luna, my love

Chapter II

AN: nothing much to say about this. longer than the first chapter. again, thanks to @AlyFandomLover128 for helping out w/ editing and stuff. thanks for reading and here we go!

"What a nice shade of salmon, Luna," Slughorn said, looking down his nose into Luna's cauldron. "Might I remind you that, had you followed the directions, it should be a dark color of red?"

"But I haven't added the beetlewing yet, Professor," Luna said.

"I know that, Luna. I'd like you to fix that before class is over." Slughorn walked back to the front of the room slowly, looking into each cauldron, occasionally reminding the person behind the pot of something. By the time he reached the front, five minutes had passed, and the period was finally over. Five minutes was not long enough to repair a potion, though.

"End of class, students," Slughorn said. "Please vial your potions and put them on my desk."

Luna vialed her potion, which had turned coral. Once she had all her books away, she walked to Slughorn's desk and set the vial there.

"Well, at least it's not salmon," Slughorn said as Luna walked away.

Once she was out the door, Rolf was there, waiting.

"Slughorn wasn't too bad, was he?" Rolf greeted her.

"No," Luna murmured, and started heading toward the dining hall.

"Something wrong, Luna?" Rolf asked. "You were in a funk earlier. Still feeling down?"

Luna sighed in her mind. It was more than feeling down.

"I'm fine. Some lunch will cheer me up," Luna smiled, and continued to the hall with Rolf.

"Anyway, Transfiguration was really dumb. We had to make matches into needles, just like we did in first year, but McGonagall was much tougher about it. Mine was pretty sharp, but still the color of the match, so she got pretty mad. I escaped though. And, I have Care of Magical Creatures next, so that's something to look forward to." Rolf loved Care of Magical Creatures, even when it was being taught by Silvanus Kettleburn, who let those poisonous snails loose back in first year. Kettleburn was a good teacher in many respects, but Rubeus Hagrid, the current teacher, was better at keeping them caged. Rolf wanted little more than to be a magizoologist. With a beautiful wife. And two kids. And enough money to put good food on the table for them all.

Suddenly, Luna realized that was asking for a lot.

"Hey Luna," Ginny said as she wiggled out from the portrait hole.

"Hello," Luna said. "Have you seen Rolf recently?"

"No, why?" Ginny asked. "Oh, yeah, I was supposed to tell him that.. well, I haven't gotten a chance to tell him about the thing in the library, but it's fine. He technically wasn't invited. At least I'm here." Ginny started walking in the direction of the library.

"Did you find out what Harry wanted to show me?" Luna asked."Hm? No, I didn't ask."

"Okay."

They walked the rest of the way in near silence, except for a little groan from Ginny's stomach. Dinner was soon, and Ginny was impatient.

When they arrived at the library. Harry seemed frazzled. "Oh, Ginny!" he said. "Er, hello, Luna, and Ginny."

"Hello," Ginny mumbled. "Can we get this done so we can get to dinner early? I'm starving."

"The Great Hall isn't that far," Harry said.

"It is when you haven't eaten since lunch," Ginny said crossly. "Now, what is it you want to show us?"

"Er-well, um..." Harry looked around. "Oh, yeah, there's this book I thought you'd like... Yes! Here. Here it is."Harry handed Luna a small, virtually unused paperback with the title No Nargles: Cautionary Tales and How to Stay Safe.

"Thank you, Harry," Luna chirped. "I'll examine it. Maybe there can be some useful tips in here. Which reminds me, Ginny, you're not wearing that butterbeer cork necklace I told you to wear. It keeps the Nargles away."

"Yeah, I'll be right on that," Ginny said and rolled her eyes.

"Well, thank you, Harry," Luna smiled.

Harry blushed a little, but his face turned to worry.

"What are you doing talking in the library?" Madam Pince barked, having just walked in. "Either stop talking or get out!"

"Goodbye, Harry," Luna smiled. "Thank you for the recommendation. I'm happy to see you're taking an interest in Nargles. I have some copies of the Quibbler with information I think you'd find useful."

"Oh, no thanks," Harry stammered. "I-I found the book quite useful, and I think I'll be good."

"Well, if you're sure," Luna said.

"OUT!" Madam Pince roared.They scuttled out, and Ginny ran to the Great Hall.

"Well, I guess she had enough food at lunch to run," Harry noted.

Luna laughed like she had earlier with Rolf. "You're funny," Luna smiled.

"Er, thanks." Harry blushed.

"Well, I think we should follow Ginny."

"Yeah."

They walked to the Great Hall, ready for dinner.

"What do you think of Harry?"

Ginny was looking expectantly at Luna. Luna had barely caught Ginny's words, as she had been lost in thought and mashed potatoes.

"Hmm? What do you mean, what do I think of him?"

"What do you think about him?"

"He's got black and messy hair, and black and crisp robes, and stuttered a lot in our last meeting... I didn't know he was interested in Nargles. You could learn a lesson from him, Ginny."

"I don't mean what is he like. I'm asking what your opinion of him is."

"Oh. Well, he's nice, but he really could've used those articles about Nargles from the Quibbler. I have one or two in my trunk. I'll give it to him as a gift."

Ginny sighed. "That's not what I meant, either, but I'll just talk to Hermione."

"Do you think anything of him?"

"I don't know. He's nice, and I like him, but only as much as I've liked everyone else."

"He is very nice for giving me that book recommendation." Luna started flicking through it.

"Oh, Luna. Do you have any opinion on Harry?"

Luna paused. "Yes," she admitted.

"Well, please do tell."

"I would like to know him better. We both don't have mothers. We have that in common, but he's never tried to reach out to me, and even gone so far as to avoid me. Which is downright rude, all mothers put aside."

"Does that mean somewhere, deep in your heart, some strings are being pulled?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you like, like him?"

"No. I like him, but besides the book, he's been rude."

"Huh. Interesting," was all Ginny said before she continued eating her chicken.

Suddenly, the plates of dinner turned to puddings and delicacies, and Luna dug in.

After she had her fill of treacle tart and pudding, Luna went up to Ravenclaw Tower, and into her dormitory. She opened her trunk and put her new book in, next to a copy of the Quibbler and a small paperback book called No Nargles: Cautionary Tales and How to Stay Safe.