Thanks to Paula for betaing!
A girl wanders in a park, looking lost. Her blue eyes shine in the sunlight, and he supposes that she's a very pretty girl. Picking up a sunflower-yellow blossom, she pushes it behind her ear and smiles, clutching several other flowers in her fist. She lies down in the field, and doesn't get up for a long, long time.
He watches for a moment. Then he walks away.
He wonders about the girl. He isn't sure what it is, but something about her seemed different. Special. Every day, he goes back to the park, hoping that she's there.
She never is.
The park is her escape. She'll wake up from a nightmare, tears dripping down her face, and shrieking, "Mummy!", hoping that her mum will take her in her arms and kiss the tears away. Every night before bed, she makes the same wish: The next morning, she'll wake up, and Mummy will be back. But by now she knows the brutal reality, that wishes don't always come true. So she goes to the park, because that's where she feels her most.
With the emerald green grass tickling her toes and the warm sunlight beating down on her, it's almost like being in her mother's arms again. She doesn't go too often, for fear that the feeling will wear off. But when it all gets to be too much, she goes. The park is her escape, and it's what keeps her going.
She didn't see the boy that day. She never would've guessed he was going through the exact same thing.
Finally, he's given up hope. He accepts that he'll never see the girl again, that she was just visiting, and that it's stupid to go looking for her. But now that he's started, he realises he can't stop. It's not just her, anymore; it's the park, and its familiarity. Its thick green shrubbery and damp, dark soil remind him of his mother, how she would read to him in the cool shade of the oak tree, never minding when they both got covered in dirt. She would chuckle, ruffling his hair.
"Come on, Theo," she would say, brushing his dark hair out of his face, "Let's go get you cleaned up." But she would chase him around for so long, giggling and dashing around the yard, that by the time he finally got inside, he was ready to collapse.
Maybe that's why he likes the little girl so much, he thinks. She seems like someone who could understand. And finally, he realises what struck him about the little girl with the flaxen hair. Looking at her was like looking in a mirror; the lost expression on her face, the smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
It was the look of a mourner trying to hide.
It's almost a month after when she finally comes back. She only picks one flower this time, though, before lying down in the grass. She stares up at the sky, the clear, blue, happy sky, and thinks of her mother's eyes. They were the most beautiful aqua, and they could brighten up any room. As she looks a little to the other side, she sees storm clouds moving in, heavy and dark and angry. She realises she has a choice. She can run toward the woods, drowning in the beauty of nostalgic memories, or she can go toward home, and accept the inevitable thunderstorms of the future.
It's a hard choice: A beautiful lie, or an ugly truth?
She doesn't move.
He sees her. He watches her, and maybe that's what gives him the courage to go up to her. She spins around, looking vaguely surprised to see a strange boy standing behind her.
"Hello," she says pleasantly, "Who are you?" He's slightly taken aback, but he tries not to let it show.
"I'm Theo," he replies hesitantly, "Who are you?"
"Luna," she says, "Luna Lovegood." Neither one speaks for a moment, and Theo is about to run away in embarrassment when Luna speaks again. "You look sad, you know. Is everything alright?" He's surprised at how observant she is, and he feels his face flush.
"I-It's my mum," he answers quietly. "She-she died a month ago, and..." He trails off, as Luna nods sadly.
"I understand how you feel," she says quietly. "Me, too. It was almost four months ago, and I miss her very much. Sometimes," she adds thoughtfully, "I wonder why things happen the way they do. Sometimes I want to die, too." Theo gasps slightly at the calm tone in the girl's voice as she speaks.
"Why would you want to die?" he asks, horrified. "That's an awful thing to say!" Luna looks at him with wide eyes.
"Why don't you want to die?" she asks, sounding genuinely curious. "You could see your mum again, couldn't you? It's just like life down here, but up in the clouds, and no one would ever have to go before they wanted to. I think it'd be lovely." Theo's mouth opens and closes, but no words come out, and he thinks maybe, just maybe, she's right.
(But he doesn't know that maybe, just maybe, there's more she isn't saying.)
She wants to die, she thinks, and not just for the reasons she told the boy. Sometimes, it's just too much. Sometimes, she wishes it would all just end. But it's getting better. She's happier now, and Theo seems to be helping. There are days when they both go to the park and sit together, picking the flowers and lying in the grass. There are days when one of them cries, and the other reassures, and there are days when they both cry together. And somehow, when she's not the only one crying, that makes it all more bearable. She's never had friends, really, but she quite likes Theo. And Theo seems to like her. They spend day after day together, days full of flying emotions and whispered secrets, and Luna loves every minute of it.
She makes two bracelets out of the dandelion stems, one for each of them. She weaves in the word forever because that's what she and Theo are.
But the stems grow old and die, and they shrivel into nothing.
By the time they're both at Hogwarts, their friendship has gone the same way. Because he's a Slytherin and she's a Ravenclaw, and some things just aren't meant to be. She's a dreamer and he sticks to what he's told, and sometimes, that gets in the way. Because in Theo's world, family comes before everything. Even could-be love.