Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; that happy responsibility belongs to J.K. Rowling. Also, I got the title from a song by Blonde Redhead & Devastations. Thanks for reading! Please review!
When the Road Runs Out
Today was Ginny's nineteenth birthday, August 11th, 2000. Later, there was going to be a party at the Burrow. Harry was going to be there, and the entire Weasley clan. Bill and Fleur were bringing their daughter, Victoire. Molly was making Ginny's favorite cinnamon squash soup to go with supper. And afterward, Ginny was going to go back to Godric's Hollow with Harry, and spend the night with him, and sleep in his bed, and wake up next to him, and then he would make her breakfast, and they would laugh together in the morning sun, because he was finally happy.
But for now, Ginny was alone, sitting outside Florean Fortiscue's Ice Cream Parlor under the shade of a large pink umbrella.
Ginny loved Diagon Alley at the end of the summer. Little children shopped excitedly, holding their parents' hands, chatting about Hogwarts. Teenagers pushed their hair out of their eyes and tried to look cool as they gazed longingly at new broomstick models. Adult witches and wizards exchanged pleasant greetings across the road as they went to work or to a shop. The vibrant colors and sounds of life blazed up and down the busy alleyways. Ginny thought it was, at that moment, the happiest place in England.
She watched as an elderly witch passed by the ice cream shop, holding a little boy's hand.
"I want an ice cream! Can I get an ice cream, Gran? I want a peppermint ice cream!" the little boy cried gleefully, his blond hair shining in the midday sunlight.
"Of course, dear," said his grandmother, smiling indulgently and leading him inside.
Ginny found herself smiling too, a very small smile. When she was here, sitting outside the ice cream shop with a dripping blueberry cone in her hand, she could easily forget everything else about her life, all her worries. For the few hours that she spent here, she was a teenager again, her thoughts occupied solely with Hogwarts and exams and joke shops and boyfriends.
In truth, Ginny had never really had that life. On the outside, yes, but deep down, she had carried a great fear: who would die next, when would she have to leave Hogwarts, would she lose everyone she loved?
And now that it was all over, she had to learn to live without fear.
Ginny licked her ice cream. She didn't want to think about that; today was her nineteenth birthday. The sweet blueberry taste lingered on her tongue, cooling it, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Sitting in the shade, she was the perfect temperature.
When she opened her eyes again, she immediately began watching the people on the road. A couple walked slowly past, the girl shading her eyes against the bright sun, her beau's arm slung casually over her bare shoulders. They looked no older than Ginny. A few paces behind them, a middle-aged wizard was reading The Daily Prophet as he walked. Ginny couldn't read the headlines from where she sat, but when she caught herself squinting at them, she realized that they probably weren't very important. She sighed and took another lick of ice cream.
That was when she looked up and saw him. At least, she saw the back of him. He was a slight young man, about as tall as Ginny, who was tall for a woman but average for a man. All Ginny could really see of him was his Muggle clothing—lose denim pants, a dark blue t-shirt—and the back of his neck, which was milky pale, even beneath the harsh August sun. He was very thin. His hair was blond, almost golden, cropped a few inches from his head. For some reason, Ginny was drawn to him. She stared. She imagined he would be very pixie-like, delicate, and when she imagined his features, she thought they would be oddly attractive. As she watched, he lifted a hand and ran it through his hair. His hand was very feminine, with long fingers and sharp knuckles that Ginny noticed even from where she was sitting several meters away. When he dropped it back to his side, he left his hair sticking up in all directions.
Ginny half-wished he would turn around and walk past her, but then she wasn't sure if she would be able to tear her eyes away, and then he would see her staring, and then her game would be over, and she would be embarrassed. But, she bargained, maybe he wouldn't notice her in the shadow of her pink umbrella. Maybe he would walk right past, and she would take another lick of ice cream and watch him go. Or maybe he would see her and smile. Maybe he would even say hello, or wave.
Before Ginny could finish imagining a million other endings to that story, he turned around, and her stomach lurched.
It wasn't a he. It was a she. And as she walked toward the ice cream shop, Ginny realized with a start that she knew her.
"Ginny? Is that you?" said Luna Lovegood, her surprise and excitement evident in her misty voice. "Merlin, I haven't seen you in… in… well, it's been ages!"
Before Ginny could reply, Luna walked into the shadow of the pink umbrella, pulled out a chair at Ginny's table, and sat down.
"You cut your hair," Ginny pointed out, still recovering from her shock. "It's nice."
Luna ran her delicate white hand through it again. "It's so much easier. You should try it, really. It's amazing." Luna smiled.
"I didn't even recognize you!" Ginny said. She managed a smile.
Luna laughed, really opened her lips and laughed, and Ginny could see all her teeth, very small and white and prettily disorganized inside her mouth. After a moment, she stopped laughing, but the smile and all the tiny teeth, like the teeth of a child, remained.
"How have you been?" Luna asked eagerly. "How's everyone? How's Harry?"
Ginny decided to take a lick of ice cream before she replied.
Luna noticed. "Is that blueberry?"
Ginny nodded, and before she could finish nodding, Luna reached over and gently lifted the cone out of her hands.
"My favorite flavor," she said. She looked up at Ginny through her eyelashes, which Ginny noticed were quite long. They clashed oddly with her short, boyish hair, making her face at once beautiful and unfamiliar. "Do you mind?" she asked. Her eyes were very wide, and very blue.
Ginny shrugged. "Not at all." She watched with a vaguely curious expression as Luna smiled, then stuck out her long, pointed pink tongue and made just a little dent in the side of Ginny's ice cream.
Luna closed her eyes. "Yum," she said. Then she opened her eyes again and looked straight at Ginny.
Ginny had forgotten how unnerving that gaze could be. She tried to blink, but found that she couldn't, so instead she just said, "I've been fine. Harry's fine." She smiled a little. "Everyone's fine."
Luna made another little dent in the ice cream with her tongue. "That's good." She looked up at Ginny. "What's new with you?"
"Today's my nineteenth birthday," said Ginny.
"Oh!" said Luna. She beamed, and clapped her hands together around the ice cream cone. "Happy birthday!"
"Thanks," Ginny said. Then she had a thought. "We're having a dinner at the Burrow tonight. You should come."
Luna took one more lick of ice cream, very slowly, and then handed the cone back to Ginny. Ginny took it.
Then, Luna swallowed her ice cream, which had been sitting on her tongue, and said, "Okay. Sure. I'd love to. What time?"
Ginny smiled. "Five?"
Luna smiled back. "Perfect. I'll see you then." She stood up from the table and walked around to Ginny's side. "I'm so glad I ran into you," she said, and then she bent over and hugged the redhead tightly.
Ginny was a little surprised. She tried to hug back without dripping blueberry ice cream on Luna's t-shirt. She felt the prickle of Luna's short hair on the side of her neck, and the gentle press of the peaks of her small breasts, and the delicate touch of her hands. And then Luna stepped back, and smiled, and Ginny watched as she stepped outside the bubble of shade provided by the pink umbrella, and Ginny kept watching as Luna walked away and out of sight.
-&-
Ginny spent a little extra time getting ready that evening. She wanted to look good for her nineteenth birthday party. She put on a short green dress, with a thin black belt around her waist, buckled right over her belly button. Her shoes were black, and their heels made her a little taller. She tied her long curls at the side of neck with a dark green ribbon, and they fell over her right shoulder and landed just at the bottom of her ribcage. Then she put just a little gloss on her lips, and looked at her reflection, without smiling. And then she went downstairs.
Her mother was in the kitchen, levitating things this way and that, looking a bit panicked. She gave Ginny a cursory glance when she came downstairs.
"You look lovely, dear," she said. "Happy birthday."
"Thanks, Mum," Ginny said. Then she remembered. "I invited Luna."
Her words caught Molly's full attention, if only momentarily.
"What?" she asked, her wand poised in midair. "Luna Lovegood?"
Ginny nodded.
Molly smiled a little. "That's good. Yes, that's very good. I'm sure there will be plenty, I'll just heat up some more rolls." Then she went back to work.
Ginny went from the kitchen to the sitting room. Ron was sitting on the sofa next to Hermione with his arm over her shoulders. Harry was sitting on a chair next to them, laughing at something Ron had just said. He didn't notice Ginny until he'd stopped laughing.
"Ginny!" he said, and he smiled widely at her. "Want to sit on my lap?"
She nodded, and crossed the room, and a moment later, his arms were around her waist and he was kissing her on the cheek, and he said, "Happy birthday."
"Happy birthday, Gin!" Ron called, and she smiled at him, and Hermione echoed his words in her soft voice, and Ginny told them both, "Thank you."
Harry squeezed her a little tighter.
"I invited Luna," she said.
They all looked surprised.
"When did you see her?" asked Harry.
"Today," said Ginny, "at Fortiscue's."
Harry smiled. "Great. Cool. I haven't seen her in forever."
"Yeah," said Ginny. "I hadn't either." She paused. "She cut her hair," she said.
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Ron didn't see, so he interrupted him, saying, "Let's go outside. Bill and Fleur and everyone are in the back."
Ginny stood up and Harry got up after her, taking her hand in his. They followed Ron and Hermione out of the house and into the backyard.
Several tables were lined up. Ginny's dad sat at one end, chatting pleasantly to Bill. Fleur was on his other side, with little Victoire in her arms, nodding along to the conversation, pausing every so often to murmur to the baby in French. George and his girlfriend, Angelina, sat further down from the other three, holding hands and murmuring back and forth. Percy sat across from them, with his girlfriend, Audrey, who was leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Ginny!" Arthur called, upon seeing her. "Happy birthday, my favorite daughter." He grinned.
Ginny smiled and everyone laughed. "Thanks, Dad," she said.
Ginny sat down with Harry on her right and Ron on her left. Hermione sat on Ron's other side. Harry chatted around her to the other two while she sat, waiting, glancing occasionally at the house.
Several minutes later, Luna walked into the yard, levitating a huge pot of steaming cinnamon squash soup in front of her.
"Hi, Ginny," she said, smiling. Ginny grinned back. "Your mum put me to work."
"Luna!" Hermione cried. "Your hair!"
Luna turned her smile on everyone. "Yeah, I cut it." She set the soup down, right in front of Ginny. Then she sat down across from her.
"Happy birthday, again. Sorry I'm late."
Ginny began to reply, but Molly bustled out, levitating all the other dishes over to the tables and crying, "Okay, everyone, it's all ready!"
The food had barely touched the tables when everyone started filling their plates and talking. Harry ate with his right hand and kept his left lightly resting on Ginny's knee. She sipped her soup off her spoon, glancing across the table through her thick auburn eyelashes. Sometimes she would shift her legs restlessly, and Harry would readjust his hand to keep it on her knee, and she would wonder whether she was touching a table leg, or the very tip of Luna's shoe.
-&-
The party was over. Bill and Fleur had left long before, taking a fussy Victoire home to sleep. George and Angelina and Percy and Audrey went to catch a late drink at the Three Broomsticks. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were talking in the sitting room again, surrounded by Ginny's presents, which she decided to leave downstairs for a day, to enjoy the novelty of them, as if it were Christmas. Molly and Arthur were in the kitchen, murmuring. Luna was just leaving.
"I'll walk you out," Ginny said, standing up off Harry's lap. His hands fell from her waist.
Luna smiled, standing up from her chair across the room. "Thanks," she said.
In no time at all, they were outside the front door, the cool air of twilight kissing their skin softly as they walked.
"It was a lovely party," Luna said, stopping and turning to face Ginny. "Thanks again for inviting me."
Ginny had been slightly taller than Luna with her heels on, but now she was barefoot because she'd started to get blisters and had taken them off long before. She was barely a centimeter shorter now, and she could look quite steadily into the other girl's wide blue eyes.
"Thanks for coming," Ginny said weakly.
Luna took a deep breath of evening air and closed her eyes. Then she let it out slowly. "I love this time of the day," she said. "It's like a window, or a bridge. It's like a special moment that isn't day and isn't night. It's just… separate from everything. And beautiful." She opened her eyes again. Ginny could see herself reflected in them, and she was sure that Luna was reflected in her own, so that as long as they were facing each other they went on forever.
"The moon is rising," Ginny said, pointing. Luna turned and looked. It was almost full, and it was very large and yellow, like a great wide eye on the world.
"That's beautiful, too," Luna sighed. Then she turned back to Ginny.
"Thank you for my present," Ginny said, after a long silence.
Luna raised her thin eyebrows. "But I didn't get you anything."
Ginny did not reply. She stood facing Luna, looking straight into those blue eyes, for a long time. The moon rose a little higher and the sky grew a little darker and the countryside became a little quieter. And then Ginny moved.
She stepped forward, only a little at first, and then again, until her bare toes were touching the tips of Luna's shoes, and her nose was inches from Luna's, and her reflection in Luna's eyes was very large indeed. And then Ginny reached out and gently put her hands on Luna's shoulders, and then she pulled the other girl toward her and kissed her, very gently, on the lips.
Sooner than Ginny had expected, Luna was kissing back, leaning ever-so-slightly closer and tilting her head to the side. Ginny's hands dropped from the other girl's shoulders and landed instead in Luna's own, and they intertwined their fingers, and Ginny felt those sharp knuckles fit perfectly into her own. Ginny's breasts brushed lightly across Luna's chest as they kissed, and a strange, prickling sensation went up Ginny's spine, making her feel giddy and light-headed, but she wouldn't even realize how she was feeling until later, when she thought back to this moment, because while it was really happening she was simply too caught up in it to notice how she felt.
Luna's lips were the softest Ginny had ever kissed, and her tongue was very long, and pointed, and delicate, like the rest of her. By the time they both broke apart, Ginny's hands were down her back and in her hair and on her neck and on her breasts and on her hips, holding on to her as if she would disappear at any moment.
And then they were simply holding hands again, and standing apart, until only their fingers and their toes were touching, and they could see each other reflected again, in their eyes. Ginny's chest was rising and falling deeply beneath the front of her little green dress, and Luna's nostrils were just a little bit flared, and her eyes were very wide, and very blue, as if reflecting the darkening sky around them.
And then Luna let go of Ginny's right hand with her left, and she asked, "What was that?"
And then Ginny let go of Luna's other hand, and she shifted her weight back enough so that her bare toes were no longer up against Luna's shoes.
"That was my birthday present," Ginny said. But she didn't smile.
"Happy birthday," said Luna. "Again."
Then Luna stretched out a hand and brushed Ginny's jawline, so lightly that Ginny wouldn't have known if here eyes were closed. And Ginny finally smiled, a little sadly, and then Luna stepped back and turned around and Disapparated and was gone.
-&-
That night, Luna was alone, and Ginny was in Harry's arms, under his starched white sheets in his house in Godric's Hollow. But Ginny wasn't thinking about him, and in her thoughts, Luna wasn't really alone.
-&-
A/N: I hope you liked it! Just so everyone knows… the opening lyrics to the song that this fic is named after (When the Road Runs Out by Blonde Redhead & Devastations) are as follows, in case you are curious (and in case it affects your view of the ending…):
Before you leave
Same time next week
I'll hold you again
Don't be late, don't be late
Baby, don't be late
Don't forget
When the road runs out
Oh, you, I'll marry you
I'll marry you
I will marry you.
Thanks again for reading, and please review!! :)