A/N- This is my first Ron/Luna fic, but I absolutely love the pair. Too cute, too cute. I know that in this fic I make Hermione and Harry seem heartless, but just try to think from Luna's POV. I'd be pretty pissed, too, if I were her. This is a one-shot, but I almost want to make another chappie for it, just because I want these two to get married more than I want to meet Daniel Radcliff! Well, maybe not that much.

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter, and affiliated characters, or any fictional locations described. Those belong wholly to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Reviews welcome! As for flames, go use them to make a steak, then come back. I'll like you a lot better if you bring the steak with you. Medium rare, please.

A Tear in the Lake

I don't know why you intrigue me the way you do. I don't know why my heart makes odd jumps when you're around, or why I can't seem to get out a sentence without stuttering when you're looking at me. I don't understand how someone so normal, so uninteresting, could do that to me.

But that's just it. You are neither of those things.

You've lived your life in the shadow of your two friends. I'm sure they never meant to do it, I'm sure you're just as loved. But don't you feel disconnected sometimes? I see the look in your eyes when they call each other those little pet names, or when they steal a kiss before class. I wonder how they don't notice. You follow them, a loyal dog, a sidekick. And you are... you are so loyal. It's just as easy to picture you as a Hogwarts student as it is a prince from afar, coming to rescue his fair lady to ride off into the sunset. Or at least, it is for me. I've always thought of you like that. The only debate in my mind is as to who the fair lady is.

I remember the day you were attacked by the brains. I watched, helpless, as you fought against them. I saw them scar you. I saw the insanity in your eyes when they transmitted their memories to you. Dear Merlin... I saw you cry. From the moment that tear left your eye, I knew my mind wouldn't rest until they noticed you. But you never told them how much it hurt. You never told them how you cried. I was the only one that saw it... it was our trust. I wouldn't speak of it, and you would pretend you had forgotten. They can see your scars on the outside... but they cannot see the ones on the inside.

Luna walked out by the lake every evening after dinner. She enjoyed watching the sun set, the thought of a new day and a new chance. But it seemed as though of late, everyone was running out of chances. One- she hesitated to call him a man- one being held all of the cards. It was only a matter of time before Voldermort returned. Or, to be precise, until the Golden Trio went looking for him.

"No." She thought firmly. "Push it from your mind."

And once more, she tried to run from what was her shadow. She knew that once he left, she would be a shell. An appearence, lacking in a soul. Ron Weasley was her soul. With him gone, she would have nothing left to live for. No bright red hair to look for in the hallway. No deep, uninhibited laughter to listen for in the Great Hall. No feeling at all.

"Merlin, Luna." She told herself. "Don't do this. Don't tourture yourself."

And, against her deepest wishes, Luna cried. For the first time in seven years, she felt the hot drops of water trickle down her face, and felt the saltiness of it pass through the cracks in her lips. She let a small, unheard sob escape from her body, then a few more, each louder and more violent than before. Before she could think, her whole body was shaking. She was sobbing, something she hadn't done since she was four years old. She had cried before she left for Hogwarts, but it was never like this. She, a seventeen year old- almost a woman in herself- was sobbing. All because of a boy with red hair and freckles who never thought of her as more than a classmate. A weird, freakish, obnoxious classmate. That was all she could ever be to anyone. Weird. Abnormal.

In other words, unlovable.

The lake made little ripples when one of her tears fell in. Her tear disappeared into the body of water, lost among it. Just like her. Blended into the sea of faces. Unrecognizable. A tear in a lake.

"Don't."

A voice from behind made her jump. She dared not analyze it too far. She knew who it was.

"Don't what?", she asked, though she feared she knew the answer.

"He's going to tell me not to cry," she thought bitterly. If only he knew that he caused those tears.

"Don't break my heart."

She stopped. Break his heart? She had done nothing to him but love him secretly, quitely. Was that so wrong?

He stepped forward, hesitantly. She turned around to meet his gaze, her eyes a pool of sadness, dammed-up emotions forced inside.

"Don't make me want to fall in love with you again. Don't make me want to look into your eyes when all I'll ever find is a girl far beyond my reach. Don't make me want to go to the ends of the earth to be with you."

She saw him swallow, wait. She couldn't comprehend anything. Ron Weasley, he wanted to be with... with her? But no, it made no sense. He could have any girl whatsoever. "He's lying", she decided. He had to be. She was infuriated.

"You mock my pain. I've kept myself from looking you straight in the eye for three years, Ron. I didn't know if I wanted to feel what I felt in the Department of Mysteries ever again. You know what I felt like? I was flying. I was flying, Ron... but on a broken broom. I knew it was only a matter of time until I fell. You can't love me! I'm not worthy of that. And now you bring me this. Exquisite pain, Ron. That's what it is. The knowledge of knowing I love you, and the reality that I CAN'T."

She was crying still, but she hardly noticed. He looked at her. She looked away. When she got back to the common room, she would close her eyes and preform the curse. She had no doubt that she could do it, she hated herself enough. They wouldn't be able to throw her in Azkaban for using one of the Unforgivables... she would already be dead. It was no worse than living a life without him. In fact, it was much better.

"Look at me, Luna." He asked, almost pleaded. She could grant him that- and she had always missed his eyes. She looked. She regretted it the instant she did it. Everything she had bottled inside for so many years rushed out, filling her mind and occupying her senses to the point where she thought that if he told her to go jump off the tallest tower, she would do it. She would do anything.

"I need you, Luna. I love you. You're everything to me...please, I can fix it."

She looked up at him, the slightest glimmer of something he'd never seen in her before apparent in her eyes. Hope.

"Fix what?"

He stopped, and smiled.

"That broom."

And as his lips pressed against hers, it registered. The broken broom. Her broken heart.

"Yes", she thought, as her mind drowned in the purest joy and love she'd ever known.

"I bet you can."