Disclaimer: I am not JKR and that means I'm not writing this for profit. I am claiming no rights to the original content borrowed from the published works of "Harry Potter."
Author's Note (1): This text is written to be dialogue centric, which means most of the story is dialogue with minimal other text to support it. Further notes on this can be found after the story.
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Luna wisps through the halls, her dress trailing just a second or two behind her; "Doesn't the sun remind you of lemon tart on Sunday afternoon?"
Harry considers this, "I've never really thought of the sun that way, actually…"
"That's a shame." Luna remarks, "The sun is very important to all life forms."
There is a pause, and then she speaks again; "What brings you outside?"
"Actually, you." Harry says. Luna's brows rise slightly, and he notices only because he's looking. "I was hoping to speak with you about the other night."
"I sleepwalk sometimes, so I'm afraid you'll have to tell me which night you mean." Harry's heart sinks at her comment.
"I mean Slughorn's dinner."
Her lips part; "Oh yes. The punch was redder than a rose. I liked the flavor very much."
Then she seems to sense the tension; "What fogs your mind, Harry?"
Now his lips part; "You're a strange girl. You know that, right?"
"Strange isn't always a bad thing," she sways to the left and then stops. Harry catches up to her and they are looking at each other directly, aside from the height difference; "I think it's sort of like needing glasses and not wearing them. You'll see things differently without them."
Luna reaches up and removes his glasses before continuing on; "People think that Nargles are strange, but I would guess that Nargles think people are strange. We need something to help us clear our vision in order to understand what makes a person strange. Everything comes down to perception."
"I'm not sure that's a fair comparison to my needing glasses, I'm afraid."
Her laugh fills the air of the empty hallway; "Perhaps you're right, Harry."
When Harry fails to speak she continues; "But I stand by what I've said. Strange is a matter of perception. If your outlook is clear, then strange won't seem so bad."
"We kissed, you know, at the party."
"Yes."
"You've not forgotten then?"
"Oh no, you tasted of chocolate frosting and pudding. I rather like pudding."
Harry shifts unsure about her recollection of the kiss; "Did it mean anything to you?"
"Oh, is that what's got your brain scattered, Harry Potter?" Again, her laugh pushes away the empty spaces. She also steps closer to him; "Of course it meant something. You are a nice boy. I like that."
"More than you like pudding?"
"More than Ronald Weasley likes pudding, I would guess."
Harry lets out a sigh of relief masked but a nervous laugh; "Well, I like you as well. You're amazing."
"You are amazing too, Harry Potter."
"I think I'll have something to look forward to besides the daisy-yellow sun in the morning," She shares.
"Pardon?"
"I can't be the only person in Hogwarts who sleepwalks."
"Do you think we'd see each other in our sleep?" Harry understands the suggestion she is making.
"I think we could have a whole life inside our dreams if we wanted. Don't you?" With that, she skips away from Harry. He isn't sure the conversation answered all of his questions but at least one thing was clear: Luna likes him too. A smirk tugs at the corners of his lips as he returns to his own common room to ponder the relationship he may or may not have with the strangest girl in school, which he means in the best possible way.
Author's Note (2):
The original version of this story was posted on May 21, 2011 (previously titled Daydreamer). In this original posting, I only posted the dialogue between Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood. The goal was to make the dialogue create the entire picture on it's own, and was originally inspired by a piece written by Griffinesque titled "Return." The first posting of this story had the story at 298 words while this version boasts 563 words with new content.