Author's Note: Here is my first Harry Potter FF! I hope you like it. The plot is something I have been working on for a while and I have quite a few chapters planned so far. I don't know how it is going to end yet so bear with me please. I haven't posted anything on here in a long time and I would love if anyone who reads this would leave a review with pointers or suggestions on my writing :)

- Chapter One -
In which Harry is confused.

Harry Potter sighed as he watched his best friend Ron Weasley with narrowed eyes. Ron had ditched him for his girlfriend, Lavender. Again. He stuffed his hands deep in the pockets of his Gryffindor cloak as he watched Ron's receding red head begin disappear into the crowds of students clogging up the streets of Hogsmeade.

"There go Ron and Lavender again." The dreamy voice at Harry's shoulder made him jump and turn. Luna Lovegood stood before him. Luna was a fifth year this year, one year behind than Harry. She was dressed for the cold with fur-lined boots and a hat that covered her head and let her long white-blond hair tumble down her back. Harry noticed that her usual radish earrings had been replaced by miniature flying bluebirds, feathered and looking so real he had to blink and check again to make sure that they weren't. The rest of her outfit was covered by the sleek Ravenclaw cloak, buttoned all the way up to keep out the heavy snow swirling around them.

Harry gives her a small smile, beginning to shrug in answer to Luna's question before he realized that she hadn't asked him anything. Whenever Luna was around Harry always felt himself get flustered and usually ended up extremely confused. He blamed it on her odd habits of making unsettling comments. Harry sighed, already wishing that he hadn't come to Hogsmeade today. Hermione had stayed back at Hogwarts, refusing to go anywhere with Ron and Lavender; and Ginny had detention and was forbidden to come this weekend. Harry had come along anyway, saying he needed some new ink when really he just needed to get out of the castle. The limitations and protections surrounding the castle these days made him feel restless and Ron had promised that he and Lavender would hang out with him on this trip. As usual though, they got caught up in each other and, lo and behold, Harry was alone for the remainder of the day.

Luna carried on talking, oblivious to Harry's wandering thoughts, her bright gaze on Ron and Lavender, now heading into Honeydukes Sweetshop. "I wonder if he knows how her aura shifts when she looks at the handsome male specimens passing by." she muses, "Most likely not." With a shrug, Luna turned back to Harry, flashing him a bright smile. Harry just looked back at her, as befuddled as ever. Luna never made any sense to him, but she was nice and he liked how he didn't have to worry about what he said with her. She always was a good listener, and compared with her own comments, nothing he said seemed out of the ordinary with her.

"Er, yea." He said finally, glancing up and down the main street.

Hogwarts students were scattered about everywhere; standing in clusters on sidewalks; hurrying across the streets to enter shops before they got too covered in snow. A few aggravated third years were picking up scattered shopping items that were being magically tossed every which way by a laughing Malfoy and cronies. Harry rolled his eyes and turned away, he didn't want to deal with Malfoy today. Luna had drifted a little ways away from Harry and stood with her head tilted upwards, catching snowflakes on her tongue and giggling as they melted.

"What were you planning to do today?" Harry asked Luna curiously, glaring at a few students who had seen Luna's antics and were laughing about it nearby.

Expecting an answer like, 'Nothing much' or, 'Just hanging out,' Harry knew he shouldn't have been surprised when Luna said: "Well at first I had hoped to get some special ingredients to lure nargles out of the mistletoe. I've heard they are quite a nuisance this year, more so than even last year. But then when I got here and some older students began apparating every which way now that they were off Hogwarts grounds, I had an epiphany. I'm going to come up with a spell to apparate the nargles out of all the mistletoe and into some good fir trees in the forest. It won't really be apparating, because we can't inside the school grounds. The spell will be more like getting rid of a boggart." Luna's dreamy voice was full of excitement as she finished.

Harry nods absently, already dazed by her little spiel. He has never believed in Luna's nargles but to be polite he says, "That sounds like an interesting project."

Luna nods in return, sending snowflakes tumbling off her hat. "It should be. But it seems before I begin my spell quest, I'm off to look for some pudding." She said brightly, flashing him another smile.

Harry grins back, finding her cheerful outlook contagious even through his loneliness of late. With Ron with Lavender snogging during every waking moment, and Hermione throwing herself at her studies, trying to avoid the happy couple, Harry had been feeling extremely cut off from his two best friends. "Mind if I join you? I could go for some pudding." He asked lightly.

Luna's smile widened. "That would be lovely." The blond girl replied, as she turned and motioned for Harry to follow her. The snow was falling so fast and so thickly that Harry found it hard to see very far in front of him and he stuck close to Luna's side. He was confident she was leading him to the Three Broomsticks, so when Luna opened the door to Madam Puddifoot's and ushered him inside, Harry stopped in surprise. Remembering his last, disastrous venture into the tiny coffee shop with Cho Chang last year, Harry looked around apprehensively. It was not Valentine's Day this time, so there were no hearts and roses everywhere. However, the tables were adorned with way too many doilies, fragrant candles, and china patterned with flowers. The walls were covered with lacy hangings of kittens or fairies, all with flowery borders.

Harry raised his eyebrows after giving the one room shop a once over, feeling extremely reluctant to eat here. Luna was pushing confidently towards a back table, seeming completely at ease in their surroundings. Harry followed more slowly, still trying to decide whether he wanted to stay or not. The room was stifling hot and packed with Hogwarts students, mostly couples, who eyed Harry as he maneuvered his way through the tables. Yet as he watched Luna pick a table and settle into the seat against the wall, he felt something inside him tell him to stay, though he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Luna watched Harry with her unblinking blue eyes as he slipped into the seat across from her, turning his back on the rest of the cafe.

"Have you ever been here?" Luna asked Harry, who wondered if she had seen the hesitation on his face a minute ago.

"Once." He replied, picking up the one page menu. The first side was filled with all different kinds of tea. The second side listed different pastries, desserts, and a few select finger sandwiches. "Have you?"

"Oh yes. They have the best rice pudding here." Luna replied happily as the plump waitress maneuvered her way over to their table to take their orders. After ordering a honey ham sandwich and pumpkin juice, Harry put down his menu and looked up at Luna again. He didn't quite know what to say to her now that they were here. "I'm not a huge fan of rice pudding actually." He said awkwardly, hoping she didn't notice.

Luna nodded intently, bluebirds swinging around her ears, "That's understandable. It is an acquired taste. Did you know that the Crumpled-Horn Snorkack has been known to forage in garbage bins, just for rice pudding? I wonder if there are any around here," she said, sounding hopeful.

Harry was trying to think of a reply to that when the door to Madam Puddifoot's opened, admitting a frigid wind and a gust of snow. Multiple people turned to see who was letting the heat out of the room, including Harry. The couple who had opened it closed it again quickly and the temperature soon became a comfortable warmth. As the room settled down, Harry recognized the couple who had walked in. Green eyes widening in surprise, he quickly slouched down in his seat, hoping that the newcomers did not notice him and Luna over in their corner.

Too late.

"Well, if it isn't Famous Harry Potter on a date with the Loon of Ravenclaw," Drawled the all too familiar voice of Draco Malfoy, as Pansy Parkinson cackled with mirth next to him.