Title: Hide and Seek

Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)

Rated: PG13

Pairing: Xander/Luna

Disclaimer: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, et al. All things HP belong to JK Rowling, et al.

Distribution: The normal places.

Author's Note: Just another short-ish fic.

~*~*~

She looked out of place, on her hands and knees in the leaves, scattering them to and fro. Her robes were getting dirty and they weren't even the dull, drab school robes. These were the type of robes that he'd seen the seventh years in earlier that day, at their Leaving Feast. Xander stopped, a few feet away from her.

"Did you lose something?"

She looked up with wide, round eyes, the picture of innocence; their silvery depths sparkling with amusement.

"I fear that they have lost it this time, not I."

Xander raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"My wand," she explained patiently, pushing aside a strand of long, dirty-blonde hair to have behind her ears. She had earrings made out of twisted bits of butterbeer labels, he noted with mild surprise. "They've hidden it again. In this pile of leaves. But I can't find it. Perhaps this time it is truly lost."

"They hide your wand often?" Xander asked, conversationally. Something was a little off with her, but not in a necessarily bad way. She reminded him of some of the people in Sunnydale that had seen things they couldn't get out of their minds. Maybe that's what had happened to her, too. He knelt down next to her, at the edge of the pile of leaves.

"You're going to get dirty," she warned softly.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm just wearing jeans. You're the one in dress robes."

She smiled, just a faint ghost of an expression on her pale face. "You were one of the speakers tonight - at the Feast? You sat with the Slayer."

"Yeah, that's me." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Xander."

Her hand was soft when it met his for the briefest of shakes, violet nails with little hints of glitter at the tips of her fingers. "Luna."

"Well, Luna. Let's try to find your wand, shall we?"

~*~*~

And hour later found them still outside in the moonlight. But now they were not so much at the outside of the pile of leaves, as well within it. Luna laughed, reaching up to grab a leaf from her hair. She fixed Xander with playfully stern eyes. "No more of that or we will never find my wand."

Xander shrugged. "I'll buy you a new one."

She pursed her lips together. "I would prefer my old one, if we can manage to find it without throwing the leaves about again."

He grinned. "Fine, have it your way."

"My father says that there are leaf sprites, you know," she chatted along, unnoticing of the disbelieving looks Xander was throwing her way. She had been doing this since he sat down, mentioning things her father had told her. Half of it was just nonsense, but that was alright. He liked just listening to her talk about her life.

"Leaf sprites, huh?" He offered. "Hope we didn't wake any of them up with our little leaf fight."

Silver eyes grew even rounder, her perpetually surprised look becoming a little frightened looking. "I should hope not. They bite, you know. Get up under your robes and take great gnashing bites."'

Well, that wasn't a pleasant thought in the least, and he shifted around for a moment, making sure that nothing had crawled into his clothes in the distraction their fight had provided.

"What makes you think they hid your wand out here anyway?"

"They always do. Every year."

"There's always a big pile of leaves right here?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, silly. The leaves are charmed in, of course. Do you see any other leaves around?"

Xander took a brief glance over each shoulder, admitting that she was right. There were no other leaves for as far as the eye could see. Just this great pile that they were sitting in.

"Maybe they're just tricking you this year?" He offered, realizing as he said it that a trick of that nature would be even more cruel than the one he already knew that these students played. Hiding a witch's wand was a bad thing unless she was the same kind of witch Willow was. But he'd been told there were no wandless witches at Hogwarts. Not even a single wandless wizard, either. Willow was more of a special girl than he had always known, it appeared.

Luna needed her wand, though. He sighed, sitting back on his heels to regard her as she picked through the leaves nearest her. The task was made that much harder because of little sticks mixed in with the leaves, giving them a false sense of hope every few minutes.

Her robes were smudged with dirt, their pale violet color looking more like white now that the moon had fully risen in the sky and the lantern nearby was flickering at only half-light. Her hair had fallen from its clasp and now fell around her face as she worked.

She was, he had to admit, pretty.

"So. . ." He drawled, picking through another section of the leaves. "This is your last night here, huh?"

She looked up, nodding. "Just as well. Most of my friends left last year, you see. It's only Ginny and I now."

He remembered Ginny, the red haired Prefect of Gryffindor house. She had hit it off with Dawn from the moment the Feast ended and everyone was free to mingle. In fact, the two of them had last been spotted sneaking off together. He wouldn't be surprised if they were caught in the act of mischief before the sun rose.

"What're you gonna do after this?"

She shrugged, a sigh escaping her lips. "Father has a position for me at the magazine."

"But you don't want that?"

"No. Not really. I want to see the world. Father's sheltered me so. . . And it's all for the best. I just --"

"You want to see it all for yourself?" He offered quietly. "All of those things that you read about and heard about?"

He knew how she felt. It was the same way he had been last summer, when he had turned eighteen and graduated high school and then left on a road trip. The road trip hadn't gone anything as planned, in the end. But that didn't matter. He'd -done- it. Just as she wanted to do now.

"Well, if you ever get over my way, drop in and say hi?" He offered, glancing up to see her reaction.

Luna nodded slowly. "I'd like that."

She leaned forward, hands sinking into the leaves, until their noses were just about touching. Her eyes seemed so much more silver when they were this close, reflecting the moonlight. He had a second only to lick his lips before she kissed him, gently.

It was brief and very soft. Delicate, just like the girl giving it looked. But it felt like something else. His stomach did a flip and he leaned in, only to find her pulling away.

"Found it." She smiled, holding up her wand. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," he blushed, thankful for the darkness to hide it.

"Don't forget your offer, Xander." She murmured, standing up and offering him her hand. "I'll be coming by in a month or two."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

He grinned and offered her his arm. They were both covered in leaves, hair tousled; hair tousled. Anyone could get the wrong impression. Rolling around in the leaves on a warm moonlit night?

But he didn't care.

And he didn't think she did, either.

~*~The End~*~