April Showers Challenge: Growing Up is Optional
If there was one thing Neville had learned about Luna in their 28 years of marriage, it was that Luna would always be a child at heart. Her motto, in fact had always been Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. Neville adored this fact about Luna and had come to find it very endearing over the years.
When their children had grown old enough to move out and live on their own, Luna seemed to have lost some of her childish, innocent charm. She was an excellent mother; always joining the children in their play as opposed to simply supervising. Now, however, she was beginning to behave more serious and docile. Neville wasn't concerned, however. He had heard that mothers often suffered from "empty nest syndrome" shortly after their children left home and he knew that if anyone could make a speedy recovery back to normal, it was Luna. All she needed was a small push.
On a chilly February morning, the couple awoke and began their recently modified morning routine. Instead of making breakfast for a full house, Luna made breakfast for herself and her husband while Neville sat at the table reading the morning's copy of The Daily Prophet. So far, the day was beginning much like the rest.
"Any good news, dear?" Luna asked with a sleepy yawn. Even at the age of 52, Luna still could not quite force herself to be a morning person.
"Just the same old news, love," Neville answered in an occupied tone. "More complaints about the Minister, of course. Poor Ronald," Neville mused as he shook his head. "Bloke's got enough on his plate with that riot in Diagon Alley, he shouldn't have to worry about bad publicity to boot. That Weasley's doing a damn fine job, in my opinion. He's really turned that Ministry around." He smiled fondly at the thought of his old school friend, turning the page to the next article which featured the scores of the latest Quidditch matches.
"Ah, so the Wimbourne Wasps got smashed again, eh?" Luna asked as she carried two plates to the table, both loaded with eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns.
"Yeah," Neville answered, "they can't seem to get out of this funk they're in this year. I think it's the new Seeker of theirs that's throwing them all off. Signing on Harrington was the biggest mistake of Captain Whittle's career." The small talk between Neville and Luna resumed throughout breakfast, both of them commenting on various articles in The Daily Prophet. When breakfast ended, Luna collected their plates and dropped them in the sink, flicking her wand at them so that they began to wash themselves.
"Oi, Luna, look at this!" Neville shouted, opening the blinds of the window that overlooked their kitchen table. He had been waiting for awhile to find an opportunity to rekindle Luna's youthful antics and as he opened up the blinds, he saw the perfect opportunity. It was pouring rain outside.
Luna loved the rain more than she loved any other weather. In their Hogwarts days and even for a few years afterward, Luna would run outside into the rain barefoot and dance beneath the downpour. She would hold her arms out and twirl like a clumsy ballerina, her long, soaking hair only spattering more droplets around. In fact, the first kiss they shared together happened to be in the pouring rain during a Hogsmeade outing at Hogwarts.
Luna approached the window to take a look outside and when she saw the downpour, she simply shrugged.
"Well it's about bloody time," she mused. "This winter has been so dry I thought it would never rain. February's cutting it a bit late." At that she stepped away from the window and stepped back to the sink, monitoring the dishes which were now rinsing themselves.
It was true, Neville thought. It had been a dry winter, but Neville was sure he knew why. The last time it had rained was the last night their youngest child was at home. He had moved out the very next day. Now Neville wasn't much for finding the signs and symbolisms in life (that was much more Luna's thing) but he was sure that the rain would only come if Luna was feeling content; quite the opposite effect than with other people who usually find the rain depressing. It was once the rain had stopped, once the nest was empty, that Luna had changed. It was a dry winter not simply by chance, but by fate. Seeing the rain now, however, gave Neville a sense of hope. The rain was trying to tell him that today would be the day his Luna would come back to him.
He rose from his seat at the table and walked casually over to his wife at the sink, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He planted a few gentle kisses along her jaw line and rested his chin on her shoulder, gazing at her affectionately.
"Well someone's quite frisky today," Luna said with a smile.
"Must be the weather," Neville mused casually. "Rain'll do funny things to you if you're not cafeful."
"Yes, I suppose so," Luna answered. "Mostly it's just damned inconvenient," she continued, looking slightly annoyed. "I was supposed to garden today." As she sighed, Neville couldn't help thinking that getting Luna out of her slump would be more difficult than he thought.
"But Luna, dear, I thought you liked the rain," he said, unable to help himself. "What happened to the girl who danced carelessly beneath a fierce downpour?"
"Oh, Neville," she began, shaking her head slightly as she smiled at him. "That was years ago, dear. Now it just seems childish, dancing in the rain."
"Childish?" Neville asked in shock. "Luna, what happened to you?"
"Excuse me?" Luna asked with widening eyes, looking slightly put off.
"Just look at you! You're making small talk at the breakfast table, tending the garden, and calling the rain 'childish' and 'inconvenient.' The Luna I fell in love with would play with her food at the breakfast table, have a picnic in the garden, or dance beneath the rain in her bare feet. Ever since Miles moved out you've become... this!" he said in frustration, gesturing to Luna. "I love you, Luna, no matter what. It just kills me to see someone so innocent and carefree become so detached.
Luna stared at him with a slack jaw for a moment, clearly too shocked to speak right away. When she seemed to have processed what he had said, her shocked expression melted into a look of disbelief.
"Neville, you're being foolish," she said in the tone she often used with her children when they were misbehaving.
"No, Luna," Neville said sadly. "You're just not being foolish enough." He sighed, squeezing his wife's waist in his arms as one more show of affection.
"I don't know what you want from me, Neville," Luna said with a huff, shrugging her shoulder.
"Go on a walk with me," Neville answered hopefully.
"Neville, dear, it's pouring rain outside if you haven't noticed. Maybe another day," she said in the same motherly tone.
"Of course I noticed," he replied somewhat defiantly. "That's why I want to."
"You're acting ridiculous right now, Neville, you know that?" Luna said, eyeing him as though he were mad.
"Maybe, but I won't stop until I get the results I'm after," he said even more defiantly, almost as if it were now his personal mission to take Luna on a walk. Luckily, he heard Luna give a defeated sigh and her stubborn expression fell.
"If I go out for a walk with you, do you promise to drop this whole thing of yours?" she asked, already appearing beaten.
"Promise," Neville said with a nod.
"Good," she replied with a return nod. "Well, let's get on with it, then." She sighed again and crossed the kitchen to the front door where the coat hanger held her umbrella and raincoat. She reached for both of them but Neville crossed the room to her just in time, placing a hand out to stop her.
"No. No raincoats or umbrellas. Just us and the rain." After what he'd just said, he would have thought he were from the planet Mars from the way Luna was looking at him right now.
"This is ludicrous!" she shouted. "You're going to get us both sick and at our age, we can't afford that. Don't forget, Neville, that you've already had one heart attack and I really don't want to have to cope with another one." Mixed with her usual stubbornness, Neville could see concern written all over her face. As endearing as he found it, he still was just as stubborn as she was. This was just something he simply had to do.
"You're just going to have to trust me, love," he said with a desperate sigh. "This will do much more good than harm. You do trust me, right?" He eyed her with innocent charm, a look he often gave her when he was seeking a particular answer from her.
"Against my better judgment, yes," she answered with a defeated sigh.
"You won't regret it," Neville said excitedly, his face lighting up. "Now come on, love. The long overdue rain awaits us." He opened the door and stepped outside onto the covered porch, looking back to see if Luna would follow. With a disgruntled sigh, Luna followed him reluctantly outside.
It was raining harder than it had been just minutes earlier when he had looked out the window and from the look on Luna's face, she wasn't pleased by this. He gently took her hand in his, taking small, slow steps forward into the rain. He gave a great sigh when the cold rain hit his face, closing his eyes for a moment and raising his face to the heavens. Next to him, he could feel Luna shiver and hear her teeth chatter. He knew that within minutes, though, she would forget all about the cold and hardly even notice the chill of the rain. With her hand still in his, he suddenly ran forward down the walkway, dragging her along with him.
"Neville, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Luna gasped, barely able to keep up with him.
Neville didn't answer her, instead he kept running down the walkway until they were both standing on their front lawn which was now covered in an inch of water. His shoes immediately flooded with water and without a second thought, he kicked them off. His socks quickly followed until he was standing on the lawn, his bare feet sinking into the wet earth below. Luna's shoes had also flooded apparently because she was removing her own socks and shoes, an expression of mixed hesitancy and intrigue on her face. He was winning.
When her feet were bare as his were, he took her two hands in his own and began spinning around in circles, dragging her along for the ride. That's when it happened. A beautiful sound broke out past the splattering sound of the rain against the pavement. Luna let out a girlish laugh as Neville twirled the two of them around in circles. Her cheeks immediately flushed pink although Neville had a feeling it had nothing to do with the cold.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, you know," Neville said sweetly. "It's okay to have fun. I'm surprised you've forgotten that."
"I've forgotten, have I?" Luna said in an oddly coy tone. A second later Neville found himself flat on his back on the grass, having just been unsuspectingly tackled to the ground by his wife. She fell delicately on top of him, using his body to cushion her own fall.
"No fair!" Neville shouted in playful protest. "You play dirty!"
"I'm not the dirty one, mister," Luna said just as playful, pointing to his shirt which was now covered in mud.
"Well two can play at that game, love," Neville said with a mischievous grin. He wrapped his arms around Luna's waist and in one swift motion, he rolled over so that Luna was now the one lying in the muddy grass while he was lying on top of her. Luna had let out a high-pitched shriek when the watery mud began soaking through her clothing but her shriek was followed closely by a fit of high-pitched giggles. The sound was as sweet to Neville's ear as the song of a phoenix. In fact, perhaps even sweeter.
A great part of that afternoon was spent playing tag outside, wrestling in the mud, and dancing lovingly with each other in the rain. Neville didn't know how much time had passed while the two of them were outside but in all honesty, he hadn't cared. By the time the two had decided that it really wasn't healthy for them to stay outside any longer, they were both soaking wet from head to toe and had mud covering nearly every inch of their clothing. As Neville walked back to the house with his arm draped around his wife's shoulders, he couldn't help the enormous grin that spread across his face. Most people would frown upon having a wife over the age of fifty that still acted like a two year old but to Neville, she was perfect. She even tended to bring out the child in himself occasionally and he found it exciting. Perhaps Luna was right all along: growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
When their children had grown old enough to move out and live on their own, Luna seemed to have lost some of her childish, innocent charm. She was an excellent mother; always joining the children in their play as opposed to simply supervising. Now, however, she was beginning to behave more serious and docile. Neville wasn't concerned, however. He had heard that mothers often suffered from "empty nest syndrome" shortly after their children left home and he knew that if anyone could make a speedy recovery back to normal, it was Luna. All she needed was a small push.
On a chilly February morning, the couple awoke and began their recently modified morning routine. Instead of making breakfast for a full house, Luna made breakfast for herself and her husband while Neville sat at the table reading the morning's copy of The Daily Prophet. So far, the day was beginning much like the rest.
"Any good news, dear?" Luna asked with a sleepy yawn. Even at the age of 52, Luna still could not quite force herself to be a morning person.
"Just the same old news, love," Neville answered in an occupied tone. "More complaints about the Minister, of course. Poor Ronald," Neville mused as he shook his head. "Bloke's got enough on his plate with that riot in Diagon Alley, he shouldn't have to worry about bad publicity to boot. That Weasley's doing a damn fine job, in my opinion. He's really turned that Ministry around." He smiled fondly at the thought of his old school friend, turning the page to the next article which featured the scores of the latest Quidditch matches.
"Ah, so the Wimbourne Wasps got smashed again, eh?" Luna asked as she carried two plates to the table, both loaded with eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns.
"Yeah," Neville answered, "they can't seem to get out of this funk they're in this year. I think it's the new Seeker of theirs that's throwing them all off. Signing on Harrington was the biggest mistake of Captain Whittle's career." The small talk between Neville and Luna resumed throughout breakfast, both of them commenting on various articles in The Daily Prophet. When breakfast ended, Luna collected their plates and dropped them in the sink, flicking her wand at them so that they began to wash themselves.
"Oi, Luna, look at this!" Neville shouted, opening the blinds of the window that overlooked their kitchen table. He had been waiting for awhile to find an opportunity to rekindle Luna's youthful antics and as he opened up the blinds, he saw the perfect opportunity. It was pouring rain outside.
Luna loved the rain more than she loved any other weather. In their Hogwarts days and even for a few years afterward, Luna would run outside into the rain barefoot and dance beneath the downpour. She would hold her arms out and twirl like a clumsy ballerina, her long, soaking hair only spattering more droplets around. In fact, the first kiss they shared together happened to be in the pouring rain during a Hogsmeade outing at Hogwarts.
Luna approached the window to take a look outside and when she saw the downpour, she simply shrugged.
"Well it's about bloody time," she mused. "This winter has been so dry I thought it would never rain. February's cutting it a bit late." At that she stepped away from the window and stepped back to the sink, monitoring the dishes which were now rinsing themselves.
It was true, Neville thought. It had been a dry winter, but Neville was sure he knew why. The last time it had rained was the last night their youngest child was at home. He had moved out the very next day. Now Neville wasn't much for finding the signs and symbolisms in life (that was much more Luna's thing) but he was sure that the rain would only come if Luna was feeling content; quite the opposite effect than with other people who usually find the rain depressing. It was once the rain had stopped, once the nest was empty, that Luna had changed. It was a dry winter not simply by chance, but by fate. Seeing the rain now, however, gave Neville a sense of hope. The rain was trying to tell him that today would be the day his Luna would come back to him.
He rose from his seat at the table and walked casually over to his wife at the sink, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He planted a few gentle kisses along her jaw line and rested his chin on her shoulder, gazing at her affectionately.
"Well someone's quite frisky today," Luna said with a smile.
"Must be the weather," Neville mused casually. "Rain'll do funny things to you if you're not cafeful."
"Yes, I suppose so," Luna answered. "Mostly it's just damned inconvenient," she continued, looking slightly annoyed. "I was supposed to garden today." As she sighed, Neville couldn't help thinking that getting Luna out of her slump would be more difficult than he thought.
"But Luna, dear, I thought you liked the rain," he said, unable to help himself. "What happened to the girl who danced carelessly beneath a fierce downpour?"
"Oh, Neville," she began, shaking her head slightly as she smiled at him. "That was years ago, dear. Now it just seems childish, dancing in the rain."
"Childish?" Neville asked in shock. "Luna, what happened to you?"
"Excuse me?" Luna asked with widening eyes, looking slightly put off.
"Just look at you! You're making small talk at the breakfast table, tending the garden, and calling the rain 'childish' and 'inconvenient.' The Luna I fell in love with would play with her food at the breakfast table, have a picnic in the garden, or dance beneath the rain in her bare feet. Ever since Miles moved out you've become... this!" he said in frustration, gesturing to Luna. "I love you, Luna, no matter what. It just kills me to see someone so innocent and carefree become so detached.
Luna stared at him with a slack jaw for a moment, clearly too shocked to speak right away. When she seemed to have processed what he had said, her shocked expression melted into a look of disbelief.
"Neville, you're being foolish," she said in the tone she often used with her children when they were misbehaving.
"No, Luna," Neville said sadly. "You're just not being foolish enough." He sighed, squeezing his wife's waist in his arms as one more show of affection.
"I don't know what you want from me, Neville," Luna said with a huff, shrugging her shoulder.
"Go on a walk with me," Neville answered hopefully.
"Neville, dear, it's pouring rain outside if you haven't noticed. Maybe another day," she said in the same motherly tone.
"Of course I noticed," he replied somewhat defiantly. "That's why I want to."
"You're acting ridiculous right now, Neville, you know that?" Luna said, eyeing him as though he were mad.
"Maybe, but I won't stop until I get the results I'm after," he said even more defiantly, almost as if it were now his personal mission to take Luna on a walk. Luckily, he heard Luna give a defeated sigh and her stubborn expression fell.
"If I go out for a walk with you, do you promise to drop this whole thing of yours?" she asked, already appearing beaten.
"Promise," Neville said with a nod.
"Good," she replied with a return nod. "Well, let's get on with it, then." She sighed again and crossed the kitchen to the front door where the coat hanger held her umbrella and raincoat. She reached for both of them but Neville crossed the room to her just in time, placing a hand out to stop her.
"No. No raincoats or umbrellas. Just us and the rain." After what he'd just said, he would have thought he were from the planet Mars from the way Luna was looking at him right now.
"This is ludicrous!" she shouted. "You're going to get us both sick and at our age, we can't afford that. Don't forget, Neville, that you've already had one heart attack and I really don't want to have to cope with another one." Mixed with her usual stubbornness, Neville could see concern written all over her face. As endearing as he found it, he still was just as stubborn as she was. This was just something he simply had to do.
"You're just going to have to trust me, love," he said with a desperate sigh. "This will do much more good than harm. You do trust me, right?" He eyed her with innocent charm, a look he often gave her when he was seeking a particular answer from her.
"Against my better judgment, yes," she answered with a defeated sigh.
"You won't regret it," Neville said excitedly, his face lighting up. "Now come on, love. The long overdue rain awaits us." He opened the door and stepped outside onto the covered porch, looking back to see if Luna would follow. With a disgruntled sigh, Luna followed him reluctantly outside.
It was raining harder than it had been just minutes earlier when he had looked out the window and from the look on Luna's face, she wasn't pleased by this. He gently took her hand in his, taking small, slow steps forward into the rain. He gave a great sigh when the cold rain hit his face, closing his eyes for a moment and raising his face to the heavens. Next to him, he could feel Luna shiver and hear her teeth chatter. He knew that within minutes, though, she would forget all about the cold and hardly even notice the chill of the rain. With her hand still in his, he suddenly ran forward down the walkway, dragging her along with him.
"Neville, what the bloody hell are you doing?!" Luna gasped, barely able to keep up with him.
Neville didn't answer her, instead he kept running down the walkway until they were both standing on their front lawn which was now covered in an inch of water. His shoes immediately flooded with water and without a second thought, he kicked them off. His socks quickly followed until he was standing on the lawn, his bare feet sinking into the wet earth below. Luna's shoes had also flooded apparently because she was removing her own socks and shoes, an expression of mixed hesitancy and intrigue on her face. He was winning.
When her feet were bare as his were, he took her two hands in his own and began spinning around in circles, dragging her along for the ride. That's when it happened. A beautiful sound broke out past the splattering sound of the rain against the pavement. Luna let out a girlish laugh as Neville twirled the two of them around in circles. Her cheeks immediately flushed pink although Neville had a feeling it had nothing to do with the cold.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, you know," Neville said sweetly. "It's okay to have fun. I'm surprised you've forgotten that."
"I've forgotten, have I?" Luna said in an oddly coy tone. A second later Neville found himself flat on his back on the grass, having just been unsuspectingly tackled to the ground by his wife. She fell delicately on top of him, using his body to cushion her own fall.
"No fair!" Neville shouted in playful protest. "You play dirty!"
"I'm not the dirty one, mister," Luna said just as playful, pointing to his shirt which was now covered in mud.
"Well two can play at that game, love," Neville said with a mischievous grin. He wrapped his arms around Luna's waist and in one swift motion, he rolled over so that Luna was now the one lying in the muddy grass while he was lying on top of her. Luna had let out a high-pitched shriek when the watery mud began soaking through her clothing but her shriek was followed closely by a fit of high-pitched giggles. The sound was as sweet to Neville's ear as the song of a phoenix. In fact, perhaps even sweeter.
A great part of that afternoon was spent playing tag outside, wrestling in the mud, and dancing lovingly with each other in the rain. Neville didn't know how much time had passed while the two of them were outside but in all honesty, he hadn't cared. By the time the two had decided that it really wasn't healthy for them to stay outside any longer, they were both soaking wet from head to toe and had mud covering nearly every inch of their clothing. As Neville walked back to the house with his arm draped around his wife's shoulders, he couldn't help the enormous grin that spread across his face. Most people would frown upon having a wife over the age of fifty that still acted like a two year old but to Neville, she was perfect. She even tended to bring out the child in himself occasionally and he found it exciting. Perhaps Luna was right all along: growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.