Disclaimer: Hogwarts and the sunset on the cover is property of WB, and in this story, I literally own nothing. Everything you recognize was created by JK Rowling.
A/N: I've been struggling with my platonic pair for ages, but with Amy's new comp, I think I've finally got it :D Thanks! Luna is always so hard to write, as is Dumbledore, but I really think I did a decent job. Written for: (skippable info)
Life at Hogwarts in 97 Comp: write something happening at Hogwarts while Harry and the others are on the run, focusing on a specific aspect of the school; platonic relationships comp: hard: Luna and Dumbledore, word prompt- heavy; delirium comp: easy: "you came from different starts and you'll come to different ends; disney character comp: catepillar: write about Dumbledore; hogwarts boot camp: loc- white tomb, prompt- watching sunset; hunger games comp: district 4: write about a Ravenclaw; quotes for occasions comp: hope: martin luther king jr quote; wand wood comp: ebony: write about Luna; spells comp: episkey: write about Luna; fav songs challenge: mean: write about Luna; Ava's myth comp: mirror of matsuyama (a Japanese myth, in which - in short - a girl remembers her mother and feels her with her after she passes away by looking into a mirror), Luna, mourning; five prompts in week challenge: e pluribus unum; great American females comp: NY: Eleanor Roosevelt: Both when FDR was stricken with polio, and after as a member of the UN and a newspaper columnist, she was one of the most outspoken women in America, fighting for womens' rights and humanity for all . motto- ever upward; hunger games style comp ii: rnd 1: word - petrichor, emotion - fury, dialogue - "I...can't.", weapon - a silver tongue, word count - 999; hp chapters comp: luna lovegood: write about Luna;
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Burning Bright
It was one of those moments. It had just rained, and there was a pleasant petrichor hanging in the air. It was not quite day, and not quite night, and Luna Lovegood was caught up in that moment, when the sun was setting at Hogwarts.
Luna was tired, and thinking, and then she mourned and loved and longed for a time in the past, and the air around her was heavy, but certainly not more than her heart.
In front of her laid the tomb of Professor Dumbledore, that somehow managed to stand tall and be strong and anchor her to life even in his death. It was covered in a light sheen of mist, and the beginning to dim light was giving it a light orange hue.
She was breaking the rules, and she didn't care. It was not often that Luna was furious, but she was; at the Carrows, at the Slytherin students he was turning into monsters, at Harry and the others for being so ready to kill themselves, at Neville and Ginny for the exact same reason, at her father for not staying safe, at Voldemort, at the world because it was all so goddamn unfair.
She wanted things to make sense, she wanted it to all be okay. If she was punished soon, it would be worth it, for the school she loved was a prison now and her only escape was mourning the man who understood her above any other.
Luna could say with much confidence that Albus Dumbledore offered her the greatest solace. He, beyond her mother and father, understood her like no other individual ever had.
As a young child, Luna had her mother and father, who loved her more than any other. And then her mother was gone, and just a little bit of her father died that day, too. Her parents would always be there for her, she knew. Luna loved her father dearly, and they were as close as two people could be. She would always have her mother in her heart, who she could feel everyday within her. But when she reached Hogwarts, there was no Daddy to comfort her that wasn't by writing, and there was no close connection with her mother besides the memories she carried. Those feelings were always strong, but nothing compared to being there.
And then she had Professor Dumbledore, and under his wing, for that time, it had been all right.
She and Dumbledore were vastly different, but their paths had crossed and because of him, she had found who she was inside. He had a brilliant mind and a biting wit and could say anything and everything, but above all that, a kind heart. Under him, Luna had found herself, and she could go great lengths on the wisdom he had given her— to find her true strength.
She placed her hand on his glowing grave.
It was, cruelly, the anniversary of her mother's death when the other students decided she simply was not normal. It was March in her first year, and while the beginning of the year had gone by without friends but also without enemies and tormentors, it seemed the other first years had finally decided she wasn't just a little homesick, or a little lonely those first months; she was actually quite strange. Loony, even.
While she had cried silently to herself before breakfast after her father's letter arrived in the very early hours, Kelly Fawcett had taken nearly half her quills and 'accidentally' broken them in half.
As she wrote back to her father in a quiet corner of the library, Marcus Belby tricked her shoe laces together from three tables away.
In between classes, in one of those moments that she's had since her mother died in which she realized yet again shew as no longer with her, she tripped and fell down the stairs and it certainly was not on her own accord.
It was then that she found herself crying silently by the lake well past when the stars were out, and Dumbledore had found her watching them.
"My dear," he said in that voice that she is so often told she has but Professor Dumbledore's far, far wiser, "may I ask, please, why you are out so late?"
"Headmaster, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—" she looked away, embarrassed.
"Quite alright, quite alright. Are you, though?"
She looked up, confused. "Am I...?"
"Quite alright, of course."
She shook her head. "I...can't. I can't answer that."
"And why is that?"
"Yes, and no. No, I am not quite alright, but yes, I think I'm going to be. No, the other students think I'm strange, but yes, my mother loves me, and that's what matters, isn't it?"
His eyes twinkled in the starlight. "It is, but not always. We must not always be happy, but what matters above that is that we have hope and you, Luna Lovegood, seem to have an awful lot of hope. And so you, dear child, will be happier than the rest."
"I hope so."
He looked her in the eyes. "I know so."
Luna smiled.
Luna knelt beside the marble monument and looked into her reflection, set ablaze by the hues of the setting sun.
In it, there was fire in her eyes. It burned for the people she saw reflected back at her, through a misty, sun-setting haze. Looking back at her were her friends, who would fight for her with their life as she would theirs. She saw Daddy, who she loved with all her heart and who she would keep safe. She saw Mummy, whose heart and wisdom and love Luna could always count on. And she saw Professor Dumbledore, who believed in her, who wanted her to stay strong, and in whose honor she would fight.
Everywhere around her —the shimmering lake, the glistening tomb, the all-encompassing sky— lit on fire in brilliant red, orange, and yellow shades.
Luna's heart burned bright.
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