QLFC round 5
Cannons, Keeper
Prompt: Write about a character acting chivalrous, or having another character acting chivalrous towards your character.
Word count: 1202
Ginny flags down their waitress. "The check, when you get a chance."
Hermione frowns at her. Ginny likes these lunches, she really does, but she can tell that Hermione's about to say something pseudo-intellectual and highly annoying.
"You know, you don't have to pay just because you're..."
"Your friend? A pro Quidditch player with lots of disposable income?"
"No, not that. Because you're…"
"You can say butch." Hermione looks like she actually can't, but Ginny goes on. "I always pay when I'm out with Luna."
"Yes, that's exactly— Don't you think that's a little heteronormative?"
"Hermione," Ginny says, counting out money for a tip, "don't you think I know a little more about this than you do?"
"Yes, well, I've been doing a lot of reading."
"I've been doing a lot of living. As a lesbian. Nothing Luna and I ever do will be heteronormative."
Hermione still doesn't look convinced, but Ginny has spent enough of her life correcting people about this. She gets up to pay the bill.
On the next monthly double date with Ron and Hermione, they go to a Muggle movie. Ginny loves popcorn, Luna is collecting ticket stubs for a necklace, and Hermione got them all hooked on James Bond, so it's a fun outing all around.
Ron parks the car, and they set off towards the mall entrance. Ginny jogs ahead to hold the door open, not breaking eye contact with Hermione as she says, "After you, honey" to Luna.
Ron and Hermione go ahead to buy popcorn, and Ginny and Luna get in line for tickets.
"Disney has some wizards working for them, I think," Luna muses, and Ginny follows her eyes to where they're advertising a new movie in 3-D.
"Warner Bros clearly doesn't, or their eight-part biopic of Harry wouldn't've been such shit."
Luna grins. "I know, I know, they got your character all wrong."
"And if anyone ever took your shoes, I would bat bogey hex the shit out of them," Ginny says, turning around and walking up to the ticket booth. Her free hand finds the small of Luna's back as she talks to the ticket guy. Ginny loves little gestures like this, loves being able to say that's my girlfriend to anyone and everyone paying attention. Luna is someone to be proud of.
Ginny holds the next door open for Luna, even though Hermione isn't watching.
The players won't take the field for another half hour, but the stadium is already tingling with anticipation, like a pot of popcorn about to blow its lid off. Luna watches it all from the friends and family of the players box and blows on her hot apple cider. She loves watching Ginny's Quidditch matches, but it's freezing up here, especially in late October.
Harry, Hermione, and Neville are here, too, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and all of their remaining children, Portkeyed in for the special occasion; the Harpies haven't made it this far in the playoffs since Gwenog Jones herself was a rookie.
The Harpies finish warming up, and Ginny flies over to the box to greet her family and give Luna a final lucky pregame kiss. A gust of wind blows through the stadium, and Luna shivers despite herself.
"Here," Ginny says, shrugging off her warm up jacket and draping it over Luna's shoulders. Luna pulls it tighter around herself, smelling the spicy cinnamon spray she bought for luck, the one that Ginny applies liberally before every match.
"Thanks," Luna says. "I think you're going to win," she adds seriously.
"Why?"
Luna frowns pensively, waiting for Ginny to follow her gaze to where the other team is huddled on the ground, ostensibly talking strategy. "Red is an unstable color," she says simply, and Ginny doesn't ask for elaboration. She just grins and gives Luna a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before flying off to her own strategy meeting.
Beside her, Hermione is clearly itching to say something, but Luna beats her to it. The captains are getting ready to shake hands, and Luna would like to get this dealt with before the match starts.
"We're not imitating heterosexuality, you know," she says, turning to frown at Hermione like she's a particularly reticent bowtruckle that just refuses to stand still for photography.
"No, no, I would never say that!" Hermione splutters. It's quite satisfying to watch her try and cope with a knowledge deficit. She looks so out of her depth Luna almost wants to laugh. "It's just, if Ron gave me his coat, that would be so heteronormative."
"Hmmm, but it's not Ron," Luna says.
Hermione is quiet for a few moments, until after the referee has blown his whistle and released the four balls.
"Here's what I don't get," she finally says, and Luna looks away from the opposing team's keeper to actually meet Hermione's eyes. "What's the point of dating a girl if she's just going to dress and act like a guy?"
Luna decides not to dignify this with an answer. She knows Hermione means well, but she isn't the first person to ask Luna this, and probably won't be the last. It gets old.
"You really don't understand any of this," is all Luna says, turning back to watch as the Harpies' chaser intercepts a pass.
"Here, let me carry that," Ginny says, stooping so Luna can place her box on top of the one Ginny is already carrying. They're in the process of moving into a new flat, and while doing things the Muggle way takes a little longer, it has much less of a chance of them getting reported for breaking the Statute of Secrecy.
Ginny doesn't miss Luna's appreciative glance at her biceps as she shifts the boxes a little higher on her hip; there's a reason she wears so many tank tops.
"Hope that's not too heteronormative," Ginny says, rolling her eyes.
"Hermione's been bothering you, too, then," Luna muses. She unlocks the door, and Ginny puts the boxes down in the hall.
"It makes me so mad! She can read a few articles on 'queer theory'—" Ginny does big air quotes, rolling her eyes— "in the Huffington Post and suddenly know better than real, live lesbians?"
"It doesn't matter what she thinks," Luna says. She stands on tiptoe to kiss Ginny on the cheek and adds, "I love you, and that's what counts."
"That's what counts," Ginny repeats, holding Luna's gaze for a beat before picking up the boxes again to take them to the kitchen. Some of Molly's china is inside, and if a bowl so much as chipped because it was left in the hall for someone to bump into, Ginny would never hear the end of it.
"Heteronormative," Luna says, rolling out each syllable. "That's fun to say, isn't it?"
Ginny just laughs, Luna trailing behind her as she goes out to the car for more boxes. Every plate, cup, t-shirt, or picture frame inside is another piece of their life falling into place. It's everything Ginny was afraid to want, as a child. Imagining this domesticity with a man felt stifling, but beginning her life with Luna feels like a breath of fresh air.