Hermione had a plan. Hermione always had plans but this perhaps was her most important. The war was finally over. Hogwarts restoration was finished. Her final year of schooling was about to start. This year was going to set the course for the rest of her adult life so of course she had a plan.
This, however, was not a part of the plan.
On her nightstand sat a plate of food from the dinner Hermione had skipped. She hadn’t meant to but she’d been at the library researching and by the time she realized how late it was, Hermione had been quite tired and decided to head straight to bed and worry about eating tomorrow. She hadn’t been particularly hungry anyway, though now, staring at a plate of warm, delicious smelling food, she could feel her stomach rumbling.
As she moved closer to take the plate of food she noticed a bit of parchment stuck half under it and tugged it loose, opening it to see what was written.
The strawberries taste great with the gravy <3
Hermione blinked slowly at the odd note. The writing looked eerily familiar but her brain could not handle another mystery. This year was supposed to be different, was going to be different, so she threw away the note —not the food, never the food, not when she could still feel the ghost of hunger pangs from their time in the Forest of Dean— and resolved to put this out of her mind.
Hermione almost didn’t notice the second note when she got it.
She was revising her current notes of different aspects of potions ingredients in preparation for when she started her experimenting later today. Barely paying any attention to the chaos of the Quidditch stands surrounding her, Hermione continued to chew on the end of her quill while thinking.
So lost in her head she jumped when a loud roar rippled through the crowd and her quill fell out of her hand, lost beneath the feet of the rest of Gryffindor. Staring in dismay, she wondered what she’d do now. Hermione loved her best friends, she truly did, but she could not stand Quidditch and now her form of entertainment had been lost, leaving her to die of boredom for the rest of the match.
Was she being a tad dramatic? Yes. But she felt like she deserved a bit of melodrama after everything.
Just when she resigned herself to watching the rest of the game, something caught her attention in the corner of her eye. She looked over and realized it was a quill floating beside her with a note attached.
Perplexed, she reached over and grabbed it out of midair, separating the note and unfolding it to see what it said.
I know these ones are your favorite :)
Hermione did not gape after reading the note, the note that looked very similar to the one she received a few weeks ago, but she did look around to see if she could find the responsible party. Maybe this was some kind of prank?
If it was a prank it wasn’t a very funny one. Hermione sighed when no one immediately seemed suspicious and tucked the note away to be thrown into the trash later. She checked the quill for any enchantments of course before going back to her revisions, the weird note already forgotten.
Hermione has her nose in yet another book, ignoring Harry and Ron’s loud conversation, when the owls come flying in with the post. She doesn’t look up, continuing to read as some of her classmates get excited about whatever came that day. She never gets post, not unless you count The Daily Prophet that she occasionally gets, so when an owl stops in front of her she assumes it’s for Harry or Ron.
When no one has reached for the package tied to its leg she glances up with a slight frown to see why.
“Uh Hermione? Pretty sure this is for you.” Ron says.
Hermione’s frown deepens and she grabs the package to open, petting the owl absentmindedly in thanks. When she sees what was inside she can’t help but let out a gasp. It was the book she’d been looking everywhere for. The book she’d scoured numerous shops to find.
She hurriedly opened the note that fell out of the book so she would know who to thank and promptly blushed at its contents.
You’re very pretty when you’re reading. And you’re breathtaking when you’re happy. So I got you this to do both <3
“Oooh Hermione’s got a girlfriend,” Ron says in a singsong voice, looking up from where he was reading over her shoulder and grinning at Harry.
“Shut your mouth Ronald! I do not!” Hermione shot a glance over to Luna while denying his claims, quickly looking away and blushing even harder as she covered the note with her hand so no one else could look.
Both her friends raised their eyebrows and smirked mischievously.
“I don’t even know this person!” Hermione hurried to cut in when she saw them open their mouths, sighing somewhat exasperatedly though with a hint of fondness shining through. She loved her boys but merlin could they be gossipy.
“Oh so you have a secret admirer then?” Harry teased.
“Enough you two. I’m going to the library to study. You guys should think about meeting me there.” Hermione huffed and hurriedly got up, escaping the teasing jeers they were throwing her way.
As much as she tried to put it out of her mind, she couldn’t stop circling back to thoughts of a secret admirer.
Luna didn’t know when she decided to start writing the notes. Maybe it was that first night when she saw Hermione go to the dorm without dinner once again. Or perhaps it was when she was once again in her dorm thinking about her like a ‘lovesick fool’ as Ginny liked to say.
All she knows is that she’s in too deep to ever stop, not that she wants to. She can’t help but daydream about Hermione finding out it’s her who’s writing the letters. She would be thrilled, running to Luna to tell her she felt the same way. They’d start dating, get married, and live happily ever after. When reality would crash down onto her and force her to think logically she realized it’s much more likely for Hermione to run away screaming, “Freak!”
Hermione can never find out. It would ruin everything.
Hermione saw. Hermione saw her leave the note. Hermione knows.
Hermione knows.
Luna wants to cry as she runs away from the library. She knew it was risky but she thought she’d have time before Hermione came back. She thought she could be quicker.
And now, because of her stupidity, their friendship is going to be over.
“Luna! Wait! Stop!”
Luna resists the urge to turn around when she hears Hermione call her name. She doesn’t need to be told to her face how weird she is, she’d much rather have Hermione talk bad about her to others.
“Luna, please.”
She holds back a sob and rubs the tears blurring her eyesight. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She was so stupid to think this wouldn’t turn out bad.
“I LOVE YOU!”
Luna’s body stops before her mind even processes what Hermione said and she ends up tripping over herself and onto the floor of the corridor they found themselves in. Hermione takes advantage and runs forward to stop in front of her, sitting down next to where Luna still lay sprawled.
“I love you.” Hermione repeats calmer.
Luna still can’t believe the words coming out of her mouth and wonders if she’s somehow hallucinating.
“Luna, I’m pretty sure I’ve been half in love with you since 4th year when you decapitated one of the dummies during a DA meeting.” Hermione laughs wetly.
She reaches forward to grab one of Luna’s hands and squeezes tightly as she continues, “When I started getting these letters I hated them. I think, I think it’s because I wanted them to be from you and I knew they couldn’t have been so I ignored them. But then I thought that maybe it was time for me to move on. What better way to do that than with a secret admirer? And now I find out you’re the one behind all this? You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
Luna finally realizes this isn’t a hallucination halfway between Hermione’s rambling and instead starts staring in shock.
“I didn’t think you’d ever like me back. I thought you found me too weird and odd.” Luna whispers.
“Never.” Hermione whispers back and the devotion uttered in those two syllables makes Luna want to cry all over again.
Luna clears her throat and gathers her courage to ask, “Can I kiss you?”
Hermione answers her question by leaning forward and suddenly Luna is kissing the love of her life. It’s a little gross with the tears still on both their faces but Luna wouldn’t have it any other way.
Maybe they could have their happy ever after.