Just a Kiss

Harry skipped dinner. He had no appetite. After coming back into the castle he had gone straight to the nearly empty Gryffindor common room and then to his bed, where he laid down and looked at the hangings above his bed without really seeing them.

After much deliberation, he decided that he was going to get that fireworks kiss with Ginny. Maybe he didn't love Ginny, but he was at least in love with her, right? Besides, what was love anyway? He had crushed on Ginny nearly the whole year, he cared about her, and about what she did and what happened to her--who was to say that wasn't love? The stars? The universe? What a load of bull.

He had set Luna's daisy upon the nightstand, and upon remembering this, unexpected thoughts of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks consumed his brain. Harry shook them out determinedly, and his thought went back to the fireworks kiss he was going to experience tonight. He would assault Ginny in the common room, right when she came though the portrait hole from dinner, and give it his all, to feel those fireworks he wanted and make her feel them as well.

From that note he closed his eyes and his thoughts wandered further, to where the thoughts of a teenage boy usually go when thinking about the opposite sex... He was with Ginny, doing things with her that he would never have imagined he could do, a hand running through her long, red hair... which had suddenly turned blond...

Kissing her with passion, his hands were now in places he had only dreamed they could be... Her eyes opened to reveal pale silvery orbs that burned into his own green ones, and he gripped her tighter, pulling her closer to him, wanting to feel every curve of her body against his, wanting her to feel what she was doing to him...

A pair of Lime-green Crumple-Horned Snorkack panties were revealed, and removed...

Harry bolted straight up in bed. What is God's name had he been thinking? To have a daydream of that nature and to suddenly find Ginny replaced with Luna?

This is pushing it, Harry thought anxiously, rubbing at his eyes and then laying his palms flat down on the bedsheets. He was sweating, but yet excited, and still disbelieving of what had just occurred. It's the panty thing, why did I have to see her bloody panties? he cursed himself, but at the same time thinking that he really didn't mind all that much... In fact, the Crumple-Horned Snorkack was quickly becoming his favorite animal...

"No no no it's not!" Harry burst out, shaking his head. "I hate Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and I am not going to have another sexual fantasy about Luna Lovegood!"

At once Harry shut his mouth and glanced warily around the room, realizing how loud he'd been. Getting off the bed and tiptoeing to the door, he put his ear to it and listened, dread filling his stomach, expecting to hear some laughter, or talking; but luckily he heard nothing. Everyone was still down at dinner.

He checked his watch. Dinner was nearly over, but if he hurried he could make it down to the Great Hall and kiss Ginny down there, fireworks included, in front of the whole school, so everyone, Luna Lovegood included, could see that he did love Ginny Weasley, once and for all. He had just scrambled downstairs and gone through the portrait hole when a hand grabbed his arm and began leading him away, in the opposite direction of the route to the Great Hall.

After the few seconds it took for Harry to gather his bearings, he recognized that hand, that bushy brown hair--they both belonged to Hermione.

"What's going on?" he asked. She had an iron grip on his arm and was moving so fast he was practically being dragged behind.

"We can't talk about it here, wait until we get somewhere safe," she answered shortly, without turning to look at him.

A minute later Hermione had shoved him into the empty Charms classroom, shut the door behind him, and placed an Imperturbable Charm on the door. "I don't want us to be overheard," she explained, sitting down at a table and motioning for him to sit next to her.

Harry slid in the seat next to her. "Now can you tell me what this is all about? I had something important to do--"

Hermione's sigh broke him off. "I brought you here because I want to hear the story from you, all of it."

"What story?" Harry asked, puzzled.

Hermione frowned, then suddenly covered her mouth with her hand. "You mean--but I thought you had skipped dinner because of what they were saying, although I thought you might have spoken to Ginny about it first--"

"About what?" Harry asked anxiously. The odd feeling in his stomach told him this was not going to be good.

"About you and Luna Lovegood, Harry," Hermione explained slowly, watching his expression. "The story goes that you tripped, looked up her skirt, got--um--" Here she blushed deeply-- "excited by the view, and then you were seen holding hands and agreeing to meet in one of the broom closets later..."

Harry's jaw hit the floor. "But--but I didn't--well I did, but not all of that--"

Hermione waited, then held up a hand. "Just tell me what happened." She pulled out a quill and scroll of parchment, seemingly out of nowhere, to take notes.

Not so sure about Hermione recording this, almost like Rita Skeeter, Harry told her the story anyway (after receiving her word of honor that she would not repeat anything he told her, especially not to Ron or Ginny), in detail, from the beginning when he first spoke to Luna today, and ended when she whispered "Amor vincit omnia" in his ear and walked away.

"Amor vincit omnia..." mused Hermione, putting down her quill after he had finished. "Interesting."

"But what does that mean?" Harry pressed. "I don't know what language it is, and--"

"It's Latin," Hermione interrupted him, looking surprised. "I thought everyone knew it that phrase, it's a very common saying, after all. It means love conquers all."

"Oh..." said Harry, comprehension dawning upon him. "So Luna had said, 'If it's strong enough, love conquers all?' Well, not all of us understand Latin, you know," he added pointedly.

"But almost all magic spells are--" Hermione lectured, but stopped and shook her head. "It's not about that Harry... There are two things you're going to have to do here, and neither of them is very easy."

"What?"

She gave him a look. "Well, the first one is pretty obvious, isn't it? Talk to Ginny. Tell her the truth about what happened."

"But I can't!" Harry protested. "I can't tell her I thought Luna was going to--kiss me and that... that I wanted her to!" He didn't look at Hermione. "Ginny would hate me," he added, with remorse.

"Well," Hermione said thoughtfully, "Maybe you can leave that part out... just to spare Ginny's feelings. I don't want to see her hurt either," she admitted. "She's already pretty upset over the rumors going about, even though she acted as if she didn't believe them."

Harry knew now, that when Hermione said he should lie, that things were way worse than he had thought. He not only felt bad, but nervous as well. It wasn't easy to forget how well Ginny performed the Bat-Bogey Hex and he suddenly had an image of himself stumbling around the common room, covered in bats... "What's the second thing?" he asked, to get his mind off of it.

"I know this is a lot to digest in one day, Harry, but you have to make a choice," Hermione told him seriously, sitting up straighter.

"What kind of choice?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as if he should have known. "Between Ginny and Luna. Which one do you want to be with?"

"What?!" Harry spluttered, his heart racing. "Who ever said I wanted to be with Luna?!"

Hermione stared at him in such a way that Harry was reminded of Luna right there. "Fine, Harry," she said after a few moments, trying to hide her exasperation. "You don't want to be with Luna. But you do want to be with Ginny, and experience this whole, 'fireworks kiss', right?"

Harry nodded vigorously, just as something struck him. "Hey, Hermione," he interrupted, "you've kissed Ron by now, right?"

Hermione blushed, and that was enough of an answer for him, so he continued. "Well? What was it like?" he asked, thinking that under normal circumstances this was a question he would usually not ask Hermione, from whom he didn't really expect an answer in the first place.

Hermione sighed and her eyes glazed over. She ran a hand through her hair. "It was... wonderful," she confessed dreamily. "I felt like electric currents were running throughout my body, and there was an audience cheering for us in the background, and afterward I felt quite giddy. I felt like I was walking on air for the rest of the day, really," she finished, smiling. "Oh," she breathed, looking surprised. "I don't think I expected to recount that to you anytime in the near future."

But Harry wasn't listening. Jealousy filled him as Hermione's description of her kiss with Ron kept playing through his head: "...electric currents... an audience cheering... felt quite giddy... like I was walking on air..." So Hermione had experienced the fireworks kiss!

"Well that's it," he said determinedly, standing up. "I'm going to have this damn fireworks kiss with Ginny and I'm going to have it now!"