Author's Note: This is my first Luna and Ron story (a couple I've greatly loved ever since I read Order of the Phoenix) so be sure to tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: Oddly, these characters don't belong to me. Nor do the places or even the universe. All belongs to J. K. Rowling.
"Would you like to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Ronald?" Dancing around the Burrow's yard lightly, Luna Lovegood paused in the middle of a twirl and stared up at Ron Weasley, a look of complete seriousness on her face.
"Um…" Ron let his sentence trail off, eyeing the younger girl warily. Luna had arrived an hour ago, requesting to see Ginny, and then decided to make herself at home when he told her Ginny was out with Dean for the day. Why, he wasn't entirely sure, but he had a suspicion she just wanted to drive him as crazy as she currently was. "Are they even found in England?" He asked, hoping almost desperately that they weren't.
Go away, go away, and go away.
"Of course," she answered in an absent-minded voice, her attention already straying again. Ron had only spent an hour with Loony, and he had already figured out she tended to do that a lot. Along with humming that bloody song under her breath and dancing happily in his mother's garden.
Ron stayed silent, watching her silvery eyes trace a path to the front windows of the house and then slowly returning to him. "They're all over Europe," she resumed, "and although they aren't commonly found in England, there have been sightings. Daddy just interviewed a woman who had seen three in her front yard, you know."
He decided it wouldn't do any good to point out that no, he didn't know and would have been rather happy to keep it that way for as long as possible. Either it'd go over her head and she'd continue talking about Crinkle-Horned Snorlaps, or she'd get upset like all girls did around him and end up yelling at him.
After the argument he had had with Ginny earlier, Ron had no desire to have his head taken off again. What was it with woman and their ridiculous emotions?
"Okay." He sighed, almost surprised at the words that ad just come out of his mouth, before darting a longing look at his house. There went lounging around and playing quidditch all day... It was obviously too much to ask of the world, as people had continually attested to.
"Good." Luna smiled slightly before tilting her head and humming 'Weasley Is Our King' under her breath, a dreamy look on her face. Looking up at him, she said in an almost matter- of- fact voice, "We can't do it here, you know. We need to be in the woods. They don't like people very much."
"Why didn't I realize that?" Ron muttered to himself, rolling his eyes and following her as she lead her way from the Burrow and onto the road that lead to her house. Why they were going there… Well, he wasn't going to ask. Better to stay as quiet as possible and hope she completely forgot he existed.
"Come on." Looking back at him, she nodded to herself as she saw he was following her. "It's best to look for them before noon or so- they dislike the bright sun." Her voice made it evident she was an expert on the imaginary creatures, and Ron found himself nodding in hopes she wouldn't tell him any more.
"And they also hate water," he added under his breath. At his words, Loony stopped in the middle of her tracks and turned to stare at him with oddly fascinated eyes. She was scary, this girl.
"Funny, Ronald. I never thought you would know much about the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Why didn't Ginny tell me you were interested in them?" Her voice sounded puzzled, and Ron had to bite his tongue slightly to stop himself from asking her just how she had gotten that conclusion, and even more alarming, why would Ginny tell her something like that even if it was true.
Then he decided he might not want to know the answer, and promptly tried to get the odd thought out of his mind. There was no way Loony would get a crush on him… Neville, maybe, since he was almost as crazy vas she was. Yeah, he could see those two together easily. But not…
Ron winced to himself and asked out of sheer desperation to keep his thoughts under control, "Lo- Luna. Why are we going into your house?" He wasn't going to panic, he wasn't going to panic. He was just going to slowly edge away from her and keep his door locked until he could demand a reasonable excuse from Ginny. Something that hopefully wouldn't make him even more paranoid.
"So you can meet Daddy, of course. Ever since Mom died he's always wanted to make sure he knows where I am and who I'm with." It seemed like a fairly logical reason, which made Ron even more suspicious. Luna 'Loony' Lovegood wasn't supposed to be reasonable, she was supposed to be-
"Wait a second. Your mum died?" His question sounded blunt, but the younger girl didn't look offended. Instead she simply sat down on her front porch step, gesturing how him to sit next to her. He did.
"When I was nine," she began softly. "She was experimenting on some sort of spell, and one moment she was alive and the next she was dead. That's why I can see threstrals, you know." She became silent, and even though he wasn't looking at her, Ron had a feeling she was staring off into space.
"I'm sorry," He told her, and he was. One of his greatest fears was to watch his mother die, and the girl next to him had actually gone through such a thing. Not by the hands of Voldemort, perhaps, but it still had to have been absolutely horrible.
"I'm sorry, he repeated, since he didn't know what else to say.
Luna sighed to herself, and Ron had a feeling she was lost in her own world. Something she seemed to do a lot- but now, he had a slight feeling of all that her universe entailed. Not just radish earrings and imaginary monster hunting, but pain and sorrow as well.
Ron looked at her again as she stared into thin air. She had a thoughtful expression on her face- she didn't look heartbroken, but she didn't look entirely happy either. She simply looked as if she was deliberating something.
He opened his mouth to blunder the situation up, but before he could he found lips pressed against his own.
The kiss only lasted a moment, and as she pulled away, he didn't feel stunned or angry or disgusted or any of the things he should have been feeling. Instead, he was worrying about whether she would be crying or not.
She wasn't.
Instead she was smiling to herself, looking pleased. He thought about asking her just the hell what that was about, but decided against it. She was amused and not crying- something he had always been terrified of, crying females- and he wasn't about to try and ruin her mood.
Besides, it had kinda been a nice kiss.
"Ready?" She got up from the porch and reached a hand out to him, her long earrings shaped like muffins swaying as she moved. "We need to let you meet Daddy, remember, so we can go looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks." Her voice was as vague as it had been an hour ago, and he had to smile to himself as he realized she had ceased to be annoying and had somehow managed to become endearing, even before she had kissed him. What next, Draco Malfoy dressing up as a rabbit and propositioning Harry?
"Okay," Ron agreed. "Let's go look for the Crumple-Horned Snorlacks." At least she was amusing, which was more than he could say about Ginny and her constant chattering about Dean.
He was going to hunt Crumple-Horned Snorlacks. And Loony Lovegood had just kissed him.
Well, at least he'd have something to write to Harry about.
And, he decided with a roll of his eyes as Luna began to hum that damned song again, a… well, a whatever Luna was. He really had no idea- besides the obvious answer, which was crazy- but he had a feeling he actually might not mind finding out.
How terrifyingly odd. And all her fault.
And Ron had a feeling if he could see his face, he would wince at how bright his cheeks were. He was blushing- because Loony had kissed him. Him.
Luna Lovegood had just kissed him.