AN: I have been thinking about having a Harry and Luna pairing for a story for a long time and it seems that I'm finally getting around to writing it. I don't really know how often I'll be able to update all my stories since I have quite a few going at the moment but I will do my best. Now on a little side note I want to let you all know that if you have any ideas, constructive criticism, or anything else I try to use your ideas as much as possible and if I do use one I will give you the credit for it. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's and anything you don't is mine.

Harry POV

I watched as Ron and Hermione walked down the length of the train talking quietly. My hands curled into fists and I slowly let out a heavy breath. They were going to the first prefect meeting in one of the compartments at the front of the carriage.

"Come on," Ginny said craning her neck, "if we get a move on we'll be able to save them places."

"Right,'" I said, picking up Hedwig's cage in one hand and the handle of my trunk in the other. We struggled off down the corridor, peering through the glass-paneled doors into the compartments we passed, which were already full. I could not help noticing that a lot of people stared back at me with great interest and that several of them nudged their neighbors and pointed at me. What in the world? I hadn't been scrutinized like this since my first year. It took me a moment what the Daily Prophet had been writing about me and Dumbledore.

Ginny glared at a second year student who was staring at me unabashedly. "If you have something to say then say it or move." The boy gave a squeak and darted into a compartment.

"You didn't have to do that," I said, dropping my trunk on my foot. I winced but didn't curse.

In the very last carriage we met Neville Longbottom, one of my fellow fifth-year Gryffindors, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor. That toad was more trouble than he was worth.

"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Ginny… every where's full… I can't find a seat…"

"What are you talking about?" Ginny said, who had squeezed past Neville to peer into the compartment behind him. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here —'

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone. Loony Lovegood? I really hoped that wasn't her first name.

"Don't be silly," Ginny said, laughing, "she's all right."

She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. Neville and I followed exchanging a glance.

"Hi, Luna," Ginny said, "is it okay if we take these seats?"

The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. I knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks, or that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on me after a moment. She stared at me for a very long moment and I felt like I was being x-rayed.

She nodded.

"Thanks," Ginny said, smiling at her.

Neville and I stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's cage in the luggage rack and sat down. I was surprised to see that Neville had handled the trunk with ease even though I had barely been able to lift it. Luna watched us over her upside-down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at me without blinking and I was really wishing I could trade places with Neville. Luna Lovegood made me very nervous for some reason.

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked, after a very awkward silence.

"Yes," Luna said dreamily, without taking her eyes off of me. I shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.

"I know I am," I said slowly. Luna continued to watch me closely and for some reason I couldn't look away.

Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes on him instead. "And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," Neville said hurriedly with a startled look.

"No you're not," Ginny said sharply stepping on his foot hard. "Neville Longbottom — Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.

She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Neville and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle. The train rattled onwards, speeding them out into open country. It was an odd, unsettled sort of day; one moment the carriage was full of sunlight and the next they were passing beneath ominously gray clouds.

"Guess what I got for my birthday?" said Neville.

"Another Remembrall?" I guessed, remembering the marble-like device Neville's grandmother had sent him in an effort to improve his abysmal memory.

"No," said Neville. "I could do with one, though, I lost the old one ages ago… no, look at this…"

He dug the hand that was not keeping a firm grip on Trevor into his schoolbag and after a little bit of rummaging pulled out what appeared to be a small gray cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia," he said proudly.

I stared at the thing. It was pulsating slightly, giving it the rather sinister look of some diseased internal organ. It was rather disgusting, honestly, and I didn't want to see what this plant could do.

"It's really, really rare," said Neville, beaming. "I don't know it there's one in the greenhouse at Hogwarts, even. I can't wait to show it to Professor Sprout. My Great Uncle Algie got it for me in Assyria. I'm going to see if I can breed from it."

It was common knowledge that Neville's favorite subject was Herbology but for the life of him he could not see what he would want with this stunted little plant.

"Does it — er — do anything?" I asked hesitantly.

"Loads of stuff!" Neville said proudly his eyes shining. "It's got an amazing defensive mechanism. Here, hold Trevor for me…"

He dumped the toad into my lap and took a quill from his schoolbag. Luna Lovegood's popping eyes appeared over the top of her upside-down magazine again, to watch what Neville was doing. Neville held the Mimbulus mimbletonia up to his eyes, his tongue between his teeth, chose his spot, and gave the plant a sharp prod with the tip of his quill.

Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant; thick, stinking, dark green jets of it. They hit the

ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood's magazine; Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing Trevor's escape, received a faceful. It smelled like rancid manure.

Neville, whose face and torso were also drenched, shook his head to get the worst out of his eyes.

"S — sorry," he gasped. 'I haven't tried that before… didn't realize it would be quite so… don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous,' he added nervously, as Harry spat a mouthful on to the floor.

At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.

"Oh… hello, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Urn… bad time?"

I wiped the lenses of his glasses with my Trevor-free hand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. My heart thumped oddly in my chest.

"Oh… hi," I said blankly.

"Erm…" said Cho. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye then."

Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and departed. I slumped back in my seat and

groaned. I would have liked Cho to discover me sitting with a group of very cool people laughing their heads off at a joke he had just told; he would not have chosen to be sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood, clutching a toad and dripping in Stinksap.

"Never mind," Ginny said bracingly. "Look, we can easily get rid of all this." She pulled out her wand and waved it. "Scourgify!"

The Stinksap vanished.

"I don't like that girl much," Luna said staring at the doorway a small frown on her face.

"What? Why?" I asked angrily, wanting to defend Cho.

"Because she and her friends make fun of me the most out of everyone in the school." And then Luna slipped back behind her magazine and continued to read as if nothing had happened.

"What do they do?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"Steal my shoes, dye my hair, mock me." Luna shrugged and slowly lowered the magazine. "You get used to it all after awhile."

"Why would they do that?" Neville asked looking shocked.

"People are scared of they don't understand and I'm different." Luna said simply curling up on her seat like a cat and continued to read the magazine. I blinked quickly, Cho wouldn't be that mean, she couldn't be... because if she was... then she was no better than Malfoy.

AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I think about the story more. The more I think about it the more I create new twists and turns for the story and I end up updating more. Which in the end makes everyone happy.