Hermione was at it again.

Mickey sat only 3 and 1.56 meters away, yet it felt like a mile to Hermione. She stared at his wonderful curly medium brown head. She sighed dreamily.

Suddenly, Mickey stood up, turned around, and headed to Hermione. Hermione nearly fell out of her chair. She hastily straightened her clothes and smoothed down her hair. He finally reached her table, and was standing right in front of her.

"Hermione, isn't it?"

She gasped for breath. "Er...yes. Yes it is," she mumbled.

"I couldn't help but notice you from across the room. You're not one to blend in," he said with a charming smile.

Hermione said nothing; Mickey cleared his throat before continuing --

"I was wondering if you would go to the Christmas ball with me?"

Now she almost passed out. When she finally found her voice, she murmured, "Yes, I'd love to go with you."

"And after that," he continued, "maybe we could go out sometime? Scratch that -let's go steady!"

Hermione was over-joyed. She couldn't say anything at all. God had heard her prayers!

"Hermione?" Mickey asked, "Hermione? Hermione!"

"WHAT!" She screamed at Luna.

"Oh, sorry," Luna said, "You looked like you were going to pass out or something."

"Oh...oh...I'm sorry Luna. I was a tad bit...er...preoccupied with -"

"With Mickey Tulip?"

All the blood in Hermione's face fell to her toes. Without thinking, she screamed, "WHO TOLD YOU!"

"Shh! You're hurting the books' ears!" scolded Madam Pince, the vulture-like librarian.

"Sorry," muttered Hermione, who then turned back to Luna. "Er...I mean..."

"It's quite alright," Luna interrupted, "Your secret's safe with me."

"Oh, thanks Luna! I dunno what I'd do if Harry or Ron found out!"

"You'd probably curse them so bad they couldn't speak for a week."

"True," Hermione said.

"Well, I guess I had better be off. Nothing much to do, and I'm sure you'd rather get back to your 'studies'." Luna said with a sly grin, using her fingers as quotation marks.

As Luna turned to leave, Hermione called out to her. "Er...Luna? D'you think you could do me another favor?"

"Like what?" Responded Luna.

"Um...this is completely mad but, could you find out some things about him?"

"Such as his interests? Hobbies? Sex life?" Luna asked nonchalantly.

"Well yes, but maybe without the 'sex life' part," Hermione countered.

"Alright. This should be fun. But Hermione, could you maybe do me a favor?"

"Sure. Anything your heart desires."

"Could you hook me up with Ronald?"

Hermione struggled to contain her composure. Luna wants to date Ron? "Um...sure. I'll make an arrangement."

Luna's face brightened, and a wide smile crossed her face. "Thank you so much Hermione! Thank you!" and she ran off.

"The world has officially gone mad." Hermione stated before gathering her things, stealing one last glance at Mickey.

---

Luna approached Mickey like a lioness going in for the kill. He's my ticket to Ron, she thought evilly.

"You! Tulip!" Luna shouted like a drill sargeant.

Poor Mickey, who hadn't been expecting that, promptly fell off the couch in the empty Ravenclaw Grotto.

"Who? Me?" He squeaked.

"Yes, you; who else could I possibly be talking to? Now, I have a few questions for you, Mickey." Luna demanded.

"O-okay." Mickey stuttered.

"Alright. No sense in beating about the bush now, is there? So...Mickey...what do you like in a girl?"

"Well...uh..." Mickey thought for a moment. "She has to be easy to get along with, and uh-"

"Wait a moment!" Luna shouted.

"What did I do?" Mickey questioned startedly.

Luna sighed. "You didn't do anything. I've got to get out some parchment and a quill." As she fished out some spare parchment and a slightly bent quill, Mickey collected himself.

"Now," Luna continued, "Repeat yourself."

"Er..." Mickey began. "Come on now, let's not wait for the grass to grow!" Luna exclaimed sounding annoyed. Why did I do this to myself?

"Okay! My ideal girl has to be easy to get along with. I'd like a girl who can carry on a conversation, one that is semi-studious - but not a complete bookworm. And it'd be an added plus if she was attractive. Oh, and she must, above all else, love Quidditch and know how to fly a broom."

Luna finished writing all this down a few seconds after Mickey had stopped talking. "Er...are we done?" Mickey queried.

"Not yet!" Luna barked.

Mickey gulped. "O-kay."

"Now," Luna continued, "tell me about yourself. Dislikes? Likes? Murder victims?"

Mickey paused for a moment. "Well, I don't like complete airheads. I really hate brown-nosers, and people who have to be in the right all the time. I like people you can have fun with. And I haven't had any murder victims...recently." Mickey laughed at his own joke, but when he noticed the searing look from Luna, he abruptly stopped by clearing his throat. "So...are we done here?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "One more thing," she said.

"What?" asked Mickey.

"Does your ideal girl have to basically wear as little clothing as possible and wearthree pounds of make-up?"

Mickey's face turned red. "Well...uh...no, but...she-she'd have to look nice...make-up's a nice thing, but -"

"Oh-kayandwe are done here!" Luna shouted over his mumblings. She gathered her things and left the Grotto as quickly as she could. "Goodbye, Tulip." She called sternly.

"Oh God," Mickey said aloud, "I think Luna Lovegood likes me."