville asked, sitting on the bed. “If you didn’t mean you were perfectly happy with Rolf, then what is it? If he wasn’t all you could think about, then what was?”

“It was… everything,” Luna answered, sitting down beside him. He shifted as if to move again, but Luna placed her hand gently on his arm, and he stayed where he was. “Look, maybe at the time, Rolf was on my mind a lot; actually, of course he was. But, that’s not the point. The point is, for so much time after you left, I was broken into pieces inside. It was the hardest six months of my life. I think, for me, the only reason I finally gave up was because I figured that you would never come back, then. And, then, Rolf came along, and I thought ‘Why not, then?’ It had to be better than being alone and sad, depressed for six months. I was right in several ways; but, in several others, I was wrong.” She paused for a moment, to see if Neville would respond.

“Luna,” he said. “Why do you choose to tell me this now, instead of before? I’ve been lonely for three years now; I mean, I’ve got Hannah now-”

“Hannah Abbot?” Luna asked, confused. “When did you get with her?”

“Two weeks ago,” Neville answered. “But, that’s not the point. Look, before that, I was alone for three years, because, I guess I always had it in the back of my head that maybe I was stupid, and wasn’t thinking when I told you we were over.”

Luna couldn’t believe it. “Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” she asked, staring at Neville. “All this time… and you’ve been unhappy as well. You could’ve saved so much heartache, you do realise that, don’t you?”

“I couldn’t have,” Neville replied, now staring at the ground. “It would’ve been too rough, too hard-”

“Oh, because love has always been so incredibly easy,” Luna said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “If you can’t see, then just look at Ron and Hermione; they most certainly haven’t had an easy relationship, but they are together again, now. They were separated for three months, and they figured that they couldn’t live without each other, no matter how difficult it would be. Didn’t you ever think that, in the past three years, even once?” She looked at Neville, searching his eyes desperately for some hint that she wasn’t saying this all in vain. Checking the clock, she realised she only had fifteen precious minutes before tying her life with Rolf’s.

Neville was silent for a few minutes. Luna nudged him softly. He sighed, turning to face her. “Luna, alright; I did wonder if maybe it wouldn’t be awful, even if it was hard. It just… seemed easier to just break things off for good, instead of living lives where it would always be difficult for us.”

Luna cut him off. “So this isn’t diff-”

“Will you please let me finish?” Neville asked, taking Luna’s hand in his, and then nearly pulling it out; Luna grasped it firmly, though, so he left it where it was. “I never said it wasn’t difficult; this is probably one of the harder things I’ve had to do in my life, maybe the hardest. But, the point is, once I found out you were with Rolf, I thought that you had completely moved on, and that you didn’t care if I was in your life at this moment any longer, so I gave up hope. I tried to see other girls the way I had seen you, but the problem was, none of them were the same as you, because, Luna, you are the most eccentric and unique person I know. All the other girls were so boring compared to you. Now, I realise…” He let his voice trail off.

“You realise that I never let go of the hope?” Luna asked, looking at Neville sympathetically. “You realise that I probably would’ve ditched Rolf immediately if you had just come to me, and admitted it was a mistake?”

Neville nodded his head. “And, I really wish that I had done that, instead of waiting by my lonely self for three depressing, completely awful years, wanting you, thinking all the while that you wanted Rolf and only Rolf.” Luna could hear his voice beginning to shake. “Now… I don’t know if there is anything we could do to correct it. You give yourself to Rolf in ten minutes.” He looked down at his and Luna’s hands, covering the top of hers with his other one.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her. “For everything. I hurt you, so badly. And, now, I don’t think I can correct it, no matter how hard I try. I just want you to go out there, and be happy; for yourself, and for Rolf. He loves you, and you deserve him… more than you could ever possibly deserve me. Besides… if I let you be with me now, don’t you think his heart would be hurt even worse than ours do, perhaps?”

“Stop being noble,” Luna said, tears at the brim of her eyes, threatening to fall. “But, if you really think it can’t be corrected, then just realise that any wonderful girl deserves you, Neville. And… Hannah should be happy to have someone as perfect as you are. She really deserves you. I’m sure that she’s gone through enough anyways.” She sighed, gently prying her hand from Neville’s, her decision made; she wasn’t going to hurt poor Hannah’s heart just so hers would be alright, happy. Besides, she knew that Rolf loved her, and she did him as well. It just still hurt, knowing that there was always the possibility that she loved Neville more. And, she knew that would hurt Rolf, if he ever found out.

“All right, then,” Neville said, and he stood up from the bed. “I- I suppose that you’re right. Besides, now it’s time for you to get married.” He kissed her cheek, still wishing he didn’t have to do what he was going to. “Bye, Luna. Good luck with Rolf.”

“Good luck with Hannah,” Luna replied as he left the room. She walked over to her mirror, and saw a mask of sadness behind the make-up covering her face. Mascara had run down her cheeks; grabbing a tissue, she wiped it away carefully, then stepped back, smoothing her dress. She wanted to look perfect for Rolf… and Neville, if she was honest with herself. If she couldn’t make herself happy, she could at least make one of them happy.

She opened her door to find her father there, waiting to escort her down the aisle. She placed her arm in his, smiling up at him. He smiled at her as well, then walked outside.

All the guests were seated in just ten rows of four chairs; it was meant to be a quiet affair. That suited Luna just as well; she didn’t like crowds too awful much. Standing at the front, to the left of where she would be, was Ginny. She gave Luna a sympathetic look as Luna came to the front of the aisle slowly with her father. When she spotted Neville, she couldn’t miss the flash of longing that crossed his eyes as he watched her. She smiled at him, knowing that the longing in his eyes was reflected in her own as her father handed her off to Rolf; to her new life.