Never On Time

She rolled over in her bed tugging the covers up to her chin. Something in her brain was telling her to get up, but the cold morning air when she threw the covers away from her body told her to go back to bed. And she listened to the side that told her to stay where she was. At least, until she realized that she was late.

"Oh no.. Oh, no! Ginny's going to kill me! I was supposed to meet her downstairs at 8:30! This is horrible, absolutely horrible." Luna rushed around her dormitory, getting dressed, and it was a good thing she had laid out her outfit the night before, because otherwise, she probably would have put on a shirt that actually looked like it went with her skirt when it was on the hanger.

She slid her feet into her shoes, and grabbed her bag off the table next to her bed. She threw some things into her bag, and dashed out the door. She ran past Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein, who were discussing their prefect duties, barely ackowledged Mandy Brocklehurst's greeting, and even almost bumped into Nevile Longbottom, who was conversing with Dean Thomas about art in the corridor next to a painting with a fat lady in a pink dress.

After about five minutes, she finally reached the staircase that she recognized as being the one that led to the Entrance Hall, and she decided to catch her breath for a moment. She didn't stop completely, instead assuming a leisurely pace. Halfway down the stair case she heard some voices. She recognized one of them as Ginny's brother, Ronald. The other one, she thought sounded vaguely familiar, and after a moment, she realized that Ronald was arguing with none other than Draco Malfoy.

"So you think just because you're in Slytherin, you can take points off of another Prefect, Malfoy? Professor McGonagall specifically told us all that we are not allowed to take points off from one another!" Ronald was clearly in a tiff about something, Luna thought, but from the stories she had heard from Ginny about Malfoy, it seemed he had good reason to be.

"Slow down, Weasel, you don't want to overload your brain do you? I think you've said enough for one day, how about I teach you a little lesson in how to shut up?" Malfoy sounded as though he wasn't really worried, but Luna thought he should be. She crept slowly down the staircase, pulling out her wand and being careful not to make any movements. Luckily for Luna, and for Ron, Malfoy was the one who was standing with his back towards the staircase.

She was still out of their sight, but she could see them perfectly, due to her instincts keeping her in the shadows. She had a fleeting memory of fiery red hair brandishing a wand at the blond git, and the shout of "Advocato verspertilios!" her closest friend had boldly flung at Malfoy never failed to bring a smile to Luna's face. This moment was no different in that aspect, although the memory of it gave her a very interesting idea.

"I hope Ginny won't mind my taking a trick from her book by using that bloody spell," Luna muttered to herself. She was sure Malfoy and Ron were too engrossed in their argument to be aware of anything else, but she was talking to herself underneath her breath just to be safe. She cleared her mind of all thoughts, except those about what she was about to do. It was honestly very nerve-wrecking, she thought, doing something like this with no backup. But then she realized that wasn't true. She did have backup, except the person had no idea she was around, and didn't even know he was her backup.

Steadying her breath, she was wondering if the spell would have s much effect if she just whispered it, but strongly. Her Ravenclaw logic was telling her that it probably wouldn't work as well, and she decided she wouldn't attempt it with whispering, because Malfoy would certainly try to find her then. She was raising her wand to cast the spell, when she felt movement behind her.

"Careful, she might notice us!" One female was there. Something about that voice sounded very familiar, but in her focus on the current task at hand, Luna didn't register whom the voice belonged to right away.

"She looks like she's on a stakeout to me, Red." And there was a male voice as well. Listening a bit closer to the sounds of footsteps, she deduced that there were only two people, and the male voice had sounded just as familiar as the female voice. In fact, the female had sounded suspiciously like... No, it couldn't be. Surely she was still at breakfast, wondering when Luna would show up. However, Luna's curiosity was getting the better of her, and she was sorely tempted to turn her head and see whom the people were.

However, before she could do so, the people suddenly fell to the floor, but not loudly. It sounded as if one of them had gotten down and pulled the other down after, but she couldn't tell.

She finally looked over her shoulder to see if she could make out anyone. Directly over her shoulder, her eyes met a freckled face, containing a pair of warm brown eyes, and framed by long red hair. The other face she saw was slightly plump, though not anywhere near what it had been a couple years ago, with dark blue eyes, and short brown hair. Lo and behold, Luna had been right in her suspicions of whom the female voice belonged to.

In fact, Ginny Weasley was currently in the company of one Neville Longbottom. If Luna had bothered to look closely, she might have noticed a small bit of lipgloss just below Neville's mouth, but she had turned her head back to the front, and contemplated on asking Ginny if she minded her using that certain spell.

"Ginny!" Luna hissed, startling the red head ever so slightly. "You wouldn't mind if I borrowed your trick of using the Bat-Bogey Hex on a certain git, would you?"

"Mmm.. Oh, no, Luna, I wouldn't mind at all...," Ginny answered. Luna decided that even though Ginny sounded a bit preoccupied, it would still be all right for her to use it, so she steadied her arm, and pointed her wand straight at Malfoy. She then decided she'd count to three before casting it, to ensure she'd be quick.

"One."

Ronald and Malfoy seemed to be arguing about something else.

"Two."

Harry and Hermione entered the Entrance Hall from outside. They were holding hands and were both covered in snow. Hermione leaned her face up to kiss Harry's cheek, but Harry turned his head toward hers, and she wound up kissing him on the lips.

"Three."

Harry and Hermione disappeared into the Great Hall, taking no notice of Ron and Malfoy.

"Advocato verspertilios!" Luna cried, watching the light speed towards Malfoy, who only heard, but thought since he couldn't see the light, it had been somewhere else, like inside the Great Hall, or down the stairs to the left of the Entrance Hall.

As the hex took effect, Ron looked a bit alarmed, and knew where the hex had come from. He headed up the stairs, and halfway up, he met Luna, who had started her way down. At first, he didn't register that she had been coming from the direct area of where the spell had originated, but when he did, he spoke.

"Luna?" he asked, turning back around, as she had passed him when he stopped.

"Yes, Ronald?" she replied. She was wondering if he had put two and two together, but knew if he had, he wouldn't beat around the bush about it.

"Would you happen to know anything about the Bat-Bogey Hex that appears to be affecting Mr. Malfoy? You appear to be coming from the area the spell originated, and--'

"Actually, that was me who hexed him. I thought you might find it a bit amusing, though I did notice afterward that you seemed a bit shocked by it." Luna interrupted him in mid-sentence, and the last thing he had expected, he admitted to himself, was for her to admit that it was her. He had actually thought his sister was the one who cast it. However, the voice had not been Ginny's, his mind reasoned, so of course it wasn't her. However, that didn't keep him from wondering where Ginny was.

"Luna, you wouldn't have happened to see my sister would you?" Ron asked, simply out of habit of wondering where his sister was. He knew Ginny had a habit of spending time with Neville, and thought Neville was a real gentleman, and that if Neville and Ginny were to get together, she would definitely be treated well. "I saw her in the common room, but I haven't seen her down here."

"As a matter of fact, she's with Neville, and they were behind me at the top. However, they were a bit wrapped up in their own activities to truly notice what was going on." She hoped she had been just vague enough that he still understood what she was talking about, because she wasn't sure of how he would react to his sister doing things like that with Neville. To her surprise, he didn't seem to mind.

"Oh. Well, tell her I want to speak to her when she has some time. If you can't get her, I'll snag her after Quidditch Practice tomorrow night," he sounded fairly reasonable right now, and she was wondering what would happen if she.. She dismissed the thought from her head. There was no way he'd accept that! 'You never know until you try,' the reasonable side of her mentioned. The other side of her mind was silent, as if admitting defeat.

She mentally pulled herself together in preparation for this, and when she thought he was slightly in another world, she pressed her lips to his. They were soft and slightly warm, which was surprising due to the weather. All thought of temperature rushed out of her head, when all of a sudden he started to kiss her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand on his upper back, the other behind his head, tangling in his red hair and pulling his head closer. His arms had wrapped themselves around her back, and one hand was twisting her blonde hair around his fingers.

Somehow, though neither one could say exactly, they wound up with Ron's back pressed against the wall and Luna standing on the step above him. They also didn't know how long they went without air, but what they could remember was Harry and Hermione making some very interesting comments, and then themselves breaking apart and trying only slightly to neaten their appearances. The only bad thing about Harry and Hermione having caught them was the fact that Ginny and Neville found out, and both couples teased them, but it was well worth it in the end.

When spring arrived, Ron decided to take Luna on a picnic, and she was about fifteen minutes late, and had come, it appeared, from Hogsmeade, where most of the students were. She arrived with a large package in tow, which turned out to be a set of practice Quidditch robes exactly like the playing robes of Ron's favorite team, the Chudley Cannons.

"Happy Birthday, Ronald Weasley," Luna murmured, after he had kissed her very fervently as a thank you for the best present he'd ever received for his birthday.

"A very happy birthday indeed, Miss Lovegood. If you keep bringing me presents like that, or saving me from gits, you can be late for things all you want."

And let it be known that Luna was (almost) never on time for anything involving him from that day forward.