Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the long delay, ideas weren't really coming to me.

Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, you guys are beyond wonderful!

Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Red Vs Blonde – Chapter 3

For the next few days no matter how much Harry pestered her, Luna would not answer who it was she fancied. Every time he begged or pleaded she would just shake her head and talk about something different.

They spent mornings and afternoons next to the lake (which was now frozen and covered with snow), and evenings in the room of requirement.

On Christmas eve, sat Harry and Luna in the RoR. "So what would you like to do tomorrow?" Harry asked,

Luna turned her head towards him and replied with, "Hm, let's do something different. How about we spend the morning and afternoon in here, and the evening next to the lake?"

"But won't it be really cold?"

"I can cast a warming spell."

Harry considered this for a while and finally said, "I guess it'll be fun."

Luna smiled widely. "Great."

"So shall I give you your present at night then?" Harry ginned widely.

Luna stared at him, her eyes widening at an alarming rate. "You…you got me a present?" she whispered in shock.

Harry frowned, "Why wouldn't I?"

"The only present I ever get is from my dad," Luna said quietly.

Harry's eyes widened, "You mean Ginny never gave you a present?"

"Well were really good friends you see, until this year," Luna admitted.

"Well they better give you presents this year," Harry said angrily.

"It's fine really."

"Did you get us presents?" Harry asked.

"I did," Luna smiled.

"You didn't have to."

"And neither did you,"

Harry's watch gave a quiet buzzed, which signaled it was time to go back to their dorms. Without a word, both of them stood up and headed towards the RoR door. As usual, Luna gave him a peck on the cheek before skipping to her common room. Once again, Harry felt a jolt of excitement go through him, which turned into the normal confusion of his reactions to what he classified of a gesture of friendship. As he trudged back to his dorm, his brain and heart once again battled out. What if you want more than friendship with her? You can't cheat on Ginny, she's your girlfriend for crying out loud! But you never see Ginny in your dreams anymore! That doesn't mean anything. It does when it's Luna you always dream to be snogging. Well I can't control what I dream about. But you enjoy it don't you?

Harry's thoughts didn't end until he walked into the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Watch where you're going boy!" she screeched.

Harry muttered a quick apology and gave her the password. Once in his bed, he screamed into his pillow. He then put his head in his hands and shouted into the room, "Damn it Luna! I can't go anywhere without thinking about you! Even when im bloody sleeping! Ginny's going to kill me if I'm like this when she comes back!"

He growled once and proceeded to sleep. However, Harry spent an hour tossing and turning with thoughts of Ginny and Luna racing through his head, before falling into an uneasy sleep.

=)

One Christmas morning, Harry went down to the common room to find several presents for him. Making him way towards them, his watched beeped once. Harry realized that he would miss breakfast if he opened his presents first. He looked up to see where the mistletoe was placed this year, and memorized the spots he would have to tread carefully. Arriving at the entrance at the Great Hall, his heart once again gave a jolt, as he made his towards Luna. As she turned towards him, he noticed her radish earrings were gone. Instead, her ears were now adorned by a pair of miniature tomatoes that were interestingly red and green, in the shape of a heart.

After finishing breakfast, the two got up and made their way to the Gryffindor common room to get Harry's presents. "Where'd you get those earrings?" Harry asked.

Luna looked a little embarrassed as she said, "Neville."

"Oh."

None of them said another word until they reached the RoR, carrying Harry's presents. Harry scanned the area for any mistletoe, and found the same one in which he kissed Cho under. "Are there any Nargles in here?" he blurted out suddenly.

Luna looked at the mistletoe carefully and said, "No, I don't think they can get in here."

Harry nodded and sat down, turning towards a present. His first one was the yearly jumper that Mrs. Weasly always sent him. From Fred and George, he received a portable swamp, though he didn't know where he would use it. Harry quickly went through the rest of his presents received form Hermione, Ron and Neville, but stopped to wonder and what Ginny had given him. In his hands was a strange looking hourglass. On the top was the symbol of a girl while the bottom was a symbol of a boy. The sand was pink on both the top and bottom but the strange thing was, no matter which way Harry turned it, the sand wouldn't move, nor change colours. He looked around for something to tell him what it was, but the only this he found was a Christmas card that said, "Merry Christmas! Love Ginny".

Harry turned to Luna (who was staring dreamily at the mistletoe), and said, "Hey Luna, do you have any clue what this is?"

Luna turned her gaze to his eyes and said, "hm?"

Flustered from her piercing gaze, Harry stuttered, "Uh…this…um what is it?"

A gasp escaped from Luna as she looked at the hourglass in his hand. "Wh-where did you get that," she said shakily.

Confused at her reaction to his gift, Harry replied, "From Ginny, why? And do you know what it is?"

Luna closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, "I know what it is, though I'm not surprised that you don't know what it is."

"What is it?" Harry asked worriedly.

Still with closed eyes, Luna replied, "I don't think I should be the one telling you. Let Ginny tell you."

"Do you think I could find out about it in the library?"

"No!" Luna said quickly and loudly, "you really should let Ginny explain to you, it'd be better."

Taken by surprise at Luna's sudden outburst, Harry said quickly, "Okay, I'll ask her then."

Before either of them could say anymore, Harry's watch announced that it was lunch so the two dropped off Harry's presents at his dorm prior to arriving at the Great Hall. To Harry's surprise after finishing his meal, Luna told him in her normal dreamy state that she had something to do in the afternoon and bid him farewell before rushing out of the Great Hall, giving Harry no time to respond. Walking back to his common room by himself, Harry decided to spend his time by writing letters to thank his friends for the presents. However when he got to Ginny's letter, he debated how to sign it. In the end, he settled with a simple Harry hoping she wouldn't notice the absence of his usual love.

After visiting the owlery to find Hedwig, Harry made his way to the Great Hall for the Christmas feast. He looked for Luna, but to his surprise, he didn't find her. He turned around to look for her, and was shocked to find her standing right in front of him. "When'd you get here?"

"About a second after you did," came the serene reply.

They ate dinner slowly, talking about what they gave other people, and what they got from others. When they finished, they agreed to meet by the great doors of the castle. A little while later, Luna and Harry were trekking across the snow-covered grounds, looking for a tree to sit and lean against. Harry found a suitable tree and checked that there was no mistletoe hanging on a branch and sat down. However, not more than a second later, he was bitten by a little gnome. Yelping with surprise, he quickly jumped up and inspected the tiny bite mark on his arm. Turning to face Luna, he found her giggling loudly. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"You can deal with basilisk and demetors, but you get spooked by a little gnome!" Luna grinned.

Harry scowled and began searching for another tree. He found one right beside the frozen lake and examined the trunk before sitting down. He beckoned Luna to sit, and she frowned at something but came to sit beside him. "Do you know what we forgot Luna?" Harry asked suddenly.

"To say Merry Christmas to each other?" Luna replied.

"How'd you know?"

Luna shrugged. "Merry Christmas then Luna." Harry grinned.

Luna smiled, "Merry Christmas to you too."

Harry brought out a long narrow box and gave it to Luna. "This is…for me?" she asked, a little unsure.

"Of course."

Luna opened the box and gasped at what she saw. Lying in a soft velvet cushion was a necklace. Attached to the simple rope was what Luna assumed to be the moon though it wasn't a ball, the surface was bumpy, mirroring all the craters of the moon. "It's…beautiful," Luna gasped.

"It changes with the moon though. When the actual moon waxing and wanes, so will the charm. Do you like it though?" Harry asked worriedly.

"I love it!" Luna beamed, "Could you help me put it on?"

She lifted up her hair to revel the back of her back. Harry put his hands around her neck and tied the rope together, though he got a strong wisp of a flowery scent from Luna's hair. Without any thought, he suddenly blurted, "Your hair smells good!"

Luna smiled at him and said a quiet thanks. Then she reached into her robes and pulled out a small picture frame. "It isn't much," Luna said while handing it to him, "but I thought you'd like it."

Harry's eyes widened when he saw the picture and asked quietly, "Where'd you get this??"

"Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?! Why'd he never give it to me?"

"Said he forgot about it."

Harry turned back to the picture in his hands. Both his parents were waving at him in front of what he assumed to be his old house. But what surprised him the most, was seeing his baby self sitting happily on a big black dog, which only could have been Sirius Black. "Thank you…so much," Harry whispered.

"You're welcome," Luna smiled

They sat beside the tree until the full moon was high in the sky. Harry turned to Luna, and gasped at what he saw. She was looking at the moon, her hair turned silver in the moonlight, skin as white as paper. She looks like the moon goddess Harry thought, a little dazed. Luna turned her head towards him, and not wanting to be caught staring, Harry looked up, only to gasp again. On the branch above them, was a small mistletoe. After staring at it for a few seconds, he turned back towards her silvery blue eyes and whispered, "Nargles?"

"No," she whispered just as softly, not taking her eyes off him.

Harry noticed they were only a foot apart. "How do you know?"

"Does it matter?"

They leaned in at the same time, lips crashing together in both need and want. Harry expected it to be a simple friendly kiss, but what he got was so much more. As soon as he made contact, he put his arms around her, pulling her closer, and leaning into her to deepen the kiss. Luna seemed to react the same way. The only thought that involved Ginny was how much better this was.

When they finally broke apart gasping for air, Luna's red cheeks matched his. Still holding on to her, he whispered nervously, "Guessed we missed the mistletoe huh?"

Luna said nothing, but instead got up and slowly walked towards the castle. Harry followed her, and they both walked in silence to the Ravenclaw common room. At the entrance, she gave him a soft hug and leaned in to what Harry expected as her normal goodnight kiss. Instead however, she whispered into his ear, "I didn't"

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Harry felt awkward around Luna for the next few days, but if she noticed it or mirrored it, she didn't indicate it. Instead, she looked even more dreamy than usual, and talked more about the strange creatures her father told her about. Harry was thankful for the distraction, but felt guilty about kissing her like that when he was dating Ginny, even if it was under the mistletoe.

Neither of them mentioned the mistletoe incident, and neither would look straight into each other's eyes anymore. They still spent the rest of their holidays together, though frequent thoughts of Ginny and Luna occupied Harry's mind. His dreams were full of confusing images of kissing Ginny and then having her suddenly changed in Luna, and then shoved aside by Ginny. The dreams were different every night, but always revolved around the two girls.

On the last evening before students would be coming back to Hogwarts, Harry and Luna were sitting in the RoR once again, eating pumpkin pudding.

"Have a good winter break?" Harry inquired.

"Oh yes, your company made it very enjoyable," Luna replied while staring at her pudding.

Harry blushed a little as the mistletoe scene replayed in his head once more. "Erm, are you excited to see everyone tomorrow?"

"Well yes to our friends, but no to the people stealing my things and calling me "Loony""

"They still do that after what you did at the ministry?!" Harry said angrily.

Luna shrugged, "It doesn't really matter."

Harry placed his hand softly on hers. "It does matter to me and I'm sure Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Neville wouldn't think before hexing anyone that calls you loony."

Luna brought her eyes up to his. It was the first time they stared directly at one another since Christmas. "Thanks," she said softly before once more averting her gaze.

"No problem," Harry said whilst removing his hand from hers.

A sudden thought popped into his head. "You said you'd tell me before the end of the winter holidays whom it was you fancied. So who is it?"

Luna looked a little embarrassed, "You remembered? I was hoping you would forget…"

"Not a chance," Harry grinned.

"You really don't know who it is? I thought it was extremely obvious," Luna said in a serious tone, eyes once again on his.

Harry frowned and said also in a serious voice, "Luna, it isn't…"

"Yes Harry," Luna said bluntly, "The person I love is you."

Hehehehehehehehehe

I hoped you enjoyed that! I'd love to hear what you think, if you're still reading.

DNDK 38