For quidditch league, round nine. write about your character's/pairning's passion

using prompts 2. bustling, 3. possible, 10. "The secret of happiness is not doing what one loves, but loving what one does" – J.M. Barrie

pls note that this is a muggle au

i'll be there for you

when the rain starts to pour

They took turns visiting her. Thursdays was Neville's late shift at the greenhouse and for some reason that she wouldn't share, Ginny was never available on Monday afternoons, but they made sure that even with scheduling conflicts, someone was always there with Luna during visiting hours.

The thing was, they all knew that Luna would wake up one day. It was a matter of sooner or later, not a serious medical issue like the nurses seemed to think it was. Always bustling, in their white outfits and aggravated voices, the nurses talked of cold, unfeeling ideas. Removing from life support. Waste of resources. Statistics say…

Those were the times when whoever was there had to call Hermione on the phone at the front desk. She would promptly interpret the nurse's words and defend Luna in the high vocabulary way that only she seemed capable of.

…

The almost funny thing was that no one was really surprised when the car crash happened. If it hadn't been the life threatening injury it turned out to be, they would have chalked it up as something 'classically Luna' and had a good laugh about the whole incident.

There were a hundred and seven possible reasons anyone could think of for Luna to have been walking across the street while lorries honked and cars squealed against the pavement, shrieking to a halt. She could have been examining the sky for Nargles, composing a painting to paint on the crosswalk, chasing a Wrackspurt.

…

For Luna to be stationary during any period of time was a challenge but months past and her limp body didn't jerk, lifeless eyes still unopened. Sometimes it felt like a thick grey cloud of hopelessness was smothering everyone who had, and still did, care about her.

It was on one of those dreary, seemingly hopeless days that the friends found themselves all, in a rare moment, visiting Luna at the same time. Neville had been talking quietly to her, describing his latest gardening mishaps, when Hermione and Ron walked in. Shortly they were followed by Ginny and Harry. "Are visiting hours over already?" inquired Ginny breathlessly. "We ran all the way here, in case you couldn't tell."

It turned out that there was still another half an hour left. The group sat silently for a long time, watching the last rays of the setting sun set fire the Luna's fair hair. Outside, the corridors bustled. In the room though, silence settled, except for the occasional beep of a machine and unconscious tap of Harry's foot.

The bleak stillness was shattered by a hesitant knock on the sturdy door. Ginny stood after a moment to answer it. It was large, disheveled, man. Ginny turned around and mouthed questioningly at the rest of the group. Did anyone recognize him? They shrugged at each other, his face not jogging anyone's memory. Ginny opened the door anyway.

For a moment the man stood in front of the door silently, staring at his shoe as he scuffed it across the floor. Finally he spoke; strangely softly for a man of his size.

"I was the one, I- the one who ran her over," he said, jerking his head towards Luna. "I just wanted to say, well, sorry. I didn't know her but I never meant for this to happen and-," he stopped himself. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"

The silence threatened to stretch again until Neville spoke up quietly. "I can tell you about her if you want."

The man nodded and Neville began. Halting at first and then rushing, the words tripping out of his mouth. "Well she was- no, she is one of the best people, the best friends, I've ever had. She was always there if you needed her, and even if you didn't understand her, that was enough. She was odd. That was one of the nicest things about her. She didn't even know she was weird. If she did, she didn't acknowledge it. To her, everyone was who they were, without labels. She just accepted and-" Neville's voice broke and Ginny leaned over to pat him on the back.

Hermione spoke up. "She was passionate about nonsense. I used to think it was ridiculous, but I've come to respect her for it. It was a quiet kind of passion but she believed in it so deeply that you had to admire her dedication, at least."

Ginny broke in suddenly here. "It wasn't just nonsense, though. She's passionate about life. It's like she dances through everything and it's always an adventure. She loves painting and friends and stupid conspiracy theories. It's a deep, steady kind of passion that draws you in and you love her for it. It's like- like she loved to do certain things, like exploring and reading and dreaming. But really it was the way she did everything. The way she took notes in class and how she smiled and the times when she wrote birthday cards. Everything."

There was really nothing else to add. The man tipped his baseball cap in what must have seemed a respectful motion to him. Halfway out the door, he turned around. "Thank you for sharing her with me. If I had someone in my life like that a long time ago, well maybe things would have turned out differently."

...

"That was just like one of the sappiest scenes in the most feel good chick flick that you would drag me to, Gin," Ron said, although even he looked moved.

"You know," said Hermione, "If this was a movie, this would be the scene where the machines all start beeping and she wakes up and just blinks."

"It's not a movie, though. And if it is, we have shitty background music."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. And really, you care about the music selection now, Ron?"teased Harry.

"Well I'm just in the mood for music," the object of the attack tried to defend himself.

"Y'know, Luna would've told us to go have a dance party right now if we really wanted to," said Ginny.

Harry's old, dented iPod was procured from somewhere, and in the middle of the third floor, in a hospital in London, they danced around the room.

...

Because life isn't a movie, there wasn't a happy ending right then. Life is more about the tragedies and the unresolved conflicts. There are also the little moments and the big things, though. Dance parties in hospitals, imaginary creatures, truck drivers who come back to apologize and the best kinds of friends someone could have.

There are even sometimes, as Hermione pointed out afterwards, miracles. For the first time in all her visits to the hospital, she didn't have to fight to keep Luna alive for another day. Instead, after a curt command to turn the music down "This is a hospital, you know," the nurse stood there silently and watched them laugh their ways around the room. Harry swore he even saw her mouthing the words along.

yes, i know this is enormously over emotional and mainly pointless. we just won't talk about that (:

reviews would make my day