Thunder cracked against the inky black night, splitting open the dismal sky. From her position nestled upon a daybed in the Ravenclaw dorms, forehead pressed against the cool window, Luna felt a shiver run down her spine. Her curtain of blonde hair was like a halo as it caught a beam of lightning, her reflection in the glass flickering. The barest hint of sunrise peeked over the horizon, a jarring reminder to Luna that the day was to begin soon.

Breath fogging the glass, Luna leaned closer, listening intently to the rain against the window. She let her mind clear of everything except the steady patter of it against the pane, a tap tap tap that dulled her troublesome thoughts.

Swinging her legs over the daybed and nimbly stepping to her feet, Luna tiptoed out of the dorm and down the stairs, weaving her way through the common room. It was only when she was halfway down the corridor that she realized she was barefoot.

She curled her toes against the coolness of the marble floors, sparing a glance behind her. The winding staircase that led back to the Ravenclaw tower loomed behind her, the unknown ahead.

It was an easy decision to make, she decided, as she trained her focus on the path ahead without once more looking back.

With the sun's rays blocked out by the thick, grey clouds, Luna had to rely on the bright flashes of lightning that momentarily illuminated her path. That and the dim glow of the ghosts were the only things that contrasted the phantasmic darkness, though the latter often wasn't much of a comfort.

Dawn at Hogwarts was a magical time indeed, where many of the students remained asleep, and the ones that did dare to venture out always seemed to be in a daze, sipping heavy amounts of tea as they meandered to the library to finish whatever assignments they'd been putting off.

Luna had no such assignments.

At least, she didn't think so.

She pondered this for awhile, letting her feet guide her wherever they may as her mind wandered. Soon it was not only assignments she was thinking about but storms and magic and Quidditch and —

She swatted at the air above her head, wondering if perhaps there were a lot of Wrackspurts about today.

"What are you doing?" A voice pierced through the night, sharp and penetrating. If Luna wasn't mistaken, it also sounded more than a little judgemental.

She lowered her hands, hoping she'd at least managed to rid her head of some of the Wrackspurts. She couldn't afford to be distracted by the heathenous things, especially not today.

But she'd had to remind herself that a lot more lately. For sometimes, she found, it was just easier to let them muddle her brain.

Better that than let her brain muddle her, after all.

For Wrackspurts might have been heathenous, but dark thoughts were far worse.

Perhaps the reason she savored the lightning so was that it could snap her back to the present in an instant. One clap of thunder could make her forget, for however short a time, the tortured screams of a past that now tortured her.

And if she was being completely honest with herself, the reason she was up at dawn wasn't for the magic of it so much as the fact that she hadn't slept in nearly three days.

"Luna… Luna."

A hand waved in front of her dazed eyes, bringing her back down to reality and away from her treacherous imagination. A pair of bright brown eyes greeted her, darkened slightly with worry.

"Are you alright?" Ginny Weasley asked, dragging a hand through her slightly mussed scarlet hair.

Her own face was wan and slightly pale, her smile of concern a strained thing.

Luna barely remembered to dip her head in a nod of acknowledgment, focusing intently on the bright red shade of Ginny's hair. When the lightning flashed, it glittered like amber.

Amber and crimson, like the blood that had stained the floors of the manor and the screams that had echoed throughout it and the cold, cold darkness that Luna swore she could now feel once more, all the way down to the tips of her bare toes.

"Your silence scares me," Ginny said, and this time she seemed to take care to keep her voice quiet and gentle.

"I'm sorry," Luna said, before absently commenting on the Wrackspurts as she half-heartedly waved them away once more.

"Luna," Ginny spoke louder this time, clearer but not cutting.

Luna struggled to focus, struggled to find her, for how could she be standing so close yet still sound so far away?

Another crack of thunder and her heart skipped a beat.

"Talk to me," Ginny said. "What's on your mind?"

Luna opened her mouth. Words were usually such easy things for her, so much so that they often tended to tumble out unchecked.

Now it seemed as though they were all hidden somewhere.

Perhaps they had been left behind, still locked in the bowels of Malfoy Manor.

"I just -" she started, breath hitching.

Dobby's dead eyes floated past her vision.

"It's all so much."

A flash of green light, the silver glint of a sharp knife.

"I can't get it out of my head. Perhaps I've escaped, but all of me has not."

Ginny's lips pursed into a frown, her smile flipping over on itself.

"I just want it to stop," Luna said softly, imploringly.

Ginny did not reply for a long, long time. When she did, it was anything but comforting.

"I don't think it ever will."

Luna's heart sank. Ginny must have seen that too, for that strained smile returned a moment later.

"But that doesn't mean it has to control you. Look at me."

Luna did, her blue eyes finding Ginny's and narrowing slightly from the concentration of it.

"Think about something else. Something good. Think about . . ." she trailed off. "I dunno... The Quibbler? Classes? Your father?"

It was a valiant effort, and for that Luna was grateful. She offered Ginny a smile of her own, and she realized with a start that it actually felt real.

Lately, it had felt as though she was a marionette, lips tugged up by invisible strings on someone else's command. But this, this was different. "Thank you," she said, and as the next bolt of lightning struck, Luna could've sworn it brought her to the ground.

Luna's feet were planted. Her chin was lifted.

And for the first time in a long, long while, her mind was clear.

(word count: 1099)

written for the quidditch league fanfiction competition: round one

(write a genre you have never written before - friendship)

optional prompts:

(setting) thunderstorm,

(dialogue) "your silence scares me"

(quote) imagination is the highest kite that can fly ~ laurel bacall

also written for hogwarts: assignment 10, influential women, task 7

(write about someone unconventional - luna lovegood)