Finally!! The wait is over! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm so happy to be done with Year Four—I only put it in there for background information.

Okay. Here you go!

Oh, and by the way, I'm cancelling the poll. I'll have you vote when we get to seventh year. Okay… enjoy!

Fifth Year

Luna Lovegood hurried into a room that Hermione said they should meet. She stepped inside and touched her hand to the diamond necklace she wore, glittering on her chest. A small, secretive smile light up her face and she joined her friends. Luna ducked her head shyly.

She had come alone, without Ginny, oddly enough, because she had been in the Owlery, and Ginny had been in the Common Room. "Hello, Hermione," Luna greeted her friend.

"Luna," Hermione cried, hugging the girl. "It's great to see you. Come on in…. quickly, now…."

Luna stepped in to the wand, hung up her coat on the rack with a flick of her wand, and greeted Ginny, who was talking to Dean.

Gin walked over to Luna. "Where were you?"

"Oh, the Owlery," Luna replied. "Had to send a letter home."

Once the DA lesson was over, Luna hurried out of the crowd and out of the castle. She loved DA more then anything—almost. There was one thing—or, more specifically, one person—that she loved being with even more than she loved going to DA with all her best friends. She passed the greenhouses and was still running when she caught sight of a tall figure in black robes leaning against them.

He smirked teasingly at her. "Someone's eager to see someone."

Luna laughed, stepped forward, and kissed him. "Yes, I am," she murmured, their fingers intertwining as the kissed again. "Now, come on, you! Someone's going to, A, see us and B, tell on us."

"No one will," he replied with a laugh. "You're so paranoid."

"You ought to be more worried," she scolded him, still tugging on his arm. "Considering you're the one who doesn't want anyone knowing."

He laughed. "I would think that you wouldn't want your friends knowing."

"Oh, shut up," Luna snapped at him, pulling him into the safe, shady spot under a tree. "Maybe I don't—you don't want yours knowing. After all, you are a Dark wizard," she teased him happily, reaching over to grab his hand.

"Sure I am."

"Of course!"

"I swear, Luna, you are so full of it."

She laughed. "I know."

They talked, laughed and kissed for the next thirty minutes under their willow tree. Its long branches blew serenely with the wind, creating a kind of music swirling around them. They were the very picture of a perfect, happy couple—except for the fact that they were a secret.

"Love you, Luna Lovegood," he said as he helped her up with a sweet smile.

"Love you," she replied, tapping his nose with her pointer finger, "Draco Malfoy."

* * *

"Hey, guys," Hermione whispered as she appeared at the entrance to the Prefect's Bathroom. She glanced around at her friends. "Where's Luna?"

"I have no idea," Ginny replied truthfully. "I really haven't seen that much of her lately. I mean, during the night we usually go do something, but she's gone, we don't come to DA together, she's late to our meetings…"

"When the three of us tried to plan that Hogsmeade trip," Parvati added in, "remember how she said she couldn't come? That she was staying home to study or something."

"She's been really MIA lately," Hermione agreed.

"Mia?" asked Ginny, confused.

"Yeah. It means missing in action," Hermione explained. "Well, we can't go in without her. She'd be stuck out here." She sighed. "We really need to tell her to get here earlier."

Right on cue, Luna barreled into the trio, panting. Her face was flushed and red, but her eyes were bright with happiness. "I'm so sorry," she gasped to her friends, clutching her side and trying to catch her breath. "Almost got… caught," she lied.

"Oh! Filch?" asked Parvati.

Luna nodded. She waited to calm down, then whispered, "Let's get inside before he comes after me again," she insisted, and was the first through the door after Hermione said the password.

"Jesus, Luna," Ginny yawned. "Filch's got a bad leg, and there's only so fast a cripple can move." Ginny, who had lost her awkwardness and shyness over the summer of fourth year, fluidly sat Indian style, tossed back her fiery orange hair, and rolled her eyes at her best friend.

Luna also looked ten times better than last year. Her hair had grown out, she'd gotten side bangs, and grown a few inches. She looked beautiful and elegant in a dreamy sort of way. She sat too, with her legs folded to the left side, and giggled. "He wasn't far behind," she defended herself.

Hermione frowned at them. "Come on. Oath time, remember?"

The two girls stood up, swore on their honors with Hermione and Parvati, and then sat back down.

"Parvati, you first," Ginny instructed with a smile.

"Nothing much," Parvati said. "Only Dean asked me out to Hogsmeade," she giggled happily. "He did it as we were both leaving DA. I'd been thinking he might be interested, and I pretended to be talking to Harry, and I saw him hanging back, but Harry said he had to leave—get to class—and then it was just me and him. Then he just asked me!"

"That's awesome," Ginny told her with a grin. "Nothing much is going on with me. Harry's so interested in Cho, I don't think he's going to notice at all, no matter how I change." She sighed.

Hermione put her hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Don't you change yourself for Harry. Don't change yourself for anyone."

Ginny smiled gratefully. "What about you?"

"You guys know how I like Ron, But Viktor is so sweet, and kind to me. He would know how to be a good boyfriend, and I think that over the summer I will go see him—but only for a week." Hermione paused, biting her lip. "I mean, it's really not fair to string him along, is it? I really, really like him, but I really, really like Ron too."

She shrugged guiltily. "When I visit him, I'm sure he's going to ask me… to be his girlfriend. I'm going to explain that I really like him, but I'm not ready for that yet."

Parvati leaned forward. "Are you going to ask him to wait?"

"Wait for what?"

"Well, you're not ready for a relationship, right? So are you going to ask him to wait until you are? Because then when you are you have no choice but to be with him, and maybe by then you'll have someone else," she clarified.

"Oh." Hermione thought. "I don't really think its fair to ask him to wait."

Ginny nodded in agreement.

"Luna?" Hermione asked the girl, who had been quiet during the whole conversation. "Anything new?"

Luna turned back to the group. "You know me—head in the clouds, not on Cloud Nine."

They giggled, but Ginny turned to the blond girl. "What about Neville?"

"Neville? No. I'm over him," Luna clarified. She smiled. "I've been over him for a while."

"Well, you should have told us!" Hermione said. "That's what this is for."

Luna smiled sweetly at her friends. "It's not a big deal, especially compared to everything that you guys have going on. But, you know, it's not so huge." She shrugged.

"It is big," Parvati insisted. "You are a big deal, Luna. You're our friend. And just because we talk about ourselves a lot, doesn't mean we aren't interested about your stuff, too." She smiled encouragingly at her shy friend. "You can tell us anything."

* * *

Luna hugged her books to her chest and walked faster down the corridor. Parvati's words echoed in her head, making her sick to her stomach. How long had she been dating Draco? How long had she been lying to her friends? Since forever, it seemed. Since she'd started to have feelings for him. Since they'd started going out.

Luna hadn't felt guilty before—she'd been too happy to feel guilty. She loved Draco, she really did. But she couldn't tell her friends. It would hurt them so much. She loved them. And it would hurt them that she was going out with Draco Malfoy—for God's sake, they hated him. She couldn't stand it. The people she loved hated each other.

Parvati's words made her sick.

You are a big deal, Luna. You're our friend. And just because we talk about ourselves a lot, doesn't mean we aren't interested about your stuff, too. You can tell us anything.

You can tell us anything.

Sure I can, Luna thought bitterly to herself. I can tell Hermione I'm in love with a guy who calls her Mudblood. I can tell Ron and Ginny I'm dating someone who makes fun of their wealth and their red ahir and freckles. I'll just go ahead and let Harry know that I'm secretly seeing his enemy who made fun of his dead mother and father.

Sure I can.

Luna's sadness soon became anger. Why should she have to lie to them? Why should she have to be going around in secret?

Once she reached the tree, Luna was boiling mad. Draco was leaning against the tree comfortably.

"Hey, sweetie," he greeted her.

"Don't you go doing that!" she said vehemently.

"Doing what?" he asked, hands up, palms facing her, a bewildered expression on his pale face.

"Calling me 'sweetie' and being all kind and perfect and sweet!" she ranted. "I can't stand it! I just can't lie to them anymore! I can't sneak around, and I can't pretend like nothing's wrong anymore!" She paused and bit her lip. "I can't come here with you and be happy, because I'm not! I not happy, Draco."

"Luna—," Draco tried, but she took a threatening step forward and he fell silent.

"Don't! I'm not happy lying to the people that I love. And I can't spend time with them without feeling guilty." She shook her head. "A girl needs girlfriends—people that she can talk to and they can talk to her. People to depend on and laugh with. I needs guy friends, too! I need my friends, and I just…"

Tears began to fall.

He started forward, hugged her close.

She rested her head and against his strong chest for a second or two before pulling away. She wiped at the tears hastily and took a couple steps back.

"It's fine. I'm just feeling really tense right now. We're good, just—just forget it. I'll see you later."

With that, she turned and ran back to the castle, the tears flowing freely behind her, leaving Draco behind.

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