6th February 1990
Pink blossom petals littered the soft path which journeyed leisurely through the woods. Stark against the brilliant blue sky, the trees swayed gently in the light breeze allowing more of the delicate corolla's glide effortlessly to the ground.
The sun shined bright in the sky, illuminating the trees and emblazoning their green hues. It was a Saturday. The first Saturday of Spring. The sun was out, the birds were chirping and the trickling of the water in the nearby stream could just be heard over the warm and welcoming noise of the forest. A young girl walked among the trees. Her blond curly hair, rippled in the wind as she strolled airily down the path, her blue satchel swinging as she moved.
Suddenly she stopped. A small wilted flower lay at her feet and gently she picked it up and watched as it grew in the palm of her hand. It was a water lily. Bright pink in the sun, a stark contrast to her pale fingers. She knew she should not have done it and yet the temptation to fix something so beautiful was too strong.
A bird chirped loudly and the girl smiled. Delicately holding the small flower she carried on in the same direction, the sound of the water getting steadily louder. Finally reaching the stream, she followed its trail until she found herself at the side of a shallow rock pool.
Her mother was standing in the shimmering waters. She held a long, thin and carved piece of wood expertly between her fingers as a jet of what looked like a thousand diamonds spewed out from its tip. Protuberant eyes opened wide with awe, the little girl climbed elegantly onto a large stone on the side of the pool.
"Can you make bubbles come out of your wand like you did yesterday?" asked the girl.
Pandora Lovegood jumped, her hair, exactly like her daughter's, reflecting the bright sunlight giving her the appearance of a water nymph or a particularly beautiful elf. Smiling at the small nine-year-old whose excitement at seeing such spectacular magic was clear by her eager expression, Pandora raised her wand and swished it skilfully. Bubbles burst out from its tip and Luna, being only nine, tried to pop the closest one with her pinkie, the water lily taking up the rest of her hand space.
Pandora joined the girl. "What do you have there, my darling?"
"I found it on the path," answered Luna dreamily. Then, as another bubble blew towards her, she lifted her cupped hands until the water lily fit nicely in the sphere. Lowering her arms she watched as the unpopped bubble rose weightlessly into the air, water lily still held securely within it.
"Beautiful," said Pandora and she kissed Luna on the head. "You are going to be a great witch."
Luna looked up at her mother, "You think so?"
Pandora squeezed her daughter's hand affectionately. "Oh, I know so."
The memory ended and Luna was pulled back to reality. The sun shined in bright and the trees stood stark against the dazzling blue sky. It was 1998, nearly nine years later and the first Saturday of Spring. Luna was standing in the exact same spot she had been all those years ago, a mere week before her mother had died in 1990.
"Luna?" Neville was standing next to her and Luna realised she must have spaced out for a moment.
"Sorry Neville, I forgot you were here for a moment," said Luna. To any other person she might have sounded rude, however, to those who knew her well, they knew that that was just Luna.
Neville shuffled his feet nervously in the water. It was their first date, only a week following Voldemort's defeat, and despite everything they had been through, he could not think of a thing to say to her.
"Nervous? I've never been on a date either."
Neville smiled. "Well then, I think we are doing ok as first-timers don't you?"
Luna looked serenely into his eyes, the corner of her lip twitching slightly upwards. "Yes, I think so too."
A wave of emotions crashed over him and, on the spur of the moment, Neville drew up all his Gryffindor courage and slipped his hand into her soft one. A shudder of joy passed through him when she didn't draw away but continued to look dreamily into the distance. He couldn't think of an adequate thing to say or express what she meant to him and so they sat in a comfortable silence for a while.
"Can you hear that?" she asked quietly after a while. Cupping a hand around her ear and motioning at Neville to do the same, they stood silently in the water as they tried to listen.
Distantly a folk tune could be heard faintly through the trees. Neville remembered the time Luna had told him she had never gone to the Yule Ball in her third year because nobody had asked her. Again spurred on by his Gryffindor side, and determined to show her how important she was to him now, he put his other free hand in hers. He remembered how she had told him last year about how she liked to dance, and slowly began to waltz on the spot, her hands still securely in his.
Luna smiled properly this time. It was a pretty smile which made her glow with beauty and stand out from everything else. Captivated by her soft, blue eyes and her brilliant smile, Neville screwed up his courage and kissed her. For a moment he panicked, thinking he may have gone too fast. However, a second later he could feel her kissing him back. At that moment, that precise magical moment, waltzing gently in the pool, water lapping around their bare ankles, they were the happiest they had been for weeks.
Written for the Golden Snitch Forum
Prompt - "For me dancing is a way of thinking. Through dance we can embody the most abstract ideas and thus reveal what we cannot name." — Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, 2011
Prompt - (word) magical
Also written for Jenny (ClaudeAmeliaSong) :)
Singing a song along challenge: Prompt: Take me to your heart