So What If We Are

Chapter One

  Hermione was trying her best to keep her attention on professor Bins talking about.. whatever he was going on about. Hermione had been idly doodling and shading the corners of her parchment, believing she would go mad with boredom if she tried to listen for one more second. She stared over to Ron and Harry, who were playing tic-tac-toe on Ron's scroll, whispering madly. She smiled faintly, glad to see that Harry was back to his normal self. The reason he had been so out of it lately was because of his several detentions with professor Snape and Filch, the caretaker. 

     She stared glumly at the 2 sentence notes she had taken and put her head in her hands. She was extremely tired, as the night before she had much trouble sleeping. And surprisingly, it wasn't because she had stayed up studying with Ron and Harry, because even after she had gone back to her dormitory, she did not sleep for at least an hour and a half. She was too busy thinking. Not about homework or about her NEWTs she would have to take in only 5 months. No, she was thinking about something else, someone else, rather. She lay awake, envisioning the long, waist-length, honey blonde hair that belonged to Luna Lovegood. 

    Visions of Luna's soft peach-colored lips and her permanently blushed cheeks kept making appearances in her thoughts, and she didn't even try to escape them. Earlier that day, Luna had taken Hermione's hand in her own to examine it for what she thought was a "Tubitwater Beetle bite", but turned out to be a boil from one of Neville's misfired counter-jinxes. Very subconsciously, Hermione lifted her hand and began rubbing her fingertips over the spot Luna had caressed. She drifted to sleep with the comforting thought of double muggle studies with Ravenclaw the next day illuminating her mind.

...

When Hermione awoke on Friday morning, she dressed quickly and swept down to the great hall without even waiting for Harry and Ron to meet her. She was determined to catch Luna alone. She did not have to worry about Luna being with any friends, as her only friends were in Gryffindor's house. When Hermione reached the bottom of the staircase, she saw Luna walking towards the Great Hall, figuring with her Butterbear bottle cap necklace.

    
    "Luna!" Hermione yelled before she could stop herself. Luna looked up curiously and spotted Hermione. "Oh, hello Hermione!" She said gingerly, making her way towards the marble staircase to greet her. Hermione blushed and began to toy with her hands. "Um, well-" Hermione could only get this far before Luna began to talk again. "Hermione, I was just wondering," She said calmly, looking right into Hermione's eyes, "As you know, We have another Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon, and I was wondering if you would go with me to the three broomsticks and then maybe to Honeydukes for some sweats." Hermione gulped. She had not expected that, as it was almost as if Luna had read her mind and said it all for herself. "I- well," Hermione stammered looking anywhere but at Luna, "Yes, I will. That sounds lovely." A few moments passed in silence before Luna spoke.

      " Just to be clear, this is a, well, a date." Luna looked nervously up at Hermione, who stood frozen to the spot. "Oh, Well, yes. It is a date, I suppose." She said, suddenly very gleeful. Completely by surprise, Luna wrapped her arms around Hermione and held her tightly. Hermione, although shocked, hugged her back. They stood, intertwined with each other until the romantic moment was cut short by Ron and Harry gliding down to stairs. "Hermione?" Ron said inquisitively, " What are you up to?" Hermione pulled quickly away from Luna, who looked positively embarrassed.