In the Harry Potter series, Neville Longbottom could have been The Boy Who Lived. He shared a birthday with the title character, had parents who fought the good fight, and was a wizard by birth. His bravery, despite his intense fear, made him a fan favorite in the series. Likewise, the introduction of Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire brought an eccentric, but loyal, friend to the story. She loved a good mythical creature search as much as she loved standing up for true friendship. Luna’s bravery and understanding made fans love her. The novels made the two friends, but the movies made them more than that.
Despite the two not sharing much screen (or page) time, fans saw the misfits embroiled in the Wizarding War as kindred spirits. Some fans still wish the novels had gone the way of the movies, revealing one of them had feelings for the other in the final hour. Would Luna and Neville have made a good pairing? The answer is a bit more complicated than fans might think.
Yes: They Both Understand Loss
To be fair, Harry Potter’s generation grew up in a time of intense loss thanks to the war between Voldemort’s followers and the bulk of the wizarding world. Neville and Luna, however, had already experienced what it meant to lose people long before the war started for them.
Neville grew up without his parents because of their work during the previous years of Voldemort’s rise to power. Luna grew up without her mother after an experiment went wrong. The two had very different upbringings, but would understand what it meant to long for connection and comfort.
No: Neville Wanted To Blend In
In his years at Hogwarts, Neville just wanted to get through the day without being made fun of, targeted by a teacher, or making big mistakes. He wanted to blend in with the crowd and live his life. Luna was the exact opposite; she was born to stand out.
While Neville bundled up in a hat and scarf to watch a quidditch match, Luna enchanted a lion-shaped hat to really roar. She could wax poetic about things no one else believed in all day, and Neville would be content with keeping his interests to himself. Those opposing lifestyles might eventually get in their way.
Yes: Luna Would Love Alice Longbottom
Though Neville grew up being raised by his grandmother, his mother was still alive. Driven to insanity by torture at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange, she lived in St. Mungo’s Hospital, giving Neville gum wrappers every time he visited her. Fans of the novels thought that there might have been more to those wrappers for a long time, and Luna likely would have as well.
Luna wouldn’t judge Alice (or Neville’s family) for her institutionalization. Instead, she’d be the kind of person who would insist they visit Alice regularly, taking the gum wrappers and searching for patterns in them for Neville. She would likely have found a deeper meaning to them, giving Neville some comfort that his mother might have still been trying to communicate with him.
No: Neville Would Be Uncomfortable With Her Investigations
Luna’s poking and prodding, and her fascination with the world in general might have been interesting to Neville in the short term, but how would he have fared in the long term? Likely not well.
Neville would probably be just as uncomfortable with Luna’s frank talk of death, her investigation into strange happenings, and her trying to pry into his own thoughts, as Harry was when he first met her. Despite their closeness, Neville would probably need to take a break from Luna’s constant search for knowledge and answers to her numerous questions.
Yes: Neville Would Never Try To Change Her
Even if Luna made him uncomfortable, and even if Neville had to take time for himself often, he’s not the kind of person who would judge someone for their interests. Neville would never try to mold Luna into the kind of person society would expect her to be.
Luna, who has always been a free spirit, would certainly appreciate that aspect of Neville’s personality. Throughout the books, she never seemed particularly bothered if people didn’t believe her or agree with her, so she’d definitely forge her own path whether her romantic partner wanted her to or not.
No: There Would Be An Imbalance In Their Relationship
Because of their experiences, their upbringings, and their interactions with peers growing up, Neville and Luna would have had very different emotional needs as adults. They experienced love very differently in their formative years, and that would have greatly influenced how they approached relationships.
Though they were both only children, the dynamics in their homes were very different. Luna was always supported by her father, who lavished her with attention and treated her as his whole world. Neville, on the other hand, was not. Support came with the condition that he be as good as his parents and love was a reward instead of a given. As a result, Luna would have been slightly more independent in a relationship, already understanding her worth. Neville, on the other hand, would crave the attention and support he didn’t get. It would create a bit of an imbalance in their love life.
Yes: They Understood Being Outsiders
Luna might not have been as bothered by her outsider status, but that didn’t mean someone as intelligent as she was didn’t realize where she stood. She knew she was on the outside looking in for her teenage years. Likewise, Neville wasn’t immune to what people said about him, or how he was treated by certain teachers (Severus Snape comes to mind).
They both knew what it meant for the people around you to never quite connect with you. It would allow them both to be more sensitive to one another’s needs and interests.
No: Luna Wanted Adventures
During the promotional wave for Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, actress Evanna Lynch seemed to have one of the best takes on the possibility of a relationship between Neville and Luna. She explained it to Seventeen at an event, and though some fans might have been sad, her explanation made perfect sense.
Lynch pointed out that Luna was the type of person who wouldn’t be content to sit at home and live a quiet life. She would want adventures, and to discover new things. Neville, on the other hand, would want the relaxation and the quiet after everything he’d been through, of an ordinary wizarding existence. They would have been on two completely different paths in life.
Yes: They Have Shared Trauma
When explaining how Harry, Ron, and Hermione became best friends in Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, writer J.K. Rowling pointed out that some things forged unbreakable bonds. In the trio’s case, it was facing down a troll in the girls’ bathroom. Neville and Luna, joining Harry and his friends for adventures later in the series, shared their own traumatic experiences.
They were the only members of Dumbledore’s Army to join the trio and Ginny to attempt to save Sirius’ life. The duo faced the very real possibility of death side by side more than once as they stood up for their friends. That kind of experience does bond you for life.
No: They Have Shared Trauma
While shared trauma does bond people, that bond doesn’t have to be romantic. In fact, romantic relationships that start as a result of a high-stress environment can quickly fizzle when the adrenaline isn’t there.
By all accounts, Luna and Neville seem able to more quickly adapt to trauma than Harry Potter himself. They don’t constantly lash out at their friends or take unnecessary risks as the result of potential P.T.S.D. like we see with Harry in the series. Neville and Luna might not need to cling to one another in the aftermath of their experiences. Their shared trauma could lend itself better to friendship and understanding instead of romance.