Hermione sighed as she looked across the table at the form of her best friend. There would be no problem with what she had been feeling. It was only natural to feel a certain attraction to her best friend after all they had lived through. Especially since Harry had more than once saved her life.
At least that's what she wanted to tell herself, save for the fact that Harry was no longer the boy he had once been, in a very literal sense. A few weeks ago, he had been turned into a girl through some strange unknown magic. So this burning feeling of love and unrelenting hormone driven lust filled dreams about her best friend were not normal. After all, she had never felt anything like this for any other girl before, but then again she had never felt this way for any boy either.
It was while watching Harry reach out and sip her glass of pumpkin juice that she knew she was in trouble. Imagining those luscious lips closing with her own, gasping in pleasure as the light faded around them enveloping the two of them in its tender embrace of secrecy. The heat of their bodies building to a fevered pitch as they explored each other's supple flesh.
"So, either you missed your potion and are using a glamor, or you're having a problem with the fact Harry is a girl now," a voice observed nearby, "What's wrong with liking a girl, there's a cute redhead a few seats down..."
At that, Ginny suddenly choked on her pumpkin juice, clearly having heard the comment. Hermione however turned to look at Luna who had seated herself next to her. "No Luna, I do not have a problem with Harry being a girl, and I told you the entire me taking a potion to not be a cat is a rumor. Can I help you?"
"Your rumored potion is in the library's research section hidden in a book that is supposedly the Life And Times Of A Muggle In The Wizarding World," Luna observed, "No-one would ever read something that trashy, right?"
Hermione counted to twenty before responding to the dreamy-eyed blonde. "No Luna, they wouldn't... now, why do you think that I have a problem with Harry being a girl now?"
"You're in heat," Luna answered simply, "It's admittedly a lot more obvious when you're off your potion, but I can smell it from the other end of the room."
"Luna, I am not in heat. First it's the wrong season for any creature to be in heat, save for the Southern Nile Sphinx, and humans don't have oestrus cycles," Hermione explained calmly as she pushed herself away from the table and started walking away.
"No, they just smell like they want to fuck their best friend's brains out," Luna replied cheerfully, "You have a very familiar scent when you're aroused. I can tell it apart from Ginny and other girls... Admittedly, when Ms. Pince has to use an air freshening potion to get it out of the smells in the library every few weeks, it gets very familiar very fast."
"Luna, drop it!" Hermione snapped as she got out of the Great Hall, her eyes drifting towards where Harry still sat at the table. "I do not have a heat cycle, I do not have a crush on my best friend, and Madame Pince does not have to use an air freshening potion when I leave the library!"
"Well, anyway, I'm going to go see if Ginny wants me to help her do some biology study, and I'll meet you later, when you find out that I replaced your potion with normal water." Luna stated, before walking off.
Hermione's eye twitched before she walked off towards the Gryffindor tower, she just couldn't figure out why nothing seemed to get Luna to stop with her crazy ideas... Of course, she'd get back to trying after getting Madame Pomfrey to replace the potion Luna ruined. It wasn't cheap to do. Just all the people she had to bribe to hide the potions in the library was annoying in and of itself.
Two hours later, she cornered Luna in an abandoned classroom with her claws... err nails digging into the wood of the door as she closed it. "Luna... you and I have some things to talk about..."
"Just as I expected." Luna said, repairing the damage Hermione caused, "So, What first?"
"That potion you tampered with is expensive to obtain, and even more so to hide, please leave it alone in the future," Hermione explained calmly, fighting the inner urge to take the price out of Luna's skin, especially from that oh so dreamy expression she always wore.
"And I actually just gave it back to Madame Pomfrey." Luna explained, "I wanted to see if you were really fooling."
"I'm not fooling..." Hermione started before sighing. "The second thing I wanted to talk to you about is actually about what you were trying to say earlier... I do not have a crush on Harry. I have become obsessed with Harry in his- her new form."
"So, What are you going to do about how many of your little secrets I know?" Luna asked slyly with a devious smile, "I have to be honest, I'm a secrets broker."
"I'm going to trust you to keep them secret," Hermione said after a moment, sighing softly, "You are not the type to go out of your way to hurt the ones you consider friends, and I hope I am lucky enough to be in that group."
"A secrets broker is not someone who gives away secrets. They make it their job to know them," Luna responded cryptically, before walking from the room, "If you want a better place to deal with your... furry problems, there's an empty room on the third floor that has a disused library in it. Don't understand why, but the books only need a good scourgify to get them presentable."
"Luna..." Hermione started softly before hugging her from behind, "Promise me this, you will not speak of the secrets you believe I'm hiding to Harry."
"Oh, Hermione, I don't believe you're hiding any secrets..." Luna purred, smirking before she dropped the bombshell, "I KNOW you're hiding them."
"Just... don't tell Harry... please," Hermione asked in a broken, defeated tone.
"If I wanted to see you like this, I'd have brought a collar and have not just given Pomfrey back your potion." Luna snapped, before adding, somewhat tenderly, "Think of me as the world's most unbreakable Fidelius. I have so much rubbish in my head, the hundreds of secrets I know are never found."
Hermione released Luna and sighed as she looked out the window, where she could watch Harry flying around on the Quidditch pitch. The beautiful woman was soaring and dancing upon the air like a bird upon the thermals. Putting her hand to the window she sighed heavily as she felt heart tightening once again.
When she turned away from the window, Luna was gone, and there was no signs she'd ever been there...
"Harry... I... I love you..." she whispered to the air, allowing herself to give a small smile.
