When Hermione got back to the Gryffindor common room again that evening there was a magnificent fire burning in the grate. She took a near seat and warmed her hands best she could, the weather seemed to get more horrible every day. Also, that recent encounter with Luna gave her another one of those funny chills. She wished she knew what it was, but every time she got too close to Luna she felt almost too hot and too cold at once, there was that burning feeling in her chest that made her heart thud dangerously loudly. She'd asked Ron and Harry, but they'd just looked at each other knowingly and not said anything, grinning stupidly. Except perhaps Ron, who smiled, but it was if there was nothing behind it…
"Hey Hermione" said harry, sitting down next to her "cold?"
"Very" Hermione said grumpily, rubbing her arms "where Ron?"
"Here" said Ron taking the seat on her right "what were you talking to Luna about, anyway?"
"Oh, nothing" she didn't know why she felt so embarrassed. It was just an innocent question.
Ron looked at her reproachfully, and seemed down when he said to Harry after a couple of minutes "I'm going to bed. Got to get the train in the morning" Harry smiled, and Hermione watched him troop upstairs to the boy dormitories.
"Is he alright?" she said quietly
"Oh, sure" Harry replied, also getting up "you know he just…well, he's tired." She watched him leave, certain that something was up. Ron had been acting weird for a while now; he always got so touchy whenever she spoke to Luna, which was very rarely as it was. She was just…strange. She supposed he, like everybody else called her 'looney Lovegood'. She clenched her fists, and gazed bitterly into the dancing flames. Why couldn't they just leave Luna alone? Just cause she was different. She never spoke to Luna but only because, well, she was like a ghost anyway. What was a nargle? She'd never even heard of one before, it was probably just another invention of Luna's father Xexphelius. Apparently he was just as crazy as she was.
Irritated, Hermione got to her feet and hurried upstairs to bed. Pulling off her robes she crept under the covers and shut her eyes. She didn't know why it bothered her so much, it was only Luna. Luna the scatter-brained, Luna the weirdo, Luna the loner, Luna the daydreamer, Luna the beautiful…
Under the covers, Hermione blushed furiously and rolled over, trying to focus on something else, anything else, until the morning. Not Luna. She didn't have time for that