Name: Hoovering Noiverns and Melon Earrings

Colour: Honeydew

Pairing: Ron Weasley/Luna Lovegood

Summary: Ron had only hoped to get away from girls for a moment and the kitchens had seemed like a reasonable hiding place. And in the end, that's exactly what they are. /Fourth Year AU where Luna is Ginny's childhood friend, set right after the Yule Ball, mentioned Ginny/Neville

A/N: Sometimes I let my sister pick a pairing. This is one of those times. I don't even know where I was going with this story.

"Hello, Ron," Luna says airily when Ron passes her in the corridor.

Ron halts, cursing under his breath. He looks around, sighing in relief when he finds the place completely deserted. He doesn't really like to be seen with his little sister's friend, especially when the said friend is none other than Luna Lovegood. And this is just what he needs, Ron thinks angrily. Hermione is mad at him for some reason, Parvati Patil glares at him whenever she sees him, and Ginny talks to him only about Longbottom and how happy they're together. Ron had only hoped to get away from girls for a moment and the kitchens had seemed like a reasonable hiding place.

But it isn't. Oh, it certainly isn't. Of course the world will be against him and punish him. Luna tilts her head, waiting for Ron to acknowledge him.

"Uh hi, Luna," Ron mumbles. He really doesn't feel like talking with anyone. Not even with Luna. He just wants house elves to cook him something greasy and eat his feelings.

Luna smiles her typical serene smile. "Are you going to the kitchens?"

Ron just nods, hoping Luna will drop the subject and go her merry way back to the Ravenclaw Tower. No such luck. For some reason Luna seems to have made it her mission to bother Ron whenever she can. Ginny thinks it's amusing and so she keeps inviting Luna over for every possible holiday.

"Mind if I join you?" Luna asks. "House elves always store me spare corks for charms."

"Sure," Ron sighs.

Luna doesn't seem to mind to mind the silence between them, but Ron is far from feeling comfortable.

"Nice earrings," Ron says, pointing at the two pale green strips hanging from Luna's earlobes. She had been fumbling them absentmindedly just a moment before.

"Thank you," Luna says brightly. "I made them out of honeydew peels. They're supposed to attract Hoovering Noiverns. I'm studying them with my dad."

Ron frowns. "Hoovering–? What?"

"Hoovering Noiverns," Luna repeats. "They like melons and loud noises. I think there was a swarm of them last night. I haven't seen one today."

"You should've been at the Ball, then," Ron muses. "Plenty of noise and–"

Luna stops abruptly. She just stares at Ron, as if he had just grown a second head. Ron bites his tongue as the realization hits him. Luna is a third year student. She wasn't allowed to go to the Yule Ball without a date. No one had asked her.

"So… Did the guy you like ask you to the Yule Ball?" Ron asks awkwardly.

He has heard a plenty of Luna's crush from Ginny, but Luna never mentions him when Ron is around. Ginny says it's because Ron is stupid and would never understand. Luna shakes her head, reaching for her butterbeer cork necklace. It works as a safety blanket whenever she panics.

"No," she says after a while. "He didn't ask me. He went with someone else."

"Well he must be an idiot," Ron blurts out. His ears match his hair sooner than he can splutter out another sentence he hasn't really thought through.

Luna simply smiles. "Shall we go?" she asks. "To the kitchens?" she adds when Ron just looks at her dumbly. "For pudding and chicken legs?"

"Oh, right," Ron says brightly, scratching the back of his head and grinning. "For pudding and chicken legs."

Ron had left the Gryffindor Tower to get away from girls and the kitchens had seemed like a brilliant hiding place. And they are, especially if you don't need to be hiding alone. That's something Ron is sure of. He doesn't need to think why Hermione is mad at him, or try to avoid Parvati at the common room. He certainly doesn't need to listen to Ginny.

Luna is there, talking about Hoovering Noiverns and melon earrings, and Ron doesn't mind it at all.

"Well he must be an idiot," Ron blurts out.

Yes. Yes, you are, Luna thinks behind her serene smile. She doesn't say it out loud, and she probably never will. But in a way, Ron is her idiot. And that's more than enough.