Potter Watch [a HOO/HP fanfic](finished) [Demigods at Hogwarts]

Love? (Pt. 2)

Sorry I've been off for a couple days, but I hope you guys love this chapter!!! It's a little short, but it's sweet. This goes out to my-own-little-world because siriusly- and I do mean SIRIUSly- she is the best and her fav ship right now is luna and nico sooooo....

Yayness!

I hope you guys all love this, and I will be posting another chapter on Mon!!!!!!!

Btw I'm gonna enter the Wattys... just so you guys know. Oh and the pic at the top is just... #leoisthebestandalldaladiesreallydolovehim.

Also dedicating this chapter to @daughter-of-athena

Love you all!

Verity King

The first Quidditch game of the season was today, and to Luna it seemed like the day couldn't go fast enough. She was really quite excited to see it. Nico was coming and she'd be sitting with him, watching Ravenclaw play Gryffindor.

Luna was still trying to understand her feelings towards the boy. She found him to be quite interesting, really. She liked to be with him, and they had talked quite a lot since she'd first met him in the hallway during the first week of school.

Nico had told her, during the second week, that he was bisexual. He'd said it as if he was afraid of what she would think of him, afraid that she would judge him. But Luna hadn't cared. She knew that your feelings aren't things you can manipulate. Really, it was just how Nico was. She accepted that.

During the third week, he'd seemed happier, more comfortable with himself, like he'd found something that grounded him. Luna liked that. And when she was with Nico, people didn't ever tease her, or steal her things, or call her father's magazine 'rubbish'. Nico scowled fiercely at them whenever they tried, and they stopped. Luna liked that, too.

Nico liked reading the Quibbler. Sometimes Luna thought he laughed at the wrong places, but he said he thought her father's magazine was brilliant, and the people who said it was rubbish didn't know what they were talking about.

And Luna appreciated that.

He said her radish earrings were pretty. He said he loved her necklace of butterbeer corks. He said that they were a part of her, and so they looked better than gems on her. He said she was beautiful.

Luna felt happier with him. She felt comfortable. She felt safe. And she felt loved. It was like having her mum back again, only better, nicer, and sweeter.

Was this what fancying someone was like?

Luna twiddled with a lock of her hair and looked back up at the enchanted clock Professor Weasley had hung over the door of the classroom. She smiled over at Nico, who was doing the same.

"What is it, Luna?" he asked.

"You're very impatient today," she told him. It was five minutes to the end of class and they'd finished their task of nonverbally hexing a textbook to grow wings, horns, and talons, and persuading it to attack a rubbish bin Professor Weasley had set up near the door. Lunch hour was after this, but no one would linger in the Great Hall today. They would all be headed out towards the Quidditch Pitch.

Nico glanced behind him at something, narrowing his eyes. Luna looked, too, to see that boy- Piper's boyfriend- eying Luna with a furtive expression. Upon catching Nico's eyes, he snapped his head back towards Percy and said something about the approaching match that made Luna's ears perk up. She listened attentively, not turning her head.

"Ten Galleons Ravenclaw will win," Jason said confidently. Clearly he had recovered from the constant state of embarrassment he'd been in ever since the Howler letters. He'd avoided Piper completely. Luna felt sorry for her.

"Dude," Percy was saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna bet on something I know I'm gonna win."

"I will," Luna heard Leo said (probably with a wicked grin). "Could always use some extra money."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"I'm thinking of joining George in the joke shop business as a summer job, but what Calypso and I have been talking about as a future plan is getting married and starting a magical repair shop in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley."

Luna heard Annabeth give a little gasp. "But Leo, what about Camp Half-Blood?"

"Annabeth, Camp is great, but it's not for adults. No jobs! And as for New Rome, I don't wanna see Mr. D. spouting water and wearing a diaper every day. I'd die early!"

"Well," Annabeth said, "Percy and I will just have to stand it, I guess."

Luna heard Percy cough a little uncomfortably. "Annabeth, what would you think about having a house in New Rome and in London? I've been offered a position as an Auror by the Minister of Magic. It's a great job. We could have a lot of money, and be close to all our friends."

Luna didn't think Annabeth would like that idea. She seemed quite invested in her demigod camps, and a little wary of the Wizarding world.

Annabeth was silent for a minute, then said, "I'll have to think about it for a little while, Percy."

Professor Weasley, who had been helping Piper with something, glanced at the clock. "You can leave," he announced.

As they passed underneath the high archway of the door, Nico turned to Luna. "What about just walking straight down to the Pitch? Never mind lunch."

Luna laughed. "Okay. But we'll need to get a few things to bring along first."

After snatching a couple pieces of fruit, the pair walked down the marble staircase leading to the grounds, talking about one thing after another. The sky was blue overhead, and the air was crisp and clean. The leaves on the trees seemed to have learned alchemy, and the lake was a sparkling crystal blue. The giant squid splashed about, making little waves and rivulets stream out from where its tentacles slapped the clear water.

Nico and Luna sat down underneath a tree on a grassy bank that was feet away from the water. Nico tore up the amber leaves and tossed them out onto the water, marveling at how beautiful they looked, spinning away over the clear, smooth expanse of the lake.

"What was his name?" Luna asked him.

Nico started. "Whose?"

"The boy that you fancied. The one that told you he didn't fancy you back."

Nico hesitated. Luna could see old pain manifesting itself behind his tawny lion's eyes. "Will," he said finally.

"Well," Luna said simply, "I don't want to be unkind, but I'm glad Will didn't fancy you."

Nico looked a little confused. "Why?"

She smiled. "Because then I wouldn't have met you." She put a hand on his shoulder. "And even though you might not have realized it, you still would have been unhappy."

He smiled down at her, glancing at her hand on his shoulder as if he liked to see it there. "And I wouldn't have met you," he told her, looking into her blue eyes, "which would have been quite a misfortune."

For the first time in her life, Luna felt herself blush.

Was this what love was like?