The Forbidden Forest had always held a special place in Luna's heart. During her Hogwarts years, it had often been her only respite from the chaos of the school. Whenever she was feeling lonely or overwhelmed she would steal away to the forest and enjoy the calming presence of its various magical inhabitants.
At this moment she once again found herself seeking the solitude of her old haven in the hopes of soothing another of her headaches. She got them from time to time when she was overusing her abilities or the minds and emotions around her just became too loud. Although she was grateful that her talent had always been an asset in the war effort, the strain did sometimes take its toll. The war had forced her to focus more and much of the wonder she used to hold for her unseen world had faded with the burden of battle.
The problem she faced these days was a castle that seemed to be filled with open, unprotected minds that constantly poured out endless streams of incoherent babbling. She had forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by hordes of hormonal teenagers. Usually, she didn't have to deal with so much unsolicited background noise.
She was visiting the thestrals today, one of her favorite Hogwarts creatures. They had a very peaceful aura despite their unconventional appearance and she felt their presence relax her as she sat down on a boulder to watch them.
Amidst thoughts of the loudness and emotional strength of teenagers, Luna's mind turned to Severus Snape. His mind was the exact opposite of the ones that caused her headaches. He was a natural Occlumens and contrasted to herself in many ways. He was one of the few people that rarely let stray thoughts float out to her, though his particularly loud emotions sometimes gave him away when they became too strong to mask. They shared a similarity as former outcasts but it was like they were split into complementary parts: he was dark, she light; he hid, she was open; he was negative, she was positive. Luna personally felt that though they were quite different, they sort of went together.
Of course she wasn't sure of his thoughts on the matter, as she would never perform actual legillimency on someone who wasn't an enemy or hadn't given express permission but Luna hoped Severus had begun to come to the same conclusion as she herself had upon encountering him for the first time in this era. Her aura was drawn to his and she felt sometimes as if his was reaching out to her in return. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Luna had never had romantic feelings for someone before but she was pretty sure she had finally met her match.
As Luna suddenly felt a familiar presence behind her, she let out a small sigh.
Severus has been minding his own business, merely walking back to his dormitory after some time spent in the library after dinner. Upon innocuously glancing out one of the castle windows into the darkening sky he noticed a sliver of movement on the grounds. His eyes settled on the figure and upon identifying the long blonde hair and skip in the person's step, Severus knew he was about to let his curiosity get away with him again. He hastily glided down the remaining steps to reach the ground floor and followed the witch as stealthily as he could as she skipped into the Forbidden Forest of all places.
Severus was quite far behind her when she entered the foliage and quickened his step to catch up. He wasn't sure if he was following her to warn her about the dangers of the forest or if he was simply curious as to what business Luna Summerbee had that had her wandering into such a dangerous place at night.
He soon happened upon her slight form perched delicately on a boulder and looking over a grassy opening in the trees.
"Hello Severus," Luna calmly greeted without bothering to turn around.
Severus started at the unexpected acknowledgement, hesitant as to what his next move should be. Sheepishly, he swept over to the lower rock next to Luna's and took a seat facing her side. He had surprisingly gotten used to her way of knowing when he was skulking about and found he didn't so much mind being acknowledged instead of going unnoticed. At least, when it was her doing the acknowledging.
She still had yet to even glance at him but the small smile adorning her pale face reassured Severus that she was not upset with him for following her. Luna was always like that; what would anger or unsettle most normal people seemed to not even faze her. It was one of the things Severus admired about her. He himself had a bad habit of letting his temper get the better of him, though curiously enough he had never really gotten angry with Luna. The thought occurred to him that it was probably very difficult to stay mad at Luna for anything.
"How are you this evening Severus?" Luna inquired serenely as she slowly raised a hand into the air and began to pat at something he couldn't see. Perhaps one of her crazy creatures that she was prone to prattle on about during lulls in their potions conversations.
"I'm all right. What are you up to Luna?" It had taken an effort on his part to start calling her by her first name but Luna had insisted almost immediately that friends called each other by their given names. It had also taken him awhile to come to the conclusion that she probably wasn't crazy, just eccentric. But there seemed to be a correlation between being brilliant and being eccentric.
"I'm greeting the thestrals. What are you up to Severus?" Luna's eyes cut to his face momentarily without turning her head as she asked this and he guessed the question was meant to tease him about coming after her. At times it was as if Luna was not aware of anything going on around her; then there were times like this when she was scarily astute.
"You look like you're petting thin air to me," He responded drily, opting to ignore her little jab.
Luna finally fully turned her head in his direction and settled her shining eyes on him.
"Would you like to try?" She asked innocently. She seemed completely sincere and though part of him wanted to scoff at her and snub the idea, the larger part didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings. Friendship was becoming increasingly important to him these days and he felt that the loss of Luna in particular would be especially painful. Plus, he respected her enough to go along with anything she suggested. He tentatively put his hand out toward where hers was.
Unexpectedly, Luna reached out and grabbed his hand to draw it towards wherever this creature was supposed to be. Severus felt his heart stutter but allowed her to continue, relishing the feel of her small hand on his much larger one.
Abruptly he felt something skeleton-like underneath his touch. He quickly drew back and stared at the spot where his hand had been before turning his head back towards Luna's smiling face.
"What in Merlin's name was that?" He asked.
"A thestral, of course," Luna responded seriously.
"Why can't I see it?" He immediately asked.
"You've yet to witness death," Luna replied solemnly.
"What?" Severus exclaimed in astonishment.
Luna sighed lightly and responded to his question patiently, "Thestrals can only be seen by those who have seen death."
Severus sat quietly pondering this as he watched Luna pull out a hunk of raw meat from her satchel and seemingly handed it off to be swallowed by nothing.
The meaning of what she had said came to Severus more slowly than it should have and he felt like a real cad for not realizing sooner.
"You've seen death then," He stated rather than questioned.
"My mum was the first. She died in front of me when I was nine while experimenting," Luna volunteered without preamble.
Severus thought about this and realized that there was a lot about Luna that he still didn't know. But he wanted to.
"I'm sorry Luna," He told her sincerely. It had been awhile since he had felt sympathy for anyone beside himself but the Transfer Trio seemed to bring out a lot of unexpected traits in him.
Luna turned back to Severus and inexplicably grinned at him.
"Thank you Severus."
Severus Snape was not one to be drawn in easily by others but in that moment he felt like there was nothing else in the world besides the pretty girl looking down at him from her perch as if he was something special. He had never felt anything like it. It was scary but also exhilarating.
Before he could ponder the strange feeling further, Luna suddenly leaned down toward him and barely pressed their lips together in an innocent kiss that shocked the life out of Severus.
When she pulled away he could do nothing more than stare at her in pure astonishment.
Upon finding his voice, he asked breathlessly, "What was that for?"
Luna smiled serenely at him as she usually did.
"That was for being you Severus," she told him lightly.
He continued to stare at her without comprehension as she silently stood and began to brush her unique looking clothes off.
"Well, goodnight Severus," Luna said as she casually turned back in the direction of the castle as if she hadn't just rearranged his entire worldview.
It was upon realizing she was getting ready to leave that Severus was shaken out of his stupor. She couldn't just leave after, well, doing that to him. He wanted answers that made sense; he wanted her to just make sense. She was always doing things that caught him off guard, made him feel things he didn't understand. He wasn't going to stand for it any longer! She would explain herself and then the world would go on spinning, as it was suppose to.
Severus instinctually grabbed her gloved hand, idly noting that the three always seemed to be wearing gloves, and pulled her back to face him. He stood from his perch and hunched over her petite frame.
"I don't understand," he admitted reluctantly. He hated not knowing something.
She looked up at him through her eyelashes sympathetically before apparently deciding to take pity on him.
"I like you Severus," Luna declared matter-of-factly before grabbing his Slytherin tie and pulling him down to her level so she could land a searing and much more intimate kiss on his lips.
He gasped in surprise and Luna had no qualms about taking advantage of the opportunity. As the kiss became more passionate, Severus found his mouth began to kiss back of its own accord, matching her intensity with each passing moment.
Severus felt his gut drop and his body tremble as he brought shaking hands up to Luna's face. He felt dizzy and couldn't seem to think straight.
What was this swelling feeling in his chest? He played back Luna's previous words and found that they were close to what he was feeling for her now, only more penetrating. Right now, she was the entire universe and he was just lucky to be near her. He couldn't believe it had taken him so long to figure it out. He deeply cared for Luna.
"Luna," he finally said when they needed to breath, "Will you be with me?"