*** Hi guys! I'm writing this for ReillyJade's Unlikely Hermione Pairing Challenge, and I chose this pairing. It's a femslash, so if that offends you (for... some reason?) then look away now. Very fluffy apart from a tiny bit of Druna, which is kind of angsty. Usual disclaimer – I own nothing but the plot, credit to J.K, picture credit to SmileWhenDead on Deviant art. Hope you like it, Reviews make me smile like stupid.***
Hermione stared down in disbelief. There, sprawled across the floor in her favourite alcove in the library was Luna, drawing a huge picture in the blank page of a book.
"Luna" She hissed "For God's sake what are you doing? You can't draw in the library books."
Luna sat up and looked at the brunette with cloudy eyes and a mild smile that seemed immortally engraved upon her face. "Oh, this doesn't belong to the library yet. It's mine."
Hermione relaxed and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth; on closer inspection, the drawing was incredibly detailed and beautiful. Around the edge were notes and a few arrows pointing to different parts of the illustrated creatures body, no doubt fictional, mythological at best.
"What do you mean by yet?"
"I'm writing it myself, there's hardly enough books about Indespectus creatures and most of the books that are published aren't available to everyone. Do you know that the Hurnle-Skurn is not even mentioned once in any of the books in this library?"
Hermione would have liked to have commented that this was probably because such a creature didn't exist, but, as always, her curiosity and thirst for new knowledge drove her to ask "What do you mean by Indespectus creatures?"
"They're usually invisible; sometimes you can see them on only one night, or under circumstances of the viewer, like a Thestral – you can only see them if you've seen somebody killed. I can see Nargels with these glasses though." She produced from her bad an oversized pair of spectacles, with an array of different colours and adornments.
Hermione's eyes widened – not at the glasses, she was becoming used to Luna's antics – but that she had actually said something she herself knew to be true; Thestrals were visible to those who had seen someone killed. But then again, that didn't exactly make everything else Luna had said correct.
Hermione frowned, and then asked "You're writing this book yourself?"
"Not really. Daddy helps, and every now and again I get a letter from a reader of the Quibler. And, of course," A smile light up Luna's face, almost like the first rays of sunlight in the morning, "There are all the creatures I'm writing about. They keep me company most of the time."
Hermione studied Luna. Usually when she did this to someone, they would squirm under there skin, or cross their arms or start talking, but Luna merely smiled pleasantly up at her, all the patience and child-like confidence in the world. It was almost unnerving. Almost.
"Who else... do you... when-"
"I don't have any close friends." Luna answered the unformed question. "Not in school."
Hermione blushed and looked down. "Sorry", she muttered. She mouthed some sorry excuse about needing to study when Luna said "If you want to sleep better tonight then you should change that Lemon Balm plant to Vervain. Lemon Balms good for waking up, not sleeping." She sounded fondly amused by the thought of it.
"How on -"
"You wouldn't understand."
Hermione huffed at the assumption, this was a challenge and she took it personally; her eyes narrowed and her chin jutted up arrogantly. This only seemed to make Luna smile wider, Hermione arched her eyebrows and demanded to prove that, by all means, she could.
"Tell me. There's small chance I won't."
Luna delved into her bag "A simple explanation wouldn't be good enough, there's... oh." her shoulders sagged and she went silent. The usual strange buzzing that tended to occupy Luna's presence nullified, her eyes were downcast.
"What's wrong?"
There was a pause, then Luna seemed to reappear and smiled brightly, "Meet me on top of the Astronomy Tower at ten and I'll give you the book that details it." she then kicked her legs back out and returned to the drawing, exactly as Hermione had found her ten minutes previously.
All thoughts of revision gone, Hermione wandered back to the common room.
.*.*.*.
An hour after Hermione had left, Luna packed away her things and cast an Indespectrum Charm upon herself. Such a charm was rarely known about; gifted by Indespectus Creatures to only a few, and next to never betrayed by the confidants.
There was a story her Daddy had told her about somebody who tried to tell, but Luna tried not to think about those kind of stories. She wouldn't complain or wipe her memory, but she refused to dwell on them as much as possible...
They gave her five tongues, Lou, she couldn't breathe. So they cut open her neck –
Luna blinked. The tales would scare her, but they also gave her courage to take her things back. She saw Crabbe and Goyle and whispered to the HinkyPunks to confuse them and separate them from Malfoy.
It only took a minute and he didn't notice their absence till it was to late. Luna tore the invisibility charm from her and backhand him across the face. It lit up with glee.
"Loony Loo – I never saw you quite so feisty"
"Your tounge'll turn as black as your heart, Draco"
"Watch out you don't grow a pair of wings and return from fairy-land"
"Watch out I don't shoot you down with an arrow if I do"
"Moonbeam arrows couldn't even damage Longbottom's memory"
They were circling each other and closing in – Luna never felt as electrified as she did with him, the sparks flying between them were erratic and there was no delaying it any longer.
They kissed passionately, his tongue tracing the line of her lower lip, her fingers traced up his spine and through his hair, he pushed her into the wall, dominionative but more vulnerable to her than he realised.
She slipped the memories from his brain easily, kissing him back but allowing him to take control, her body crushed between the stone cold wall and his body as he held her tighter, pushing against her more than he should and in ways he shouldn't.
When he finally withdrew he was breathing hard. He looked hungrily at her still, in a daze he didn't see her discreetly slip the memories into a small glass vial and cork it.
He brushed a lock of hair from her face and tucked it gently behind her ear, his hand then moving down and tracing the line of her jaw till he held under her chin. His gaze was piercing and cold, to Luna he was the balance, the counter of her world. She needed him to keep her sane, it wasn't something either of them questioned. He needed her to lighten his life, and she needed him to cast shade so her eyes didn't blind. It wasn't understandable, it wasn't loving, it wasn't coherable. It simply was.
His hand swooped round her neck and grabbed a handful of her hair, tilting her head back and kissing her briefly, bruisingly, again. "You're mine," she thought she heard him growl, and grinned.
Then he turned on his heel and left abruptly, with all his cool composure and sneer in place.
Luna watched him leave.
She wandered back to her common room, drew out a penseive and tipped the memory of him hiding her things into it.
She delved in.
.*.*.*.
Hermione sat atop the Astronomy Tower roof. She was early and didn't expect Luna to be there already, and almost felt disappointed she wasn't. Then again, perhaps a few mouthfuls of fresh air and a moment to relax would do her good.
She could here a few birds chirping, but most had gone to roost; it was already dark and getting cold. She drew out her wand and mumbled a charm to warm the air to stop her shivering.
"I know a better one" came a muffled, disembodied voice beside her.
Hermione shrieked and jumped out of her skin, pointing her wand on instinct to where the noise had came from.
But the voice laughed a chiming melody that sounded familiar.
Hermione peered closer... there it was, a shadow and... yes that must be a human outline, barely visible due to some invisibility disguise charm. Hermione clamped a hand over her heart as Luna melted into view after murmuring "Vilspectra" in an unhearable voice. That was part of the beauty of the charm – it muffled sound as well as sight, disenabling any attentive ears from picking up the spell or your presence. She had had to almost shout for Hermione to hear her, which was unlike Luna.
"How long have you been here?" Hermione asked, the annoyance in her voice lost by the breathlessness of it.
"A while. Isn't the moon beautiful?" She asked.
Hermione looked up. It was almost full, in a few days it would be. She nodded silently, lost in the moment. They sat up there – whether it was a few heartbeats or hours, time became strangely hard to tell. If such a thing wasn't so peaceful it would be unnerving.
"I like the full moon." Luna stated quietly "Because it is so beautiful. But I feel different when it comes up. I'm angrier and faster and I feel quite ill at times. I attract Hurnle-Skurns too, who frighten away most other things. Apart from Nargles."
An observer may have believed Hermione was only half-listening, if that, but something about this quiet speech of Luna's captured Hermione's attention and held her there, staring at the night sky but really transfixed by this strange girls ramble.
"I cant hold silver and I dislike wolfsbane as well." she continued, and Hermione froze, unsure of how to react to this insight "I wasn't bitten. I'm not a werewolf." She assured, as if telling a friend those clouds didn't carry rain, "But I treated one once. She was badly injured and dawn was approaching. I helped clean up her wounds and I think we accidently exchanged blood. I had cuts on my hands and there was a lot on her too."
"...Oh. I'm... sorry?" There wasn't really the right answer to that, so instead she asked, "Why were there cuts on your hand?"
"She was in a bramble bush and there was a nest of Skrated Kurniples who were quite angry. They have a tendency to bite if you wake them up."
"Luna, don't you think if the werewolf was in a bramble patch the thorns scratched you?" Hermione asked, sceptically but trying to keep the annoyed amusement from her voice.
"You would laugh, wouldn't you?"
There was a pause.
Hermione bit her lip; on one hand Luna needed a reality check, but on the other it seemed cruel to burst her bubble. She was happy as she was, and it would be like telling a five-year-old muggle that Santa didn't exist. "I... I didn't mean to laugh. Sorry, Luna."
"I cast a thornless charm on the bush before I got her out of it, so there weren't any brambles. And brambles don't have venom either. Apart from the bodeberry bush."
They fell silent again.
"How old were you when that happened?"
"I think I was eight or nine."
"I'm sorry to hear it."
"That's okay. I don't remember much."
Silence fell once more.
Hermione couldn't help feeling how peaceful it was, and thanks to the warming charm her and Luna had cast, the whole thing felt very relaxing.
The stars twinkled brightly above, like glitter on black paper. Someone shook the glitter, and then put glue all over the paper. Then they sprinkled more glitter onto it, and she realised she could see a face... it was Luna's face! The girl smiled and walked towards her. They were standing on a mountain crest with the moon behind them. Hermione looked at her and smiled. She reached out to touch her, but when she tried, her hand went straight through... of course. Luna was made of moonbeams. Hermione smiled again. "Moonbeam."
Her lips moved in her sleep, the word was only loud enough that only someone listening closely would hear.
.*.*.*.
Hermione yawned and tried to roll over. Only she couldn't because someone was taking up the room.
She muttered something incomprehensible.. and then her eyes snapped open, blinked, and closed again against the light.
She rubbed them and opened them again. The bed was a four-poster one, like in the Gryffindor dorms, but the drapes were a deep blue, and hanging all around were different herbs, a dream-catcher and a few other odd little charms.
Hermione began trying to work out where she was, why she was there and what in Merlin's name had happened. It wasn't to hard – she remembered being very tired so must have fallen asleep. Luna must have then levitated her to her bed. Why she hadn't merely taken Hermione back to the Gryffindor Common Room, she wasn't sure, she would ask her when she woke.
Looking at the surroundings, Hermione noticed a delicate silver chain on the left hand side with a Snake, Eagle, and Dragon charm attached. There was another thicker gold chain on the right, with a Siamese cat, another cat (that looked a little like crookshanks) and an otter.
Hermione looked beside her, and, sleeping, was Luna. She looked so peaceful just then, calm and serene. Her eyes moved under her eyelids and a smile traced across her face.
Something so tender stirred in Hermione's heart just then, she assumed the vulnerability of Luna, whom, despite their differences, she was growing fond of. She passed it as strangely maternal and didn't dwell upon it, preferring to watch without judging herself.
Now she thought about it; Luna was quite intelligent, she would be as a Ravenclaw. She might not put her hand up to give answers in class, but Hermione couldn't think of any question sprung upon her where she didn't know the right answer. And, thinking back, Luna did always get O's or EE's in her work.
She had cast a thornless charm on a bramble patch, which although obviously hadn't completely succeeded, it was still a valiant effort.
But that didn't scratch the surface, Luna was writing her own book for crying out loud... there would be more, Hermione was sure of it. And she was going to find out exactly how much more.
.
Luna woke gradually. She could feel the girls presence next to her, and felt her eyes on her, watching quietly. She smiled, and open her eyes slowly. "Good morning", she murmered.
There was a very content Pirly sitting in Hermione's hair, and he was a grey with a pink blush. That meant she had been having a romantic dream but didn't realise it. "Who were you dreaming about?"
Hermione blinked, frowned and then went red. How on earth did she know that? Hermione was about to say she hadn't dreamt at all, when Luna's eyes drifted to her forehead and then light up
"Ooh, it was me,wasn't it?"
"What... I didn't... how in high heavens do you guess these things?" Hermione suddenly remembered why she came up the Astronomy tower in the first place; to get a book which would help her understand how Luna had guessed that she had a pot of lemon balm (the plant) by her bed.
"The Pirly told me. He shouldn't have given it away, I would have probably guessed who anyway."
"What's a pearly?" The brunette wouldn't have asked under the usual circumstances, but Luna had already got an astounding amount correct, and she was genuinely intrigued.
"A Pirly is a dream dweller. Most people can't see them. They help you dream and sit atop your head, when you're having happy dreams especially. They change colour depending on the type of dream you have. They talk to me sometimes."
Hermione laughed. It wasn't scornful or mocking, nor hidden or forced. The whole thing just sounded absurdly funny, ludicrous, but also... well, funny. Luna laughed along with her, simply happy to be in the present.
"Well what coloured did he turn, because my dream was just strangely abstract." Hermione asked once the laughter had subsided.
"Oh no, it wasn't abstract!" Luna said, smiling, "It was unawarely romantic." Too Luna, this may have been a perfectly normal part of conversation.
Hermione froze, staring at her in sudden fury. "What?"
Luna looked at the bushy haired girl and frowned slightly, trying to figure out why she looked so thunder-struck.
Hermione swung her legs out from the bed and stood up, feeling slightly woozy from the sudden movement. "You talk nonsense sometimes Luna!" She snapped, feeling furious at the stupid blonde, who was looking at her in a confused daze. "And you're completely wrong, anyway! I don't dream, I never have. You can ask anyone you like who knows me well enough. Wake up a bit."
She turned on her heel and marched out of the room.
.*.*.*.
It was evening and Hermione was pretending to read. In all honesty she was still frustrated about what Luna had said, though why it bugged her so much she was unsure.
Harry was spouting his latest theory on Why-Malfoy-Is-A-Death Eater and Ron was trying unsuccessfully to turn their conversation to Quiditch. Both had left Hermione to her own devices after she snapped at them and insisted on being left alone.
There was a tapping on the window pane, but Hermione was lost in her own thoughts and didn't hear it. A second year opened the window and a tawny brown school owl flew in and perched on the table in front of Hermione. Attached to it's leg by a plaited blue ribbon was a brown paper package which looked suspiciously like a book.
She hastened to untie it and snatched a bit of biscuit to feed the bird in payment.
It hooted loudly before turning into a yellow canary. Hermione cursed as she realised she had unwittingly fed it one of Fred and George's Canary Creams.
The now much smaller and much yellower bird shrieked indignantly and fluttered around the Common Room madly until finally changing back into an owl, at which point promptly flew straight into a window pane.
The bird certainly wasn't in any condition to fly, but didn't actually look injured. Hermione settled for taking it back up to the Owlery herself.
Puffing and panting, she finally reached the top of the spiral staircase and deposited the owl onto a perch. She leaned back against the wall to catch her breath. The night air was cool, she looked across to the large window.
"Luna!"
The girl didn't turn round.
She tried again, gentler this time. "Luna, why are you sitting up there? You shouldn't. You could fall..."
"I could fly."
There was silence as Hermione stared very worriedly at the younger girl.
"I won't jump. I know I cant fly without a broom. But I imagine falling so far might feel a bit like flying, don't you?"
"I...well...no, not really. But I haven't flown before. Apart from on a Thestral last year."
"And a Hippogriff a few years ago."
Hermione jolted, surprised, "How did you know that?"
"I saw you. And then that man, Sirius Black, he flew on it too afterwards."
There was no reply.
"Come down from the window, Luna." Hermione murmured, gently. The girl swung her legs round and hopped off the window ledge lightly. "I'll walk you back too the Common Room."
"There's no need, I can walk myself back."
Hermione, now a little disheartened, dropped her gaze to the floor. "Right, well. It was just an offer." She muttered. Looking down she realised Luna was barefooted. "Where are your shoes?" She enquired.
"I don't know. I have to find them you see, which is why you can go on ahead. It's getting late and you have to catch up on your sleep."
"I'll help you look for them," Hermione said, frowning, "But why are they missing?"
"Oh you will!" Luna abruptly threw her arms around Hermione's neck and kissed her on the cheek, "Thank you!" She beamed, and then grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her along down the winding staircase.
.
Hermione sunk down onto her bed in a daze. It was two in the morning, and she had only just got in after helping Luna track down her lost possessions.
Her shoes had been finally found tied to the ceiling on the fifth floor. Then Hermione had insisted that they found her jumper and stockings which had also inexplicably gone missing too.
But more too it, Hermione felt incredibly jumpy in the girls presence, Luna would just grab her hand every now and then and all coherent thoughts left her mind. And then, like in the Owelry a few hours earlier, at the end of the night Luna had hugged Hermione tightly and kissed her on the cheek, eyes bright and shining, so pleased to finally have a friend.
Her happines and joy was incessant, never-ending, and Hermione suddenly felt envious of her. She was so happy as she was, not giving a second thought to anything anyone else might say behind her back, not caring what injustices were done to her, because nothing anyone did would stop her smile.
Hermione sighed deeply and contentedly, snuggling under her warm blanket. Her mind had been a whirlwind that evening, her heart still pounding, and her last thought before she fell asleep was the way Luna had looked at her before she left. Happy.
.*.*.*.
"Hermione, is this book yours?" The brunette looked up to see Neville standing in front of her looking confused and a little guilty. "Only I saw that owl fly in with it yesterday and then you left and – well this book is really rare but it's fascinating and I was looking through it and I just thought-"
"Neville! Slow down, I can bearly pick out what your saying! And yes, that book is mine." She smiled at him, "Thanks, I forgot about it."
"Umm, your welcome. Look, I was just wondering, could I borrow it when your done only it's a realy rare copy and I've been looking for one for ages since Moody mentioned it, and it could boost my Herbology marks." He rushed.
"You'll have to ask Luna, it's hers, she just lent it too me."
"Oh, right. Well thanks anyway!" She watched him walk off before looking down at the book. It was certainly old, and had a picture of a beautiful young lady made of flowers and plants, titled Blodeuwedd's Bible. She flicked through it before placing it in her bag and hurrying off too luch. If she ate fast enough she could spend half an hour looking through it before Arithmancy.
She heard loud voices travelling down the corridor, and a scuffling sound that soon followed. Quickening her pace, she turned the corner to see two large Slitherins walking in her direction, laughing unpleasantly. Behind them was Luna frowning slightly as she picked herself up off the floor.
"Excuse me, did you just knock Luna over?" She asked, shrilly. It was her duty as a prefect, and she felt a surge of anger at them; but they were much larger and could probably overpower her if they tried.
The taller one sniggered, "You gonna put us in detention, mudblood?"
"She tripped over her own feet." The other one replied at the same time.
Hermione arched an eyebrow. "I will be reporting this -"
"Oh, will you now?"
Hermione gulped and drew out her wand as a precaution, but so did the others. They advanced and she hastily took a step back, before steeling herself.
Remembering the benefits of wordless magic, she silently disarmed the shorter one, and a high clear voice rung out behind her, "Percificus Totalus" which took care of the taller menace.
But the one she had disarmed looked suddenly furious, he flew at her and she side-stepped his punch, which caught her jaw before slamming with a sickening crunch into the stone wall. He howled and hopped about, cluching his broken hand.
Luna walked towards him, a small smile still gracing her face. "Here, I can fix that for you."
"Get away you freak!" He spat.
She ignored him and touched her wand to his hand gently. Despite his words he held still, staring in wonder as a warm sensation enveloped his hand, the pain gently receeding. She withdrew it smiled back at him, he scowled and muttered darkly, stalking off. "It's not fixed, you should go to the hospital wing." She told him. He turned his head to throw her a very dirty look, before turning the corner and disapearing out of sight.
"Luna..."
"Thanks for helping, Hermione!" Luna said brightly, but there was a slight edge to her voice.
"They shouldn't have knocked you over – why the hell did they so that?" She demanded angrily.
"Oh, some people are just afraid."
"Afraid?"
"Yes. They think that if they aren't cruel then other people will look down on them. They're scared of the reprisals."
Hermione thought this was a little far-fetched, and remarked that cowardice was no excuse. At this Luna laughed and agreed that they were cowards, before asking Hermione if she'd eaten lunch.
"No, have you?"
"I was just on my way, come on!" She grabbed the Gryffindors' hand and began skipping to the Great Hall.
"Uh, Luna, sorry, I don't think we should hold hands. People... questions... you know!" Her speech was garbled but the blonde dropped her hand and walked beside her instead.
So much for being different. To Luna physical contact was a very much automatic thing, and it had been a struggle to learn to keep her distance when growing up and beggining at Hogwarts. Her father had seen no quarrel with it and objected to placing boundaries on her, so she had simply learned a harder way.
She did, however, realise that there were some people who she liked to be closer to than others, especially friends. Especially Hermione.
"Oh Hermione, you're hurt!" She'd looked over at her friend to see a yellowish bruise forming at the side of her jaw from when the Slitherin had tried to punch her. She put two fingers against it lightly. "Here," she healed the bruise with the same charm she'd used on the assailent. There was only a faint red mark left, which would fade easily.
It was only when she looked into the brunette's eyes did she realise just how close she was standing. She felt an almost overwhelming urge to kiss her, but remembered that Hermione didn't like holding hands, and kissing was probably worse. So she just patted her cheek gently and smiled, before they both walked off to the last ten minutes of lunch.
.*.*.*.
Hermione yawned and rubbed her eyes, Harry looked across at her worridley. "Hermione, you need to get some more sleep. You look exhausted, and it's only seven thirty!"
"Yes, I know. It's not so much that I don't get enough sleep, more that I can't sleep well."
"It's 'cause you don't switch off." Ron told her, "I mean, come on, do you ever have an evening you don't spend with your nose buried in a book?" She glared at him, and his ears went pink "Oh no – Hermione, I didn't mean it like that!"
She stood up, "Really?" She asked, frostily, "Well I apologise if aquiring more knowledge than your brain could cope with offends you, and if you'll excuse me, I have other places to be tonight." She threw him another nasty look before storming off, with no real destination in mind.
She was halfway up a staircase when it began moving, and landed on a passage she had never noticed before. She cautiously walked through it, making a mental note of where it's entrance lay.
The corridor widened till it's girth was of a small room, and a few sofa's and armchairs were scattered about. At the end was a large glass door, which opened to her touch. She found herself on a balcony, overlooking the lake. The view was equisite, breathtaking.
"Wow..."
"It is beautiful, isn't it?"
Hermione jumped, and then stared in shock and disbelief as Luna stood behind her, looking out at the first stars of the evening. The door swung shut behind her with a quiet click, and she leaned against the stone banister separating them and the world.
Every question about how Luna found her in such a remote place disolved as beautiful sky-blue eyes turned to her. A hand reached up to brush a lock of hair from her face, and tucked it behind her ear. Rosebud lips smiled, and Hermione looked back into Luna's eyes.
Her hand came up to the side of her face and stroked the pearly skin, smooth as satin. They lent together, the kiss was tender, sweet and gentle. Hermione felt her heart expand, her eyelids had unknowingly fluttered shut, and she kissed the beautiful moonchild.
"Luna?"
"Yes, Hermione?"
"I think I love you."
"I know you do. And I love you."
.
***D'aaaww! Loved writing that, thinking about doing a sequel if I get bored 'cause there's a few loose ends to tie up and plenty of fluffy scenes to write – what do you think?
And what did you think about the story? Please, please, please review because I love them so much and it only take a few moments :D
Thanks for reading :D
P.S – please review! ;)