Author's Note: Written for...
Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Montrose Magpies, Chaser 1. Task: Incorporate Alice in Wonderland somehow. Prompts: effervescent, "Fireflies" by Owl City, (quote) "The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." - Mewtwo
The Looking Glass
Luna always had trouble sleeping. She would lie for hours in her dark room, hugging her stuffed rabbit to her chest and listening to the clock tick and crickets chirp. If she was really desperate, tired of counting sheep, she would head downstairs and sit with her parents until she got sleepy. Sometimes Xenophilius would read to her, or Pandora would let her help brew the potions she sold. But more often than not, the young girl would toss and turn in her own bed until she finally fell into a restless sleep.
On one particularly cold night shortly after her fifth birthday, Luna woke in the middle of the night to a tugging on her arm.
"Luna, please wake up!"
She let her eyes adjust to the darkness, only to find her own stuffed rabbit standing over her in his pristine red waistcoat.
"Mr. Twitch?" she questioned, sure she was dreaming. He blinked at her with black, beaded eyes.
"We must hurry, Luna. We're late!"
"Late for what?"
She didn't receive an answer as the toy hopped down from her bed and was already descending the spiral staircase.
Luna hurried after him, only pausing momentarily to put on her slippers.
She found Mr. Twitch looking through her parents' collection of random artifacts and instruments in a cabinet in the living room.
"What are you looking for?" she whispered. He parents - her mother especially - were light sleepers and would wake at the smallest sound.
The rabbit emerged from the cabinet holding a strange hand mirror. Luna knew it well, it was one of her mother's favorite possessions and she often brought it out for Luna to admire. The back of the mirror was carved into a sun, at the center of which sat a star-shaped blue sapphire. However the really special thing about the mirror was the black glass. Her mother had called it obsidian, and said it was used for divination.
"We shouldn't touch that. If it breaks..."
"It won't," the rabbit assured her. "We're only going to use the portal."
"What portal?"
"Obsidian mirrors are portals to other worlds." He placed the mirror face-up on the ground. "And we're already incredibly late."
Luna knelt by the mirror, staring down at her reflection in the darkness. "But I'm too big to fit."
This didn't seem to faze her companion. He pulled a vial out his waistcoat and handed it to her. "This will make you as small as I am."
She turned the vial over in her hand, staring skeptically at the bright yellow effervescent liquid.
"And you'll be able to turn me big again later?"
"Of course."
She downed the potion then, putting her faith in the white rabbit that had been by her side for as long as she could remember.
It took a moment for the potion to take effect, and Luna could feel it in her stomach when it did. It tightened painfully to the point where she worried she might throw up, but then the feeling eased and she was shrinking. The walls and furniture of the living room seemed to grow around her until she was a foot tall and on eye level with Mr. Twitch. For some reason it scared her. What would her parents say if they found her like this? What if she got hungry - it's not as if she could reach the cupboards anymore.
"What happens now?" she asked quietly.
Mr. Twitch stood over the mirror and said an incantation. The obsidian melted into a swirling black pool.
"Now, my dear, we go through the portal." He dived in, feet first, into the black water and disappeared. Luna hesitated for only a moment. Deciding she had nothing left to lose, she dived in after him.
Everything appeared to be reversed in this new world Mr. Twitch had led her to. The sun was shining and the flowers were in full bloom, without a trace of snow around. They'd fallen from the sky onto a grassy field as soft as pillows. And although Luna thought all of this was strange, the people passing by didn't give her a second glance. Except, they weren't really people...
"They're all animals," she whispered excitedly to Mr. Twitch. True to his name, his nose jerked at the question.
"Of course they are. This is where I come from, Luna. There are no humans here."
Luna stared in amazement at the residents of the new world: otters in fancy dresses; a dog pushing a pram full of puppies; a bull in a three-piece suit.
"This is incredible."
"You'll get used to it soon enough. Now, come along."
Mr. Twitch ran across the field to a line of houses and Luna did her best to keep up with him.
"Where are we going?"
"To a party."
"I'm hardly dressed for a party." She tugged at the skirt of her nightdress, wishing she were old enough to do magic and transform it into something prettier.
"You're beautiful, Luna."
"But ... but what if the other animals don't want me there because I'm a human."
Mr. Twitch's nose jerked again in what Luna determined to be an irritated gesture.
"The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. Always be who you are, Luna, and don't let anyone tell you differently."
Luna didn't bring it up again. She followed the white rabbit into a house, and the strangest party she had ever seen.
On one side of the room mice and cats sat together having a proper tea party, while the other side was a masquerade ball. Above their heads, thousands of fireflies danced a foxtrot.
Luna couldn't help but stare at them all. The room was chaotic while somehow still managing to be beautiful at the same time. This was her dream come true, her best friend made real, meeting animals she'd never even heard of before. But it was that very thought that ruined her good mood.
"This is all a dream, isn't it?" she asked Mr. Twitch sadly.
"Perhaps," he answered, sipping his tea. "And perhaps not. It's hard to say with your kind. In any case, you're here now, and you may return in the future. Isn't that enough?"
Luna smiled and nodded at her friend. She would enjoy herself for now, and maybe in the coming nights she wouldn't have such a difficult time falling asleep.