Author's Note: This is for the Hogwarts Houses Competition. For an Extended version, check out Chasing Rabbits: Extended Cut
House: Hufflepuff, Year Four
Category: Short
Prompt: Romantic Pairing, Non-Canon (Luna/Ginny)
Word Count: 2,040 (I know I'm over but Victor Hugo didn't save Notre Dame by editing the Hunchback.)
Ginny was always left out at playtime. She was the 'little sister', she needed to 'be protected' all the time. She'd try and toddle along after Ron, Fred and George, and Percy; but each time they would snub her off. Bill would indulge her with tea parties but he, too, would have other things to do. Charlie just wanted to talk about Dragons all day. Percy wanted to expand his mind. Ron would tagalong with Fred and George even if it meant being the butt of their jokes and victim of their pranks.
Anything if it meant he didn't have to hang out with his dumb little sister.
They weren't allowed to play with Muggles due to there being rules and everything about befriending them. Mrs. Weasley was adamant that they keep with their little group. That meant the Fawcetts, the Lovegoods, and the Diggorys. None of this interested Ginny. No, the only interest she ever had was The-Boy-Who-Lived. She read all his adventures and hoped one day she could be just like him. A child hero with wonderful adventures all over the world. So, she read everything she could and played Harry Potter Adventures by herself with her homemade dolls.
That was her only interest. Until her.
Mrs. Weasley decided to start bringing her youngest along with her to teatime, so she wouldn't be home alone with her brothers as brothers could be horribly mean as Mrs. Weasley well remembered.
They had gone to the Lovegood's house which stood like a little castle against the hill it stood on. There was a main house and a tower like a giant rook piece. Ginny wished her house looked as interesting as this rather than the stacked up, wibbly-wobbly mess they had.
"Don't stray too far, Ginevra," said Mrs. Weasley using her daughter's full first name to show she was serious.
"Okay, Mummy," said Ginny, staring at a small bush that had what looked like tiny peaches floating on vines.
After the novelty wore off, Ginny began hopping on stones interspersed in the grass trying to see how far she could jump to get to each one. She began imagining that the grass was not grass at all but a massive chasm. One slip and that would be the end of Ginevra Weasley, the first daughter and seventh child of the Weasleys! The first natural born Weasley girl in seven generations! She would be known to be the greatest witch of all time! Auror crime fighter alongside Harry Potter! Sworn defenders of the wizarding world.
Ginny slipped on a rock covered with moss and fell hard on her rear.
"Ouch!"
She picked herself up and twisted her skirt around to the examine the damage.
"I'm sorry," said a lilting voice. "I should have warned you that rock was playing host to wrackspurts."
"Wrackspurts?" Ginny asked. She looked to find a little girl about her age sitting up in a tree wearing a dress as muddy and grass-stained as her own. The girl had long, dirty-blonde hair and wide, pale blue eyes. Her bare foot kept pushing on the rope of a large swing.
"They fly around your ears and make your head go all fuzzy," she explained. "Were you trying to imitate a Porg?"
"A what?" This girl was confusing Ginny more and more by the second.
"Porgs are frog-rabbits," the girl explained. "They like to hop from rock to rock so they can see danger around them."
"Er— no. I was not trying to… inimate a Porg," said Ginny fumbling around the unfamiliar word.
"Oh. I would have liked to join you," said Luna. She jumped from her point and swung from a branch like a Demiguise. "My name is Luna. What's yours?"
"Ginevra," Ginny replied. "But everyone calls me Ginny."
"Ginny suits you better," said Luna. "Though, Ginevra does sound like an excellent hero name."
The redhead perked up at this. "Yeah?"
"Mmhm!"
Ginny flushed and gripped the sides of her skirt. "Um… wanna play heroes?"
"Only if I get to play the villain!" said Luna dropping to the ground. She grabbed a fallen stick and brandished it like a staff. "Back ye hero! I shall overcome this land with my Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and nothing you do can stop me!" She laughed maniacally causing Ginny to break into giggles. She snatched up her own twig to brandish as a wand.
"Never! This land is under my rule!"
They had played all afternoon and from that day on they were definitely best friends. They would come together as often as they could, mostly meeting halfway at a twisty tree. They would hunt for Luna's creatures, play heroes, and go swimming in the pond. In the fall, they would sweep together leaf piles and jump in. The winter was spent making snowmen and having snowball fights. In the spring they would make flower crowns.
And then they were nine. Ginny held Luna's hand at the funeral. Her undamaged one anyway. Pandora had protected her daughter and taken the brunt of the spell damage, but Luna was still injured on her right side.
After that, Luna shut herself off. Not just from her. From the world. The Lovegood home was no longer a castle but a Rook. A tower that half-heartedly held onto the belief of everything.
Ginny brought Luna a flower every day knowing how much Luna loved flowers. Sometimes, she'd climb the vines right to her blonde friend's window. She'd peek in, hoping to get a glimpse of her, but saw nothing. Mum told her to leave the girl alone, but Dad was more supportive. With a smile, he would cast a preservation spell on the flower and sometimes bring one from work for her to give to Luna.
So, for nearly a year she would leave a flower by Luna's window. The only days she didn't were when Mum wouldn't allow her to go out, or when she was sick.
The first day Luna emerged from her mourning was on Ginny's eleventh birthday. It was a warm August day and a party was set up in the garden. Mrs. Weasley made her daughter her favorite meal. After the candles were blown out, she would read her Hogwarts letter before delving into the scrumptious meal prepared.
As Ginny tore the wax seal, a lilting voice sounded just beyond the bend. She stood up and saw Luna's long, blonde hair waving like a flag as she skipped along the dirt path. She sang cheerfully as she would have a year and four months ago and stepped inside the garden; she noticed the stares.
"I'm afraid I'm late and made it awkward," said Luna.
"No," said Ginny quickly. "You're just in time — Ron, budge over — sit down and eat with us."
"I'd be happy to. I see you have something there. Do read it."
Ginny smiled, opened her Hogwarts letter, and read it aloud as her brothers had done before her.
Ginny didn't know when she fell for Luna Lovegood. Honestly, the girl was barmy. In the classes they had together, she managed to derail the teacher off the subject for hour-long tangents, she was spacey half the time and the other half was awkwardly observant. She believed in everything beyond logic, wasn't afraid to wear weird fashion statements, faced bullying with her head held high, and she was a powerful witch who used unconventional methods.
Ginny just knew it one day. She snuck over to Luna's because Fleur was driving her crazy and the house was getting too crowded for her liking.
It was a rare sunny day. The kind that made you believe that everything was going to be all right. It lit up the green grass and butterflies flitted from flower to flower. The sky was the quintessential blue and fluffy white clouds like cotton candy only made the scene more picturesque
Luna was sitting on the large swing that hung on the tree. She sat there, so still she could have been in a muggle painting. Ginny's heart fluttered; she suddenly began to worry. She knew it was dumb. Luna was the most open-minded person in the world even if she wasn't… well, if she didn't like girls in that way she would still accept Ginny.
No, the part that scared Ginny was that her massive stupid crush would ruin this friendship they had. It was hard going to Hogwarts and liking girls because if you were outed you didn't know how anyone was going to react! People weren't exactly having open homosexual relationships at that school. Sure, it was the 90's but that was still iffy area.
At this point, Bill was the only one who knew. Mum constantly hinted about future husbands for her and when she left dinner in a huff, Bill was the one who followed and wheedled it out of her. He claimed his Brazilian curse-breaker friend was a lesbian as well and gave him the dragon-toothed earring. It made her feel a bit better that somebody knew.
"Hello, Ginny," said Luna. "You seem very deep in your thoughts."
"Oh! Uh—" she ducked her head to hide her blush and hopped onto a rock. "I'm imitating a Porg." She hopped onto the next one and Luna broke into a squeal of laughter. Ginny grinned.
She loved Luna's abrasive laugh. The way it filled up a room and startled people. Luna didn't often find things funny, but when she did she laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
"You seemed deep in thought yourself," Ginny commented once Luna had stopped laughing.
"Oh, I was," said Luna. "I'm thinking about how long ago our carefree childhood was. The uncertainty of the future can really make a person weigh any future decisions."
Forward and blunt as usual. Ginny wrapped her hands around the rope of the swing. Luna had grown some sort of vine on it with white flowers shaped like stars. They were sweet smelling like candy shop syrup. A hybrid no doubt. Luna enjoyed making plant hybrids with Neville. They would make a good couple.
"Yeah, I guess that would make anybody go deep in thought," said Ginny. "Mum says I have to go back to Hogwarts in the fall, but with Dumbledore gone I'm a little scared."
"Well, if you're scared I could always hold your hand," said Luna. "Sometimes, that's the best way to get through something scary."
Ginny felt her cheeks flush again and she bit back a grin.
"I think I'd be okay with that."
Luna scooted over and patted the empty space beside her. Since the swing was reinforced by magic, it could hold both without too much strain. Ginny gripped her hands tightly.
"Ginny?"
"Yes?"
"I think with all the uncertainty going about, I'd like to make one thing absolutely certain."
"And what is that?"
Luna leaned over and kissed Ginny on the cheek.
"That I am utterly mad about you," she said. It was stated as simply as if she were saying the sky was blue.
"You're— what?"
"Ginevra Weasley, I am mad about you and when we make it through this war, I want to date you," Luna continued. Her serene smile became shy. "Oh dear, I've made things awkward, haven't I?"
"I— what? No! You're not awkward— I'm awkward — you're perfect," Ginny fumbled and giggled breathily.
"Oh, good," said Luna. "I was worried for a moment I misread the situation."
"You could never misread the situation," said Ginny absolutely elated. "I— I really want to be with you."
"I want to be with you, too."
Ginny summoned up her Gryffindor courage and kissed Luna here in the cool shadow of the tree branches. One day, everything would be brought into the glaring light but, for now, they could be safe in the darkness. Away from glaring eyes, pointing fingers, and hushed whispers of harsh words.
In the shadows of this tree, they could be who they were. No judgement.
"Everything is going to change now, isn't it?" Ginny whispered breathlessly.
"Yes," said Luna, "but not all change is bad."
"No. It is not."
They kissed again. One thing was for certain. They were in love. And love conquered all.