She stood distant from the crowd, as though she was somewhere entirely different, which did not surprise him as he looked upon her. She always appeared to be somewhere else. The light summer breeze swayed her body from here and there as though she was some lithe dancer. He chuckled slightly. It would be strange to anyone else, seeing her sway there with her radish earrings and upside down Quizzler yet he loved it more than anything. In a sense, he was just like her, an oddball of sorts. They both loved the peculiar, although their brands of peculiar were hardly similar. It was strange to him that he had only started to actually notice her whilst in the depths to save his uncle's life. True, she wasn't there for him as much as Hermione or Ron yet that was her way and he liked that about her. She knew how to distance herself without severing herself completely from the world. The bright colors of parading streamers kept her from looking out of place. It was the perfect scenery for her, at least for today. Luna was ever changing.

Today was the fifth annual Day of Courage parade, a reminder of the ongoing struggle both wizards and creatures alike had to face through Lord Voldemort's oppression, and also, of the courage and strength of the wizarding community in its successful endeavor of defeating Lord Voldemort and restoring the peace. As an unofficial obligation, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were expected to be there every year. Yet each year, Harry felt the same cringe of displeasure in attending the festivity. All eyes were on him and that constant, firm gaze was more than enough to make him unsteady. All he wanted was to stay in his flat and just be there, happy and unbothered.

Yet this could never happen, of course. He had saved the wizarding world and that sort of thing could never be forgotten. They keep saying that his name will echo through the halls of Hogwarts for ages, which he has always just brushed off as if the statement was just some leaf but truly, he didn't really like the fact of being remembered for his Hogwarts years. Of course, it was always nice being well-liked and admired but it was nothing compared to being happy. He knew all too well, thanks to Rita Skeeter, that happiness was a far and distant hope for someone like him. Yet as he stood there, watching her sway with the light summer breeze, he couldn't help but to want to be where she was, even for just a moment. Just to have the chance to say that, for once, he didn't have the world watching him, and that, just for once, he was able to remain in his own little world of inner understanding.

Soon enough, he found his shoes walking in a new direction, away from the streamers and parading musicians towards the woman with flowing golden locks that would put even the sun to shame.

He hadn't thought that she had noticed him until moments later when she had whispered soothingly, "Hello Harry." And then slowly but surely, all of his memories of her flooded back as though he was walking through the ocean, bare soles coasting upon sand.

"Hello Luna," he replied with the same whispered air as she had.

It had been five years since he had seen her. In a way, she had changed, he could tell yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it though.

"What're you thinking, Harry?"

He separated himself from his thoughts and looked at her.

"Hmm?"

She turned her head to face him and he couldn't help but to be intoxicated by her long, batting eyelashes or coral-rose lips.

"You have a certain face you wear when you're thinking hard about someone. I was wondering who it was you were thinking about."

He looked at her in disbelief. He had forgotten that she was so highly intuitive.

"I was thinking about Hermione and how she's engaged to Ron now. It's so strange but normal at the same time, don't you think?"

"No, you weren't… and yes, it is quite funny since they couldn't stand each other during school," she replied lightly, head turned, facing the parade.

He chuckled nervously, "Luna, yes, I was…"

"Harry, no, you weren't."

He turned his entire body in conscious disbelief, "How could you possibly know what I was thinking?" he posed.

"You were thinking about me, Harry. I know. You've liked me for a long time now," she stated, still holding an uncontrived and indifferent air as she had earlier.

He stared in full incredulity at her as she turned her head ever so slowly with that same trademark smirk she wore so many years ago.

"How… how… how…"

"Did I know?" she finished quickly, "Hmm. I thought it kind of obvious our fifth year when you skipped our last feast to talk to me about Sirius."

"You see, I started to wonder...," she continued, "I started to wonder why me? Why would he care to talk to me about such a horrible thing that had happened just a few days prior? And I came to the conclusion, that you and I… you and I, Harry, are not so different. We both have had our losses and our gains, and no one truly understands us, do they?"

She laughed.

"I just… I slowly put the pieces together that you were meant for me and I for you. Ginny could never understand you and she knew that. She talked to me often about you and that only made me like you so much more. When she told me that you had broken up with her during Dumbledore's funeral, I just couldn't help but to think, maybe it was true, what I had envisioned for us all along could finally… take place," she whispered, now staring him directly in the eyes.

She shifted her gaze, scuttling her feet as she did so, "Oh, look at me. I'm such a mess. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

And with that, Harry placed his lips upon her partially open mouth which had the full intention of droning on about her prattling.

The kiss was interesting, nothing special by Luna's standards; however, she embraced him with open arms nonetheless, hoping for some type of fireworks. What started out slow seemed to break out into a feverish frenzy as he combed his fingers through her hair and held her body tightly against his. And that, exactly, was the fireworks that Luna was looking for.

He took her by the hand and led her away from the parade with the full intentions of leaving it forever.

"Luna, let me take you out for a coffee. I don't want to be here and if I'm right, I don't think you do either. There is so much I want to say that I can't say here…"

"But Harry, this is for you. For you, Hermione, Ron. You can't just leave that."

"Watch me or better yet, come with me," he smirked.

She laughed and shifted her gaze from the ground to him.

"Then yes, Harry. I would like that."

He held her hand firmly and led her to the gate out of Diagon Alley. Guiding her to his car, he then slowly pulled out from the curb into the opposite direction, away from Diagon Alley.