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There were many things that Hermione found beautiful about Luna; the way that her eyes almost filled her entire face, the way her skin was almost the colour of milk, the way her hair reflected the moonlight even when there was no moonlight around, the way her mind was always busy... The list could go on forever.
Hermione just needed to look at Luna to be reminded of all of these things and she figured that they were why she was slowly starting to fall for the girl. She had started out with a crush on her when they were teenagers, but Hermione had brushed it off because there was no way that she could be gay. She was already enough of a freak as it was with her bushy hair and muggle born status, besides Viktor had liked her and it made much more sense to fall into a relationship with him, the bonus had been that it was long distance. Looking back now she could see how that hadn't been the healthiest response, but hindsight was a wonderful thing.
It wasn't until after the war that Hermione had given herself the chance to revisit her feelings for Luna Lovegood. Of course, by then it was too late and Luna was in a relationship herself, with Ginny. Hermione had been left to watch as the two of them fell in love - and left to wish that it was her instead.
She envied them but she wasn't angry because Ginny appreciated every inch of Luna just like she did. Hermione prided herself in not being a jealous person, and she wasn't going to start now just because she had feelings for someone that was dating someone who was already taken. She hated that this was her reality too, that she had feelings for one of her best friend's partners and she hated that she was getting so caught up in this as well.
For the most part, Hermione was able to ignore her feelings, and ignore the inner turmoil that came with it because she was able to avoid spending time with the two of them together by throwing herself into her work. Work at the Ministry was exactly what she needed to distract herself; the work was non-stop and it meant that she barely had time to think, let alone time to dwell on the might have beens.
Today, however, she hadn't been so lucky. Kingsley had made her take a few weeks off because she'd been working there non-stop for the last two years and hadn't taken a single day off so far. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she sat in the garden at the Burrow, pretending that the reason that she was holding herself like this was just because she was cold. It wasn't the warmest of days, but they had all decided that they should sit out with a couple of drinks. There was a campfire in the middle of their little group, and Hermione knew that if she was actually cold then she had access to her own personal fires. But Hermione wasn't cold. All she wanted was to provide herself with comfort that she couldn't get from anyone else.
They were a group of young adults, but it seemed that when they all got together, they tended to revert to their teenage selves. Hermione imagined that it was because they hadn't had an ordinary upbringing and they hadn't actually had time to let their hair down. But this was how Hermione found herself playing Truth or Dare in the Burrow's backyard with her best friends and ex-boyfriend. It wasn't cool or glamorous, but she supposed that on some level she enjoyed it.
"Hermione." Her name snapped her out of her thoughts and her eyes widened slightly as she realised that in order to play the game, she actually had to be present in the game.
"Sorry, I zoned out slightly there." She admitted, deciding that there was no point sugarcoating it when it was clear that she hadn't been in the conversation with them from the start. "Was it my turn?" She asked, somewhat sheepishly as she met Harry's gaze. He had been watching her with a somewhat worried expression on his face that she was only just noticing now.
"It was." Neville nodded as he passed her what she hoped was a non-alcoholic butterbeer but she decided that she didn't care enough to find out before she took a swig. "Truth or dare?"
Hermione paused for a moment as she considered her options before decided that it was just Neville and that she would be safe enough to choose dare. She didn't particularly want to have to answer any questions about herself, especially not ones that might lead to what she had been thinking about. It was safe to assume that Neville would not make her do anything too risky - it just wasn't in his nature.
"Dare." She said after a few moments in which she pretended to carefully considered her options, mainly so it wouldn't look as if she was hiding anything. If they suspected that then they would pressure her into it the next round, unless she somehow managed to excuse herself.
"I dare you to.... kiss Luna."
Hermione froze. She was pretty sure that she had misheard him, or maybe she was just hoping that she had misheard him, she couldn't be sure, but either way she couldn't just kiss the girl that she had a crush on, could she? Not when Luna was with Ginny, not when Luna hadn't been the one to ask her to kiss her.
"I don't think that's appropriate." She said simply as she tightened her hands around the bottle he had handed her. She hoped that he would pick up on how comfortable he had made her and decide to change the dare, but at the same time she hoped that he wouldn't let her back out of it when this was what she had wanted for as long as she could remember.
"I don't mind." Luna's voice was soft but it surprised Hermione all the same.
She swallowed thickly as she let her gaze fall on her friend, on her crush and managed to pull in a breath. She didn't dare let herself look at Ginny who she imagined was furious at Neville for daring her to do this and at Luna for agreeing to it. She couldn't imagine a world in which Ginny would be okay with her kissing her girlfriend, but she knew that with Luna's blessing she couldn't exactly back out unless she admitted that there was a problem, and she didn't want Luna thinking that the problem was her, not when so many people had lead them both to believe this over the years.
Hermione let out a sigh, deciding to play the part of slightly annoyed straight girl - even though internally she was screaming because this was exactly what she wanted and she couldn't wait to press her lips against Luna's even if it was only for a moment. A moment was all she needed to let her wildest fantasies play out. She stood up, moving off of her chair and walked over to Luna. She was trying not to seem to eager but at the same time she also wanted Luna to know that she was in fact exactly what Hermione wanted.
Luna shuffled slightly in her chair, moving so that she was sitting on the edge of her chair before Hermione pressed her lips to Luna's gently. Hermione tried not to let herself get too lost in the moment even though she could feel her cheeks burning, which wasn't at all helped when she heard the whoops coming from behind her. She pulled back after a few seconds, deciding that that was enough and she couldn't risk letting it go any further.
She gave Luna a smile before she sat back down and took a long swig of her butterbeer before she turned to Harry, deciding to move the game on before anyone had the chance to overthink what had just happened - including herself. She wanted to kiss Luna again, but she knew that that was her lot and she knew that she just had to be happy with what had transpired.
"Harry - truth or dare?" She asked, giving him a smile and ignoring the look in his eyes that showed nothing but concern. She'd speak to him later and hopefully ease his worries, though really she didn't know what he had been worried about. She had gotten what she wanted and no-one had gotten hurt - for now.