This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Word Count: 1803

Title: Santa's Secret

Note: Canon divergent. Written as a secret Santa gift for tweety-src-clt9

Beta: lun 27

Secret Santa: tweety-src-clt9 (Ravenclaw)

[Pairing]: Neville/Luna

[Plot Point] Mistletoe story that brings Neville/Luna together

[Genre] Fluff/ Romance

Hogwarts

Yearly:

Scavenger hunt: Write a fic for a Ravenclaw

Prompt 818 [Trope] Friends to Lovers

Seasonally:

Days of the year: 4th December: Santa's List Day: Write about a child visiting Santa.

"All the helpers line up," a plump store assistant announced, and they watched as a couple of other children around fourteen lined up in a row.

"Great, so Saturday and Sunday will be you lot," she said half-heartedly, pointing at the right group, "and then the rest of you will be on duty Monday and Tuesday."

"Excuse me," Luna piped up. "Can my friend and I stay all four days?"

The woman looked at her curiously. Then she seemed to accept the blonde girl's request.

"That's fine," she said. Her pale blue eyes searched the row of children for anyone else eager enough for the overtime, but none spoke up.

Luna knew that most of the children didn't believe Santa was real, but she was on to him. She was going to find out the truth.

"Neville, this is serious undercover journalism," Luna muttered when she saw him pulling at the lime green tights.

"These are too small," he complained annoyed.

"Neville, you promised you would help. This is the only way to get close to him," she said, smoothing her red shirt over her tights. She noticed there was a suspicious hole near the crotch while dressing, but she figured she would be fine as long as she didn't sit down and cross her legs.

"I know," Neville said, trying to force a smile on his face. Luna grinned at her friend.

"Thanks Neville," she said. "Everyone else thinks I'm crazy, but that's why I'll find evidence. It's the heart of investigative journalism."

"Your dad doesn't do this, does he?" Neville asked, looking puzzled. Luna shook her head.

They were busy with the first group cleaning up around the area where Santa's village would be. The woman had insisted they wear their costumes to get into the spirit of Christmas. Luna had hidden a small camera on her slender figure, so she could film any suspicious events.

Neville was emptying the trash when she finally saw the man arrive. Santa was here, it was go time. She signalled to Neville that Santa had arrived, and then followed him into the back room.

Luna noticed instantly something was fishy about Santa. It was clear his beard was fake, it seemed to be made from cheap wool.

"Santa, why is your beard not real?" she asked. Santa jumped at the sudden appearance of the small blonde. He clearly didn't expect anyone to follow him to the back.

"Well, girl, I'm sure you are old enough to know Santa isn't real," Santa said in a fake jolly voice.

"I'm not sure what I believe," Luna replied vaguely. She didn't want to let on that she knew too much. If he knew she was a witch, he probably would have just pretended he was the real Santa with the magic to freeze time to deliver presents all over the world in a single moment. But girls at fourteen aren't generally still known for their belief in him.

"Dear girl, I'm sorry if I ruined the illusion. Your parents really should have told you," the man insisted. "Now get out of my dressing room."

She left with a frown on her face. Why hasn't he attempted to prove himself to her? Why the farce?

Maybe she should tell him that she was a witch, but she had lost her chance now. She sighed and went to the front. Helping the kids form a line to meet Santa. She smiled so brightly the children had no problem believing she was really one of Santa's elves. Neville had gotten a spot near the back. The shop lady had suggested he not take the front of the line. Luna believed it was rather mean of the woman, and she made a mental note to tell Neville how amazing he was for helping her with something so important. Something she really disliked was bullies, and the lady was being a bully to Neville. She sighed, she just needed to get through this before she had words with the woman.

She watched Santa interacting with all the small children, smiling and asking them if they had been good little boys and girls. She noticed that he seemed to genuinely care about them, and he listened to every question. Sometimes he would just nod and agree, and other times when the children would ask for their sick parents to be healed, he would say that wasn't within his magic to grant.

Luna followed Santa after work that night, it wasn't Christmas yet, but he disappeared so suddenly she realised he must have Aparated away. Tuesday was Christmas Eve, and then all would be revealed. She felt happy with the amount of progress she already made. She already spotted the signs that Santa had magic, even though he denied it to her. The more she watched him, the more small things she noticed, the way his hand twitched towards something hidden in his coat when there was a threat, the way his eyes seemed to scan each child, and know more than just what the child was saying. It appeared that Santa was no ordinary wizard, he was a Legilimens as well, and probably a natural born one. It would explain why he knew all the children's names when they walked up with their parents.

Luna was curious as to why Santa then hadn't denied her suspicions outright, but it wasn't long until it became clear. If he denied being a wizard, he would need to explain how he knew that Luna believed he was one, as she hadn't said a word about it to him. She was sure he was just waiting for her to confront him, and then he would say she was being a silly girl for thinking all this was possible. She spotted Neville and smiled to herself, he really was such a sweetheart. She wondered if perhaps she would get her Christmas present from Santa, if she could prove he was real? She wasn't ready to tell anyone the truth just yet.

She wondered if Santa had his wand and the time turner on him at all times. It seemed logical to assume, but without proof, assumption means nothing. She whispered into Neville's ear about what she learned so far; he had a way of finding out the childrens names, and she recognized some Wix family names with children as well. Those children also sat on Santa's lap, but it seemed some of the wizarding children needed to tell him their names. She wondered if his magic was somehow limited to Muggles, or if some of the parents just knew that there was someone tugging at the edges of their minds.

It was Neville who found the first piece of actual evidence, a wand. When Santa found them with it, he snatched it from them, insisting it was his daughter's toy. Both Luna and Neville had gotten a look at the wand, and wrote down all the details. It was dragonheart sting core, willow-wood, eleven ¾ inches, slightly yielding. Of course they could tell a real wand from a toy.

"Neville, you genius!" she said excitedly, embracing her friend suddenly.

Neville blushed and muttered: "Oh, it's nothing, really." The way she smiled at Neville made him feel like the sun rose in his eyes, and his heart started to race. He really liked Luna a lot.

It was just before their final service, Christmas Eve, this was the day that they needed to be on the ball, and then they would finally find the truth about who this Santa fellow really was, and how he got all those gifts to children around the world in only one night. Luna was watching Neville fix the Mistletoe, and she stood closer so she could speak to him without being overheard.

"Ripe full of Nargles," she said. Neville grinned at her.

"That's okay, they're harmless, aren't they?" he asked seriously.

She loved that he didn't just call her crazy; he actually believed in her.

"Yeah, that's true." She grinned. She took one step closer, and without realising, she found herself under the mistletoe with Neville. Neville started to blush, and then she noticed how close she had gotten. It had been under the pretence of telling him something. Was he going to kiss her now?

"I do still think we ought to, you know—" Neville muttered then stopped suddenly.

"You want to kiss me?" Luna asked with a smile.

Neville nodded and leaned in, he could have kissed her cheek, she was half expecting him to, so when their mouths met in an awkward first kiss, she knew she had gotten exactly what she asked Santa for this year. She wanted Neville to be her boyfriend, and it seemed like he liked her as well.

"Luna, do you," Neville started as he pulled back, but then they were interrupted by Santa's arrival.

"We will talk later, promise?" she asked, before Neville could get nervous thinking she was avoiding him. Neville nodded with a smile.

After the shift ended, Luna made sure she wasn't noticed when she followed Santa. When he revealed the golden time turner around his neck from beneath the fake beard, she gasped softly.

"You really don't know when to give up, do you, Miss Lovegood?" Santa asked her suddenly.

"It's true." She grinned.

"Yes, I suppose you are happy you got your present early?" he asked.

Luna nodded, she never would have admitted it to anyone, but Santa knew that she wanted Neville to kiss her and become her boyfriend.

Luna and Neville started dating that Christmas, and Luna decided she would publish all her findings in The Quibbler. Funny thing is, the credibility of her father's magazine was so low, that although she had even gotten solid facts, the entire situation of Santa and his helpers was written off as a conspiracy theory anyway.

Santa's Secret

By Luna Lovegood

The investigation took four days of deep undercover work, which lead to the evidence that Santa is not just the jolly old man that Muggles believe him to be. He is in fact a kind samaritan that uses the beliefs of Muggles and Wix alike to grant us wishes every year on one special day. The man known as Santa is in fact not only real, but he is a Legilimens that uses his talent to make the children believe he knows them. His wand was found, and he denied it, claiming that it was merely a trinket of his daughter. On further investigation, the discovery was made that Santa is in possession of his own time turner, and that this is his method for being everywhere in the world during a single night. For more information read about the exciting undercover work on page 7, with accompanying photographs.