Just a Kiss

Her black Mary Janes had smudges of dirt on them, and one of her blue knee-his was sliding halfway down her leg; the sleeves of her white dress shirt were rolled up to her elbows, and the collar was frayed; her blue-and-silver-striped tie was hanging outside of her vest and was tied wrongly so the end of her tie nearly touched her pleated skirt; she wore a butterbeer cap necklace round her neck and her pale blond hair was slightly messy, not that the girl cared or maybe even noticed.

Luna Lovegood was leisurely strolling through the dungeons of Hogwarts to her next class (which she was about to be late for), when she was waved to by none other than a Ginny Weasley, who in turn was with her boyfriend, Harry Potter.

"Come on Luna!" Ginny cried, turned around and holding onto Harry's hand. "We're about to be late for Slughorn--"

Luna just shook her head. Being on time for a particular class had in fact not been a priority of her for five years; not only would her grades not be a problem (Luna always got O's and E's without much effort), but she's still rather take her time. Luna found there was always something interesting to look at in the castle, something she would have missed if she hurried.

Ah, here was one such thing. Ginny said, "See you in class Luna!" quickly, then gave Harry a kiss and sped down the hallway, clutching her Potions textbook.

"Hey, you know... Harry?" Luna was suddenly behind him.

Harry turned. "Yeah Luna?"

"What do you think about when you kiss Ginny?"

He blushed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what kinds of thoughts, pictures, sounds, anything--whatever are you thinking about on that particular moment when Ginny's lips touch your own?" Luna asked him slowly, with a touch of airiness.

"Why?" Harry asked in turn, glad the hallways were nearly empty and no one would be listening to this conversation.

Luna gave a bit of a smile. "I hope you don't mind, Harry, but I am curious."

"Why?" Harry repeated, trying to understand. Hadn't Luna ever--?

"Well, seeing as I haven't kissed so much as most of the students here..." Luna trailed off, toying with her wand, while watching a very timely passing couple going at it. "I just wanted to know what its like," she finished, sticking her wand behind her ear.

"You probably shouldn't do that," said Harry, reaching forward to take her wand while Luna watched him mildly. "Better wizards have lost buttocks, you know," he added with a laugh, remembering one of Mad-Eye Moody's warnings.

Luna looked perturbed. "But what does my wand have to do with buttocks, Harry?"

"Nothing," said Harry hastily, realizing what he'd just said, and deciding to just take the first 'embarrassing Harry Potter challenge' over the other. "What do I think about when I kiss Ginny..." he wondered, closing his eyes and searching his brain.

After a minute or so, Harry opened his eyes. "Well, when I first kissed Ginny, I didn't even know that I was going to kiss her, so I wasn't thinking about anything, really. But it felt nice."

"Oh," said Luna, sounding a bit disappointed. "I thought it was supposed to be special..."

"It was!" Harry loudly protested at once.

She went on as if she hadn't heard him. "Perhaps it was because that wasn't your first kiss?" she asked hopefully.

Harry sighed. How did he get into these things? Having talks about his love life with Luna and whatnot. "Well, it wasn't," he admitted.

Luna smiled. "Then how did your first kiss go, Harry? What went through your mind then?"

He and Cho Chang under the mistletoe, a memory Harry cared not to recall, but he took the stroll down Memory Lane for Luna's sake. She really did seem quite curious about it all.

"A lot of things," he said he said after some time, part of him speculating at how much trouble Luna was going to be in when she got to class--little more than ten minutes since first bell had gone by already. "I was nervous, and she was crying." He paused here, expecting Luna to ask why said girl was crying, but she did not, as if crying during a kiss wasn't so unusual. "So I was wondering what it would be like, would she like it, what would happen afterwards..."

"And then..." Luna waited with large eyes.

"And then I kissed her and that was it," Harry told her with a shrug. "That went by pretty quick, and for awhile afterwards all I did was worry about it some more."

"Oh." Luna sighed and moved a few strings of hair out of her face. "Then that wasn't very special either. You know, I always heard that a kiss with someone you love, like your soul mate, was supposed to be very special, with fireworks going off in your brain and such, and with that kiss you're drinking in that person and all that they are, and afterward you feel as if you could do anything in the world..."

Standing there and listening to all of this, Harry felt very strange. Luna was acting kind of weird--why was she so hopeful that a kiss should mean so much? Probably because she's a girl, he thought. Girls were always into that kind of thing, hoping for a two dozen red roses and Prince Charming on a white stallion. He hadn't thought Luna Lovegood of all people, was that type, though.

What does Ginny think about when we kiss? he found himself thinking. Okay, so maybe he in particular did not feel all of what Luna said happened when one kissed their soul mate, but Ginny should, right? She was a girl--maybe it only happens with girls, he decided, knowing he was going to ask Ginny once he got a chance.

Uh-oh. Luna was talking and he hadn't heard half of what she had just said.

"...so I'm sorry I held you up Harry. I just wished..." Her eyes were shiny, and she sighed again. At this point Harry felt something odd stirring in his stomach; he groaned and rubbed at his middle.

"Are you all right?" Luna asked instantly, sounding like her usual self. "If you've got a stomachache, you might want to eat a bit of Hippogriff toenail, I heard it works wonders for stomach pains. Hagrid's got a Hippogriff, perhaps you should ask him."

Harry grimaced. There was no way he was going to eat Buckbeak's toenail, but he nodded at Luna anyway. "I'll do that."

Luna looked at her watch. "Oh my, its getting sort of late, I should get to Potions. See you Harry." With that, she ambled down the hallway, just as idly as before.

Harry watched her disappear into Slughorn's class before heading back to the Gryffindor common room, absentmindedly tucking her wand behind his ear and thinking about some assignments that he had yet to finish.

Crossing into the portrait hole, Harry sat down at a table where Ron was sitting, surrounded by textbooks. Ron looked up at Harry and snorted. "And who are you supposed to be, Luna Lovegood?"

"Huh?"

Ron reached over and took the wand from Harry's ear. "Hey--this isn't your wand," he said upon examination.

Harry hit his head with his hand. "Great. I forgot I had that--it's Luna's."

Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you doing with Luna's wand?"

Harry shook his head. "Long story." He took his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook off the table and began working on an essay that was due today.

"Well?" said Ron after awhile.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to give it back to her?"

"Nah. She's in Slughorn's class with Ginny now, and there's no way I'm heading in there if I can help it. I'll give it to her at lunch."

That settled, Harry resumed his work.