Chapter 2

Hermione, who had finished whatever assignment it was that she had been working on, insisited that the two boys stay put while she went off to the library.

"What do you need to go to the library for?" asked Harry, incredulous that Hermione would leave them to do everything on their own.

"I... I need to check out a book for the Transfiguration assignment..." she said, although Harry noticed that a slight blush appeared on her face. He had no idea why, but shrugged. "Well then, why don't we come with you? I mean, we have the same assignment," he said, pointing to himself and Ron. But Ron didn't seem too keen on going to the library.

"Erm, not just now, mate. Let's just sit here for a bit," he said, looking down at his paper.

"Right, well, I'll be off then," said Hermione, rushing off to the library, but first taking a meaningful glance at Ron. They seemed to know something that Harry didn't. He shook his head and tried to return to his paper.

About ten minutes later, Ron hurriedly began to pack his bag.

"Where are you off to?" Harry asked, becoming slightly suspicious of his friends' behavior.

"Just thought I'd, er... go practice some Quidditch," he said, fumbling with his last book.

Harry did not believe him, but knew better than to offer to join Ron. He and Hermione had been acting like this for a while now; running off on their own and not allowing Harry to join them. He had come to believe that they secretly went to meet up with each other. He didn't mind- much- but he was becoming slightly lonely, and it made him even more jealous of their relationship. He sighed and waved at Ron, who had already begun to walk off.

Luna, who was still sitting under the nearby tree, noticed that Harry was now quite alone. She began to get nervous, but fought her fear and stood up to go join him. She walked over to his tree and sat next to him.

"Hello Harry," she said dreamily.

"Hi Luna," he replied, his face brightening at the sight of her. She blushed. He blushed back. "Er, having a good day?" he asked, only slightly aware of the heat in his face.

"Oh, quite. All of my Nerclaks are gone!" she replied, lifting her hair to show him the back of her neck. Harry didn't really care to ask what Nerclaks were, but he felt butterflies in his stomach at the sight of Luna's neck.

"Where did Ron and Hermione go?" Luna asked, looking around as if expecting them to pop out of thin air.

"Oh, well, they wanted some time alone..." Harry said, his stomach dropping again. He didn't mind them being together, but he wished they wouldn't go off on their own so often.

Luna looked at him knowingly. She nodded, "Ah yes, the two lovebirds..." Harry smiled awkwardly; he wasn't sure if everyone was aware of their relationship or not, but apparently Luna was.

"Are you lonely without them?" she asked bluntly, catching Harry by surprise. He looked into her protuberant eyes, wide with curiosity and conern, and smiled at her. "A bit," he replied honestly, "but now I have you here to keep me company." She smiled at him and leaned against the tree, gazing up at the sky.

"How do you think you would like to be a bird?" she asked him, quite out of the blue. "Erm, I guess it'd be alright. I like flying and all... but I wouldn't want to be a bird permanantly or anything," he added, almost wondering why she had brought it up. "I'd like to be a bird," she continued, "you're just so free up there."

Harry smiled. "Maybe you should join the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea. I might get distracted. I get distracted kind of easily, if you hadn't noticed," she said seriously, looking into his eyes once more.

Once again, Harry felt his spirits lift. He felt a connection to Luna. No matter what odd things she discussed, there always seemed to be some truth to them.

He felt himself falling under a strange sort of spell. He was trapped in Luna's sparkling eyes, and couldn't seem to tear his own eyes away. He was drawing closer and closer to her. But suddenly, Luna broke him out of his spell.

"Harry are you alright?" she asked, blushing profusely. She wasn't sure why he had been acting like that, but SURELY he wasn't about to KISS her. Was he? Well, no, he obviously wasn't, because right then he murmured a hurried goodbye, got up, and left.


A/N: sorry my chapters are so short, but that's the way they always turn out when I've just started a story. I dunno, I like to write short chapters for some reason, lol. But anyway, I got this one up pretty quickly! (or so I thought ), so that's good... hehe. Well, tell me what you think !