Umm, ok, this is my second Harry/Luna fanfic. Harry comes across Luna in the library in the evening after having a bad day and basically tells her about it. As usual, Luna works her charm and manages to comfort him. Err, I don't know if this plot is similar to any other fanfics out there, but plagiarism was not intended. I was really bored in school one day and just started writing. I'm very sorry if it is similar to another story, so please refrain from flaming me if it is.
I want to dedicate this story to all the high school juniors and seniors who took AP exams during the past couple of weeks-yes, they were disgusting and nauseating. Congratulations everyone and best of luck to the class of 2008-we did it!!
Disclaimer: I own none of the fabulous characters created by J.K, they belong to her glorious imagination, and only hers.
On to the story, finally
You Always Knew
Harry Potter was having a bad day. Terrible was a better fitting word, yes, terrible. He walked into the library that evening with his bag full of books and began searching for an empty table. As he was walking by shelves and tables full of students chatting quietly, he heard a distinct, dreamy voice call, "Hello Harry Potter." Harry turned his head and looked over at the table. The voice belonged to none other than Luna Lovegood, but Harry already knew the voice belonged to her before he even turned his head.
"Hey, Luna," Harry replied without a smile. Luna sensed his sadness and frustration. She had a knack for knowing people's emotions just by looking, and Harry knew. Knew, possibly that she could read his thoughts and be of some comfort.
As if right on queue, she asked, "What's bothering you, Harry? Why don't you sit down?" She gestured to the seat across from her and he gladly took it. He put his books on the table and looked out the window: the red sun was slowly setting on the grounds, giving them a golden glow.
"What are you working on?" Harry asked, trying to be polite and start a conversation.
"Charms." She smiled her dreamy smile and looked at him with her big, silvery-blue protruding orbs. "But I don't want to talk about that. You seem bothered. What's wrong?" Harry sat back in his chair and pondered to how his terrible day began...
Harry woke that morning in his comfortable four-poster bed to rain beating on the window. He sat up slowly, stretched, and rubbed his eyes. The dormitory was silent. Harry stopped rubbing and looked around the room; it was empty. Outside he could hear the clock chiming-he heard nine chimes and his heart dropped into his stomach. Classes were starting at that moment and today was not the day to be late for class. Harry leaped out of bed, threw on his clothes, grabbed his books, and ran out of the dormitory. He knew his hair must be a mess and his clothes were not on properly, but that was nothing compared to what Snape had in store for him.
By the time he reached the dungeons, Harry knew he must have missed a good twenty minutes of the class. He walked quietly into the classroom, but the second he put a toe in the room, Snape's beady eyes caught him.
"You're late Mr. Potter," he said coldly. Malfoy's eyes darted over to Harry and an evil smirk appeared on his face. "Thirty points from Gryffindor." All the Gryffindor students groaned and gave Harry looks of disgust. "Now get the ingredients listed on the board and get started on your Sleeping Drought!" Harry dashed to the storage room, gathered the necessary ingredients, and began working on his Drought.
Harry looked over at Ron angrily and whispered, "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I wasn't sure if you were sick. You were all sweaty and moaning." Harry suddenly remembered his dream. He was back in the Department of Mysteries fighting of masses of Death Eaters and watching Bellatrix Lestrange murder Sirius.
"Yeah, well, it was only a dream. You should've woken me up. Ron muttered an inaudible "sorry" under his breath and went back to his potion. Harry began his potion, but he knew he wasn't going to finish. By the end of the class, Harry's Sleeping Drought was a murky green color, while Hermione's was a deep blue. He put some in a tube and brought it up to Snape for a grade.
"Failing marks for today, Potter," he said. He took the glass tube full of Harry's green concoction, glanced at it, and carelessly tossed it onto his desk. "Maybe you'll think twice before you decide to come late to my class." He looked up and addressed the rest of the students. "I want two rolls of parchment on the effects of the Sleeping Drought ready to turn in next class. You, Mr. Potter, can add an additional roll on the consequences of being tardy to class."
Harry grabbed his things, left the class, and waited for Ron and Hermione outside the door. "Look mate, I'm really sorry for not getting you up this morning. You were mumbling and all sweaty. I thought you might have wanted to skive off Potions anyway," Ron said hurriedly as he rushed out of the classroom.
"It's fine. Let's go to lunch and forget about it," Harry said unconvincingly.
It wasn't one of those dreams was it, Harry?" Hermione inquired. "You should be able to block them." Harry's anger bubbled as they turned into the Great Hall.
"Look, Hermione! How do you expect me to block this stuff when Snape only tormented me during Occlumency lessons?!" he yelled. "Besides, it wasn't even a dream about Voldemort!" Several heads turned as "Voldemort" echoed throughout the Great Hall. Hermione turned a violent shade of red, sat down, and propped a book in front of her face.
Ron turned to Harry. "What d'you reckon you're going to do about the essays?"
"Well, I have to do them, don't I? I don't want to talk about this right now." Harry turned away and ate in silence. Why is it they think they know everything about me? Harry began thinking. Whenever they're not busy fighting they feel the need to breathe down my throat. Students gradually finished their lunches and walked off to their afternoon classes.
"We've got Charms next," Hermione declared from behind her book, as if Harry and Ron were clueless to the days' schedule. The three hiked up to the second floor and took their usual seats in the back of the room.
Tiny Professor Flitwick wobbled into the classroom soon after the students were seated. "Good afternoon to you all! Today we are going to practice the Abstergus Charm, which is used to clean various objects. As you can all see, I have brought out objects that need cleaning. The word to use is 'abstergo.' Off you go." Hermione began immediately and mastered the spell long before anyone else had. Ron and Harry were experiencing more difficulty with the spell. Ron knocked over a pile of books and Harry sent papers flying around the room.
"Let me help you two," Hermione insisted. "You have to wave your wand in a circle and then flick it in the direction you want to clean while saying 'abstergo'. Try it."
"Look, Hermione, we're big boys. We can get along fine without help," Ron said with half sarcasm and frustration in his voice.
"Fine. When you have to practice the spell later for homework, don't bother asking for my help." For the rest of the class, Ron and Harry struggled with the spell and ended with no luck. Professor Flitwick appeared again at the end of class, and as Hermione predicted, assigned Harry and Ron to further practice the spell before the next class.
"See, what did I tell you? If you had only let me help you, you wouldn't be in this mess," Hermione said coldly to Ron.
"I'd rather have to do extra practice than have a know-it-all breathe down on me," Ron retorted as they walked down to dinner. Harry remained silent and stayed behind them. Similar to lunch, Harry ate in silence. However, an angry Ron and Hermione ate without looking or speaking to each other as well. Without finishing his dinner, Harry got up and left the table.
"Where are you going, Harry?" But Harry didn't bother to look back at either of them and stormed off to the library...
"And that's everything that's happened up until now," Harry finished. Luna seemed to still be pensive as she was still looking at Harry with her big blue eyes.
"Well, it seems to me that you've got a sivnitsa in your aura," she said nonchalantly. Harry, completely taken aback, stared at Luna and tried to digest what she just said.
"I-I'm sorry. I've got a siv-what in my aura?" Harry knew better than to ask the last question: what the bloody hell is a sivnitsa?
"Yes, they're these horrible spirit things like to give you a bad start to your day, then they leave for a bit, but they always return when things get slightly better," she explained dreamily, but as if it was the simplest thing to understand. Harry knew better than to argue with her, so he silently agreed that whatever oddity she described was the cause of his miserable day. Harry looked at Luna and let out a much suppressed laugh.
"Thanks, Luna. I feel a lot better now," Harry laughed. He looked at Luna, who was staring at him with eyes full of confusion. And suddenly, Harry realized that Luna's quirkiness didn't seem so odd and strange anymore. Her big silvery-blue orbs were like a portal to escape from reality.
"Glad I could help." An awkward silence sat between them for several minutes.
"You know, Luna, you've been a really great friend to me," Harry struggled to say. "And I've been thinking now that you mean more to me than just a friend. And I was wondering, maybe, if you'd like to meet me tomorrow by the lake."
The confused look on Luna's face turned into a bright smile. "Of course. I'd like that very much Harry."
"Really? Great!" He jumped up and nearly knocked over Madam Pince, the librarian.
"Get out, the library is closed," she snapped. Harry and Luna packed their books quickly and ran out of the library.
"Wow, that was quite unexpected," Harry said, unsure of what to do. Luna glanced at him with a mischievous smile. "What's that look for?" She didn't respond and only kept staring at him. "I bet you knew all along that I've been feeling this way about you, haven't you?...Just like you know everything else about me..," he realized.
"No, of course not," she said in a dreamy tone. And she knew part of that was a lie. Luna Lovegood may mot know everything about Harry Potter, but she knew when he was feeling down and knew just what to do to comfort him.
And she always would know.
A/N: Ahhh, so how was it?? I don't know, I'm not very fond of the ending-it doesn't seem to flow. I think I could have elaborated more with Harry's feelings toward Luna, like an internal struggle of whether or not he should ask her out or if it would be mentally acceptable to have a crush on her. Please let me know what you think. Oh and the spell for Charms-abstergo-is Latin for "to clean or wipe away". My brain hit a wall in the creativity department. And the sivnitsa thing, whatever, I pulled out of my bum-oley, which wasn't very creative either. Sorry :( Please R&R and let me know what you think. Oh, and thanks for reading!!