Neville Longbottom opened the door to his small house. He loosened his tie and hung his cloak on the coat stand next to the door, that just so happened to look like a bowtruckle.

The 24-year-old Herbology professor sighed. Today had been a very long day. A Gryffindor first year had gotten into the devil's snare the night before on a dare from his older housemates. Professor Longbottom had had to free the terrified young boy in the morning, his friends having abandoned him the night before. Then one of his second year Slytherins hadn't put on her earmuffs properly before attempting to replant a baby mandrake. The poor girl immediately keeled over and had to be taken to the hospital wing immediately. She didn't wake up until late that afternoon. That, coupled with having to perform the monthly check-up of the Whomping Willow had made for a very bad day for Neville.

Now he was ready to enjoy a quiet evening with his wife. As soon as he had walked in he'd known where his Luna Lovegood was. He recognized the faint scent of sunflowers hanging in the air. The familiar scent told him that Luna was in her art studio, painting away again. She always lit her homemade sunflower and dirigible plum candles. Luna swore that they served a dual purpose. Not only did the scent of the sunflowers help mask the strong fumes of her magical, never-fading oil paints, but the aroma of the dirigible plums also opened up her artistic mind to the extraordinary... and it kept away the nargles.

Neville climbed up the stairs to her studio in the room at the top of the house. The scent of the sunflowers grew stronger as he climbed. It was a comforting scent, easing the tension and residual stress of his day. Luna had come back two months ago from another one of her work trips. This one had been to India to track the herds of wild Occamy there. Luna loved being a magizoologist and traveling around the world to study and discover magical creatures. Neville had even tagged along on a few of her trips during the holidays to study some of the rare magical plants that they would come across. He'd even discovered a new species of Alihotsy on a trip to the Amazon with Luna. Neville knew how passionate Luna was about her creatures, but he still wished she didn't have to take such long trips so far away. He always missed her while she was away, but was so happy when she was home.

Finally, he reached the small yellow door at the top of the stairs, it had a little sign on the door that read "Luna's Studio". He slowly pushed the door open. When he stuck his head inside the bright room he saw a strange, but familiar sight.

Luna sat in front of her easel, palette levitating next to her. She was completely wrapped up in her painting. A small crease of concentration had found a home between her sparkling blue eyes. Her hair was held back by one of Neville's of Gryffindor ties for his own days as a Hogwarts student. She was wearing it as a headband with her hair flowing down her back like a silvery, white blonde waterfall. Her wand was in her mouth as she painted. A napping fluffy, light brown kitten was wrapped around her neck like a scarf (this was Porpentina, one of Crookshanks' daughters). Their screech owl, Fido, was perched on her head. Luna was using Trevor III as a model, the toad calmly sitting on top of a bowl of fruit.

Neville chuckled. Luna had quite the way with animals and whenever she was home she wanted to spend as much time with her "beast babies" as possible. Her "babies" missed her too and often trailed after her as she set about restoring her house to "order". This included when she was painting in her art studio. She often used them as her models.

"How's the painting going?" Neville said, walking into the room. Taking her wand of her mouth, Luna flashed him a bright smile before turning back to her work.

"Great! I'm almost done. Trevor III really is an outstanding model. Porpentina is always moving and trying to play with my fruit, but Trev stays so still. He's such a perfect model." Trevor III blinked and croaked. "But, how was your day Nev?" Neville groaned. Luna recognized that sound. After knowing Neville Longbottom for nine years, she could always recognize when he'd had a bad day. "Oh no! What happened today?"

"A first-year got himself trapped in the devil's snare last night on a dare so, I had to get him out of there first thing this morning. Then a second year got knocked out by a Mandrake, which could have been avoided if she had just put on her earmuffs properly LIKE I TOLD HER TO! And the Whomping Willow needed its monthly check-up today, it was just a horrid day Luna! Absolutely Horrid!" He reached down for the mug on the table next to her and took a sip. That was NOT COFFEE! He immediately spat out the terrible brown liquid. he knew Luna sometimes brought back exotic foods and drinks from her travels and didn't want to be embarrassed more than he already was. "This coffee tastes... odd."

"That's probably because it's not coffee. It's my paint water." Neville grimaced down at the mug and set it back down gingerly. "Besides," Luna said, adding the final brush stroke to her painting and setting down her brush. "I won't be drinking coffee for a while." Neville was confused.

"Why? You love coffee. You said that it keeps you sharp so the wankspurts don't move into your head."

"Because" Luna stood and Fido and Porpentina jumped off of her. She crossed the room to her husband. "The doctor said I'm not supposed to have caffeine for the next nine months." Neville was still confused... and then it clicked.

"No! You don't mean-"

"That's right. We're having a little Longbottom." Neville was so happy he couldn't speak. He picked her up and twirled his wife around. Then he froze and set her back down, very carefully.

"Do you think I hurt the baby!?"

"No, you silly wankspurt!" Luna said laughing.

"Good," Neville said hugging his Looney Lovegood and smiling into her hair.

This story is a prequel to another story of mine called "Nargles in the Wardrobe." If you'd like to check that out i highly recommend it.

~ Lilymaid620