All Rolf Scamander wanted in the world was for Luna Lovegood to agree to marry him. Unfortunately, she was not making it easy.
He had had the rough proposal planned out for weeks. He wanted something simple. He wanted it to be about her, not whatever they were studying. When he had finally saved up the money to buy a necklace (rings were far too impractical and he knew Luna would never wear one). The thing was, Rolf was hitting a wall.
The first time he tried to propose to Luna, they were at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall was looking for someone fluent in Mermish to help with a singular dispute between the merpeople of the Black Lake and Moaning Myrtle. Being that Professor McGonagall was unable to hear the Merpeople's side of the story due to her inability to speak Mermish and the new King's lack of English, and also being that Moaning Myrtle was something of an unreliable narrator, he had been called in. Luna had tagged along, and Rolf was hoping that the lakeshore on a balmy summer afternoon would be the perfect place to propose. But then he had been caught up in the dispute. The merperson he was speaking to was a sea goat farmer near the castle, and Moaning Myrtle had been badgering him to let her keep one of the babies as a pet. The merperson had wanted to handle it himself, but then the ghost had tried to steal a kid, and would have succeeded if she had had the ability to grasp him. Unfortunately, Moaning Myrtle got wind of the negotiations, naturally felt misrepresented, and threw a fit. Rolf and Luna both got completely soaked, the Bloody Baron was sent for to chase Myrtle back to her bathroom, and between everyone else Rolf needed to speak to that day, there was hardly a spare moment to speak to his girlfriend, let alone propose to her.
The second opportunity that presented itself was on a trip to China. Luna wanted to examine how western and eastern zodiacs from the muggle world influenced different cultures' magical practices. It was fascinating research, and Rolf was more than happy to be along for the ride, except that Luna would not slow down. Every time he turned around, she was talking to someone, or walking towards a monument, or nearly toppling over because she was only getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night. They never seemed to be in one place long enough for him to get all the words out.
That wasn't entirely true. The truth was that Rolf Scamander was a perfectionist, and a bit scared. But he also badly wanted to marry this woman and was getting supremely impatient. In a fit of desperation he sent an owl to Ginny Weasley asking for any advice she might have. Ginny had done him one better and apparated straight from practice with the Harpies to their current location on the Isle of Skye.
"Rolf Scamander!" Rolf had been walking back to the pub he and Luna were staying in, and had not been expecting anyone to be looking for him. He nearly jumped out of his skin and turned around. Ginny Weasley was running towards him hair loosing from its braid, and all smiles. She tackled him with a bear hug and he nearly fell over.
"Oof - Hey Ginny."
"You're doing this? You are actually doing this? Oh my God I can't believe it!" Rolf let out a sigh of relief. He had been fairly certain he would have Ginny Weasley's blessing… but it was still nice to have the confirmation.
"Yeah I am. What are you doing here?"
"You asked, and I came to serve." The rest of Rolf's muscles relaxed. He was in good hands.
"Okay, so here's the thing. Luna's dad already knows. I sent him a letter in March."
"In March? Rolf, you only started going out at Christmas!" Rolf smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, I just needed time to save up for her necklace," he took out a heart shaped moonstone perfectly suspended on a silver chain. Ginny gasped.
"It's perfect! How long have you had it?"
"I bought it at the beginning of September, so roughly six weeks?"
"Six weeks!" Ginny all but shrieked. Rolf whinced noticeably. "Sorry," she collected herself.
"Yeah, and I'm out of ideas. We're up here helping my granddad edit his new book on magical rodents in Australia and New Zealand. It's wonderful stuff, but Luna's completely engrossed. I can hardly get her to eat or sleep. She's not ignoring me or anything, she just isn't taking time for herself, and I want it to be special." Ginny smiled sympathetically. It wasn't unusual for Luna to get engrossed in her work (nor was Rolf free from blame, it just so happened that this proposal was the thing taking up his time at the moment.) Lucky for both of them, she had a plan.
"Good news, I brought along the reinforcements!" As if on cue, Rolf her several loud pops coming from an alleyway behind him. Out walked Xenophilius Lovegood, but also Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger (hand in hand naturally), Harry Potter, Hannah Abbott and Neville Longbottom. They were all beaming at him. Neville was the first to reach him, clapping him the shoulder.
"Good on you mate. She couldn't ask for better." Rolf could feel his face growing red. Mr. Lovegood, gangly as he was, nearly lifted Rolf off the ground in an entirely characteristic display of jubilation. The other four hung back a bit, but Rolf could feel their warmth from where he stood.
The plan proceeded apace. Ginny had had a match against Pride of Portree recently, and knew of a small secluded wooded area the teams had used for practice, where muggles wouldn't disturb them. Rolf was, surprisingly, able to convince Luna and his grandfather to leave their work long enough to join him for a picnic (something Hermione had actually packed, and was in the process of setting up for them). He followed the directions Ginny had given them, and due to his grandfather's age, they decided to walk the kilometer and a half to the training grounds.
Rolf walked in between Luna and his grandfather. Newt Scamander had a twinkle in his eye. He had always been Rolf's confidant, and he had an idea of what Rolf was planning. Years spent with Tina had taught him a bit more about people, and he had gotten better at recognizing a scheme when he saw one.
As they reached the clearing, he picked up his pace. This was Rolf's moment. The one he'd been rehearsing for months. He was holding Luna's hand, so when he stopped, so did she. He didn't get down on one knee (he was afraid he'd fall over), but he reached into his left breast pocket, and pulled out the moonstone. He started talking. Later, Luna would insist that it was the nicest proposal she'd ever heard, and when she recounted it to their friends later that evening, they all agreed. Apparently it had also been funny, because Hannah and Hermione had laughed so hard they'd cried. Rolf remembered absolutely none of it, though he was certain he said something about Luna being beautiful and also that he loved her more than anything. He must have finished with something along the lines of "Will you marry me?" because the next thing he remembered, Luna was saying "Well, of course" and then kissing him soundly.
He managed to clasp the chain around her neck without dropping it. His hands were shaking and he was misty eyed, so it was hard to see.
When he'd quite recovered himself, they stepped into the clearing together. Yellow banners that read 'Congratulations Rolf and Luna' had been strung from the trees, and picinic blankets ladened with food were present. Rolf also noticed more friends standing amongst the ones he had seen earlier. It looked like Ginny had invited most of Dumbledore's Army. Several people go to their feet and Rolf heard Ron give a loud wolf whistle over the thunderous applause.
A/N: CHASER 2: Cancer (June 21-July 22). Cancers are highly intuitive, and their psychic abilities manifest in tangible spaces. These crabs are highly sensitive to their environments, as well as extremely self-protective. Write about a character(s) who has the power to read something about people, i.e. minds/emotions/moods/colours etc. OR write about a character(s) who is highly intuitive when it comes to others and is great at solving others' problems but is always obtuse when it's something concerning them.
#7 (species) merperson [Aquarius]
#8 (creature) sea goat [Capricorn]
#12 (word) zodiac
This doc, including the author's note has roughly 1,492 words, but when I loaded it to , it exceeded the word limit. I'm not sure what's going on, but the length of the story should not exceed 3,000 words.