A/N: Just a little ficlet I got an idea for. Hope you all enjoy :3
Heart Skipped a Beat
Only one more night here, Ron Weasley thought bracingly to himself, only one more night in this bloody Hospital Wing and you'll be free to go. Personal pep talks did nothing to shoo away the feelings of utter boredom that came along with being shut up in the lonely Hospital Wing.
Neville, Ginny, and Luna had all been released from the wretched Hospital Wing only hours after they arrived. Their minor injuries were patched up in a cinch. Harry had refused all care from Madam Pomfrey; Ron was sure that Harry was making every effort to punish himself over Sirius' death. Hermione was the only one left in the Hospital Wing, but she was sleeping soundly; the spell she had been hit with combined with the plethora of potions she was forced to take resulted in extreme exhaustion.
Usually, the others would be keeping Ron company in the Hospital Wing, but Madam Pomfrey began banning visitors during and after dinner time. Cursing Madam Pomfrey and her penchant for setting up strict rules, Ron tried to quell his ever increasing ennui by making bubbles float from the tip of his wand.
"Those are lovely."
Ron jumped nearly a foot in the air, his wand clattering to the floor. Luna simply picked it up daintily and handed it back to him.
"Sorry for startling you," she said, a serene smile pasted on her lips. "I figured you must be lonely, so I decided to come visit you."
"It's okay," Ron said, his heart rate slowly returning to normal. "Thanks," he said, a sheepish grin on his face.
"Oh, it's no problem," Luna said, sitting precariously next to Ron's discolored arm.
"What if Madam Pomfrey catches you?" he asked, his eyes finding the closed door of the matron's office.
"She won't come out. I think she's busy eating her dinner in there. Besides, I believe there is a gathering of Wrackspurts in there," Luna said, shifting the position of her bottle cap necklace.
"Oh," was all Ron could say to Luna's outlandish statement. "You don't have to stay. I don't want to make you miss dinner..." he trailed off.
"Don't worry. They're serving steak-and-kidney pie. I'm not too keen about it," she said. "I might go back down for some pudding though. Did you eat already?"
"Yeah..." he said, not knowing what to say. He had never maintained a solo conversation with Luna. He appreciated her visit, but was inexperienced when it came to conversing with her on his own.
"I never got to look at your arm. You know, after the brains tried to strangle you," she mused, her head tilting to the right. "Do you remember anything?"
Ron shook his head, glad to have something to talk about with her. "I just remember that Death Eater Confunding me. I woke up here with these red marks covering my arms. That's all I remember," he said, shrugging.
Luna nodded, the dreamy smile still on her face. Slowly, she raised her hand to Ron's arm and ghosted her fingers over the angry, but fading, indents. Ron involuntarily shivered, his heart skipping a beat as she traced the criss-crossing lines. She was seemingly unaffected by the skin-to-skin contact. Ron, on the hand, couldn't stop the hairs on his arms from standing straight up.
She left his brain reeling as she retracted her hand. To his confusion, he immediately craved her touch once more. Hoping that his ears weren't burning crimson, he swallowed and looked into Luna's wide, protuberant eyes. She was staring back at Ron, her head cocked to the side, as if he was a particularly interesting occurrence.
She broke the silence first. "I feel sorry for Harry," she said in a matter-of-fact, her voice never losing its mystical quality. "He must feel horrible. It's a terrible thing to lose a loved one."
"Have you lost anyone?" Ron asked curiously.
Luna nodded, her straggly blonde hair spilling over her shoulder. "My mum. She died when I was nine. She enjoyed creating her own spells and potions, and one day, an experiment of hers went terribly wrong. One second she was there, lively as ever, adding ingredients to her potion, and the next she was laying on the floor, as still as a Pingding Blipper," she explained, her airy tone contradicting the darkness of her statement.
Ron's eyes widened in horror. "Wow, I – I'm sorry Luna," he said, his hand subconsciously finding hers.
Her smile simply grew. "It's okay. You didn't know," she said, squeezing his hand lightly.
"Harry's going to need you and Hermione more than ever next year, you know," she said perceptively. "He's not going to be open about his grief. Harry keeps everything inside."
Ron nodded in agreement. "You're right. I won't specifically mention Sirius, but I'll be there for him," he said.
"You're a good best friend. You can be a bit rude sometimes, but you have a good heart," Luna said honestly.
"Me? Rude?" he asked, flabbergasted. He searched his mind, unable to find a time where he'd been openly mean to anyone.
"I've heard you call me Loony quite a few times," she said, her blue eyes drifting towards the ceiling. "Many people think I'm crazy, you know." She began waving her arms above her head, batting away an invisible irritant.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, choosing to ignore Luna's strange behavior. "I don't think you're crazy. Strange, maybe. Different, definitely. But not crazy," he said, surprised to find that he wasn't lying to her; every single word rang true.
She averted her stare from the ceiling to Ron's bright blue eyes and let her arms fall back into her lap. "Thanks, Ron," she said, smiling. "That was very sweet."
"No problem," he muttered, his eyes drifting across Luna's feminine face. Suddenly, he felt compelled to do something, an urge so unfamiliar and new that it scared him. He wanted to kiss the girl sitting in front of him, the girl openly examining his face in return, the girl that everyone viewed as insane.
Luna absently brushed her fingers up his arm once more, although her eyes remained locked on his.
"You can kiss me if you want," she said softly.
Ron's heart beat sped up for what seemed like the dozenth time in one hour. He wasn't sure if Luna's invitation was a figment of his imagination or not.
Mustering up every ounce of courage he could find, he lent forward and allowed his lips to touch Luna's tentatively. Luna gently pressed her lips against his in return. To his surprise, he felt tingles shoot through every bone in his body. He let his hands frame her soft face as hers innocently drifted to his sides.
All too quickly, the innocent kiss was over. Luna pulled away from Ron, a dreamy smile still on her face. "That was nice," she said, patting Ron's hand.
"That's a bloody understatement," he said, shaking his head.
Luna stood up, tucking a wayward piece of hair behind her ear. "I'll see you later, Ron," she said, making her way to the door.
"Wait!" he shouted out, confusedly. "Where are you going? We just kissed."
"I want some pudding," she said thoughtfully. "I'll see you at the feast tomorrow. Maybe we can kiss again then."
His mouth still agape, Ron watched Luna nod in his direction, her eyes shining hazily. She then turned once more and quietly slipped from the Hospital Wing.
Ron couldn't help but turn red at the thought of what just happened, a hand to his lips. He then grinned widely; he had managed to get his first kiss with minimal hassle. And, if things went the way he hoped, he might even get a kooky girlfriend as well.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! I think this pairing is adorable :} Feel free to leave a review!