"Would you like any candy, dear?"
"Um, yes. Two Chocolate Toads, please."
"Come again?"
"Er, two Chocolate Toads."
"Do you mean Chocolate Frogs?"
Neville blushed bright red. Of course he meant Chocolate Frogs. He was always making mistakes. He knew what was coming next.
"Um, yes, two Chocolate Frogs."
"Of course, dear, here you go."
As the old lady handed him the two boxes and he paid her, he continued to dread what would happen when she was off to the next compartment. As she slowly walked away, he finally heard the expected chorus of laughter. Someone clapped him on the back.
"Chocolate Toads, eh, Neville?"
"What an oaf. Can't even call a sweet by the right name!"
"Chocolate Toads!"
"Spend too much time with Timmy, do ya?"
Neville could point out that his toad's name was not Timmy, but Trevor, but that would inspire even more laughing. He sat down and kept quiet, opening the first box, examining the card it came with. He got Godric Gryffindor again. He already had at least ten, along with three Dumbledores and two Helga Hufflepuffs. Why couldn't he at least get a different Chocolate Frog card?
After all of the students left Neville alone, he sat all by himself, pulling off a piece of a frog and nibbling on it. He checked to see that Trevor was still there. Quite out of character, Trevor sat loyally by his side, croaking softly at about a two minute interval. Maybe even he knows I've had a rough day so far, he thought.
Despite the toad's uncharacteristic loyalty, Neville wished he had some more company than his eleventh Godric Gryffindor card and a croaking toad. Almost every year, he sat alone, except for a few people who came by to laugh at his most recent slipup out of pure boredom, eventually leaving him to feel sorry for himself. He continued to chew on the Chocolate Frog forlornly.
"I'm very fond of those myself," a soft voice said. "Would you like to share?"
He turned around, startled, to see a girl wearing Ravenclaw robes standing in the entrance to his compartment. She was tiny, with waist length blonde hair that had a very strange glittering barette in it. She was also holding several Chocolate Frog boxes.
"Sure," he said.
The girl came and sat in the seat across from him. Unsure of what to say to her, he looked out the window awkwardly.
"That wasn't very nice, what they said about you just because you mispronounced the name of a candy. That's no reason to tease someone. Although I don't really see any good reason to tease anyone at all."
Her silvery eyes fell to Trevor by his side. "Is that your toad? He's lovely. I wish I had a pet. Sometimes I feel terribly lonely. Maybe next year I'll get myself a toad, or a cat. Although an owl would be nice, too, since you can use them to deliver your mail. It really it is a pain to have to borrow someone else's whenever Daddy wants me to write to him. Sometimes they bite because they don't know me very well. You have chocolate on your face."
Embarassed, he wiped his cheek.
"That's better. They are quite messy, if you get a melty one. Do you want one of mine? I have way too many to eat by myself. I always try to buy extra candy to share with anyone I can find who looks like they need a friend. Last year I bought Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and shared them with Ginny Weasley. She got horseradish, and the look on her face when she first bit into it really was quite a laugh. I had to buy her a water to wash it down. Do you know her?"
He nodded. "I took her to the Yule Ball last year."
"Oh, I don't know how I missed you, then. Ginny and I are very close friends now. I never did catch your name, by the way."
"Neville," he said, "Neville Longbottom."
The girl nodded. "That makes sense. You look like a Neville. I'm Luna Lovegood."
Neville didn't know how your name could match your looks, but he supposed it made sense, since the girl looked like a Luna as well.
"Nice to meet you, Luna," he said.
"You as well," she said, opening a Chocolate Frog. As she bent down to look closer at it, he noticed the barette in her hair again. It was pointy and looked like it would hurt if you pricked your finger with it, consisting of a variety of rainbow colors. Red blended into blue, blue into pink, pink into green, green into purple.
"I like what you're wearing in your hair," he said, hoping she would explain it to him.
Luna smiled proudly, gently touching the strange object. "Thank you. It's a baby unicorn horn. My father sent it to me in my second year. I've been wearing it on my first day of school ever since, for good luck. Isn't it pretty?"
He nodded, although it was slightly disorienting with all of its colors.
She retrieved a card from the box as she finished off the rest of the frog.
"Who did you get?" Neville asked.
"Salazar Slytherin," she replied.
"I've never gotten him before," Neville said.
Luna looked surprised at this. "No? Then who do you have?"
"Eleven Godric Gryffindors, three Albus Dumbledores, and two Helga Hufflepuffs," he recited.
"Well, I've got a Slytherin already, so here you go." She held the card out to him.
He looked at the card, then back to Luna. Who was this girl, being so nice to him?
Luna said nothing in reply to the strange look she was giving him. She looked out the window as she began to devour another Chocolate Frog. Neville took this as a cue to do so himself. It was cloudier than when they had first boarded. Soon, as they passed a field of yellow flowers, it began to rain.
"It looks like we'll be there soon," she said, "I hope they have pudding at the feast."
"Yeah, vanilla. It's my favorite," Neville said, opening his own second frog.
"Mine, too," Luna replied.
He looked at the card on the inside of the package.
"Is it another Gryffindor?" Luna asked.
Neville smiled and shook his head. There in his hand was his first Rowena Ravenclaw card, as if Luna had brought him luck.
"No. Rowena Ravenclaw," he said.
Luna smiled, her grin making her eyes sparkle.
Halfway to Hogwarts, Neville was sure he had never felt so content at the beginning of the school year. He had his first Ravenclaw Chocolate Frog card and a Ravenclaw girl with a baby unicorn horn in her hair for a friend by his side. And Trevor hadn't even run away this year.
Neville's Chocolate Toads by The Ravenclaw Sheerio
Chapter Endnotes: I hope you liked it! I don't think there's enough Neville/Luna stuff out there. I think they're adorable. Reviews and favorites are welcome.