**A/N** This is based off the train scene in Order of the Phoenix (Chapter 10). All of the actual dialogue except for the dialogue in the flashback is the same as it is in the book. Much love to J.K. Rowling for writing the series. The characters all belong to her, not me.

I've been wanting to write a Harry/Luna fanfic for a while. They're my all time favorite Harry Potter ship. Please, comment if you think I should write more!

"Hi, Luna. Is it okay if we take these seats?" Ginny Weasley slid the door open to the compartment. Luna wasn't used to people asking to sit with her. She looked up from her upside-down copy of the Quibbler at a Gryffindor boy she couldn't quite place the name of. Her eyes then darted to the boy standing next to him and stayed there. Harry Potter. He probably doesn't remember, Luna thought to herself. She couldn't think of a reason why he would. It was for the best, she decided, not wanting awkwardness between them. She tried to avoid his gaze and act like she didn't recognize him. He was a stranger, she told herself, trying too hard to believe it. She remembered all too well.

Luna Lovegood believed in many outrageous things. Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, nargles, and Blibbering Humdingers were only a few examples. Yet even she never would have believed that Harry Potter, one of the Hogwarts Triwizard champions, seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and, of course, the famous Boy Who Lived, would ever ask a girl like her, a "lunatic" and an outcast, on a date.

She knew it was a dare; Harry was mistaken if he believed he had fooled her. She saw Ron point at her,whisper something to him and hand him a silver sickle. Ron had laughed. It was all a joke to them.

She was sitting in the library, engrossed in a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

"Hello?" Harry Potter said hesitantly.

She looked up into his bottle green eyes.

"You know, maybe that book would be easier to understand if you read it right side up." Harry pointed out.

"Oh, I was just trying to read it from a different angle." she explained.

Harry gave her a strange look. "Well, I came over here to ask you if, erm, you would, you know, want to go to lunch with me, like on a date?" He looked like he was trying to contain himself from laughing.

"You really are a terrible liar." Luna pointed out. "But the nargles seem to like you, so you must mean well..."

"Is that a yes?" Harry asked, a bemused expression on his face.

"Yes." Luna replied. "Where are we going to go? I know an excellent place in Hogsmeade." she suggested.

Harry thought for a moment, then smiled. "No," he said. "I know a better place. Meet me here on Saturday. I'll show you where it is." he had said.

Luna found herself counting the hours until the date. When the next day finally came, Luna was waiting in the library, in the same seat she had occupied the day before. She had waited a whole hour, and was afraid that it had all been a hoax. It wouldn't be the first time. She picked up a copy of the Quibbler and began to read it, sideways.

"Luna?" Harry asked. "Are you ready?"

He actually showed up! She couldn't believe it.

Harry took her hand and lead her up to the seventh floor. They stood in front of the large tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls, which always amused Luna. Trolls? That was ridiculous; it was obviously the Umgubular Slashkilter that had been Barnabas's actual downfall.

"This is it." Harry said proudly, showing her a door across from the historically inaccurate tapestry.

A broom closet?Harry thought this was a better place for a date than Hogsmeade?I definitely misjudged him, didn't I? Luna thought. She was disgusted...That is, until Harry opened the door.

The room was larger than expected, it appeared to be a small dining room. In the center of the room was a table set for two, with food that looked like it was just prepared, two empty glasses, and a bottle of butterbeer.

"Have a seat." Harry said politely, holding out a chair.

Luna sat down and poured butterbeer into her glass. "Do you mind if I keep the cork?" she asked, "For my necklace."

Harry's eyes fell on the chain of butterbeer corks around her neck. "It's er, lovely." He commented.

"Thanks," Luna said cheerfully, "I can make you one if you like." she offered.

Harry was quiet. "So, Luna," he said finally, "Tell me something about yourself."

What to say? "I'm head chairperson of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack Preservation Society," she offered.

"You're the only member, aren't you?" Harry asked, and then regretted it.

"Not if you join!" Luna said excitedly. She reached into her coat and pulled out a button that she happened to have on her and handed it to Harry.

"So, this is what a Rumble-Horn Snorlax looks like..." commented Harry.

"Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" Luna corrected. "They have been hunted into near extinction by us wizards. Sadly, they are too afraid to show themselves anymore. It's a pity." she added.

"I see," Harry commented.

He still thinks this is a joke, Luna observed.

"Sorry, Luna, I would join, but I'm really busy with the Triwizard Tournament, and-"

"You joined Spew." Luna pointed out.

"Well, uh..."

Luna tried to inform Harry about the suffering of the Snorcacks for about 10 minutes while Harry, obviously uninterested, occasionally threw in a generic comment.

Harry finally interrupted her. "Luna, I don't believe Crumple-Horned Snorkacks exist." he said, very definitely.

"How can you say that?"

"Is there any evidence of their existence?" Harry interrogated.

"Well actually..."

"That isn't from the Quibbler?"

Luna shook her head. "Harry, is there any evidence that they don't exist?"

Harry seemed to seriously consider her question.

"Harry, you don't need to see something for it to exist." Luna stated, "You of all people should know that1"

"What?"

"You lived with muggles for ten years! Tell me, Harry, do most muggles believe in wizardry?"

Harry seemed shocked that something she said made sense.

Luna smiled inside.

"No, they don't." said Harry.

"And yet, here we are."

Harry considered that. "Here we are." he repeated.

Luna reached down for her butterbeer glass, disappointed to see that it was empty. But to her surprise, the second she felt the need for more, the glass refilled itself. "This room is magical, isn't it?" she asked.

Harry took a sip, and his glass refilled itself as well.

He's thinking about something, observed Luna, thinking deeply.

"Luna," He finally said. "You're magical"

He leaned closer to her and she found herself doing the same.

She was only thirteen and had never been in love before. She didn't even know if she could call it love or just a schoolgirl crush. She knew that she had never felt like this with anyone else before. She'd never felt like this at all, since her mother's accident. She felt...happy.

The distance between their lips was less than an inch. Did she want to kiss him? She didn't not want to kiss him. So she supposed she could possibly want to kiss him.

Suddenly, Harry's eyes shot open, as if from a far away dream. "I have to leave! So sorry!" He shot up and headed for the door.

"Why?" Luna asked quietly.

But he was gone.

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asked.

Luna snapped back to reality. She was in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with Ginny Weasley, the other Gryffindor boy, and Harry.

"Yes it was quite enjoyable, you know." Her eyes didn't move. Harry... what should she say? She decided on acting like she remembered nothing. Maybe he would react. "You're Harry Potter." she

said. Not very convincing at all.

Harry didn't flinch. "I know I am." he said.

The other Gryffindor laughed.

"And I don't know who you are." Luna said, turning to the unnamed Gryffindor boy.

"I'm nobody." He was unnecessarily bitter.

"No, you're not." Ginny corrected. "Neville Longbottom- Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Luna sang.

Harry and Neville exchanged a glance, raising their eyebrows.

The night after the date, Luna found herself making a butterbeer cork necklace, for Harry Potter of all people. She knew she liked him. He liked her too. She just knew it.

The next day she saw him standing in a corridor, talking to Ron Weasley. They were laughing about something.

She was going to give him the necklace.

As she approached them, she heard a part of their conversation.

"...she wanted me to join her Snorkack club." Harry told Ron.

"No way!"

"And then she gave me this!" he showed Ron the button that Luna had given him.

They exchanged a glance, raising their eyebrows.

Ron squinted at the button. "Bloody hell! That is the freakiest thing I have ever seen!"

"I know." Harry said, grinning.

"She is one loony girl." said Ron.

"Isn't she outrageous?"

They laughed.

Luna dropped the necklace and walked away, in tears.

Her first love and first heartbreak in the same 24 hours. Outrageous, wasn't it?

Neville Longbottom had reached into his bag and pulled out a small plant covered in boils. Mimbulus Mimbletonia, Luna recognized.

Neville held the plant to eye level and held a quill to one of its boils.

Not a smart idea, Luna wanted to say. She restrained herself as green slime shot out in all directions. Her magazine had shielded her and left her dry, but everyone else was covered.

Neville stuttered and apologized.

Just then, Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, entered the compartment.

"Oh...hello Harry." The disgust and superior tone was evident in her voice. "Bad time?"

"Oh, hi." Harry said.

Harry was in love with Cho Chang. It was obvious the way he blushed and stuttered around her. Luna could see it, how his eyes lit up when she was around.

"Um...well, just thought I'd say hello. Bye then." Cho walked out of the cabin.

What did he see in her?, Luna wondered. She was pretty, yes, and popular. She obviously didn't have feelings for Harry. She was using him as a filler for Cedric. How could he not see that? Cho didn't love him!

Harry looked upset, or rather embarrassed. He was covered in stinking slime, of course he would be embarrassed. Luna sensed there was more. Harry was embarrassed about who Cho had seen him with. He was embarrassed that he was spending his time with "Loony" Lovegood.

Ron and Hermione entered the cabin.

Luna listened as they informed the cabin of the new prefects, still holding the Quibbler up to her face.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw." Hermione finished.

Luna turned to Ron. "You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil." Luna stated. But you wanted to go with Hermione, she thought.

"Yeah, I know I did." Ron said.

"She didn't enjoy it very much. She didn't think you treated her well because you wouldn't dance with her." Luna paused. "I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much." Luna tried to hide the longing in her voice. She didn't get asked to events like that.

She listened to the conversation for a little longer. She laughed at Ron's imitation of Goyle writing lines so much that she got strange looks. What?she thought, baboon's backside! How can you not laugh at that?

Harry asked to see her copy of the Quibbler and she nodded in agreement.

Luna caught her breath from laughing and stared out the window dreamily.Maybe...she thought, just maybe this year, he would see, and believe...

After arriving at Hogwarts, Luna caught Harry staring at the dark, winged horses that pulled the stagecoaches. He seemed to be frozen. Ron couldn't see them, but that didn't mean the horse things weren't real, did it?

Luna. When Harry had seen her, sitting alone in the compartment, he remembered. He remembered seeing her in the library for the first time, her golden hair and an upside down book hiding her face. He saw her distant gray eyes looking up into his, as she told him "I was just trying to read it from a different angle." He remembered her sweet lunatic smile.

He had told her there was no such thing as crumple-horned snorkacks.

She was like a child who still believed in Father Christmas, in faeries and miracles and the good inside people. She wouldn't see it coming, when one day her innocence would be ripped from her, when she would lose faith in the world.

He had wanted to protect her from disappointment.

"You don't need to see something for it to exist." she had said.

Magical, that's what he had called her. She was the most magical girl at Hogwarts.

He remembered being close enough to count the freckles across her face. He had been close enough to kiss her, hadn't he?

For a moment, he had been in love with a lunatic.

Wasn't he still in love with her?

"It's all right." Luna said, startling him. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them too."

"Can you?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes. I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages."

Harry looked at her curiously.

"Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am." she reassured him.

**A/N** So, what do you think? If you liked it, don't forget to leave a comment! ~Shinebrighter