Him

Him

By Chinesemoon

~~~

Luna Lovegood smiled dreamily as she looked up from her Potions essay. She looked around the library and sighed.

It was all the same. Hermione Granger in one corner, attempting to read the whole library again, Madame Pince yelling at a noisy Slytherin, and... of course. Him.

He was always there, working away. God, he worked so hard all the time. He just sat there working and working and working, all the bloody time!

It was beginning to become too much for Luna!

He always kept to himself. She knew because she was always watching him. Of course she didn't see him when he went back to his own tower. Still, Luna had a feeling he didn't talk much.

She knew a bit about him. She had, after all, met him on the train last year. All she knew was that he was the most wonderful person in the world! And there were many wonderful things in this world that Luna had heard of!

She liked him. So what? A little crush never hurt anyone, right? Only it wasn't such a little crush. He was all she ever thought about, all she ever dreamed about. He was just so....

She couldn't think of a proper word for him. Something good though.

There was another ball tomorrow night. There had been one in his fourth year; that, she knew. She was waiting for him to invite her. She was waiting for him to make his move. She was waiting...

Ha! Fat chance!

If Luna was waiting for him to ask her out, she could wait for Snape to kiss her, as well, and she was pretty sure Snape would make the call sooner then he would.

So instead she had to help him along. That shouldn't be too hard.

Slamming her potions book closed a little too violently, Luna got up from her seat. She walked carefully over to the deserted table he was working at. His papers were in a neat slack, and Luna sighed dreamily again.

He was so organized!

He looked up at her as she boldly approached him. He was peering at her in a cute sort of way. He raised an eyebrow when he realized she was standing in front of his table.

Luna smiled in a faraway manner. He was - dare she say it - rather sexy looking at the moment.

She laughed despite it all. This was going to be fun. Much fun, in fact.

"Hello," she said in her usual happy, faraway tone. He looked at her in confusion. He obviously had not one bloody clue as to why she was talking to him.

"Hey," he said softly. He shifted in his chair as if suddenly nervous.

"Yes, hello," Luna repeated. "I was wondering..."

She trailed off slightly as he dropped a book loudly onto the floor. He bent over to retrieve it and returned rather red in the face.

Luna smiled at him and continued on. "I was saying," she said happily. "I was wondering... well, you see, there's this ball coming up..."

"Yeah," he muttered lowly. He seemed dejected on this subject.

She ignored his sudden disdain. She couldn't have her wonderful plan destroyed just yet.

"Yes, and I was wondering if maybe, well...." This time Luna trailed off of her own accord. Now she was the one suddenly nervous. Why should she be nervous?

If he already had a date, she would be blown off. She'd lose face. She'd hate that, but she'd hate being embarrassed in front of him more.

"Yes?" he said impulsively.

"I wanted to know if you could come to the ball with me tomorrow?" Luna spat it out quickly. Perhaps doing it quickly and getting it over with would be better then prolonging the experience.

He didn't answer, only sat there completely dumbfounded.

She was sorry now she had asked. She was so stupid! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!

"Y-you want to go to the ball with me?" he asked unbelievingly. "Really?"

Luna felt her face color. Her face only colored when she was really very badly embarrassed.

Oh great.

She gulped. Might as well be honest now that the cat's out of the bag.

"Yes, I do," she said, lacking the usually dreamy tone in her voice.

He looked absolutely shocked once more.

Finally, he seemed to shake himself out of whatever trance he had previously been in.

"Yes, of course I'll go with you," he said quickly.

Luna let out her breath.

"I wouldn't think someone like you would want to go with me," he continued. "I'm some nobody."

Luna was struck by this. "You're not a nobody!" she argued. "You're wonderful!"

He grinned for the first time. "Thanks, Luna," he said. "Thanks very much."

"That's okay," she said, blinking. "So I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Of course," he said, getting up and grinning again. "I'll see you then."

"Yes," Luna said with her dreamy tone of voice back in its rightful place once more. "I'll see you then."

"Goodnight, then," he said with the most charming smile Luna had ever had directed at herself.

"Goodnight, Neville."

FIN