A/N Wow, I am so so sorry it's taken me this long to update! It's been about 3 years I think. Not sure anybody cares about this story anymore, but oh well. I could explain about how crazy it's been and how time got away from me and I didn't have any inspiration or motivation to write, but let's just get to the story shall we? (It's an extra long chapter, at least.)

The day of the ball came, and Ginny and Hermione insisted the three of us get ready together. They said it was more fun that way. I had a sneaking suspicion that they wanted to make sure I didn't wear anything too weird. I'm not sure what they're worried about, they saw the dress I'm wearing already. They said it looked lovely, though I knew they wouldn't have picked it for themselves. I picked it because it was really bright blue and had sparkles around the neckline and feathers on the skirt.

They were already getting ready when I arrived. Ginny was going to do my hair and makeup, and Hermione was loaning me a pair of shiny silver heels.

"You're going to look beautiful, even more than usual." Hermione assured me, as she applied eye shadow to her right eyelid. "Neville will wonder why he didn't ask you. He'll be so jealous!"

"Yeah, there's no way Hannah will look nearly as good as I'm going to make you look." Ginny said.

I thanked them and waited patiently for my Ginny to have time to fix me up. I knew it wouldn't take long. Ginny had said that since my dress had so much embellishment, I wouldn't need crazy makeup or anything. I was glad. I don't like the feel of a lot of makeup.

We finished getting ready just before time to meet Harry and Ron. Hermione was wearing a long red dress with a slit up one side and her hair was pinned up. Ginny was wearing a shiny, short gold dress and her hair was down with braids on the sides. She had curled my hair nicely, and even the way she did my makeup didn't make me feel as confined as makeup usually does. I felt good about the way I looked.

We went downstairs to meet the guys.

"Wow, you look great!" Harry exclaimed when he saw you. "Especially you, love." he said, giving Ginny a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ron said, staring at her. She blushed and took his arm. We went off to the dance.

The Great Hall was decorated wonderfully, and it was already packed with students dancing and having a good time when we arrived. I didn't immediately see Neville and Hannah, but I told myself not to worry about them and just have fun with my friends.

A fast song was playing so we headed out onto the dance floor as a group. It was a lot of fun. I love to dance, it's so freeing.

"Ok, I'm glad you two made me come," I called to Hermione and Ginny over the music. "This is fun!"

And it was fun, at least until the first slow song came on. I left the dance floor and went to get punch. That's when I saw Neville and Hannah. They were swaying to the beat, her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. Neville's back was to me, but I locked eyes with Hannah. She smirked at me. I turned away and walked off. I found a small table where I could see everything but I wasn't in the middle of it. I drank my punch and hummed along to the music.

I stayed like that for a while, and then suddenly Neville was standing in front of me.

"Hi, Luna," he said. He looked rather nervous.

"Hi, Neville. Are you having a nice time?" I responded. He nodded and gestured to the chair beside me. I waved my hand, giving him permission to sit.

"I wanted to apologize," he said, looking at me. "For the last time we spoke. I was rude and I shouldn't have been. I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright." I told him. "Friends have little spats like that. It's ok."

"Thank you. So, did you come with anyone?" he asked.

"No, not a date anyway. I came with Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry. I thought about not coming since I didn't have a date, but the girls talked me into it."

"I'm glad you came. It's a fun night. And you look amazing, by the way." he seemed almost shy saying the last part.

"Oh, thank you." I said. "Hermione and Ginny helped me pick it out. Or, I picked it out and they approved it because it wasn't too odd. Ginny did my hair and makeup too, you know I'm useless with that kind of thing."

"Well, you really do look great." he said, smiling. Then he paused. "Well, I should be getting back to Hannah. I just wanted to make sure things were ok with us."

"We're fine, Neville. Go have fun with your date." I hoped I sounded sincere on the last part. I wanted Neville to have fun, but I couldn't really care less about how Hannah's night went.

Neville must have bought it though, because he nodded and left. I watched him go.

He'd only been gone a moment or two when Hermione and Ginny swooped in and joined me at my table.

"What did Neville say?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"He was just apologized for a bit of rudeness the last time we spoke. Checking in."

Ginny looked disappointed with my answer. "That's all?"

I shrugged. "He said I looked nice, and I explained that that was all because of the two of you." I told her.

"Oh, no it's not." Hermione contradicted me. "You always look great, we just added a bit. Well, mostly Ginny added a bit."

Ginny was focused on something else. "Nice?! He just said you looked nice? That's the word he used?"

"No, he said amazing, but he was just being polite." I responded.

"Amazing, that's better. He may not be as thickheaded as he seems. After all you definitely look better than Hannah. Did you see her dress? Looks like a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. She's trying way too hard. It really makes her seem a bit desperate." Ginny snickered.

"Ginny," Hermione started.

"It's the truth!" Ginny said. "We all know she's just in it for the status. She wants to make sure people look at her, and see that she's with Neville."

"She could really like him." I spoke up. "I mean, he's an amazing guy, surely she sees that."

Hermione nodded. "She could, but everyone knows she only holds onto a guy until something 'better' comes along. She'll just break his heart."

"If she breaks his heart, I'll break her." I said, with uncharacteristic malice. I couldn't help it. The thought of someone hurting Neville made me so incredibly furious.

Ginny grinned. "That's a good attitude. We need to focus that on making sure she never gets the chance to hurt him."

Hermione and I agreed, and then I was being pulled back on the dance floor with them.

"Step one," Ginny said over the music, "is for you to look like you're having the time of your life and you don't even care about them."

"Yeah, show him what he's missing!" Hermione told me.

So we danced. The guys joined us after a few songs and it was a big group dance again. When another slow song came on, Ginny and Hermione both offered to let me dance with their boyfriends. I declined, saying I wanted more punch. I went and got a glass and found another table to sit at where I could watch all the people dancing. I enjoyed sipping my punch and people watching for a while, when another person appeared in front of me, taking me by surprise. It was Hannah.

She walked up and sat down in the chair beside me. "Couldn't find a boy to be your date?" she asked me, feigning pity.

"Didn't want a date." I told her. "I'm having a great time with my friends."

"I'm sure." she said. "Don't think I don't know how you feel about Neville. But it's just too bad. He's going to be mine."

I had never expected her to be this up front about her intentions. "That's nice." I said.

"We will be. Until I can move on to a better model, of course." she laughed. "Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that I could destroy you, if I wanted to. So don't give me a reason to want to."

I looked at her for a moment. "You don't scare me."

"I can destroy your friendship with Neville. Just remember that, Loony." And she got up and walked away.

I wasn't sure what she meant by that. Neville would never stop being my friend just because she said so. Though, for all I knew, she could put him under a spell or slip him a potion or something. Neville can be too trusting, it probably wouldn't be difficult to slip him something secretly. I'd keep on the lookout for that, in addition to my usual look out for nargles. I briefly wondered if she could use nargles against him, but decided that since no one else will admit they exist, it'd be hard to use them for anything. I decided I wouldn't tell anyone what Hannah had said. Who knows what Ginny would do.

I sat and finished my punch and soon Ginny and Hermione came and got me and pulled me back to the dance floor, where we danced for the rest of the night.