Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own HP or any related characters. The plot is mine.
Notes: Okay. This was originally part of the third chapter, but I cut it out and made this its own chapter. Yes, it did make the previous chapter much shorter, but the section needed very heavy revising. So, I revised it, and now it is much longer and (I think) much better. I added some humor in the end, and I like the way it turned out. Chapter three was originally 7 and a half pages long, but I split it at the beginning, and chapter three became much shorter. The split chapter four was 4 and a half pages long, but now it's six pages long. I'll shut up now, so go on and enjoy the story! (BTW: Thanks to my great reviewers who enjoy this story!)
Luna's Crush
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Chapter 4: The Meeting
The following day's lessons went by quickly. For some reason, Harry was very excited about going to see Luna in the library.
Harry sat down for breakfast on the first day of his lessons, and started talking to Ron about Quidditch. Professor McGonagall came walking by with schedules.
"Hmm..." Harry said. "Looks like we've got Double Advanced Potions, Advanced Herbology, and Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Well, I suppose that means we'll see what that new teacher's like." Ron said. "D'you reckon Snape will be any harder on us now that we're in his N.E.W.T. classes?"
"Obviously," said Harry. All three of them had (by some miracle) managed to get 'Outstandings' on their O.W.L.s, and Harry was one step closer to becoming an Auror.
How right he was.
During Potions, Snape had once again assigned them an extremely complicated potion, which was used to cure all snake bites. At the final step, the potion was supposed to be dark purple and runny. Harry's however, was sky blue and rather thick. Hermione's was, as always, perfect, and Ron was having far worse problems than Harry—his potion was bright orange and was hissing loudly. After the lesson, everyone received an 18 inch essay on snake bite potions.
Herbology came next, and the Venomous Tentacula that they were working with were feeling extremely cranky. Harry had been lucky Hermione was there and had used her Diffindo spell to keep the plant from taking his finger off.
Harry's final class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, where the entire class was glad to discover that the teacher was much nicer than Umbridge, but she did give them a very difficult test to see what they had learned so far, and, she told them for homework to identify five different magical creatures and how to repel them.
The one great thing about all of this, including Potions, was that they no longer shared classes with Slytherin, and instead shared with Ravenclaw, which meant no more Malfoy, Crabbe, or Goyle making snide comments during classes.
After Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry began to walk to the library.
"Hey Harry!" Ron called out after him. "Where are you going?"
"To the library." He replied.
"I thought we were going to do homework in the common room!"
"Yeah—well... I just need to go to the library for something. I'll be back soon."
"Well, do you want us to come with you?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry said quickly. A little too quickly, because Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.
"Is it something about Ch--" Ron began, but Hermione dragged him away, knowing he was going to ask about Cho.
Harry hurried off to the library, and once he arrived, looked around for Luna. He found her sitting at a table almost hidden by a bookshelf. As he neared the table, Luna looked up and smiled.
"Hello Harry." She said, in her normal dreamy voice.
"Hi Luna," Harry said, sitting down next to her. "So... Luna. You wanted me to meet you here?"
"Yes," she said. She sighed. "There are a couple of things I wanted to ask you."
"Okay.... What are they?" Harry asked.
"Well, I wanted to know if you...." she paused. "If you wanted to help me with my schoolwork, as it is O.W.L. year for me." She said rather quickly.
Harry was positive this wasn't what she intended to say.
"Yeah, sure. Of course." He said. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask?"
"Not really...." she began. "Oh, Harry. I know this is going to sound silly, but... Well, I'm not sure if you've noticed.... But... um--" she hesitated.
"Yes?" Harry said, rather confused.
"Harry," she said, looking tense. "I... I think I have a crush on you."
Blink Blink. Whoa. Weird.
"And..." she continued, pausing very often. "And I wanted to know if," she lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "Harry, do you like me?
Another blink. It took Harry's brain about five seconds to process what he was hearing.
"Uh—er.... What?" he stammered, blinking many time to make sure he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. This was Luna Lovegood, right?
"Do you like me?" she repeated, though Harry's stammering and confusion had told her the answer.
Harry opened his mouth. Closed it. Blinked. Opened it and closed it again. Blinked again.
She was his friend.... But girlfriend? I mean, she's nice and kinda pretty too, he thought. But girlfriend?
Luna lost it.
"Forget it." She said loudly, not at all sounding like her usual self. "Forget it. Forget I said it. I'm not sure why I became stupid enough to ask.." She got up, turned around, and began to walk away.
Harry opened his mouth to call her back, but he couldn't find the words. He sat there and watched Luna walk away out of the library and out of sight.
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But... girlfriend?!?
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CLIFFHANGER!!!!! Mwahahahaha!!!
Wow! Kick ass, that chapter went pretty good, I think. Poor Luna, but who knows? This may be resolved in the next chapter, or the one after that, or the one after that.....
Anyway, please review and give many any suggestions you may have. I hope all of you are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing this! So, without further ado....
Word Count (I'll do this at the end of each chapter): 817 NEW RECORD!