The Lesson of the Trifolumps
By: skarm (Ravenclaw)
Written for MuggleNet Fanfiction's Winter Snows Holiday Challenge #3: A Kiss for the Ages
And then you- YOU!- of all people, leaned over and kissed me...
A/N: If you find this story odd you aren't alone. I find it odd myself. It is quite interesting what your mind makes you write sometimes…
The footsteps reverberated in the empty corridors as the young girl climbed the final staircase to her destination. The halls and winding corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry weren't always so deserted, but it was only one week until Christmas. Just last night the Hogwarts Express had sped back to London carrying most of the student body. Or rather, the small amount of students that comprised what was left of the student body.
The Wizarding World was in turmoil. The Dark Lord Voldemort had declared war on wizarding Britain and, with the help of his followers, destroyed countless lives. Muggles and Wizards alike lived in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Families stayed together or fled Britain altogether. This is why there were so few students at Hogwarts this year and many of them still had gone home for Christmas. One of the few students who were staying was Ginny Weasley.
Every week Ginny Weasley would make the ascent to the Owlery to send Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger a letter while hoping to receive one in return. Harry and the others had refused to return to Hogwarts for their seventh years, much to Mrs. Weasley's disdain, and had gone off on their own to fight Voldemort. At least that's what they had told the only three members of the DA that came through for them. Ginny knew they were hiding something and couldn't help but worry about it.
She opened the heavy wooden door to the Owlery and immediately got hit in the face by frigid breeze. The Owlery was always drafty like this and Ginny chided herself for not preparing for it. She pulled her scarf tighter around her face so that only her eyes were showing and proceeded into the wind. She poked a few of the school's owls until she found one that was actually willing to fly out into the snowstorm. After tying the letter to the owl's leg and making sure it understood that it was supposed to deliver it to Harry Potter, she let it go. As she watched the brown barn owl fly off into the distance her heart sank.
It had been a very difficult few months for Ginny. She had been prone to fits of crying and generally an irreversible sadness. Nearly every day the Daily Prophet arrived while she was eating breakfast with reports on more deaths, disappearances, and tragedies. The fact that her true love, brother, and best friend were in the thick of it didn't help. Ginny Weasley was plagued with sorrow and nothing was helping. She tried taking her mind off of it by jumping headfirst into her studies in an amusing Hermione impersonation, but it didn't help. She tried extra curricular activities such as the Gobstones club, but that didn't help either.
Granted, it was very hard to be happy while a war was going on. Still, Ginny tried her hardest, but always failed. Her footsteps echoed in the halls again as she headed down the stairs towards the main part of the castle once more. The castle was cold and drafty, but in lots of ways it suited her mood. She passed a giant mirror that hung on the walls and stopped to look at her reflection.
Before Dumbledore's death and Harry taking it upon himself to leave the school to hunt down Voldemort Ginny's complexion was a happy and carefree one. Pinkish cheeks. Eyes full of life. That wasn't the way she looked anymore. The months of worrying and being on the verge of tears at any given time had taken their toll. Although she wouldn't admit it to herself or anyone else, she realized that she was taking on the same features as Bellatrix Lestrange's hollowed Azkaban look.
Before Ginny could continue down towards the Great Hall she heard a tired hooting coming from behind her. Upon turning around she saw a very familiar snowy white owl struggling to keep itself in the air.
"Hedwig!" Ginny cried as she rushed up and just barely managed to catch the owl in her arms before the owl's wings gave out altogether. Hedwig managed a thankful hoot before she nearly passed out due to exhaustion.
Attached to Hedwig's leg were two small standard pieces of folded parchment. They were both stained by mud and were wet from the snowstorm. Plucking them from the owl's leg, Ginny quickly searched for the one with her name. She nearly tore it while trying to unfold it.
The letter was short. They were always short, but this was shorter than usual. They had been in a fight with Death Eaters lead by Lucius Malfoy three days earlier and since then had been on the run from them and a pack of Inferi. There was no telling how long it took the letter to arrive or where they were.
Ginny's eyes glistened with tears and her heart ached. It was bad enough not knowing what was going on, but to be unable to do something was even worse. It was unbearable. She read the letter over again and stared at the 'Harry' scrawled quickly at the bottom of the parchment. He was definitely in a hurry when he wrote it. The mud that stained the parchment was just another bit of testimony to the troubles her friends, family, and loved ones were facing. Despite all the horrible things that Harry, Ron, or Hermione reported she still wished she was there.
"You go up to the Owlery to rest," she told the owl as she took the other letter from Hedwig. "I'll deliver this." The owl hooted appreciatively and fluttered off towards the Owlery at a slow pace.
Luna Lovegood, the name on the still folded piece of parchment said. This wasn't surprising at all. Whenever Hedwig made a delivery there were always three letters. One for her, one for Luna, and one for Neville. Ginny wondered whether they were the only three correspondents of Harry in general.
Ginny made her way down towards the Great Hall. It was still an hour before dinner was to be served, but since there were so few students staying for the holidays and they were spread out amongst all four houses, they tended to gather in common areas. Luna, however, was one of the least predictable people ever. Still, a start was a start.
The youngest Weasley rounded a corner in the corridor to find a rather amusing scene. Well, it would have been particularly amusing if Ginny wasn't in such a depressed mood.
Unpredictable was definitely the right word to describe Luna. She was here, standing on a stool, and trying to feed a suit of armor an onion stalk. Surrounding the spectacle were a few younger students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who were all pointing and giggling. However, they were also making some rather cruel comments.
"Luna, what are you doing?" Ginny asked with a sigh as she made her way through the crowd to the Ravenclaw sixth year.
Luna turned around and simply gazed at Ginny with her typical dreamy, unblinking look. "Coaxing Yiffies out of the armor. Sometimes they climb in there and get stuck, you know." She turned her back and went to what looked like force-feeding the inanimate suit of armor an onion stalk. Another round of sniggers followed her comment.
"There's a letter for you," Ginny prompted her. It was more or less telling her to leave the public area since Harry had plainly stated he wanted no one other than herself, Luna, and Neville to be aware of what the contents of those letters stated.
The girl with long blonde hair let the onion stalk fall between the slits on the suit of armor's visor. "You'll just have to eat that in there until I can come get you later." She hopped off of the stool and turned it back into her bag. She picked up the bag, slung it over her shoulder and replaced her wand in its usual place behind her ear.
When the two girls pushed by the few people that had gathered they grumbled and dispersed. Apparently Luna was their entertainment. Ginny and Luna proceeded around the corridors until they found an empty classroom. Of course with so few students at the school, classes had been merged together and there were a lot emptier, unused classrooms than there were previously.
Once in the room Luna delicately unfolded the letter, totally ignoring the mud stains, and began to read it.
Although she wasn't really trying to snoop around, Ginny managed to catch sight of the letter. It was far longer than two sentences. It was nearly a complete page. Immediately a surge of anger flared up inside of her. What made Luna deserve a full page explaining everything while she got next to nothing? Was it for her own benefit? She fumed on the spot for a few minutes while Luna read her letter.
"Is something bothering you?"
Typical Luna bluntness. It was times like this that made Ginny annoyed with the girl although they were pretty good friends. "Nothing," she lied and tried to force herself into a neutral expression. "Let's go for a walk around the lake before dinner."
When Luna offered no objection and after the Ravenclaw had folded up the letter just as delicately as before, the two girls set out through the giant main doors and into the snowy weather before.
Thankfully the storm had calmed down some in the last fifteen minutes though there were still a few flurries and enough wind to make the two of them wrap their scarves around their faces. They walked in silence, though, as Ginny was still upset at the length of her letter.
Of course there were some possibilities. Perhaps Ginny's letter had been written last and they were forced to move. Perhaps Harry was trying to make it so that she wasn't worrying. Naturally this plan backfired because now Ginny was worried about what he wasn't telling her in addition to what he actually was. Her anger simply melted back into depression.
Luna was an entirely different story, Ginny noted. Sure, Luna gave off the appearance of being a complete airhead, but Ginny knew that wasn't the case at all. Luna was quite sharp and simply had a different kind of wisdom. Hermione and Luna were like opposites, but Ginny was sure that they were both equally as smart. Luna didn't appear to be worried or depressed anymore. For the first few weeks she had been down a bit, but lately she was somewhat fine. This didn't make any sense since The Quibbler's main office had been attacked just a month ago.
As if to prove Ginny's point entirely, Luna suddenly spoke. "Ploovel tracks!"
"Huh?" remarked Ginny as she swung her attention over to where Luna had crouched in the fresh snow. They were about halfway around the lake and at the farthest point from Hogwarts.
"Look. You can see their two large feet and the four smaller ones." Luna indicated the footprints in the snow that led off to the Forbidden Forest.
To Ginny it merely looked like Argus Filch's footprints with his cat, Mrs. Norris, walking after to him. She had learned to put up with these odd theories of Luna's long ago, although it did come as a shock to her when in their fourth year it turned out one of her theories was absolutely correct. She had also learned not to say anything negative about the way her friend acted.
"Luna, how do you do it?" Ginny asked suddenly.
Luna straightened up and simply stared at Ginny. Her eyes were unblinking.
Ginny sighed. "Your attitude. There's a huge war going on and you don't seem to be bothered by it. I'm falling apart," she admitted.
"What could I do about it?"
"I don't know. Help out? Go with Harry, Ron, and Hermione? Don't you want to?"
"Yes, but they don't want me," Luna replied simply as the two girls started walking again, leaving the Ploovel tracks behind. "Plus I don't think Daddy would want me to go off after Voldemort. He was mad that I even went to the Department of Mysteries, though that was a fun adventure, wasn't it? I'm all he has left, you see."
Ginny mentally winced at Luna's last comment. Very often she felt guilty that she had such a large and loving family when she heard Harry and Luna talk about their situations. "I guess." They walked in silence for several more minutes before Ginny spoke again. "So you just want to stay here and run the DA like Harry wants us to?"
"Yes. It needs to be done."
The Gryffindor chewed on this for a while. "But Luna," she began, stopping just outside of the Hogwarts doors. "How do you get around your sad feelings? You don't seem to be bothered by this at all. Aren't you worried about Harry and the others?"
Luna giggled and smiled dreamily. "Oh yes, I'm worried, but not anymore."
Ginny simply blinked at this. "I don't understand."
"I was worried, but I'm not anymore."
"Why?"
"Trifolumps."
Ginny blinked a few times again. She sometimes wished Luna could be more serious in situations like this. "Trifolumps?"
"Oh yes. They're half-pig half-man. They're small creatures and they live in Norway you see."
"I guess I don't understand," Ginny sighed as she moved forward and opened the door to let herself and Luna in.
"Trifolumps teach a good lesson," Luna informed her.
"And what's that?"
"Sometimes you just have to hope for the best. Worrying won't do anything, plus it attracts Zarfles and those aren't very nice either."
Ginny wisely ignored the comment about Zarfles. "Well I'm glad you learned the lesson, but I think it'll take more than pigmen to make me feel better."
"You could learn their lesson."
"Oh?"
"It's really easy, I could show you." The two girls entered the Great Hall.
There were only a few students present so there was only a single table. Professor McGonagall and several students were already seated.
"That'd be nice," Ginny said. She was still doubtful that any advice pigmen offered would be good.
What happened next caught Ginny and everyone else, minus Luna, by surprise. The blonde haired girl simply stopped, learned over, and planted a kiss directly on Ginny's lips. Ginny's eyes widened in shock and stared directly in to Luna's misty silver eyes. Luna hadn't closed her eyes either.
Though in reality it probably only last two or three seconds at a maximum, the kiss seemed to last an eternity. Eventually Luna broke away and seemed to act as if it never happened at all. Ginny merely felt herself go bright red. At the single table in the Great Hall there was the rattle of silverware as several spoons, forks, and knives seemed to drop from people's hands and clutter to the table or floor.
"I'm not too hungry," Luna stated before turning around and heading towards the door. She didn't utter another word.
Ginny dreamily sat down at the table and tried to pretend as if that had never happened, but her own facial expression betrayed that fact. While she was eating a bit of Shepard's Pie and trying to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at her, she pondered what had just happened.
How dare Luna? She certainly didn't feel that way about the Ravenclaw in return. How dare Luna think that they were anything more than friends, and worse, think it was alright for her to kiss in the middle of a public area.
Furiously, Ginny moved a spoonful of mashed potatoes up to her mouth, but stopped just short. The spoon hung there in midair as Ginny came to a startling realization. Without the Gryffindor even noticing the glob of potato slipped from her spoon and splattered on the table.
The kiss wasn't romantic at all and Luna didn't mean it that way. It was the basis of the Lesson of Trifolumps. Love. Love was the key to it all. While the brain knew deep down that things weren't ok, if one used their hearts things would see better. All one had to do was hope, just hope, that their loved ones would be ok. Sometimes hoping that things are fine is the only option. While Ginny knew that she was worried excessively about Harry, she could do nothing except hope that he was fine. She'd send her love and that was that. On the flip side, she also realized, Harry must be worried that she herself was worried. It was an endless loop unless one took control of their emotions.
It was easy for Luna, Ginny knew, because Luna had been brought up on hope. The Ravenclaw must have realized instantly that her negative emotions were useless and did something about it.
Ginny bit down on the empty spoon and winced. She muttered, still flushing red, and took another spoonful. However she no longer cared that everyone was staring at her and she also thanked Luna greatly for the kiss.
Luna Lovegood hummed all the way back to her dormitory. Once there, and after inspecting the doorway for wayward Quorels, she entered and headed to her nightstand. She opened the drawer, unfolded the letter she had received from Harry, and placed it on top of the stack already there. She noted the 'Love, Harry' part once again and smiled.
It was something that Luna had kept from Ginny for obvious reasons. It had all started innocently enough, of course, but Harry had confided in one of his letters that he thought his situation was hopeless. From there Luna had educated him about the Trifolumps and thankfully Harry had understood since, given their distances, Luna was unable to show him in the same way she had just shown Ginny a few minutes earlier.
The lesson of the Trifolumps is something Luna had learned early from her father. After her mother's death Luna had become quite depressed. Her father, after a brief bout with severe depression, had recovered and gone on well. He shared with Luna his thoughts on the situation and how the ways of the Trifolumps had helped him. Trifolumps, you see, are creatures that get picked on by many other creatures because they are quite small and relatively defenseless. However, they never run away or break down. They continue on as they always were. They developed deep bonds with one another. Upon being observed, they always continued on as always despite the situation of those around them, but never forgot.
Luna smiled dreamily and gazed out of her window towards the Great Hall. She knew Ginny would eventually realize the true meaning of the kiss and wasn't too worried about accusations coming from her friend. It was the rest of the school, though, but eventually she'd have to teach them all the lessons of the Trifolumps.
The End
A/N: Ok, it could have gone without the Harry/Luna part, but that's my absolute favorite ship so… )