A/N: Don't own Harry Potter.
This chapter is dedicated to TARABLACK12! What can I say? You're always so excited to read what I have to say next and reviewed a bunch of times. Oh, yea and this is "your chapter" because I decided to put you in it. Your character's last name is a tribute to Mikey.
So, on with the story!
"There you two are! I turned around and both of you were gone!" Hermione said from across the common room. "Guess what I just heard! Neville asked Ginny to go to Hogsmeade! Isn't that wonderful?"
Smiling quickly at Ron, Harry turned to Hermione. "Wow, that's great! I'm happy for them."
Hermione was glowing. "I know! It really is adorable. Well, then I guess it's just going to be the three of us then."
Ron and Harry looked at eachother. From the look in Ron's face, Harry knew he wanted him to tell Hermione about Luna.
"Oh, about that. The reason I left the Great Hall tonight was to ask Luna if she would go to Hogsmeade with me. And she said yes! So, I'm afraid I won't be able to go with you two."
Hermione looked slightly disappointed. "Oh, well, good for you Harry! You two will have a great time. Looks like it's just you and me, Ron."
"Looks that way" said Ron. And sure enough they heard something they were hoping they wouldn't.
"We should use tonight to get a head start on some of our work. I'm going to go grab my Ancient Runes books." Before either of them could protest, Hermione disappeared up the stairs.
Sighing, Ron and Harry went up to their dormitory and grabbed their Transfiguration books. Maybe if they humored her for the night, they could avoid doing work the next day.
The weekend passed slowly; a blur of essays, chess, and Exploding Snaps. Harry found it hard to concentrate the whole week. His mind kept travelling to Saturday and the Hogsmeade trip. He couldn't help but think back to the disaster that was his last date in Hogsmeade. He was hoping this time would go much better than that fiasco with Cho. What was more, Tuesday morning Ron got an owl from George telling them there would be a big surprise in Hogsmeade that weekend. That made him anticipate the day even more, hoping that it wasn't something the twins had decided to add to Harry's date. Before he knew it, he was waking up with butterflies in his stomach. The day had arrived.
He sat up in bed and was shocked to find everyone was already up and out of the dormitory. He was even more shocked to see Ron sitting across the room on his bed, staring blankly out the window.
"You okay, Ron?" Harry asked, bringing him out of his daze. Ron snapped his head around, startled to hear his voice.
"Oh! How long you been up?"
"Just a minute. Looks like a nice day, huh?"
Ron looked back out the window. The sky was a brilliant shade of light blue, the sun was shining brightly, and there were few clouds in the sky. If it wasn't the middle of winter, it would have been the perfect spring day.
"Yea, it's okay. I'm so nervous about today, Harry. I know I'm going to get tongue-tied and make a fool of myself " Ron said, staring at his blanket.
"Don't worry! Just relax, act normal... as much as you can, anyway. I know you're gonna be nervous. Just do the best you can. You'll be fine."
Ron sighed heavily. Harry crossed his fingers and silently hoped that everything would go right for Ron. "Well, we better get ready."The two dressed and went down into the common room.
"Well, I'm going down to meet Luna now. Good luck with today."
Ron gave Harry a weak smile. "Thanks, mate. See you later." Harry climbed out of the portrait hole and made his way down to the entrance hall. He looked for Luna as he made his way down the last staircase and froze. She was standing across the hall, looking at a painting. He had never seen anyone look so beautiful in such a casual way. Her long, wavy hair was down; the hair around her face pulled back and secured with a barette. She was wearing a denim skirt that fell a couple of inches above the knees, black stockings, and black boots. He noticed she had changed the laces today to match her shirt, which was dark pink. That infamous bottlecap necklace was replaced by a silver chain with a small stone pendant. She looked away from the painting and noticed Harry watching her. She smiled and waved for him to come join her.
"This is a portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. She reminds me of my mother in a strange way." Luna said to him.
Harry looked at the portrait. He was surprised to see Rowena and Luna actually did look similar. He assumed that Luna must look like her mother then. Rowena was sitting on a red, velvet chair and smiling gently at them. Her hair was lighter than Luna's, much longer, but the same wavy texture. Her eyes were a piercing blue color. Her skin was a flawless creamy color, much like Luna's, and both had the same smile.
"Luna, was your mother in Ravenclaw when she went to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"Of course! Her side of the family were all Ravenclaws. My dad's family varied, never in Slytherin, of course. But my mother's family prided themselves on knowledge and cleverness. Daddy said she would have been so proud when he found out I was placed in Ravenclaw."
Harry saw sadness flicker in her eyes. He took her hand put his other under her chin. "She is proud of you, Luna. I'm sure she watches you everyday. Want to head off now?"
She smiled sadly at him. "Yea, let's go."
When they got into Hogsmeade, they saw a large crowd gathered around one of the shops. They looked quizzically at eachother. Harry had a gut feeling it had something to do with the Weasley twins. They got closer and looked at the sign on the window. In big, gold letters were the words: Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. A banner was hanging above the door with the words 'Grand Opening' in red letters. Harry smiled. He took Luna's hand so they wouldn't get separated and went inside the shop.
They weaved their way through students admiring the merchandise and went to the counter at the back of the store. A young, pretty witch was standing there. She had very long, very curly auburn hair and big hazel eyes. When she saw them, she gave them a huge smile. "Why, top o' the mornin' to ya! Have a good look around?" she said in a heavy Irish accent.
"The shop is brilliant! Um... I'm a friend of the Weasley's. Is Fred or George here?" he asked.
"George is. I'll call him for ya. GEORGE?" she said into the back of the store. George emerged, carrying a large box. The minute he saw Harry, he put the box down and walked over to him.
"Harry! Nice of you to come to our fine establishment! Old man Zonko told us he was thinking of retiring, so Fred and I decided to expand." he said.
"Where's Fred?" Harry asked.
"Well, Fred is at our shop in Diagon Alley holding things down there. You know, Angelina works there, too. I know I shouldn't tell you this, but he's going to propose to her any day now. Try to act surprised when he tells you, and don't tell Mum, okay?"
He turned to the girl at the counter. "This boy is as good as my brother! Harry, this is Tara Murphy. Tara, this is Harry Potter." The two shook hands.
"Wow, a pleasure to meet ya, Harry." She said.
"Same here." he said. So as not to be rude, he added "And this is Luna. Luna Lovegood."
The girls shook hands as George turned to Harry. "Where the bloody hell are my brother and sister? Didn't they come with you?"
Harry knew he couldn't tell George about Ron's "date". He would definately do something to embarass Ron. Harry decided to leave that part out. "Well, Luna and I are here together and Neville and Ginny are here together. We all went our separate ways, so we won't probably see eachother most of the day. I'm sure Ron and Hermione will be here at some point. Hard to miss, really.'
George smiled. "Well, just in case, I've thought of something that I'm sure will make certain not one person misses the Grand Opening." Harry knew that mishevious look all too well. George picked up the box he was carrying and motioned for Harry and Luna to follow him. Harry and Luna waved good-bye to Tara and the three made their way out of the shop and stood outside the entrance.
"Isn't Tara a looker?" George asked as he fumbled with the contents of the box.
"Erm... yea, she's pretty." Harry said.
"I've been thinking of asking her out. You know, she's been helping me put this store together for a couple of weeks now. I met her in London, she was in the Diagon Alley store. She told me about how she was new to England, needed a job and a place to stay and stuff. I told her that I would hire her if she wouldn't mind working in Hogsmeade. I really like her. Plus, with Fred getting engaged and all I need to start stepping up in the lady department." George pulled a handfull of what looked like large, dark blue gumdrops from the box. He handed one to Harry, one to Luna, and pulled out his wand.
"What are these?" Harry asked.
"These are special fireworks. I bewitched them this morning so that when they explode, they'll display whatever I want. What you do is you hold them in your hand, mutter a simple spell and then throw them straight up into the air. They gather momentum and then shoot to the sky and explode. You don't have to throw them very hard, they'll get up there. It's just important that you aim them up. They shoot the direction you throw them, and we wouldn't want to go blowing up all of Hogwarts, would we?" Harry was about to disagree, because as George said this he caught a glimpse of Malfoy entering Honeydukes down the street.
"Well, ready to get the fun started?" George asked. "Now, once they turn purple, just toss them lightly up. They'll do the rest themselves. Put your hands close together, I can set them both off at the same time." Harry and Luna did so, George muttered the word "Ignatio" at their fireworks and then again quickly at his. They turned a light shade of purple, and they tossed them. As soon as they did, the fireworks shot up. Anyone in front of the shop looked up as they heard a whizzing sound. Then, a loud CRACK was heard as the fireworks exploded. One spelled out the words Grand Opening in huge letters and shimmered in place. One showered glittering streamers down that disappeared as soon as they reached the ground. The other made large silver stars that twinkled and whirled around the sky.
Many students came rushing to the store to see what all the noise was about. Everyone was looking up, talking excidedly as George let off another round. Harry waved good-bye to George, wanting to get away from the chaos before he ran into Ron and Hermione. He had a feeling Hermione would suggest they all go get lunch, and he knew that would make Ron upset. He took Luna's hand and led her away from the store. The other shops were still sort of busy, but most students had gone to see the festivities. They were able to get a table by the window at the Three Broomsticks without trouble.
They both ordered the lunch special, a hot ham and cheese sandwich with chips, and a butterbeer. Harry watched Luna as she sipped her drink, admiring the way the light from the window illuminated her face. His eyes were drawn to her necklace and the unusual stone pendant. The stone was smooth and shiny. It was a white pearl color, with deep blue swirls. As Harry watched, the swirls moved as if they were alive, flowing like being caught in a light breeze.
"Luna, what is that stone? I've never seen anything like it."
She looked down at her necklace and brushed her fingers against it. "It was my mother's. It's my namesake, you know. Lunasaxulum, very rare. It's Latin, you know. Roughly translated it means 'a little Moon rock'. My mother loved this necklace, and she left it to me when she died. I only wear it on special occasions."
This made Harry smile. She thinks this is a special occasion, special enough to wear a necklace that means something to her.
"I was a little amazed that you asked me out, Harry. But I dare say I am glad you did."
"Well, I dare say I'm glad you said yes. Why would you be amazed that I asked you out?"
"I don't get asked out much. I never do, actually. And I don't usually fill my head with nonsense that other girls do. Such as crushes and good looking boys. But you ruined all that. I've had a crush on you for months now."
Harry's heart was pounding. Luna didn't hold anything back, did she? She wasn't embarrassed to be sharing this information with Harry. She spoke of her feelings like she spoke of the weather. He liked that about her.
"Well, I.. um... well. I guess I have had.. um.. I like you, too." Harry could feel the heat rising in his face. He might be the Boy-Who-Lived, but he didn't have such an easy time talking so freely about his feelings.
The rest of lunch was filled with talk about how school was going, who they thought the next winner of the Quidditch World Cup would be, and whether or not Snape actually washed his hair. They went to Honeydukes and got some candy, before deciding to get candied apples and take a walk. They ended up sitting under a tree by a pond off the main road.
They were laughing at a funny story Luna had read somewhere. Harry noticed they were sitting very close... he could smell her shampoo... and her smile was so bright... Now they were just leaning against the tree, shoulders touching. She turned her head as he lowered his... he leaned in to kiss her.
And he did. Their lips touched, sending sparks down his spine. He could still taste the caramel from the candied apples on her lips. He felt one her hands slide behind his head, touching his hair. As the kiss deepened, he took his hand and placed it on her face. They kissed for what felt like hours. She was the one who finally broke away. She pulled her face back and just stared into his eyes. They said nothing for a few seconds.
She smiled and stood up. "Well, I think it's time we get back. The sun will be setting soon." She reached out one of her hands to help him up. He took it, and they both walked hand in hand back to Hogwarts. As they entered the Entrance Hall, they stopped when they heard two people talking down one of the corridors. The voices were very familiar.
"What are you getting at, Ron?"
"Well, Hermione, I have a confession to make. Today was planned."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I really like you, Hermione. But, I knew if I asked you out, I would have made a fool of myself all day. So, I had Harry ask Luna out. Luckily, Neville asked Ginny, so we were able to spend the day together. Alone. With as little chance of me messing things up as I could. But I don't want to hide it anymore. I think I'm in love with you, Mione."
Harry smiled to himself. Finally! he thought. He turned to look at Luna, and was surprised to see she was staring at him with a funny look on her face. Oh no. She heard Ron tell Hermione that I asked her out to give the two of them the day alone.
He opened his mouth to explain, but her face glazed over dreamily. "Well, Harry. Today was very enjoyable, but I do have loads of homework that needs to be done. I'll see you around."
Before he could say anything, she walked away quickly and made her way up the stairs to her common room. Harry slumped against a wall and closed his eyes. Great. Somehow, Ron had managed to ruin Harry's date instead of his own. Feeling like a prat and angry at Ron's big mouth, Harry made his way up to Gryffindor Tower.
Wanna know what happens next? Read and review!
