Part 1: they say lonely souls are drawn to each other
Michael Corner was not that good looking, if Ginny was being honest. She couldn't deny, he definitely was pretty. From a distance he looked much better, but now, in his dark and crowded living room, with their chests pressed against each other's and the sound of heavy breathing and pounding music surrounding them she saw him in a completely different light, literally.
She pulled away from him, cutting off his questions with a mouthed "getting a drink" there was no use shouting over this music. It was giving her a headache.
She stumbled out into the garden with her red cup and sipped, only to find it empty. Oh well. She must have tipped it over without realising. Ginny dropped her cup onto the grass and breathed in, running a hand through her red hair. The only people out here were passed out on the driveway or smoking in a huddle, leaning against the assortment of cars parked on the street.
She turned around, taking in the night sky and the cigarette smoke drifting towards the glittering stars. Everything here seemed so calm, the music from inside was a distant thumping.
Ginny sat down in the dewy grass, ignoring the damp and the stain that would probably never come out of her short white dress. She had been with Michael for quite a while, longer than she had been with anyone else, so it was probably time she broke it off with him. Before he dumped her, anyway.
Michael was the best looking boy in the school, but he was known for not keeping his girlfriends around for long. When he had asked Ginny out, sometime last year, she had been ecstatic. She had said yes straight away, of course and now, with the pearly white moon looking down on her, she wondered if that was the right decision. It was a full moon, Ginny noticed. She had read somewhere that the full moon made you insane. One who is seized by terror, fright, and madness during the night is being visited by the moon goddess.
She jumped when a voice spoke from behind her. She must have spoken out loud without realising.
"She's supposed to ride a silver chariot across the sky each night."
The girl who had spoken appeared beside Ginny, who was startled by her appearance. The moonlight reflected off her tangled pale hair, making it shine brightly. Her skin seemed to glow, her blue eyes stood out amazingly, ringed by long blonde lashes, and a swipe of kohl underneath each eye. Her lips were small and pink, a tiny heart set under her button nose. She didn't smile, though she looked content.
Speak of the devil. Ginny thought.
Because all she knows is that she was thinking about the moon goddess and now she's here beautiful and glittering in Micheal Corner's front garden. She must be going insane, under this watchful moon, because there is no way someone can be this angelic.
The girls dress is made of thin white cotton, it collects at her waist and then flares out, reaching her knees. She isn't wearing any shoes, Ginny notices. She opens her mouth to speak, but the alcohol has made her slow and she had taken too long admiring her, sitting in silence, and the girl has left.
Dammit, Ginny didn't even get her name, she gets to her feet quickly and stumbles, almost snapping the heel of her cheap shoes. She needs to find her, or the person who brought her. She pats herself down, getting rid of any dirt that she can. She looks filthy and she doesn't want anyone seeing her like this, especially not the blonde goddess.
She sighs, defeated. She can always ask around later, after the party, maybe at work. She kicks each shoe off and picks them up, turning to face where the girl floated off to. It's a beach, a rubbish one. Filled with sharp rocks and angry waves, always crashing against each other. Ginny hates it there. She can't imagine why the moon girl would want to go anywhere near it. From this distance, she can't hear the waves. It's deceptively calm. She turns toward her car and stumbles again, she is trying to find her keys in her purse when she realises that she didn't bring a purse, she's looking in her shoe and she is too drunk to drive.
She walks to her apartment, thinking about the mysterious girl all the while. She's at the sad drunk stage, she realises. She never seems to get past it. She takes off the white dress and puts it in her laundry basket, she will wash it tomorrow. She lies on her bed, thinking about moon girl till she falls asleep.
Part 2: are you keeping each other afloat, or drowning hand in hand?
The next day Ginny wakes up at noon on the floor next to her bed. It's a bit disorienting.
At 1:00 she feels hungry enough to eat a horse, but she doesn't. She doesn't eat anything, in fact and she's not quite sure why. She does have a glass of water though, to ease her hangover.
She walks around in the park next to her house, it's cold and empty. She visits her parents graves and sits beside them for a few hours, talking. She visits the twins' joke shop, it's closed.
She visits Harry, Ron and Hermione after sitting home alone for a few hours. They had bought a house together after school and it's frequently used as a meeting point by their friends, who jokingly called it 'The Base'. There is always someone in the house, Ginny can count on that. Hopefully it's Lavender, she thinks as she pulls on a loose maroon jumper ( the dress she was wearing before had been too cold). Lav knows everyone and she will be able to tell Ginny who the moon girl is. Harry might pop up with a bit of useful advice. Dean would tell her to sort out her feelings about it before doing anything rash.
She pushed the thought out of her head. What feelings? She was overthinking things. It was just a pretty girl. And Ginny is straight. As a ruler.
When she gets to The Base, it's not Harry or Dean or Lavender that come rushing to the door. It's not even Hermione or Neville or anyone she was expecting.
It's no one.
The house is empty.
Ginny grabs the spare key from under the mat and pushes it into the keyhole, feeling a little bit ill. Perhaps it's because she's never had to use it before, perhaps it's something else.
She walks into the house. She checks all the rooms, to make sure nobody's home. Ginny goes down into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, she tilts her head to look out the window. Harry's planted some petunias in the garden, she observes. He'd always had a knack for gardening. He'd always had a knack for anything to do with household chores actually.
Her stomach rumbles and Ginny stares at the clock on the wall. It's broken, useless. They should replace it. Ginny stands and the chair legs screech against the tiled floor. She goes to the a drawer and opens it, searching for batteries for the clock when she catches a glimpse of the moon out the window. It's late, the trio should be back from wherever they are by now.
The moon is waning, and she wonders if moon girl is out there somewhere, under the moon.
The base is quite close to the beach. She can hear the water from here, quite loudly. She steps away from the drawer, her task forgotten.
She trudges back down the hallway, feeling heavy, and she remembers she hasn't eaten all day. She puts the key back under the mat when she leaves, headed towards the sea.
The water has a certain pull, she thinks. It's violent, but it's tranquil. She used to hate it here, but she can't remember why. Now, she feels anything is possible when she's standing under the not-quite-full moon and the inky black sky, listening to the sea singing it's mournful song and tasting the salt in the cold air. This is why she isn't surprised when she hears the voice of moon girl, standing a few feet away from her.
"Can you feel it?"
She doesn't need to ask what. She can feel it. The feeling of freedom. The pull of the sea.
"Yes."
They stand in silence for a while looking up at the stars that blink down at them in return. Ginny wonders why their meetings are always filled with silence. She wants to break the silence, to talk to this beautiful girl, but when she turns, the girl is gone.
Again.
The next few months pass in a blur for Ginny. She sees moon girl again. She goes to the beach everyday and everyday moon girl is there. They talk, sometimes about the moon and stars, when they are feeling free and wild, and when they feel heavy and grounded, as Ginny feels so often when moon girl is not with her to hold her hand and rub reassuring circles into her palm, they talk about the sea, and the legends and myths that surround it. The monsters and demons that lurk in the depth. They talk about the pull of the sea that Ginny feels, when she wants to walk into the sea and never walk back out, except to see moon girl again on their midnight meetings. Moon girl tells her she used to feel that pull, though she doesn't anymore.
She does not know moon girls name and moon girl does not know hers. Ginny had told moon girl about her nickname, and moon girl had laughed. Short and light, but sweet, and Ginny strives to make her laugh that way again. Moon girl had told her that she called Ginny the water wraith. Ginny liked that. So many people had told Ginny that she was a fiery little devil, Ginny likes being associated with water, not fire for once. They had never asked each other's names, and they had never talked about Micheals party, and they had never talked about other people.
She is so caught up in thought she doesn't realise everyone seems to be worrying about her.
Hermione gives her a cup of peppermint tea the next time Ginny visits. "Ginny, how are you feeling?"she asks tentatively.
Ginny was thinking about the faint whiff of roses she always smelt when she was with moon girl. "I'm good."she said, not really paying attention, was that the smell of the shampoo moon girl used? "Everything's good." Hermione seemed pleased with that, so Ginny didn't feel bad for lying to her.
Harry asked her if she would help him with the flowers in the garden, (the ipomoea were needing a little more attention nowadays) in an attempt to spend more time with her. She helped him, but they didn't speak about Ginny's growing distance.
Ron gave her sweets and gifts at every opportunity, to show his affection, to show that people still cared about her and that she could talk to them. She thanked Ron and returned his gifts with gifts of her own, and with them a silent, unspoken dismissal of his concern.
It was only when Dean Thomas asked what was wrong ( the only one to ask outright) that Ginny realised she was becoming obsessed. She hadn't told anyone about moon girl and she hadn't asked anyone if they knew who she was. She wanted to know who she was, but she liked what they had, meeting each other on the beach and sitting, talking with each other until they left, together or alone, always going in opposite directions.
Ginny looks at Dean. He's a good guy. She remembers they dated at school for a short while. He was always kind to her, he was always ready to help.
"Who is the prettiest person you know?" She asks. She doesn't know exactly why she asks this particular question, but she knows she wants to hear the answer. If Dean knows who moon girl is then he'll say it now, and if he doesn't then there is no need for Ginny to ask him if he knows a woman with hair like a silver lake and eyes like an endless blue abyss.
He is taken aback by this question, obviously not expecting it. "Well, I don't know if this counts but... at Corners last party..." Ginny's heart speeds up. This is going somewhere! "At...your boyfriend I mean... Michaels last party" he says, correcting himself. Ginny is impatient "Well, Neville brought a friend with him and she was pretty... pretty damn fine" he says the last bit to himself, remembering this 'damn fine' guest that Neville brought with him.
"What was her name?" Ginny is quite sure he is talking about moon girl so she doesn't know why she asks but... "Wait, don't tell me" she doesn't want to ruin what they have, and if moon girl wanted her name to be known she would have told Ginny herself.
She remembers then that Dean is an amazing artist, so she asks him to draw her. "Draw the pretty girl?" Dean asks, unsure of why Ginny would want him to do such a thing.
" Yeah. Don't show me though. I'll get an envelope for you to put in in."
She leaves before Dean can ask anymore questions, and out of the corner of her eye sees him take his drawing materials out of the bag he always carries around. This was probably not what he expected when he asked her what was wrong. A question, Ginny realises, she forgot to answer, except with a question of her own. She sighs and heads up to Harry's office. he should have an envelope around here somewhere.
The reason Ginny doesn't want to know , but wants the envelope is because she wants the power. She wants the power to open it whenever she wants, and she wants to know she has the self control not to. She wants to know she is worthy of moon girls trust.
When Ginny gets home, after the night outside with moon girl, she stands at the window of her flat for a long time. She can still see the moon from here. Only half of it is visible, it's beginning to set. Her stomach cries out for food. Ginny sighs and goes to sleep.
Part 3: your love was saving me, but it was also drowning me
Ginny wants to break up with Micheal.
He takes it well, which isn't surprising as he'd been cheating on her, apparently. Lavender tells her, with a worried "I didn't tell you while you were dating because I didn't want to break your heart, Ginny!" Lavender had always been one for dramatics. Ginny's heart was nowhere near broken, and she feels as if she has been cheating on Micheal with moon girl.
She doesn't tell Lavender this, of course . She thanks her for keeping her feelings in mind and reassures her with multiple thank yous, but then she has to go, it took Dean a few days to finish the drawing and write moon girls name underneath, in some elegant calligraphy, he tells her. Not that she knows, she's not going to look. She picks up the envelope and drops it off at her apartment. By the time she has finished cleaning and sorting out the flat, it's time for her to meet with moon girl.
This time when she meets her, moon girl isn't sitting on the rocks, facing the sea and the moon, but standing, facing Ginny, with her back to the roaring sea and her arm outstretched, as if waiting for Ginny to take her hand.
Ginny always notices things she doesn't normally notice when she's with moon girl, the stars seem brighter, her heartbeat seems louder and the sea air feels harsher in her lungs.
But when she reaches out and takes moon girls hand this time, Ginny feels as if she was blind, as if she had always been blind and only now, with moon girls dainty hand in her own calloused one, she can see clearly.
Moon girl leads her to the other end of the beach, and they approach a cave. Ginny has noticed every pebble beneath her thin-soled shoes on this short journey. She has noticed that the water is not just blue and green, but purple and yellow and the lightest of pinks and the darkest of greys. She has noticed that moon girl does not seem to mind the cold, no goosebumps are raised on her bare arms and she is wearing sandals. She has noticed a great deal of things about moon girl and she has noticed that, moongirls sees ready to float away, ready to disappear at any moment, and, at this moment, the only thing that seems to be grounding her is Ginny.
She doesn't want to go into the cave, she has only just started noticing the beautiful things, the tiny perfection in every pattern on every stone and each little path, carved into rock by the feet of hundreds of tiny, persistent insects.
But she knows that if moon girl leads her into the cave, Ginny will follow without a hint of resistance.
Moon girl knows this too. She pauses at the entrance. Ginny expects her to ask about going into the cave, or tell her a legend surrounding it but she doesn't.
She leans forward, ever so slightly, and so does Ginny, and then they are kissing.
And it is wonderful.
Ginny has kissed people before but this is different. She has never felt like there were fireworks exploding on her lips and when moon girl opens her mouth Ginny feels as though nothing bad could happen after this moment, but nothing good could happen either, because surely this would put everything else to shame. Moon girls lips are soft and wet and her teeth scrape against Ginny's bottom lip, igniting sparks. Ginny brings her hand up to touch moon girls hair and she realises that she could never be happier,with moon girls hands on her shoulders and her hands in moon girls hair.
They both pull apart at the same time, they don't say anything but they walk further into the cave, Ginny holding moon girls hand in her own, elated, but sad because she knows moon girl will show her something she does not want to see. She knows that moon girl would not have kissed her like that if it was not the last time she would be able to.
They walk deeper into the cave, moon girl glows, faint white tendrils of light poking at the darkness around them. Ginny cannot bring herself to be surprised or scared on top of the confusion, elation, sadness, and faint anger that she feels already.
They reach a small lake and moon girl motions for Ginny to wait as she walks into the pool until she is fully submerged in the water.
When she comes out she is dry, and holding something. Ginny tries to convince herself that she is dreaming but knows that she is not.
She stands close to Ginny and shows her what she is holding. A body, Ginny feels a little sick, and remembers she forgot to eat today again.
The salt water has preserved the body almost perfectly. The skin seems a little sunken and yellow, but Ginny can still recognise it.
It's moon girl.
"Oh god" Ginny just kissed a dead person,Ginny has been meeting with a dead person for 3 months.
Months that have passed like a breeze with this dead person by her side.
I'm in shock Ginny thinks as she lifts the body out of moon girls fading arms or I'm actually insane
The former seems more reassuring, so Ginny sticks with that. The girls walk towards the caves entrance, and when they finally step into the cool night air they keep walking, towards the sea.
When the waves start lapping at their feet, softly for once, and Ginny can only see moon girl out of the corner of her eye, they stop walking.
"My name was Luna," moon girl speaks, waiting for Ginny's reply.
There is only the sound of the waves.
And then "The moon goddess" Ginny answers. Moon girl had told her the stories.
Ginny thinks it's funny. "When I first saw you, at Michaels party, I thought you were the moon goddess."
Moon girl laughs and Ginny smiles. "I suppose you already know my name."
She nods. The moon is setting. Ginny puts down Luna and looks up at moon girl. She is fading away, her edges are blurred. "Did you feel it? The pull of the sea?"
Moon girl nods. "It seemed fitting for me to die and be found under a full moon. Three is a lucky number. Three months as Michaels girlfriend, three months with me, three years since I died."
It is time for Ginny to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow" she says, even though she knows moon girl won't be.
Moon girl nods "The pull of the sea" she understands.
When Ginny gets home, she opens Deans envelope. It's not moon girl. It's one of Neville's greenhouse friends, Hannah Abbot.
The next day, Ginny writes a letter. She addresses it 'to everyone that cares' and she leaves it at The Base. She tells them about the moon, and she tells them about lost love, and she tells them to notice the beautiful things around them. And lastly, she tells them about the pull of the sea.
She signs it Ginny Weasley, Water Wraith.
When she gets to the beach, moon girls body is there. Ginny doesn't stop to wonder about how no one had found it, she picks it up and walks into the sea. She can feel the pull of the sea, just like moon girl did all those years ago. When she is almost completely under, her clothes weighing her down and and seawater sloshing in her ears, she sees moon girl, standing a little further out in the waves, calling to her.
Ginny doesn't care about anything apart from the feeling of moon girls arms around her, moon girls lips on her own, so she doesn't stop walking when her lungs scream at her to breathe, or when her clothes seem to be at their heaviest. She keeps walking, and when she feels Luna fall from her arms and moon girl embrace her, stronger than before, Ginny smiles. She doesn't feel the pain anymore. She doesn't feel the weight of her clothes, and when she looks down and sees her body lying next to Luna's she doesn't feel surprised. She only feels moon girls arms and the pull of the sea.
a/n: pls review!! i know it's short but i did spend a lot of time on this.
how do you feel about me writing a series of one shots about the three months that they spent together?
i hope you liked it!
-el