I'm really sorry about not uploading anything for so long! I was on vacation and then school started again, so I've been really busy. Anyway, this story is part of the La Fleur De La Lumiere universe, and it happens about two years after.
Disclaimer: I'm still not J.K., I don't own Luna or anything other than the narrator!
Ex Luna
I first saw her on Tuesday, November 18th. I remember that night well. It was late, all my roommates had drawn the curtains to their beds, and I could hear light snoring. No sleep for me, not yet anyway, I had a transfiguration essay to revise and rewrite for the next day. I'm normally a great worker, and I was until the clock chimed one in the morning. That's when I decided to take a break, moving from my spot on my bed over to the window, peering through the frosty glass. My breath fogged the window, blurring any object into simple shapes. But not her. No, she stood out on that winter night like an angel among men, I was certain that she had fallen from heaven.
All work forgotten, my gaze focused on the girl, tiny against the backdrop of the forest and grounds. It was hard to tell what she was doing; it didn't appear to be much of anything. Just standing. Even at her distance, she positively glowed. Light radiated from her like light from a star. She wasn't an angel, she was a star. A star someone had wished from the skies, perhaps I'd done it. I hoped not, the sky seemed like a much better place than the Earth. Especially for her.
I don't know how long I watched the mysterious girl, the time slipped away from me, although I imagined that it was hours. Reluctantly, I pulled my gaze from the girl, taking a soft step back from the window. I could see my own reflection in the window; I was a handsome young man with a hard jaw and a mop of incredibly-curly dark hair that contrasted against my milky skin that never seemed to tan. For a moment, I stared into my reflection, the beauty that I had seen in myself before suddenly gone. I was not beauty, nor was anyone else. Just her. Beauty, righteousness, and kindness in the purest form.
And I didn't even know her name.
---
Her name was Luna Lovegood.
I learned this over the next few weeks, managing to get it out of my dorm mates in a subtle way or just overhearing conversations. That wasn't all I learned about her, either. She was in Ravenclaw, same as I was, but was a fifth year. People tended to call her 'Loony Lovegood' because she had odd beliefs. Other Ravenclaws liked to take her things because she'd blame it on the Nargles, whatever those were. She didn't have many friends, the ones she did have were in Gryffindor, and only two of them seemed to treat her well. In her house, she was alone. I knew the feeling.
Ever since I'd come to Hogwarts two years ago, people always seemed to sense that I was different than them. I tried to hide it, tried my best to keep my secret away from them, and it worked for a long while. The only reason they suspected anything was because of the words of the Sorting Hat. "Slytherin seems like the perfect choice for you, but you lack the purity they desire. RAVENCLAW!" They'd seemed to have forgotten about it completely by that point; I was just a shadow, nothing but a ghost to the boys at least.
My novelty had worn off with the girls, they no longer followed me around and they certainly didn't talk to me that often, I mostly just felt them stare. But she didn't. I'd noticed when I realized where she sat in the Great hall, completely opposite the table from me, she didn't acknowledge me. Quite a few of the girls would stare up for a moment, then divert their gaze. Come to think of it, she never did look at me once. But I looked at her.
She was even more beautiful closer up than she had been from the window, but her skin had lost some of its glow. Perhaps because she wasn't out in the moonlight? I wasn't sure, but it was the only conclusion I could come up with. Her skin was incredibly pale, a wonderful shade for showing every mark the body had ever received, but I saw none. Not a single scar. Even I had scars. Her hair seemed to have once been a golden color, flecked with brown, but she'd spent too long in the light and it'd bleached. And her eyes…God, her eyes were wondrous.
The one time I'd managed to see them was all I needed to memorize them, they were that stunning. She'd been staring off into space one day when I entered the Great Hall for lunch, and I'd caught her gaze, although she hadn't caught mine. I only looked for a moment, but that moment was long enough to see the blue orbs, shaded lightly like the rest of her. They were deep, like bottomless pits, and it was due to her seemingly weak grasp on reality. She just had such a dreamy look in her eyes, it was incredibly soothing. I found myself wanting to stare into those eyes for all the centuries to come.
And it clicked.
This was the connection. My mother said it would be apparent when it happened, and it certainly was apparent now. What I felt was real, not me trying to force myself into something or feeling pressured or just doing it for no reason. This was absolutely, positively real. I wanted to go write mother immediately, to tell her I'd found it.
And yet, the person I wanted to tell most didn't even realize I existed.
---
The first time she spoke to me was on December 25th.
I remember, we were at the Christmas feast. The Great Hall was looking quite barren, since many students had gone home for the holidays. As much as I love my mother, I didn't want to spend Christmas with her, and my father was in China working on a story. So, I stayed, and it was kind of nice. The halls were empty, we had no classes so we were free to do whatever we liked, and all my roommates were gone. There was nothing to worry about now when I watched Luna out the window, I realized it was a ritual for her. She was out there every night, and every night I went to sleep before she went inside. Even now that snow covered the ground, she still went out. I imagined it was freezing, could stars even get cold? I didn't know.
The first week of holiday was a bit of a blur. I spent my time finishing any homework we had, reading, or just wandering around the monstrosity that was Hogwarts. It sure was different from Angefort, larger and with more rooms, but cold and mildly uninviting. I missed Angefort dearly, along with all my friends, but Hogwarts was beginning to become dear to me, aswell. I found places in the musty castle that were oddly charming, like the room that seemed to appear whenever I needed it.
But it was mostly because of her.
I sat across the table from her, I'd been drifting closer and closer since I realized that she was in Ravenclaw. Finally, on Christmas night, I was across from her. She didn't seem to notice how I was staring, nor how I was studying what she was doing with her food. Most would have considered it playing, it seemed more like an art to me. Well, everything she did seemed that way. Her movements were just so fluid, and she as a person was highly graceful. It was us mere mortals that threw a wrench into her workings. Did I even count as a mortal? I'd have to ask mother later.
Finally, when she was satisfied with the shape she'd gotten her mashed potatoes into, she began eating, and I diverted my gaze to the best of my ability. I certainly didn't want her to see me staring like a dumb idiot, I hated that and figured she would too. Stabbing a piece of turkey, I absentmindedly stuck it into my mouth and chewed. Man, I was really being crazy, and I knew it. I was acting like a stalker. The worst part was that I liked it.
"You know, you really should be wearing a necklace…" I looked up, confused, to find that such a sweet voice had in fact come from Luna. Her voice, so velvety and soft, was a perfect match to the tone of her eyes. I found myself nearly melting in front of her. "The Nargles like to steal things this time of year…" It was probably the oddest thing I'd ever heard, but the sweetest. She was worried about me. I didn't know what a Nargle was or why a butterbeer cork necklace kept it away, but I didn't particularly care. Still don't. Not quite sure what to say, I merely sat, looking even dumber than when I had been staring earlier, but she'd just gone back to her dinner, so I went back to mine.
She finished what she wanted off her plate and stood, beginning to head towards the entrance to the Great Hall like I'd seen her do many times before. "Hey, Luna!" I called after her, half expecting her not to stop for I didn't call very loudly. Clearly, she was more in tune with reality than I thought. She turned, delicate face practically glowing, framed by her long, blonde locks. "Merry Christmas." She gave me a smile and turned, skipping out of the Great Hall.
That was all I'd wanted for Christmas.
---
It was another cold January day, not seemingly different from any other day. My shoulder bag gave a soft whack to the back of my leg with every step, weighed down with books and parchment. Nothing had really changed for me, I still continued to go unnoticed, I still sat alone at meals, and I still watched Luna every night. Of course, it didn't show, for anyone else the deep purple bags would have been evident. But not for me. Never for me.
I took in the voices of all the people passing around me, chatting with their groups about everything under the sun. All I could catch were tidbits, but some of them made me smile. I remembered times back at Angefort, we probably seemed this happy. There was no use of thinking of it now, I was at Hogwarts and I would be staying there. Shifting the weight of the bag on my shoulder, I took in voices. Only, these weren't like what I had been listening to, smiling at. These voices sounded malicious. Of course, the Incarne in me never seemed to quit, so I went to go investigate. Taking a swift right, I found myself in a nearly deserted hallway with only four bodies. Three were boys, and from the color of their robes they were fellow Ravenclaw, and the last was a girl I had been secretly admiring for two months.
Luna.
But something was seriously wrong with what I was seeing. The boys were grinning, saying horrifying things to her. Luna didn't do anything, even as they knocked her things from her, scattering them across the floor. Calmly, she kneeled down to collect them, not seeming to care that they were being cruel. I just stood, watching. They didn't notice me. "I'll bet Loony Lovegood doesn't even know we're here right now." One of them said, followed by "Yeah, she probably thinks it's the Nargles again!" Luna did often blame the theft of her possessions on the Nargles when it was clearly her classmates. I wondered if she just said that so she didn't have to think about them. About this.
I'd seen enough.
Briskly, I walked up to them, no one really seeming to notice until I bent down and grabbed a few of Luna's things, handing them to her. "Thanks." She said, smiling at me. I didn't return it, how could I? How was she smiling in the first place? I stood up straight, hands clenched into tight fists at my sides. The boys were saying things about me now, I could see their mouths moving but all I could hear was the pounding of blood in my ears. Teeth clenched tight, I felt it rising up in me, swelling. The uncontrollable rage, the instinct to fight, to kill. I tried to fight it, I really did, but all I could think about was what they were doing and how Luna just let them do it.
I couldn't just let it go.
Sharp pains erupted in my palms, but I did not relax my hands. "Do you think you can just get away with this?!" I snarled, sounding more animal than human. My teeth scraped against my tongue, now filed to perfect, daunting points. I knew my eyes had turned gold. The boys backed away from me as my skin turned a silvery-gray, but I didn't care. "Well, who's the tormentor now?" My voice was barely human, and I knew as my dark curls transformed into midnight feathers that they could no longer understand me. I was no longer human.
I was a monster.
Lashing out with sharp claws, they swished through the air in front of the Ravenclaw three, barely nicking the front of the tallest boy's robes. All three didn't hesitate to turn and run down the hall, and I didn't hesitate to send a shrill shriek after them, sounding much like a bird. It just made them run faster, until they disappeared from sight. The anger began to dissipate, and I felt eyes on me, piercing. Luna.
I turned, anger replaced with fear. My eyes changed first, returning to their normal gray hue, followed by my skin, claws, and teeth. "Listen, I know you're going to think I'm terrifying but I never would have hurt anyone and I'm not what you're thinking and I'm sorry." It came out far faster than I thought, all my natural charm seemingly lost in the face of the girl two grades my junior. I expected her to run away screaming, to go tell Dumbledore or McGonagall or do something, but she didn't. She just smiled, so I spoke again, a tad more calm.
"Why do you just let them do that to you…?" My voice was hardly audible, I dropped my gaze, breaking contact with hers. I wasn't used to things like this, they never happened at Angefort. Bravery, Honor, Respect, Courage, Intelligence, Loyalty, Cunning. All were followed at Angefort. If anyone was cruel to anyone else, no matter what their sect or house, the punishment was severe. So it just never happened. Here, it was not like that. Hogwarts was horribly divided, each house like its own school. And not even the members of the houses were loyal to each other, one favorite activity for Ravenclaws was tormenting Luna.
It was disgusting.
I hadn't really expected her to acknowledge my question, and she didn't. She merely smiled at me, practically glowing even in the dim light. I knew, in that moment, exactly why I liked her so much. Luna was the epitome of beauty, inside and out, not even a pure-blooded Veela could compare. I certainly couldn't. Finally, she spoke. "I like the feathers…" She said, dreamily, taking a step towards me. Raising her hands, she buried her fingers deep into the black feathers on my head, getting a good feel before they reverted back to my hair. For what seemed like an eternity, she kept her fingers tangled in my messy curls, the pressure nice on my scalp. "They're really soft."
I finally returned her smile.
---
I'm sitting in my living room now, our living room, actually. It's been seven years since I graduated from Hogwarts, five since she did. One since we'd moved in together. So, I'm sitting on our couch, writing this, and the most beautiful of women is curled in my lap. Her head is lying against my chest, long locks of blonde spread everywhere, as usual. Her eyes are closed, her breath coming rhythmically with sleep. I cant blame her, it's late. Sometimes she mumbles things in her sleep, right now it sounds like my name. Theophane just sounds so beautiful when she says it. I really, really love her.
Nothing's changed much since Hogwarts, really. She's still an outsider, labeled as odd and weird because her beliefs don't exactly match up with everyone else's, but she's alright with that. She still works on the Quibbler with her father, I help sometimes, too. I'm still going fairly unnoticed despite my charm, just as friendless as in Hogwarts. The only one that ever seems to really notice me and genuinely care about me is Luna.
And I'm perfectly alright with that.
Well, how did you like it? Go review now because it makes me happy!