Harry couldn't stop wrestling with the thought of Luna as his girlfriend, and it cost him dearly the next day during his Potions test. He couldn't remember a single detail about general antidotes, and he was certain that he was going to fail miserably. His mind was so far removed from Potions that he accidentally wrote "Luna" down as one of the answers, and was forced to whisper "Evanesco" and precisely point his wand to remove the ink.
Not a second too soon, the clock signaled the end of the class, and everyone rushed to put their test paper on Snape's desk.
"How do you think you did?" Hermione asked him, scanning her parchment for any last-minute mistakes.
"Terrible," Harry said, "I couldn't remember anything, but it doesn't matter. I would fail Potions anyway, it's all Snape's doing."
Hermione pursed her lips. "I'll tell you what," she whispered, making sure Snape wasn't listening to them, "You can copy my notes for the next chapter, and I'll help you study. If you know what you're doing and you still get a bad mark, we'll know whose fault it is."
"Alright, sounds great, thanks," Harry replied. Both of them put their papers on the top of the stack and left for Divination.
"So, are you nervous about asking Luna to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked, rearranging her hefty load of books in her bag.
"No," Harry replied quickly. "I told you, I don't fancy her. We're just going to talk normally, like you and I do."
"Alright then," she said, "But I'll be waiting after class to hear about it."
"Welcome, class, settle in," Professor Trelawney announced, once everyone was inside the stifling room, foggy with the smoke of incense. Harry looked over and saw Luna, leaning her head on her hand, gazing dreamily into the fireplace. He had no sense of how long he had been staring at her, he had been entranced by the way the flames flickered in her eyes.
Trelawney started again, "Today, we'll divert from dreams and go back to the crystal. This should be review for everyone, as the crystal ball is a third-year discipline."
"Great," Hermione groaned. Harry remembered just how strong her negative reaction to crystal gazing was two years back.
For about an hour, the two of them stared blankly into the glass orb. "This is stupid," Hermione said bluntly, "I can't believe they teach this load of tosh at Hogwarts, I mean --"
"Wait," Harry said, "I think I'm getting something. Come to this side, maybe you can see it too."
Hermione got up and looked over his shoulder at the crystal ball. "Oh yeah," she said, "I think I see it too. A raven or something, right? It looks like a black bird."
"Black?" Harry replied, confused. "No, it's not black. Definitely white, like a dove."
"Are you sure?" Hermione said. "That's really weird." She grabbed her Divination textbook, leafing through to the section on animals seen while crystal gazing.
"Animals, B, bats, bears, birds," she said, reading aloud from the index of animals. "Alright, it says here that the crow is a symbol of death, but the dove represents growth and life."
"Great, now you're predicting my death also, I think I have enough of that."
"I didn't mean it that way, that's just what it says here," Hermione retorted apologetically. "Oh wait, it says here that death isn't it's only meaning, it could also mean the end of anything."
"So that's the end of something for you, or me?" Harry said.
"I think it's the end of something for me," Hermione said. "I might have an idea of what it is."
"And what's your idea?" Harry asked, "You're not leaving Hogwarts or anything, are you?"
"No, it's not that," Hermione replied. She sighed uncomfortably before saying, "Nothing, nevermind."
Although they were already finished with the day's task, the two of them sat silently and stared fixedly into the crystal ball, pretending to try and see some more clues.
Harry continued his mental struggle. "Ron's right, I can't be with her. She's practically the laughingstock of the school! There are plenty of better girls. Padma Patil's not that bad, --"
"Hey Harry," Luna said, removing him from his daydream by tapping him on the shoulder, "Have you been able to see anything in there?"
"Erm, no, not really," Harry lied, not wanting to hint at his thoughts about her.
"Must be a moogan," she said matter-of-factly, "They slip inside crystal balls and stop them from showing anything. You know, the only way to get rid of one is to wash the crystal ball in a bowl of cold tomato soup some time in late June. They like the smell, and summer is when they're most active."
"Really," Harry said flatly, quite disillusioned with another story of her imaginary creatures. Was he really going to ask her to Hogsmeade?
"Alright everyone, our time has been spent," Trelawney said, much more teacher-ish than usual,"Write down what you saw in the crystals, and prepare an analysis over the weekend for presentation on Monday."
As the students gathered their books and filed down the trapdoor, Harry caught up to Luna. "Hey," he said, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she replied.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Harry said coolly, thankful that the nerves he had with Cho didn't show themselves when he talked to Luna.
"Yes," she said, curious. "Why do you ask?"
Those nerves he thought were absent suddenly appeared. Why did he have to get tongue-tied now? "Well, er, could I meet you somewhere, you know, once we get there? For being friends, we really don't talk much to each other, and I'd like to."
The charm and radiance of her smile made him weak in the knees. Why all of the sudden did he feel so strongly about her, when only yesterday he listed all her traits that he disliked? "Alright, great," he said, "How about I meet you out in front of the Three Broomsticks?"
"Sounds good to me," Luna said, giggling as she walked away, "See you there Harry!"
"Yeah," Harry said, smiling to himself, "See you there."
"So," Hermione said as Harry stepped through the portrait hole, "Are you meeting Luna somewhere in Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
"Yeah, in front of The Three Broomsticks. We'll probably just have a few butterbeers and chat for awhile, I'll probably try and find you guys eventually."
"Ooh, are you sure you don't want to go to the coffee shop and snog?" Ron asked in a sophomoric tone.
"I'm telling you," Harry said, heat rising in his face, "We're not going to snog."
"Don't worry, we won't bother you," Hermione said, noticing his red cheeks and grinning, "Will we, Ron?"
"Oh no, definitely not," he said mischievously. "Seriously though, you're all right. We'll leave you two lovebirds alone."