whistling wind
A little girl stands in the midst of a field; tall grass, a haunting, cold blue sky up above. The girl, with her snowy skin and dirty blonde hair, scraggly and long down past her bottom, and her feet are hiding in the grass, the field home to a flurry of grass blades. A monochrome figure dressed in white, placed in a sea of green. She didn't often play with other children, but a little boy – a year or so older than her – was just a few feet away. He had ginger hair, a bit unkempt; an explosion of freckles across his face. She'd seen him a few times before.
She bends over, and fishes a pink flower from the grass. From her hand, it levitates, and falls into his. He smiles, and so does she.
"I've never seen you alone before." she says. He treads a bit closer, and she takes an identical step.
"Fred is sick – at the hospital. I wasn't allowed to come." His voice is quiet. He looks down at his feet. She figures there must be something interesting down below, and she looks too. There isn't, but it feels nice to blend in. Eyelids close over beautiful, silver moons. It's so quiet, she finds it possible to hear the wind run through her blonde eyelashes, however small they are. Leaves fall from the trees, and she holds out her hand, gently guiding it towards the ground as if her own hand was falling victim to cool weather.
"Why do you do that?" he asks.
"Do what?" Her voice is so small compared to his own.
"You know," he says, angling for words, making movements with his hands. "You copy everyone."
She's quiet, and he reaches underneath the sleeve of his jumper, scratching his arm. She does the same, even though she doesn't look to be itchy as he is.
"I'm not sure."
After a few moments, George resigns to the conversation, and sits down in the grass. He had something far more important on his mind – looking a gnome to hide in Percy's bedroom. He had promised Fred that he wouldn't let things get too boring while he was away with a nasty case of scrofungulus. The garden lacked what was necessary, so with permission, he ventured out past the house. Instead of a gnome, he found the Lovegood girl, three years younger than himself.
She was different, although, so were the Lovegoods – they often came over for tea.
"It just happens. Kind of like this grass." She sits down too, a direct meter from him. She plays with the grass delicately, like a fine piece of silk. "It just grew, without a warning."
Silence, for seconds that seem like solemn hours.
"Is it nice having siblings?" she asks. He scratches his head.
"Sometimes. Percy, Bill and Charlie are all at school. Ron and Ginny are little. Fred's always around though – he's my best friend."
"It'd be nice to have a twin." she says, "Or a best friend. I don't have many friends."
When George looks up, he notices she does too, as if there was something interesting floating just above them.
"You think I'm a bit strange though, don't you?" she asks.
His eyes fall briefly to the alien green that sprouts around his feet. The grass looks as if it is suffocating the earth beneath it, even though it's quite obviously the other way around.
"A little." he replies, shamefacedly. "It's not a bad thing, though. You're just curious – not strange."
She smiles. His cheeks go slightly red.
Clouds begin to gather overhead as minutes pass, and a cold wind flows through.
"I'd better go home. Mum'll go mad if I'm late again." he says, standing up. Luna stands up too.
"Bye, George." she says, turning her back on him, in tandem with his own movements. The wind grows cooler, and it whistles, pirouetting with her long hair, and she whistles in time with it.
A/N: Written for the Mental Disorders Challenge. This is Luna with Echopraxia, which is involuntary repetition or imitation of another's movements - usually found in young children. Luna is 6, and George is 9. I wanted to write them together since this idea struck me a while ago, and this challenge gave me a sort of push. The disorder was definitely a challenge for me, though. I'm not exactly sure if this could have the element of romance together - depends how you look at it, really. They're only young. Anyways, leave a review, tell me what you think.