May 2004

Rolf cleared his throat and Luna jumped, pulled from her swirling thoughts that all revolved around Harry. Meeting his eyes, Luna felt the heat rise to her cheeks as she realized that Rolf knew she had not been paying any attention to his partnership proposal. He smiled kindly at her – he was always kind to her – and ran his long fingers through his curly hair.

"Would you like to reschedule to meet at another time? I can see you're preoccupied and I know how busy you are. I completely understand if you have other prior commitments to see to and I don't want to take up any of your-"

Luna interrupted him by leaning across the table and laying a hand on his wrist, which caused a nervous twitch in Rolf's wrist. Luna pulled back. "I'm sorry, Rolf. I am preoccupied but it was rude of me to let my mind wander. What were you saying? We'd leave from London and travel to Serbia…" Luna said, prompting Rolf to pick up where he left off in conversation. He smiled happily at her and Luna couldn't fight the small smile that spread across her lips in response Rolf's giddiness.

"That is correct. We'd begin our travels there, though I don't believe we'll spend much time in that area. There are only a few species that I'd like to track down there and I'm not entirely sure if there is any fauna that you'd be particularly interested in." Rolf paused, a worry frown erasing his earlier excitement. "In fact, well, you don't have to come to Serbia at all," he chuckled nervously and pulled out a small notebook out of his breast pocket. He produced a Muggle's pen and scratched a note to himself. Luna raised her eyebrow.

"I've never seen a wizard use Muggle parchment before," she remarked. Rolf glanced up and blinked at her. His cheeks burned red.

"Oh, er, well. I… I s'pose I just like the feel of the pen on the paper. My father used to carry a diary around and it just became habit. I guess it is rather odd…" Rolf frowned at his tiny, well-loved notebook in self-doubt. Luna couldn't suppress another smile.

"I apologize if it seems as though I'm criticizing you. I'm not at all, I promise you that. I just found it interesting. But, anyway. Serbia? I am not terribly familiar with that part of the world and its indigenous vegetation, although I'd be happy to write to Neville and see if he'd have any information for me."

"Professor Longbottom?" Rolf asked. Luna nodded and smiled at Rolf once more.

"Yes, we were friends while at Hogwarts together," Luna confirmed. Rolf nodded vigorously.

"I know," he said quickly. "I mean… I know that you were friends. I remember seeing the two of you together at school. I mean not together together, but it seemed like you were friends. Really close friends actually." Rolf stopped himself and chuckled nervously. His hands migrated to the paper napkin next to his abandoned plate and Luna watched as he began to methodically shred the napkin to tiny bits. "And now I've made myself seem like a stalker," he muttered.

"Not a stalker," Luna replied.

"Okay, maybe not a stalker but weird, you know?" Rolf said, his cheeks flushed and his eyes fixed on the napkin that was quickly disintegrating. He let out a frustrated sigh and balled his hands into fists. "I had this entire proposal ready and prepared in my mind. I'd practiced it at least fifty times this morning. I knew exactly what I was going to say to you and how I was going to say it. And look at me. I'm so nervous," he said softly, so quietly that Luna almost didn't hear him. She peered at him curiously. For the first time in days, she forgot to obsess over Harry Potter.

"Why are you nervous?" she asked, watching Rolf's reaction. He let out a slow and steady breath, and flexed his balled fingers. It was obvious that he was trying to force himself to calm down. Luna felt the urge to chuckle at his behavior – half out of bewilderment and half because of sheer confusion. In all of her interactions with Rolf Scamander – which had been few, admittedly – Luna could not account for this version of the man who was sitting in front of her. In all of his letters and in their earlier short conversations, Rolf had exuded politeness and professionalism almost to a fault. In fact, Luna had serious doubts about whether she could stomach a several months long trip with such a stiff and, well, boring person. But this Rolf Scamander was an enigma to her.

He is cute – no, Luna corrected her thoughts – he is handsome. She could admit that and only feel marginally guilty about assessing another man's looks. Luna fought to keep Harry away from her mind and turned her attentions back to Rolf. Rolf was tall in a way that would make for a gangly teenager which she had no trouble picturing him as. But apparently aging had been good for him and what could be a lanky build turned into a subtly toned build. Rolf had the musculature of a man who spent hours outdoors, working with his own two hands. His skin was tanned and his mess of curly brown hair was streaked with shots of gold.

Rolf turned his gaze towards Luna and locked eyes with her. She sucked in a breath as she realized how intently he was staring at her. Luna watched his emotions battle across his face and yet, his eyes never wavered from hers.

"You know," he said quietly. "You're Luna Lovegood. How could I not be nervous around you?" He shrugged and once more pushed his fingers through his hair. Luna stared at Rolf in utter confusion.

"I don't understand," she murmured.

"You're Luna Lovegood," he repeated himself. "You're one of the most intelligent and innovative people in our world. You're brave and you-"

"I'm not brave," Luna said, chuckling but stopped short when Rolf nodded his head vigorously.

"But you are, Luna," Rolf insisted. "You are your own person and you never apologize for it. You've continued The Quibbler and you've maintained its integrity. You stand firmly on your beliefs and you make no apologies for it. Merlin, you're one of the most amazing, awe inspiring women that I've ever had the honor to meet. And you're kind. If only you knew how much kindness means to a person like me. I wasn't like you in school. I didn't have a ton of friends and we both know how mean teenagers can be to each other. But you were always so kind, despite it all. Despite everything that went on with the War and you were right there in the midst of it. How can you say that you're not brave? You're one of the bravest people I know." Rolf stopped his rant and bit down on his bottom lip, as if fighting against another string of compliments aimed at Luna.

"I…" Luna began but found that she had no idea how to respond. She could not remember the last time she had been so completely complimented by another person, and Rolf spoke of her with adoration. Luna wasn't sure if the fluttering in her stomach was caused by Rolf himself or the mere fact that she had never heard a man, save her father, speak about her the way that Rolf did. For one painful, fleeting second Harry's face flashed across her mind but Luna willfully pushed him – and the accompanying disappointment – away.

Once more, Rolf roused her from her thoughts but this time it was because he was pushing his chair away from the table to leave. "I'm so, so sorry, Luna. I have no idea what came over me right there. If by some divine miracle, you're still interested in my silly little adventure idea… well, I'll be sending you an owl in a few days." Rolf stood quickly and pulled a few crumpled bills from his pocket. Dropping them on the table, he offered Luna an apologetic smile. "I understand if you aren't though. Thanks for your time, Miss Lovegood." And with that, Rolf turned on his heel and walked out of the small café.

It only took Luna twenty seconds to realize what she was about to do and jumped up, chasing after Rolf for fear that he would Apparate before she could catch him.

"Rolf!" she called, hoping that he would hear her over the din of the busy London streets. She watched him pause, sigh, and turn back to face her. His hands were stuffed deeply down into the front pockets of his corduroy pants, and he kicked nervously at the sidewalk with the toe of his left shoe. After a moment, he began to walk back to her.

"Yeah?" he asked, timid. He fixed his eyes on the pattern of Luna's hand bag – a wild tangle of flowers.

"Rolf. If you're not busy tomorrow night… I was hoping that you'd accompany me to a party," Luna asked, suddenly nervous. "I bought a new dress and everything but my date… well, it just didn't work out. But if you're busy," Luna paused, and laughed shortly. "You have to be busy. Who gives one day's notice?"

"I'm not busy," Rolf said quickly. "I'm not busy at all. I'd love to come with you. Just tell me when and where, and I'll be there for you."

Luna smiled at Rolf and for one fleeting second, she felt a tidal wave of guilt crash over her. She was using Rolf… wasn't she? To get back at Harry? Luna pushed the thoughts aside and reassured herself. No. I actually like Rolf. I'm not worrying about Harry's feelings anymore, she promised herself. It is time to start worrying about myself.