Luna had spent the last day or so in a daze, so much that people even commented in the common room last night that she was being even weirder than normal. When they asked if she was okay, the blonde shrugged and went back to humming Christmas carols and crossing and uncrossing her eyes repeatedly.

Luna had never felt like this before. If she didn't know exactly when and why it had started, she would think that some unknown and highly dangerous creature was doing something to her, and she would immediately go into total research mode to figure out what was causing this and how to placate it. The trouble was, she did know when and why it had started, and she had no idea how to fix it. She had been in this sort of daze ever since her meeting with the new girl the other day.

This morning, it had reached a new low, as it was pointed out to Luna at breakfast that she was wearing two different ear rings and that her socks seemed to be on inside out. She was running rather late, however, and had not had time to fix it before class. Finally she had broken down and tapped Ginny on the shoulder in Herbology that morning. “Meet me in the study room during break. Come alone,” she had breathed into the redhead’s ear before skipping away to the other side of the greenhouse to allow her friend to sit next to her boyfriend during the lesson.

Afterwards, Luna quickly drifted up to the castle and then to the study room, finding an occupied corner and humming to herself again until her friend joined her. “Hello,” she said, a little less airily than she usually spoke to the redhead. “How are you?” They hadn't really gotten a chance to hang out and talk much this year outside of classes, because of how busy the Gryffindor was. Besides, Luna had no idea how to breach the conversation that she needed to have for her friend. For once the odd Ravenclaw was nervous.

The year was off to a busy start, what with the dating scene, the new friends, the old friends, the pranking, and the detentions that Ginny had already managed to earn herself. Soon she’d have to add on OWL practice in most of her classes, plus there’d be quidditch. There was going to be a lot to do this year, and she really wasn’t prepared for it all, but honestly she never was prepared for a year at Hogwarts. There was always more in the works than she ever thought there would be, so why even try to plan for it all?

When Luna tapped her on the shoulder in their Herbology lesson, she figured it was just a bit of that ‘more in the works’ rearing its ugly head at her, so she shrugged and made a mental note to meet the girl as requested. It was odd to see the odd Ravenclaw looking so much stranger than normal. She seemed almost… confused? But worse than confused. She seemed utterly overwhelmed by something.

Ginny was concerned for her friend, and so she entered the study room with a determined look on her face. Her robes billowed a bit behind her as she rushed over to the blonde and sat on the edge of a chair, staring into the Ravenclaw’s eyes. ”Hey Luna, I’m fine, but what’s going on with you?” She cut straight to the point, not worrying at all about any sort of tact that others might care about. Her long red locks were French braided and whisps had strayed into her face in her haste to see what was troubling her friend.

”You seem really distracted by something. That’s… that’s odd for you,” she tilted her head at the girl, concern filling her eyes. ”Is there something I can do to help?”

Luna practically collapsed into the wall that she was standing near rather than just leaning against it. Frankly, just living in her own brain was exhausting right now, but she still wasn’t exactly sure how to talk about what she needed to, and Ginny was never one to waste time or mince words, especially when Luna was particularly confused, like now.

Apparently the direct route was going to be the way Luna tackled this, as she still couldn’t think of anything else. “A girl kissed me the other day.”

There, it was out there. Now that it was, though, Luna felt like it was kind of naked and didn’t summarize the weird situation with the dark haired Slytherin at all. She needed to figure out a better way to explain if she wanted her friend to be able to help her.

“Like, she didn’t just kiss me out of nowhere,” the blonde said, her confusion causing her head to bob, swinging the longer of her two earrings back and forth wildly. “We were talking, and she was trying to help me or something, and then she kissed me and walked away, and I asked why and she wouldn’t really tell me,” Luna stopped, out of breath from talking so fast and even more confused than she had been before she started.

“So maybe she did kiss me out of nowhere?” she offered hesitantly. “I don’t really know. And I definitely don’t know what to do about it.”

As Luna explained, Ginny felt her jaw drop. She’d been kissed? By a girl? Well, it wasn’t like the redhead had never seen two people of the same gender in a relationship before, nor was it like she could ignore the attractiveness of some females. It was just… well, she didn’t really know anything about Luna’s sexuality. The thing was, she didn’t even know if the girl was sexual at all!

She listened as best she could as Luna tried to explain further, but she really didn’t make the picture any clearer. ”Luna… how do you feel about being kissed? I mean…” she was having a hard time figuring out how to ask the blonde about her experience. ”I mean, how do you feel about a girl kissing you?”

That seemed a fair question, but there was still so much more to find out. ”Luna, who was this girl exactly? And do I need to hunt her down, because I will.”Just for the effect, Ginny fingered her wand, thinking of the bat bogey hex that was second nature by now. Maybe she was developing Harry’s ‘saving people thing’ or something, but she really wanted to defend her friend if she so needed it.

She just really needed to figure out what the girl actually wanted from the whole encounter or whatever it was. ”Sorry. I just um… I kinda need more to work with here. I mean, are you upset about it, or happy, or… Would you want it to happen again? I think that might be the key question to ask yourself.”

The attention that Ginny was paying her calmed Luna down a little bit. The redhead really was her truest friend; she could always count on her to be there when Luna needed her, and to say the things that Luna most needed to hear.

This case was no exception. In all of the worrying she had been doing, the majority of this had never actually occurred to her. “I’ve never been kissed before,” she said honestly and a little bit tentatively. She was about to continue on that train, when the seriousness of her friend’s threat hit her.

“You don’t need to hunt her down. She was actually nice to me while we were talking, I think.” Luna’s voice was still highly musing. She was trying to figure this situation out and using her friend as a sounding board. “Besides, you couldn’t if I wanted you to. I don’t know her name, or even her House. All I know is that she has sharp fingernails like claws, is super skinny, and has a weird accent of some kind.” That really wasn’t a lot to go on.

Luna decided to go back to trying to figure out what she thought about the situation and what she might want in the future, rather than factors that she couldn’t control, like the actual other girl. One of the things that her mother had always told her when she was still alive was to live for the things that were actually there and let the things that were out of sight float away like the waves.

“I…I think I would be okay with it happening again, but I mean, I don’t know. No one has ever kissed me before.” She struggled to say what she wanted to say, but finally managed to spit it out. “I don’t even know what it means when someone besides your mom kisses you,” she strangled out with a loud sob-like noise. Ginny was probably going to think she was crazy, but the blonde was close to panic by this point, and vacillating between calmer than when she came in here and more panicked than she had ever been.

Ginny wasn’t sure how to react to Luna’s news. She’d never been kissed before this girl? It sounded like a strange first kiss, but then again, the Ravenclaw was a strange girl. Maybe it was fitting for her. If she didn’t want Ginny to hunt the girl down, that must mean she at least enjoyed her first kiss a little, which was good. The fact that the redhead had no idea who this mystery girl was was a bit unnerving, however. She made a mental note to be on the lookout for a skinny foreigner with claws.

The youngest Weasley wanted to find out all she could about whoever was spending time with her good friend. She took it as her personal job to make sure her friends were taken care of, and that definitely included checking out anyone who would be close enough to kiss them. The next thing she needed to do was figure out how to delicately explain what this all meant to Luna. It was going to be hard, though, since she didn’t know exactly what it meant to the mystery girl.

Taking a deep breath, Ginny reached out and rested a hand on her friend’s upper arm. She really wasn’t good with odd noises or tears. She really hoped Luna wouldn’t make it to actual crying, because then they’d be doomed. ”Well, I mean…” she hesitated, trying to figure out what exactly she meant. How was she going to explain life and love to the blonde? Ginny cleared her throat and tried again. ”A kiss usually signifies some kind of physical attraction, especially when it is so sudden.”

This was hard. Ginny wished she could understand more of what actually happened between her friend and the girl who kissed her. She also wished she knew more of what Luna thought about the girl. ”If you’re okay with it happening again, I’d say you’re probably at least a bit attracted to her,” she said with a small smile. ”As long as you feel good, you’re doing things right. That’s pretty much all there is to kissing and such.”

Luna stared up at her friend, soaking in the information she was giving. The combination of the hand on her arm and the redhead’s words slowly calmed her, and this time she didn’t bounce back to panic afterwards. She had finally heard what she needed to hear from her friend, and now she could process this information, move forward, and go onto the next step in this situation. Her life would no longer be paused, or whatever it was that was going on the last few days.

She moved forward and up, changing the hand on her arm into a quick hug of her friend. “Thank you so much, Ginny,” she said to the Gryffindor before letting her go and practically skipped to the door. She needed to see if she could track this girl down, though it could probably wait until tonight after dinner. For now she would settle for hurrying back to Ravenclaw tower and changing into clothes that actually went together before she had to go about the rest of the day’s classes.

She reached the door and paused, talking to the redhead over her shoulder. “You are seriously a life saver and the best friend ever.” With that she bounded out of room, off to conquer the world in her normal, strange way.