Title: Just a Kiss (Chapter 01 - The Question)

Author Name: e-chan16

Owl the author: here.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: OotP, HBP. Written between Order of Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince.

Genre: Romance, Angst

Era: The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years

Main Character(s): H, Luna

Ship(s): H/Luna, Hr/R

Summary: One simple question: "Harry, what do you think about when you kiss Ginny?" That's when all the trouble started, and thanks to Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter's world is turned upside-down.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes:

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.