Chapter Ten: "Right Where I Belong"

A/N: I'm sooo sorry it took me so long to update. Seriously. I'll be updating every other week from now on, so keep checking back. Please don't forget to leave a review! That reminds me to update )

And thanks AMANDA for reminding me to update.

"Hey."

Ron looked up and saw Harry approaching him. Ron sighed, feeling slightly irritated. He knew that Harry was just trying to be nice, but he really wasn't ready to talk to Harry yet… or Hermione, for the matter. The two of them were just unbelievable. He had no idea how he was going to be able to trust either one of them after the Winter Ball.

Ron stood up and gave Harry a cold look. He grabbed his textbooks and then headed out of the common room. Ron breathed heavily, not sure where to go now. He definitely couldn't go back to the Gryffindor common room. Who else could he hang out with?

Without thinking, Ron took off towards the Ravenclaw common room. Standing outside of the common room was Luna. She was wearing earrings with tiny strawberries on the ends. Her blonde hair was let loose, and she was holding her Charms textbook up to her chest.

"Hey Luna!" Ron called. She turned around, and he hurried up towards her. "Are you uh done your homework?"

Luna gave him a suspicious look. "If you're looking for someone to copy, I'm not exactly the right person, Ronald."

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out," Ron muttered, blushing slightly. He looked down at his feet.

Luna gave him a dreamy look. "Sure, Ronald…"

Ron gave her a small smile. "Great, so what do you want to do? I was thinking we could work on our homework or something."

Luna nodded, and the two of them started walking towards the library. Ron wasn't really sure what to say to Luna. He had never really talked to Luna much. In fact, he hadn't really talked to anyone much other than Harry and Hermione. Now that he wasn't speaking to Harry or Hermione, he didn't really have anyone to talk to. It would be nice to get to know Luna a bit.

"Ronald?" Luna asked tentatively.

"Yeah, Luna?" Ron asked, opening the door to the library. He turned around to face her.

"Are we friends?" she asked curiously, walking into the library. Ron pondered the thought, and decided that yes, they were friends. After all, they had gone to the Winter Ball together and now they were hanging out.

"I think we are, Luna."

Luna gave him a dreamy sort of smile and then took a seat at a table. Ron took a seat next to her and pulled out his textbook. Maybe Luna wasn't so 'loony' after all.

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Harry turned towards the portrait hole, wondering when Ron was going to get back. He heard a noise, and then saw Hermione emerge from the portrait hole. Harry caught Hermione's eye and gave her a hopeful smile. She scoffed and turned around. She walked to the opposite side of the common room and sat down next to Lavender Brown. Harry was beginning to feel very bitter. His glance lowered slightly. This was such a stupid reason to fight.

Harry stood up and approached Hermione cautiously. If they had a chance to talk, maybe they could work out the problem. Harry pulled up a chair next to Hermione, and sat down. Hermione looked at him, startled that she hadn't seen him coming.

"What do you want, Harry?" she asked coldly, her eyes boring into his. Her stare was cold, and gave Harry an ill feeling.

Harry sighed. "This is such a stupid reason to fight, Mione. Come on… I'm sorry I got jealous, okay? I'm just… I just… I'm sorry."

Hermione looked at him blankly for a few moments. "Harry, I'm sorry also, but honestly… if we're going to uh have a uh relationship, you have to learn to trust me. I trust you."

Harry looked down at his feet. "I do trust you. Really, I do… and I don't want to lose you. After all, we haven't even really started going out yet."

Hermione gave him a small smile. "Well, don't you think we should change that?" Their bodies came together, and Harry pressed his lips on Hermione's. They pulled away slowly and regretfully.

"Does Saturday sound good for you? Do you think you can pull yourself away from your schoolwork for one night?"

Hermione grinned, her eyes large and promising. "I'm sure I can make up the lost work on Sunday."

As they moved together once again, Harry couldn't help but think about the mistake he had made earlier about Ginny. How could he have kissed her? He had no feelings for her whatsoever. Even though it meant nothing to him, he still felt guilty about it. He wasn't sure what he could do to make it better.

Hermione pulled away from Harry. "Are you okay? You've gone cold."

Harry pushed away thoughts of the Ginny-kiss. "Yeah, I'm fine. You're beautiful, Hermione… you know that?"

Hermione flushed and her face glowed. She answered him by planting a kiss on his lips. Harry smiled to himself as he kissed Hermione again, thinking about how lucky he was to have Hermione.

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Ginny moaned as Draco continued to kiss her. Ginny felt her arms unravel and travel around Draco's neck. They continued to kiss, and Ginny felt herself becoming dizzy with emotion. Draco slid his hand underneath Ginny's shirt, but Ginny pulled away nervously.

Ginny bit her lip, and then looked up at the clock in the Slytherin common room. It was way past lights out.

"I uh have to be getting back now," Ginny muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed. Ginny couldn't tell what Draco was thinking. If he was disappointed, he was certainly good at hiding it.

"Can't you stay a little longer?" Draco asked. He flicked his tongue on her neck, and Ginny felt her stomach flip. Draco kissed her neck and then trailed kisses towards her lips.

"No, I have classes early tomorrow," Ginny answered, leaning in to kiss Draco. Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, and Ginny felt her heart flutter. It was amazing how fast her pulse raced every time Draco touched her. Ginny had never felt his way with anyone else.

"Blow them off. Come on…"

Ginny shook her head. She ran her fingers through her red hair, trying to straighten it out. Draco realized that he had lost the argument. The two of them stood up, still facing each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Ginny told Draco. Draco nodded, still staring at Ginny. Ginny couldn't understand why Draco liked her. There were so many prettier and more experienced girls in Hogwarts. Plus, many of them were Slytherins. What did she have that other girls didn't have?

"What's on your mind, Red?" Draco asked, kissing her softly. Ginny shrugged slightly.

She lowered her voice. "Draco, why do you even like me?" Her tone was somewhat serious. "I mean, I'm not pretty and we have like nothing in common. What do you even see in me?"

"You're beautiful," Draco muttered, kissing her, "And you're an amazing Quidditch player. You're overall just amazing. Ginny, don't ever doubt that. You know I like you."

Ginny smiled slightly, still not completely convinced. Draco and her shared one last kiss before she left the common room. As Ginny walked back towards the Gryffindor common room, she couldn't help but think that it wasn't going to be long before Draco got bored of her and moved on to someone else.

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"Let me have a look."

Luna stepped aside and let Ron look through the telescope. It was late at night, and they were at the Astronomy Tower. Their Astronomy homework was due the next day, and they still hadn't finished.

The full moon was out, along with Mars. Ron had no idea why he was working on his homework with Luna, but over the past week, they had become… well, friends. Since Ron couldn't spend his time with Harry or Hermione, he chose to spend it all with Luna. Ron was glad he had decided to get to know Luna, because she was an amazing person. He enjoyed spending time with her.

"Wow… that's Mars, isn't it?" Ron muttered, filling in his Astronomy chart. Luna gave him a small smile, and filled in her own chart.

"You've definitely smarter than you look."

Ron laughed. "Hey, what is that supposed to mean?"

Luna shrugged, the smile still on her face. She brushed back her blonde hair and then looked Ron in the eye. Her eyes showed no expression, yet somehow, Ron could tell they were smiling. "You're just different from what I thought."

Ron felt his palms sweat, and suddenly, he felt slightly uncomfortable. He swallowed, trying to ignore his heart that was hammering at a fast rate. He stared at Luna's long blonde hair moving slightly back and forth in the wind. "In a good way or bad way?"

Luna grinned, and twisted a lock of her hair. "Good. Definitely, Ronald."

Ron turned and faced Luna. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Luna leaned in. Before Ron realized what was happening, Luna's lips were on his own.

A/N: awwww )
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