"I really, really fancy you. Yeah, that's it. That's exactly how I'll do it."
Ron grinned in the bathroom mirror and then groaned. "Yeah right, like that's going to work." He lightly hit his head on the glass. "I hate this."
"Ron, it's not like we're fighting Voldemort. Now that the war is over, you two can have a safe life together. Tell her how you feel," said Harry.
"This comes from Mr. Sensitivity himself, right?" Ron grumbled.
"Stop complaining and get a move on," Harry said with a huff. He grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him out of the boys' lavatory.
"But I don't know if I can do this. We just got back to school three months ago and I've only seen her five times. What if she doesn't care or-
"You can worry about that later. We're here."
Ron blanched. They had arrived at their destination, the library of Hogwarts. And she was inside.
"Oh, look at that, I have a Potions essay to finish, let me run to the dormitory and grab it." He tried to make a run for it, but Harry roughly pushed him inside.
Ron slammed into the doors and fell flat on his back. The library's occupants burst into laughter and Madam Pince glowered in his direction as she slowly regained order. Silence finally fell upon the library.
Harry helped him up and the two of them walked over to a table in the corner where Hermione had her face hidden by a book. They both sat down and Ron slumped in his seat, embarrassed. He noticed Hermione's shoulders were shaking.
"Are you crying?" he asked with concern.
"No," she said after a short pause filled with something quite similar to laughter.
Ron glared at the book hiding her face. "Ha, ha."
"Anyway," interrupted Harry, "isn't there something you have to do?"
"Look for a good book on Quidditch?"
Hermione brought the book down from her face and Harry looked fiercely at Ron.
"No," answered Harry and Hermione in unison.
"I don't even know where she is. I mean, she might not even be in here anymore-
"She's in the `Famous Magical Mistakes' section looking up the Great Boil Epidemic of 1449. Now go," Hermione stated.
"But-
"Now."
"Well then, one of you is coming with me," he said resolutely.
At that statement, Harry and Hermione got up from the table and walked out, holding hands and having pleasant conversation.
Ron left the table muttering with his hands in his robe pockets, "Stupid, bloody lovebirds, just because they've been together for a month doesn't mean they have to leave me in the lurch."
His ramblings stopped as soon as her saw her, wand tucked behind one ear with her cork necklace on. He loved that thing, it made her look…different. More different than she already was anyway. But he liked her all the more for it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and approached her.
"Hi, Luna," he said nervously.
She looked at him with surprised eyes. "Oh, hello, Ronald. What are you doing in here, it's a very pretty day outside, shouldn't you be putting off your Potions essay to go for a walk around the lake?" she asked in her dreamy voice.
"How do you know about my Potions essay?"
"Hermione told me."
"Oh."
"I guess I should be getting along. I have to write my essay for Professor Binns." She began to walk past Ron.
"Wait!" He softly grabbed her arm and started to regret it as he blushed the same violent color as his hair.
She gazed at him curiously. "Is there a Monochromatic Riget on my ear? They do like carrots very much; I knew not to wear these earrings."
"Um, no, there's not. Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Why, of course."
You can do this, Ron, he thought.
"Luna, I fancy you. I fancy you a lot, actually. It kind of hit me while I was with Harry and Hermione fighting Voldemort. You always told me when I was being stupid or brave or clever, any of that stuff. I missed it, I missed you." He looked at the floor.
After a minute of quiet, he heard a small giggle come from her. He glanced at her face to find that it was red with suppressed laughter.
"What's funny?" he asked with confusion.
"Are you loony as well, Ronald?"
"What?"
"I can't like you."
He felt like someone hit him the chest with a hammer. I knew she would reject me.
"But all of the times that we talked and when you paid attention to me were nothing?" he squeaked.
"Blondes are naturally drawn to bright red hair. It's a proven fact that Daddy published in the paper not too long ago," she said.
"When I grabbed your arm, you didn't feel anything? You didn't feel a tingle like I did?"
"Well, yes, I did."
"And whenever I got poisoned last year, you weren't worried or anything?"
"I was scared out of my wits. I thought you would die," she said faintly. Ron noticed that her eyes and voice had become more focused as she thought harder.
"And when the final battle came, you didn't think about what would happen if we got separated?"
"I wouldn't have had a real reason to smile anymore. Sometimes I feel like you're the only one who really pays attention to me and sees the small things that everyone else calls weird."
"Like how when you get excited, you start humming?"
She smiled brightly. "Yes, things like that! But that's because we're good friends. Aren't we," she added uncertainly. She looked at him with her now fully-focused eyes. "Ron, have you ever had the feeling that you wanted more out of us?"
"Yeah, like at the Christmas get-together at Grimmauld Place and we-
"Got stuck underneath the mistletoe," she finished. "And then you gave me that kiss on the cheek, but it felt like you wanted to kiss me-
"On the lips." He stepped closer to her.
"Yes, it did." She stepped closer to him.
"But I was too afraid. I didn't know about the war was going to end and I didn't want you hurt. I didn't trust my feelings either. I am now."
He kissed her and everything clicked into place for him. Luna was that thing the Muggles called it-the One. He didn't want to be with anybody else and he definitely didn't want her to be with anybody else.
He pulled away to find that her eyes had taken on their dreamy quality again.
"I still don't like you."
The shock and hurt he felt played across his face.
"I love you, instead," she said with a smile.
The feelings of rejection were melted away. He beamed. "I love you too."
"Ronald, how good will the shagging be?"
A passing Hufflepuff boy said, "Merlin, that's just not right."
Ron took her hand.
"Let's discuss that on our walk around the lake, shall we?"
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